Hello?

Is this thing still on? Ya..ya..ya. I know. I haven't blogged here since I posted that Madden was born. I could use the excuse that I am really busy. And well- I think I will. Its a good one. Madden was in the nicu for 2 weeks, and we came home to Tball games, softball games, summer vacation, swim lessons, bday parties, bbq's, camping, Boise, Sunriver, and photoshoots. Then football started, soccer started, and we had practices every night of the week, I photographed two weddings and doing family shoots out my ears. All that means I am on the computer non stop editing. When I am not editing, I check facebook, and as for anything else, I want nothing to do with the computer. I want to sit on the couch, hold my baby, play with the kids and do nothing. (But that rarely even happens, as we have homework to do, dinner to cook and a house to clean!) I am behind on reading blogs, message boards, emails and of course my own blogging. I manage to get a couple posts on my love & grief blog, but mostly just as therapy for myself, as it gets too overwhelming when I keep it in too long. Most of it I am sure no one wants to read because its just about my struggles of the new normal (again). I wish I would have blogged about my grief after Ashlyn died, it would help me remember there is a light at the end, and all the ups and downs are normal in a daily struggle. I mostly blogged about it at anniversaries. All that are coming up and really? the first year I do remember is the worst.

Anyhoo..so this blog isn't the only one neglected, my photography blog is just as behind and I think about posting all the time to this one and that one. SO at least know I think about you :) that has to count for something! right?

I would like to say I will do my best and do a couple posts to catch up, but that means I have to edit my own photos to share (I know I don't "have to", but thats like going out in public without make up on, and I just don't do that) And that also means that the 4 photo galleries that are waiting to be finished and posted would be neglected and I am sure clients wouldn't like that...and then the 2 coming up would get just as behind. So for now- all you get is this. :)

We are alive. We had great soccer and football seasons. Hudson got to play soccer for the first time in kinderkick. He loved it! We loved football season and are sad that its over but can't wait til next year! Easton is reading now and learning math and Haley rarely gets less then 100% on her school work. Hudson is a wonderful big brother to Madden and is so helpful around the house. We have recently found out that he loves to help cook and will do so any chance he gets :) Madden is growing great and will be 7 months on Thanksgiving. He truly is my daily sunshine. He is so snuggly and happy (happy most of the time, as long as it doesn't involve us having to do something in 15 min to get out the door and can't tend to him immediately..haha) He is amazing when it comes to practices, games and photoshoots. He for sure is a 4th child who just goes with the flow of the chaos around him :)

Its something right? :)

Madden Quinn Hughes

Madden Quinn and his sweet angel twin sister Quinn Faith were born into this world Sunday, April 25th at 12:26 am. Madden weighed 4 pounds 13 oz and is 18 inches long. I am still in the hospital and getting use to the routine of NICU life. Madden will be in the NICU for a couple weeks, but is doing amazing! I will update more soon!

Our New Story.

I finally finished a video I started. I hate having a new story. Especially a sad one with out the happy ending we expected or hoped for. Wished for? Called a blessing? Gah. :( I started this video again to add to it a couple months ago. But couldn't finish it. Until today. its still not how I wanted it to be..but is anything ever how we wanted it to be? So take a moment to watch. Thank you!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Donate today!

http://marchforbabies.org/buhtafly

Month in review..

ok.. a bit more then a month. But whats going on you ask? Not a whole lot really.

• I am still growing a baby. 32 weeks tomorrow. I have updated here and posted a few that were predated drafts.
• Kyle turned 30 years old March 11th. We celebrated here at the house with dinner and cheesecake. It was very low key. I think turning 30 was difficult for him. ;)
  
• We had a joint birthday party at a pizza place then went bowling afterwards the weekend between our birthdays. Pretty cake huh? Not sure if there are any other photos out there- this is the only one I took :)
• Then I turned 30 March 18th. Which I was fine with. I thought maybe it would bother me, but it didn't. Again another low key evening and my parents came over to celebrate.
  
• Kyle had a softball tournament the next weekend..and the kids and I ventured out with him. Its hard to believe its already time for softball. We enjoyed ourselves for the most part and during a 4 hr game break we browsed Babies R Us and searched for a Jamba Juice. We fully expected one more game loss, but they won and we ended up staying out there for a couple more games and we didn't get home until 10pm. Lets just say we weren't prepared for the cold temps as the morning/afternoon were quite nice and warm.
• We enjoyed a quiet Spring Break. I loved not having to get up early and get the kids ready for school. Most days consisted of jammies :)
  
• Kyle and I also went out to celebrate a friends 40th birthday. We hit up the casino and the dance club. Now you are probably laughing because the thought of me 30 weeks pregnant in a dance club is pretty funny. And it was. I am going to have to get a hold of a couple pictures that were taken. :) I loved sitting and people watching though and got up a few times to dance. The looks I was getting were quite hilarious- especially because you can't really tell I am pregnant unless I turn to the side. My only complaint was that they were very stingy with their water! I mean give me a break...what other choice did I have to drink!? Sheesh! But we defiantly had a blast and hope to go back some time when I can really dance with the girls :)

What else..oh yes! Soccer has started! and Tball practice has begun! I am not quite sure what we were thinking when we signed the kids up to play. Being at this stage of pregnancy makes things quite difficult. Haley wanted to give Tball a try and this year we got special permission to put her on Easton's team. Along with 2 of her other friends who also wanted to play..and their brothers are on the team as well. SO we have a co-ed Tball team with half the players who are related and best friends. :) This is the only year we can get away with it and it should be a lot of fun (and make it much easier this season!) They are the Angels with an honorary bat boy. Hudson thinks he is much older then he really is, and actually his skills are quite good for only being 3. Sadly though- he still has 2 more years to actually get to play, but will be in baseball pants and hat every game I am sure. :) Just sitting on the bench waiting for Coach to let him play.

I took a couple pictures at the first soccer game...it was nasty and muddy so I just took my little canon. The pictures looked funny on the screen and I couldn't figure out why...then I realized during an Easter Egg Hunt after the game that Hudson must have changed a setting and I was able to change it back. So here are a couple interesting colored photos of the first soccer game :)

So not a lot has been going on, yet I feel really busy and barely time for anything! How is that possible?

Happy 6th Birthday Easton!

Boy oh Boy am I behind! Easton turned 6 years old on February 13th! He was our leap of faith after having a previous preterm birth and a loss of a baby. Many people couldn't believe we were going to have another baby after all we had been through.So soon even. But we couldn't just sit back and wonder the what if's..we had to take a leap. And Easton was our wonderful gift for that leap! He was 6 weeks early, but by our standards..6 weeks was nothing! He was big to us at 5lbs 9 oz :) Its amazing the personalities that emerge at birth, and carry on through the years. :) Easton spent a month in the NICU. He was easy going, a little "lazy" when it came to breathing, and just "I will get there when I get there" attitude :) Not much has changed. "little lazy" is still part of his personality, so is the easy going :) He loves to please his family, and though he isn't as talkative as his sister, he absorbs so much! Out of nowhere he says something and its like.."hey! you do listen!" :) haha He loves kindergarten very much, though when asked what he learned..he says "nothing". Or what did you do today.."nothing". :) He loved playing soccer in the fall, but has asked if he can play football instead. During a game of carpet football with daddy and brother, he told him "I was born to do this!" :) He will be playing Tball in a few weeks as well :)

The day of his birthday, Monster Truck Jam was in Portland, so he wanted to go. (You know because when asked, he says that he wants to be a Monster Truck Driver when he grows up...OY!) A couple of his friends and their fathers went with us. Then we came back to the house for pizza, cake and presents with friends and family :) It was quite a fun party complete with a Mario Bros theme :)

Its Ironman!!

Gravedigger goes down...

Easton and his buddies!

The Mario Bros Cake...limited time and supplies on the name writing..haha. My excuse is that I am pregnant :)

OH MY GOODNESS...Somebody was a "little" excited :) Thanks to G & G Cuckoo :)

Mario Bros game!! Whoo hoo!

Makin' Valentines.. :)

I got the idea from Skip to my lou blog.. We made kitty valentines last year, and Haley had so much fun making her own, that she asked if we could do it again this year :)

So.....I agreed. We made 27 of these..


She was so excited to be able to pass them out today :) The head of the lady bug is made out of a tootsie lollipop with black tissue paper covering it :)

She wanted to also be all "hearts" today. She wanted to wear a skirt and a heart shirt :) So I did some heart hair too that I saw on a hair blog I follow. :)


I can't wait to hear how her day went today :) She couldn't wait til the party at school :)

(Easton wanted transformer valentines..so I was thankful I didn't have to make his as well, although it was torture getting him to write his name on them and his classmates names..haha So I am not sure which was worse ;) He was also excited about his school party today and had a fun day! Its so funny, he thinks his birthday is on valentines day ;) but...indeed it is not! its tomorrow! ACK!! How will he be 6??)

attacked by the bug..

So the kids have been relatively healthy since school started. We had a bout of possible swine..but never confirmed and not too bad and lasted over a weekend mostly at the end of September? Maybe beg of October? There have been other mild colds that pretty much lasted through a weekend and well enough to go to school by Monday and not missing school. For which I am thankful for! Rarely is it Easton, he seems to have serious fighting agents in his system :) One min I think he is coming down with something, and the next his body already fought it off!

Well this last two weeks have been something! Beginning of the week before- Haley had icky eyes. I wasn't sure if it was pink eye or not, but used some drops that were over the counter and her eyes cleared up and she was symptom free by Tuesday morning and went to school. Wednesday morning..her eyes were glued shut and just disgusting the worst they had ever been. I called the advice nurse and she agreed with my diagnosis of pink eye and called in eye drops. She was much better by Thursday and had been on the meds in order to go to school. No one else thankfully got pink eye. Then Kyle came down with a cold over the weekend. I was feeling really icky Monday and Kyle came home to work at home. By Wednesday, Easton was home sick. Poor kid barely got off the couch. (so not like him!) But he felt better Thursday and went, but Haley had the worlds worse sounding cough and stayed home. all of them seemed to be running a temp of 100 last night before bed. This morning? no temps but still coughing horribly.. and Easton was just tired. So both of them are home again today. Hudson has been snotty and coughing this whole time. I was told to enjoy the 4 day weekend..I had no idea they had no school Monday! I am getting whatever it is they have and been dealing with more braxton hicks from it. So I am just taking it easy and drinking as much water as I can. I guess we have 4 days to get better. To not be sick all fall and most of winter, to get slammed all week with this crud is awful! I am hoping we are at the end and can look forward to being healthy until spring!

Happy 3rd Birthday Hudson!

Our sweet little boy is now 3! Hard to believe! He is so full of personality, and thats an understatement! He LOVES his big brother and follows him everywhere, he LOVES to bug big sister. haa He LOVES any and all sports. We are constantly playing carpet football, shooting hoops on the back of the door, passing the football or...playing hockey in socks in the kitchen. He is always go go go! He thinks he is quite the funny boy too! He also has quite the temper and lets us know he is mad...apparently I have been told he is a lot like I was when I was his age...haha He loves his jammies, and dressing himself. I have to talk him into wear pants over other clothes when we leave the house- or he would be in jammies all day ;) we haven't had an official doctors appt in quite awhile(which is great because he has been so healthy!), but from our own scales and measuring devices, he is still a peanut! Maybe 27 pounds and 36 inches tall. I think he is smallest out of all of them at this age and he was biggest at birth! too funny! He is learning his colors, numbers and ABC's :) We are going to celebrate this evening with his choice of a Batman Birthday Party that he has been so excited about for MONTHS! Happy birthday little one...you are such a wonderful little boy and we love you so much!

Devil's Punch Bowl

I just wanted to get out of town today. I didn't care where, just wanted to go do something. I didn't think cleaning the house, watching football, lazying around in jammies all day was what we needed to do. We have been doing enough of that lately. So off to the coast! The kids haven't been to Devil's Punch Bowl before, and I couldn't remember if I had before, and it had been a very long time for Kyle. So long he didn't think there was a fence around it ;) ( so either he never did go and was thinking of something else, or his imagination was bigger then he was ;) ) I am glad I had my little camera, it was windy, cold and sprinkly, so we weren't out there long. They all thought it was pretty cool though :)

Hudson's "its cold out here take the picture fast!" look

Haley's "mom the wind is stinging my face and making it hard to keep my eyes open" look..

Easton's "mom I am cold but I will smile for you" look

Haley took a picture of us...haha. Wind wasn't my friend and I think I am thinking..."have you taken it yet?? lets get in the car hurry..." , but this is better then the one she cut off Kyle's head and his eyes were closed ;) haha

And the Bowl...
We had lunch when we first got into town at the Dory Cove. Its back! it had burned down a few years ago and they couldn't rebuild and just moved to their other location they owned but it had a different name. The food wasn't quite as good at the other place, but since we were there last, the name changed back to Dory Cove and the food was great! We also hit the outlet stores, which most the time when I say...Hey! lets go to the beach, what I really mean is...Hey! Lets go to the outlets! :) But we were on a tight schedule and couldn't shop long at all, but we got some great deals at Old Navy for the kids!(if anyone can make it over, it looked like the outlets were having great sales at all the stores!) We hurried back to get Kyle to his game and I am hoping he wasn't too late. Now, its about time for me to shuttle the kids to bed and then wait for his return so if its not too late we can watch a movie together. Today, was nice.

Lack of Nap

Poor Hudson. He is growing up and in the transition of "do I nap" or "do I stay up". I would prefer the napping, but if he naps, he has trouble going to bed at night. If he doesn't nap he falls asleep on the couch around 5:30- 6pm... which makes going to bed even harder.

I am attempting to try a nap at 12:30 instead of the usual 1pm. Then I am making sure he only sleeps for an hour or hour and half- so that way he gets a rest but not a ton of sleep that it effects bedtime. It worked out much better most of the week as long as I could get him down before 1, I wake him up and he is never happy..but he gets over it quicker and has a better afternoon/evening. So we will see if we can continue this for awhile. I can't believe he is going to be 3 next week. Where on earth has time gone?

The evening crash.....I don't know how he does this- it doesn't look comfortable.

New post:

An updated pregnancy post at Womb-4-Rent.

Related?

I just had to share these two pictures. I think its easy to say that I am my father's daughter. I think its also scary that I think I was only about 6 months old in this picture?? (Mom correct me if I am wrong...) I am thankful I slowed down in weight and gained some height, or I would have been one of those toddlers on daytime talk shows. haha My poor parents sitting there going.. "we just don't understand how she is 200 lbs at age 2!!?? We don't feed her anything other then formula..." hahahaha

Another New Year

I had high hopes for the new year. I was excited for 2010. A decade was behind me. I saw a status on facebook that said "This decade I:....and I thought that would be interesting to sum up the last 10 years.

This decade I: married my best friend, and found a church home. We started our family- which started out shaky with, preterm labor, twin micro preemies, a loss of a baby girl and becoming a mother. We added another little one who came 6 weeks early, lost a little one very early on, and added one more who went full term. I got baptized along side my wonderful sister. We bought a house, and sold a house and moved a total of 6 times. I emotionally supported my husband through 4 job changes and 7 months of unemployment all while he made sure I could keep my role as a stay at home mom. I watched my mother beat cancer. I celebrated 9 years of marriage with my husband. I watched two of my children start school. I made lots of forever friends and watched as a best friend moved away. With the support of that friend, we started a business we had always hoped to do and I was able to continue it on my own. Life was getting stable, our faith was strong, we were approaching "the best years of our life" as we headed into our thirties...The decade was ending with another twin pregnancy, a boy and a girl, with hopes to a fantastic new beginning with great things in store for all of us.

I look back at the last 10 years and can't believe all that we went through and how fast it went. I experienced life in a way I could have never imagined, I grew and changed from those life events. Those 10 years were hard, but amazing. Each year that passed we had hoped it could only be better then the last. Amazing my husband and I were able to hold on tight to each other and our faith even though there were many difficult days. We had crawled up from rock bottom and dusted ourselves off. I was ready to see those 10 years be of the past and excited to what the next 10 had in store for us. We are in the process of completing our family, rounding it out with twins again, Kyle excelling at his job waiting for the next step and climbing the ladder. With hopes his job would fall into place so we could purchase a home again in the coming years. Watch our children grow into adulthood, as our oldest will be graduating high school at the end of this decade. Its crazy to think about what the next 10 years will hold. I can only imagine it will go just as fast as the first ten, maybe even faster.

2010, the year of hope.

Unfortunately in our life, it seems that history repeats itself. We are beginning 2010 with another loss of a baby girl..shaken faith and heartbreak. Starting in fear and trying to find peace and comfort. Wondering what will this next decade really have in store for us...I am having trouble finding that hope I thought there would be. I am clinging on to the precious little ones I have, a husband who loves me, our families and my faith to get us through this. It can only get better right? I am scared to think of how it could be worse.

I am also blogging about this pregnancy and was planning on updating and everything after worked slowed down and the holidays were over. Well that has taken a new twist as well, you will find the link above. So bare with me, the best thing I ever did was start this blog and I love that I have record of years past. I don't like resolutions, but this is a goal I have, to get the good the bad and the ugly recorded again. This last year seriously slacked.