September 17, 2006
The time has come to close the chapter on this particular journal. I have decided (with the help of my friends J & J) to start a new blog which will combine all of my thoughts and entries for both of my children. They will both still have separate sites, but my entries for them will be one in the same. If you want to check it out, go to: http://marshallmurphy.blogspot.com/

I expect that Jay will hook us up with a link from the main page soon.

The contents of this journal will not be deleted or lost, simply archived so that if you wish to view them in the future, you may be able to do just that.

The new blog is great - you can post pictures (daily if we want to!) and we can use our beloved apostrophes with no issues! You can even comment on our posts and pictures if you wish. Let us know what you think - head over and take it for a little ride!

September 10, 2006
Over a period of 20 months time you would think that I might have learned some relaxation skills - but no.

This morning I was shocked to realize that I slept until 7:25 without interruption. Murphy is ALWAYS up by 6:20; especially when she went to bed early (like last night!) When I realized that she had been quiet for 12+ hours, I raced into her room, my heart pounding. I was sure she was either dead or missing. I entered the room to find her lying in her crib wide awake and was greeted with "HI Mummy!" *Big sigh of relief. She was okay. So was I.

September 2, 2006
Sometimes when I want Murphy to "come here" or bring me something, I tell her what I want her to do. If she does not do it, I tell her I will count to 3 and then if she still does not do it, I will have to help her. Sometimes it works and she does it right away, or sometimes she does it on 3, or sometimes it does not work at all.

So tonight she was playing with a tube of diaper cream. I asked her to "please bring that to Mommy". She continued to sit there. I said "Murphy, please bring that to Mom!" She looked at me and boldly said "COUNT, Mummy!"

And she had that diaper cream in my hands before I hit 3! She is too funny; too smart!

September 1, 2006
I am mommy to the sweetest girl ever. She just knows when we need extra hugs and kisses and provides an ample amount without even being asked to do so.

She regularly uses several words together now and it makes it so much easier to get her what she wants and needs because she can tell us now! (Even though it does not necessarily mean she will get a band-aid on her lip when she bangs it just because she requests it!) She is particular with what she wants to wear now. She chooses her own colors, books, snacks, etc. She is no longer my little baby but rather my little person.

You were so good to Mom today Murphy. I love you!

August 28, 2006
Tonight before bed, Murphy was in a good mood. We decided to read book after book to see what she could identify. To our best estimate (at not quite 20 months old) she is able to identify more than 250 objects, people, and body parts. She is actually naming what she sees - things like "umbrella" and "octapus"; things I did not even know she knew! She even told me what a rooster says "Cock-a-doo!" I did not know she knew that one either. She has surprises for me every day. She is definitely a big girl and not a baby anymore!

I started back at work today. I will be doing either 2 or 3 days a week. The best part is that my friend (and Murphys beloved sitter and vice-Mommy) has just moved 2 houses down from us! I am so excited to have such a short walk to her house to drop off and pick up Murphy. It certainly saves me a lot of time and allows me to spend more of it with Murphy. Murphy loves their new house and did not even want to come home with me today. She had more fun running into all of the new rooms with her buddies Gage & Raegan.

Despite the hitting and pinching, she really is becoming a sweet girl. She (many times daily) leans over for hugs and kisses spontaneously. She forever remembers to include her brother Marshall and mentions him sporadically throughout the day. She knows which blankets were Marshalls and requests them often. She knows about his pictures, garden, bench, and the candles we light for him. Recently she was running in a circle around the living room yelling at the top of her lungs "MARSHALLMURPHY MARSHALLMURPHY MARSHALLMURPHY!" I have no idea why but it was quite clear what she was yelling. It was a bittersweet moment to say the least.

She no longer refers to herself as "Shooshie" but ALWAYS Muh-FEE now. Boohoohoo, I will miss Shooshie! She is growing up so fast. I am enjoying her so much. She is learning how to play a bit by herself too. I have been sitting her at the table with things like Play-Doh "Pee-doh" and she will play for several minutes alone now with that. And she does not even eat it! How about that!?

Speaking of eating, she continues to be a great eater. She consumes 90% of what we offer her, no matter what it is. I LOVE having a child who does not require a separate special meal; especially now that she can eat dairy, it makes things a lot easier when I am preparing meals!

She has been sleeping well, although wake-up times are inconsistent - usually between 6 and 6:30 but occasionally until 7am. I can really not complain!

Please keep our friend Jenny Jenster in your thoughts. She should be coming home from the hospital soon. The poor girl has had a rough time of it lately. We hope she feels better soon!

August 26, 2006
Murphy has taken to hitting, biting and pinching. She does it to me several times a day. I always ask her "what did you just do to mom?" And she says "hitting" (or whatever she did - pinching, biting, etc.) So I ask her "What are hands for?" And she says "hugging". Then we hug and make up and we are fine.

Tonight she came up to me and pinched my face really hard. I said "What did you do to Mom!?" She said "Pinching!" So Mark overheard us and he said "Pinch her back!" (to me)

Little Miss Shooshie misunderstood the command. She marched up behind me and promptly pinched my back.

We laughed pretty hard about that one!

August 21, 2006
Murphys latest:

Mom: "Murphy, can you say MURPHY?"
Murphy: "Mur-FEE"!
Mom: "Great job! Now, what is your name?"
Murphy: "Shooshie!"

Okay then! I guess she wants to be called Shooshie!

Yesterday we went down to Waterford, CT to meet up with the CT chapter of FSMA. We had a nice time at the camp. It is a beautiful place located right on Long Island Sound. The scenery was breath taking! I have pictures if anyone is interested.

It was nice to hook up with MJ and Brenda again as well as Peg and Seans aunt Me-me and a bunch of other new families! We had a nice day.

Shooshie missed her nap of course because we were out for the day but she managed to cat nap in the car. But it was not good enough. Her sleep is still all messed up from that. She went to bed late last night, was up at 5:15 this morning, took less than an hour nap, and crashed at 6:30 this evening. Hopefully she will do better tomorrow!

I start working next week (already!?) for the school year (either 2 or 3 days per week). I am looking forward to it though for a few reasons, one being Karina. Karina was my supervisor when I worked in Hopedale and we have been lucky enough to work together over the summer and now for the school year in Upton. I am quite happy with this arrangement!

Murphy will spend her work days with Gage and Raegan. Lucky for us they are moving soon and will only live 2 houses away! YAY! I think I will love not having the commute to their house in the morning before my commute to work.

Murphy is learning so much from those two kids. She is forming sentences now and really amazes me with the concepts she understands.

I took her to an annual appointment a while back and I had a routine blood draw. She has not stopped talking about "Mummy doctor needle hurt". Tonight she asked me again if I was getting another one. Silly girl!

She still loves to read books. We are beginning to work on nursery rhymes and with some stories, you can start the sentence and she will finish it. She never forgets her line! Too cute!

I will try to have Laura put up some new pictures this week if she is not too busy. Keep checking back for them.

August 15, 2006
She is so smart! Murphy just found a piece of paper with the Marshalls Miles logo on it. She pointed to it and said "Mummy. Tattoo." She actually recognized that logo as the one that is on my back for Marshall! She is so smart!

August 15, 2006
Just wanted to add special thoughts for my friend Megan who is being induced tomorrow (a very special day indeed).

August 14, 2006
Tonight after Murphy fell asleep I went in to check on her. Without opening her eyes she stood up and asked me to hold her. So I did. And we rocked and rocked. She was fast asleep in my arms. I enjoyed every second. Who is this big girl in my arms!? Where has my little baby girl gone?

"Ill love you forever, Ill like you for always.
As long as Im living, my baby youll be."

August 14, 2006
Murphy has a new friend. Riley Steven was born this morning (son of Stacey and Steve). I went up with some friends to meet him. It was hard. I cried a little. I am glad he is here safe and sound. Stacey promised to share him with us!

August 9, 2006
You know you are working too many hours when your baby wakes up from her nap and asks for the sitter. :o(

August 9, 2006
Today I had a bunch of things to do in a very short amount of time. Our first stop was the bank and Miss M noticed the pops in the basket on the counter. I normally do not allow her to have that kind of stuff, but figuring that I really needed to get to the grocery store, Walgreens, and pick up dinner in a matter of 20 minutes, I decided to let her have the pop. She took one lick and smiled and said "Mmmmmmmmmmm. I like it!" Yeah, I bet you do Murphy!

So often I am paranoid that there must be something wrong with her (I guess you just grow to expect these things after a while). One of my fears has been autism lately but clearly when she comes out with things like those cutsie little phrases, I know she is doing alright!

August 4, 2006
Murphy has lost practically all interest in the potty. I feel so sad about this. I think it happened because I have had to work so much. She just does not tell her sitters when she needs to go. She always told me but I cant be here all the time. I hate it. I feel awful about working - like I have failed her somehow. I wish that was not the case.

She is talking up a storm lately though. It is fun to see the connections she is making. Today I was taking her to the chiropractor and while in the car I said to her "Dr. A. is going to look at your back and neck today." And she asked "hurt Shooshie?" (possibly remembering the last dr she saw was her pediatrician and likely received a shot that day). And so today I assured her it would not hurt at all. She sat there like a champ and even was able to lie down face down on the table for him. AND when he was done she gave him a hug and a kiss. THAT is something Dr. Chung will never get!

She now uses a booster chair at the table for eating. She looks like such a big girl to me all of a sudden!

July 28, 2006
We are back from vacationing on Cape Cod. It was really really fun and really really exhausting.

Color me clueless! I had no idea how tiring it would be to deal with a tired and cranky toddler all week long. She was more clingy than she has been all her life, ONLY wanting "Mummmy!" I DO love this girl. And I LOVE that she loves me back. But when her attachment interferes with my ability to use the toilet alone or to eat just one square meal a day, it becomes tiring and frustrating. The poor baby did not get enough naps in and was up at the crack of 5:30am every.single.day!

It was nice to spend time with my sister and of course Murphy LOVED having her "A-lay-NA". It is always horrible to say goodbye. Ca, please consider moving home again. It just is not fair to keep the girls separated for so long at a time.

We spent several days on the beach and a few evenings too. We drove up to P-town and ate out a few times. The last night we drove Ca and Casey to their hotel in Boston (they were catching a very early flight out on Saturday morning). We found these fountains in the street (it was set up for kids to run around in them) and the girls had a BLAST in those. Murphy did get pummeled by some older kids and fell flat on her back on the bricks, but she got up and went back for more. She is fearless. And that scares me. After she escaped from the hotel room into the hallway all by herself we decided to call it a night and headed back home.

She fell asleep on the way home tonight at 7pm in the car and was carried up to bed. She will remain in her bed for the duration of the night. And hopefully it will go beyond 5:30am!

If anyone wants to see pictures of our week, let me know. I would be happy to email them!

July 21, 2006
And we have Peepee on the potty!

YAY!

July 21, 2006
For those of you wondering, Murphy did poop in her diaper since the 17th. But it happened while I was working so she likely was not comfortable on the potty with the sitter. In any case, she is doing SUPER with me in the potty department. I am so proud of her!

July 17, 2006
Another poop on the potty today! We are 2 for 2! None in her diaper since the first potty one. I hope we are on to something!

Tonight Murphy was streaking after we stripped her of her wet swim suit. She went running into the room where Mark was changing and caught him naked. Surprised, she looked up at him and said "poop?" We had to explain the whole girl/boy parts thing already!

Earlier on we were eating birthday cake and she was the first one to clean her plate. She looked up at Mark and said "Daddy, CUT MORE!" Cake is by far her favorite food!

July 15, 2006
Today, July 15, 2006 at 18 months and 10 days old, my daughter gave me an early birthday present. She POOPED in the potty! We are way too excited about this. She acted like it was no big deal and she does it all the time. But that is not the case - today was in fact her first time! Excellent timing, if I might say so. I think being around Allaina in a week or so will be even more reinforcement for Murphy to use the potty. Yay Big Girl! We are so proud of you!

July 12, 2006
PSA - when driving anywhere with your 18 month old seated behind you, no matter how badly another driver is annoying you, try to refrain from using any cuss words at all. Said toddler will most definitely repeat them 100% of the time.

That is all.

July 10, 2006
The blisters have migrated to her feet. Hopefully they are on their way OUT! We hope G & R (who have inherited this lovely hoof disease) feel better soon too!

July 6, 2006
Oh yuck. Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. My poor baby has blisters in her throat, a rash on her limbs, and a fever. She is contagious for a week, which means we have to skip the party at Allains house. Bummer. I hope that Murphys little friends do not get this garbage as they were planning to go on vacation soon and it is no fun to be sick on vacation! Luckily our vacation is not until later and I am hoping she gets over this and does not pick up anything else so that we can have fun with Allaina at the Cape!

Feel better fast Murphy.

*Oh, something cute. Now, when you ask her "Murphy, where is your brother?" She grabs her chest and says "heart".

Love you baby girl.

July 5, 2006
Murphy is still having yogurt daily with no adverse reactions. We get to try cheese tomorrow! I hope that goes as smoothly as yogurt has.

Yesterday we had to drive to Tante Celias house to let her dog (Cadeau) out. I told Murphy we were doing this before we left the house. When we pulled up in the driveway, a neighborhood dog barked. Murphy blurted out "Cadeau BARK!" She is getting so good with associations and putting words together. Too much fun!

And finally, Happy half Birthday to my darling dear baby girl! 18 months. Didnt we just celebrate one year? Slow down, Murphy!

Enjoy your day!

July 5, 2006
We are closely watching a developing fever. 99.5 this morning when she woke. At Mons house she was 100.3. We will be watching this closely and hoping it does not turn into anything!

July 2, 2006
Great news on the allergy front! Murphy has had REAL yogurt for three days in a row with NO adverse reactions! 4 more days of this and she will be able to try cheese!

July 2, 2006
Oops. I slipped. Tonight I was commenting on all of the junk Murphy ate at our friends house and I used the word s-h-i-t. Wouldnt you know it? She looks right at me and says (clear as day) Shi-Tttt!

Oops. Good thing I was not the first to teach her that word. She repeated it from Memere before she heard it from me!

July 1, 2006
Ever since Murphy was a teeny baby, she would sleep wonderfully each time my mom put her to bed. I always thought it was coincidence. Now I know its not! Last night we were at Jay & Jennys wedding (Congratulations guys!) and mom took care of Murphy, which included putting her to bed. The little stinker slept until 7:45am! WHY will she not do that for ME!? Anyway I was quite appreciative of her ability to allow me almost 8 hours of sleep, which I have not had in many, many months! (years?)

Hooray Murphy! Memere should put you to bed every night!

June 30, 2006
Well, I do not want to jinx this, but 2 days in a row, she has slept PAST 6:30! A minor peep around 5am but she goes right back to sleep. THIS is the way it should be!

She is having so much fun with Cousin Scouts doll house people. There is a whole family with an infant carrier (which she calls a "pack pack") for the baby. She asks for the "Daddy. Mum. Baby. Kid. Girl."

She is starting to use 3 word combinations more and more. Yesterday I was getting some gum. And she saw it. And since she has never had gum in her life, I have NO idea how she knew what it was but she started shrieking "GUM. Piece. PEEZE! GUM!" Where does she learn this stuff!?

June 29, 2006
Today we were outside in Brothers garden and she was looking at a bumblebee in the yellow flowers. I told her what it was called and now she keeps yelling "BUM BEE" each time we go outside or see the yellow flowers. "Bum Bee! Bum Bee!"

June 28, 2006
Sleeping is STILL a challenge. You are surprised by that, right?

She has been waking at 5am and refusing to go back to sleep. Tonight I purposely kept her up until 9pm. We will see if she can manage to sleep past 6am tomorrow!

She is learning all kinds of fun things from her friends R & G. Her vocabulary has more than doubled since hanging out with them. It has been so fun to watch her develop into the charismatic little girl that she is!

Today she woke up and said to me "Daddy work bye-bye!" She knew he was at work! Then later, we were going somewhere in the car and I told her we were going to pick up Memere. She then says "Memere. Shooshee CUTE!" (My mom always tells her how cute she is and she remembers that!)

I picked up a couple of days a week for summer school in Hopedale. I love that town and school. I am happy to be back there. From what I understand, my old supervisor from there is going to be my new supervisor over in Upton when the school year starts. I am super-glad about that! I will be working 2 full days in the fall. Currently I am doing 4 half days. I hate leaving Murphy but the cash is good and Murphy is in good hands and having so much fun with her pals!

June 24, 2006
Another bad night - awake from 5-7am, then slept until 7:40am - whoopdeedoo!

My baby girl is growing up. I just caught her playing (by herself, which is enough to make me sad anyway as she should never have been alone). Anyway, she was pretending! She is old enough to pretend!? She "made herself something to eat" at her Dora kitchen set, and then proceeded to sit down and enjoy her creation, eating off a completely empty plate using a spoon and saying "MMmmmmmm" after each bite. TOO CUTE MURPHY! You are so fun!

June 22, 2006
You might have guessed that I not only keep this journal for your entertainment purposes, but also to remind myself of what was going on when. For instance, it helps me to track Murphys sleep patterns so that I might be able to attribute a bad night to something and avoid that in the future. Which brings me to this point . . . Yesterday we tried dairy for the first time since January. The good news is that she did not vomit! She only had a tsp. of yogurt, but still the potential was there. Anyway, she had that in the morning and seemed fairly typical all day. Last night she was up from midnight til about 2:30am just calling for me. I went in and told her to go back to sleep, carefully noting if there was any puke in her bed and there was NOT, I am happy to report! So I left her alone until she fell asleep, the entire time listening to "Mumma. Up. Peeze. Mumma. Up." Grrrr, just go to SLEEP Murphy! As much as I LOVE to cuddle with you in the middle of the night, I am afraid to start it up as a habit where you will NEED me to do that all night, every night. It is not going to happen. You used to sleep so well, about a month or so ago. What happened!?

June 21, 2006
Two Words Together . . . and some other stuff

Last night Daddy was feeding Murphy some cereal, which we always give her before bed. She kept telling him "alldone" and doing her sign for all done. She did it about 3 times and in true fashion, he kept dangling that spoon in front of her face trying to get her to eat more. She grew frustrated and looked right at him and yelled "NO MORE!" He got the point!

She is back to her old tricks of getting up at 4:30am and not returning to sleep. Today we had Mark go in and tell her to lie back down and sleep. It actually worked! So I got to stay in bed until 7. I am not sure what else to do. UGH. 4:30 is WAY too early!

I picked up a few days to work at 2 different schools this summer and I start Monday! Luckily it is only mornings and Murphy will be with G & R, who she loves dearly!

June 21, 2006
Last night when I got home from Rivers wake, I could not reach the zipper on the back of my dress to take it off. So I asked Murphy to "Please help mommy unzip her dress". As if I ask her to do that every day, she marched behind me and unzipped it perfectly! Thanks Baby Girl!

She understands EVERYTHING. She never fails to impress me.

June 21, 2006
Remember in an entry from a few days ago, I said how Murphy pooped in the bucket and then was afraid of it? She cried and cried because of the poop in the bucket.

Well, tonight we almost had a sequel! She was in the tub (with me, of course!) and ripped A HUGE FART. She JUMPED out of that water as fast as she could, spun herself around and started looking for the log that she THOUGHT she made. I nearly died laughing. She started to cry and point at the water saying "poop, poop" but you could tell she was confused that she could not actually find the poop. She thought she crapped herself! Thankfully (and luckily for me!) it was just some air!

Murphy, you are loads of fun and a never-ending source of entertainment for me! I love you!

June 18, 2006
We are still plagued with allergies in this house. So far Mark is almost better, Murphy is remaining the same, and I am having a terrible time with it.

Murphy woke up at 6:30 today and was so crabby that she was in bed at 8:30 for a nap (usually she does not nap until 1pm). She slept 2 hours and again at 1pm got crabby so she is asleep once again! She is spending a lot of energy fighting these allergy symptoms, as well as playing outside a lot.

Today is really hot. It is supposed to reach 90 degrees. We are reluctant to turn on the air conditioning since electricity is so expensive now! So I made up beds downstairs and we will sleep in the basement tonight as it is likely to be a lot more comfortable down there.

We are still holding Jenny in our thoughts today.

June 18, 2006
Murphy is saying her own name. It is too cute! "Shoosheee" is how she says it. She can say everyone elses names but her own sounds nothing like its actual pronunciation!

Today we filled a big pail (that we generally use for laundry) with water outside and she went "swimming". She played and played out there. She was so cute. We ended up taking her clothes off because her diaper was all full and heavy. And then it happened. She pooped. And she was afraid of it. She jumped up and cried! Hahaha, you are so funny Murphy! Her daddy and papa cleaned out the bucket for her. We will have more water fun tomorrow!

June 11, 2006
Thursday was a good day for our little girl, but Friday she began coughing and has had a terrible time of it since then. Her nose is rather snoogery also. Mark took her to the after hours clinic at the local hospital. They say it is likely just a virus and that it will need to run its course. We are having good luck with the Tylenol cold chewables and her nebulizer. She is extremely clingy and only wants "Mum-mie" all day long! She is sleeping extra while her body tries to get better.

Wednesday is my last day of work for this school year. I will likely pick up a few days this summer but as of yet I have not heard anything about it so I will plan on enjoying Murphy as much as I can. I very much love to spend time with her.

Last night I babysat G & R, my good friends children, who really are the closest things that Murphy has to siblings. I wish she could have come with me but she was really not well, so we opted to leave her at home. G & R did great and made me laugh quite a bit! Two kids is really different than one kid. But it was not particularly difficult at all. We had a nice time. And yes, I would do it again!

June 8, 2006
Murphys urine culture came back clear. So she does not have a bladder/kidney infection. She still has a temp of around 101 but it is likely just a virus.

June 7, 2006
Baby girl is sick today. 102.5 and vomiting in the night. I called in to work today. We are seeing the doctor at 10:15 today. I hope its nothing. This is exactly what she was doing when she had that kidney infection though. The only difference is that her fever is not sky high today like it was last time.

I will update later.

May 25, 2006
Okay, sleep issues have been remedied. Bedtime is to be NO later than 7:30pm. She now sleeps 2+ hours at naptime and rises around 6:30am. It has been wonderful!

Auntie Pauline is staying with us this week and next. We are having fun playing and shopping and cooking!

Murphy is doing well. She is getting so grown up and so so so cute (as if she was not cute before!) She fell down 2 days ago and cried and cried. Lately kisses on the booboo have been a magical cure so I said to her "where is your booboo?" She has never answered me before, but this particular time she wailed out "kneeeeeee" and patted her knee. I kissed it and the crying magically stopped! And yes, there was a scrape on her knee.

We went out shopping at Target and a few other stores today. To every single person she meets, she says "Hiye!" repeatedly. I think it is cute, but other people sometimes get annoyed because she says it "hiye! hiye! hiye!" until she gets a response from them. She is too funny.

She has been asking for "Loulou" now. Loulou is my aunt next door. There is only one reason she knows how to say her name though and it is because of Luke, her pal in Ohio! She calls him "Lou". She carries his picture around and says "Lou. Lou!" She loves him. I hope they get to play again soon - its been a long time!

She learned how to nod yes and shake her head for no. And she uses them appropriately most of the time! She yells out "haaapppeeeeeee!" (happy) frequently. She is too much fun!

May 19, 2006
For the past week or so, she has been waking up between 4 and 5am. SOME days (rarely) she will fall back asleep until 6 but that is unlikely. I am exhausted and I have no idea how to get her to sleep longer. We do it all, covered windows, sound machine, etc. Where is my baby who used to sleep until 7am??? Last night she did not get to bed until 9pm and was up at 4:45. WHAT ARE YOU DOING, MURPHY!? I am working on less than 4 hours of sleep today.

May 17, 2006
For the first time EVER in the life of Murphy, I just moved her (completely asleep!) from one location to another and she did not wake up! Even as a tiny infant, she always woke up when we tried to move her. NOT today!

She had a busy day with G & R, on top of waking up at 5:30am today and only napping one hour between 9:30-10:30am, she was totally wiped. Suspecting she would need to go to bed early tonight (her attitude was too much to handle!) I bathed her and put her in her jammies at 5pm. She ate dinner and then I took her for a walk in the stroller where she promptly passed out. She is now in her crib catching some much needed sleep.

I am about to begin my cleaning brigade to get ready for my Aunt Pauline from California, who is staying with us for 2+ weeks!

May 11, 2006
So I put her down for a nap around 4 today. She did not seem tired, but had gotten up exceptionally early this morning and then napped from about 10-noon. I figured she might like the down time even if she was not ready to sleep. She often plays in her crib happily, so this was not anything out of the ordinary. I left her there for 20 minutes while I got dinner started. I could hear her having a wonderful time in there for the full 20 minutes. I decided to get her at that time, seeing as though she did not want to sleep.

When I opened her door, the smell hit me. It was not like the normal walk into her room and get hit by the smell of a poopy diaper. I could tell by the smell I was in big trouble. I reached for the light. And standing in her crib stark naked with a huge grin, completely COVERED in poop, is none other than The Divine Miss M.

I didnt know if I should laugh or cry. It took me a good solid minute to figure out what to do about this. Where was I supposed to start? As I looked closer, there was poop on her crib, on her teddy bear, on her pacifiers (yes, even on the one in her mouth). I gagged. I didnt even want to touch her! Then I burst out laughing. I couldnt help it. This is something all parents tell you will happen but until it happens to you, you never think its going to! Anyway, before doing anything I ran for the camera. I figured she had already been sitting in it for 20 minutes, whats another 5 seconds to capture the moment?!

I plopped her in the tub and she cleaned up just fine. Her bedding and everything else is currently in the washer on a HOT cycle. I sprayed down her whole crib and wiped it clean with Lysol.

YUCK! But hysterically funny!

You sure do keep me on my toes, Murphy!

May 2, 2006
Murphy is loads better! We have gotten to the point that we can get her to keep the mask on for about 1/2 of her nebulizer treatment. Her cough is getting better and she seems to be herself once again. I am going to leave her on the claritin for another few days and probably keep doing her nebulizer before bed until this goes away for good.

She is full of words and is trying so hard to get her point across. She is like her mom, she does not give up!

April 28, 2006
Her cough is getting worse. I am kicking myself for not taking her in to the doctor today. I should have realized it was Friday and that she would have to go the weekend, but I just did not realize it until about 5pm, once it was too late.

She is not tolerating the nebulizer at all. I was frustrated to the point of tears today. I have found that if I wait until she is asleep, I can give her the treatment then, but it has to be a blow by (and it is not the most effective way of giving it!). If anything at all touches her face (like the mask) she wakes up and will NOT go back to sleep. I learned that the hard way today.

She is wheezing constantly, though not to the point of pulling in her ribs, which is what moms of other asthmatic kids tell me to watch for. It is so darn scary. I hope she gets better soon.

April 27, 2006
Poor Murphy! She came home from a friends house yesterday with a bite on her arm. She was having a squabble with a friend of similar size/age and the friend decided to end the squabble with her teeth. She got over that, but started getting sick with something yesterday. This morning she got up at 5am and screamed until 6:30. Nothing I did would stop her. Finally she fell back asleep for 20 whopping minutes. I am exhausted.

She is congested and coughing and keeps sneezing some serious snot rockets. Poor baby. We picked up her nebulizer yesterday and what a joke this thing is. First of all, it has a mouthpiece that she is supposed to keep in her mouth and inhale the vapors. Not unlike her older brother, she refuses to have any type of medical equipment in front of her face. "Nonononono!" is what she yells while I even try to hold it near her. A lot of good this machine is going to do. She is coughing really badly (I believe it is asthma although they will not formally diagnose her with it yet) she sounds like a smoker.

I hope she gets better soon. Mark and I are supposed to go somewhere on Sunday and we were planning on leaving her with a friend but I am not sure I will do that unless she gets a lot better by then!

April 24, 2006
~~Puddle Stomper!~~

After a few straight days of rain, Murphy simply can not wait to get outside again! There always happens to be a few residual puddles in the yard, and she seems to gravitate to them without fail. We never go outside looking for them, but inevitably, we end up finding them!

Today she was stomping in the puddle and having a glorious time! She was wearing $29 shoes from Stride Rite, and a $45 Hanna Andersson dress. And I still let her do it. I am not sure who had more fun, the puddle jumper or her spectator Mommy! Her dad walked by and said "you are going to let her do that?" And I emphatically replied "YES. You bet I am! She is learning, exploring, and independently having fun; three things her brother never got the opportunity to do. You bet I am going to let her do that!" He did not have a thing to say after that.

The fun ended when she sat down in the puddle and the began fussing because she was cold (it was a whopping 48 degrees out today). She even bent down and started to drink the puddle. Gross, I know. But I did not stop her until I had taken a good picture! She had already taken in some of it, so what was a few more sips? Disgusting. But I got some cute video clips to show her when she is older! So I carried her inside, mud and water up to her chest, kicking and screaming all the while because she apparently was NOT DONE. Her socks are now a lovely shade of brown (they were white at one time!) Her shoes are in the washing machine as we speak. And this will be the test of the Hanna dress! I have faith in her clothes and I know the durability will win again. When I am through with that dress, it will look no different than it looked this morning, I can guarantee it! (I do love the Hanna clothes!)

Murphy, it warms my heart to see you having so much fun. There is nothing in the world like hearing you giggle - even if you are covered in mud up to your ears!

April 23, 2006
Being a mom is so confusing! I really can not figure out this nap thing! 2 days ago she fell asleep in the car for a whopping 10 minutes. And then refused to nap for the rest of the day until 4pm when she passed out cold in the stroller.

Yesterday she woke at 7am and at 9am had a huge meltdown so I put her back to bed. She fell right asleep until almost noon! In bed by 7:30 last night.

Today she was up at 7am, and by 10:30 she was melting again so I just put her back to bed.

Are we on one nap a day or 2 naps a day, Murphy? Morning or afternoon? It makes it really hard to plan anything when she is so sporadic with her napping. Just when I think I have it figured out she switches it on me! Is this what she will do the rest of her life? Just to keep me on my toes?

April 23, 2006
~~Murphys Feet~~

Have I ever written about her feet? I do not remember. Mostly I want to write this here so that we will always remember it.

Murphys feet stink. They stink after she has worn socks all day, especially when she has had shoes on for a long time. They stink even if she has been barefoot all day. She can even be fresh out of the tub and still her feet stink.

I have a secret. I LOVE her stinky feet and I breathe deeply and enjoy their smell every single chance I get - first thing in the morning, when changing her for a nap, last thing at night, and any other time she can be caught with no shoes on. Murphys feet smell exactly the way Marshalls crumbled up sweaty hands always smelled.

Nothing takes me back to her big brother like a big whiff of Murphys stinky feet. I hope she never loses this smell! And if you ever catch me smelling those stinky feet, now you will know why. And I hope it makes you smile. It ALWAYS makes ME smile.

April 22, 2006
Murphys website is currently down. It may remain that way indefinitely. I guess our contract with the hosting site was up and I was not aware that I needed to renew it. Time flies, I guess!

I am going to look and see if I can get her site hosted by the same one that hosts Marshalls Miles. So be patient and we will see if we can get it up and running some time soon!

Thanks!

April 16, 2006
Murphy was whining a second ago. Our conversation follows:

Mom: "What do you want, Murphy?"
Murphy: "kiwi"
Mom: "We do not have kiwi, we have grapes. Would you like me to go get you some grapes?"
Murphy: "go get!"

I LOVE how she is finally learning to get her point across! Yay Murph!

April 14, 2006
Last week we installed a special toilet seat with a potty seat built in. It is a neat little invention! Sometimes I sit The Divine Miss M on her potty after her nap, before getting in the tub, etc. Usually she is incredibly upset and wants to get off immediately. A few days after we first started this, I figured out that if I sing really loudly I can distract her into staying on for a mere 5 seconds. Progress at at last! Tonight though, she was standing in the tub as we were getting ready to take her out and she peed in the tub water. I took the opportunity to tell her that peepees go in the potty and next time we would try to put her on before she finished her tinkles. And then right away she started crying to get ON the potty! That is correct, ON the potty! So we put her there and she was so smiley and proud and did not want to get down. When we took her off, she cried to get back on. So we went with it until she started wildly waving her hands saying "Da Dunn"! (all done, for those of you who do not speak "murphy talk"). And of course she did not do a thing in her potty, but it was nice to see her so proud to sit up there!

She is really climbing on things now. She is not afraid either. Her vocabulary expands every day. It is amazing to watch her grow.

Lately she has been really funny, wearing her sunglasses and when told "Do like Stevie Wonder", she sways from side to side. It is way cute!

April 8, 2006
For those of you who know how I feel about vaccinations, check out this link. I think it is hysterical, although those of you who did sit down for a jab of flu shot this year may not see the humor!

http://www.cbc.ca/airfarce/vidplayer/AF_single_player.html?/season13/051202m&playerType=qt

Less humorous is the fact that your flu vaccines really do contain those toxic chemicals!

April 8, 2006
We had a nice day yesterday with Murphys THIRD cousins! I think that it is such a wonderful thing to be so close to your family that your child gets to play with her third cousins! I bet many kids do not even know their third cousins (I am sure there are many we do not know either, but I am glad we are close to some of them!)

See if you can follow this (it is even trickier when you can not use the apostrophe key!): Murphys Memeres first cousin Emilies daughter Julie brought her son Corbin (Murphys third cousin) to Murphys Memeres first cousin Jocelines house to meet up with her and her grandson Cameron. We outfitted my van with the three necessary carseats and six of us took off for the Ecotarium. The kids had a blast and we had fun watching them. They all passed out cold in the back of the car on the way home. Of course Murphy woke up as soon as we put the car in park at Jocelines house after sleeping a whopping 15 minutes. THAT is to be expected - my girl is not a good sleeper unless she is in her crib! She did fall back asleep and finished her nap in the garage, still in her seat, once I got home. We will probably get these kids together soon again. Murphy was in LOVE with them!

April 6, 2006
Well, for the past 3+ nights in a row, The Divine Miss M has slept COMPLETELY through the night! She has not gotten up even once for milk or anything else. YAHOO! What a difference it makes in both of us! Naps, however, have been difficult though.

On another note, the Terrible Twos have arrived early at our house. The lovely pleasant child who would do anything you asked her to has turned into a sometimes tantruming, wet noodley, scream for the entire bath, throw all of your food on the floor during dinner frenzy, refuse to let Mom put your hair back even though it drags in your eyes and through your mouth because it is so long, try her hardest to rip the ears and tails off the cat and dog, type of kid. One of my fears has arrived - I have to implement discipline! I am not sure how to even do this! I want to be consistent and do something that works but I refuse to hit her - we are not even going to go there. I just hope we can find something that works before we have to call SuperNanny!

Her thirteenth tooth cut yesterday - the top left eye tooth.

April 3, 2006
Murphy has been doing something incredibly frustrating lately. She has already done it twice today! At either 5:00am, or about 30 minutes after going down for a nap or both times like today (WAY too early to get up) she will wake up and fill her diaper. And due to the fact that her pants are full of crap, she will not go back to sleep. I cant say that I blame her, I would not want to sleep in that condition either. Yet ANY type of interaction between her and I at either of these times generally makes it impossible for her to get back to sleep. So if I change her she refuses to go back to sleep, and if I leave the poop in her diaper she refuses to go back to sleep also! The results of this are generally one tired toddler, and one tired mommy!

Just now I tried something different though. She had been awake talking to herself in her crib and calling out a bit for me "Mama. UP. PEEZE!" So I left her alone, hoping she would fall asleep, but when I finally caved and went into her room, the odor nearly knocked me down at the door. So now I know why she was awake so early! So I decided to give her some milk and change her diaper. I explained (as best as you can explain to someone not quite 15 months old) that nap time was NOT over and after her diaper change and milk, she was going back into the crib. So I kept my word and put her back in there. No crying. There is silence coming from her room! Perhaps she actually fell back asleep!? Time will tell.

I spent a bit of time outside today putting some stain on her swingset structure that was given to us secondhand from Danielle & Ben. It is looking really nice with a new color on it! It still has plenty of life left to it and I know it will last Murphy a long time once we replace some of the hardware.

Yesterday we went to Charlton to visit some horses that belong to VG (Vice-Grandma Barb). Murphy liked them and they were really sweet to her as well. I will ask Laura to put up some pictures on Murphys site soon. My hope is that after Murphy turns 3, we can get her riding a bit and see how she likes it. If she does, we plan to get her a pony (and Mommy a trail horse) after that. We are really hoping she loves it, and I have a hard time imagining she would not - after all, what little girl WOULDNT love a pony???

April 3, 2006
The cutest thing ever!

We were just sharing some applesauce. I said to her "Tell Mommy if you want some more" and she looked up at me and said "Peeze, Mumma?"

MURPHY, you are SO CUTE!

April 1, 2006
2 more new teeth (her eleventh and twelfth) both molars on the bottom, with eye teeth not too far behind! We are getting closer to a complete set of 20 and hopefully less sleepless nights are on our horizon!

March 30, 2006
Happy Happy second birthday to my bestest cousin, Allaina! (oh yeah, she is my only cousin - I guess that makes her the best!) We wish you would move to New England so that we could see you more often. Mom says we will look at flights soon. Enjoy your clown party!

Love,
Murphy

March 22, 2006
~~~10:45am
Murphy and I are back home. She is currently still asleep in her carseat in the van (in the garage) as I type this. Poor thing was exhausted from so much crying!

So the good news is that her kidneys are NOT refluxing and her ultrasound looked clear so I guess we are all set! I will wait to hear the final report from her pediatrician but I think we are in good shape.

After her ultrasound, we went into the room where they were to do her VCUG. The girls were excellent with her and played and danced with her while waiting for the doctor. Murphy seemed relaxed. Because of that, I could relax too. She impressed them with all of her words and utter cuteness.

So anyone who thought that this was going to be harder on me than it was on her was right. Yet it was not the crying or screaming that broke my heart. Not that that part was easy, but I KNEW my daughter would be okay. You see, the hardest part for me was something that I did not expect. I will explain. While undressing her to get ready for the test, I turned around to get a diaper. When I turned around, Murphy was naked on the table (just the way I thought she would remain). As I turned around to get her diaper, the girl stayed there so she would not fall off the table. When I turned back around, Murphy was wearing a hospital johnny. The flood gates opened. You see, when I looked at her, I no longer saw my healthy girl. I saw my dying son in a hospital johnny. The girl looked at me and said "Whats the matter? Are you okay?" And then before I could answer her, almost instinctively, her next question was "Is this your only child???" So I explained about Marshall and apologized for my reaction to the johnny. She offered to take it off but I told her it was okay. It just really surprised me.

The journey of grief is never quite over and often it is the things you least expect that will send you over the edge.

Thankfully this child IS healthy and I hope she remains that way. Yet it is amazing how so much of her reminds me of her brother. Tough day.

March 22, 2006
Oh, I almost forgot to thank everyone who sent positive thoughts our way! Thanks for signing her guestbook too!

March 22, 2006
Oh, and she said a new word today at the hospital. Those nitrile gloves they use at the hospital are "PURPLE"! She loved those crazy gloves! "purple, purple" she kept saying.

March 21, 2006
Please keep us in your thoughts tomorrow. Murphy has to go for a VCUG test in the morning due to her recent kidney infection. This involves being restrained, a catheter, and other things along those lines of fun. Someone I know whose son went through this told me he pretty much cried until he passed out, so I am NOT looking forward to this at all. Plus the flood of emotions that come back every time I enter that hospital. UGH! Somebody save me! I will update after her test.

March 16, 2006
Words for today: ears, Uncle (and she says eyes now too, but I may have already posted that.)

March 14, 2006
Is anyone interested in this? I would like to do it, as Murphy really really needs more books! But I do not want to sign up unless I can find 6 people who promise to do it also. Anyone???

I would like to include your child/children in a book exchange. With your permission I will send you a cover letter explaining how it works and six fill in the blank letters.

You buy one book and mail it to the child on the top of the list, rotate names and put your childs name on the bottom of the list.

If everyone plays by the rules, your child will recieve 36 books in the mail! Please respond ASAP and include your childs age next to his/her name and the fun will begin!

Let me know!

March 13, 2006
~~Tampons in the toilet and other musings~~

It is always a challenge for me to get a shower in the morning. Mark leaves for work around 5am and I am generally alone with Murphy for the next 12 or so hours. Because my child is part bird, she wakes before the sun rises. As it is, I am not sleeping enough so I refuse to get up earlier than 5am to get a shower. So I wait until after Murphy is clothed and fed and then I take her into the bathroom with me. Usually a bucket of shampoo, diaper cream, and lotion samples keeps her entertained long enough for me to get clean (and sometimes long enough to shave a leg! Not two though, always just one!)

While I am in the shower, I have a habit of peeking out the curtain every 10-20 seconds to see what she is doing. Sometimes she peeks in at me and tosses a toy or some shampoo at my feet. No big deal. This morning I peeked out to find that she had figured out the baby latch on the cabinet under the sink and found her prize. She tossed an entire box of tampons into the toilet! I fished them out with my bare hands. What a way to start the day!

She is becoming such a little person. She repeats EVERYTHING you say and attempts every word you ask her to say. New words: blanket, stick, key, balloon (and 2 words together sometimes! "up there" "up sit" when pointing to her swing in the yard). She is a chatterbox for sure!

Tonight she was playing extra hard and head butted my face. My fat lip brought tears to my eyes. I got over it. Not five minutes later she found her daddys belt on the floor and while innocently swinging it, managed to hit me across the bridge of the nose with the buckle end. More tears from Mommy! She went to bed shortly after that because I was afraid I might end up in the hospital from an injury sustained by my toddler!

She has a runny nose but I am thinking it is due to her teeth. She is cutting 2 bottom molars right now. She also is not sleeping well (read: Mommy is not sleeping well either!), so may we get through this SOON, please!?

Other than that, she is doing great!

March 6, 2006
Who taught my child to become a wet noodle and throw herself on the floor screaming when things are not going her way? It was so kind of her to show me this newly learned skill for the first time at Target today in front of all kinds of people. Thanks Murphy. Thanks a lot!

February 28, 2006
Add these to the list of her ever-growing vocabulary: kiwi, uh-oh, cat, all done.

Way to go, Murphy!

February 27, 2006
Murphy sustained an injury tonight. Her favorite game is chase. She comes near us and taunts us and then runs away, full speed ahead! Tonight she did that and promptly tripped on the braided rug, sending her teeth through her bottom lip and a small gush of blood onto my shirt. Poor baby! I felt so bad for her. She handled it like a champ though. The tears did not last long at all. She rather enjoyed the freeze pop that followed too! That was the only way we could keep ice on it. So she went to bed with a fat lip that looks like chunky hamburg. Gross. Poor Murphy!

February 20, 2006
Mother of the Year award goes to me for cramming my kid into a 3.5 shoe size when she measured 5W today. Oops. Needless to say, we bought her 2 new pairs!

February 18, 2006
Miss Chatterbox!

Murphy is now saying so many things! Her regular words now consist of: hi, Bup (up), Mama, Dada, Mimim (Memere), kie (kitty), car, nigh nigh (night night), buh buh (bye bye)

Other words she has said without consistency: Rakey (Draco or Drakey), book, cup, dog

When asked what the horse says, she replies "neigh, neigh" and for sheep "Bah". We are still working on the dog and cow. For pig, she snorts up her nose.

It is so fun to see her progressing!

February 13, 2006
Oops. I did not update today! I got a call from a cousin who was sure we ended up in the hospital. Not the case, thankfully!

Murphy is a hundred times better, though still not totally herself. She did vomit at 7am, but did well enough through the day to keep her meds down and even ate some real food! She is drinking more too, and her fever is GONE!

Thanks for checking in on us!

February 12, 2006
1:00am fever is back up and she is vomiting. She was also up multiple times after this.

7:00am woke up for the day and is HOT again. Temp is 102.5. I gave her motrin and her antibiotic, which she promptly vomited everywhere. HOW is the child supposed to get better when she will not keep her meds down!?

I will be calling the doctor later, unless she is able to hold them down.

February 12, 2006
9:00am **Big changes**

She held down antibiotic and motrin for over an hour now. She is currently RUNNING around the kitchen chasing her "kieeeee" (kitty). What amazing changes an hour and a little medicine can bring!

She just goes from knocked down puking with a 103 temp, to fever gone and running around within such short amounts of time. It is deceiving to see how good she feels at times. But so far, each time she has returned to her old state of lethargy and feverishness and puking, so I can not get my hopes up yet! But right now (at this second) she looks great.

Forecast is for 20" of snow today. I really really do not want to have to take her back to the hospital!

February 12, 2006
Murphy got worse for a period of time today. She was refusing to eat and drink for a while, but since about 3pm, she has really perked up. She ate some soup for dinner and had some cereal before bed. Her temperature is great at the moment but we will be giving her motrin before bed just to ensure it stays down, as night time seems to be when her temp goes up. She has done so well keeping down her meds today. Hopefully we are on a good upswing!

February 11, 2006
A little update . . .

I spoke with Murphys pediatrician this morning. He said her blood work from yesterday showed elevated white cell counts, which is to be expected with an infection, so no big surprise there.

He said it is imperative that she stay on this antibiotic (Bactrum?) because it passes through the kidneys, where many of the others do not. So it is a good thing she has decided to hold it down for now. I hope she continues to take it.

She still has a fever which is controlled with Motrin but as soon as it wears off, she is burning up again. We are keeping her on that around the clock. High fevers scare me. (As do a million other things!)

She is acting a little more like herself today, actually getting down to play a few minutes at a time. (But always returning to the safety of my arms!) I love her cuddle time with me, but I wish it were under different circumstances.

She is still eating no solid food but is nursing just fine and drinking water still. (*I take it back. She just ate a piece of paper. So, she will eat SOME things!)

Thanks for checking in on her. I will be sure to update if anything changes.

February 11, 2006
3:00pm - she must be feeling better. She was dancing earlier and just ate some raisins a bit ago! Raisins would not have been my choice food, but I offered her about a dozen other things first and she threw all of them to the floor. So go ahead Sweetheart, eat your raisins!

She is still drinking water and nursing and seems to be feeling better. One hurdle less that we have to jump over. The others will come with testing once the infection is cleared.

February 11, 2006
She spiked back up to 104 tonight at 6pm, despite motrin around the clock. It was enough to scare me into paging her doctor. He returned the call immediately and gave us some suggestions to bring her fever down. He said if it did not come down, he would meet us at the hospital and he would admit her. Thankfully it came down! She was at 100.6 just before bed at 6:45pm. The poor thing is exhausted. She is holding everything down now though, so I hope we can kick this soon! It is very scary for me. This is my healthy child, right???

February 10, 2006
Murphy spiked a 103 temp last night. I had her at the doctor today. She has some infection, as evidenced by her urine culture which was full of pus and blood. They are not sure if the infection lies in the bladder or the kidneys. After it is cleared she has to go for some tests. He suspects she may have a reflux issue in her ureters, which would require surgery if she has it. Lovely. Once the infection clears, she has to go for x-rays, ultrasound, and a test that involves a tube up her urethra. My Poor Baby!

So anyway, her doctor sent us over to the hospital for blood work this afternoon. At the very mention of going there, I became a sobbing mess. (Last time I got sent there with a sick kid, I walked into that hospital with a healthy baby and walked out with one who was dying.) Given everything we have endured over the past few years, I am quite an emotional mess when it comes to doctor offices and hospitals. Imagine my stress level and emotions at this point in the day. So we went and got her blood work done anyway. I actually felt a huge relief when I drove home and still had her with me.

Fear later renewed this evening when she refused all fluids and food and began vomiting. Go ahead and try to give a child antibiotics for her infection and motrin for her fever when she is vomiting. See how much stays in her. I will tell you how much. NONE of it!

Another call to the doctor, another hour of a crying child, another fever of 103. Finally we spoke with them again. After all that time, she nursed twice (thank goodness for the boob!) and had some sips of water. She held it all down. We opted to keep her at home but promised to bring her to the ER if she got worse. She also kept down some motrin. Good Girl Murphy!

We will speak with her regular doctor in the morning regarding the antibiotic situation. It is our belief that that is what made her vomit in the first place. Hopefully there is a better one out there for her.

I will update again tomorrow.

*Amy K-B, email me again at info@marshallpotter.com I lost your email address!

January 11, 2006
Thankfully YOU are too young to understand any of this, Murphy! I love your smiles. For anyone who wants to see updated mug shots, check out her new pictures on her site. www.murphypotter.com

January 5, 2006
Happiest Birthday to my dear sweet girl today.

Murphy, you might never know how much you mean to me. I love you with all of my heart and am so thankful that you entered my life when you did, and that you have stayed this long. (And may it continue to be much, much longer!) Words are often unable to capture feeling but I will do my best.

You are my little sunshine. You chose the perfect time to come to us. You need to know that you saved me, Murphy. You truly saved me. From the moment you took your first breath on this earth, I cried. I cried the first time you kicked your legs (okay, and for months after!) I cried the first time you sat up, crawled, and walked. I cried when you said "Mama". And I cried when you took your first steps. Will it always be this way? I imagine so. I hope you will get used to your mom crying (they are happy tears!) at your every "first". I am just so overcome with emotion at the things you do, and at the person you are, and at the person you have enabled me to be. You truly are my world, my everything.

Today, on your very first birthday, my hope for you is that you always recognize the importance of family and that you always treasure the little things that make up who you are. Whether or not you realize it, YOU ARE SO SPECIAL to so many people (but mostly ME!) My hope for ME today, is that I may never have to miss you.

I love you more than I could ever convey Murphy. Enjoy your day today, and your little party Saturday. We truly love you more than anything else on this earth.

Happy Birthday Murphy!

December 31, 2005
She said "MAMA"! She said it several times and I KNOW she meant it! I am so happy right now!

December 30, 2005
Oh. My. Goodness!

She has gone from mostly crawling and a little walking to MOSTLY WALKING! She is going the entire length of the house now without stopping! Amazing, the changes that a day can bring!

Go Murphy Go!

December 26, 2005
It has been a little while since we did an update on Murphy. Some of what I write is just for me, so that when the second baby comes along, I can remember what Murphy was doing at this stage, but you might enjoy reading about it too.

We have decided to work very hard toward weaning. My doctor has been encouraging it for a little while (since I got pregnant) but I was adamant that I wanted her to nurse for a lot longer since it is so healthy for her. But I did not anticpate that this pregnancy would be giving me so much trouble and since I am at risk for preterm labor now because I got pregnant so quickly after having Murphy and also because of the subchorionic bleed, I decided that weaning would be in our best interest as it can also stimulate uterine contractions and puts me even further at risk for preterm labor. So she is down to about twice a day, one short session and one longer one. Within a few days I will cut out one and then hopefully the last one.

She is working hard at eating solid foods. She pretty much is served what we eat every night though it is often met with looks of disgust as she promptly tosses it to the dog or the floor. But we still try to offer her a good variety of things to eat. She continues to be allergic to milk protein, so milk, yogurt, cheese, etc. are all OUT. This means no mac & cheese, a toddler favorite! We are finding ways around things, such as cooking her pasta in some vegetable broth mixed with water. It adds enough flavor that she will eat it and we are not battling the dairy issue that way. I am trying to decide what "milk" to give her after her first birthday when I discontinue the stinky expensive formula. Rice and goats milk are in the running right now, with soy as my least favorite back-up.

Tonight we were sharing oranges at my moms house and she wanted them in the worst way. So I kept breaking some up and giving them to her. She was eating the pieces faster than I could break them up. Then she would check everyones hands to see if we had any that we would share with her - it was too cute! Pineapple is another favorite food. And where would we be without dry cereal!? If the child is growing at all, it is due about 99% to cereal and maybe a little fruit. Occasionally I can fool her and get a tiny floret of broccoli or a pinch of green bean into her mouth but that is all. Spoon feeding is totally OUT now. If she can not do it herself, she will NOT do it at all! It seems to be a battle to get her to eat anything at all but she is growing and that is good! She is getting some formula now since I have cut back on nursing her so perhaps that is where she is getting her calories.

Bedtime is my favorite time with her. She enjoys our routine so much. We always start with a snack of cereal/fruit. Then we put her in the tub and let her play while we wash her. She gets dried off and a lotion rub down always follows while she drinks a bottle of milk. We then put her pajamas on and brush her teeth, which is the least desireable part of bedtime. She yells and cries while we are doing it and we have to hold her down. It literally takes about 8 seconds from start to finish, but she fights all the way, flashing us the sign for "all done" the entire time! After that, we read a story and give her a pacifier. (The pacifier is KEY!) Then we put her in her crib and she goes to sleep without a peep!

She still is not sleeping through the night. She used to do 7:30pm to 5am and nurse and then go back down until 7am. But recently she has been waking at 3am too. I stopped going to her and last night she fussed for about 10 seconds and went back to sleep so hopefully we are eliminating that wake-up! Once we stop nursing altogether she may go the full 12 hours, we shall see!

All in all, she is doing so well. She is learning new things each day. She can identify a slew of household items and body parts by pointing. She sets up for a tumblesalt and waits to be flipped. She signs "more" and "all done" regularly. Recently she said "hi!" and "dog".

Christmas was fun with her. In fact, it was so much fun, we just sat and watched her tear open every gift and totally forgot to take any pictures of her at all! Oops! She did enjoy the festivities. Of course the boxes were her favorite and she spent a lot of time crawling in and out of those! She also loves her new kitchen set from Grammy and her table activity from Memere and her horse from Uncle Ry and her pink shoes from Uncle Dan! Mommy and Daddy picked out a ride on car and a few other toys and books for her. She certainly has enough to keep her busy now!

We are having too much fun with her and while we joyfully anticipate the birth of our third child, we wonder how we ever will survive the infancy stage again - the sleepless nights, the cluster feeds, sixteen poopy diapers a day, fifty five clothing changes a day because the sixteen poops all leaked through, as well as thirty nine spit ups! All this while tag-teaming a very active (now walking!) toddler AND the infant. Somebody save me!

Ah well, it all goes by SO very quickly, as we witness daily with Murphy! We will continue to enjoy each second! Thanks for checking in with us!

December 15, 2005
Murphy is sick. I took her to the doctor today because her cough just is not getting better - it was a lot worse in fact. Her nose also started running again. She also has a low grade fever.

So her pediatrician said she has an ear infection and she has several symptoms of asthma. She is now on Zithromax and albuterol. She is NOT herself tonight at all. She did not want to eat or drink a thing and is coughing up a storm. She also puked at 5pm and I am not sure if it is a reaction to the medication or what. I am glad she never got sick before this (she is nearly a year old!) But it is scary to have a sick child again. I had almost forgotten. Not really. I would never forget. But I had settled into a comfortable routine with Murphy and I am a little nervous for her. I hope she gets some good sleep tonight and feels better tomorrow.

I love you, Baby Girl and I hope you feel better fast!

December 7, 2005
We assume most people have gotten their Christmas cards by now (except for a dear friend in Singapore and maybe some family in Canada!) so without wrecking the surprise for most, we are thrilled to announce that "Little Sister" is going to be known as "Big Sister" in June of 2006! We are expecting another SMA FREE child 6 months from today. Wow! We are so totally blessed right now and can not wait to meet the next member of our family! A special "thank you" to Big Brother (Biggest Brother?) for this one!

December 6, 2005
Well, she is walking! She took about 15 steps today without falling! I have earlier video (about 6 steps) if anyone wants to see the clip, I can email it to you. Go Murphy GO!

November 25, 2005
Last night I was sitting on the floor and Murphy crawled over to me and stood up by holding onto my shoulders. She then let go and took 2 independent steps! She is growing so fast!

Today is sad for us as we had to say goodbye to Allaina and Caroline and Casey.

November 17, 2005
She signed, she signed!

I have been trying to teach Murphy a couple of signs to make it easier for her to communicate with us. I do not want this to replace verbal language, but rather add to it. I only plan on teaching her just a few. Right now we work on "All Done" and "Milk". Before tonight, she has not returned a sign but she HAS been paying attention to me apparently! Each night before bed we give her some oatmeal and fruit and tonite she was extra tired and kept signing "ALL DONE". She clearly did not want anymore. It was exciting to see that she has learned yet something else! All done, all done!

November 15, 2005
Hi my Sweet Bebe! You are the best little girl ever. I am enjoying you so very much. You are always so well behaved and happy (well, MOST of the time you are!) You bring so much joy to my heart.

You are really on the move lately, wanting to walk so I am sure that will be soon. I bought you your first pair of walking shoes on Sunday because you kept kicking off your Robeez and I was tired of chasing after them in public! I thought we lost them for good on Sunday! So you will learn to walk in your Stride Rites.

No new teeth. No words yet, except when we say "say kitty" you say "kkkkkkkkkk" and you say "Dada" and "Gaga" for Mama - close enough! You are clapping, kissing, shaking toys, and giving 5 all on command. How smart are you!?

We love you Sweet!

November 10, 2005
Who is the baby girl in the crib in the room behind me who went to bed last night at 7:30pm and only nursed once at 6am and is STILL sleeping at 7:45am??? WHO IS SHE!? She has been doing this for almost a week now! I LOVE IT!

November 8, 2005
Be sure to visit the rest of Murphys site: www.murphypotter.com

Laura Stants has done a wonderful job setting it up for us! She has made some beautiful changes the past day or 2. Sign the guestbook too!

November 3, 2005
I forget how much I have not updated lately. Things are so busy here. But, the good thing is that you can get a 10 month old baby to occupy herself with a shoe for almost 15 minutes while you update her site journal!

She is doing just fine. She has 8 teeth and it seems like she gets a new one every week! Sleep remains a challenge though she is getting better. She usually wakes twice a night but the first time she puts herself back to sleep. The second time is around 4-5am and she usually needs to be nursed and then she goes back down until around 6 or 7am. It has been kind of messed up since we changed the clocks. Naptime is hit or miss. Yesterday we hit! Today we missed! Oh well!

She is forever intrigued by the world around her. As we speak, she is behind me lifting up my shirt trying to scratch the tattoo off my back!

She is now standing up next to the furniture and then letting go and she is able to maintain her balance for several seconds before falling down on her tushy.

Saturday night we are going to a wedding and Uncle Ry and Leanne will have the Murph-ster all day and evening. We hope things go well for all of them!

The SMA world is busy as always. Seems that this time of year brings about new diagnoses and unfortunately some losses too. I keep very busy with new families (and old ones too!) This is a family I am so proud to belong to, so glad I have them, and yet I wish I never knew a single one of them!

Now she is eating the orthotics out of my sneakers. That is just gross. I am going to stop this entry here to rescue my child from the perils of my shoe! Thanks for catching up with us.

October 11, 2005
Well, Murphy and I got back last night from a nice visit in Ohio with our friends, The Border Family. We had a nice little memorial for Lainie complete with balloon release and a pumpkin sale fundraiser. We got some super cute pictures too! It was so nice to meet Luke and Bret and see Julie again. The second day we were there, Murphy cut her top left front tooth.

Today we went to the doctor for a 9 month well check. Much to my surprise, my girl is not as big as I thought she was! She weighs 18.7 and is 28" long. Her weight curve has dropped to 50th percentile but height is still at 75th. She SCREAMED when he had her lie down to measure her. SCREAMED AND SCREAMED! While her mouth was wide open, I noticed yet another tooth - this time on the bottom! No wonder she has been cranky and up sometimes at night. I will be happy when we have a full count of 20!

Happy 30th birthday to Tante Caroline!

October 2, 2005
Just wanted to take a minute to tell you the 2 reasons why I deserve the "Mother of the Year" award! The first one is that my child was awake several nights back for a LONG time crying. I would go in, nurse her, put her back to bed, etc. Nothing made her happy. But in trying to maintain good sleep habits, I did not do anything that encouraged her to stay awake. I tended her needs and put her back to bed. I remember thinking her room felt cold, but in my sleep deprived stupor, I did not think to investigate why her room felt so cold. In the morning, her thermostat said 62 degrees and her window was wide open! I froze my baby girl! Mother of the year, let me tell you!

The second one is that I just found a wad of undigested paper in her diaper. Mother of the year.

Never a dull moment around here!

September 14, 2005
Mommy started a job today! Just one day a week at a school a few towns over working as a COTA. It actually went quite well. I missed Murphy but am glad that I can have her for 6 days straight now! Thanks to Tante Celia, our new babysitter, who made the day a lot less painful for me. Oh, and I hear Murphy did alright too!

September 5, 2005
Tooth #3 today! And it is on the bottom - with #4 on the top not too far behind it! She is crawling all over the place now - she is actually hard to keep track of now. She amazes me each day. She is growing up so fast.

:o)

August 20, 2005
Murphy cut her second tooth today! Leave it to my child to do something unconventional though. It is not the traditional second bottom tooth. Oh no. My child cut her top eye tooth on the left side. Now she looks like half a vampire! (Still adorable of course!)

August 16, 2005
Happy Birthday, Big Brother. Still missing you!

August 10, 2005
She is ON THE MOVE! As of today, Murphy is definitely crawling. It has been a big week - a tooth on Sunday and now crawling on Wednesday! It still blows my mind how strong she is and how well she can move. I am ever-grateful for this miracle, MY CHILD!

On a funny note, do not use a half empty bottle of ketchup near her. She TOTALLY freaks! She apparently does not appreciate the noise it makes.

August 9, 2005
She is going to crawl soon! She spends a lot of time in quadruped rocking back and forth now! She is so proud of herself. I went to get her up this morning and that is exactly what she was doing - she looked up and gave me the big gummy grin. Yesterday she even got one knee moved forward while rocking on all 4s. It will not be long now! I guess I should work on baby-proofing the house and we should probably drop her crib mattress down also. After Saturday. We are too busy with the ride for right now!

August 8, 2005
It is most definitely a tooth! Today it feels sharper and is definitely through the skin. Yay! Perhaps we can get some sleep now!? (Probably not though, we have 19 more on their way!)

August 7, 2005
I think we have a tooth! Her gums are broken (in the suspected spot!) It feels rough on my finger but I do not see the actual tooth. Perhaps tomorrow we can see it. She slept like crap last night (up 5 times! Ick!) so maybe now that the tooth has cut through she will feel better - we hope so!

August 6, 2005
Oh my child! Nothing in the world is cuter than you sound asleep right now with your rear end sticking WAY up in the air! I even turned on the light (at the risk of waking you up!) to get a picture. Really, it is the little things that make me thank God for you every day. Your butt in the air is one of them. You see, Big Brother could not have slept that way if he tried. His muscles did not function enough to get his butt up in the air like that. I am more than thankful that you can sleep that way.

Another thing that practically melts me these days is when you grab both sides of my face and plant a HUGE wide open mouthed kiss on my face; especially when prompted with the request "Kiss Mommy" and you DO!

We all love it when Memere tells you "Everybody JUMP! Jump jump jump!" And you do!

Tonight we took you to the pool at Tante Joannes and you LOVED it as usual. Your little legs were going like crazy. You looked like a little frog swimming all around with Daddy. Splashing is fun too and you did not care that your face got soaked and you choked on pool water a couple of times. It was great fun to be in that pool!

You are growing up too darn fast! I hope that some day you (along with hundreds of other people who will see it first!) will read all of these entries. I never want to forget the little things.

I love you so much, Little Girl!

July 19, 2005
Murphs photos have been updated - www.murphypotter.com

July 17, 2005
Today, on my 28th birthday, I feel that I have everything a mother could ever wish for. My heart is so full of love and pride for my little daughter and my angelic son. The only thing I could ever want for my birthday (or any day, for that matter!) is for SMA to disappear forever and for my son to be back in my arms and for life to be the way I knew it before October 10, 2002. Ah well, that is out of the realm of possibility. For now I will enjoy my little girl and always wonder how much like her brother she really is. I love them both so much . . .

July 15, 2005
Aw MAN! Draco just puked up a baby sock! My favorite one, at that. Darnit! Needless to say it went right in the trash. Being a retriever, he has a terrible habit of putting something in his mouth every single time he greets someone. Apparently this one went beyond his mouth. We will have to keep a better watch on what he is taking into his mouth (and maybe that involves keeping clean laundry off the couch and putting it away immediately!) Oops. Sorry, Boy.

July 15, 2005
Public Service Announcement -

Shout (yes, the stain remover) hurts really, really bad when you get it in your eye!

July 15, 2005
I think I forgot to update on Murphys doctor appt from Wednesday. She is up to 17 pounds and 26.5 inches (Oh, the power of Mommy Milk!) She is doing wonderfully and we are SO SO SO glad that she is ours!

July 10, 2005
Well, despite a number of differences in Murphys schedule yesterday, she managed to sleep beautifully. I am hoping this is becoming the trend. Maybe you are sick of hearing about it!

Yesterday was a nice day at Tante Marianns house (remember, no apostrophes - I am not gramatically inept, my website is just messed up!) We spent several hours at the party, which was very nice. Murphy took (2) one hour naps at home before we left, and then absolutely refused to sleep another nap there. Who can blame her with all the festivities going on!? So we came home. After her bath, I realized that she still has her dairy allergy and I realized that I must have consumed some at the party because she was vomiting something awful! Poor baby. She smiles all the way through it though. Good thing. I am a bad, obnoxious puker so I hope my child can deal with it better than me! So far she has. Anyway, I put her to bed, fearing that she would be up soon because her stomach was empty. Not so! She slept 9:30pm all the way to 5:30am at which time she nursed a little and went back to bed until 7:45am! She is getting it finally. We are going to try to keep her up later at night again and see if that helps her sleep longer in the morning. We shall see.

She is rolling all over the place and is sitting up well (unsupported) when placed in that position. She is swimming some on the floor and I feel that it will not be long before she is crawling. She has also started to eat some real foods, including bananas and sweet potatoes. I have also given her some oatmeal too. She sure does LOVE to eat and we enjoy watching her. She also loves swimming in the pool and need I mention the bathtub? That is another of her favorite places!

I have been spending her naps scrapbooking to catch up on her baby book. It is coming right along and I actually like it so far. It is nice to accomplish things while she sleeps instead of needing the sleep myself! Today I finished 2 scrapbook pages, 2 loads of laundry, a load of dishes, and I vacuumed the entire house and washed the kitchen and bathroom floors. Yay me! It is not often enough that I get to complete things like that. Anyway, it is alright even if I do not finish my household chores because I think being Murphys Mommy is the best thing ever (in addition to being Marshalls Mom of course. Wish I could still act upon that one . . .)

July 8, 2005
There is nothing cuter than watching my little girl wave "bye-bye"! She started doing this yesterday. SO CUTE!

Sleeping remains a challenge. Most nights she does really well but then we have a doozy like last night where NOTHING would comfort her and she cried on and off for several hours, sometimes sleeping for 15 or 20 minutes, but kept waking upset. WHY? I have no idea. I wonder if her teeth are bothering her or something.

July 1, 2005
She did it, She did it! She slept through the night! With a little help and a bit of "training", and many, many months of sleepless nights and waning patience on the part of her parents, Murphy is finally well on her way to being a well rested and happy girl. She slept from 8:45pm-5am, fed for a little while, and went back down until 7:15am. I sure can not complain with that! Hopefully this will continue! Yay Murphy!

June 27, 2005
Well, there is not much to report here. Murphy is still getting used to sleeping without her swaddle. (Meaning I am still up several times a night.) They say it is temporary . . .

If only we did not live in the town with the most power outages in the entire state of Massachusetts! Our electricity went off today for the FIFTH time in TWO days. I am so frustrated by this. And it always stays off for 4-6 hours. It is so hard to care for an infant with no electricity, no water. No breastpump, no white noise machine, no air conditioner, no baths. Bed time has been a disaster every night that there is no electricity. I try to sleep in the basement with her beacuse it is cooler there, but she knows it is not her usual routine and sleeps even worse than her horrible norm. Anyway, that is my gripe for today. For the love of God, Mass Electric, PLEASE get it together! This is getting ridiculous!

June 19, 2005
Happy Fathers Day to my special daddy! I love you, Daddy!

Love,
your little Murphers

June 15, 2005
Today Cousin Allaina and Tante Caroline are visiting for 6 whole days! We are so excited! Anyone who wants to see Allaina and Ca, give us a call - perhaps we can arrange a gathering of sorts.

June 14, 2005
For anyone who does not yet know it, I now have my own website! www.murphypotter.com

Check me out!

Love,
Murph

June 9, 2005
The air conditioner has done the trick! She has only gotten up once at night since we turned it on.

And tonight, I read her a story, turned off her light and left her room. I wanted to see what she would do. She complained for 5 minutes (not even cried - just complained). I went back in and told her it was alright to go to sleep. Then I left. I told myself if she complained 5 more minutes I would go back in and help her fall asleep. But I did not need to! She went right to sleep on her own again. Yay Murphy! I never wanted her to have to "cry it out" and it looks like she is not going to! It IS great that she will put herself to sleep now. If only I could get her to do that at naptime! I am assuming that will follow at some point. I am hoping her sleep routines are tolerable by the time she is 9 or so months. We are well on our way!

June 7, 2005
UGH! The past few nights have been so hot, she has been waking 2-4 times drenched in sweat. I am exhausted again! We might be turning on the air conditioning soon because I am not getting any sleep!

June 6, 2005


SHE DID IT, SHE DID IT! My daughter just fell asleep on her own - UNASSISTED! And in her own bed! And she did it without crying! No patting, no rubbing, no singing, no rocking, no nursing! After her last meal of the day, I just put her in her bed, read her a story, then kissed her and shut off the light and left the room. I went back to check on her and she is fast asleep! She did it! This is a major breakthrough for us (though one we have been working hard to get to!) Yay Murphy!

June 3, 2005


Welcome to the world, Luke Graham Border!

I have yet to speak with his mommy, but his daddy was kind enough to leave a message on our machine today. (Thanks Bret!)

Luke arrived around 11:30am today weighing 9.1 and was 20.5" long. We can not WAIT to meet him this summer! Congratulations to my wonderful friend Julie and her husband Bret and to Big Sister Angel Lainie.

June 2, 2005
Well, I am nervous to write this as things like this usually backfire, but so far, Murphy is doing GREAT in the sleeping department. Last night she went down at 9pm and peeped at 2:45am - fed her and was back down by 3:15am at which time she slept until 6:30! She is doing wonderfully and I feel like a million bucks after getting to sleep. Her naps are improving too - the 20 minute ones have become the exception rather than the rule. GO Murph!

Murphy is going to have a new friend rather soon - as in today or tomorrow! My good friend Julie and her husband Bret are being induced tomorrow if the baby does not come today (she is more than a week overdue). Julie and Bret are also parents to Angel Lainie and have become good friends of ours. I plan to visit them (and the new bambino!) in Ohio this summer. Just wanted to wish them a safe and happy delivery and a LONG prosperous and wonderful life with the newest Border!

May 30, 2005
Our little girl has slept well for THREE (yes! THREE!) nights in a row! YAY Murphy!

For a very long time, I had not gotten more than about 2 straight hours of sleep - the girl was up constantly! A few nights ago we decided that perhaps we were putting her to bed too early. So we moved her bed time from 6pm until 8pm and it has made all the difference! She now sleeps until 1 or 2am, feeds quickly and falls right back to sleep in her own crib! She still gets up at 5am for the day though, but I can live with that since we are getting so much sleep at night now!

She is getting really really cute (so cute that people in public paw at her! Yuck! I hate that. Seems like every time I am in the grocery store some stranger is touching her hands. YUCK. She puts her hands in her mouth! I have no idea what kinds of germs strangers have. I am not sure how to prevent this. I keep her in her carrier or the sling constantly and yet people still manage to grab at her. Yuck. I have to get quicker at turning the other way.)

She is laughing out loud all the time and LOVES her bouncy jumper seat from the Rollinsons! We spend lots of time outside in Big Brothers garden. She loves to look at the flowers and the birds. And she loves, loves, loves her dog and cat! She will just sit there and laugh if they walk in front of her. She is getting such a cute personality. And now that I am finally getting some sleep, I can enjoy her LOADS more!

May 9, 2005
I promise Murphy, after another 2 days, I shall never ever compare you to your brother again because sadly there will be no comparison.

I can not help but grieve a little tonight. When Marshall was exactly as many days old as Murphy, we put him to bed for the very last time between Mark and me. When we woke up in the morning, we knew that he was spending his last hours with us and that in a matter of a short amount of time, he would be gone from our arms forever. He was, and he is. These are sad days as we remember the pain and knowing what will never be still hurts really bad.

Tonight as we bathed Murphy, I reminded Mark how old she was. We both just sat there admiring her and knowing in our hearts how very different she is from Marshall (different in a good way!) Remembering how much her brother struggled on this day and the next, I just held on to my little girl tonight and rocked her extra before bed. Truthfully I never wanted to let go, but it is not practical to sleep sitting up, so I put her to bed. But knowing that she will still be there to greet me in a short amount of time (a very short amount of time!) makes my heart happy.

Murphy, my one wish is that I never have to miss you.

April 30, 2005
Well Murphy, you can still make me cry quite easily. I thought I was over it but nope! You may just do this to me forever and ever. It is okay too!

Today in the car, Murphy was getting cranky. I started by putting the pacifier back into her mouth (which is a tedious job from the drivers seat when the infant is in the back, rear facing of course!) She kept popping it out and fussing. So I took one of her toys and dangled it above her head (still behind me - I was still driving!) I did this often with Marshall just so he had something to look at and expected that was all Murphy would do (but I had visions of Marshall while I was doing this). All of a sudden I felt a little hand reach up and grab that toy right out of my hand. Tears, tears, tears! I am just in awe of her. Poor Marshall wanted SO badly to play - but his body would not let him. Murphy effortlessly grabs things from us now - this is the way that it should be. So why am I still crying!? I love you, Little Girl!

April 29, 2005
Murphy and I were out walking today and we met up with a neighbor who said she still reads our updates, so it reminded me that I had not written one in a while! This is mostly due to the fact that any sort of sleeping pattern we had going is officially shot. I have NO idea why a child who slept 8 hours straight in her crib previously now only will sleep maybe 3 or 4 hour stretches (if we are lucky!) and only while her mom is cuddled to her so tightly that I might as well be lying on top of her! SO needless to say we have adopted cosleeping once again. I am not ashamed to say so though. I rather like having my baby that close to me at night. Some day when she begins sleeping regular stretches (at regular intervals!) at night, we will transition her to her own bed again. But for now, it is three to a bed in this house! (And Draco wanted me to say that some nights it is FOUR to a bed!)

Other than her sleeping woes, (it is not different during the day - apparently 20 minute naps are sufficient for a 4 month old!) Murphy is doing great! She is healthy (despite one day of congestion!) She is growing and talking and laughing out loud. She consistently rolls tummy to back but has not rolled back to tummy other than that first time. Maybe I imagined that she did it . . .these days I am so fogged out from being exhausted, that it is a real possibility!

Dads work has picked up again (thankfully!) So he is rarely home. Weekends involve side work so mom and Murph get tons of 1:1 time! We try to take a daily walk with the stroller but due to the fact that my child is far more content in my arms, more than half the time I end up holding Murph, pushing the stroller and dragging the golden retriever back home. At that point, everyone is crabby! Nevertheless, we are thrilled that Spring has arrived.

Sunday there is a walk in honor of our pal Connor Reilly. Visit www.connorsfunrun.com for more information if you are interested in joining us. Proceeds benefit SMA Boston (www.smaboston.com) 2 weekends after that there is a walk in Hingham in memory of Cianan and Cecilia Murphy. Proceeds benefit Families of SMA (www.curesma.com) Seems like there is always a newly diagnosed child in the area, so it is still ever important for me to contribute what I can in volunteerism and with our own events.

That is all the news here!

April 20, 2005
Murphy is doing a lot better. She is no longer congested (thanks KQB!) Last night she even had a great sleep - from 7:30pm until 2:45am (then she was up for an hour) but went back down by about 3:30am and got up at 6am, which is FAR better than she had been doing in the past few weeks. I still have the tendency to check on her half a dozen times in the night and at one point I felt that she had been sleeping "too long" for her, so I ended up sleeping in her room just waiting for her to wake up, which she eventually did. We are still swaddling her during sleep. I think she is finally through her 3 month growth spurt so hopefully we are on the upswing with sleeping more at night!

Now, if only I could figure out how to get her daytime naps to go longer than 30 minutes!

April 16, 2005
Well, our little Miss has either caught her first cold or she is plagued by allergies like her mum! We are both super congested and she was coughing through the night (post nasal drip, probably). She still woke up happy though (but at 5:30 of course!) She pooped back out at 6:30am and it is now 9:15am and she is still asleep! Honestly, for not feeling well last night, she did do better - a 4 hour stretch and a few 2s. I really can not complain with that. Hopefully as soon as our congestion issue clears, we will all be sleeping better. Anyway, I am encouraged that she is taking a good nap this morning. I think better nights are on the horizon! Hopefully we can feel better soon. It is no fun feeling crappy.

On a happier note, her Olan Mills 3 month pictures are in and they are just darling if I might say so myself! I can email them to anyone who wants to see them but I unfortunately do not have enough real copies to give out to everyone. (they are getting expensive!) So if you want an email copy, let us know.

April 14, 2005
Well, so much can change in just a few days. Murphy is no longer sleeping at all, never mind doing the 8 hours that she used to do. She started off by protesting her swaddle and it has been bad for about a week now. She refuses to sleep more than an hour at a time. I am exhausted and in tears nearly every night. It is so hard to think clearly and function well and be the best mommy I can be when I am so freaking tired. We have tried a combination of a bunch of things to get her to sleep including swaddle or not swaddling, sleeping with us, in her crib, put down awake or asleep, using her foam positioner wedges, etc. NOTHING works. I hope this is a growth spurt and that it will be over soon (I am leaning toward this because she is nursing constantly lately!) Today I got an extra blissful hour and a half by wrapping her in my arms and she did not move once which is unusual for her lately! I have no idea what to do but she is clearly exhausted and her daily naps are an average of 10-20 minutes - that is IT! Come on Murphy - throw us a bone here. If you are sleeping better, we will ALL be a little happier!

Oh, and was it me who said a healthy child would be SO easy to care for? I was wrong! I love her to pieces but she is NOT easy!

April 6, 2005
Murphy is doing so well. Last night she slept from 7pm-6am only waking to eat once at 2:30am. This morning, she rolled the other direction, from back to belly! She is so strong! Yay Murph!

April 6, 2005

Oh for the love of GOD, MARK!

He boiled another breastpump set into the stove AGAIN tonight! This time it was the spare parts for my Medela! He is now forbidden from touching the pumps. I will clean them when I can (with soap and water!) He owes me a new set. And a new pan!

April 3, 2005
I am way too excited here . . . Murphy just slept an EIGHT hour stretch - not including the time change! And I only checked on her once in between - meaning I slept for the majority of it too! We must have worn her out good today - she was in the car for over 4 hours going to and from Megans shower. Yay Murph - I was thrilled with 6 hours but 8 is fantastic!

April 1, 2005
~~~***Public Service Announcement***~~~

Courtesy of the Daddy, when left to boil for a VERY extended amount of time, a hand held breast pump will completely melt to the bottom of the pan on the stove, setting off the smoke alarm and creating loads of thick foul smelling smoke throughout the entire house. But, the good news is that the alarm will not wake the baby!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I guess I will be getting that double electric pump I have been wanting! Thanks Dad!

March 31, 2005
Rolling over has taken a back seat to hand sucking lately! When placed on her tummy, all she wants to do is suck her hands. She is trying so hard to get that thumb. It is really cute!

Sleeping has been interesting. All this time I was trying to be the good mother - sleeping with my baby so that she could be comforted all night long. I was up ALL the time during the night but still, I thought I was doing the right thing. Well, last night I decided that I would put her in her crib and actually sleep in my own bed. I put her down at 7:30pm. I went to bed at 8:30, after I was sure she was asleep. Imagine my surprise when I awoke at 1:15am and she was still sound asleep! Of course I ran in there like a crazy lady - but she was fine. She woke up on her own at 1:30am, then 4am, and up for the day at 6am. I have not gotten so much sleep in 3 months! I guess I will just follow her cues.

Monday I started babysitting Murphys friend (she is 13 months old). It is a lot of work to have 2 kids! And this is a good kid - she is not difficult. It is just hard to have 2 little babies and not nearly enough hands! Hopefully it will get easier with time. I am wishing Murph would get a nap schedule soon too - that would make things easier too. All in good time, I suppose!

Yesterday big cousin Allaina turned a year old! Not too much longer and Murphy will be catching her too. It is amazing how fast she grows. Today she is wearing an outfit that is sized 6-9 months. The child is not even 3 months old yet! Her clothes are hardly worn and they are being packed up because they are all too small!

Smiles are plentiful and she is getting stronger every day. I am always in awe of this little being.

March 25, 2005
Today Murphy rolled over for the first time! She went from her tummy to her back. And, she had witnesses! Tante Mariann, Uncle Norm, Nicole, and of course Mommy all saw her do it. Way to go, Murph!

March 25, 2005
Well, it is official and not just a coincidence. The girl is definitely rolling over! She did it four more times this morning! Go Murphy!

March 22, 2005
Our little lady is trying SO hard to suck her thumb! There is nothing cuter than hearing her slurp her whole hand! The little thumb is working its way into the mouth more and more often. Very cute, Murph!

Tomorrow she is 11 weeks old. WHERE does the time go!?

March 20, 2005
So today our girl is 10 weeks and 4 days. Where does the time go!? You ought to see her smiling and talking and cooing. She is very easy to get smiles from! She is just the cutest thing. It is really amazing what 2 months can bring!

Sleep was rough for a while - she went through a phase where she felt it necessary to wake up every hour. I was really exhausted! But lately she has been consistent with going to bed around 7:30 and only getting up around 11 and then again at 4am. She is normally up for the day at 7am.

I never wanted to be one of those mums who had to adjust my life because I had a child. I thought that I could just pack her up and take her with me (which I can - but that really messes up her routine!). If I go out during the day, her naps are no longer than 20 or 30 minutes and it really fouls up her night sleeping too. I find that staying home she sleeps 3 or more hours at a naptime. Right now she is going on 4! I find that she actually sleeps better at night after a good day of sleeping. So as much as I like to go out and be social, I might start limiting that a little so that we can have good rest. A well rested baby is a happy baby and a well rested baby is also a well rested mum! I used to be on my sisters case about having a "schedule" for her baby. But now I see that the baby actually creates the schedule and in order to keep her happy, you might as well follow it!

We will be excited when the warmer weather finally comes so that we can go outside and play and take walks. Especially since Murphys friend will be playing with us daily starting next week so that her mommy can go back to school. We will probably spend a lot of time outside on the nice days. Oh, and if anyone knows where I can get a fairly inexpensive (used is FINE!) double stroller, let me know!

Thanks!

~L

March 11, 2005
Alright, I have a problem. My problem is that I can not relax when Murphy is taking a nap. I am terrified of SIDS. I check on her every 5-10 minutes if she is sleeping in another room (sometimes she sleeps on me for a nap during the day). So since she is a very light sleeper, she hears me tiptoe in the room and wakes up. If she does not happen to wake up, I have to check 50 bazillion times to make sure she is still breathing. So I look to see if her blanket is moving up and down. Sometimes I can not tell. My heart rate soars because I am getting scared and I end up putting a hand on her chest. If I can not feel it move fast enough, I put my face in front of hers to see if I can feel her breath on my face. Sometimes I am sure she is not breathing. I strain my eyes to see if her lips are blue or not. Usually, I end up grabbing her and picking her up (at this point I am panicking) and of course she startles awake and ends up crying because I disturbed her. Then I am mad at myself because I wrecked her nap and she is usually crabby for a long time after.

I wonder if this is normal mom stuff or if Marshall dying has exacerbated my uncontrollable need to check on her a million times. I talked to Mark about it and he said (in Murphys voice - yes, she has a voice!) "Well Mom, my brother is in the ground. Of course you are worried about me!" So I guess maybe I have good reason to feel this way. I hope it fades as time goes on. I am still so terrified of losing her too.

March 7, 2005
Murphy Update:

Today we saw the pediatrician for her 2 month check-up. She is up to 12 pounds, 8 ounces. Her length is up to 23". She is doing "marvelously well" in the words of her doctor. She is now smiling and talking with ease. She is extremely nosey (the girl factor, I think). She is just wonderful, absolutely wonderful!

March 1, 2005
I am not sure what happened to the entries for the month of February, but there was a type of server crash, and now they are gone. I only remember one that I wrote and it was about Murphy pooping on me in the tub. Oh well, it happens.

So, we are back from a great visit in Atlanta. Allaina is doing great and is oh, so smart! Was great to share Murphy a bit with her cousin - who loved her and took a great interest in her while we were there.

But, as nice as the visit was, it is going to be a looooonnnngggg time before I ever travel by air again. This is our story:

On Sunday night we heard that New England was getting substantial snow on Monday night into Tuesday and then an additional 6 inches on Tuesday during the day. Since we were supposed to fly out Tuesday morning, we thought we would beat the storm and go out Monday evening. All they had was an 8:35 pm flight. So we booked that one. When we got to the airport we found out that it was not leaving until 9:40. We were disappointed because every minute that we did not spend flying, we were risking snow piling up at home and there was a possibility that we would not make it in. So 9:40 came and went. I asked the people at the desk when we would be leaving and they said not until at least 10pm. The plane had been there for 4 hours but it had no flight attendants - they were scheduled to arrive in earlier but were somewhere on another delayed flight. So, when they finally strolled by us to the gate at 10:20 everyone was relieve