December Whirlwind

Where has December gone?? I cannot believe Christmas has come and gone already, and by this time next week it will be 2009. Christmas was good, except that Jeremy had to work, which threw off our normal holiday schedule. We opened our gifts to each other on the 23rd, knowing it was the last chance we would have to really sit down together. Plus, Jeremy can't stand surprises, so the suspense of Christmas nearly kills him! He got me a digital video camera, which we are both very excited about learning to use. We'll have to practice on the dogs until the newest subjects arrive. I think the gifts I wrapped for our stockings may have been close to being Jeremy's favorites:

Our house is most definitely a "house divided" when it comes to football, so I guess it's lucky we'll have two kids to display our team spirit! I got each of us a pink onesie and a pacifier clip, Alabama for me, Auburn for him. I think Jeremy already has visions of at least one of his little girls in head-to-toe Auburn wear.

We had Christmas with Jeremy's family the weekend before Christmas, which was nice because everything was not so rushed on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. On Christmas Eve, Jeremy had to have his truck fixed (an electronic part we'd been waiting for came in that day), and the mechanic came to our house to fix it! How nice was that? We didn't make it to his grandparents as planned that morning, but the truck is now fixed and the horn no longer beeps every thirty seconds, so that's definitely a good thing. I headed to Scottsboro for the evening, where my sister and I had Christmas with our dad, then watched a movie at home. I came back home so I could see Jeremy for at least a little while on Christmas morning. My family does breakfast on Christmas morning, although this year we pushed it back to brunch time since I would not have to rush off to get to the celebration with Jeremy's family. Jeremy and I spent a little time together, then he headed to his grandparents' before work and I headed to Scottsboro again. While packing up the presents, I noticed I had a box to his grandfather, which I thought he'd taken. A quick phone call later, we discovered he had my mom's present instead. We quickly met halfway in between the house and his grandparents' to exchange...luckily they only live about 10 minutes away! The rest of my Christmas was spent in Scottsboro, hanging out with my family. We all stayed in our pajamas all day, but Laura did model some new clothes for me:

We tend to get a little restless by the end of the evening on holidays, since staying home so much is a rare occasion for us. We watched Casablanca, snacked, and napped most of the afternoon. Around 9:00, we ventured out to Talk of the Town, where Bruce was having a Pajama Party....we were, quite literally, in our pajamas, of course! We visited with friends and family who had gathered down there for a couple of hours, and I picked up a few things for my tree next year, at 50% off, naturally. After that, we rode through town a little while, letting Laura try out her new GPS. It finally navigated us back home, and this pregnant lady hit the bed. All in all, a great holiday.

Lately I've been telling myself that as soon as Christmas is over, I am really going to get started on baby preparations, so now the time is here! We did confirm at our last ultrasound that they are definitely little ladies. They are growing right on track, actually toward the upper part of the size range right now (yikes!). They are also staying close to the same size, with only about 2 oz. difference, which is a good sign we are hopefully avoiding the complications of TTTS. I am gaining weight a little more quickly now, and I was up ten pounds total at the last visit. All in all, I think the doctor is very pleased with how well we are all progressing, despite our potential for complications. Praise the Lord! Hopefully we can continue this way for a couple more months. I am getting bigger by the day, which is normal of course, but sometimes I wonder if my belly can grow enough to contain these girls for another three and a half months! I am feeling them move now, but still just when I am sitting or lying still. They are definitely getting stronger though, and I'm hoping their daddy can feel them soon! We had a DVD made at our last ultrasound, and it's so fun to watch those little arms and legs flailing around. Hard to believe all that is going on in my abdomen. My favorite point on the video is when she was switching from baby A to baby B...baby B's bottom is right in front of baby A's face, then B starts kicking her little legs right at A's head! It is so funny to watch...I wish I knew how to isolate it and upload it here. I can, however, introduce my girls from their latest ultrasound pictures. Here they are, in all their fuzzy, grainy, black-and-white glory:

Baby A: Mary Addison Hughes (she'll be called Addison)
I think her arm is folded across her chest.

Baby B: Mackenzie Ross Hughes

And finally, my belly at 21 weeks, alongside my new Christmas ornament:

Endings...and Beginnings

Well, the holidays are officially over. I have to say they went by much too fast for me. As usual, everything snuck up on me around the second week of December and the next few weeks were a whirlwind. It's always fun to remember how much I love this time of year. We didn't get a whole lot of time off work, but thanks to some crafty maneuvering with my coworker, we were able to get a few extra afternoons away from the office. I miss being a kid and getting a glorious two weeks off at Christmas. Of course, that always went by too fast too, so I guess I am just never satisfied.



Christmas Day was packed full, as it has been for the past few years. The hasty Christmas wedding went better than I was expecting, although we were all too exhausted by that time to enjoy too much celebration. Jeremy and I exchanged our gifts on Christmas Eve this year. Since Christmas Day is so busy and rushed, we thought sitting down to enjoy a little time together the night before would be fun. I have never been a fan of opening presents early, preferring to wait for Christmas Day, but it did work well and gave us more time together. It's possible a new tradition has begun in the Hughes household. Of course, within the next few years, we will hopefully have a little one to share Christmas with, which will totally change the holiday for us....but it will be so much fun!

Anyway, now it's all over and it is time to get back to work. I start teaching at Northeast Community College next Tuesday, and I feel so unprepared. I think once I get started I will relax a little, but right now it feels like the first day of high school all over again (which was not a very pleasant feeling the first time around). I keep reminding myself this is what I wanted to do when I got my M.A., and I am actually doing it...at least my degree is going to be good for something!

Puppies & Christmas Trees

Last week, I worked over a period of about two days putting up my Christmas tree (brand-new to me...thanks, Dad!) and getting it decorated just the way I wanted. Yesterday, in a period of about three hours, my two dogs completely destroyed all the hard work. I left them inside yesterday morning when we left for church because I knew it was going to rain, and I didn't really want to have to bathe them when I got home. Yes, I know, I should have known better.

I left church with my family to go eat, while Jeremy headed home to get ready for work...therefore, I didn't get the full effect of the destruction scene firsthand. But I can imagine. I thought for sure Jeremy was exaggerating when he said most of the ornaments from the bottom HALF of the tree were now crushed in the floor...he wasn't! How those two medium sized dogs managed to reach ornaments from 3-4 feet up the tree, I will never know. The bulk of our ornaments were glass balls, of course, so I was a little worried about how much glass they might have consumed. It doesn't seem to be bothering them so far, though.

Petey Grace gave me a glimpse of how much fun they must have had un-decorating my tree. I found two loose ornaments they had missed underneath the coffee table, so I laid them on top of the table until I got ready to repair the damage. Petey Grace took one look at me, grabbed the smallest ornament, and gleefully took off with it, apparently hoping someone would chase her. It was cute, infuriating as it was, and I could only picture the two of them spending the morning chasing each other around the room with colored Christmas balls in their little mouths. I had, up until that point, mostly blamed the damage on Chloe, as she is definitely the more mischevious one. However, Petey Grace clearly demonstrated she was a willing participant in the debacle. The final bit of damage I found was the frayed cord on the last strand of lights. They had completely chewed off the plug! At that point, I was just thankful they hadn't been electrocuted.

I redecorated the tree, pulling extra ornaments out of storage and moving some from the back to the front. I think I repaired it well enough for this season, but new ornaments will be in order for next year. I most definitely learned my lesson about leaving the dogs in the house unattended...they just aren't ready for all that freedom yet, apparently!