My fellow bloggers

My co-worker gave me this article on blogging this morning and I wanted to pass it along to all of you. I thought it was pretty interesting and thought you guys would enjoy it as well.

I am not the best at writing down all of my feelings in the blog, mine is mostly about Murdoch, but I know a lot of you out there really put your heart and soul into your posts so it is nice to hear that you are improving your health! So take that 30 minutes or so every day or a couple of times a week - it is like free therapy!

The nursery...

...almost 9 months later. Andy has been working really hard to get Murdoch's nursery ready. The crib was taken out of the guest bedroom last night and put into his room for the first time! The room consists of a crib and trash bags taped to the windows but it is something! Now I just have to paint all of the trim, get the rug down, order something for the windows, get his changing table in there, put some stuff on the wall, etc. So not complete but it was a big step. Now he doesn't have to go back in the pack & play when people visit which ends up being a horrible sleep for him and us!

Shake Your Groove Thing

Murdoch really enjoys music so we got him a music table which sings in English and Spanish - somehow thing that are very repetitive are much less annoying in Spanish so we keep it on that setting. Now when certain songs come on he shakes his bum back and forth - we interpret that as dancing and we really get a kick out of it. You can kind of see it on the video - like most things it is much better live.

I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend. I for one can't wait. For some reason this has been one of the longest weeks ever! Not sure why. I woke up Wednesday and Thursday thinking it was Friday and I was very disappointed. So this morning I was very happy when I woke up and knew that it was actually Friday so maybe the sun will be up before me the next couple of days. I need some sleep! I can't sustain the 3-teas-a-day for very long!

And a quick revision to my email about Emily - it turns out that she got straight A's! What a smarty pants!

Talk to you next week.

Swimming Lessons

These pictures aren't that great - I think I had the camera on the wrong setting or the auto-focus was focusing on the water instead of Andy and Murdoch but I wanted to share these pictures because they are cute if you can get past the blur.

Murdoch took 6 weeks of swimming class which was really more about us getting used to holding him in the water and him getting used to the water - read between the lines - not screaming while in the water. I think it was a success. We didn't have to leave early because he was crying or screaming and at the end he seemed to enjoy jumping off the side and splashing a little but in the water. We might do the class again when he gets a little older - the next level is for over 18 months. We were thinking that he might get a little more out of it next time.

Nothing else going on here. Andy gets back from Florida today so that will be nice. And I am really looking forward to the 3-day weekend. Hopefully Murdoch sleeps past 7.

Congrats Emily!

Emily, my sister, completed her first year of PT school last Thursday! She has two more years to go but so far she is near the top of her class! She got all A's and one B in her classes and now has a 6 week break until she goes out to Colorado Springs for summer internship - that isn't quite the right word for it but I can't remember exactly what they call it.

We are very proud of her - when we were in St. Louis we heard several stories from other people in her program about how they look to her for advice because she has the ability to put people at ease right at the beginning of a session. And she studies her butt off - so much that she won't even admit how much to her other classmates but it is clearly paying off. She even got a scholarship at the end of this semester.

Emily - get some sleep and enjoy your time off before you are back to work again! We are thinking of you and we miss you lots! Kisses from all of us! We are so proud of you - keep up the good work!

8 Months!

I have finally downloaded the 8 month video to my laptop! It is a little long and honestly not that exciting but he is still cute even if he is just standing around. There is a lot more pulling up and standing than crawling. The crawling is definitely there but he doesn't seem all that interested in it. He would rather pull-up and stand at a table and play with toys up there. I really hope he doesn't walk early. I am still not adjusted to the crawling. Enjoy the video and your weekend. I am looking forward to some sleep! Murdoch had a fever this week so he was a little cranky and didn't sleep very well which lead to less sleep for us. Maybe he will sleep past 6 this weekend, but I am not holding my breath.

Our visit to St. Louis

We went to St. Louis two weekends ago to visit my family. We arrived late on Thursday night - Murdoch was great on the plane. On Friday Murdoch, my Mom, and I went to the zoo while Andy played golf with my Dad. Then on Saturday we went to visit people and on Sunday we drove down to Columbia to see Aunt Emily. We had a really good time. The weather was awesome and Murdoch loved being the center of attention. We don't have many pictures because a lot of them are on my parents camera but here are the ones we took.

Thank you to my parents for everything - they were very accommodating!

I am raising a ham

It has become more and more apparent that Murdoch has a very good idea of what is going on around him and how he affects people around him. He is definitely no longer a little blog that requires feeding and diaper changes. He loves to smile and loves other people to smile at him. Anywhere we go he will pick out a person, smile at that person until they smile back and give him the attention that he needs. From what I can tell he loves the attention! I think he must have gotten this from his father or my sister because I don't like to be the center of attention at all.

When we were in St. Louis we went to a Mexican restaurant on Sunday to have a margarita and some food outside because the weather was gorgeous. Everyone else had the same plan especially since it was a day before Cinco de Mayo so we had to wait a little while. We sat around talking and Murdoch got to work on all of the people around him trying to find that special person that would smile at him and say oh you are so cute! While I was parking the car Murdoch was sitting with Andy looking around. He had his pacifier in so the smile wasn't quite as cute and charming. He found a woman to smile at and when the pacifier smile wasn't working he took it out of his mouth, flashed the woman a huge smile, got the reaction he wanted, and then put it right back in his mouth. Andy was dying laughing. Right then and there Murdoch was no longer a flirt, he was a ham.

The birds and the bees

I took Deucey out this morning before work to go to the bathroom. It hadn't started to rain yet and it was about 50 so it was much better that the early mornings in the winter. She was running around trying to find 'the perfect spot' and she started to smell something on the ground. I thought initially it was a packing peanut but then I looked closer and it was half of a bird's egg. There is a bird's nest in our gutter right above there, which I hate, but I had to smile and I thought to myself how nice, Spring is here! Then Deucey turned around and took a huge dump right on the egg. I actually laughed out loud when she did that and then turned around and trotted inside for her treat.

I know this is an odd post but I thought it was funny. Hopefully new Murdoch pictures and videos will be posted soon.

Enjoy the Spring!

Traveling with a baby

Or kids for that matter though we haven't graduated to kids so I don't want to speak for parents that travel with kids any age above 8 months.

We flew to St. Louis this past weekend to visit my parents. Murdoch was great on both flights. He had about 10 or so minutes of being fussy but he was just tired and he never started screaming. Andy and I were both grateful! I hate the looks and whispers you get on a flight when your child is screaming. I can accept that from someone who has no kids but from people that have them - I think you should get at least some sympathy!

What I actually find even more disturbing after this weekend of flying is the reaction that you get if your child doesn't cry to the point that people don't even know if a baby is on board the plane. And let me just say that I prefer this scenario because it is much less stressful but I found the reaction odd. I didn't find the statement, "What a great baby. I didn't even know there was a baby on the plane." I was fine with that. What I found odd was when someone said "What a lovely family you have!" So we were basically being judged on the fact that Murdoch was quiet which made us a lovely family though if he had been crying the whole time would have been the horrible family.

I know people mean this in a nice way but it was one of those statements that stuck in my mind. We don't have total control as far as how Murdoch is going to be on a plane. If his ears are killing him then he is going to scream. This time he was exhausted so he slept most of the time so we were lucky.

And one other point - now that I am complaining I can't stop! I really miss flying without a baby! I used to enjoy flying. The engines would go on and I could barely keep my eyes open with that white noise! Love it! Now at least one of you is forced to stay awake and entertain the baby when you can barely keep your eyes open yet you must - one of my least favorite feelings! So here's to the day when Murdoch is old enough to hate me so that he wants to sit in a different row because I am ruining his life! :) Andy and I can drink a glass of wine and take a nap!

We are off to St. Louis!

We are off to St. Louis today to visit my parents. Our flight is at 5 PM this evening and Murdoch's bedtime will happen while we are on the plane so we are crossing out fingers that it will be a quiet event though it could involve a lot of screaming and ugly looks from other people on the plane. Oh well!

We are hoping the weather will be nice - we are planning on going to the zoo and Andy may get in a round of golf. I hope you all in enjoy your weekend. I will return next week with some new pictures and videos - at least that is the plan. They may not surface for another week or so after I get home - I need those things to be wireless! The cords and all that wait time for the downloads is killing me!