More of Elijah Laughing

I think I have posted way too many videos of Eli laughing, but I love it so much. I can't help myself!

Lucy's 3rd Birthday Bash

We had a little family get together for Lucy's birthday this year. My mom and Lindsey were up from Florida and Terry and Kathy came over as well. It was fun to watch Lucy spaz out and celebrate the 3 wonderful years that we have had with her. It is pretty unbelievable to think that it has been three years since we were in the hospital with her and she looked more like this...

How we got from that to this...

can only be the work of God's wonderful grace and love for us! We are so in love with this little girl. I wish that I had a perfect memory of all of our days together over the past three years but I am thankful for what my limited brain can hold. She is such a little sweet lady. She says the greatest things that keep me laughing. She loves craft time, "boogie time", and reading reading reading. It is so fulfilling to see her personality developing

We started the day out with a little candy at breakfast. ;)

Me with my favorite girl in the world!


Cake Time!!! First, Pat and I got an awesome and hardy hug from the lady.
Then, of course, family "silly eyes"




Present time for the little lady...

And some awesome fun times with the family!

Happy Mama

Of course there are moments in every day and days in every week that feel overwhelming or frustrating in one way or another but, on the whole, mommyhood is feeling pretty good these days. I keep wishing that I had a camera on all the time to capture the 100 cute things that Lucy says in a day or the crazy faces, sounds, and laughs that Eli makes. I keep telling myself to soak it all in and that it is going to go by so quickly but I feel like I cannot truly soak it all in somehow. I wish I could spread the cute out.

Here are some of the recent winners:

1. During "buddy bath time" when I bath Lucy and Eli together, Eli started peeing and Lucia said "Oh no bubby! Oh, it's ok. Mommy, brother is peeing out of his bottom. Oh, it is a lovely bottom!" Of course, then I nearly peed my pants. I held it together though.
2. Last night when I was snuggling with Lucia, I said "Lucy I will love you forever no matter what". She then said "Mama, we will be friends forever too". Um...melt my heart!
3. We were coloring together the other day and she was working on a picture of Ariel and her "boyfriend" as I told her. She was telling me about the picture and said "I colored the boydaddy". Boys are all daddy's to her right now. Too cute.

Lucy's imagination has also taken off even more. We eat a lot of pretend ice cream. I keep asking her what flavor and making suggestions and she says "no mommy, it is ice cream". Like, haven't I made myself clear, I don't know why you keep on thinking it is chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry...it is ice cream!

She is really cute with Eli too. She always tells him "oh bubby, I think you so cute". She's also super into dancing and singing into her microphone from Grandma Jana. The little lady can definitely get crazy, but she is also my sweet little helper. She'll run and get Bubs' bottle or pacifier or she will bring him toys when he is crying. She is a tiny Mama.

Eli (or bubs) is getting cuter and cuter as well. In fact, the tiny man just rolled for the first time on March 15th! He has rolled a few times each day since then but isn't going crazy with it yet. It is crazy to think that he will be mobile in no time at all. He still seems to be eating like a champ and sleeping less like a champ. ;) I'll take the eating...the sleeping will come. He does lots of sweet talking and definitely loves to put anything he can get his hands on in his mouth. He also has a total Daddy crush. Whenever Pat get's home in the evenings, Eli goes crazy with the smiling. Pat engages with him a ton and Eli just smiles from ear to ear the whole time.

Random cuteness...

Family Visit

We had a fun Murphy birthday week here the first week-ish of March.

First was Pat's birthday! Happy 34 years to my hottie-super awesome husband! Here is his Key Lime pie that I ate 90% of...

Birthday dinner!
The birthday boy and his little peeps!
Lindsey flew into town on March 3rd, so we were able to go out on Sunday night for a birthday celebration date night! Oh, how I LOVE our nights out together. We get to talk and talk without anything else going on.
It was also great to have Lindsey in town for the week! She arrived a few days before my mom, so here are a few shots from those days.

Super cute picture of Eli with his auntie!
Proof that the little man can hold up that head of his!
We had a fun day of very light snow. Lindsey and Lucy braved the elements for a few bites of snow.
Here is Lucy suiting up for the big snow outing
We made it to the museum too! Lucy hit the slide on the roof over and over again. The kid is a sliding pro!

Cutie Bubs

Sunny Day Adventures

A few weeks back we had one of those gloriously beautiful February days in the North West. It didn't get out of the 40's but it was SUNNY! I suited up Elijah like we were in the arctic and headed out to get some vitamin D! It makes me so crazy happy to see the sun. I always thought that the people who said that their moods were affected by the weather were crazy and dramatic. I am now one of those people. :) The gray gets to you after a while though one sunny afternoon outside can definitely hold you for a while. It also keeps Lucy so much more entertained. The girl needs to run and jump and slide. Being stuck inside, for a 3 year old, is definitely rough.

Anyway, it was a wonderful 30 minutes of sunshine bliss before we headed back home because a certain little lady needed to pee and Eli was falling asleep on me.


Seriously, I think Eli must have hated me at that moment. Look at the poor kid's face! He was probably sweating to death in that suit I had him in. ;)
Heading to the north pole... or the slide
Poor baby
The look on his face definitely screams "Moooooom, stooooop" :)
Not flattering but definitely awesome

Miss Sassy Pants
Happy head

Pirate Adventures

As I think I have mentioned before, Lucia and Pat are buddies. She is always so excited when he is home and attacks him the moment he enters the door and really doesn't let up until bedtime. The last few weekends, Pat has taken to taking Lucy on "Pirate Adventures". They go from place to place getting clues on their way to find the treasure. The hilarious thing is that it often includes basic errands like getting a toilet seal from Lowes or going to the dump but there is always the fun "treasure" at the end...the toy store, Top Pot for donuts, or something like that. Lucy loves the Dad time and Pat loves the Lucy time. It is really sweet. Here are a few pictures that Pat took from their adventures together.

A Visit with Nana and Papa

We were so thrilled to have Terry and Kathy over for a bit on Saturday. It has been so long since we have seen them! We had planned to all get together as a family to celebrate all of the Murphy/Anderson birthday's but Lucia and Elijah got a tiny rash around their mouths that the doctor said may be caused by a virus, so we did not want to risk exposing little Allistaire to anything that might be dangerous to her. So, Terry and Kathy went to the Anderson's for a portion of the day and then up to our house for the evening. It was fun to see them with Elijah. He is so much bigger now and such a smiley guy. It was the evening, so he hit his tired stage fairly quickly but we got to see lots of nice smiles first.

Here are a few shots of the family