quite appropriate for Halloween don't you think?

Yes, that is indeed a real bullet in Mr. Murphy's hand.

I think I am going to make it a family tradition to always use this x-ray as part of our family Halloween decor.  It makes for quite the story.  All is well now, but this past weekend was insane...insane I tell you.

the perfect kind of lazy

(i cant wait to put EJ in this little outfit. mustard sweater: baby gap, pink dress: ralph lauren, polkadot tights: baby gap converse shoes: old navy)

Its been the perfect kind of lazy day.  

I woke up around 9:30 and made my sister waffles.  She and Joe spent the night last night.

Then we giggled in her bedroom and chatted for an hour and then decided to watch the latest episode of America's Next Top Model.  I will always love that show.

During the show John came in from his home office and asked if we would like pizza.  It seems that most of my lunches and dinners are becoming this nowadays.  That is always a sure fire sign that I need to get out and do some grocery shopping.

Joe came home and joined us for lunch.

We all filled our tummies while sitting on the floor in EJ's nursery.  I am spending a lot of time in that little girls room.  I just can't pull my self away from imagining her in there.

I fell asleep on my husbands chest while he worked and worked and worked.

Now I am awake and will go to work in an hour.

I suppose I should have practiced for my competition tomorrow, written my talk for Sunday, gone grocery shopping, done some laundry, or worked in EJ's room.

But today really was the perfect kind of lazy.

hello number 3

Well, hello there 3rd Trimester.

This is all going way too fast.

I'm pretty sure we just found out we were pregnant and then BAM, I can now feel a tiny human moving around in my tum.

I could literally lay in bed all day and wait for EJ to kick me.  It is the thing that brings me the most joy at this time.  Its weird, I remember waiting and waiting and waiting to start feeling those little movements and now I can't remember a time when I couldn't feel her.  It is unlike any other feeling in the world.  I love knowing that I am her home right now.

*I am finally back up to my pre-pregnancy weight from all that I lost in the beginning.  I wasn't super sick or anything, I just had a massive aversion to sugar.  Now I could sit and eat a whole thing of orange cinnamon rolls by myself.  And I do.

*I only have one little stretch mark on the left side of my tum.

*The happy trail is still enlarging its borders.

*The right side of my lower back is beginning to give me quite a bit of trouble.  So long sweet sleep.  At least I have Mr. Murphy to rub my head and tell me to take 3 deeps breaths and relax my body from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.  I tell ya, this man is going to be a natural by my side at the birth of our baby.

*My pregnancy brain gets worse by the day.

*The boobs are are more out of control than ever.  I broke a size 40E new bra the other day.  I went to put it on for the first time and it just snapped in half like a twig...these things cannot be contained.

*Sneezing is pretty dangerous in these parts.  Bad things happen.

*Feeling EJ move is great.  Watching Mr. Murphy feel her is even better.  The other night we were laying in bed and he was resting his hand on my belly while we were having our night time conversation.  EJ rolled to a spot in my belly and it got really hard where she was.  He looked at me with huge eyes and said, "Thats her!!! I can feel our daughter, its like I'm holding her!"  I love his excitement for this baby girl.  He is going to be a stellar daddy.  (And quite protective I might add.  He bought a sword this weekend which no doubt will be used to ward off future boyfriends.  I love my nerdy husband)

i need to get organized

So, I made a style board for EJ's room.

Here is the plan:

vintage

grays

bunting over the crib

blues

quilts

greens

art on the walls

mustard

bird mobile

pink

wallpaper behind the book shelves

velvet couch

chandelier

typewriter

square rug

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Things are finally starting to take form around here.  I spent 5 HOURS yesterday re-doing this changing table for EJ.

My mother and I got it from the Monroe Cotton Mills Antique Mall for $35.  That place is worth a visit by the way...it is the largest antique mall in the south and 3rd largest in the States.  Who would have known, right in my own backyard! I am so pleased with how it turned out.  It was a pretty nasty green but I fixed that right up with my trusty Antique White Eggshell Glidden paint.  (also used to do this and this)

I am slowly accumulating things I LOVE.  What is so wonderful about decorating a nursery is that you have several months to do it.  I feel like I have really been able to think and research how I would like to do her room instead of making hasty impulsive decisions (which I am pretty good at doing).  The following project of how I did the dresser can be seen here.

Decorating this baby girl's nursery is almost as fun as making the baby herself...almost.


***Post Edit: here is the link to the finished nursery***

worth it

This past weekend I turned 24.  It feels pretty darn old.

Since when did the phrase, "I'm married and have a baby on the way" become a part of my vocabulary?  

Oh right, somewhere around May 15th...

Growing older is so much fun.  I love my life now more than I ever have.  I feel so much gratitude for the things in my life at this time.  

my husband

my baby

my family

my mother

my job

my home

my health

my testimony

my time

my freedom

my savior

However, the past 6 months have not been so easy.

My parents divorced in April this year after 26 years of marriage.  It has been a trial that has come with an enormous amount of pain and sadness.

I can say however, that it has in turn strengthened my own marriage and urged me to look deeper in to my relationship.

For the past six months John and I have been living with my mother in her beautiful country home.

It has been such a blessing to us and to her.  At first it was extremely difficult to make the transition from just the two of us (me and Mr. Murphy) to adding a third person to our home life.  Granted, this third person was some one whom I cared deeply for and loved with all of my heart, it was still very hard.  I wasn't very happy about the situation and felt that I had lost so much by moving back home.  I felt like I was less of a wife and that I didn't have my own space.  Our freedom had changed.

I have since then come to realize that I didn't loose anything.

I gained more than I could have ever expected.

I am overwhelmed with thanks that we are where we are at this time.  I feel so happy that I get to have this sliver of time here with my mother.  I know that she won't always be around and I am so lucky that I get to spend my days with her.  She is going to be such an incredible grandmother to our baby EJ and we are forming even stronger bonds now that will last the rest of eternity. 

My heart is full.

(pictures from my birthday date this past weekend with my mother.  the day included shopping, steak and shake, meeting and talking to wonderful strangers, and heart speaking to heart)

25

25 weeks this past Friday.

Dearest little girl,

I can't tell you how much I love you already.  When you give me little kicks, those are the happiest moments of my life.  Then when you kick and your daddy gets to feel them too, I swear I could be in heaven.  I wish you could see the look he gets on his face, its like Christmas morning every time.  We are in awe of you.  I am the happiest I have ever been and it is because of you and your daddy.  I can't believe you are really going to be ours, it is such an honor.  


I imagine the moment of seeing you for the first time over and over again in my head.  I wonder who you will look like, I hope I'll see a little bit of myself in you.  I imagine pushing you out and then having the doctor place you on my chest and I'll look deep in to your little eyes with your daddy by my side.  We will examine every inch of you and a place in our hearts that we never knew we had will fill so full that it will almost hurt.  I try to anticipate the feelings I will have at that moment but I know that I am a child in this, I know nothing yet. I can't wait for you to teach me how it feels to be a mother.  I'm so ready to learn.
I love you Evaleigh Joy.


your mother

the best birthday of my life

6:30 wake
6:50 birthday cake for breakfast
7:20 waited outside for john while he went to the grocery to pick up juice for the youth breakfast at church.  i breathed in the cold morning air and listened to the birds chirp and welcome the day.
7:35 watched the sun rise. john said, "when we're old and retired and living in the Caribbean somewhere, I want to see the sunrise and the sunset everyday."  You got it baby.
8:00 threw a football and basketball around with mr. murphy. i'm no athlete but i believe a good grunt is in order every time you throw a ball.
8:30 pancake breakfast with the youth
9:00 trash pick up for 2 hours on the road our church adopted.  giving service feels so good.
11:20 eagle scout project with one of the youth
11:55 i complain and want to go home because i have to pee and im really hungry
12:15 john says we can leave and he tries to crank the versa. car wont start.
12:16 i start to cry
12:17 john says we should pray and asks me to do it, i say no. he does it. he asks for our car to start. then asks me to count to 3.
12:18 i count to 3
12:18 the car starts
12:19 we bust out laughing and john says a prayer again
12:30 we eat checkers and i have a glorious big buford and fries.
1:30 Nap
3:30 caramel apples on porch with john and mom
4:00 hang out with mom and fix things on her computer
5:00 i'm not tellin'
6:00 Shower while John serenades me with "let me die in my footsteps"
7:30 head out for dinner
7:45 Drive to Macaroni Grill and talk to family on the way there
8:30 Dinner
8:40 Pomegranate Italian Soda and Cranberry Orange Spritzers
9:15 Practiced writing Evaleigh's name all over the table with crayons and decided it was a lot of fun to do
9:30 surprise birthday chocolate cake and a table side opera performance of the Italian Happy Birthday song
9:33 smooch
10:10 hold hands in the car on the way home
10:30 john puts up with a photo snapping session
11:11 talk to momma
11:24- baby kicks. john felt her four times in a row.
11:25 john gets distracted and finds gray hairs on my head. 24 is not that old is it?
11:57 birth minute toast with sparkling white grape juice in my new birthday goblets from husband. they are golden yellow and from anthro...does he know me or does he know me?  he knows me.
11:58 watch parks & rec and the office on hulu.
12:00 not my birthday anymore
12:30 fall asleep while husband tickles my arm

24 is going to be perfect, i just know it.

time

Last night I told John it seems like time is speeding up.  

He said "Its because time wants Evaleigh to get here".
Its true, but lets give it another 15 weeks emkay?

Last night Mr. Murphy came home from playing bball in an explosively happy mood.  He had a million things to tell me about what he had learned about Bob Dylan yesterday while watching a documentary on Netflix.  He was on fire and excited to show me new music and to play some of it for me.

I was on fire for something too...pizza.

So, he showered up and we ventured off to Kroger to satisfy a craving.  The whole way there he chatted with me like a giddy school girl.  He gets so excited about music.  I am so happy to have a companion who loves music as much as I do, we are the perfect fit.

Did you know that Like a Rolling Stone's organ part was just some one messing around in the back ground while they were recording and it is actually an eighth note off beat for the whole song?  But Bob loved it so much that they left it.  Cool right?  He is a genius.

We got French Berry Soda and a Stuffed Crust Digiorno. 

Its romantic simple evenings like this that I want time to just go a little slower for a while.  I am soaking in these last months where "we" are still only a little family of 2.

meant to be.

Two weekends ago husband and I were driving home from the Atlanta Chili Cookoff and in an effort to salvage the day we went to do a little shopping.

We ended up with a sweet sock monkey onsie which Mr. Murphy simply could not leave Buy Buy Baby with out.

I love seeing him get excited about baby things, its darling really.

On the way home I spotted this beauty at a yard sale and we made a quick u-turn to take a closer look.  It was just the thing I had been looking for for baby EJ's room.

To my complete dismay and sadness the dresser had already been payed for and sold to someone else FOR $35!!!!

The woman said I could leave my name and number and if the buyer just so happened to not return to pick it up she told me she would call me.  

Of course I didn't think it was a possibility because who pays for furniture then just doesn't come back to get it?

Well, that lady.

Sure enough 4 days later I got a phone call from Miss Mary Jo and I was able to get that beauty of a dresser for baby EJ's room.  It was delivered to my house and all for the low low price of $35.  A pretty sweet deal if I do say so myself.

So, like all good furniture in my house, it got a paint job.  My sister will probably shudder when I say this, but I shabby chic'd it.  Sorry Bek.

Distressing a piece of furniture is the fastest way to give something a face-lift.  I did all of this in under two hours.

All you have to do is paint the piece then when it is almost dry take sand paper and rub the spots that look like they could have acquired some natural wear and tear.

I am beyond pleased with the results.  

Now...to sort through 16 boxes of baby girl clothes given to us by our aunt and uncle.  These drawers are going to be filled with tiny lovely little things.

(see two other DIY Shabby Chic/Distress Projects here and here)

all over the world.

This weekend we are all snuggled up in our home to watch General Conference.  This is literally one of my most favorite and cherished weekends of the whole year.  We get to hear from the our prophet, Thomas S. Monson, and the apostles and other church leaders.  We gain so much peace and understanding from their words.

So far my favorite talks have centered around families and properly using the gift of time that our Heavenly Father has given us.  Man...that's a hard one.

We opened up the doors and windows and let the cool breeze whip in to the room.  The curtains were blowing in the wind and we could hear the leaves rustling outside.  Evaleigh must have been enjoying the conference too because she was dancing on my bladder.

We have been feasting all day on chicken casseroles, green beans, apple dip, pumpkin soup with cinnamon croutons, squash casserole, homemade bread, and peanut butter cookies.

It has been glorious and I can't wait for more tomorrow.

you can watch a really incredible session (here)

pumpkin soup with cinnamon croutons recipe found (here)

you can watch tomorrow's last two sessions from 12-2 and 4-6 (here)

Happy October!!!