Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas! In anticipation of sending out baby announcements in the next few weeks, we've decided not to also send out Christmas cards, but to post our "Christmas" pictures on our blog. Our friend Val took them and you can check out more of her stunningly creative work on her website at http://lgracephotos.blogspot.com.

It's truly hard to believe that another year has gone by and that it's time to reflect back on 2008. Aside from realizing that the 2000's are quickly coming to a close and that we are both quickly approaching our 30's, we also celebrated our 4th anniversary, our 3rd summer in Lancaster, our 2nd trip to Disney, and of course our 1st pregnancy!

The year started on a super high note and we wondered if the rest of the year was going to be able to keep up. Less than 5 weeks apart in February and March, I (Brian) took two trips to Florida! (which doesn't even count being in Tallahassee the previous December for a wedding!) The first was my Christmas present from Brynne's dad and her grandfather, and included staying at Pap Pap's condo in Bradenton, 4 beautiful days of golf with her dad, her uncle Pat, and family friend Mick, a visit to the Pittsburgh Pirates' Spring Training facility, and the best orange juice I've ever tasted from Mixon's Fruit Farm. While we were suffering in Florida, Brynne got to spend some good, quality time in cold, snowy Pittsburgh with her family and friends.

The second trip to Florida was strictly business. Brynne and I were "hired" by my parents to "baby sit" my then 15 year-old sister, Kathryn at Walt Disney World, while they toured Israel with some of their best friends. It was extremely taxing, hard work for us, but we fought to see the silver lining in it all :) In all seriousness, I'm not sure we even had as much fun in Lake Tahoe on our honeymoon! We jumped on the beds of our Polynesian Resort hotel room, stayed out at the theme parks until 3 am (you can do that when you stay at a Disney resort and don't have parents with you!), lounged by the volcano pool, ate huge buckets of ice cream, and had the time of our lives with Kate.

In May, my brother Chris joined us for a 5-mile race in and around Lancaster City, and then celebrated with us the very next morning when we found out that we were pregnant. While the last 8 months have had their share of challenges, the excitement and joy of bringing a new life into our families have overshadowed them all. Brynne's pregnancy was made a little bit easier by sharing the experience with our pregnant sister-in-law, Bethany, and our pregnant friends Allison, Betsy, Sharon, Yolanda, Julie, and Sarah, just to name a few.

Another significant change for us came at the end of July when I decided to go back to teaching high school math. Unlike my first 3 years of teaching freshmen and Algebra 1, I now have juniors and seniors and Precalculus and Calculus!!! This has provided a fun new challenge that I see myself doing for quite a while.

In between leaving the bank and starting the new school year, Brynne and I squeezed in a trip with her family and our good friend, Molly, to the Outer Banks. Finally, the fall was punctuated with a few visits to Pittsburgh and New Jersey, and a couple of baby showers. We realize that we have undeservedly been blessed this year by the Giver of all good things, and awaiting the arrival of our son has given us a heightened awareness of the miracle of Jesus' birth. May the Lord bless you this Christmas season by his grace and mercy.

Painting the Nursery

Some days it's more of a reality that I'm going to be a dad than others. Like getting married and planning a wedding, so much time is spent planning for and talking about the single event of the delivery, that it's easy not to think about life once the delivery is over. But tonight as I was painting the baby's nursery the reality hit me again. Painting the nursery-it's probably the most cliche scene from TV and movies to demonstrate the excitement and preparation for a couple's first baby, which is why I think in the middle of doing it the significance sunk in. I was more than happy to spend my entire Saturday doing something for my son. I felt like a real dad. I know that there will be plenty more "Saturdays painting the nursery" as he grows up and I can't help but feel honored. Honored that God created this little boy specifically for Brynne and I. Honored that I get to follow in the footsteps of my dad as a loving husband and father who demonstrated to his sons the sacrificial love of Christ. Honored that I get to tell my son the greatest story ever told and introduce him to Jesus. Jesus was a baby boy once too. He didn't have a nursery-He had a manger. I'm honored by God's humility that I get to give my son something not even the King of Kings had.

8 Months.........

Each month I wonder how my stomach could get bigger and then I wake up one morning and realize that yes, my stomach did grow bigger. :) This little guy is still moving a lot and now you can feel and see a hand or foot move across my stomach. Overall I feel pretty good. I am still getting more braxton hicks contractions than I should so I just have to take it easy most days. Brian has been doing an awesome job encouraging me and helping me out around the house. I couldn't ask for a better husband or friend. :) I know my son will be richly blessed in this life by having this man as his father.
This past month included a lot of fun things. We were able to travel to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving to spend time with the Colabrese family. I had my first baby shower there and it was so fun. We felt so blessed by all of the gifts, love and support that people gave. The next week our families traveled here to Lancaster to join us for our second baby shower. It was an awesome time where we were once again overwhelmed by everyone's love and generosity. Baby McHugh is going to be one stylin little guy. I can't wait to put all of the new little outfits on him. Putting all of his clothing, blankets, bibs, etc. away makes this all seem so much more real. We get more excited as each day goes by.
Brian started to paint the baby's room and it looks awesome! It is going to be a chocolate brown color. We have waited so long to put this room together and are really excited about it. I wish I could help but I have to just sit back and watch my hubby do all the work. We will post pictures of the progress soon.
Brian's brother Tim and his wife Bethany are expecting their first baby in 2 weeks. We are so excited to meet this little one and find out if our son will have a little boy or girl cousin to play with. We pray that Bethany and the baby remain healthy and that they have a quick and safe delivery. We look forward to all of the exciting things that lay ahead. God's blessings continue to amaze us every day!

7 Months and Lots of Growth.........

My stomach has definitely grown the most between 6 and 7 months. It just keeps going straight out! :) The baby has definitely grown a lot. When he moves you can see my stomach move all around. The other night Brian had his hand on my stomach and he could feel different parts of the baby raise up and move across my stomach. What a crazy experience! I am not sleeping so well as my stomach grows, but did buy a long body pillow that seems to be helping. I think all of my pillows are slowly pushing Brian out of the bed, but he seems to having no trouble sleeping.

We have started to clear out the baby's room but have yet to paint it. Brian is going to start working on that soon. We have baby showers coming up in Pittsburgh and Lancaster and are very excited about them. It is awesome to have so many people just love on us and this baby. We feel so blessed by our friends and family.

Monday began the start of our child birth classes. We are doing an extensive class that meets for many weeks. It was a fun and interesting class and Brian even had to give me a massage. I was laying there thinking that I was definitely going to enjoy these classes.

If you know me, you may know that I love music. I was laughing last night telling Bri that I like to give the baby "music time" every day. :) I put my headphones on my stomach and play music and he usually starts moving around a ton. Maybe we will have a great musician someday......

We read that the baby can clearly hear peoples voices at this point. Every night Brian reads a Psalm to baby McHugh before we go to bed. Hopefully he will learn his dad's voice and we are having fun speaking God's truth over this little man every day. I often sit and wonder what God has in store for our son. We are praying that he grows up to know the love of Jesus in ways people can only dream of. It is amazing how much you can love someone before ever even meeting them. This little guy is definitely loved beyond measure.

We Love You Pap-Pap...........

Last week we got the sad news that my (Brynne) grandfather passed away. What a sweet and dear man he was. He loved being a father and a grandfather and was so excited to meet our little guy. I am sure he will be looking down with a big smile on his face when this little boy makes his entrance into the world. We will continue to celebrate his life and will always have so many fond memories of Pap-Pap. His memory will live on in our lives and in the life of our little boy. We love you Pap-Pap!

6 Months..........

Some days this pregnancy feels like it is going by so fast and other days it feels like I have been pregnant for 10 years and will be pregnant for 10 more. :) Overall it has gone pretty well. Recently I have been getting braxton hicks contractions that were a little too close together so I have had to stop exercising and rest a little more. This has seemed to help most days. We are so thankful for all of the people that have been praying for us and for the safety of our little boy. Below is my 6 month picture. My stomach has grown a lot and I just can't believe it will get way bigger over the next few months. It is amazing how skin can stretch. The baby moves a lot now and weighs a little over a pound and is between 10 and 12 inches!

"Pop" goes the belly.......

Here is a picture of me at 20 weeks. I am now just over 21 weeks. It was like an overnight phenomenon. All of the sudden I woke up one morning between 19 and 20 weeks and I had this stomach that just popped out. I was standing in front of the mirror wondering whose stomach this was and exactly what had happened to mine? :) People can clearly now tell that I am 5 months pregnant.
I feel the baby move all of the time now and am loving it. One night I was laying in bed and Brian put his hand on my stomach. All of the sudden the baby did some acrobatic move and made Brian's hand jump off my stomach. It was the first time Bri got to feel the baby move. It was one of those moments you want to freeze in time because you know every time you go back to visit that moment it will bring a smile to your face.
This little guy is becoming more of a reality every day. Some days it seems like it will be forever until we meet him. Some days the reality hits that in just a few short months our lives will never be the same. We can't wait!

Baby McCutie is a boy!

Today we had our 20 week ultrasound. We both were convinced we were having a girl and were shocked to find out that we are actually having a little boy! After the initial shock has worn off we are really excited. Brian has already started to plan out all the things they are going to do together. My dad is convinced we need to train him to be left-handed so he can grow up to be a famous pitcher and make us all the big bucks, however, Uncle Chris is going to teach him how to be a punter because there is no easier way to break into professional sports. :) It was so awesome to watch him on the screen. We could see him suck his thumb and move his arms and legs. Below we have posted some pictures of this cutie. Now we just have to agree on a name...........

This is a picture of the baby sucking his thumb.

This was our favorite. Looks pretty cute. :)

This is a picture of the baby's feet. The baby's
right foot is turned sideways behind its left foot.

18 Week Checkup

Last Thursday Brynne and I had our 18 week appointment to make sure that Baby McCutie was doing OK. All signs pointed to a healthy baby and healthy development for Brynne too. She's starting to show a little more everyday and I've noticed people are tempted more and more to rub her belly. This is one of the most fascinating observations from living with a pregnant woman. In any other situation you're sure to be slapped upside the head if you touch a woman's belly, but a lot of people don't hesitate once they find out she's pregnant. The thing is, until she's somewhere in the ballpark of 20 weeks, her stomach is still the same as it always was. So you're not so much rubbing a pregnant belly, but just her normal everyday belly. I've given Brynne permission to rub anyone back who rubs her belly without asking her-I think it's only fair. So far she hasn't taken me up, but beware!

Here are a few more observations from Brynne's conversation with our midwife, Sherri, at our appointment last week.

-Brynne's been feeling pain toward the bottom of her stomach and Sherri explained that her uterus and bladder are fighting for space at this point and her bladder is extra tender. I always wondered what happened to all of the normal organs when a woman gets pregnant and the baby starts taking up space. Apparently everything else pretty much suffers, to the point where I think Sherri suggested Brynne stand on her head before going to the bathroom so that the baby could force every last little drop out of her bladder when she stood back up. (Thank you to Deb and Kelly for providing additional bathroom-time exercises to help the cause)

-This same pain becomes amplified when Brynne exercises because she feels like everything is colliding together inside. Again, Sherri confirmed that that's exactly what is happening and told Brynne that she needs to stop running until she's past 20 weeks. This made me think, baby or no baby, don't my organs collide around inside me when I run? If it's not good for Brynne, is it good for any of us? No word from Sherri on that question yet.

4 Months and Counting...........

The baby is doing well from everything we can tell. I have slowly started to feel better and think I may finally be moving out of feeling sick all the time. We are hoping I will get to feel the baby move in the next few weeks. As you can tell from the picture my belly has started to grow. We laugh because it seems to grow more as the day goes on and then goes back down again by the next morning. I am enjoying sleeping on my stomach while I still can. :) We are growing more and more excited to meet this little one. February can't seem to come fast enough.

The past month has been full of lots of fun things for the McHugh family. We went to the beach for a week and then to the McHugh's in NJ for the annual MIT Basketball tournament. Brian did not win but he also did not turn his ankle this year....a big plus! Brian got a new job teaching Calculus and Geometry at Pequea Valley High School. We have been overwhelmed at God's timely provision of this job. His first day of school was this past Monday and things went really well. The school is located in the heart of Amish country and Bri loves to tell people that it is in the lovely town of Intercourse, PA. I had to call HR to get insurance information and the woman I spoke to said there were already rumors circulating about the new good looking math teacher. Apparently my husband is now the "hot math teacher". :) Below is a picture of us from our beach trip.


Brian had a few days off in between jobs and we were able to do a lot of fun things. We started his break off by celebrating his 28th birthday. To celebrate we went into Philadelphia and I had the pleasure of having my first real Philly cheesesteak from Pat's. There are two famous places in Philly, Pat's and Gino's. They are right across the street from one another and there is serious competition between the two places. You have to make sure you know what you are doing when you order or you will get sent to the back of the line. Brian flawlessly told the guy behind the counter that we wanted two, wit, cheeze wiz. This meant we wanted two cheesesteaks with onions and the traditional fake cheese they slap on top. I was so hungry by the time we got there that I thought it was the best tasting meal I had feasted on in a long time. I think the baby liked it too. It was great to celebrate the life of my wonderful hubby in such a fun way.

I also had the pleasure of going to the Denlingers house to "do corn". This is a big thing in Lancaster. When I say "do corn" I mean that you get like 20 dozen ears of corn and cook them slightly and then cut off the corn and put it in bags to freeze for winter. It is a day filled with sticky, messy goodness that tastes amazing. I always eat more corn then I should and then don't want to eat it again for weeks. This is an event that I have started to look forward to every summer. The Denlinger family is amazing and they always make me feel welcome and loved.

I rounded out the summer by taking a fun trip to the beach with friends for a day and Bri got to squeeze in some poker and pool with a few friends. We joyfully await the coming of Fall and all the great things it will bring with it.

Brian Chimes In

For those of you who have noticed that we started a baby blog, you might have begun to wonder, "What's Brian think about all of this?" Well, it may not happen often, but I've seized the controls for right now and can tell you what the last 15 1/2 weeks have been like from my perspective.

Brynne's willingness to eat fast food/junk food has been an absolute delight! I've never eaten healthier than the 4 years that we've been married, so early on when Brynne requested we drive to McDonalds at 9:00 at night for some french fries, I knew I was in for a 9 month health-holiday. Now don't get me wrong--I embrace the idea of eating healthy and I fully plan on promoting to our children the idea of making healthy eating choices. In fact, it was for this very reason that I agreed to have dinner at Eat'n Park when Brynne had a craving for a salad bar (does that even count as a craving?) For those of you not from the Pennsylvania area, Eat'n Park is like a Friendly's or a Perkins, and I knew we were in for a treat when we pulled into the parking lot and all of the handicap spaces were full. Going inside confirmed that none of the other patrons were even within 40 years of us. And when an old lady broke wind while browsing at the salad bar and was too old to even realize she had just done it and the two old people sitting at the booth right behind her when it happened never even flinched, I couldn't help but bury my head into my menu and thank Brynne from the bottom of my heart for being pregnant and for allowing us to deviate from our normal dinner routine.

Our friend Colleen recently gave us a Panera gift card with a generous balance on it (thanks again, Colleen!). She lived with us for a while last summer and knows full well how much Brynne enjoys Panera. It didn't take long before we scrapped plans to make dinner one night and decided to go to Panera. Wouldn't you know it, we got there and we bumped into our good friends who promptly announced to us for the first time that she's expecting! She said that she didn't feel well but that Panera sounded good to her, which is also Brynne's exact story. Needless to say, we've been to Panera 3 times in the last 3 weeks. It's even to the point where our friends Jared and Kim offered to buy her Maggie Moo's ice cream, and she passed it up for Panera's chicken noodle soup and a garden salad. I find this all very entertaining and the best part is that I still have 5 months more of this.

Heartbeat..............

Today we had our 14 week appointment. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat for a second time. It is one of the coolest sounds in the world. Yesterday I was feeling pretty sick and wondering if I would ever feel better. This morning as I heard the heart beating inside of me it was such a gift and good reminder that this is all worth it. It was like our baby was saying "hello, I'm in here!". Hearing that little noise just makes this all seem more real and exciting.

We scheduled our 20 week ultrasound for September 22. Just 6 more weeks and we get to find out what we are having! Stay tuned for more pics in the next few weeks..........

First Post!

Seriously......we are really going to have a baby. This is what ran through our heads as we sat down to create this blog tonight, as if somehow having a blog prepares the way for having a baby. That may be a stretch, but at least you will get to follow along with us on our 40 week journey to meeting baby McHugh.

Right now I, Brynne, am 14 of those 40 weeks along. Obviously the picture posted was taken a few weeks back. So far everything has gone well. I have felt sick off and on but am hoping this will pass soon. On Tuesday we will hopefully get to hear our baby's heartbeat for the second time and in a month we will get to find out if we are having a boy or a girl!

We feel blessed beyond measure that God has granted us this little life that is growing and changing every day. It is amazing to see what happens in the first few months. By now our little baby has all of its major organs and is about the size of an average fist. We have been checking out the following website for weekly updates on the baby's development: http://www.i-am-pregnant.com/Pregnancy/calendar/week/14