Look Mom I'm crawling!

Hopefully you haven't had enough of the Murdoch videos. I obviously just got a whole bunch of these downloaded onto my computer over the weekend and I picked out my favorites. The crawling shots aren't great in this one but it makes me smile to see Murdoch and Deucey playing together. At first Deucey takes the toy away from Murdoch but then she brings it back and drops it in his lap. She is such a great dog! I know she is going to take some abuse as Murdoch gets older but I love seeing the two of them together. When Murdoch cries Deucey races into the room and sits next to him. She is always trying to steal his toys, which can be annoying at times, but how can she really tell the difference between her toy and one of his. And I have to say that I love bath time - while Murdoch is in the tub playing with his toys Deucey comes in and 'sits' on my lap. Too bad she doesn't race in with that much excitement for her own bath! Now that would be great! Another crawling video coming soon.

Crawling and little bit of soccer

This video is probably from the same day as the last one - or at least I hope it is because the poor kid has the same outfit on. You can tell when it is at the end of the clothing and you need to do laundry when you are wearing a Christmas outfit in April :)

This one has a little more crawling and even a little bit of fun with a soft soccer ball. And again I think he is just so cute that I thought I would post another video. Enjoy!

Crawling Practice

I am way behind on the posting lately - work has been crazy and Andy is traveling a lot so right now we are in survival mode - make sure the bottles are clean and sterilized, food is ready, we have clean clothes, and that is about it. Cleaning is not happening and many times food is ready is take-out for me.

I have several videos of Murdoch practicing crawling. There isn't much crawling in this one but I thought it was cute so I am posting it. Now he is in full crawl mode so I will have to post those soon - I just thought you should see the pre-crawl before the crawl.

Gone Hiking

I just got an email with this picture attached from Andy with the following in the subject:

Guess where we are right now. Jealous?

Murdoch has gotten a little too heavy for the Baby Bjorn unless it is a quick walk which usually doesn't happen so we decided to invest in a hiking back pack. This way Deucey and Murdoch can go to the dogpark and on a nice hike with just one of use instead of both.

So while I work away in the office they are out enjoying the nice weather. Not sure that is fair - I guess I could have taken the day off though, maybe next year. The rest of the week is supposed to be gorgeous - sunny and mid-60s. Maybe we will go for a few walks after work.

Going Green - New diaper trial

Ever since we had Murdoch I have been feeling very guilty about the amount of trash we produce on a weekly basis. Before Murdoch we would have maybe one bag of trash and our recyclying pile would be larger than our trash - I am a bit of a recyclying freak. After having Murdoch our trash count when to 2-3 bags a week, most of this being his diapers. We were using a variety of diapers - basically whatever was on sale and anything that we had a coupon for.

I started to do a little research on the web about being a little more green when it came to your kids. One thing that kept coming up was diapers. I read all about the cloth diapers - I just wasn't ready to make that commitment and I felt like it would waste a lot of water. So I decided on a compromise - Seventh Generation Diapers. We have had some issues with leakage overnight but in general I really like these diapers. They don't smell like baby powder, which I like, the smell of baby powder and poop makes me gag. And I also like the fact that Elmo, Cookie Monster, etc. aren't on the diapers. Murdoch has no idea who those people/characters are so why have them on there. These diapers are a nice khaki color and may I say they are kind of stylish - I know this may sound weird but they are. Seeing a little khaki bum crawling around is much cuter that the other diapers - at least to me. So while we may still buy some other diapers for the overnight we are definitely sticking with the Seventh Generation diapers for during the day. They are a few pennies more per diaper but you can buy them at http://www.diapers.com/ and you get free shipping if you spend more than $50 and the prices there are great - they are the same as the price at CostCo. I figure this is another small change that I can make now to have a better world for Murdoch when he gets older.

Avocados - Food or Fun?

Murdoch has slowly started to move into the world of solid food though I think he still prefers his bottles - if he seeing a bottle he hyperventilates until it is in his mouth. We started with rice cereal which was okay and he loves his sweet potatoes and carrots. I tried avocados the other night and I think they were more fun to play with instead of eat. Oh well maybe some day. It gave me something to eat while he was having some fun.

Deucey Memory Post - Stand by your Woman

I want to make sure I remember this - especially when Deucey becomes a little annoying! :) When we picked up Deucey from the kennel in March after we got home from Florida one of the women working there had a great story for us. The first day Deucey was at the kennel she was out for a group play and there was a large golden retreiver jumping up on the lady. I guess Deucey took offense to that because she went over and put herself between the dog and the woman so he would stop jumping on her and then sat there to make sure it didn't happen again. So for the rest of the week they were best friends - Deucey made sure that no dogs were jumping on her.

It sounds silly but I almost cried - she is such a great dog and at times I forget that when she is annoying - like when she puts her toys under the furniture over and over again and you have to go over and get it for her. Pretty soon she will be defending Murdoch when he is crawling and walking - can't wait for those pictures. :)

7 Months!

So we have made it to 7 months which I can't believe! Last month was a tough one - Murdoch was sick and then Andy and I both got the flu but we have survived and now we are ready for Spring and the warmer weather! I am looking forward to taking a walk after work every day like I did last summer. This time it will be a little harder with the stroller and Deucey but I am sure we can make it work.

Mur congrats on the 7 months - you have been such a joy for the last 7 months and I can't wait for the next 7 years! Andy and I find you a constant source of entertainment - if we are bored you are usually doing something that immediately entertains us and makes us laugh or smile. I am thinking that your 8th month may involve crawling - something we aren't ready for but at the same time are you ever ready for that. I love you more than I could ever express and I hope you know that. I couldn't ask for more. Happy 7 months!

Deucey memory post

Some of you that don't have dogs or even some of you that do have dogs may find this a little gross but it is something I will miss at some point in the future.

Every morning I get up early for work - it is dark out, cold out, and I am usually not in the best of moods. But every day when I open my bedroom door Deucey gets up off of her bed and comes downstairs with me and keeps me company while I am getting ready. Yes she wants to go go the bathroom and get some food so there is definitely something in it for her but without fail she gets up.

While I take a shower she comes in and sticks her little head in as if to say who is in there and what is happening in there? Too bad she doesn't have the same attitude when we are trying to get her in that same tub for her bath! She usually leaves during the shower but as soon as I turn the water off and get out of the shower she is right there. She licks my legs from the knee down - I guess she likes the water and then she does the same thing after I put lotion on. Yes I know this is kind of gross - trust me I try not to think about where her mouth has been, but by now I have just given in and accepted that she will do this each morning and I now find it endearing. I don't look forward to the morning when I get up and she doesn't follow me downstairs.

4 Scores and 5 years ago...

...I was in Turks & Caicos. I got up early with Andy to go diving - I think early was probably around 6:15 - still early but now 6:15 is not the same type of early that is once was. We went diving, probably came back to our condo, had something to eat, sat by the pool, and then around sunset on a hammock on the beach we got engaged. If Andy logs onto the blog he can insert the story because he loves to tell it - it basically involved me saying thank you, never yes I WILL MARRY YOU and tears, and then asking to go back inside because I was cold. So it wasn't quite the reaction he was expecting but I don't really like surprises and I don't react well to them so it wasn't my best moment.

But here we are 5 years later. Seems like a long time again and yet not a long time ago all at the same time. Since then we have finished a house, sold it, bought another one, gone through a horrible renovation project in our current house, got married, had a kid, I got a new job, and we entered another decade. After listing that out our next 5 years may be about the same though I won't enter another decade though Andy will :)

We were told during our renovation project on our first house that if we could live through that then we should get married because we would survive that as well. So far so good. I am sure I would change things that have happened over the last five years but honestly I can't think of anything right now. I really like where we are in our lives right now and I am very happy with the choices we have made.

Andy has helped me become more fiscally responsible - not all of your savings should be in a shoe collection, now I actually have a savings account with money in it! He also taught me that games are not necessary in a relationship - now we usually air our thoughts relatively quickly instead of being passive aggressive - I still am from time to time but it doesn't seem to work on him so I come back to the direct approach and it works.

Andy is a great husband, Dad, friend, and business partner and I am looking forward to the next 5 years to see what we can do together. Maybe we will have to renew our vows at some point so that Andy can get those tears that he was expecting!

Happy 5 years Babe!