The Murphy Family

It seems as though all of my friends are having babies about now and lately I have been thinking so much about the birth of sweet little Logan. It is something I think about daily, but the fact that it was a year ago and the season and everything is just bringing it all back to me. It has affected me more than I ever though it could. I find myself wanting to relive it (I know, it sounds crazy) to remember exactly how I made it through something that I wasn't sure I could do. When he was born I did a post about the labor and birth, but it hadn't fully set in at that point. I am just really grateful for the experience I was able to have and find myself wanting to write more about it so I don't forget the feelings I have. I want to remember how Dan was right by my side every minute of my nine hour labor. I want to remember how he kept telling me I was doing great and that I could do it. I want to remember that during transition I made sure Dan got the candy cane kisses...

While I am on a roll with blogging I might as well do a post about my sweet little baby boy who is turning 1 on Tuesday. What would our family do without this sweet little sassy boy. He makes us laugh every day. He is impatient and loves to screech and scream all through church. He is wild and crazy and active and silly. He won't let anything into his mouth on a spoon. This makes it hard to introduce him to any healthy food. He is starting to eat a little more. Yesterday he finally let me feed him a chunk of sweet potatoe. A few days ago we got him to finally eat something off of a spoon. It was a chocolate shake from In-N-Out and he loved it. I guess I just need to lace all of his food with a milkshake. He is still a huge baby but his growth is definitely slowing down. He is walking all over furniture, but still hasn't attempted to take a step. He is into climbing, something Mason never did. He loves to play in the fridge and dishwasher and screams bloody murder...

Mason wanted tools for his birthday. That was it. In fact, that is what he wants for Christmas too despite the fact that he got one for his birthday. So, we gave him a tool party. We hammered golf tees into pumpkins and screwed screws into pumpkins and Mason loved it so much. I don’t know what the little girls at his party thought, but he was all about it. He had Madi, Joy, Logan and Sam over and Dan made him a hammer cake. Then we did a family party and he loved having everyone over. Thanks everyone for caring about my little boy on his 3rd birthday. He was pretty warn out by the end of the day.

So, my sweet little baby Mason is 3 and I have no idea how it happened, but I do love this little 3 year old just as much as I loved my little chubby baby Mason. I must say though, 3 is hard. My perfect, sweet little boy is giving me attitude and deciding that he will do things when I tell him not to. I am so grateful for a mild mannered first one, so I can be eased into it, because I have a feeling, little Logan is going to give me a run for my money. Mason is my big helper. He is so willing to help me out with Logan and is really concerned about Logan’s safety and well-being. I can tell he is a first child. He is still in love with being on stage. I just found out today that he gets on a chair in nursery and sings “I am a Child of God” with a microphone for everyone. He doesn’t want help; he can do it by himself. He is starting to become really independent. Today, he said he wanted a snack. I told him to wait because my hands were all cookie-doughy. The next thing I knew...

So, I always do posts about Logan because he is doing so many new things. Mason has definitely earned a blog post of his own for being brother of the year. Okay, so he takes things from Logan, makes him cry, plays a little too rough sometimes, but oh how my little Mason loves his brother. The second Logan wakes up from his nap Mason begs to see him and play with him. He is so amazing at making sure Logan doesn't get into trouble. He is always concerned about Logan's well being and even tonight he felt really bad that Logan couldn't go to the bathroom. I know, way too much info, but how sweet is that. Mason: "Mom, Logan can't poo?" Me: No, he is having a hard time" Mason: "OH, poor little guy." Their favorite thing to do is play in the fridge together. They get everything out and "go shopping"....and then I usually put everything back with a little bit of Mason's help. I should just tell them they can't play in the f...

Our little Logey is so different from Mason as a baby. Logan was actually crawling at 9 and ½ months, something Mason had no interest in until weeks before he started walking which was about 13 months. Logan is doing things Mason didn’t even attempt for another 3 months. It is totally a personality thing and I love seeing the differences. Logan is so active and a risk taker. When he falls after standing up at something he just keeps going and tries again. So far he is exactly like Mason socially. He always smiles for anyone and tries to get other people’s attention at the store…well, not that he really has to try. At least one person on every shopping trip comes up and starts squishing his thighs…yeah I’m so not into the “please ask to touch my baby thing.” People love babies, especially chubby cute ones, who am I to deprive them of the joy that comes from squishing a huge fatty baby thigh? He cracks us up daily. He loves to clap and play with toys and is just so fun right n...

Here are some helpful things from Love and Logic in a nutshell. I made this up for a class I taught and thought it might be helpful to some of you. I know it is every time I look at it and remember how I actually should be doing it :). If you take anything from this class take this…… -Enforce all consequences with EMPATHY. -Oh, that’s so sad -Let your children make mistakes and suffer the consequences -However you decide to parent, BE CONSISTENT -When you have said no, DO NOT GIVE IN -Don’t make everything into drama, just make it a simple, “I know, I bet you feel sad about that.” And be done with it. Walk out of the room. Move on. -Don’t order your kids around! They feel a loss of control and will unleash a craziness upon you  -Offer choices -Milk or Juice, shoes or sandals, jacket or coat, apple or banana -“Do you want to do it, or do you want me to do it for you?” -Any time you can’t offer choices, explain that it’s mom’s turn to decide. Empathize if they get grouchy. (th...

So, as most of you know, I am VERY passionate about mothering/parenthood/nurturing and that kind of stuff. I think most moms are, but I happen to have lots of opinions too. I have a fear that when I give my opinion about motherhood other mothers are feeling judged and bugged by the fact that I give my opinion so freely. This is what I have a degree in, this is what I did for a job and do for a job now and this is what I love and will someday study more of. So, I am sorry for anyone who has ever felt that way, I know I have and I hate it. However, I feel the need to share my opinions and just get my feelings out and hope that anyone reading this will take it for what it is....a blog post about how I nurture my babes for my own record and for anyone who is looking for a different perspective or feeling like I did when I had my baby...clueless. I am so grateful for my friend who started me on my path to discovering the best way to care for my kiddos. Allie had a little girl before...

So, Mason loves to take pics. These are the pics he captured today with his little artistic eye. He probably took 30, but these ones cracked me up. The one of Logan is actually just really cute. The one of his and Dan's shoes makes my heart melt. The one of him in the mirror in his undies is just priceless. I need to get this boy a camera.

We had a great 4th of July with family. I love love love that my siblings live close. Doug, Marie, Luke and Natalie came over and we did some fireworks after a nice Mexican (?) meal. It was a great night!

So, I have been wearing Logan so much lately and my back is a little sore. We went to Smiths the other night and I begged Dan to wear Logan. He doesn't like the carseat and I like to hold him whenever we can. I stood outside the car begging Dan for awhile. Finally he snatched it up and started putting it on. I must admit, we had to gain our composure beofre going in because we laughed hysterically for 5 minutes when he put it on. I was trying to give him confidence that no one would stare, but I could'nt stop laughing. My sweet little hubby kept it on anyway. Dan has an incredibly long torso so it was not fitting as well as we hoped, but he kept it on anyway. We walked around and as we were picking out some yogurt a little (probably 5 0r 6) boy looked at Dan and Logan and giggled and and said "baby" while pointing. It was quite apparent that the boy thought the whole situation was funny. Dan became a little more self concious I think, but kept it on anyway....