Pictures of Summer

What have we been up to? 

Hmm. We bought a house in April, and closed May 20th. Then we went to Tennessee to be with the Pughs from far a wide. That week Thomas went to the Hospital for asthma. We've got that hospital visit down to a science. He has now visited ERs in four different states. The doctors gave us some new medication-this time for allergies, which we think was the trigger for this flare-up. He handles everything like a trooper. He is so. darn. cute. 

Here he is in Green Pond, NJ on the Fourth of July, spraying the smoked ribs with apple juice. 

Here he is carrying his minion to the movie theater to see Despicable Me II. This movie and its minions have been a large part of our summer.

We moved into our new house on May 26th. Unbeknownst to us, Ashley was already pregnant! She is currently 13 weeks. I will make sure to take a picture of her belly and the sonogram for a post later this week.

Here big brothers Jacob and Thomas stand by the "12 week" model of a fetus at the Science Museum.



After Grayson Camp, Ali camp, Pa camp, Science camp, and Daddy camp, the boys were ready for Vacation Bible School. Jacob once chided his fellow campers for not paying attention during rehearsal.


A great part of the summer was spending time with world-famous uncle Luke! Here we are getting Fro-Yo.




Ashley also started a new job in May. She is the Nutritionist at the WIC Clinic in Mocksville, NC which is about 30 minutes from our new house. She loves her job, the work that she does, and the people she works with.

Since she just started, she got no time for vacation- so we made time. On July 20th we took the whole weekend to visit Ashley's BFF from high school Ashley Eckert and her parents, who spoiled us all. Here is Jacob, Thomas, Kennedy (Ashley E's daughter) and Ashley.




So happy to take a brief vacation together.



On August 1st, I traveled to Chicago for the Justice for Women consulting committee meeting. I asked KD and John and Eric and Megan if any of them could make the 3 hour drive to the city- and they all did. Here's a picture of my favorite little Roman drinking chocolate milk. It made her well- happy.




Here his her little sister, Berkeley, with her momma.

Last week we decided that the boys were growing up too fast, so we started a "measuring wall" The top mark was where Jacob was, right above 3ft. Thomas, the wonder-boy who weights the same at 2.5 as he did at 8 months, took a while to measure due to squirming and trying to get an accurate reading through all his hair. 

Now that Little Pugh is on the way, I'll make sure that we blog more regularly. This has been Ashley's venue in the past, and will be again once she's up for it, but between her job and being pregnant and the boys, she's beat. She has fallen asleep every night this week on the couch before 10pm. In general, she feels pretty good. She's had some cravings lately, which are a good sign. For a while nothing sounded good for dinner. Now that she's in the second trimester (13 weeks as of this posting), the nausea has dissipated somewhat. The heartburn ( like with the other kids) is still there. She is showing, and i'll take a picture soon, but hasn't gained much weight. 

The next sonogram (with potential to know the sex of the baby) is September 13th. Little Pugh is due on Valentines Day, 2014.  

Ashley is such a joy to be parent with. Her knowledge of motherhood is vast and deep, her understanding and ease of caring for our two boys is uncanny. 

I am excited to enter this phase of life one last time, looking to the miracle of birth to count my blessings on those little fingers and toes. More soon!