My favorite new toy

So as you can tell from the last couple of posts I have gotten all of the videos downloads to my laptop and then on dropshots so I can post from work. Aimee and Kevin let us borrow Brady's exersaucer and Murdoch loves it. It allows him to stand without help and he can spin around and play with the different toys. We still need to get batteries so he can have all of the bells and whistles but it has already been a month and still not batteries for the poor kid. He seems pretty happy without the extras though.

On a sidenote Andy and I went out for the first time by ourselves last night! Wayne and Courtney gave us tickets to the Celtics game and offered to babysit Mur! It was great. We went to a bar for dinner and a couple drinks. I had the most alcohol in one sitting - two whole beers! And I was probably kind of drunk - not too much drinking for me in the past 1.5 years or so. When we went into the bar I realized that I couldn't even remember the last time I had entered a bar. It was cold and rainy/snowy. I forgot that warm and humid feeling when you enter a bar in the winter - I really miss that. I told Andy that I would like to go to a bar around 2 PM on a Saturday every once in awhile just to experience that again - I don't want it to only happen every 6 months or so. So we had dinner, we were able to sit there and talk and enjoy the beer without thinking about will he wake up, what time is it, how much longer until we need to feed him, etc. It was bizzare to have no restraints time wise. The game was fun - I was fading in the 4th quarter so we left a little early - it is very hard for me to stay awake past 9:30/10 especially when I have to work the next day. But it was still fun. It wasn't like old times because I don't know that it will ever be like that but it was still nice. Enjoy the video and Happy Valentine's Day!

5 Months Take II

This is another 5 month video about 5 minutes after the first one. I think this one is a little longer but he rolls all the way over so I wanted to post it. There is a lot of movement in this one - Deucey really wanted to be involved especially when both of us were on the floor.

Murdoch is loving his tummy time. He pushes up on his hands/arms and gives you this big smile - especially in the morning. It makes it a little easier on the weekend to go in and get him when you don't want to get out of bed when he gives you a big smile and is so excited to see you. We have a 3-day weekend coming up and I am really looking forward to that. One for the extra time off so hopefully we can get a little more rest and also because I will get to see him for three days. I feel like I barely see him now that he is going to bed so early. I see him in the early AM to feed and change him and then I only see him for about 1.5 hours before he goes to bed. He is such a joy to be with so I want to have as much time as I can, I know it won't last forever, pretty soon he will be asking me to drop him off around the corner because I am embarrassing him.

5 Months!

I am catching up on some posts! Here is Murdoch's 5 month video. It took me about 6 takes to get this one. It is a little long but he is rolling over so please be patient. I have another video I will post shortly of basically the same thing. This guy is getting big! This month we started sweet potatoes and he loves them! If only his love for veggies would last forever. I am thinking that it won't so I will just enjoy this time when he gets upset if I can get the next spoonful in fast enough! Two little cubes of sweet potatoes a day and hopefully that will keep the doctor away! Enjoy the video. More to come!

Just because he is so cute!

Not much to say in this post. We have actually made a lot of house progress - we are almost finished with our temporary closets - and only 1.5 years later! That is pretty sad. I just wanted to post these because they are cute. Hopefully I can catch up on my posts over the weekend.

Rolling, rolling, rolling....

I am a little behind on the posts but I wanted to get this one up while I had a few minutes. Mur has started to roll over which is both exciting and scary! He will immediately roll over in his crib (yes he is finally out of his pack & play, we surpassed the safe weight limit for the bassinet portion so we thought it was a good idea to get him out of there because I am not reaching in there and picking up that heavy guy in the bottom day after day). So when he rolls over what are you going to do? He is supposed to sleep on his back but 95% of the time he rolls right over. I have read the books some say roll them back over - I have done that, he rolls right back over, and some say leave them - so then if he dies in his sleep what kind of guilt is that going to leave me with?! In the end I decided that he has very good head control and strength so if he rolls himself over he should be able to move his head so that he doesn't sufficate. I tried the sleep positioner but I think he is just too big and he rolls right out of it. And the other lovely thing about rolling over is that he screams once he is on his stomach because it is hard for him to flip back over. So after about two weeks of this I can happily report that he now rolls right over and only screams half of the time. I am thrilled! Now for the day I turn my back and he rolls right off the changing table - I don't think that is going to be a good day but I have this feeling that it is coming or something like it is coming very soon. This has also made us realize that after rolling over come crawling. Well our house, except for the part that we haven't redone yet, has no baseboard and has plenty of plaster, insulation, and firestopping sticking out of those holes between the floor and the wall - I am sure the safety books would not recommend this scenario when your child is starting to crawl. So we have many hours, days, weeks, ahead of us installing the baseboard, caulking it, filling in the nail holes with wood filler, sanding that down, priming it and then painting it. On the bright side I have a trim color picked out - not sure if that is really going to help me right now but it seemed like a task that I could check off my list of things to do rather easily. I think with a little baseboard in some of the rooms and some baby gates we should be just fine. I mean Mur just got out of his pack & play, moved into his own room which really isn't his own room, it is the guest room because his room is still full of construction materials, so I think the guy is really asking a lot of us to have all of the baseboard finished when he starts crawling. He really needs to become a little less demanding :) Enough of my complaining. Enjoy the video!

Daddy's little dork

Andy calls Mur a dork when he wears this outfit. I think he looks cute but then again I think he is cute all of the time! I have a lot of pictures that I finally put on my computer so here is a quick set, they are a little repetitive but I just think Mur is so cute that I am putting all of the pictures from our boring night at home.

Starting a new life together....

Two of our best friends have gotten engaged and have set their wedding dates for this coming September. Andy and I are thrilled! Matt, one of his best friends, got engaged to Ingrid in the Fall while they were in China and one of my best friends, Courtney, got engaged to Wayne a few days before Christmas. I only have pictures of Courtney and Wayne because Ingrid is out of town but I am sure once she gets back from her travels we can get some pictures. I am so excited for both couples and I am so excited for some weddings - it is like a vacation to look forward to - I know that is kind of selfish to say because it is their day but I am excited for a night out where Andy and I can be a couple again without Mur! Can't wait. CONGRATS to the happy couples!

Hanging in my Highchair

I have been a little lazy about the blog lately. Things have been busy blah blah blah. Things will always be busy so I try not to use that as an excuse. This is an old video from Christmas - Murdoch got a new highchair from Grandma Talli and Grandpa Bob. This is his first time in the highchair. He seems to really enjoy it and we have used it several times since then and he seems to like being up high and having out with the adults. Now if only he would get that excited about the rice cereal - it is improving but boy it is messy. I guess I should just except the messy - at least he isn't throwing it across the room...yet.

We need to get new disks for the camcorder - until then we won't have anything new. Hopefully Andy makes it to Best Buy today.

We are moving...

No not into another house just to our third floor - finally! I can't believe that it was last March when we returned from St. Lucia - our final non-kid just the two of us vacation - to a bedroom where the ceiling had collapsed onto our bed. We arrive home and I am frantically looking for a Bed Bath and Beyond coupon and hoping it is still open at 8 PM so that I can buy an aerobed for us to sleep on. Little did I know that we would be on that Aerobed until June, and I would like to add that this time that I was 6 months pregnany. Deucey really enjoyed this time - she spent many a night with her head between our pillows because she was not allowed on the bed. It has been one hell of a house project for us. It isn't over but the fact that we can sleep and shower on the third floor is a really big deal. Andy has worked very hard on this project - we used to do everything together but I couldn't do everything while I was pregnany and now sometimes Mur needs entertaining which means that Andy is up there quite often by himself. So I probably don't say it enough but I am so grateful that he is so handy and motivated to go up there by himself because I know how hard that is. Now we will probably have a good year or so of finish work and painting but our house is always a work in progress. Who knows, maybe we will even start a new project - our front room is very drafty - it is very tempting to just rip all of that down so that it is brand new as well. Not sure that we are quite there yet but we may be there sooner rather than later.

And on another note, Mur will be moving into his own room. I have mixed feelings about this. I know he needs to move into his own room - it will help us sleep because we won't hear all of his extra little noises and it will probably help him sleep better as well because he won't hear us, especially me in the AM getting ready for work. I also know that he needs to become an independent person as much as I want to shelter him and rock him to sleep every night I know that is just not possible for years on end. I guess Mur moving into another room is just another milestone that says my baby is growing up and it makes me sad. I love this time - he smiles all of the time, we are his whole world so we don't need to worry about if kids are being mean to him, or if he is taking drugs, or all of the other things the outside world introduces. For now I will just try to focus on this time because I know I can't get it back but it is hard not to think about how fast it is going. I guess this will always be the case with kids but sometimes it is just more apparent than other.s

The boys hanging out

I have a huge backlog of videos so now with the use of dropshots, thanks Ellen, I can upload the videos and then do the post later even if I am not sitting at my laptop at home. After sitting at a computer all day sometimes the last thing I want to do is fire up the computer at home so the blog suffers.

I think we took this on Christmas or right around Christmas. Andy loves to make Murdoch laugh and smile and Murdoch is a very willing participant. I love how much he smiles and giggles right now. I can't imagine him yelling NO! and MINE! though I know it is coming. I need to get as much of this as I can on video so when he is yelling NO! at me I can go back and look at these videos and smile and then deal with the tantrum.

Guitar Hero

I thought I could use a little lighter post after the last one. This is a clip of Andy playing Guitar Hero when my sister was visiting - just a little glimpse into our lives and what we do in the evenings since the arrival of Murdoch. I have to say that I wouldn't have thought that a video game where you play a fake guitar would provide this many hours of entertainment but it does! I guess I never wanted to be in a rock band so this game doesn't really appeal to me. Whether you want to be in a rock band or not I still think you will find this clip funny - I did!

Processing a loss

My friend Janina died last week in her sleep. I found out via email at work. I had sent her email asking her for her new address because I wanted to send her our holiday card and I also wanted to find out when she was going to be in Boston around the holidays because we were supposed to get together. I sent the email off thinking nothing of it and I received an email back with the subject Tragic News. I didn't read it right away - I assumed the tragic news was that she wasn't able to make it to Boston for the holidays or that she was already so booked seeing people that maybe we wouldn't be able to see each other. However when I opened the email and I read it I was in a state of shock. It was from her husband Brad telling me that Janina had passed away in her sleep from unknown causes and that there would be a service this weekend. I was at work at the time so I really didn't want to have much of a reaction - I prefer to leave personal issues at home and not bring them into the office unless they are really affecting my worklife. I teared up after reading the email about 5 or so times - it took a little bit of time for it to settle in but at the same time it never really did and I am confused by this. I have been reviewing this in my mind for about a week and I can't find the reason why I am almost like an emotionally void person when it comes to sorrow and sadness right now. I have been like this since Murdoch was born. I chalked it up to being tired and so many other things going on but I would think that would have passed by now. My other thought was that since Janina moved to LA we definitely haven't talked as much and we barely see each other. So maybe it is that because I don't see her except maybe once a year this doesn't exactly affect my day-to-day life. I know that sounds horrible and I hate to even say it but right now I think I am still processing the fact that she has passed away because it doesn't seem like that could have actually happened. Janina is one of the happiest, generous, and outgoing people I know so of all people death just doesn't work with how I see and feel about her.

It does make you realize how short life can be. Janina was younger than me, only married two years, and had so much in front of her. Sometimes you get caught up in a day in day out rut and it is things like this that makes you remember and realize that you really need to get out there and stuff putting things off that you wanted to do because you may not be able to do them. Even if you can just do a few smalls things. I am going to try and do that in 2008.

Thank you for listening to this post. I am feeling a bit hallow around this whole subject and I just wanted to write a little bit down about it. And I think it has helped - I am finally able to get past my eyes just tearing up. Maybe this is why we have services and funerals - it makes the situation more real and it gives you a venue to express your feelings.

Here is a link to her obituary.

Murdoch at 4 Months

Murdoch was 4 months old on Friday, December 28th. It is amazing how much he has grown and changed! I wish I could make him stop growing so that he would stay my little baby forever. He is starting to turn over, he loves standing, and his balance when sitting is getting much better. I know he will be walking and talking soon. While that will be a happy and proud moment for me it will also be sad. I just read Ellen's post for Julia's 7 month video and it is really all so true. Andy and started dating almost 10 years ago and I couldn't ask for more in a husband - there are days when I wouldn't say that like when the dishes aren't done but overall that is true :) I get annoyed with him and I want to scream at him but that never happens with Murdoch. I love him so much no matter what he is doing - he is even cute when he is crying. I remember my old life before him - when getting up at 8 AM seemed really early - now that is getting more sleep that I can ever imagine, and being up at 3 AM was because I was getting home from a bar and now it is because Murdoch needs something. My favorite thing is when I am holding him and he burrows into my chest/armpit to block out the light and go to sleep. I wish he would do that forever! Now that he is getting a little older I know that he needs to learn to fall asleep in his own bed and on his own - I just wish I could hold him until he falls asleep forever.I could go on and on and I am sure it has all been said before. I just surprised that I have all of the cliche feelings about Murdoch. I will stop my chatter now. Enjoy the video - we are trying the video via dropshots at Ellen's suggestion, our videos have been a little weird lately so hopefully this one looks a little better than the couple of videos I have posted.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Christmas Photos

We took a lot of photos over Christmas. My Dad was finally able to make it to Boston and met Murdoch for the first time and I have to say that they got along well. We had Christmas at our house this year which was a little crazy because our third floor still isn't finished. It was nice that we were able to get together and spend some time relaxing. Here are the rest of the photos, enjoy!

4 Month Checkup

Murdoch had his four month check-up last Thursday. He was 3.7 months old, 27.5 inches long, and 16 pounds 3 ounces. He has dropped a big in the weight percentile but he is still up in the 99th percentile for height! He is already growing out of 9 month outfits because they don't close that well over this diaper. Hopefully he starts to plateau a little soon otherwise he will be bigger than us in just a few years! :) Mur also braved another round of vaccinations with only about 30 seconds of crying and then he was back to normal. He was rewarded with a Snoopy bandaid on each thigh. I think this next month will be a great one. He is pretty close to rolling over - he definitely has the strength now we just need to get the motion and coordination. He is also getting a lot better balance while trying to sit up so I am sure that isn't too far off either.

Merry Christmas

I know we couldn't all be together on Christmas so here is a quick video wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! I hope you all enjoyed your holiday!

My First Christmas Tree!

We all went out to get our Christmas tree last weekend. It was a little cold out so Murdoch stayed in his car seat but he helped us make the final decision. It was good we brought this tree in before it opened up - it barely fits in our apartment. It is one of the only decorations we have put up so I guess it is a good thing it is so big. Deucey loves the tree - she walks by and bits off pieces of the tree - it is making quite a mess! Here are the other pictures.

A Visit from Aunt Emily!

My sister came out for a visit starting last Sunday. She wanted to spend some quality time with Murdoch so I only took two days off on work while she was here and he didn't go to daycare the whole time. Honestly I thought we were going to have to do an 'emergency' drop-off at daycare at some point during the week but that never happened. Emily did an awesome job - not only with Murdoch, she made us dinner, gave us massages, and she would follow me around with a glass of water making sure that I was drinking enough water because I never do!

Emily had a great time with Murdoch and Murdoch was an angel the whole time - barely crying and letting Emily take some naps. We didn't take a ton of pictures while she was visiting but here they are.

Thank you Bob & Talli!

The kitchen in our new house is essentially a room with appliances - no cabinets or counter top space. This makes things very difficult to make dinner especially around the holidays when you are feeding a lot more people than just the two of us. For Christmas we asked Bob and Talli for a new butcher block/kitchen island. We got it a few weeks ago and it is really nice! It is much better than the card table that we were using - it is much better on your back when you are preparing food. Thanks a lot for the early Christmas present!

Travel Woes

We have not had a good week or so of travel. It started last week. Andy was due to fly back from Montreal on Thursday night. We got a pretty big snow storm on Thursday so he couldn't get a flight home until Friday. That screwed me up because I was now in charge of dropping off Murdoch at daycare. I got into work around 9 AM which is very late for me. The dog walker canceled because of the weather but that was fine because Andy was supposed to be home around noon. I called him a little after 12 to make sure that he had gotten in okay. He was still in Montreal because there was a fire on his plane so he was rebooked on the next flight that wouldn't get in until about 3:30. Well that was way too long for Deucey to be in her crate so I ended up leaving work around 12:30 to go home and take care of her. I called Andy on my way home to let him know that I was able to leave work so we should be all set. He then asked me why I wasn't more concerned about a fire on his plane. Now in my defense I thought he had never left the gate, and there was either a fire on the plane that was coming in so they needed another plane or it happened while they were just sitting there. And keep in mind that I was talking to him on the phone so I knew he was okay. Well it turns out that he was actually up in the air, the cabin filled with smoke, and they had to turn back around and make an emergency landing at Montreal. Andy and his co-workers had a good laugh at the fact that I never even asked if he was okay. I think my mind had already moved onto how we were going to get everyone home that day so the fact that he was talking to me meant that obviously he was doing just fine and other things needed to be taken care of. I guess I need to slow down in the future.

My sister was schedule to get in around 4 PM on Sunday - yet again we have another storm. I randomly checked her flight on Saturday and they had already canceled it - in fact they canceled all of the direct flights from St. Louis to Boston. They put her on a flight through Chicago, who is also having bad weather, and she now wasn't getting in until after midnight and because at this point the storm hadn't even started I was thinking that she wouldn't make it in at all. Because of this I am yet again stressed out because I pulled Murdoch out of daycare while Emily was visiting, Andy was flying to Toronto on Monday AM so if Emily didn't make it in then I had yet another scheduling issue with the two babies and I needed to figure out how to get Emily from the airport. Luckily Emily made it in okay, she was a trooper dealing with all of those delays without a single complaint, and everything worked out okay, except for the fact that Emily didn't get much sleep. We had a great week together and then we had another snow fall on Thursday when she was scheduled to leave. She ended up getting home okay but was delayed for over 2 hours. And now my Mom is flying in today and she is delayed an hour! My Dad is scheduled to fly in on Sunday - it is supposed to rain that day. We are crossing my fingers that it is an uneventful flight.

I have to say that so far the most stressful thing I find about being a Mom is the scheduling and the unexpected things that happen that throw it all off! Sorry for the complaining but I just wanted to get that all out so I could move on, happier posts coming soon. I will go back to monitoring my Mom's flight and hope that she lands okay and with only a small delay.

Bath Time

I was looking at Julia's three month video the other day and it just amazes me that Murdoch is doing the exact same thing Julia was doing in the bath. If you haven't seen the video it is a clip of her in the bath and she is kicking all around. I took a bath video of Murdoch near his 3 month birthday because it is so funny how much he nows kicks and really enjoys the bath. It is like they are twins a few months apart. I am sure a lot of babies do the same thing but as a new parent I just found this fascinating. Here is the video!

Just Hanging Out

Murdoch and I were hanging out in the evening together while Andy was in Seattle for a few days so I thought we would do a little photo shoot. Murdoch is sporting his velor jogging suit, thank you Mr. and Mrs. Shahood, this evening. I think the blue looks nice with the red hair. I feel like I need to go out and get a Juicy Couture one for myself so I can be in the picture next time! :)

Mr. Giggles

Murdoch and I were hanging out last week and he randomly started laughing/giggling for the first time. Luckily Andy had just gotten home from soccer so he ran and got the video camera and we captured Murdoch's first laughs on camera. I was laughing so hard during it that I started crying. We haven't had a ton of laughing since but I am sure it will show up more and more just like his smiles. He is the cutest guy ever!

Get Better Soon Gam!

Andy's Grandmother had knee surgery on Friday. We are all thinking of her and hoping her recovery is quick and without too much pain. Hopefully the PT isn't too bad. We are wishing her the best! Murdoch sends love and kisses from his bed to hers!

Three Months Old

Murdoch turned 3 months old on November 28th. A lot has changed in a month. He is now trying to sit-up, he can push to a standing position all by himself, he smiles all of the time, he will follow you around the room, and he is making little bubbles with his mouth. Enjoy the video!

Snow Day

Our first snow fall of the year! It started snowing last night and we probably ended up with somewhere between one and two inches. Not a lot but it was still nice. I woke up this morning for work and the house was nice and quiet. I wanted to just curl up on the couch and look at the snow while I was drinking my tea. When the snow hasn't been touched by cars or people, it makes everything look so clean and peaceful. The cold sucks in New England but I love the snow so I will deal with the cold and windy weather as long as the snow continues to come back each year.

Posts with pictures and videos coming soon!

Happy Thanksgiving

Bob and Talli came up from Florida for Thanksgiving and it was Murdoch's first Thanksgiving so it was quite an important event. We had dinner at our house - small dinner which was nice and relaxing. And then the crew, minus me because I had to work, went out to Natick to visit Chandra, Buzz, and Sharon.

Here is the link to the rest of the pictures.

TGIF!

For the past two nights Murdoch has decided that he would like to go back to eating every three hours. For the past month or so he has been sleeping for about 5-6 hours at night which has been so nice especially now that we are both back to work. I know we have been lucky with his sleeping patterns so I shouldn't complain but after two nights of that I think I may need tea put into my body intraveniously. Luckily after today it is the weekend so naps can be taken. Maybe it is just a growth spurt that will pass in a few days.

Talli got out of the hospital on Wednesday and she is on the mend. She is still a little weak and tired so she is resting at our house and then they will start their drive back to Florida. Murdoch and Deucey love having them around for the extra love and attention so we are not in a hurry to have them leave.

Enjoy the weekend - picture and video posts are coming soon!

Boring isn't always bad...

I have been bad about posting. I like to add pictures to the posts which I can't do at work and at night sometimes I just don't have the energy to do it. I usually catch up over the weekend but because of the holiday our weekend was a little busy. Not pictures today but I thought I would give a little update.

Bob and Talli arrived from Florida on Wednesday night. Talli wasn't feeling that well on the drive up so they pushed through and arrived Wednesday instead of Thursday. We almost had the guest bathroom ready which was a big accomplishment for us. Andy had installed the shower rod and we had the shower curtain up. Then Andy installed the rest of the hardware in that bathroom along with the mirror later in the weekend. So good house progress was made!

Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving. There were seven of us - Bob, Talli, Hugh, Andy, Murdoch, Deucey, and me. I got a big turkey because the Sutherlands love leftovers and they food turned out pretty well. I cut my finger pretty badly while cutting up the bread for the stuffing so that caused a slight problem but everyone pitched in and everything was ready at almost the exact same time - not sure how that happened exactly.

Friday I worked and the rest of the group went out to Natick to visit with Andy's Aunt Sharon, Uncle Bob and his cousin Chandra. They hadn't met Murdoch or Deucey so it was a full car ride but everyone had a great time. Deucey got to play with Liam, their big German Shepard and everyone wanted to hold Murdoch so he got a lot of attention from everyone and I was told that he really didn't cry all day.

Saturday Andy and I ran some errands without Murdoch - Bob and Talli offered to watch him - so that was a big treat. I guess that sounds mean to say that being away from your son is a treat but if I have learned one thing since having him it is that errands are so much easier and faster without him. You don't have to get him in and out of the car and cut your errands short if he gets upset. So Andy and I ran some errands for the house and had some quiet time where it was just the two of us and Murdoch received excellent care at home.

Saturday night Hugh and Karen came over for dinner - we decided on some seafood after all of the heavy food we had eaten over the past couple of days. The dinner was good but Talli got sick after dinner. At first I thought it was the food but the reaction seemed a little to fast and drastic to be due to the food. She wasn't getting any better so Bob took her to the ER around midnight. After a full night of tests he returned home around 8 AM to say that Talli was doing better but that she would be in the hospital for a little while. The doctors said that she had colitis. Well Andy and I jumped onto webmd to find out more about colitis and what we found is that there are many different kinds and can be caused many different ways. Luckily the type that Talli has is not cronic and not transferable to other people. Talli is expected to get out of the hospital either today or tomorrow as long as things continue to improve. They will probably stay with us for a few more days to rest and recover and then start their drive back to Florida.

We have had a busy week between the holiday and Talli not feeling well. So sometimes when people ask you what is going on boring is not a bad thing because sometimes excitement is caused but something that wasn't exciting in a good way. So we will be excited when Talli is back out of the hospital leading a 'boring' life of watching Oprah and playing with Murdoch.

I will try to post the Thankgiving pictures in the next couple of days. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and you are all in good health!

Play Time

Now that Murdoch has gotten a little older and more interactive and responsive we have started to bring out his toys. So far he seems to love them although some of them he ignores. He absolutely loves his activity mat (thank you Susie and Raymond). His legs and arms are all over the place hitting the little pieces and grabbing on to the rings. He has even started to reach up for the toys like he is starting to practice sitting up. Before we know it he will be running around terrorizing Deucey.

Andy and Mur

So there are a few pictures that just melt my heart and this is one of them. I know Andy gets a little frustrated with Murdoch from time to time - Andy is a fixer, he likes to fix problems. Unfortunately you cannot fix all of Murdoch's problems, sometimes crying is just crying and you have to get through it.

I took this picture I believe either before or after a bath and you can tell from the picture just how much Andy loves Murdoch - it just melts my heart. And it is true, men become so much more attractive with a cute baby in their arms that they clearly love and adore.

Talking to my feet

Murdoch has started to make a lot of new sounds in the past 2-3 weeks - new sounds besides crying :) A lot of time if you make the sound after he does he will make it again like he is talking with you. We just started using his Bumbo seat (thank you Matt & Leah) and Murdoch is fascinated with his feet while he is in the Bumbo seat. He has figured out how to put his hands in his mouth in the last week or so and now it is like he is talking to his feet asking them what they can do for him. Hopefully you can hear him 'talking' and not just me in the background. Enjoy!

Off to daycare

Now that is a little colder out Murdoch needs a little more on when we head out to daycare everyday. I took these pictures before daycare and I am posting them just because I thought he was so cute.

Nothing else new here. Murdoch is just happy to have his Dad back - so happy in fact that we had a little party in bed at 4 AM this morning - I don't know if that was the kind of homecoming Andy was expecting. Murdoch had a lot of fun though. There will probably be a group nap this afternoon.

Thank you Florence!

Our friends and family have been extremely generous with gifts for Murdoch. I know a lot of people don't necessarily get to see Murdoch either use or wear the gifts so I thought I would start to post pictures of him with his new toys or in the adorable outfits. If I miss you please let me know - I am a little scatter-brained these days. :)

This first one is a cute blue homemade sweater from Florence. I had lunch with Florence right before I went back to work and she brought along Murdoch's Christmas gift - I had mentioned how quickly he has been growing so Florence gave it to him a little early to make sure that it wouldn't be too small. It is a gorgeous color blue and looks great on Murdoch. He wore it out the other day when we ran some errand - he was nice and cozy in his car seat with the sweater on.

We Survived!

Andy left for the West Coast on Monday afternoon and got home today so Murdoch and I were all by ourselves this week and we made it through! I took Tuesday as a vacation day which made it a little easier and then I had to go into work later than normal Wednesday - Friday because of daycare but that was about the worst thing that happened.

Murdoch was on his best behavior which really made all of the difference. And it was very nice to see him again in the mornings - that is his best time. So we would spend a couple of hours together in the morning and then the evenings together chatting playing with toys and then lounging on the couch. I think Deucey was a little neglected this week so we are going to have to make up for that this weekend.

Murdoch's first piece of artwork

I know that there will be tons of pieces of artwork coming home from daycare and school throughout the years but I thought Murdoch's first piece of artwork deserved a post. I got this piece a little over a week ago after the Halloween parade at daycare. I know he had some help but I am still proud.

Pacifiers and Swings....

...These are a few of my favorite things!

When Murdoch was born he loved to suck on your pinky finger. For about 6 weeks or so that worked well. We didn't leave the house that often and it wasn't that big of a deal to sit around and hold him with one arm and use your pinky on the other hand. But as time went on our hands were not always clean and there wasn't always a way to wash them.

We had tried a pacifier a few times but he always spit them out. I know that pacifiers are very controversial but Murdoch is soothed so quickly by the pinky finger that we knew we needed some type of alternative if we wanted a little downtime so I thought that by pushing the pacifier then maybe we would get our hands back. Over the course of about 3 days I continued to push the pacifier and it finally took - at least a little bit. A lot of the time he just chews on it so it falls out and you have to put it back in - he hasn't figured out how to do that by myself. But gradually it is getting better so he is able to sooth himself with just the pacifier.

Then we introduced the swing which was borrowed just in case he didn't like it. Well he loves it! There is a mirror and a mobile on the swing and he loves to look at the little animals on the mobile as well as himself in the mobile. So he spends a decent amount of active play time in the swing and then drifts off to sleep.

So far he is able to sleep without the pacifier and without the swing so we are keeping our fingers crossed that we don't have a terror in the future when we have to take these things away. I guess either way you pay - either now with the constant use of my pinky finger or in the future when we have to take the pacifier away. Initially I thought it would be a great idea for Murdoch to be a pacifier-free baby. Well like many things that happen once you are a parent - there are things that sound good until you are faced with reality - if something isn't bad for you baby and you get a few free moments of quiet to get a few things done, usually you go with it - at least I do.

Here are a bunch of pictures of Murdoch with his pacifier, swing, and a combo of the two.

Happy Halloween

Murdoch is asleep in his swing (thank you Aimee for loaning that to us!) so I thought I would take a few minutes to try and catch up on all of my blog postings. I thought I would start with Halloween first off because it has already been over a week since Halloween and because I think Murdoch is very cute in his costume.

There was a Halloween parade at Murdoch's daycare that I attended. It was about 10 minutes of walking around the neighborhood after about 30 minutes of getting all of the kids coordinated. I guess that is pretty good considering there were probably over 50 kids to get together. The weather was very nice and Murdoch didn't cry once while he was in the stroller so I was a very happy and proud mother. I have to say that this was the first time that I kind of felt like a Mom. I got there to dress him up, put him in the stroller, I was there with my camera and video camera following him around documenting the whole thing, and then I stayed to sing some songs after the parade. I still felt out of place with the other parents - it seemed like they were more seasoned veterans compared to me but I am sure that will come with time as Murdoch gets older.

On the Saturday after Halloween we had our 6th annual Halloween party which I think will be our last one. It was a fun time but I think from now on we are going to stick with something like a BBQ in the middle of the day that is easier to do with kids. I didn't take that many pictures at the party so I am missing one of the whole family dressed up and one of Deucey in her matching lobster outfit but other people have pictures so when they send them I will add them to the link.

I hope you enjoy the pictures and I will try to do a few more posts this weekend on my breaks.

Back to work...

I went back to work this week on Tuesday. I will be taking about one vacation day a week until the end of the year just to help out with the transition but so far it has been pretty good and not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I let for work on Tuesday early - before Andy or Murdoch got up - which I think helped because if they were awake I think it would have made it harder to leave. Right now I just get up as quietly as possible and try to leave without waking anyone up. That means that I don't even kiss Murdoch or Andy goodbye but if I wake Murdoch up at that point it could create a bad morning for Andy.

So far I am happy to be back at work. It is nice to be back on a schedule - showering every day and going back to the gym which I love! Time at the gym is the only time during that day that is mine - I have about 45 minutes where I can watch Food Network in peace with no interruptions and I feel revived when I get back to my desk. The evenings are rough - just making something for dinner and maybe doing one or two small things around the house is a major accomplishment so I am going to have to be more productive over the weekends. But anyone who has children already knows this - the reality is just starting to hit us. I know it will be a daily battle to keep everything together and there will always be obstacles to overcome but hopefully we can stick to our routine and things will be as smooth as possible.

Andy has dropped Murdoch off at daycare the past three days and it has gone relatively smoothly. There was a poop incident on Tuesday which caused Andy to have to take Murdoch into the shower but besides that it seems like we are falling into a nice routine. :)

I have to say that going back to work and trying to balance everything and get a schedule down was the thing that scared me the most - much more so than any sleep deprivation or caring for Murdoch. Thankfully Murdoch has been a very easy and happy baby so that made my leave very pleasant and now I think that is helping with my return to work. Ellen, Andy's cousin, was also a big help while I was on leave. I was a little bored at the beginning and I felt like I just wanted to go back to work because I wasn't really accomplishing anything - except caring for Murdoch. :) After talking with Ellen about it and getting used to the idea that getting Murdoch through the day was enough I really started to enjoy my leave and my time with him and I would not change a single thing about it except that I would have liked to have had some more time with him because the couple of hours in the evening just aren't enough. Maybe if we decide to have another child I will be able to take off a little more time but for now this works for us.

I have a lot of pictures and videos to post but it is much harder to update the blog with those now that I am back to work. As soon as I have a chance to download all of those onto my laptop at home and post them, I will - especially the Halloween pictures because they are so cute!

I just want to say a big thank you for everyone for all of the help we received when Murdoch was born and throughout my leave. I am sure we will continue to receive a lot of help going forward but I just wanted to let you know that we really appreciate everything that our friends and family helped out with during the first two months!

Lauren as a Rooster

This is the the daughter of my best friend Susie who lives in Phoenix with her husband Raymond. Lauren is just about 1 year old and I thought these pictures were so cute that I had to post them! I can't believe how big she is and I still have never met her! I think a trip to Phoenix this winter is a must!

Here are the rest of her Halloween pictures.

Two Months Old

This video is pretty much the same as the previous one but this is on Murdoch's two month birthday. It was a good birthday - the RedSox and the Pats won! And the boys headed to the dog park to enjoy the sunny weather even though it was a little chilly out.

The first Halloween post is coming soon!

All Smiles!

Murdoch has started to smile a lot lately - especially on his changing table which used to be considered a torture chamber - at least to him. Now he is thrilled to be on the changing table, at least most of the time. Here is a video at 8 weeks - it was also his first day of daycare that he obviously enjoyed because he is all smiles when he got back home.

Can't believe my little man has gotten so big. On one hand I am very proud because he is doing so well but on the other hand I look at him and think how can he already be in these big clothes?! They really do grow up so quickly - everyone tells you that but I didn't believe it until it started to happen to us.

An exciting week!

We had a very busy week. On Saturday Talli & Bob arrived to stay over for a night on their way to Florida for the winter. Talli & Bob left on Sunday and we drove up to Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester to enjoy the weather and wear Deucey out. Then on Tuesday Murdoch started daycare, my Mom arrived, Murdoch was 8 weeks old and he slept until 7:30 AM! On Wednesday Murdoch has his two month checkup which went very well. Here are his latest 'stats':

13 pounds 15 ounces
25.5 inches long

He grew two inches in a month and he is now in the 99th percentile for height. He is now wearing his 6 month clothing. I had to do a little shopping because I wasn't expecting him to need that size clothes so quickly! He has also started smiling so I have been trying to get some videos of that to share with everyone.

On Thursday Deucey had her yearly check-up and she is just fine. She is just about 55 pounds which is perfect for her so no diet dog food for her yet. My Mom left on Thursday night after a nice visit. And on Friday Murdoch went to daycare from 9-3, the previous three days he had gone 9-12.

The RedSox have won the first three games of the series so we are very excited - both because we want them to win and because if they do we get our month back for the mattress we bought back in April. One of the furniture stores in the Boston area had a promotion - if the RedSox won the World Series and you bought certain pieces of furniture then you would get your money back. We were planning on buying a new mattress and decided why not do it during the promotion. So hopefully we will be getting a credit right around Christmas which would be perfect.

Next week is my last full week at home with Murdoch and I am really bummed out that I have to go back to work. At first it was hard for me to stay home - I felt very bored and like I wasn't really accomplishing anything. I really wanted to be back at work. Then after about 2 weeks I accepted that it was okay if I didn't accomplish anything but hanging out with Murdoch and maybe a load of laundry or something small like that. After that happened I really started to enjoy myself. He has been a really good baby - I couldn't ask for a better one so it has been awesome being able to spend this much time with him. It is going to be hard going back to work and not being able to watch him sleep during the week and watch him smile after eating. For now Andy and I both need to work full-time so maybe in the future one of us will be able work part-time and spend more time at home.

I will post pictures and hopefully some videos from the week in the next day or so.

Go RedSox

The World Series starts tonight and the SutherSons will be cheering them on. Murdoch was born in the middle of an exciting season and we have taken a few pictures of him cheering the team on throughout his first two months. Hopefully he will still be smiling at the end of the series.

Here are some pictures from home and at the final game of the ALCS.

GO SOX!!!!

Family Photos

I have had a request of some pictures of Mom & Murdoch. In general I am always the one taking the pictures so I am not in most of the pictures. When we got home from Maine we did take a few pictures of the family in bed, minus Deucey because she is not allowed in the bed. Not much going on the pictures - I just thought they were cute and for once we were all clean so that is enough of a reason to takes some pictures! Here are the other pictures from Sunday night.

Weekend in Maine

This past weekend the whole Suthersons clan went up to Maine for a long weekend. It is pretty sad that we now fill an entire SUV. Deucey gets the way back along with her bed, Murdoch and I sit in the back with some of the luggage, and the rest of the luggage is in the first seat along with Andy. We even bought a roof rack to help us deal with all of our stuff we bring along though we luckily didn't have to use it just for a three day weekend.

This was the final weekend in Maine for the season. Bob & Talli are taking off for Florida at the end of the week. It was a cool weekend - it was around 40 when we woke up each morning and it was rainy for about half of the weekend. But we kept ourselves busy. On Friday Murdoch had his first meal from a bottle. I go back to work at the beginning of November so I wanted to make sure Murdoch would eat from a bottle. I assumed he would and after about three tries he sucked the milk down. Then Talli, Murdoch, and I headed into South Portland to do a little shopping for Murdoch. He got some cute new outfits from Grandma Talli. Hugh came on Saturday to help take out the dock. The boys ended up taking out the dock on Sunday and then we headed home. By the time we made it back to Boston and had some dinner we were ready to pass out and get ready for another week.

Here is a link to the pictures from the weekend.

Murdoch & Deucey

We have gotten a lot of requests for pictures of Murdoch with Deucey. Deucey has been great with Murdoch. When I get up to feed and change him in the middle of the night Deucey is always right next to me making sure everything is going well. Every time Murdoch cries in his crib Deucey goes running into the room as if to say it is okay Murdoch! Too bad she can't get him out of bed and rock him back to sleep :)

I took a few this weekend so here they are! I am sure we will have more as Murdoch gets bigger and more mobile. Here is the link to the pictures

House Updates

Before Murdoch everyone would always ask us how is the house going? We have been in the middle of a major house renovation for most of 2007. We were expecting it to be completed by now but like most house projects it has taken a little longer than we thought - partially because of issues with contractors and partially due to the fact that we continue to add more and more to the project. One thing that we added to the project was having the outside of the house redone. We had always planned on having it redone but not right now. When our dormer was approved by the town part of the agreement was that the exterior of the dormer would match the rest of the house. Because we weren't sure that we would be able to find the exact pinkish/tan aluminum siding to match the rest of our house we decided to have it redone. First we had all of the siding ripped off to see what was underneath. To our surprise we had some really nice clapboard. After many months of work, not exactly by us, we are proud to say that the outside of the house is complete - except for rebuilding the front porch which hopefully will happen soon (it better). The inside still needs a lot of work but I thought I would post these pictures because I am finally proud to enter the house and call it mine - at least the neighbors don't know what the inside looks like because it isn't very pretty...but only for now. Inside pictures later when it is a little more put together and cleaned up.

To the Beach!

It was near 80 on Saturday so the whole family headed up to the North Shore for a little beach outing. We went to Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester on Cape Ann. After the end of September dogs are allowed on the beach so Deucey had a great time in her life vest playing in the ocean with the other dogs. Murdoch was sleeping pretty much the whole time so I don't think he will remember the beach but we had a great time - it was a great way to capture a little bit of summer in October. Now is it in the high 50's/low 60's and rainy. Oh well. Next summer we should be able to do this more often. Click on this link or one of the pictures below to see the full set of pictures.

Happy times

Just so you don't think he is always a little cranky pants here is a video of happy times with Andy - in fact we took this about 30 seconds before the last one. It is amazing how the mood of a newborn changes so quickly - one minute he is smiling the next he is screaming - if only we could figure out what causes these rapid changes :)

Cranky Pants

I finally transferred some of the videos onto my laptop so I thought I would post one from Sunday night. Murdoch wasn't very happy hanging out with Andy - maybe he had some bad breath :)

Going for a walk

Just about every morning I try to take Murdoch and Deucey out for a walk. Deucey is a little insane in the morning so it helps make the rest of the day with her a little more pleasant and I think Murdoch really enjoys being outside now that he can kind of look around though I am not sure exactly what he sees. The last reason I do the walk is because in the first couple of weeks I would look at the clock and see that it was 5 PM and I wouldn't have left the house for the whole day. So this way I get some exercise so hopefully when I go back to work I won't have to still wear my maternity clothes and the fresh air is good for me as well - no reason to stay inside the house when it is so nice out, that is just depressing. Here are a few pictures of me getting ready for the walk - I just though Murdoch was too cute so I though I would share the pictures with you.

4 Weeks/1 Month Old

Murdoch was four months old on September 25th and one month old on September 28th. I can't believe he is already a month old - it seems like it went so fast but at the same time it seems like forever since he was born. I already want him to stop growing and just stay my little man swaddled up and tiny. I know you can't stop it but I have to say that I really like him at this age. At times I wish he could talk and walk and we could go to the park together and have some fun but when he is asleep in my lap like a little present I wish he could stay this small forever. Enough of my Mom talk here are his stats from the doctor's visit on September 26th: 12 pounds, 2 ounces, 23.5 inches so he has definitely grown. The doctor said he is very strong for his age so of course we are proud parents. He goes back in a month and this time he gets his first set of shots - I don't think he will enjoy that visit very much.