E

My dearest e.

Look how long your legs are getting.  

I love almost every sentence that comes out of your mouth. "What's in your heart?" "I'm going to rub your arm and take care of you." "Mom should we make banana swirl Popsicles while brother is asleep?" And on and on.  Most nights when I put you to bed I like to ask you, "Is there anything you want to tell me before you fall asleep?"  Many nights you come up with one little detail of the day you like to remind me about or something you'd like to do the following day and then you say, "is that a good idea?" With a big smile on your face.  But two nights ago you turned the tables and asked me, "mama is there anything you want to tell me?"  And yes, there was, so I said it.  You are a daughter of God and don't you ever forget it. 

I hope you always remember what that means. I love you fiercely my little girl.  Keep growing, keep learning, and keep being your compassionate brilliant in every sense of the word self.

Xoxo,

Mama (which you live to say 200 times a day)

letter to evie

Dear Evie,  

Tonight on our way home from visiting family in Atlanta you were so sleepy.  We kept you up later than we normally do and when we finally got in the car you had trouble falling asleep.  So I reached my hand to the back seat and I held your bare foot.  It took me back to the days when my mother would do that for me on long family car trips.  There was something so sweet and comforting about it for me as a little kid and even later as a teenager. After a minute or so I let go and brought my hand back to my lap and then I heard a little whine and you said in a tired voice, "feet....mama."  So I reached around again and held on tight.  Your warm little naked foot felt so good in my hand (despite your sharp toenails that I can't convince you to let me clip.) We are like puzzle pieces, you and me.  I think about that a lot these days.  You like to play 'baby' with me and lay in my lap and pretend to cry like a baby and you want me to calm you down.  I love holding you like that because it's been a while since you used to let me cuddle you and rock you.  I have such fond memories of those times with you on Bayshore Drive waking up in the middle of the night to feed you and put you back to sleep under the light of daddy rose light in Colonel Chitty's old blue lazy boy. 

These pictures of you in the pasture are some of my favorite.  We walked around the property for a long time that day while your brother slept on my chest in the Bjorn.  We marched around the edge of the fence singing The Iron Rod. You insisted on wearing a purple princess dress and gold fur boots from Momomee.  Your curiosity and love for the outside world makes me proud.

I sure love you and everything you are becoming.

Mama

twenty two

Evaleigh Joy,

You are such a miracle to watch.  I am honored to be your mother.  I love watching you fold your arms to pray every night before bed.  You put a happiness in my heart that only you can do.  I love watching you learn and I love teaching you.  This week we took a walk in the orchard and we found a birds nest in one of the peach trees, I told you that nests are where baby birds and their mamas live.  Later on our walk we came across the fig tree and we picked every last single one.  Then we came across 5 huge holly trees and I helped you pick a couple of sprigs with bright red berries on them.  You loved walking around with them in your hand while repeating your newly learned word over and over again, "Berries!".  After we went back to the side of the house we were sitting under the tree and admiring our findings from the walk.  I told you that birds eat berries.  You got an excited look in your eye and hopped down from the chair and started running towards the orchard, you turned back for a moment and said, "Bye!"  and then continued on your way.  I didn't think much of it at the moment but then you went straight to that peach tree and started putting the red holly berries in the nest.  My heart melted at your compassion and thought for the birds even though they are gone for winter.  You amaze me with your knowledge and understanding.

What a glorious little spirit you are.
I've missed doing your monthly videos and updates since one turned one.  Since then 10 wonderful months have gone by.  You've changed so much in that time.  
You make me laugh hard every single day.
Today we spent 20 minutes playing with my squishy post partum belly and I think it was the funniest thing you'd seen all day.  You kept pointing at my stretch marks and calling them boo-boos.

You are becoming your own person minute by minute and I love seeing it.  I am impressed by your compassion, humor, and brilliance.  You are talking so much every single day and have started repeating just about everything. 
We are working on improving some words however.  You try ever so desparately to say "socks"  but somehow that s is replaced with a c....uh oh.  Its a word that we use everyday and we are trying pretty hard to correct it!
You call your little brother "Bay-dit".  I don't even want to try and correct that one because its so cute. 
Aunt Rebekah had her baby girl 3 weeks after Avett was born and her name is Kate but you call her Cake.  Well...we could just about eat her up like a cake, she is beautiful.
You love to sing.  You can match pitch and every time you even see music notes you sing in a high pitched opera voice.  You love to go to the piano and play it and sing along and make up songs.  
You are such a daddy's girl.  I love seeing you love your daddy.  I feel like I've missed you a lot since Avett was born but I am enjoying seeing a little girl blossom out from your new role as a big sister.  I still see you as my little baby though.  I can imagine your big chubby cheeks and your pretty eyes just closed for a nap and you laying in my arms.  I loved the days we spent together just the two of us and I will never forget them.  Thank you for being my first born.  Thank you for loving me through my mistakes, you deserve a great mother and I try to be that for you every day.  I love you more than you'll ever know.

love,
your mama

Dear Avett...

We are down to mere days before your arrival.  I'm not really sure if it's even hit me yet.  Your sister has loved me carrying you around in my belly.  She hugs and kisses you all of the time and says, "baby!".  Every morning when your dad and I bring her in to bed with us I get a kiss, daddy gets a kiss, and you get at least two and a hug. 

I can't believe that you are almost here. I have prepared for your arrival more than anything else in my life.  I'm so excited for how you will come in to this world and I pray every day that my body will be able to bring you here safely and naturally.  We have our hospital go bag full and ready to go.  Anytime I make a face or stop in my tracks over a twinge of pain or Braxton Hicks your dad jumps right up and flips out just a little.  Keep it cool dad...

Despite the discomfort I have loved being pregnant with you.  It's been a little harder this time around because I've had your sister to chase around, but knowing what is on the other side of all of this makes it so incredibly worth it.  I can't wait to see you with your sister.  I've been feeling a little emotional about adding you to our little family of three but I know that there are so many sweet moments waiting for us when you get here.  I am excited to soak in all of your newbornness.  I probably won't want to put you down because I know how quickly all of that passes.  I am beyond thrilled to see you with your dad, you already have him wrapped around your finger.  He gets so giddy thinking about you getting here and calls you his little sidekick.

Take these last few days to do the rest of the growing that you need but please come out soon, we want to meet you. We love you!

never again

My Dearest Evaleigh,

You will never be as young as you are today.

You will never be as small as you are today.

So, for that I will breathe you in a little deeper and I will look at you a little longer.

I cherish every tiny moment I have with you.

Today while I was nursing you I was looking at your little squirmy body and reminiscing about your newborn days.  I missed them.  Then I wondered, "What is before me now that I will miss later?"  I want to be present in every moment of your life.  I want to cherish every stage you are in.

  So, I paused and enjoyed that very moment.

You are the joy of my life.
I love you my tiny growing baby.

love,

your mother

evaleigh joy, i love you

Dear Evaleigh,

In a matter of days I will hold you in my arms for the first time. I have imagined that moment countless times but I know that nothing has prepared me for how I am really going to feel.  I have been holding you in my body for the past 9 months and it has been a privileged to share this body with you.  I have been honored to give you the things you have needed to grow and prepare your self to come in to this world.  

I have reveled in every kick, roll, and hiccup (those of which have been in the thousands).  Thank you for all of the little reminders that you are here and you are a living being.  I am going to miss having you all to myself, I hope your daddy will share you with me, because he can't wait to get his hands on you.  

I am so hopeful for our future together as mother and daughter.  You are about to make me something I have never been before.  Thank you for giving me this sacred role.  I think that our bond is already something pretty special and I can't wait for it to keep growing.  I am so excited to look in to your little face for the first time and have your daddy by my side.  We made you with a lot of love.  I want to examine every millimeter of you and talk about who you look like. We have such a great life ahead.  Thank you for being my daughter and giving me more joy than I ever thought possible.  I love you and I'll be seeing you soon.

love,

your mother

2011 you did not disappoint

2011 had a lot to live up to as it had to follow our first year as newlyweds, which was pretty fantastic if I say so myself. 
Here are a few of 2011's highlights:

we recorded one of our songs 
we dreamt about having a little monkey of our own

i sang with the Ars Flores Orchestra in Miami

my soul friend came home

i force fed that friend some sushi

we moved in with my mother after the divorce

we made a baby

we found out she was a girl

my belly grew and we had some awful chilli
my belly grew some more

i had a truly wonderful birthday

i got some bangs and made a silly mistake

mr. Murphy got shot

and he lived to tell the tale and turned 24

we witnessed an epic pregnancy reveal

we picked some oranges and made a movie about it

i had an excellent shower for my babe

we took some pictures in the family orange grove

we did christmas up in our baby's nursery real good

i hung some pictures in EJ's nursery

i had a freak out and then felt better

Dear 2012,


You are the year that we will become parents.
Try to go easy on us, we will be new at this.
And please try not to go as fast as 2011, we want to savor every moment.
No doubt you will be full of many firsts.  
I can imagine you being rich with smiles and gazes at our new baby, family trips, and perhaps a new home.
We can't wait to see what you have in store for us.

love,

R & J & little e


(see our letter to last year here.)

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

Somewhere in Europe

And for this reason when I saw this album in Goodwill...

...it had to be mine.

It was a quiet evening in the Murphy home and we decided to make some ruckus with this bad boy.

So, we pulled out our new Andrew Sister's album and this dropped out on to the floor from the inside of the album cover.

I doubt Lorin ever thought her letter to Tom Brust would travel from The Hotel Luna in Venice, to Syosset New York, and somehow inside of a record to a Goodwill in Atlanta Georgia, and then to the quaint little apartment of two newlyweds.

But it did.

She spoke of Venice, Rome, Paris, Florence, and Switzerland.  She wrote of Italian leather, Swiss watches, and French hash.  She painted pictures of American doctors, gondola rides, and 72 hour bus rides through the European countryside.

After we devoured Lorin's words and soaked in her stories, Mr. Murphy swung me around our living room in our bare-feet to the sounds of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" flying through the air.  We learned a lot that night.

3 things we know about Tom:

1. He lived in New York

2. He knew a girl named Lorin

3. He loved the Andrew Sisters

3 things we know about Lorin:

1. She never saw the Eiffel Tower, The Statue of David, or the Pope

2. She was once bitten on the eye by a mosquito in Europe

3. She smoked some hash with a girl named Cheri in Venice

3 things we now know:

1. This letter makes for excellent inspiration for a song in one of our jam sesh's.

2.  It would take us an hour and a half to get to 8 Arizona Avenue from downtown Manhattan and someday we might try.

3. We want to go to Europe and see all of the things Lorin never did.  Even the Pope.  And we will do it in her honor.

My Male loves the Mail

One of my favorite times of the day used to be checking the mail.  Now that I am a married woman I have a husband who also really likes to do that too so I have lovingly given up my affection for checking the mail.  But I must confess...I miss it.

I love the feeling of going in to the mailbox and seeing a handwritten envelope. We should all write hand written letters more often.

OH IT MUST BE SOMETHING GREAT!  Junk mail makes sad and hand written letters and boxes make me oh so so happy.  Don't get me wrong, I still check it every now and then but I have left that joy to the Mr.

Yesterday I received some lingering birthday cards and gifts.  My sweet step  mother-in-law sent me the handmade angel.  It is from an old quilt!  So CUTE! She said we could use it as one of our Christmas ornaments but I am going to see about what I can do to make her the topper on our tree.

(I love the pearls in her hair.)

On Saturday I received my package from (this girl). I entered one of her giveaways several weeks ago and won something that I am sure every girl in this world would want, an Anthropologie gift card.  Yep, thats right.  Free money to one of the most whimsical, magical, and expensive places on earth.  I was determined to make this gift card stretch as far as I could.  So, I did.  With the help of my %15 off birthday coupon I only paid $13 bucks for all of this...

and...

but wait thats not it...

4 beautiful latte bowls

Who has a photo shoot with their new latte bowls?  Oh, that's right, we do.

(Dear bowls, I am going to make pumpkin soup in you on Wednesday)

thats still not it...

We got a pack of three lovely kitchen towels that I used on the table for a centerpiece instead.  Eeek!  $13 bucks!  I walked out of that store BEAMING yesterday.  I must say I did pretty good except I did almost throw up when I saw a candle holder for $138 bucks.  I'm sorry thats a little ridics don't you think!?!

Anyhow, as we were admiring our new finds there was a knock on the door.  Some latinos were selling Mexican sweet bread door to door in our apartment complex.  Have I mentioned yet that I am only 1 of 2 American women in our complex?  I love it, I never feel unsafe and there are precious latino babies running around all of the time!  I had never had the sweet bread before so John went down to their van and bought it out of the back of their trunk like it was a fake Fendi purse.

We got...

Yummy!  Hearing John speak the Espanol to them was a special treat.  I love to hear him speak in spanish. RAWR!

We LOVE our new finds and we ended the evening learning a special new song on the guitar and uke.  Stay tuned to hear something lovely.  Here is a hint: We want to get rich and buy our parents homes in the south of France.

Thanks Ashleeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!