Merry Christmas from The Hughes Zoo

"For unto us a child his born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called.....

Wonderful, Counselor,
The Mighty God
The everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Wishing you a season of PEACE, LOVE, JOY and HOPE that can only our Savior, Jesus Christ, can provide.

bill jenn lexy tori & baby boy (due Feb 14th)

The New 'Do

In case you didn't crack the code of Bill's previous post (which he has now deleted), Lexy and her little scissors decided to cut all of Tori's hair off last Thursday afternoon.

I was tutoring, and the girls were both supposed to be asleep. I had left out Lexy's Arts & Crafts bin on her little table figuring she might wake up sooner and would need something to occupy her. Although she had a episode with a friend's doll's hair last spring, she really hasn't had any issues with the rules for scissors, so I didn't think it would be a problem.

So, apparently neither of them ever went to sleep, and Lexy had invited Tori out into the family room to do Arts and Crafts.... ON HER HAIR.

They both walked up to the table while I was tutoring with huge grins on their faces saying, "Look Mom! Look at Tori's hair!"

I was in total shock, as was the girl I was tutoring. We were speechless. Thankfully, I had just heard a talk that morning at MOPS about how we shouldn't be yelling/screaming at our kids. Since the message was still fresh in my mind, I heeded the advice and chose silence instead of screaming.

I took Tori back to bed. Lexy resumed her arts & crafts (ON PAPER, this time), and I finished tutoring (although my mind was a little preoccupied, as you can imagine!).

When I had finished tutoring, I made a 911 Hair Emergency call to a hair-stylist friend and she said she could try to fix it at her house right then. It was a tough fix, since there wasn't much hair left to work with.

So, here she is in her new 'do. It's cute.... but clearly, not a hair cut I would EVER in a MILLION YEARS give a 2 year old.



Since then, Bill and I have had plenty of discussion with Lexy about WHY she would cut her sister's hair. Bottom line, we think there might have been a touch of jealousy over her curls. Which is even a BIGGER parenting issue to tackle. Ugh.

We don't believe in the concept of karma, but we did end up in at Urgent Care on Friday night for Lexy, who jumped off the couch and hit her forehead on the edge of a chair resulting in a little, but deep, cut that, thankfully, didn't require stitches. She is currently sporting about 8 steristrips (sp?) on her forehead and has been told to keep in dry for 5 days. I guess swimming is out of the question!

The good news in all of this is that Tori seems totally unfazed by the fact that she now looks completely different. In fact, those pictures were taken Friday afternoon when she was looking at herself in our bedroom mirrors, admiring her new look. I think she might even LIKE it.

I just hope it grows a little before we take our family Christmas picture....

Fwoot Smoothies

Back when Tori was an infant and trips to the pediatrician seemed like a weekly occurrence (usually due to ear infections), I struck a deal with Lexy.

During those trips to the doctor, enduring the long waits both in the waiting room and then again in the examination room with a squirmy then 2-yr-old wasn't fun. For Lexy or me. Knowing her love of fruit smoothies, I thought maybe the promise of one after a well-behaved appointment would do the trick.

Sure enough, she behaved like an angel. And when she thought about disobeying, all it took was a little reminder about what her prize would be and she would quickly whip into shape.

That was a year and a half ago.

And what I thought would be a one-time thing has turned into an EVERY TIME WE SEE THE DOCTOR FOR ANY REASON thing.

Needless to say, we have a lot of fruit smoothies.

This morning, we had the pleasure (ha!) of another visit to our dear sweet Dr. Kim who now knows us by name. Today's visit makes two Fridays in a row. :) (And Tori has a WELL baby check-up scheduled next Tuesday!)

It seems that Lexy has picked up pink eye from someone either at school or on the playground. LOVELY.

Thankfully, we caught it somewhat early, and I hope she'll make a speedy recovery. (And you can join me in praying that Tori doesn't get it!)
[[UPDATE: (since I'm late in posting this....) Lexy is fine now. NONE of us got it. Amazing. ]]

I upped the stakes a bit on Lexy this morning as we drove to the doctor's office. Due to the extremely contagious nature of pink eye, I thought it wise for her to not go play with all the toys in the ped's office, but rather sit in a boring chair on the other side of the room with me. So I told her today's new rule and explained my reasoning and then told her that getting a "froot smoothie" was depended on her obeying my rule.

She did such a good job!! She and I sat at one end of the room guessing what movie the kids on the other end of the room might be watching. She asked a couple of times to go play with the toys-- especially at one point when we were the only ones in the waiting room-- but seemed determined to obey despite her disappointment when I said "No."

So, after the appointment (and confirmed diagnosis), we headed to Robek's for her well-earned fruit smoothie. This ritual has become so common-place, that we also have standing rules for how one is to drink said fruit smoothie. She knows that she MAY NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, REMOVE THE LID of the cup, lest it spill all over her and her car seat. Removal of the lid will result in immediate disposal of her fruit smoothie. (I mean business)

This last rule makes life a little challenging when she (and Tori) get to the bottom of the cup. You know, that moment when you really need to dig the straw around and get the last inch or so of smoothie. Generally, we end up throwing the cup away with a little still in it because of strict lid removal policy.

So, this morning, we arrived home with smoothies in hand and I got busy cleaning up the kitchen (or something) and kinda tuned out for a second. I do remember hearing the silverware drawer open and the familiar clang of a utensil being grabbed, but I paid it no mind.

And then I realized that the girls were both sitting under the kitchen table.
This is what I found.



Total partners in crime, spooning out the last of their beloved "Fwoot Smoothies" in hiding because they'd broken the cardinal rule. I couldn't help but laugh.

They didn't make a mess (hooray!) and they were actually enjoying each other's company.
Win, win, I guess.
So much for my rule.

Week in Review

Busy week at the Hughes Zoo.

Here are a few pictures that tell the story:

Lexy decided to dress Tori up as a princess, complete with click-clack shoes, one morning. In trying to capture the candid moments, this is the best picture I got. :)

Mouth full of teeth. But, oh, what a sweet grin.

"How big's the baby?"

We visited the local pumpkin patch this week, and due to their fantastic mobility, this was one of the few times (maybe the only time) that they were both in the same place at the same time. Needless to say, I didn't get too many pictures. But rest assured that we WILL be going back for some priceless Kodak moments. And some pumpkins. :)

We also went to Disneyland (same day as the Pumpkin Patch, incidentally. Talk about a marathon day!) this week, and Lexy still LOVES the Teacups!

We found the treasure!!

And the aftermath of the chocolate-chip pancakes! :)

Sisters

Sometimes they like each other.... :)

Livin' large

So, our cute, sweet, little* Tori had her 2 month check-up a week ago. Turns out she's not so little.

She weighed in at 15 lbs 9 oz and was 25 inches long, which is "the size of an average 6 month old" according to the pediatrician, Dr. Kim. Lexy, who we thought was 'big' at the time, weighed 11 lbs 13 oz and was 23 1/2 inches at her 2 mo appt.

Here are some comparison shots for you....

July 6, 2007

September 2, 2007

I swear, she's not on steriods. Strictly mama's milk.

It's been cold and rainy here all day, so I had to get out some warmer clothes for Tori to wear. I dug into Lexy's old clothes--her size 6 month winter clothes-- and they were a perfect fit.

Lexy is thoroughly enjoying having a playmate around the house....

Tea Party!!













Hanging out with Baby Tori

And a couple shots of sweet Tori:

What's up?

Just Chillin'

Taking a nap at the farm.