Trick or Treat

We are moving in just one week, but I wanted to take a boxing break and send out a quick Halloween update. Henry insisted on the Thomas the Train costume this year. He's only 2 but he can be very opinionated.

We took a weekend roadtrip to Boerne. Henry and Taylor spent most of the afternoon playing on Uncle Art's golf cart, stationary of course. We would take rides now and then looking for deer, cows and rabbits. Henry also polished up on his horse shoe skills. We visited a pumpkin patch and a wild west ranch. It was a nice Hughs-Wilson reunion.

Click here to see more Pumkin Pics >>

Guess Who's 2?

Just before Henry’s 2nd birthday, he got a small stomach bug. That didn’t hold up the festivities though. We went to Chucky Cheese with the Hughs clan on Tuesday, then had his birthday party at The Frontiers of Flight Museum on Friday afternoon. I cleaned out Henry’s room, gave a bunch of toys away in anticipation of the events. Not sure I donated enough – his room is still packed full of toys. Plus he’s got gifts still in boxes that I haven’t had time to assemble. Click here to see more birthay pics >>
The following weekend was TX/OU. Kelly, Joel and little Katie Lynn came in town from Oklahoma. Our horns lost despite Henry’s “Texas Fight!”. Henry loves football and yelling, “All fall down!” He can hike the ball and catch it if you toss it really lightly right into his chest. He’s also into baseball. He plays tee-ball inside the house, which is fine right now since most of our knick-knacks are now boxed up. Speaking of boxing up -- Our house has been on the market for 2 months with zero activity. But now it looks like we’ll be moving out of our super-cute craftsman bungalow after all. It’s funny because Matt and I had decided to re-list our house in the spring. Then suddenly, right when our contract was due to expire, we get 2 offers! Nothing is certain right now, but things are looking up on the home front. Did I mention it’s like the WORST time to be selling a house? The Dallas Morning news reported a 19% drop in home sells last month, a 7-year low, so we are fortunate to get multiple offers.
It’s comforting to think baby Jake will come home and have his own room. I’m 20-weeks along now. We just went for that super-ultrasound that zooms in on all his major organs. The doctor asked if we’re sure about the due date because Jake looks a little bigger than 5 months. Guess we’ll have another little linebacker soon. I took Henry in for his 2 year check-up and he’s still in the 90th percentile on weight and 80% on height. He’s also cutting his 2-year molars and has a girlfriend named Karley. I plopped them down on this bench for a pic and here’s what I got. Not sure where he learned this move. Easy now big boy!

A Big One

If you know my family, you know my dad and brother are huge into bass fishing. Taylor is catching on too. Matt -- not so much. He's broken a rod, casted another right off the boat and caught more trees, stumps and trash than fish. But his luck changed a couple weekends ago while night fishing with Mike. Check out his catch!

Now I have to brag about my other man. Henry is talking ALOT now. There isn't much he doesn't understand. And he's a little chatterbox in the car pointing out all the airplanes, buses, bicycles, doggies -- whatever we pass. He says, "Cars go zoom-zoom." Tells me when he's hungry, wants to listen to music. And in just the last two weeks says, "Poo-poo. Potty." This statement is hard to ignore. I check his pants, and usually it's just a warning for what's coming. So I decided it might be a good time to start potty traing. He's a little young for that. Most boys don't start that until closer to their 3rd birthday. Henry's 2nd birthday is still a couple weeks away. But I figure it wouldn't hurt to test the water and so far this week he's done an excellent job as long as I take him to the potty every :30 min to an hour. And since I'm prego and peeing a lot, it's working out for the both of us. It could still be 6 months or a year before he's 100%, but I'm happy with his progress so far.

Henry started school this week! Actually it's just Mother's Day Out once a week from 9-2. He loves it! Doesn't mind me leaving him. Maybe because his friend Max is in the class too.

Matt took a trip to Vegas a few weekends ago. Henry and I couldn't let him have all the fun, so we joined Bob and Mellie at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort in San Antonio. I'm not sure who had more fun in the pool. And Henry took his first pony ride. Yee-haw Hank!

Baby Jake
Henry's going to be a big brother! I'm 3 months pregnant. Matt and I were in Cabo about 12 weeks ago...


Anyway, his name is Jake. I always knew I'd be a boy mom and I took a gender test to confirm. It claims to be 90% accurate. I peed in a cup that had little crystals in it. It immediately turned green. Really it turned a dark green, so we're really pretty sure it's a boy. If it had stayed yellow or turned orange, it would be a girl. We will confirm these results in a couple of months at my 20-week ultrasound appointment.


The first trimester was good. I wasn't sick at all, just either tired and hungry all the time. When I was prego with Henry, it was fabulous. No real signs of being pregnant except a swollen belly. That's probably because I was sitting in an air-conditioned office all day at my computer. This time I'm chasing and lifting a 32 lb. 2-year-old all day; and it doesn't help that it's 100 degrees outside.

The last couple of weeks have been better. Not quite as tired or hungry. I did go to bed at 8:30 last night but that's only because I didn't sleep the night before. I was too anxious about our new house.


Yep, we're moving. We found this cute, little house, in a fabulous neighborhood on Monday. And now that we have a contract on it, I'm sleeping a little better. Not great because I'm worried now about selling our house. It should be on MLS later today or tomorrow. If you know of a buyer, email me! We're in a bit of a time-crunch. Our contract says we have to sell ours within 45-days to get it. YIKES! I'll keep you posted.

Church Hurts
Sunday morning Matt, Henry and I were at 9 a.m. Mass, and Henry, our little angel, was actually sitting very nicely between us playing with his airplane and toy car being very quiet and just a good, sweet boy. Our kneeler was down because he'd spent the early part of Mass climbing on and off the "step". This was probably the best church experience he was ever having until he decided to look down at the kneeler below his feet. When he leaned forward, he got top heavy and did a face plant into the L-bracket that holds the kneelers. The shock knocked the breath out of him, and we knew he was about to explode in a fit that would have thunder-struck the church, so I whisked him up, handed him to Matt, who ran out of the church, out of the foyer and actually got outside where he let out a very loud, inconsolable scream. Matt was rubbing his head and noticed blood dripping all down his arm. (Apparently head injuries really bleed). Matt raced inside the church looking for some paper towels. Of course both bathrooms were occupied. A nice woman found some paper towels and helped console Henry. Meanwhile, I'm still in church, singing along thinking Henry just has a small bump and he and Matt will be back any minute. I looked up to see the usher and Matt storming up the aisle saying, "Come on!"

We thankfully only live about a mile away from Church, thus got home quickly. And Henry stopped crying on the way home. We gave Henry medicine (Ibuprofen), washed the blood off his head and called Erin. Luckily Henry's aunt, is an ER Physician's Assistant (Taylor's Mom). She gave us great directions that stated if we could part the wound and move it around with our fingers, then staples were warranted. So off we went to the Medical City ER. Since that's where Erin works, she called ahead and told her buddies we were on our way. (Such a fabulous sister-in-law!)

Henry was a trooper, no more crying. The nurse put some numbing oinment on his cut and bandaged him up like a war-hero. Must have been good stuff because he didn't even cry when they stapled his head! (Can you see it in this pic? It's in his hair.) The doctor and nurse also checked him for head trauma (concussion), but he was okay. We were in-and-out in about 2 hrs. About 2 minutes into the drive home Henry fell asleep. He slept for over 3 hours and was back to his old self again, albeit with a staple in his head.

Here's Henry with his "get-well-soon" present from Matt's co-workers. It's fun getting sympathy gifts!

Hughs Family Trip
We spent a week in Orange Beach/Gulf Shores, AL. on a Hughs family trip. I didn't think much of Alabama before the trip, but as you'll see by the pics, it's beautiful. Can you believe how white the sand is? Click here to see the pics>>

And the weekend before that trip we headed back to Victoria. Matt's sister and family were in town visiting from Minneapolis. Henry had a blast hanging with his cousins. It was nice having three energetic play pals to entertain him the whole time. Now I understand why people have more kids. Click here to see the pics >>

Oh and I forgot to mention. I finally finished the kitchen and refinishing the hardwood floors. But really that was like 2 months ago. It took forever to get it all done, but it's been nice having no home projects in the works.

A little R & R
Matt and I just got back from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The trip was “Muy fabuloso!” One of the best tropical places we’ve been and we’ve been around.


Here’s a re-cap:
Day 0: Take Henry to Austin for the baby exchange with Gram Mellie. Our little Longhorn enjoyed running around campus and shopping at the Co-Op.
Day 1: Matt and I land in San Jose and take a short shuttle to the Westin. We were starvin’-marvin so the first thing we did was look for food. The hotel was having Mexican Night downstairs so we grazed around the buffet and left with swollen bellies and a grin. We wondered around the hotel and found the deli, a.k.a. the place to buy cheap beer and wine – Score! Unfortunately it was closed but we made a mental note then hoped on a shuttle and headed back to the lobby. Yep, the hotel was SO big, they had shuttles that would pick you up and drive you around. Matt and I, chatty as we are, struck up a conversation with this lady who told us about an off-the-map hot spot. We 86ed the lobby and headed to the Grand Regina. Another score! More about that later…
Day 2: Back to the deli where we loaded up on chips, beer and my secret Sangria ingredients. In the room, call me crafty, I whipped up some Sangria in our ice bucket then poured them into an insulted tall boy I’d brought from home. Matt and I lounged on the beach all morning sipping sangria and cold beer. Had lunch, then lounged some more – ahhh, a perfect vacation. That evening we headed into town and ate at this super-authentic Mexican restaurant called Deseos. Their specialty was flaming queso – Arriba!






Day 3: More lounging on the beach, then lunch by the pool. More sangria and beer. Then we decided to make our move to the Grand Regina. The Westin is built right into the cliffs. The vacation homes are connected like little stucko homes coming right out of the rocks. The Grand Regina is up a winding path at the top of the cliffs. These are the “luxury vacation homes”. Forget the plastic lounge chairs by the pool. This place had pool-side beds with panoramic views, and a very accommodating staff. Notice how we are the only ones in the pictures. No one was up there! Crazy! It was so exclusive, no one even used it. I mean we saw a few people but really it was like having the resort all to ourselves. That night we just lounged on their sofas and watched the lights flicker down the coast. There was even a fireworks show down the way. Heaven!
Day 4: Hoped in a cab headed south to the Hacienda Del Mar. Our good friends Steph and Jeff happen to be vacationing in Cabo too. I pulled a surprise out of my beach bag – two large bottles of my home-made Sangria. Yep, it was a hit. That went dry right when happy hour started. It was buy-one-get-one beers. We got two buckets. Then got hungry and wondered down the beach to eat. Jeff ordered shots so the walk back to our loungers is a bit fuzzy. We all slept for about 2 hours not really knowing where the day had gone. We got dressed and headed downtown for some grub and more beer. Fun-times! Day 5: Steph and Jeff arrived at our hotel around 11. We wanted to be especially hospitable hosts, so we took them straight up to the Grand Regina. Again, no one in site, except the wait staff who were very happy to have customers. We lounged on those cool foam beds, swam in the infinity pool, had lunch then ventured down to the Grand’s lower pool. We didn’t want to leave but wanted to go into town again for dinner and drinks. We had lobster and bevs at this wonderful restaurant right by the marina. Lots of friends recommended Squid Row for drinks. Yep, we were the oldies in that club. This was Dirty Dancing on steroids. I was embarrassed for the 16 year-olds grinding girl-on-girl. Really my jaw was on the floor. Matt and Jeff seemed to like the eye candy.
Day 6: All good things have to end. We had lunch by the pool then jumped on a flight back to Dallas. We got home about 10 p.m. then left at 10 a.m. for Victoria to pick up Henry. My parents came too. They hadn’t been to Matt’s parent’s new house yet, so they tagged along. Our parents get along like peas and carrots. But I guess they have known each other for years now. I mean, we’ve been married a long time - 8 wonderful years J.

In big V, we played dominos, savored Bob’s amazing BBQ and enjoyed being back with our boy. It was like a second vacation. Just before we left, Bob had a package delivered. He and Mellie bought a 1955 MG TF roadster. Henry fondly calls it, and all of Bob’s MG’s, “Beep-Beeps”.

For more Cabo pics, Click Here >>

Boating with Babies
We took Henry on his first boat ride. Not on Pop's boat. Our friend's Pete and Amy have a lakehouse and ski boat at Possum Kingdom. They brought little Christian who was only about 6 weeks old. Sarah and Kyle brought 8 month-old Kai. Henry is 20 months now. Hot mama's, right?
It's crazy how much things have changed since my last Possum Kingdom blog entry -- click and then scroll down to "A 'Whoo-Hoo' 4th ~".
Henry was great on the boat. They have this platform off the back where you put your skis on. Henry was able to stand and splash in the water from there. He didn't even mind the life jacket.
I took Henry back to the zoo with his friends Xander, Grant and Charlie. His girlfriend Karley was also there looking cute as can be. After seeing a few animals, we went to the kiddie park and splashed around. Karley was checking out Henry's jelly belly. Too cute -- I just wanna squeeze him! "Cheese" -- For Mother's day everyone came to our house for a little BBQ. CLICK HERE to see more pics.

New Friends

Henry has so many new friends, and more due soon! So far all baby boys. Henry's cool with that. Aren't they precious! In case you know my friends, their parents are:

RJ -- Bob & Renee

Charlie -- Shannon & Rob

Kai -- Sarah & Kyle

Christian -- Pete & Amy

And Henry's newest bud, Noah, belongs to Sean & Kelly. Okay, so this pic of Kelly is literally just minutes after she gave birth. Is she a freaking rockstar or what?

Here are Easter pics. Better late than never, right? Henry especially liked the confetti eggs that Grampa Bob and Gram Mellie brought. And he did a pretty good job hunting for eggs. We had a practice run up at church the weekend before, so he knew exactly what to do when he saw all his eggs scattered around the backyard.

The Easter bunny brought him a big present -- a slide! Santa was suppose to bring it at Christmas, but the elves said that was a "seasonal product" and we'd have to wait a few months. Now the backyard is his favorite place to play ... besides Grammie & Pop's or Tay-Tay's house.

Did I mention it snowed Easter weekend? Yep, that's why Hank and Matt are all bundled up. Crazy!