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.