Overcoming Murphy's Law

Monday, March 3, 2014

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Tomorrow our baby turns 11 months old, and in typical mommy fashion, I'm sending out her 10 month review at the last possible moment. Kaiya's 10th month of life has been a busy one. Just two days ago we arrived in our new home state, Tennessee. We're temporarily staying with family while we wait for our tiny home to be completed and for us to locate some land for us to park it on. Despite all the upheaval and change that's occurred this month, Kaiya has been an absolute rockstar!

My Favorite Toy: My new baby doll that Aunt KK bought me!

My Favorite New Word: "What?!"

My Favorite Food: Sushi!

My Favorite Song: The Itsy Bitsy Spider. I love the way Mommy's hands crawl "up the water spout."

Newly Learned Skill: I've walked 6 steps all by my self, I've learned to pull my own socks off, and I've successfully managed to descend from the couch all by myself a couple times without falling and I can say both Hi and Bye Bye!

The Strangest Thing I Do: When I'm nursing and really sleepy, I run my fingers through my own hair to sooth myself to sleep.

Mommy's Favorite Thing that I Do: Mommy loves that I clap whenever I hear other people clapping, even if it's on the television or radio.

Daddy's Favorite Thing that I Do: When I give people different looks, these mannerisms can be everything from a cheesy-toothy-love-me smile to why-the-heck-did-you-take-the-controller-out-of-my-hands smile.

Mommy's Least Favorite Thing that I Do: Mommy wishes that I wouldn't get so aggressive when I get frustrated. I like to dig my nails into mommy's skin when I'm mad.

Daddy's Least Favorite Thing that I Do: Daddy hopes that this "clingy" phase passes soon. He looks forward to the day he can cook with two hands again.

Thing Mommy Wants to Remember About This Month: Mommy wants to remember how cuddly I am when I'm tired, how much I love the kitty (even though she doesn't much like me), and how much of a ham I am.

Thing Daddy Wants to Remember About This Month: How it feels to have my head hit his shoulder when I get tired and go straight to sleep.

Fun Fact: I slept 11 of the 13 hours that it took for us to drive down to Tennessee! I'm such a good girl:)

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Kaiya- 9 Months!

Due to the HUGE announcement of the Murphy's impending move south, I kinda missed Kaiya's 9 Month update and it's been looming over my head ever since. I've been toying around with an idea for a new format for the monthly updates so I figured this would be as good a time as any to test it out. Let me know what you think!

Height: 28"

Weight: 19lbs 12oz

Number of Teeth: 8. EIGHT Teeth!

See all my teeth?!?

My Favorite Toy: Anything that isn't an actual toy. My favorite is cords, but in a pinch, I'll take an iphone, laptop keyboard, the DVD's that Mommy and Daddy keep on the lowest shelf of the book case, or the dog's bone.

A cord AND a laptop keyboard?! Score!

My Favorite New Word: "Uh-Oh." I've learned that's what you're supposed to say when you drop something. So, I drop everything, just so I can say that word.

My Favorite Food: I like the dog's food the best, but my second favorite would be the cat's food. Mommy locks it away but if I am patient I can wait until mom has to put it down so the dog and cat can eat and sneak in quick for a piece or two.

Mommy won't let me eat the dog's food!

My Favorite Song: Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid. This is the only thing that'll keep me from screaming in car rides now. I bet you don't know how many times that song will fit into a seven hour car ride. My Mommy and Daddy do, you can ask them.

Newly Learned Skill: I've learned so much this month! I've learned to stand without the support of the couch or anyone's hand, I've learned to say "Bye Bye" and wave, I've learned to say "CooCah" (cooper), and "Yes" (which I mainly say when Mommy or Daddy say "No").

The Strangest Thing I Do: I will stop crying at a halt if someone starts counting. I don't know why, but it never fails.

Mommy's Favorite Thing that I Do: Mommy loves that I dance to anything. Seriously, anything. Mom stirring cream into her coffee? That's a beat I can get down to. A song comes on during a movie? That must means it's a dance break! The little boy upstairs is bouncing his ball? Break it down!!

Daddy's Favorite Thing that I Do: Daddy loves that I talk ALL the time, as though the words that are coming out of my mouth are actual words that everyone should understand. He's a little concerned about the word I like to repeat a lot, pronounced "Ee-tch." He still doesn't know what I'm actually trying to say when I say it.

Mommy's Least Favorite Thing that I Do: Mommy wishes that I didn't like dog food so much. She also wishes I wouldn't chase around her coffee all morning, but it smells so good!

Mommy, I found your coffee!

Daddy's Least Favorite Thing that I Do: Daddy doesn't like that I've learned that the sound of choking gets EVERYONES attention. I think it's a neat trick though. I use it often.

Thing Mommy Wants to Remember About This Month: Mommy wants to remember how awesome it was to stay at home with me all month! How much she enjoyed sleeping in together, our nap time cuddles, our dance offs, and playing chase on the living room carpet.

Is it possible for life to get any better?

Thing Daddy Wants to Remember About This Month: Daddy wants to remember how I say "Uh-Oh." It really is adorable.

Fun Fact: I had my 9 Month blood draw at this month's physical and guess what? I didn't cry AT ALL! Mommy looked a little green, but I was just annoyed they wouldn't give me my arm back.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Big BIG (and one so tiny) Announcements from the Murphys

Kaiya in a vintage outfit purchased by her Grandfather 30 years ago!

Ok guys, there has been a lot of silence coming from the Murphy household the past couple weeks, both on the blog and on good ol' Facebook. There are a couple different reasons for it but it's taken me some time to wrap my head around everything. Now that we have had time to flesh it all out, we have three major things to share with ya'll. (Southern colloquialism intended.)

*I should preface this with: I'm not pregnant. I know "announcement" tends to be synonymous with pregnancy these days, but not in this case.*

The first thing is about my job. Remember that new job I just got and was super excited about because of the great money and better quality of life? Well... it didn't quite work out. Ultimately, it wasn't a good fit. The official story is that I left for other job opportunities, but if any of you want to buy me a beer, I'll happily give you all the finer (and gory) details.

It's crazy right?!? So, what the heck am I doing now? Well, that's where the second announcement comes in... and it's just as crazy.

Story time with Da-Da

Both John and I are looking for jobs... in NASHVILLE! That's right everyone, the decision has been made and we're 99.99% moving to Nashville (because you have to leave a little room for God to change things). We decided that it was time for us to be closer to family and we took the hiccup with my job as being a sign that this was as good a time as any to make the leap. This Yankee girl is heading south, and much further south of the Mason Dixie line than I EVER thought I'd live. But we're excited about it. We're excited to be closer to family, for the new scenery, and the new adventure of it all.

Cutest baby "selfie" ever

Speaking of adventure, here comes the craziest (at least I'm assuming most will think it so) announcement of all. The Murphy family is going "tiny." I am 90% ridiculously excited about it and 10% concerned that I've lost my marbles, but we're doing it nonetheless. John and I didn't rush into this decision over the past week or two, I've been planting the seeds and letting the idea root for months now and this just seemed like the perfect opportunity to make the investment. For more details about what "going tiny" means and all the many reasons we've decided to do it I invite you to visit the blog that I've started to chronicle the journey (because I'm completely unable to process things without writing about them). You'll find the new blog at www.our24fthome.blogspot.com and I invite you to start reading at the first post here.

All dressed up for her 9 month birthday!

Ok, phew, now that I feel my soul is bared and everyone is up to speed, I need to go figure out what-all is in the hallway closet that needs to be purged. Feel free to comment with your thoughts!!

Our Little Food Activist:)

Friday, December 27, 2013

The Murphy 2013 Holiday Card

Click to open and make larger!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Kaiya's 8 Month Photo Shoot

I swear I'm more in love with each photo shoot! As she gets older, and her personality continues to emerge, I can't help but be grateful that we have these beautiful pictures documenting her growth. I have to give props, once again, to the talented Melissa from Melissa Barrick Photography.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Kaiya- 8 Months!

Yep, that's right. I posted exactly one post during Kaiya's 7th month, and what's worse, is that it was a pretty happening month! Kaiya is continuing to grow like a little weed, but a big change happened for me this month too!

John and I did lunch on one of my days between jobs.

After over 4.5 years with Chef Geoff's, I left my position as Executive Director of Profitability to become the Financial and Administrative Officer for PNAS, a part of the NAS. Essentially I turned in my for-profit hat for the non-profit lifestyle. Not only is it something new to put on my resume, but the quality of life is far superior to that which I had in the restaurant industry. I'm home every day by 5pm and I get about 10 hours more a week with Kaiya. That's 520 hours a year! Add to that the fact I get 9 paid holidays (compared to my 1 paid holiday at my last job) and I get a full 30 days a year more at home. That's an entire month more with my baby every year! Even if I had had to take a pay-cut (which I thankfully didn't) it would have been worth every penny. I fully recognize how truly blessed I am that God presented me with this opportunity and gave me the courage to make the leap.

So what have I done with all this new time? I've honestly done nothing but enjoy my baby girl. I told myself I'd be going to the gym every day and being super productive in the rest of my life, but with John in school full time, I'm on baby-duty most of the time and she's at an age where she needs full-time supervision. I'm not worried though, I can get back to the gym and pick up some of my hobbies again when she gets a little older. In the meantime, I'm just soaking in every second I have with Kaiya because I know that each moment is a moment I can't get back.

The Bath time moments...