Monday, October 8, 2012

Our little FOUR year old

That's right, Benjamin is four. 



I know you hear this all the time, but it's amazing how fast time goes by. I'm learning to relish in each moment of my life because I know it does go by too quickly. At any rate, we now have a four year old in our home. He is very quick to tell us how big he is. I love that now he can do so many things because he's four and, according to him, so big now. If you don't know Benjamin personally, you're missing out. He is one of the most energetic, fun, and loving little boys you will ever meet. He loves his sister...I mean, he really loves her. His voice goes up about 10 octaves when he talks to her and he just wants to touch her head or her face or her hand all the time. He loves to burp his sister and he gets so excited when she burps after she eats and he's the one to have burped her. When I go to feed Lucy my conversation with Benjamin usually goes something like this: "Mom, you going to feed Wucy?" To which I reply in the affirmative. "Can I buup her?" (He can't pronounce his R's just yet) Me - "You sure can!" He looks at me with a serious face and says, "Promise?" Cracks me up. Benjamin also loves people. When he goes to the park and he sees someone his size he immediately starts to play with them. Then he tells everyone that this new little play mate is his friend. I love it. He will also make you feel like the most important person in the world. If he asks me for something and I tell him yes, he gets  a huge smile on his face and he tells me I'm the best ever and he gives me a huge hug. If we tell him someone is coming over to our house or we're going to their house, he gets so excited. It doesn't matter who it is, either - he just loves people. Then when whoever it is comes over he is so excited to see them. He is a great example that way. He also doesn't say his L's just yet. We try to help him by saying La, la la la la...Lucy. To which he says, la, la, la, la, la...Wucy! It's too cute. Another thing Benjamin likes is to say the prayer. He still likes to bless the hole in daddy's pants that Josh got at the beginning of August. He was more concerned with the fact that dad had a hole in his pants than with the fact that his dad almost fell all the way through a roof. That's another story. Anyway, he can say the prayer all by himself and he loves to do it. In fact, the kids were practicing for the Primary program and the teacher had helped Benjamin with his part and when his part was done, he continued on to say a prayer. I just laughed. Benjamin is a smart kid and I'm totally okay with the fact that I'm about to brag about my child. He can say his ABC's and he can identify all of the letters with all of the sounds they make. He knows his colors and his shapes. He can count to 30 and he loves to count objects. Often when we are reading a book he will make me stop so he can count the people or animals or whatever. He has Brown Bear Brown Bear memorized so he often asks if he can "read" that story to me. He also has Red Hat Green Hat memorized as well. He loves to read the scriptures and acts like he knows exactly where we are when we have family scripture study. Okay, I'm done bragging for now. :-) Sure, my son has his bad traits and his bad moments and his bad days....but all in all - he is an amazing kid! He is such a huge blessing to us and to our home. He will make an amazing missionary one day...at the age of 18...if he wants to go that early. :-) He is my favorite little boy in the whole world and we're so glad he decided to come to us four years ago!

Friday, September 21, 2012

Lucy's Blessing Day

SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

I LOVE my son. He is such a joy and so wonderful and darling. I'm grateful that he is my first born. However, there is just a sweet spirit that comes with a little girl. I'll be the first to admit, I was SCARED to have a girl. I know, I AM a girl...I should have this down. However, girls scare me. Okay, wait, let me say I have some amazing girlfriends out there - Jessie, Andrea, Beth, Heidi, Belinda - all awesome friends - who are girls. :-) So I guess I should re-phrase and say that RAISING a girl scares me. Why? Well, my mom had 4 boys, then us 2 girls then another boy. I commonly heard her say, "I would take 5 more boys over another girl!" I'm CERTAIN she was referring to my sister.... because I'm an angel! At any rate, I was terrified for this little girl to come. But when she came, it was not like I expected it at all. We've had many mom and daughter special times. I just look at her and feel this giant of a spirit that just humbles and amazes me. Don't get me wrong, when I see Benjamin, I know he'll do great things, but there is just something so special about my little girl. At any rate, her blessing day was just as special as she is. Not because it was elaborate or anything, but because her actual blessing was just perfect. (I must add that I'm SO grateful to be married to the most amazing father and priesthood holder who is in tune with the Spirit...end soap box) Lucy was almost 3 months old when we blessed her and one of our bishopric members said, "You know, the older they get, the squirmier they are!" He obviously didn't know our sweet Lucy. She had fallen asleep right before Josh took her to be blessed. When Josh picked her up, she woke up. She had her eyes open the entire time and she was perfectly still...just staring and taking it all in. She even kept her pacifier in the whole time.  What made it even more special for me was that she was wearing my blessing dress. It was the same dress I was blessed in when I was her age. It is a long beautiful white dress...and slippery. Josh did a good job at not letting her slide out - Swen commented that he was afraid one time that she was going to slip right out of their hands. Good thing she didn't squirm! So here are some pictures of our sweet little Lucy on her blessing day. We are grateful she's a part of our eternal family!

that is her dress that is behind her head...she was in the process of getting dressed

Mom Howard, Me and Lucy, and Mom Huff


Something to grab onto and insert into mouth!



Friday, September 7, 2012

Lucy's Birth Story

Remember how I wrote in my last post how the awesome Belinda Olsen did a birth story of our experience with having Lucy? Well, here it is. Scroll down and you will see the video. So awesome. Thanks Belinda!



So...if anyone out there wants photos - go see Belinda - you won't be disappointed!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Lucy Marie

I know, I'm horrible. I've gotten many comments from friends saying how they're sick of going to my blog and still seeing the depression post being up...I know - how depressing. Ha ha. Anyway,
WE HAVE  A NEW BABY! 

It's true. Most everyone knows this, but here is where I tell all the details of the event. I was due June 19th. I was scheduled to have my c-section on June 19th. I had the week before my scheduled c-section all planned out. June 12th I had a hair appointment, June 13th I had an OB appointment, June 14th I was going to lunch with my co-workers because one of them was retiring, and June 15th I had an ortho appointment. June 17th (Father's Day) Elder Bednar was coming to our stake conference and I was going to be singing in the choir. Then on the 18th I was going to take off the day from work to get everything organized and ready. So June 19th at 7:30 a.m. I was going to have Lucy. I had a plan - that's the kind of girl I am - a girl with a plan. Well, come to find out - the Lord (and Lucy) also had plans - but we did not have the same plans in mind. Dang it. June 12th, I had my hair appointment - awesome-ness. June 13th, I woke up at 4 a.m. and really had to go to the bathroom. So I got up and went to the bathroom....and after I had gone to the bathroom, the fluid just kept coming. When my water broke with Benjamin I was also going to the bathroom (but at the hospital) when it happened, so I knew what to look for. At any rate, I looked in the toilet and I was pretty certain my water had just broke...well, I thought I was. I stood up and had to sit back down on the toilet. Dang it!!! Not in the plan. So I was thinking that maybe I was just over reacting. So I went and laid down. I got an occasional cramp (contractions apparently) but nothing painful or consistent. So after going to the bathroom again to let some of the fluid out, I decided that I should probably just get up and get ready. So at 5:30 a.m. I took a shower and started getting ready. I didn't want to wake Josh up because I knew he would need the sleep, I didn't want to alarm him, and I wasn't having contractions too painful to bare. So finally at 6 a.m. I decided it was a good time to tell him. He was a little taken back, but then started to hyper ventilate just a little bit. Mostly he was not sure what we were going to do with Benjamin. I knew exactly what we were going to do - we don't have the best neighbors in the world for nothing. So I told Josh to call Jessie. She knew right away what was going on. Josh says, "We think my wife's water broke." Yeah, not sure why he said "my wife" but it was funny. Anyway, she willingly took the day off of work and took care of Benjamin. If you don't know Jessica Lyn Nash Hylton - just know that she's nothing short of AMAZING!!!! So Josh took Benjamin over while I finished getting ready and packing. Josh had to ask the question of why on earth I was taking a shower and getting ready. He said that in the movies when a woman's water breaks they all start freaking out and run to the hospital. Thank goodness that I'd done this before - I knew I was alright because of my lack of contractions. Anyway, off to the hospital we went. We got there at 7 a.m. I told them I was scheduled for a c-section next week, but I thought that my water had broke. The nurses behind her and everyone else in the room immediately looked at me. The receptionist says - well that moves you up to the front of the list. They checked me in and the nurse came in. They told me it was good that I came in because it's better to be safe than sorry. PHEW - I was hoping to not feel dumb if this was a false alarm. The first nurse had me do a pee test in the toilet to check my urine. She asked if I had high blood pressure - I said no. She said that I had something in my urine that shows high blood pressure - OR it's amniotic fluid from my water breaking. So at that point I was pretty sure I was staying there that day to have a baby. The next two cute nurses came in (Marie -picture - and Sana) and sure enough my water had, indeed, broke. We called some people on our way to the hospital, to tell them we were going to the hospital because we could possibly be having the baby that day - but now we had to tell them that we were for sure having this baby.  SIX days before she was supposed to come - sigh. My mom was supposed to come on Sunday, so we told her if she couldn't be here right away, we understood. She said she might not make it till the next day, but she would see what she could do. I sent a text to my boss and she was not prepared for that either. Even my doctor was a little surprised. I told him that I wouldn't be making my appointment later that day. We had a good laugh about that. There were 2 c-sections ahead of me, so we had to wait till 11:15 to go in. We ended up having to wait a little longer. We got back there and they did a spinal block - not my favorite thing. However, I LOVED how great it worked. With Benjamin I had a fever of 101 and so when they finally got to the c-section I was shivering. With this one - I was completely relaxed. It was awesome. My doctor was cracking jokes as he was cutting me open. He said that they were taking their time with the c-section but if they needed to, they could be in the Olympics for how fast they can do a c-section. He asked what the sex of the baby was supposed to be right before he pulled her out...then he told us the good news that we didn't have to take the pink back. Awesome! The best thing that happened, that didn't happen with Benjamin, they gave her to me to hold as I was getting sewn up. I loved it. I also got to nurse her in the recovery room - also didn't happen with Benjamin. I was very grateful to have Miss Belinda there taking pictures of everything (but not the operation - only 1 other person allowed with me) so Josh didn't have to worry about it. The pictures are amazing. I'll try to post a few. When she has the slideshow on her blog, I will post a link to it. Amazing! Anyway, Lucy Marie was born at 12:04 p.m. June 13, 2012. She weighed 8 lbs 1 oz, 19.5 inches long and 8/9 apgar scores! Woot woot. And...she's beautiful. She has the most amazing spirit about her as well. I love thinking that she was just a short time ago with our Father in Heaven. I had post pardum depression with Benjamin so there were a lot of things I didn't sit and think about. With Lucy I am a lot more aware of the Spirit. It is very humbling. I do know that she is an amazing little girl who will do amazing things. As I look at her and feel of her spirit and just know she will do great things, I think of our Heavenly Father and what He sees when He looks at us. It makes me realize just how much potential we all have and who we all can become. I love this little baby Lucy so much and I'm ever so grateful to be her mother - terrified and nervous - but so grateful. I didn't understand when people said, "I love being a mom." Especially when you hear people COMPLAIN so much about their kids. At any rate, I've become one of those people. I didn't get it before - how you could love these children who take and take and take so much out of you - but I get it now. Even on the days when everything seems frustrating - there are tender mercies in the form of a smile from my new baby, a funny joke from my 3 yr old, or my husband coming in as my relief pitcher.  Wife and Mother are my two favorite titles because I have an amazing husband and two beautiful and inspiring children.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Depression

I've been meaning to write this for a very long time - so here it goes.

I've always been a happy person. Not because I have had the happiest or most perfect life, but because I've always just chosen to be happy. I do attribute my knowledge and love of a Heavenly Father and Savior, a great family, and good friends to my happiness. However, I, like all people, did/do not have the perfect life. Throughout my life I learned how to be happy. I knew that if I focused on the Lord and the Savior, if I prayed, studied my scriptures, and served those around me that I was remarkably happier. I don't know the logistics, and, quite frankly, I didn't and don't really care because I know that doing those things makes me happy. So I lived my life - happy with a bad day(s) here and there. I got married to an amazing man who fit/fits me so well, I got a good job with good benefits, I graduated college, and then I had the most darling little boy in the world. Why, then, was I so unhappy? I mean, I had a great life and I was doing everything in my life that I knew would make me happy. Why did I feel hopeless and on the verge of tears every day? Why was I so angry? About a week after I had my beautiful boy something devastating happened to me - I thought about committing suicide. Literally. I actually thought that my brand new baby and my wonderful husband would be better off without me. I had heard a lot about the baby blues and how they would eventually go away. So I suppressed my feelings and stuck it out for 4 more weeks. I do have to say that it did get better, but I never felt 100% normal again. Oh yes, insert all the comments I got and still continue to get, "Oh honey, you're NEVER normal after you have a baby - your brain is fried...etc, etc, etc." And, obviously, everyone else in the world knew exactly what was going on with me even though they had no clue what was really going on in my head. At any rate, I thought I was just a mean mom and that I was not patient or quite as loving as I had hoped I would be. But on top of that my thinking was so clouded and half the time when I spoke, I sounded like an idiot. It was all so weird for me. So I continued on with my life being a partially happy person. Every day I chose to be happy, but on some of those days the "choice" I made didn't matter - I was just not happy. A little while down the road we decided to buy a house. Our OWN house! Not only that, but it was BRAND new and we got to pick out colors and carpet and flooring and counter tops....happy day! I got a raise at work, we moved into our brand new house and life was "happy." Why, then, did I hate my life? I thought that maybe it was the incredibly long winter we were having - so we made a trek to So-Cal to visit family and to visit Josh's and my mission. It was so nice - 80 degrees! We had a lot of fun and we did a lot of fun things - but I was still not happy. Finally after months and months of unexplained crying and anger and hopelessness, I asked a friend of mine how she felt when she found out she had depression. Everything she said - I could put a check mark next to. So I finally went and saw a doctor who confirmed what I had thought - I have depression. I was so incredibly embarrassed. I was one of those people on the commercials and bill boards - you know, the ones I would half laugh at because that was NOT me at all. The doctor told me that having my baby probably triggered something in my brain and that is what most likely started my chemical imbalance. Wait, WHAT? A chemical imbalance? My whole life I thought that happiness was a choice and now this doctor is telling me that sometimes you don't get to make that choice because your body is out of whack?? Slightly skeptical of this diagnosis and the medication she was giving me, I decided to give it a try. I was on it for a week and I finally felt like me again...not the me that was partially happy, but the me that was before I had my son. I could think, I could reason, I wasn't quick to get angry, I was....I was....(reluctant to say it so soon but...) I was HAPPY!!! Months went by and now it's almost been a year and I'm happy. I'm that happy person who I used to be - mommy brain (and now pregnancy brain) and all! I have hard days and some days that just downright stink - but through it all, I'm happy.
So to all of you out there who think that being happy is a choice - I do agree with you...to an extent. I was a non-believer of the whole chemical imbalance thing - until it happened to me. And I'm hear to tell all of you that it's real. To you out there who have depression but are too afraid or embarrassed to do anything about it - you don't have to live this way. There are so many options out there - I chose the medication route, but there are other ways you can go - just explore your options.

We are meant to be a happy people with some bad days. Not sad people with some good days.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Think PINK

most of you know

WE'RE HAVING A BABY
GIRL!

Well, the ultra sound tech said she's 85 to 90% sure it's a girl. I'd say those are pretty good odds. I am due on June 19th and everything is looking good.
Yes, we have a name picked out! Her name is going to be Lucy Marie Huff. We're excited...slightly terrified. I've gotten so used to a boy and boy stuff that this will be a new adventure for all of us.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Nog of the Egg

More winter Bingo
 
EGG NOG - CHECK
Josh doesn't love eggnog, but he has actually found some that he likes.

As you can tell, Benjamin loves the stuff. He always asks for more.

Delicious!
Staying up till midnight - check!
Okay, this is definitely a McMurdie square. Staying up till midnight for the Huffs happens often. Not because we love it, but because Josh works late and sometimes after he gets home is the only time we see each other. Often times he works till 11:30 or midnight. Josh decided to take it one step further and he stayed up one night(morning) till 5 a.m. No, that is not a typ-o, Yes, 5 a.m. He was working on a final paper - it was 28 pages long and had a lot of information. Needless to say, he was pretty tired the next day - especially since he had to wake up at 8 when Benjamin woke up. I wish I could say he is all done with that madness, but he's not. He now can't sleep at night. I got up this morning at 3 a.m. to go to the bathroom (thank you pregnancy) and Josh was still awake. He couldn't sleep. Hopefully he'll get back on track soon!

Eat breakfast for dinner - CHECK!
This actually happens almost weekly for us. Mostly because I'm tired a lot more lately and I also really love breakfast food. However, the time I am talking about was when we got together with the McMurdies and Hyltons for a night of awesomeness breakfast. I was NOT disappointed. Wow. The crowning touch was Jessie's homemade BACON ICE CREAM! That's right folks, bacon. It was sweet with bacon chunks. Not bad...and very interesting. I wouldn't go asking for it at Charlie's or anything...but it was pretty good.

Well, there are some of our winter bingo updates for now. After this weekend there will be more....woot woot. So excited to party it up some more. I love Christmas time!