Cuties

I caught Luke sitting in the chair in his room with several of his stuffed animals, so I asked him if he could hold still while I got my camera.  Thankfully, he cooperated, and I got this cute picture!  This is also the last morning of having only one boy!  Jonathan started his arrival at 11pm that night.  :)

(I was also totally planning to give Luke a haircut the next day because he was getting a little shaggy and I wanted him to have a nice haircut in all the new baby pictures - so much for that idea!)

Final Pregnant Picture

Here I am at 37-1/2 weeks pregnant.  I took this on a random day since I wanted to get a picture of me wearing the new earrings my sister, Heidi, got me for my birthday - they match this dress perfectly!  I was totally planning to take one at family dinner that following week because that would be 38 weeks exactly, and I wanted to start taking more frequent pictures towards the end of my pregnancy.  However, I forgot to have someone take my picture, and that Thursday night ended up being the end of my pregnancy!  :)

Cubbies!!!

Our little boy is growing up!  He's now big enough to start attending AWANA Cubbies!  Here he is on his first night - before we left and just afterward with his cousin, Sophia, who's in her 2nd year of Cubbies.  He's doing quite well learning the verses and following directions.  He even seems to enjoy going to some degree.  The moment of dropping him off is still tentative, but he's doing pretty good.  :)

Another Truck

I can't help myself - I need to take pictures of my cute boy!  Here, he's playing with another of Nathan's old trucks.

Pregnant Ladies

I was blessed to be invited to my friend Lori's baby shower.  There were 5 of us there who were pregnant!  Lori and I have both had our babies, and as I write this, Erica (in the middle of the photo) is having her baby.  That just leaves Kristi (due in Nov) and Lisa (due in Dec).  Babies are such a blessing!

Daddy's Trucks

We received some large toy trucks that used to be Nathan's!  Luke loves them, and it's nice to have a few more outside toys.  :)

Fall Leaves

I didn't get any super amazing pictures from this impromptu photo shoot after a park playgroup, but it reminded me of the time I got some cute pictures last year - same shirt and everything.

Here are a couple from last year.  :)

Happy Birthday to Me

We celebrated my actual birthday by opening a few presents - a cast iron griddle from Nathan, scrapbooking binder from my Mom, and several birthday cards that amazingly all showed up on my actual birthday.  :)  We also went out as a family to Chick-fil-A for dinner - it was my first time there - and Cold Stone for free ice cream.  Even though it was a cooler day, it's always a good day for ice cream - especially on my birthday!  :)

My 29th birthday also marked 8 months of pregnancy!  Only 1 month left till my due date (and in reality only 2-1/2 weeks till Jonathan was born).

I love my boy!!!  Here are pictures of me with Luke at my past 3 birthdays, as well as this one.

Sprinklers

Nathan was testing our sprinkler system with Luke's help, and before you know it, this "project" turned into a water party!  Luke wouldn't run right through the middle of them without one of us going with him - and yes, I did literally run through the sprinklers at 8 months pregnant!  I love my sopping wet little boy!

Friends!

We kicked off September with our first playdate at our new house!  Joanna brought all her kids over to play at our house for the first time.  AND she cooked us a wonderful Indian lunch of rice and dal for my birthday!  Thanks, Jo!

Football Fan

Luke likes to dress up like a football player when Daddy's watching football on TV.  He gets his helmet from last Halloween, his Denver Broncos jersey, and a foam football, then he's all set!

Fun & Flowers

Celebrating Joanna's birthday with orange flowers!  Happy Birthday, Jo!  You're a treasured friend!

We bought a T-ball set for Luke using a gift card from Nathan's Uncle Larry & Aunt Sharon - Thanks!  He did quite well on his first try.

Some pretty rose pictures from around our yard - the white ones are on the bushes along the back wall, and the other two are some of my miniature ones.

Imitation

We had a roofer come and fix a leaking area on our roof towards the end of August.  He was working on the garage roof, which is right outside the boys' bedrooms.  Luke took the opportunity to "fix something", too.  He even got his "ladder" (step stool) so he could climb up on the nightstand to be up high just like the roofer, and so he could see him working outside.  :)

8th Anniversary!

This year, we celebrated 8 years of marriage!  Nathan took the day off work and the three of us went to the beach.  We played in the sand, walked along the water, had a picnic lunch on the beach, and stopped at some shops to look around and have some impromptu ice cream!

Luke started out the day not wanting to go in the water, and ended up really enjoying chasing the waves - just needed Daddy along to give him confidence.  :)

I love how this family picture turned out - casual and happy!

We dropped Luke off for the evening and the two of us went out to dinner.  It was actually at this dinner that we finally found the time to talk seriously about baby names - and came up with Jonathan's name, albeit tentatively at the time.

Squirt Guns

Luke has discovered the joys of the squirt gun!  However, he often just uses them to water the plants.  :)  At one point, he even ran around the side of the house calling, "Come water me, Daddy!"

A pretty apple blossom on one of our trees.

Seven Months

August 8th - just about exactly seven months pregnant - only two more to go (or so I thought - more like 1-1/2!).

First Car Wash

This is notable because it was our first time washing our cars in OUR driveway!

Gardening

There's always something to do outside in our yard, and Luke is usually right there to help!

Candyland Champion

Luke got the game Candyland for his birthday, and we played it for the first time at the end of July.  He did really well playing, and ended up beating me fair and square.  And proceeded to win the next few games he talked us into playing over the next several weeks (including the game he played me on my birthday).  His undefeated streak was finally broken when he played my mom and I during her visit after Jonathan was born - my mom won.  :)  He'll even get the game out now while I'm nursing and "play" all by himself.  :)

Happiness

Enjoying his new kitchen/food set from his birthday.  He is really cute how his imagination works when he plays with this.  :)

Nathan got our backyard fountain to work!

Daddy's Little Helper

I'm fully aware of the need for baby pictures here on my blog.  But, I'm also desperate to get caught up and not leave a 2 month gap in pictures/journaling.  This is kind of for my benefit as well as you long-distance readers.  I had every intention to spend the two weeks till my due date getting caught up on my blog so that this wouldn't happen, but SOMEONE decided to come two weeks early!  :)  So, I will try to get caught up as quickly as I can and Lord-willing, I'll be able to stay a bit more current in the future.  In the meantime, here is my favorite picture from the hospital on the day our new son was born.  Jonathan Phillip Hughes was born September 24, 2010.  He weighed 6lbs, 12oz, was 20 inches long, and we're enjoying his addition to our family (especially when he lets me sleep more than 2 hours in a stretch).  :)

Luke LOVES to help Daddy around the house.  If Nathan is doing any sort of project, even just taking out the garbage, Luke is right there with him "helping" as much as he can.  Here he is helping put together a shelving unit.

And here Luke's "using" Daddy's electric drill (it's not actually on right now).