Hugo gets his picture taken

The most stressful part of having Hugo was that most of my family was out of town: my mom was in Hawaii for two weeks, my dad was in Las Vegas and then flew to Oregon, Larry's mom and step-dad were in California, my Aunt who was supposed to be our backup plan was in Saint George running a marathon.  Luckily, Marissa was able to watch my kids for a morning and our sweet friends the Heywoods watched them for the rest of the weekend.  And our lucky streak continued because my sister Candice ended up being in town for a video shoot when Hugo was about a week old and she had just enough time to squeeze in a photo shoot for Hugo and she let me cry on her shoulder a bit too because I am an emotional mess for two weeks after having a baby.  I mean, who wouldn't get emotional looking at this sweet little guy?

 This is from Larry's favorite book to read to the boys.

The night before the photo shoot, I realized I didn't have any cute things to dress Hugo in that actually fit him so I cut up a maternity shirt and made him this little hat and leggings that I painted constellations on.

All photos by Candice Stringham Photography

Hugo

My sweet Niece Lydia was born yesterday, which has me thinking about six months ago when Hugo was born.  It seems like Hugo has been a part of the family much longer than that. I feel a little shy about sharing these pictures from the hospital, they almost seem a little too special and personal, but I never want to forget that day.

Like all my boys, Hugo came about two weeks early. I was babysitting while my sister Marissa and her husband were at the temple so I had a house full of kids and about 20 minutes after Marissa left, I started having strong contractions and knew this was it.  20 minutes later they were about every 5 minutes apart and it was time to head to the hospital.  When I texted Larry, he said he would meet me at the hospital, and I laughed and said he would have to come get me, I wasn't exactly up for driving myself.  I was really worried that they would turn me away because things still didn't exactly feel urgent to me and it took three days to have Ollie.  They hooked me up to a monitor and my contractions were every 1 to 5 minutes apart. My doctor said it was time to check me and and break my water!

We called Lisa and she came to take pictures.  I was nervous about having someone else there, it's always been just me and Larry, but I loved having a dear friend there to distract me and I am so grateful for the pictures she took.  

A few hours later, Hugo joined us.  I couldn't believe how fast and smooth everything went.  He screamed like I've never heard a newborn scream before.

I don't know if it's his personality or just the fact that we are a little more experienced this time around, but Hugo is certainly the mellowist/happiest baby that I've had.  He's so incredibly sweet and looking at him, I marvel that there was ever any debate over whether or not to try to add one more little person to our family.  Things feel complete with him here.