11.11.10

Another month of fun has passed and now we are proud parents to a 10 month old!!!!!!! I don't even know where to start. This is by far and away our favorite stage yet (I say this at every stage, don't I?) I'm not sure if its her fiesty personality, her love of snuggling, or everything else in between....but she just keeps getting better and better. In honor of her 10 monthday...."What We Love About You" is back. Here goes. Emma, what mommy and daddy love most about you at 10 months....

...everything. it counts. because it's true!...

...that you're TALKING!!!! "my puppy" is the first real phrase :) what a smarty!...

...that you love to dance. when music starts, you sway, wiggle, and shake that tush...

...your "lip strumming". you make the cutest noise and strum your lip for fun...

...your squeals and shrieks. excitement is your middle name....

....that deep belly laugh. oooooohhh that laugh. we'll do anything for that laugh...

...how you play with deja. the two of you are like real friends...

...your hugs and open mouth kisses. the best!...

...your two tooth grin...

...watching you learn to walk!...

...our morning family snuggle routine...

...playing catch, peek a boo, games with you!!...

...the list goes on...

emma claire, our sweet baby bean, every day with you is more lovely than the last. you make us smile from the inside out. we are the luckiest people alive to be your parents. thank you for making life infinitely more bright and meaningful. we LOVE you!

playing catch up!

I have been a T-errible blogger lately. Yes. With a capital T. My current rotation (Hematology/Oncology) is so busy that I barely have enough time for my Ryan and Emmabean so everything else has been taking a big backseat. After a nice day off spent with my lovies, the beanie is tucked snuggly in bed and I have a little time to play catch up. With pics, as always :)

Ryan is the best husband in general, but also the best husband for always bringing Emma to visit me on weekends when I'm on call in the hospital. This particular day, Emma REALLY wanted to stand up at daddy's steering wheel. What Emma wants, Emma gets.....oy vey!

Ryan took her to Cedar Key on Friday night to visit his Dad. This meant getting sprung early from daycare and a pre-trip visit with mommy. She was very excited about the fountain in front of the building and couldn't stop squealing. Cold weather gets Deja VERY feisty and I'm thinking that Emma is the same way. It's going to be an exciting winter!! :) I love this photo Ryan snapped with his iPhone.....the wind blowing in her hair and her shreiking with delight at the water fountain.

Here she is bundled up for a little swingtime on the beach. We discovered that Emma loves the swing a month or so back when we went to Jax for our pumpkin patch shots. Again, more squealing.... ;)

The next few fall under the category of "Funny Faces" which we get ALOT of around the Murphy house. I've got to start posting more of the funny facial expressions we get because she keeps us in stitches. She's very expressive not only with her voice and her personality, but also with her face. A stand up comic, really.

She may look like her daddy, but at least I get PJ shoutouts :)

HUH????

face stuffing....something she's REALLY good at ;)

Ryan and I are doing well. Ryan continues to be very hard at work at the renovation in the back. Man oh man will it be good when it is done. I'm ready for a Murphy retreat right in our very own home. I'm keeping very very busy taking care of some of the sickest folks in the hospital. The hours are incredibly long, and the days very draining, but at least I get to leave with my health....something for which I am very grateful.

The beanie will be 10 months on Thursday. You better believe I'll be posting :) Hope this post finds everyone doing well and staying warm.

Til next time! :)

happy halloween!

....from the cutest little ladybug in town....

a post as big as TEXAS!

Pull up your cowboy boot straps folks, it's gonna be a big post!! Summing up our trip to Dallas, Tx to see Corie and Emery tie the knot is no messing around. What a weekend it was. For one, it was the wedding of Ryan's childhood friend Emery (I got the pleasure of meeting him in high school) and his college love, Corie....two people who are so ridiculously in love and perfect for one another that we couldn't wait to watch them say I do. AND, it was a big weekend for Ryan and me because we left Emma for the first time as we set out to enjoy a mini vacay.

We started out bright and early on Friday. Emma helped her Grandma see us off at the airport. She was so cute and interested in everything going on. I did what we all thought I would do which was break into hysterical tears as we said goodbye. Boy, was that hard....Ryan was upset too but he held it together and looked waaaaay cooler than me :) (typical!)

"ooooooh mom, you're SO embarassing!" (get used to it, beanie!)

We stayed at the Hotel Adolphus. Very cool, old fashioned place in downtown Dallas. They even had a high tea every afternoon which was pretty neat to see people going to....I'm talking tea, crumpets, and fancy hats :) I'll admit, the hallways kind of reminded me of the movie, The Shining but overall a cute place.

As soon as we got into town, we settled into our rooms and hit the town for some exploring. Here we are at the intersection of Murphy & Main looking like total tourists ;)

very cool upshot courtesy of my architecturally inclined hubby

That evening, Aaron had made us reservations at Samar. OH my goodness. It's a tapas fusion restaurant that had options from Spain, the Mediterrenean, and India. Each of us got one from each region and shared....18 tapas later we were all full and happy and totally impressed. Best meal I've had in a LONG time.

We also had probably one of THE best cocktails I have ever had. Gin + limoncello with a sprig of rosemary....unbelievable. They call it the Cyprus Rose and we'll be making it around the Murphy house sometime soon so stop on by! ;)

we had the funniest waiter who kept us entertained throughout the night. how do we repay him? by making him take pictures of us, of course ;)

Here's Ryan, the lover of all things spicy, getting a little run for his money with his Indian dish :)

Here are the girls after almost losing our lives at the hands of a crazy taxi driver!!!

OK! Now on to the main event. Corie and Emery's wedding! I didn't take pictures at the ceremony but suffice it to say it was perfect. There wasn't a dry eye in the place. The church where they were married was beautiful and it was a gorgeous place to start off what I'm sure will be long and wonderful marriage. Emery and Corie spent alot of time writing little paragraphs about each person in the bridal party, many of whom we went to high school with, so it was really funny and really cute to read while we waited for the ceremony to start. One of the paragraphs was a prelude of what was to come later that night (I'll get to that in a bit!)

Then, we headed back to downtown Dallas to the Tower Club for the reception. 48 stories up is a room with floor to ceiling windows and the most amazing view of downtown Dallas. It was GORGEOUS. Very Sex And The City. Everyone looked great and wore huge smiles and it was obvious it was going to be a great night.

the ladies

the gents, looking FABULOUS if you ask me!

with my beautiful bestie :)

the girls with the gorgeous bride :) corie, girl, you rocked the dress like we knew you would!

my handsome hubby with the handsome groom!

Ok, so remember those little paragraphs emery and corie wrote? in emery's post about adam, a great high school buddy, he made mention of adam's mad breakdancing skills. not willing to upset the crowd, adam threw off his tux jacket and showed us all how its done. i love how this picture captures him in action AND got corie and emery's monogram too!

ryan was a dancing machine and by the end, my feet were sore, my body ached, and my voice was hoarse from singing :) as new parents, we don't get out much and we don't get a chance to spend a whole lot of time with the friends we love so dearly. this trip was so special to us and while we came back more exhausted than when we left, it was SO worth it. and at the end, it was like a huge GIFT to get to snuggle with our little Emma bean again!!!

to all the friends we enjoyed the weekend with, we love you! thanks for such a great time :) to corie and emery, Y'ALL throw one heck of a party. congratulations on a day you will never ever forget. may the love and laughter we all experienced on 10.23.10 stay with you forever!!!!

cheers!

a few faves

just a few of our faves from Emma's first pumpkin patch visit. hope you enjoy them as much as we do :)

while the cat's away....

There is mischief in those eyes :) Little Miss Emma is having her first weekend sleepover with Grandma & Grandpa while Ryan and I head to Dallas for a wedding.....and SOMEthing tells me she is going to have a good time. And so are her parents. If, that is, her mother doesn't lose it first ;) Having never left town without her....this is going to be VERY very hard for us both. I'm sure there will be tears at the airport tomorrow morning.

Emma doesn't seem to phased by it all. In fact, she seems darn right excited to be heading over for some supreme spoiling at her Mimi and Pop's house! Can you blame her??

She was nice enough to help me pick out my jewelry for my wedding outfit.

She even tried on the headband for me ahead of time so I could make sure it would look ok :) It got the Emma Murphy seal of approval!

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't totally anxiety ridden about the trip. Leaving Emma behind has me heartbroken. But at the same time, we're getting a chance to spend a weekend with our best of friends. We'll get to "sleep in"...whatever that means, have adult time with our favorites, and even get a chance to have lunch with some of Ryan's family whom we never get to see.

So, in true Texas spirit, we hope YA'LL have a great weekend. Lots of pictures of Dallas shenanigans to come, I'm sure :)

cheers! M

the sweetest day!

two years ago today i married my best friend. i’ve been in love with him since the back of 10^th grade algebra and the way i felt when he first gave me a ride home from school is the same way i feel today. times a million. ours hasn’t been a relationship without hardship or without its rainy days. but those times have made our relationship stronger, our love deeper, and the two of us much more capable of appreciating the blessing that we have in one another and our young family.

i literally remember every moment of my wedding day...seeing Ryan when we got a few quiet moments alone before the ceremony, locking eyes with him as I walked down the aisle, and the purest joy i had ever felt knowing that i was marrying the man of my dreams.

he laughs with me every day (and at me on most of those days), is my biggest cheerleader, and never goes to bed without saying I love you. he's the kindest man and truest friend i could ever imagine. and now he’s my baby daddy which makes me very VERY happy.

to my honey, happy 2^nd anniversary. every day is a holiday with you. i love you. i carry your heart, i carry it in my heart. :)

“Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. Love still stands when all else has fallen.”