fall is in the air!

happy weekend, friends! days like today are THE reason to live in Gainesville. crystal blue sky without a cloud in sight. the weather is perfect....cool enough for a sweater but not too cold. fall is my absolute favorite season and i'm so happy that it's finally here! sweaters, cuddling up by the fireplace, hot chocolate, family and friends....the list goes on!

what are you up to on this gorgeous fall day?

emma graced mommy and daddy with sleeping in until 9am! she's usually going strong by then but instead she slept all the way through and let us catch up on our zzz's. i knew the weekend was going to be great :)

once she was up and stuffed full of bananas, peaches, and cheerios she was off and running.....first stop, toys and cartoons! i try not to let her catch too many glimpses of the tv but when she does it is hysterical. she's totally mesmerized. she gets very loud and tries to talk back to the people on the screen. super funny!

next stop, enjoying the view from the window. she cruises the length of just about any solid surface in our house these days, often letting go and either cruising one handed or standing for a few seconds on her own. oh boy are we in trouble!

this girl is very curious. she likes going through boxes and containers an emptying them of their contents (this applies to things NOT intended for baby as well like, for instance, our laundry room trash can. lesson learned!). the process of looking through her pink bucket or whatever container i have on hand and emptying it of all its toys is endless fun for her.

when she's done we say "all done!" and she goes wild :) :) then pack up the container again and repeat!!

silly mom!!!!! (is that not joy on her little face?? swoon.)

ryan and graham are spending the day working on our new master bath/bed renovation! the jacuzzi tub is in place and emma and i are VERY excited. the girls are headed to the mall for a girls day with glammy.....clothes, shoes, and grandma time! perfection!

cheers!

sweet child of nine

oh emma claire. oh sweet child of mine. of nine. nine months old!!

nine months ago you entered this world and it will forever be different. you are the single proudest moment of our lives. i can't possibly put into words what your presence has done except to say that you. are. magic. and we love you more than you could ever know.

ryan and i got to talking over dinner the other night and came up with a list....what we love about emma at 9 months. So here goes....

~ does "EVERYTHING!" count?? no, seriously.

~ your "insane happiness" as daddy likes to call it. i've never seen a baby, or any person for that matter, smile as much as you. the world, life, existance makes you smile and you remind us that happiness is all around us.

~ those dimples. my gosh. don't know where they came from but we'll keep them!!!!

~ the crescendo of your voice as you test it out. constant chatter turns into SQUEAL!

~ your intensity of experience, curiosity about the world around you, and your extreme determination to accomplish whatever it is you've set your little mind on. the fact that your personality shines through so obviously already is so much fun.

~ watching you play with your friends. if only we knew what you all where talking about!

~ discovering new things that make you laugh. it feels like winning the lottery.

~ the way you play games....peek a boo and such. you'll offer your paci up and then take it away and laugh hysterically. what a comic!

~ what a good eater you are. and how much fun you have doing it.

~ your tired coos and your anytime snuggles. swoon.

~ your love for jewelry and iPhones. i swear i had nothing to do with this.

~ peeking on you every night before bed. i especially love how you've started sleeping with your butt up like your daddy did when he was little.

~ your excitement when either daddy or i enters the room....it's like you're saying "i missed you!"

~ how you've developed bonds of love with the people close in our lives. you recognize your family and friends!

~ ok seriously, does EVERYTHING count???

emma, you and your smile light up our lives. life makes sense and is infinitely more grand with you here to share it with. who knew one little person could have 2 big people so ridiculously wrapped around her finger. mommy and daddy love you to the moon and back....and even more than that :)

oh emma claire. oh sweet child of mine. nine. happy 9 months!!!

perfect little pumpkin

hope everyone had a fun weekend! ready for an adventure all our own, we packed up and headed over to julington park (outside of jax) for a quick photo session with our favorite, jenn hopkins. she was doing a shoot in a pumpkin patch and we couldn't resist getting some of our own little pumpkin just shy of her 9 month birthday.

armed with her latest favorite snack, mozzarella cheese cubes and sliced pears, we got an early start. emma doesn't much care for long car trips these days....she'd really rather wiggle so we have to get creative. snacktime is the perfect distraction from the fact that she is tethered to her carseat for over an hour! she was even nice enough to share with mommy.

we arrived a bit early and there really wasn't a great place for her to crawl and play so we improvised a little. yes, we put our child in the trunk of my car and let her go to town. i said we had to get creative, didn't i?

a baby in a trunk! parenting at it's finest! :)

when jenn arrived it was time for the real fun....pumpkins!

emma, in true fashion, was very curious....about the pumpkins and the hay and just what in the heck was going on. i snapped a few on our camera while jenn was working her magic :) not only is she an amazing photographer, she is just so great with kids.....emma cooperated well and jenn actually got her to sit still for some really cute shots without bribing her with toys or food. i need her to give me lessons apparently ;)

pretty soon the shoot was over and we said goodbye to jenn and all the pumpkins. we got the chance to visit an old friend in jacksonville and introduce her to emma. isis actually used to babysit ryan and his brother when they were little so its always so fun to see her and share funny murphy stories. we hadn't seen her since probably a year or so before we got pregnant with emma so it was an especially nice treat. my how time changes things :)

it's exhausting being cute all the time...

after all the fun the morning could possibly bring, we packed up again and headed home. emma was out within 5 minutes in the car....sleep being an even BETTER distraction than food :) it's an obvious statement, but seeing the world for the first time (again) through her eyes is a daily blessing. tomorrow she will be 9 months old. this blows my mind....how did this happen so fast? at the same time, it makes perfect sense because i really can't remember life without her here.

i may be biased but i think we've got the best pumpkin in the patch :)

a little light reading

When my best friend, Elisa, threw our baby shower this time last year, I'm sure no one ever dreamed that the baby inside my belly would actually read their well wishes :) I love cards and I'm not too embarassed to admit that I've definitely cried in the card section at Target. I have a box at home filled with special cards and notes I've gotten through the years. I have the first card Ryan every wrote to me....we were 15 and had been dating for three months. It's covered in a coffee stain and is tattered at the edge but I can't and won't ever get rid of it. I have notes we passed in the back of high school algebra class....some of them too hard to read because our scribbled handwriting is starting to fade. I have cards from my parents, my brother, all the cards we got at our wedding, and I just recently added a few I got for my first mother's day. I'm such a sap. But, there is just something about cards.....the way people fill them with a message meant just for you for a very particular moment of time. I love handwritten notes and I wish sending them was still en vogue. Email is great for speedy communication but sometimes you just can't beat the sentiment behind a handwritten letter. Like stacks of other cards I've kept, the group we got at our baby shower is no different. I keep them in a silver box along with all of Emma's ultrasounds proudly displayed in Emma's room.

In an effort to entertain her, I pulled down the box one day this week. Boy ohhhhhh boy.

First came the tossing of the cards....like big pieces of confetti.....all across the room. Then came the careful inspection of each and every last one. Open, close, open, close....dedede, nenene, lalalaLAAAAA!!!! Ok, moving on!

We must have sat there for an hour. I read cards to her and told her about the people who had written them. And then she read some to me and pretty soon it was time to pack up the cards before Emma turned them into real confetti!

When all is said and done, I think she was thoroughly entertained and I think I may have met the one person more enamored with cards than me. I can't wait until I have a note from the beanie to add to my stack :)

vocal adrenaline

there's alot of singing going on in the murphy house these days. emma discovered her voice a long while ago but only recently started gracing us with little spurts of what i like to call "vocal adrenaline" (yes, glee fans, that IS a reference!). there is constant baby chatter in our house....mamama, dadada, nanana, gagaga, lalala....all of which usually follow a cute sing song-y kind of tune. until one of these spurts of adrenaline hits and the tunes gradually get louder....and louder....and LOUDER to the point where our eardrums literally feel like they might start bleeding! seriously, this is not a joke. who knew such serious noise could come from such a tiny squirt :) she's not upset in any way shape or fashion....in fact, quite the opposite.....the louder the squeal, the bigger the smile. she is oh so proud of her voice....and i like to think that some day it will serve her very well :) for now, we just hope no glasses will break.

lalalalaLAAAAAAAA

she loves to spend the mornings while ryan and i get ready looking out the sliding glass windows and banging her toys together, chewing on them, squealing, repeat.....

she's on the move and everywhere. we try and stay a few steps ahead of her but this is impossible. i found her in the laundry room a few days back with a handful of puppy chow and a piece of kibble in her mouth. she looked like she had won the lottery. if only i weren't philosophically opposed to those baby leash things..... ;)

it's so nice to feel the hint of fall air, don't you agree?? we are so looking forward to the holiday season, this year in particular! we are headed to jacksonville next weekend for some pumpkin patch shots with our favorite, Jenn Hopkins of Jenn Hopkins Photography. i promise to share pics when i get them back. i hope everyone has a great week :) go out and do something wonderful...

with love,

the murphys

little ladybug

Well, it's been a long while since I've posted but with good reason. We've been settling into our new and exciting role as Emma's parents! The past 6 months have been a whirlwind....and as I look back, I'm absolutely amazed that in such a short period of time we have all learned so much. I have alot of work to do on this blog but time is precious these days. I'll get around to it eventually.

We have lots going on but the most important topic is, of course, EMMA! The counter on my photo storage program tallied the photos taken of her at around 8000 since her birth.....yes, it is true, I am totally obsessed with this child and take pictures of her at every opportune (and sometimes inopportune) moment! What can I say....I love that she's growing and learning about the world around her but I just want it to slow down!!!! I pulled 6 photos from the 8000 to share as a quick progression of her life...

1 month old

our little sun goddess

2 months old

daddy's little girl

3 months old

murphy sunshine

4 months old

5 months old!

happy half birthday

6 months old

She has been, and continues to be an absolute joy to be with. Most of the time I wake up and just thank my lucky stars that we were blessed to be her parents. She has such a wonderful temperament. She cries when she needs something....food, a diaper change, and when she's sleepy (she gets that from me, sometimes I cry when I'm super sleepy too!!!) but for the most part she is a completely content baby. She giggles and smiles ALOT which I think is pretty cool. She definitely has a little attitude on her....she's definitely OUR child. She's a girl who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to let you know it. She's a big girl....18lbs 8 oz at her 6 month appointment and measuring 26.5 inches long.....which puts her in the 75-90th %ile for both height and weight. She loves bathtime, making a mess when she eats, and "reading" books. She is pretty much obsessed with her walker and her jumper these days and loves standing up with a little help from mom and dad. She's working hard on the crawling thing....getting up onto her hands and knees constitutes her daily workouts....it's so fun to watch her try and put it all together. She say's "mama" regularly and is working very hard on "dada". I could go on and on but the morning is only so long. She is perfect and being her parents is the best thing that has ever happened to us.

Emma, the things mommy loves most about you at 6 months:

- the way you smile, giggle, and flail your arms and legs when you get excited

- your curiosity about the world around you and the way you grab for toys and books you are interested in

- watching you jump up and down so excitedly in your bouncer and cruise like a champ in your walker. i especially love watching you chase deja around the house.

- your diligent attempts to crawl. i love watching you get up on your hands and knees and try to figure out what to do next.

- the way you get so happy to see us when we pick you up from daycare. i also love that you LOVE daycare so much. you get so excited to play with your friends and i love watching you talk to your friends and play with toys together. it's hard to leave you but i know you are learning so much.

- listening to you experiment with sounds. i especially love that you say "mama"!

- the way you reach out for us to pick you up. SO sweet.

- putting you to sleep at night. snuggling with you is one of my favorite things in the world.

- being your mommy. i'm the luckiest lady in the world.

time flies...

I'm not even sure where to start.....

Our world has changed in the most amazing and beautiful (and sleep deprived!) of ways. Emma is finally here.....and has been for the past (almost) 9 weeks. I've been too busy soaking her up to blog! And, who am I kidding.....she's been keeping us a weeeeeee bit busy ;) What I will say is that nothing anyone ever told me about what it would be like when she was here even came close to preparing us. I don't know what it is about not having gone through the experience of bringing home a baby that makes you totally and completely unable to truly grasp what it will be like.....but, in my case, despite all the wonderful tips and advice, it knocked me off my feet. I describe it to Ryan as like getting the job of your dreams and then suddenly realizing you are sorely underqualified! The first 2 weeks of Emma's life I felt completely inadequate! But, something happened around the 2 week mark.....things clicked.....and we suddenly found ourselves in a beautiful groove with our precious little girl. Her patterns emerged, we began to understand her cries and what they meant, and we looked at each other through tired eyes and said, "This is AWESOME!".

I never knew I'd feel a love like this. She is perfect in every way we could imagine and we are so blessed to be her parents. It's so fun watching her grow so fast.....she is a big girl!! She was 7lb 12 oz at birth and at her 6.5 week checkup, she was 11lb 4oz! Woah! She's also long....having already grown 4 inches from birth....so I'm hoping she's tall like her daddy. Well, maybe not THAT tall ;) Also at that checkup she had already met all of her 2 month milestones. She has a megawatt smile that will stop you dead in your tracks and I often find myself doing weird and crazy things JUST to see that toothless grin. Thank god for curtains because I dance around the house like a fool on a daily basis :) She wiggles like a champ and loves to sit up in her bumbo. She is pretty much obsessed with ceiling fans and anything that moves in a circular fashion. She loves being held and thinks bathtime is just about the greatest thing ever. She loves to stand (with assistance of course) and she squeals in delight when we get her naked......look out! She has quite the little personality.....I tell Ryan all the time....she's just the right about of sweetness and the right amount of spunk :)

She is by far and away the accomplishment we are proudest of (I feel confident speaking for Ryan on this one!).

We are SMITTEN!!!!!!

Who IS that pretty girl in the mirror??

Unfortunately for me, maternity leave is over.....that was quick!!! Emma started daycare on March 1st and is thankfully located VERY close to me all day long. She attends Baby Gator which is literally attached to the hospital so I can run and see her anytime I want......and I do! On a daily basis! I swear they must think I am crazy, and I am....for my little ladybug! :)

Being back at work is HARD, I won't lie. Balancing all the responsibilities of being a physician, wife, friend, and mommy is tough. Way tougher than I could have ever imagined. "Multitasking" is now my middle name!

But, getting to be Emma's mommy is sooooooooo worth all the hard work. She's amazing and life is good :)