Our Trip to Cincinnati- Almasy Wedding

I know what you're thinking: "These people take a lot of trips!" It's true, this year has been a HUGE travel year for us, but that's just what happens when your family AND friends are scattered to the four winds!! One of these days we'll take the time (and money) to take a true vacation, but until then, we'll just alternate visiting our loved ones:)

So why were we in Cincinnati? The city of...actually, I have no idea what it's the city of. If I had to pick, it would be the city of "Nothing Open on Saturdays," but that might have just been that we were visiting on Labor day weekend. Anywho, we were in Cincinnati for the wedding of two of our favorite people- Kevin & Naina!!

Getting to Cincinnati was a bit of a rough trip. We left around rush hour, well after we had hoped to leave, and what could have been an 8 hour trip turned into a 10 hour trip once you added in food, gas and bathroom stops. Not to mention there were a million cops out, ensuring our compliance with the speed limit. We got in around 3am. The upside was that Kaiya slept the entire way! The downside is that Kaiya slept the entire way. As soon as we checked in to the hotel it was clear that her 10 hour sleep had sufficed and she was ready to be awake. At 3am. Obviously that wasn't going to fly for mommy and daddy, who had NOT slept, so being the good baby that she is, she kindly napped on and off until 7:30am, which was when mommy finally got up so as to not wake daddy, Aunt Els and Uncle Jon (who were sharing the room with us and also got in super late).

At this point, I went down to the lobby in search of as much coffee as I could find. Eventually I was pointed in the direction of a little hot pot in the middle of the Hilton's massive vintage dining room.

While Kaiya and I were chilling in the dining room, waiting for the others to wake up, she decided she wanted to work on her vocab and practiced her very first word: Mama!

She's such a smartie:)

A couple hours later John and Els were up and ready for coffee/breakfast, so we went to a nice little coffee shop around the corner from the hotel and camped out for a while. The coffee was great, the food super yummy, and it was a nice reprieve from the heat starting to build outside.

Not long after Jon joined us and had a little breakfast of his own, did we head out to meet up with some of the rest of the group at a little Italian place Vino Vito.

Eventually, it was time to get our wedding on! I didn't get very many pictures, unfortunately, because I was on baby duty, but I did manage to get a couple.

Some of the beautiful centerpieces!

A Murphy family picture <3

The lovely bride and handsome groom on their first dance!

John gets silly with the napkin wires

Alan works his baby whispering magic on Kaiya

After an AWESOME wedding, daddy and baby pass out

I love a good wedding, but I LOVE a wedding joining two friends, and with a guest list filled with the people that mean the most to John and me. We had so much fun at Kevin and Naina's wedding and we can't wait until we can do it all again in October when Alan and Emily take the plunge! 2013 has been such an amazing year!!

Our Anniversary Trip to Memphis!

As I mentioned briefly in my last post with all Kaiya's 4 month photos (which I LOVE), John and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary this month. Many years ago (and by "many" I mean 7) John and I decided that we would not exchange gifts on our anniversaries, but would make an effort to travel, see new places, and spend some time together outside the framework of normal life, when and if finances allowed. Over the years we've been to a number of places, some near and some far. We did Smithfield, VA for our 1st wedding anniversary, Charlottesville, VA for our 4th "dating" anniversary, Costa Rica for our 2nd anniversary and a few day trips during the "leaner" years. This year John was attending a training in Mississippi (that may have been the first time I've ever had to actually spell that out) and since my handsome brother in law and his beautiful wife live in Memphis, a stones throw away from where John was attending his training, we decided to make a little trip out of it and they were gracious enough to take us in.

I had never flown with Kaiya before, and I had definitely never flown with her alone, but I was up for the challenge. Or, at least I thought I was. Our first flight was to depart at 6:30am. I thought I had given us plenty of time to get there, park and get through security. Turns out that in the DC area there manages to be both traffic and tons of people in the security line before 6am. I missed our first flight. Delta was super nice about it and they did their best to get us connected but instead of arriving at 11am as initially planned we didn't arrive until 2pm. If I'm honest though, it could have been way worse and I'm grateful that we arrived safe and that Kaiya continues to be a rockstar traveler.

This girl looks so cute at 7am in the morning!

Just chillin' on the airport floor

When we landed in Memphis we were greeted by John and Bo, who swept us hungry travelers to Central BBQ for some real Memphis BBQ. One word: reallyfreakinggood! It's a personal goal of mine to try all our country's many types of BBQ and while my favorite remains Eastern North Carolina BBQ, Memphis BBQ comes in a close second.

I don't want Sophie Mommy, I want that pulled pork sandwich!

I need to stop here and say that Bo and Leah are fantastic hosts. Not only is their super-cute new home uber comfy, but they knew exactly how to keep John and me entertained: give me coffee in the morning, keep us fed (and with access to the local brew) and show us all your city's "crunchiest"spots. Bo and Leah hit all those criterium and more.

They took us to see Beale St.

I love love LOVE John's expression here. It makes me giggle :)

The Orpheum Theater!

They took us to the Memphis farmers market (which was AWESOME btw) where I bought soap nuts and some long-awaited dryer balls! :

We saw Memphis' pyramid (soon to be a HUGE Bass Pro Shop!):

Lunched at a "hipster" sandwich shop:

Enjoyed a lovely anniversary dinner while Uncle Bo and Aunt Leah babysat:

Did a drive by of Graceland (because you can't go to Memphis and not see Graceland):

And above all else, enjoyed spending time with two of our favorite people while they got to love on sweet Kaiya:

We are so grateful for the time we had with Bo and Leah in their new city of Memphis and are sincerely looking forward to our next visit there. Next time we're hitting up that zoo ;)

Oh! And be sure to check out Kaiya's updated travel map on the side bar! Not too bad for being just over 4 months old ;)

Kaiya's 4 Month Photos

I was a little late to the show on milestone photos with Kaiya. I had costed them out when I bought her newborn package, but they were kinda crazy expensive and I put it out of my mind. Then, as I receded from my postpartum haze, I realized that she was growing WAY too fast for me not to want to document it! I did some research, and by the grace of God stumbled onto Melissa's sweet little blog. I loved her style, her down-to-earth tone and she was willing to work with me in putting together a package to cover a number of milestones in Kaiya's growth within my budget. She was everything I was hoping for and so so much more. Please visit her talented self HERE :)

This month was John and my 3 year anniversary, so what place could have been more fitting for Kaiya's 4 month photo shoot than our wedding site?!? We love Jefferson Patterson Park, it's so pretty and is unique in that it has a little beach, plus lots of green fields and wooded areas. John and I wore the same outfits we did during our maternity shoot because I thought it would make for a cute comparison. But enough of my dialog, I want to show you the pictures!

Here are a few of my favorites!

Before and After :)

Daddy and his little girl

Giving her serious face here

I love this one as it shows her endless curiosity:)

Coopa!

I had to include one with her little tooth popping through <3

I LOVE her little expression here!

Kaiya - 4 Months!

Month 3 has been my favorite month so far, and here we are moving into month 4! The super tiny newborn stage is precious and awe inspiring in it's own way, but I just LOVE this post-newborn stage.

This month Kaiya has just blossomed into a real little person. She is quick to smile, has the most precious little laugh and will just talk talk talk all day long. She's also started to chunk up big time, giving her the cutest little chunk thighs, arms and cheeks. Her nanny is constantly in amazement at how much she eats (and mommy is trying like crazy to keep up!).

This smile makes mommy's heart melt :)

This month she's learned to roll from stomach to back (weirdly, she learned back to front first), how to grasp toys and bring them to her mouth, and that kicking her legs makes her bouncy chair bounce. She LOVES to look in the mirror, and if you put her on her stomach for tummy time (which she's also learned to like) she'll shimmy forward, which I can only assume is the precursor to crawling. She's also continuing to lose all the pretty hair she had when she was born, which makes both mommy and daddy sad. Oh! And did I mention her incredible ability to stay seated for an impressive amount of time??

Kaiya is the queen of sleeping at night (usually 11-12 hours) but she is terrible at napping, much to the nanny's chagrin. I have a theory that it's light related, so my mission this month is to get blackout shades for her nursery.

sleeping beauty

She's also ready to be standing and bouncing and loves to be sat up so despite my reluctance to collect baby "stuff" I had to bite the bullet and hit up Craigslist to get her a jumperoo. Definitely one of our best purchases yet, she LOVES it!

"bouncy, bouncy, bouncy!"

Her new favorite thing to do when sitting up? Leaning over and putting her foot in her mouth.

But the foot isn't all that special, she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth right now. Probably because she's already getting her first tooth!!!

Can you see the little tooth?? Bottom right hand side.

When she's not growing teeth and chewing on everything, she's:

Taking walks with mommy...

Visting wineries with friends...

Napping in style...

Hanging with Aunt Els...

And practicing her modeling pose. I think she's got it down.

Kaiya's growing SO fast, but it's an absolute wonder to watch and I wouldn't take back a second of it. I can't wait to see what month 4 has in store!