October Happenings

October has been a fun month. Owen hit the big 9 month mark and continues to change every day. He looks so much older. He really doesn't like being on his stomach so he hasn't started crawling yet. He has started pulling himself up to a standing position and can walk while we hold his hands. We think he will go straight to walking and skip crawling.
The three of us took a trip to Pittsburgh to visit my family. Owen got to hang out with many of his second cousins and was spoiled by his Grammy and Pap-Pap.




Owen got a fun visit from his cousin K a few weeks ago. The boys were so cute together! When O saw K he smiled and started squealing loudly. He loves being around other kids. We tried to get them to sit still for a photo shoot but it didn't last long. :)




O has been trying all kinds of new foods. This past week we had him try spaghetti, chili and oatmeal and he loved all of it. His hair keeps getting long and when he wakes up in the morning he often has a pretty sweet "bed head". The picture below shows him after his breakfast.

Philadelphia Distance Run

September 2oth was the Philadelphia Distance Run that Brynne and I had been training for with Team in Training. Many of you know that a few weeks before the race Brynne was battling stomach issues and ended up having ischemic colitis. The doctors advised her not to continue training and not to run the race. This was difficult news for us to swallow, but I decided to continue training and Brynne decided to cheer me on all the more. Thanks to the generosity of a lot of you, I was able to exceed my fundraising goal of $2000, and collectively, the Team in Training participants from Central and Eastern PA and Southern NJ raised over $250,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! Being a part of Team In Training completely enhanced this whole experience for me. I enjoyed every mile of training, from Lancaster to Pittsburgh, from Kure Beach to Basking Ridge, knowing that in the end I'd get to run 13.1 miles through downtown Philadelphia with the purpose of saving lives and finding a cure.

Race day was picture perfect. The perfect weather, the perfect temperature, and the contagious energy of around 15,000 runners. My brother Chris ran with me, and we started out with a conservative pace, fell into a groove between miles 3 and 10, and then picked up the pace for the last 3 miles. My finishing time was just over 1:49, which was right around my goal, but leaves me wondering how much faster could I go? Or how much further? My next goal: the Pittsburgh Marathon on May 2. Stay tuned for more details!


American running hero Ryan Hall (middle) won the race in 1:01. Brynne didn't get any action shots of Chris and I running because she was cheering us on as we ran by, but I made a special request to get a picture of Ryan!


My cheering section. Brynne surprised me the morning of the race with her homemade t-shirt and Owen's homemade onesie. As you might guess Owen got more attention at the race than we did.


Chris and I proudly displaying our finisher's medals.

Owen's second trip to see the Nittany Lion!!

Too cute for words!

Owen just hit the big 7 month mark and our friend Val took pictures of him. Our love for him grows every day! 95% of the time he can sit up by himself without toppling over. He used to hate being on his stomach but now he rarely sleeps any other way. He has a giggle that could win contests and makes squealing noises when he gets excited or wants attention. His favorite thing to do is jump in his Johnny Jump Up. When you put him in it he starts bouncing wildly and even gets a running start and swings back and forth. O is such a pleasant and good baby. He loves being around people and and has a grin across his face for most of the day. Before having O I often dreamed of what my son would be like. Never in a million years could I have dreamed up how awesome my son actually is! Thank you Lord for every day we get to spend with this little guy!

We are Raising Money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!!

Brian and I are going to run the Philadelphia Distance Run (1/2 Marathon) on September 20th. We are partnering with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training to raise money for cancer research and to give money to families going through cancer treatment. Many people have already donated on our behalf but we still have over $2,000 to raise. If you would like to donate please go to http://pages.teamintraining.org/cpa/phildist09/bmchughowc. We are so grateful to all who have given to this cause and are excited to run this race. Thank you for your help and financial support!! We will keep you updated on how things go.

Long Overdue!

Sorry we have been so delinquent on doing any blog posts this summer! We had some issues with our computer and traveled quite a bit, all which did not help us get things posted. We have had a busy but awesome summer. Brian has enjoyed having the summer off from teaching and we are trying not to think about the fact that he will head back to school in a few short weeks.

At the beginning of July we traveled to Pittsburgh to spend time with my (Brynne's) family. Though Brian was supposedly training with my dad to join him in the mortgage broker business, they managed to get in two rounds of golf. Meanwhile, Owen and I got to spend fun time with Brittany and Grammy Deb. Owen was very spoiled and loved all of the attention. Brian and I went to an amusement park, Kennywood, to celebrate our 5th anniversary. We left Owen with Pap-pap and Grammy for the day while we ran around like kids all day and ate more junk food than we probably should have. It was so much fun!





The next few weeks were spent back in Lancaster. Brian did some painting and put some finishing touches on drywall and trim in our house. I am so thankful to have such a handy husband! After three years our house projects are finally coming to an end......at least for now. Owen turned 6 months old and along with that milestone he started eating solid foods. He did well with it right from the start. Sweet potatoes and prunes are his favorites.



At the end of July we packed up the car and headed south for a two week trip to Kure Beach, NC. We spent the first week with Brian's Mom, Dad and sister Kathryn. My family came at the end of the first week and stayed through the second week with us. It was such an awesome time! The weather was perfect and we just loved getting to spend so much time with our families. Owen was loved on constantly and Brian and I were able to relax a lot. We are still amazed and continually blessed by the love our families pour out on us.






We left Kure beach and headed up to New Jersey for the McHugh Invitational Tournament. This is a three-on-three basketball tournament that the McHugh's organize every year to raise money for the V Foundation. It is always so fun when the whole McHugh family is together. Owen got to spend some time with his cousin K. The boys were so cute together! They are going to have so much fun together when they get older..........and will probably get into lots of trouble together. :)

Happy Father's Day

Technically this past Sunday was my second Father’s Day as an actual father (Owen was a microscopic 6 weeks in existence last year at this time), but really my first since Owen was born. He thanked me for helping give him life with a really cool beer stein that Mommy painted and glazed, and a half-gallon growler of Iron Hill Brewery’s Honey Double Witbier, a delicious Belgian Ale, my favorite. I decided to wait until after church to have a drink, so I settled for some OJ to go with the pancakes that Brynne made for me. Since it was such a beautiful day here, after church and after lunch we packed up and headed to Susquehannock State Park to do a little hiking.

Portions of the trail overlook the Susquehanna River near Mt. Johnson Island, the first bald eagle sanctuary in the world. Owen helped keep us on trail..........but then petered out about half-way through the hike.

We had to cut it short when he started wailing uncontrollably due to being hot and tired, without having spotted any bald eagles. After returning home, the celebration continued as I was "allowed" to have hot dogs for dinner and what goes better with hot dogs than a nice cold glass of Honey Double Witbier? We capped off my first real Father's Day with a photo shoot in the backyard.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, I hope your day was just as enjoyable.