Zoë's Video Birth Announcement

Birth announcement from Kit Hughes on Vimeo.

2 Weeks

I took some pictures of miss Zoë today to show how much she is growing!  It's amazing how slow the last two weeks of my pregnancy went...and how fast these first two weeks of Zoë's life have flown by.  I'll post more pictures later of all the fun we've been having this week. 

sweet baby

getting bigger

striking a pose

Zoë's first tummy time

Penny wants to play too

swaddle-schmaddle

Penny meets Zoë

Penny meets Zoë from Kit Hughes on Vimeo.

1 Week

One week ago our world completely changed.  Here are a few pictures from the first precious moments of Zoë's life.

Welcome Zoë!

So happy & proud

Yep, I'm your mommy

Falling in love

Baby's first bath

All sudsed up

Washing all that dark hair

Meeting Gigi & Deeda

A Year Ago Today...

One of Lisa's favorite quotes:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
~Nelson Mandela

Lisa, Kristen, Me & Lori in 2001

Posted on Lisa's Carepages today by her family:

Our dear, dear Team Lisa,
I really don't know what to say to you but I feel compelled to say something. Today is a sad day as it ends our first year of life without Lisa. I think we were all anxious for this day to come, hoping it would be a milestone that would magically lessen our pain and sorrow. It is in a way as I personally find more of my thoughts of Lisa to be good memories rather than the painful memories of her illness and this day one year ago. The past year has been filled with all of you and your messages, calls, cards, kindnesses, donations and support. We know that as we think of our gratitude to you that you too are thinking of Lisa today and everyday.

As you all know, our family's grief extends far beyond what we anticipated just a month ago. We take some comfort in the fact that Doug is with Lisa and she is taking good care of him. We also hope they are driving fast cars with music blaring, playing golf everyday and that the stock market in Heaven is permanently at an all time high. Lisa has taught us how to grieve and survive. We have learned that it is the positive thoughts and memories that get us over the rough spots and we have learned to cry at a moment's notice and not be embarrassed about it.

We have also learned that life goes on and take great comfort in the fact that our friends continue to remember Lisa and Doug. Our first grandchild will be born in late March and Lisa's good friends, Kit and Laura Hughes, have named their new baby Zoë Annelisa. My brother, Mike, had emergency triple bypass surgery 5 days ago and is doing great thanks to his extra angels. And your generosity in supporting organizations seeking cures for leukemia (including financial support, hikes, marathons, bone marrow drives) is astounding and we are so grateful.

We have decided to shut down Lisa's Carepages at the beginning of the year. I will send you information about ordering copies which include Lisa's messages and all the messages to her. It is a beautiful chronology using Lisa's own words and those of her "team" to inspire us and remind us of her courage, love and optimism. More to follow on that.

Meanwhile, enjoy this day as Lisa and Doug would have – pretend Dad and Daughter are together snorkeling the beautiful reefs of the Bahamas or just busy taking care of all of us.

We love you.

Lynn, Chris and Shannon

An Angel Among Us

We're home!  We were discharged yesterday around noon and have been slowly learning how to take care of all our little angel's needs.  I still feel like it's all a dream.  Our time in the hospital went by so fast.  I'm shaking my head in awe that just 4 days ago she was still a part of me and we were trying everything we could to bring labor on.  Which, by the way, I have to tell you all that I have a "Scalini's baby"!  For those of you who don't know what that means I'll tell ya.  Scalini's restaurant has a nationally famous eggplant parmesan dish that is supposed to put full-term pregnant women into labor.  Well, by Sunday I was desperate to avoid a Tuesday scheduled induction...so, I thought what can we lose!  No kidding, my water broke less than 12 hours after we ate there.  So miss Zoë gets her Scalini's onesie and we get a gift certificate! 

All dressed up & striking a pose

Kit and I have been talking about how it's been an adjustment to start calling this little one Zoë after she's been Baby B for so long.  We find ourselves calling her "Zoë B"...I call it her "transition" name. ;)  But speaking of her name, I wanted to share with you all a little more about her sweet little name.  Zoë is a name I have always liked, but I haven't always known that is what I wanted to name our daughter.  In fact, for the entirety of our relationship our daughter's name was going to be Ella after Kit's grandmother.  Well, the more we talked about names I noticed that I would bring up Ella but Kit never would.  I asked him about it once and he said, "Well, I guess I just always think that's who our first baby was."  Tears filled my eyes and he didn't have to say anything else.  We had this name so picked out and with our first pregnancy there was never a question that would be the baby's name if it was a girl.  So, after years of loving that name, I let go of it.

So, who was this girl?  One of the reasons I have always liked the name Zoë is it's meaning.  Zoë is a Greek word that means "Life".  In the original Greek text of the Bible it's this word that is used when Jesus speaks of Eternal Life.  I added this name to our list a couple of months ago and it wasn't long until we began to feel that this is who she was.  After so much death and loss...this angel is our gift of "Life".  And it just took spending a morning with her to realize, yep, she's our Zoë.  We think it suits her already!  

Annelisa is of course after our precious and so missed Lisa Anne.  We have known almost as long as I've been pregnant that we wanted this to be a part of her name.  It still aches so much that Zoë will never know Lisa and that Lisa is not here to share in this miracle with us.  Oh, I know her spirit is with us...and I have felt it so much in the past few days.  But, it doesn't take away the fact that it still hurts that she's gone.  I hope in some way that giving her this name will honor Lisa's spirit and help carry her life & story into the next generation.   

Zoë latched on to her favorite person

Ok, now I have to say this picture is such a portrait of how things are...and, I'm sure, what's to come.  This girl loves her daddy!  And here she is just two days old letting us know with her little look that holding onto him is really all she needs.  But, seriously, it really is amazing the way he is with her.  First of all, he is a master swaddler (thanks to Brian and Page for giving us the Happiest Baby on the Block video...no, seriously...it's been a lifesaver!).  He can calm this baby down in seconds with his mad baby whisperer skills!  And he is so sweet with her.  I had no idea how much it would melt my heart to see how tender he is with her.  I didn't know just how much watching him become a daddy would make me fall deeper in love.

Please accept my apology if I haven't returned an email or phone call.  We are still adjusting and trying to sleep when we can.  But know that all of your messages have been so loving and well received.  We can feel you all rejoicing with us and it feels good...really good.

And then there were three...

Please join us in praising God for the safe arrival of our precious angel!

Zoë Annelisa Hughes

born at 2:45am on 11/11/2008

7lbs 11oz

21 1/2 inches long

Mommy's cheeks & Daddy's hair

Rocking our world and stealing our hearts ever since...

40 Weeks

                                                                                         40 week belly

Well, here we are November 2nd and no signs of baby.  I guess that's not exactly true...there are plenty of signs of her hanging out and doing her dance in my belly.  There's just no signs of her actually making a live appearance...at least not today.  And to be honest with you, we have really enjoyed having the extra time to take care of things and spend some quality time together.  Kit and I had a perfect weekend together.  I finished some laundry and cleaning on Saturday and then Saturday night we had a great dinner at Brio.  The Brio at Perimeter has a great outdoor patio by a lake and the weather was beautiful.  So we sat outside and ate delicious pasta and soaked up what could possibly be our last date night...for a while at least. 

Today we ran errands together and Penny & I went for a walk in the Highlands while Kit got some immunization updates at CVS (good little tidbit for you Atlanta folks--that CVS has a minute clinic that treats common illnesses and does vaccinations.  They even take insurance--very convenient!).  And those of you who know me well know that no Sunday would be complete without the uninterrupted-marathon nap! ;)  Another luxury I know we'll be missing so very soon.  Tonight we're going to kick back and watch a movie.  And Kit's going to make us mint-chocolate chip milkshakes.  Yum!  I really couldn't have asked for a better weekend with my hubby.

I know some women are really miserable by this time in pregnancy and don't really have the energy to do anything.  I am actually feeling better than I was a few weeks ago...which is I'm sure why I haven't really minded that she isn't here yet.  I am still working and plan on going in on Tuesday if she hasn't come.  My co-workers look at me like I'm crazy for still being there...but, honestly the longer I work, the more time off with pay I'll have stored up.  So, that's really my incentive to keep it up.

I have been having some signs of early labor: contractions, cramps, lower back aches, and other things I won't mention...but, nothing has been consistent.  Everything I have read says that with these signs labor can start in a matter of hours or days.  I guess we're working with days.  It's weird the way things have started moving in slow motion.  I have said this before, but knowing that at any moment labor could start and B could be here really makes the days go slow.  It's so hard to grasp that this very day could be the last one as we know it.  Thanks to all of you who have been calling, texting, emailing, facebooking to check on B's status.  I can't believe after all this time she really is going to be here in a matter of days!