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!

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!