Daddy Joe

This weekend John and I traveled down to Rocky Mount, NC to visit with his grandfather, affectionatly known as "Daddy Joe." Daddy Joe is at the tail end of his 96th year of living and, while not the independent and mobile man that he was when I first met him years ago, he's still such a special person in John and my life.

Daddy Joe in 2008 on the Golf Course

This past week has been a hard one for him. Mid-week he fell in the hall of his apartment and dislocated his shoulder only to have his girlfriend, Harriet, pass away while he was in the hospital. Harriet and Daddy Joe had been together for 25 years.

My favorite way to describe Harriet is as a "firecracker." A woman after my own heart, she hailed from the glory days of Brooklyn and never lost that beautiful New York way about her. I'm almost positive that's what drew Daddy Joe to her. She was a bit louder than the southern girls I'm sure Daddy Joe was used to and she had a quick whit and wicked sense of humor that never failed to make me laugh. She was a tiny woman, I'd be hard pressed to believe she even reached five foot, and I constantly fought the urge to stick her in my pocket and take her home with me. She was a lovely soul and I'm saddened to know we'll never cross paths again. For reasons only Daddy Joe and Harriet will ever know, they never married, but it was a decision he clearly feels some level of regret for in these evening days of his life. While Daddy Joe is handling the death of Harriet like only a man who has outlived too many of his loved ones can, it is easy to see he is deeply pained to have her gone.

Thanksgiving 2010

Daddy Joe has always been a strong, stubborn, career oriented man with a hard exterior. He's blunt, to the point of being mean sometimes, but effortlessly charming when he wants to be. He's old school in all the ways that you would expect a man his age to be, but he's not oblivious to being left behind with the times. He conciously holds tight to tradition and the ways of a more civilized time. He struggles to hear these days, and a combination of poor eyesight and a certain level of dementia has left him easily confused, but he still cracks a joke when he gets the chance, and seems more eager to talk about his early days than he ever has been before. Perhaps the thing that stuck with me the most was his vocal regret about how busy he was in his youth, and how little time he spent on the things that were important. As a doctor Daddy Joe was very much consumed by his work. When he lost his first wife, I'm guessing it became easier to drown himself in his career than focus on the fact he was now a single father of two. It's clear he regrets that now, but he offers his regret as a cautionary tale, and one that I won't easily forget.

Life is getting harder for Daddy Joe as the days go by. He speaks openly of wishing the Lord would just call him home, and as a man who spends most of his days napping, is limited in his mobility, can hardly hear, and barely see, I sympothize with him. Selfishly, I hope he can find it in himself to live long enough to meet our little Kaiya, his very first great grandchild, but realistically I know that it's easier for him to yearn for the company of the loved ones he knew and are no longer, than to be excited for the ones that are not yet and that he's unlikely to ever really know. Ultimately, I just wish for him peace. Peace with the decisions he's made and the life that he's lived, and peace that can only come in knowing that you have people who love you and will never be the same without you.

Screen shot of our skype date with Matt and Lauren. Only Sean, Becca, and Russ were missing from this shot.

So, as we all move into the New Year, strive to live purposefully and without regret and most of all, remember to make your loved ones your priority because as your life winds down, it's the moments with them that you'll treasure most.

27 Weeks!

A number of weeks have passed since the posting of my last belly shot, so I figured it was time. Note that I'm in the guest bathroom this time (the light is out in our bathroom) but the dress is the same as the last photo. I thought it might be a bit more interesting to see the change in belly size in the same dress:) In case you're curious, I am finally feeling 90% human. I had almost forgotten what it was like to not be sick all the time, but it's been a couple weeks now since I've had any real morning sickness. My only remaining symptom is heartburn, which thankfully seems fully controllable through Tums (the smoothie type are the best!) This Tuesday we'll officially be in the third trimester, then it's just three more months!!

Christmas 2012

This year was a very special Christmas for us. First of all, it's the last Christmas we'll have before Kaiya joins the family and we're all very excited to have another little one at the next Christmas celebration. Second of all, for the first time ever we had Christmas together somewhere other than the Lehenbauer household. This year Mom, Karl and Nathan came down to stay with John, Britt and me. We had a lovely Christmas here in the Murphy household!!

Enjoy the Christmas collage I compiled of our day:)

23 Weeks!

Love to my Momma who has sent me the most stylish collection of maternity clothes for my birthday! This pretty pink tunic was one of my favorite pieces, but everything is so cute and comfy. I can't tell you how exciting it is to have clothing that FITS! In honor of my excitement and gratitude, here's another belly shot:)

Nashville!

For years John and I have been promising to visit all my family members in Nashville. I'd never been, and we now have more than half of our family in the Nashville area, so we decided to extend our usual Thanksgiving trip south by a few days and make good on that promise!

First off, we had an AMAZING suprise baby shower that the ladies in my family threw for John and I while we were down there!

John attempts to put a diaper on the baby for the first time ever!

Mom in her baby glory with Baby Wes

(photo courtesy of Courtenay Morrow's Facebook page, the only photo's I could find:)

John and I also went to the Country Music hall of fame, which was actually pretty cool!

It wouldn't have been a complete trip to Nashville if we didn't at least stop by the Opryland Hotel. How lucky that we were that it was all decked out for Christmas!!

We also went to a show at the Grand Ol' Opry:

Our final day was spent walking through a beautiful park built around Nashville!

20 Weeks!

The thin belt and turtleneck really accentuate my tiny bump:) Still not much weight gain, but I'm sure that's not far behind. I'm feeling a bit more human, though I'm still regularly suffering from nausea and I lose my breakfast a few times a week :/ All the same, any improvement is welcome improvement!

17 Weeks!

17 Weeks! There isn't much to see, but my "fat" jeans are getting a bit tight, so I definitely feel like a bump is growing:)

John's First Olympic Triathlons and the C-ville Emergency Room

We spent this past weekend in Charlotesville, perhaps John and my favorite place to spend our free time. Not only is it a beautiful little city, but it has everything that we appreciate in life good food, wineries, breweries, culture (in the form of art and music, etc), and lots and lots of natural beauty to be found in the farmland, orchards, and mountains. Whenever we get the chance, we hop in the car and take weekend to enjoy the peace we always feel in C-ville.

This particular weekend, however, was anything but peaceful. We originally scheduled our weekend because John had his first Olympic length triathlon in Spotsylvania, VA, named the Giant Acorn International Tri. Since it's beautiful in VA in October, we coupled up with E&J and rented an apartment for the weekend.

Saturday morning started lovely! I was feeling like a real human being for only the second or third day this entire pregnancy and the weather was perfect. We stopped at McDonalds to grab some vanilla latte's, rolled down the windows, and drove out to enjoy the day. John performed wonderfully! It was so inspiring to watch him push himself to such extreme lengths. I'm not saying I'm going to be jumping into any Tri's soon, but I was brimming over with pride watching him compeat. Check out some of the photo's I took during the event!

It wasn't until after the event, when we were getting ready to go to dinner that the weekend went to shit. A quick trip to the bathroom struck fear into the heart. At 15.5 weeks into this miracle of a pregnancy, I was bleeding, heavily. Luckily, we were literally not more than a few blocks from one of the best teaching hospitals in the country. A quick drive brought us to the University of Virginia ER, a level one trama center. I was whisked away into a room immediately, and about 10 minutes after arriving a Dr. was rolling in an ultrasound to take a look. I was beside myself with worry, but deep down I had faith that everything would be ok. I must have stopped breathing, but after a few moments, the Dr. assured me that the heartbeat was strong and everything looked good. I started crying in relief.

They did a quick exam, and were unable to determine the reasoning for the bleeding. I was told to take it easy and to make an appt with my Dr. as soon as possible. We went to dinner and then back to the apartment to watch football and play some board games. That night, I could barely sleep, I just prayed the bleeding would stop. The next morning, the bleeding had not stopped, but had actually become more severe. I called the Dr. on call at my OB, and he told me that I should go back to the ER, so off we went.

This time our ER visit wasn't nearly as speedy. After 4-5 hours in the ER, with heavy bleeding the whole time, we given the same diagnosis as the day before. Baby's heart was still beating strong, fluids looked good, cervix wasn't dialated, and we were too early in the pregnancy to do anything but pray and wait. We were discharged and sent home.

By the grace of God, when I called my OB first thing on Monday morning, they were able to squeeze us in for an ultrasound around noon same day. To add to the misery, I was experiencing the worst nausea, possibly in my whole pregnancy. I was a mess. We went in, praying the whole way there. They got us in, and we watched on the huge screen TV as they assured us that baby was just perfect and that the reason for the bleeding was a rare form of placenta previa. They never officially diagnose it prior to 20 weeks because it generally resolves itself before that, but since my bleeding was so severe, they were willing to diagnose it, and give me a doctors note for bedrest until further notice. I was relieved, and petrified at the same time, but at least baby is healthy!! So, for now, it's bedrest and lots of fluids for me :/

Sarah Turns 30!!

My 30th birthday was promised to be epic, and epic is was! I'm generally not one for costume parties, but I insisted that those who attended my 30th come in full 80's garb, and it was worth it! The pictures were awesome, and mu hubby John, bestie E, sister Britt and mom did an AWESOME job on the party and photo booth props. Possibly the best birthday ever:) Here's some of the highlight shots from the photobooth:

Ladies and Gentleman, The Murphy Family has an announcement....