Sloan is growing up way too fast!
I find myself having conversations with her now which is amazing and adorable and scary all at the same time! She is a polite, thoughtful, loving little girl. When we're going to bed and I say 'I love you' she brushes my face and says 'love you too' and it just about makes be cry every time it's so sweet!
If Sloan wakes up too early in the morning I tell her we can't get up because the sun isn't awake yet. This morning when she woke up at 9:30 and it was still kinda dark and overcast she asked 'sun awake mummy' and I said 'I think so' and she excitedly replied 'I hope so, I go check!' Her smile was so huge when she opened the bedroom door and could see more sunlight! She is such a fun little person to have in our lives!
Just a little blog about our darling daughter and fabulous family.
October 19, 2012
September 6, 2012
September 4, 2012
Our little man!
William Felix Leo joined our family on August 12th and it could not have gone any better! I'll write up a full birth story eventually, but I thought I would post a quick time line and pic while I have a spare moment (which are rare these days!).
Tuesday Aug 7th: I had my 39 week appointment. My blood pressure was high, something completely irregular for me. It was so high it alarmed the midwife I had my appointment with (not my primary or secondary) enough that she asked Matt and I to stay in Owen Sound and go to the hospital 4 hours later to have it checked again along with a non-stress test of sorts and some blood work to rule out pre-eclampsia. She did a stretch and sweep and then we went to the mall to do some shopping and went out for dinner. I freaked out quite a bit because if I was going to have to have a hospital birth, I did NOT want it to be in Owen Sound! Martha (my secondary midwife) met us at the hospital at 6:30 and I was hooked up to the monitors to check babes heart rate and any contractions I was having, along with keeping an eye on baby movement. I had blood taken and peed in a cup. About 45 minutes later everything came back clear! Martha gave us the go ahead to head home! We could not have been more thrilled!
Friday Aug 10th: Because of my high blood pressure they asked that I come up for a mid-week appointment, so we headed up to Owen Sound again...this time with a bag just in case! I was meeting with Martha again and she checked my blood pressure and said it was still a little high, but no higher than on the Tuesday, so she gave us the go ahead to still plan for our home birth! She did a stretch and sweep and said I was easily at 2cm, but could be stretched to a 4. Woohoo - progress! We came home and went for a walk and I bounced on the ball for a while, I was having contractions, but nothing consistent. When I had the S&S with Sloan I started spotting right away, but had nothing with Will.
Saturday Aug 11th: More contractions all day. I timed some and they would be consistent when I was sitting a certain way, but would stop if I started to do anything. I thought things might progress in the night so we had Sloan go to my parents house for a sleepover just in case. I paged the midwife on call just to give her the heads up that we might be calling in the middle of the night and was given the news that someone else was in labour and at the OS hospital so if I went into labour tonight there was a good chance we would have to go to the hospital. We walked around the BIG block a couple times and I bounced on the ball and things seemed to pick up, still not painful, but starting to have to think and focus through some contractions. We watched Grown Ups, hoping it would be really funny and the laughter would help things along, but only parts of it were really funny. Then we watched 90210 reruns (on Netflix), and that slowed things down and I decided to go to bed! Other than getting up to pee a couple times, I slept through the night!
Sunday Aug 12th: I woke up around 5am and knew it was because of a contraction and grabbed my phone to start timing. At around 6am I sent Laura (who was going to be my doula and photographer!) a text and told her things were starting to get stronger and more consistent and that today was probably going to be the day. At 7am I paged the midwife on call - she was the one worried about my blood pressure - she had been up all night at the other birth and didn't think she could come, but was going to call around to see if someone else (along with a secondary) could come. At 7:30 Martha called and said she and Heidi were on their way! Yay! Matt brought the birth pool upstairs and started getting it filled and we called my Mum to come over. Everyone was on their way! My Mum arrive around 8:30. At this point I wasn't in the pool yet and was just standing and rocking through the contractions leaning on the bouncy ball that was on the chair arm. Martha and Heidi arrived around 9 and I was in the pool at that point enjoying some peanut butter toast (the perfect snack prepared by Nanna, just like when I was in labour with Sloan!). Laura arrived around 9:45ish and things were well on their way then. The pool helped SO much! We were laughing and joking around and I was telling the midwives the story of how Matt and I met while I breathed through the contractions. Just like with my labour with Sloan, I really felt like I needed to pee, and got out of the pool to try, but couldn't which made it hard to focus on the contractions. I decided to have my water broken and it was like instant relief and I was able to pee! Around 11:30 things started to pick up and I was really having to breath and brace myself through each contraction which seemed to start coming almost on top of each other. We were joking that the babe might come at 12:12 on the 12th of 2012! I'll have to get the notes from my file for the timing (which I'll get at my 6 week visit), but I started feeling the urge to push and just went with it. This whole time Matt was right by my side calming talking me through and holding my hand. My Mum tried to hold and rub my other hand/arm, but just like with Sloan I couldn't handle the softness of her hands! After babes head was out I felt like something wasn't quite right and couldn't push with the next contraction, Martha was worried his shoulders were stuck (which she only said after the fact) and had my Mum and Matt pull my legs up to make more room for him to get through and at 12:17 Will was born! The first thing I noticed was how chubby he was and how massive his hands were! My Mum shrieked - 'look what he has' and we knew it was a boy! We were both so surprised and it made waiting to find out so exciting! I stayed in the tub to deliver the placenta and then got out to watch Will get weighed and was stunned as we watched the scale go past the 9lb mark, then 10lb mark, then 11lb mark and almost make it to the 12 pound mark! Crazy!
Everything was absolutely amazing and I would do it at home again in a heart beat!
Now that I've written all that I realize it's not a brief timeline at all! I probably won't need to elaborate much on that! haha
June 9, 2012
Doll house time!
This past Christmas Santa brought Sloan a (second hand, but perfect condition! yay!) Plan doll house. I thought she might be a little young for it, having just turned 2, but I couldn't resist. She played with it a little, but didn't seem too interested at first, so I thought I would store it away for a while until she was really interested. Today was that day!
We pulled it out, with nowhere to really put it, so it's on our window seat for now. It's been almost an hour and she is still VERY engaged with it! I love that she can sit and use her imagination! She is even doing different little voices for the different dolls - it's adorable! Sloan is even reminding the dolls not to touch the stove in the "chi-chen" because it is very hot!
In other news, i'd say potty training is going very well! Below is a picture of her helping one of the dolls use the toy potty - she even told her "good job" when she was done!
We pulled it out, with nowhere to really put it, so it's on our window seat for now. It's been almost an hour and she is still VERY engaged with it! I love that she can sit and use her imagination! She is even doing different little voices for the different dolls - it's adorable! Sloan is even reminding the dolls not to touch the stove in the "chi-chen" because it is very hot!
In other news, i'd say potty training is going very well! Below is a picture of her helping one of the dolls use the toy potty - she even told her "good job" when she was done!
June 8, 2012
Sloanisms
*I thought I had hit publish on this post (that I wrote in the middle of May), but apparently didn't!*
I need to catch these on camera because they are just too cute for words!
Sloan is talking a lot now, but not all of it make sense! She used to fall asleep in the car a lot, basically on any car ride longer than 20 minutes or so....now she just talks the entire way!
Some of my favorite Sloanisms:
-if she doesn't want to try something she holds it up and tells us it's "too picey" (spicy) all while doing her adorable little shoulder shrug as if to say it's not her fault she can't eat it!
-despite never watching Sesame Street, she still loves Cookie Monster...and calls him "tutie mon-ter"
-she loves to pretend talk on the phone, usually it's with Papa or someone that she is calling to wish a "hoppy birt-day" to
-when I am leaving for work and Matt is home, she likes to be sure to tell me "Mummy wert, stay here Daddy" just so I know where she will be
-everyday when I get home from work we have a big hug and I tell her "Mummy missed you!" and she will look me in the eye and say 'mummy, miss youuuu' - it warms my heart (at breaks it slightly too)
-Sloan loves to play with her babies (the millions of them that Daddy has caved and bought her!), but it's more than just playing, she has a very strong motherly instinct I think
-we have a little miss independent! Sloan likes to do things on her own, and when I try to help...I get "byes-elf Mummy, byes-elf" It might take us double the time to get ready, but she is so proud when she is able to do it all by herself...whatever it is!
-she found an ant outside last night and tried to bring it to me...between her two fingers...when she noticed it wasn't moving anymore she 'aawww doesn't wert' - I had to explain to her why it wasn't 'working' anymore!
I need to catch these on camera because they are just too cute for words!
Sloan is talking a lot now, but not all of it make sense! She used to fall asleep in the car a lot, basically on any car ride longer than 20 minutes or so....now she just talks the entire way!
Some of my favorite Sloanisms:
-if she doesn't want to try something she holds it up and tells us it's "too picey" (spicy) all while doing her adorable little shoulder shrug as if to say it's not her fault she can't eat it!
-despite never watching Sesame Street, she still loves Cookie Monster...and calls him "tutie mon-ter"
-she loves to pretend talk on the phone, usually it's with Papa or someone that she is calling to wish a "hoppy birt-day" to
-when I am leaving for work and Matt is home, she likes to be sure to tell me "Mummy wert, stay here Daddy" just so I know where she will be
-everyday when I get home from work we have a big hug and I tell her "Mummy missed you!" and she will look me in the eye and say 'mummy, miss youuuu' - it warms my heart (at breaks it slightly too)
-Sloan loves to play with her babies (the millions of them that Daddy has caved and bought her!), but it's more than just playing, she has a very strong motherly instinct I think
-we have a little miss independent! Sloan likes to do things on her own, and when I try to help...I get "byes-elf Mummy, byes-elf" It might take us double the time to get ready, but she is so proud when she is able to do it all by herself...whatever it is!
-she found an ant outside last night and tried to bring it to me...between her two fingers...when she noticed it wasn't moving anymore she 'aawww doesn't wert' - I had to explain to her why it wasn't 'working' anymore!
June 7, 2012
Preparing
Not knowing if this little one I am brewing is a boy or a girl is really throwing a wrench in my preparing! Sloan's "baby room" is sitting practically untouched (she slept in her crib, but didn't do much else in there and is out of the room now) - so I think we basically just need to change the bedding and take down the personal touches that are Sloan's and move them and her clothes into her current room. Not that the new baby will be in there for quite some time...I think we'll pick up a couple neutral outfits...still not settled on a name...basically the only thing I have done is wash some prefolds and tiny new born sized covers (aww).
June 6, 2012
June 5, 2012
Day Four
Things are going well so far - day 2 had 2 accidents and day 3 was spent at daycare where she only had one accident. Today, day 4, has been accident free so far and she is playing naked right now before bed so she should be fine for the day! Woohooo!
Last night Sloan slept in a prefold with Grovia cover and she told me she was wet in the morning, unlike when she is in a disposable and could get up and play without even noticing that she is practically dragging a soaked diaper around! I think we'll keep doing that until she is a little better with getting herself on the potty incase she needs to go in the night.
I had a dentist appointment this afternoon that Sloan came along to so the potty came in the van again. She tried to go before we went in, but didn't need to go. I knew I would be in there about an hour and she would be too shy to ask to use the bathroom infront of everyone so I put a grovia cover on over her underwear so she would feel wet if she went...but she didn't! She held it the whole time and went on the potty in the van when we were out of there! Yay Sloan!
Last night Sloan slept in a prefold with Grovia cover and she told me she was wet in the morning, unlike when she is in a disposable and could get up and play without even noticing that she is practically dragging a soaked diaper around! I think we'll keep doing that until she is a little better with getting herself on the potty incase she needs to go in the night.
I had a dentist appointment this afternoon that Sloan came along to so the potty came in the van again. She tried to go before we went in, but didn't need to go. I knew I would be in there about an hour and she would be too shy to ask to use the bathroom infront of everyone so I put a grovia cover on over her underwear so she would feel wet if she went...but she didn't! She held it the whole time and went on the potty in the van when we were out of there! Yay Sloan!
June 2, 2012
Potty Time: day one
Today marks Sloan's 1/2 birthday - she now needs to learn to say two and a half instead of just her adorable tewwwwww.
I've been thinking she is ready to start using the potty, but wasn't able to figure out the best way to do it while still at work and with Sloan being in a different place almost every day - I'm assuming consistency is going to be key. So, today being my second day of my leave seemed like the perfect time to get started! It could not have gone any better! There were no accidents!! We even went out for dinner and Sloan used the ikea potty in the van before we went in and then used the big potty in the restaurant 3 times (once for fun and twice for actual use!). Then we made it home accident free (I was a little worried about having to wash the car seat so I put a prefold under her). Sloan is off to bed now in a diaper...I'm not that confident yet!
Our process for the day was to just offer and remind about the potty frequently. Sloan loved the novelty of being able to unbutton her jeans and pull down her pants and tiny little undies so she did that on her own without being reminded a few times. For the most part though, it was me asking her if she needed to go. She told me at once point that she wanted a diaper and I could tell it was because she needed to poop so I just brought her to the potty and we read stories while she went.
(Our little 2.5 year old poser)
Hopefully tomorrow goes as well as today did!
Done!
I'm done work for the next 14 months (vacation and maternity leave)...woohoo!!!
I spent my first day off going to Owen Sound with my mum and Sloan - it was fantastic!!!
I spent my first day off going to Owen Sound with my mum and Sloan - it was fantastic!!!
April 28, 2012
Beyond the Sling
I recently read 'Beyond The Sling' by Mayim Bialik...and here is my review: if you are pregnant, thinking of getting pregnant, a parent, thinking of becoming a parent...or a person...you should realllllly read this book! It was a quick, easy read with a LOT of great information/pointers! I loved it!
Three of my favorite parts...in Ms. Bialik's words...
"There are reasons why women choose natural birth, and it's not to be a martyr or be able to brag about it. Natural birth is an amazing and transformative experience that stays with you and your baby forever and just think: you already know exactly how to do it perfectly."
On peer pressure: "Trust yourself. Trust your child. Trust your intuition. Don't give in to peer pressure. There is no contest to win, no gold seal you get from the universe when your kid is the 'best'. Reduce the conflict with your children when they are behaving appropriately, and learn from their intensity, their desires, and their specialness."
On being gentle with yourself: "Part of our journey on this earth for the short time that we are here is to do our best to make the world a better place. As parents, we get to pursue this task as we try to help our children reach their potential, while learning how to make ourselves better people at the same time. No one expects you or your children to be perfect, and being hard on yourself only weakens your abilities to help your children achieve their potential in their lives."
The only thing I didn't like about this book...I feel like she used the word 'implore' too much! haha
Three of my favorite parts...in Ms. Bialik's words...
"There are reasons why women choose natural birth, and it's not to be a martyr or be able to brag about it. Natural birth is an amazing and transformative experience that stays with you and your baby forever and just think: you already know exactly how to do it perfectly."
On peer pressure: "Trust yourself. Trust your child. Trust your intuition. Don't give in to peer pressure. There is no contest to win, no gold seal you get from the universe when your kid is the 'best'. Reduce the conflict with your children when they are behaving appropriately, and learn from their intensity, their desires, and their specialness."
On being gentle with yourself: "Part of our journey on this earth for the short time that we are here is to do our best to make the world a better place. As parents, we get to pursue this task as we try to help our children reach their potential, while learning how to make ourselves better people at the same time. No one expects you or your children to be perfect, and being hard on yourself only weakens your abilities to help your children achieve their potential in their lives."
The only thing I didn't like about this book...I feel like she used the word 'implore' too much! haha
March 10, 2012
Covers
It doesn't get much better than this...
My life is pretty great - I LOVE it...but if I had to choose to be anywhere else, it would be on this roof with Gavin! ;)
This is pretty cool too...
My life is pretty great - I LOVE it...but if I had to choose to be anywhere else, it would be on this roof with Gavin! ;)
This is pretty cool too...
February 29, 2012
It's that time of year!
Happiness is...biting into a Cadbury cream egg and actually getting a gooey, creamy egg.
Sadness is...biting into that egg and getting a gross, hard, gritty filling...has that egg been sitting somewhere since last year!?
Sadness is...biting into that egg and getting a gross, hard, gritty filling...has that egg been sitting somewhere since last year!?
February 18, 2012
Exciting news!
The Murphy family is expanding! We've waited a little longer than normal to spread the news, but we are so excited to tell everyone that Sloan will be a big sister come August!
Sarah has graciously offered to do a maternity series shoot for us and I am SO looking forward to our weekly shots! We met today for the first time and here is the outcome, along with the letter I wrote to our Little One:
Dear Little One, your Daddy, big sister and I are all so excited to add you to our family – we already know you’ll be a great addition. Sloan can’t wait to meet you and kisses you through my belly daily. We’ve decided to wait until your birthday to find out if you are a boy or girl, but Sloan is adamant that you are a tiny baby boy! You are the size of a lemon this week...but seeing as your sister already stretched things out in there for you, it looks to me like you are the size of a melon with the way my belly has grown so far! I think I’ve felt you move a few times already – I love that feeling and can’t wait until it becomes a regular thing! The middle of the night trips to the bathroom have started already, but the need to nap daily has passed thankfully! We love you so much already Little One!
xoMummy
January 27, 2012
The End.
Sloan is done nursing. It was a gradual process, but it's done now. 25 months and a handful of days and she is done. I wasn't sure how it would make me feel, but it mostly makes me sad. It means she is that much more grown up. :(
Luckily it was a very gradual process and I didn't have any discomfort, or need to pump or anything. Since moving into the spare room she has nursed less and less and wasn't asking for it anymore so I just stopped offering. The other day I tried to nurse her because I felt a little engorged on one side after 3 days of not nursing and she acted like I was crazy...so ya...she's done, and luckily that feeling just went away.
I loved the bond we created and the ease of leaving the house with a baby and a few diapers and just my boobs! I will miss it for sure!
xo JBM
Luckily it was a very gradual process and I didn't have any discomfort, or need to pump or anything. Since moving into the spare room she has nursed less and less and wasn't asking for it anymore so I just stopped offering. The other day I tried to nurse her because I felt a little engorged on one side after 3 days of not nursing and she acted like I was crazy...so ya...she's done, and luckily that feeling just went away.
I loved the bond we created and the ease of leaving the house with a baby and a few diapers and just my boobs! I will miss it for sure!
xo JBM
January 22, 2012
Winter!
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