yellow pants and a hair tie

Being Evaleigh's mama is the most wonderful thing in the world.  I feel so grateful to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to experience the fullness of joy by being her parent. I am also grateful that I get to do it with John Murphy by my side. I can't believe next year I will have two babies in my arms on Mother's Day.  I look forward to becoming A. M. M.'s mama too.  

Right now I am sitting in the mall parking lot with Evaleigh asleep in the backseat and a pair of yellow cords pulled down about mid thigh because this baby bump is just about uncontainable now.  Today is the day to give in and go get some maternity pants.  So I will pull up my pants and reattach my hair tie to the button on my pants and brave the mall to find some bottoms for myself.  

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mothers Day.  

Evaleigh's gifts to me: sleeping in til 8:45 and not pooping the whole day!  Thanks little girl.

muppis

Evaleigh, you are perfect at 15 months.

We are entertained by you constantly.  You always have me smiling at something funny you are doing.  I love turning around and there you are at my feet handing me your 'puppis'.  Some days I think that is the only word you know.  You love your puppy so much.  I love how its rarely in singular form, its mostly puppies or my puppies, and then on occasion you put them together and call it 'muppis'.  That's my favorite.

I'm not sure if you really speak English.  When you talk I swear it is French that is coming out.  Especially when you really get going.  Its the most adorable and entertaining thing.

You have one curl on the back of your head that we call your duck tail.  I'm not sure why the rest of your head is failing to grow hair.  But I love your stubborn receding hairline and your single curl.

You love to give your daddy kisses first thing in the morning.  Its a big part of our morning routine.  And for whatever reason whenever we come back upstairs from breakfast and daddy is fresh out of the shower that is when you can't resist being held by him.  He loves it.

You are such an explorer.  You love being outside and would spend all day out there if I would let you.  You love carrying around little rocks and leaves and pointing to the sky when you hear birds.

You are such a cool kid.

boy

Thanks for all of the love and excitement about baby #2!  We are so excited to bring a Murphy BOY in to this world.  Saturday was probably one of the happiest days in John Murphy's life.  I don't know that I've ever seen a smile on his face that big, not even on our wedding day...honestly.

  

Our appointment was at Stork Vision, which I highly recommend   They do gender ultrasounds as early as 16 weeks for a super affordable price, which is awesome for impatient people like me and Mr. Murphy.  We used them for finding out what Evaleigh was and I will keep using them for every baby after!

Our appointment was at 1pm that day, which was torture!!  Especially when your one year old wakes you up at 7:30 and you are counting down the hours and minutes until you can jump in the shower and go! When we got there they took us back almost immediately.  Evaleigh has an intense fear of doctors so she started crying horribly loud and dramatic.  I'm pretty sure she thought the ultrasound tech was going to hurt me.  John handed her to me and she laid her body across my chest, started patting my shoulder, and didn't move the entire time.

The tech started the ultrasound and John had his face 2 inches from the big screen tv where we could see it all.  The anticipation on his face was priceless.  When the goods popped up on the screen for just a minute he jumped back with a huge smile.  They came on again as clear as could be and before the tech could even get anything out of her mouth he said, "ITS A BOY!" and put his hands over his head as if he had just made the winning basket!  The ultrasound tech confirmed it and said, "That certainly is a boy.  I will literally quit my job if that isn't a boy, there is no mistaking it."  John was fist pumping and smiling and all sorts of crazy body movements that I don't think I've ever seen.

Every once in a while now he will pat my tummy and say, "My boy."  I can't wait to see him with our little guy.

If you missed it, our little video reveal is here.

murphy baby #2 is...

Watch our little film to find out what baby #2 is!

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We are SO grateful to our friends at Rusticus Wedding Films for hearing our vision for this video and helping it come to life.  

We can't thank Clark and Monique enough for their expert work, unique talent, and wonderful friendship.

Please like them on Facebook to keep up with the unending creativity that they produce!  PLUS, whoever their 100th 'like' is will get a FREE Rusticus Wedding Films t-shirt!  (and they are cute, I love mine!)

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We are so excited for baby A.M.M to join our family in October!  We already love you so much and your big sister can't wait to meet you.  Keep growing!

finding out

Saturday we find out what our new baby is!  We can hardly wait.

I was pretty set on wanting another girl until about two weeks ago.  All of the sudden my heart longed for a little boy.  Its a good thing you can't pick the gender of your baby, I would never be able to decide.  I would love to EJ to have a little sister because I feel like I've got this girl thing down but lately I have seen a lot of big sisters and little brothers and its pretty adorable.

I'm feeling great now that we are in full second trimester mode. I am trying to prep Evie any way I can.  We are playing with baby dolls a lot, looking at pictures of babies, and trying to streamline nap routines and facilitate more independence.  I can't believe how much things are going to change for us in the next few months.  I'm not really nervous yet because it still seems pretty far away but I know it will be here faster than I think.

Can't wait to know what you are little baby, keep those teeny kicks coming!

(from our beach trip last weekend)

Gulf

Last weekend we took a much needed spontaneous trip to the beach. Between work, school, and his new church calling my John has been quite busy lately. The weekend included some lazy beach time, going to Lamberts, watching the babies play, go carting, watching conference, digging big holes, and having our seafood order taken by a very drunk man at Tacky Jacks.

Thanks to Bek and Joe for letting us tag along on their beach trip!

mom words vol. 2

Round two of weird things that come out of my mouth when Im talking to Evaleigh.

-Don't paint on your pants with your banana.

-Please don't write on that suitcase with chalk.

-How did all that cheese get in your diaper?

-Don't lick the sand!

-No thanks I don't want your soggy pepperoni.

-Why are you trying to beat that chicken?

She's a gem....

free pops

Today Evaleigh and I went down to Decatur because King of Pops was giving out free Popsicles between 10 AM and 8 PM. There is still time, go get a cold treat and soak in the sun! She enjoyed letting chocolate banana drip all down her face and then she ran all over the place trying to make friends with every puppy she saw. We just wish our busy daddy and husband could have been with us!

7 seconds

Ever since EJ turned one I sort of took a break from the whole  taking videos thing.  All of those monthly updates were fun but they were also a lot of work so I went on a video strike for a while.

I'm still on strike with the exception of the Vine app.  Its pretty fantastic and here are some of my favorite vines of Evie.

-Playing at our Daddy's office in the conference room.

-Our first time coloring.  Of course the crayons end up in the mouth.

-Having fun with Aunt Bekah doing leg kicks.

-Wearing my shoes already.

-Learning to shush our babies. (I'm trying to incept her brain with the idea of loving babies before #2 comes)

-And reading a really hilarious book in a basket.

Hope every one has a lovely Easter!

learning from them

Tonight I learned a lesson. Twice.

John was doing bathtime with EJ after our dinner of pork chops and baked red peppers, zucchini, and squash.  I was hurrying to clean up the kitchen and get done as many chores possible before the little girl was ready to get out, suit up in her jammies, and go to sleep.  

**Rinse and load dishes, start the load of dishes, clean counter tops, tidy up the living room, tackle laundry, tidy EJ's room before bed...especially the tee pee full of stuffed animals.**

Evie and I took a nap in the tee pee together today it looked like a stuffed animal explosion happened and there were many casualties. Furry bodies lay there in a mangled messy pile and it was my last feat.  

John was calling from the bathroom, "Babe you gotta come see this! She has a foam 2 stuck to her ear and she doesn't even care!"

In my head, "I have a very important thing I'm doing right now...this animal massacre can't wait." 

Out loud, "Ok just a minute."

Then with these words from John my heart was pricked, "Well its not going to be like this forever."

I dropped that bunny and went straight to the bathroom.  Evie smiled right at me with a giant blue foam 2 on the side of her face.  She was adorable and giggling.  To think I could have missed that silly little moment...

Not 20 minutes later Evie is asleep and my love is on the couch downstairs. I ask him to go fix us a bowl of pineapple upsidedown cake and he groans and says, "All I want to do is snuggle and lay my head on your lap."  I was hesitant because I had blog work to do and I wanted to get my work done and dangit...I wanted some cake.  But I let him anyway and I'm so glad I did.  He fell asleep in my lap and I loved it.

People are what are important.  Not our tasks and to do lists.    Moments like these don't last forever so we need to appreciate them while we can. Its easy to forget that sometimes.  But I am glad I have my sweet little family to remind me. 

mom words

Do you ever find yourself saying the weirdest things as a mom? I mean, sentences and phrases that after you say them you repeat them silently to yourself and think, "What the heck??" I do...all of the time. Here are just a few that happened yesterday, just yesterday.

-Did you put that sock in the toilet?

-Ok, thats it. No more digging through the trash.

-You may not eat that crayon!!

-Evaleigh spit the sticker out.

-Shoes are not for your mouth they are for our feet.

Can you tell we still are in the everything in the mouth stage? EJ is a mess but gosh I love her.

that magical moment...

...when you finally don't feel like hurling all of the time.

Good riddance first trimester. I am glad to see you go. 

With Evaleigh I didn't have morning sickness too bad at all.  This baby...is a completely different story.  

I had to sleep with Saltines by my bed.  I don't want to eat another Saltine for the rest of my life thank you very much.  This morning sickness was more like all day sickness.  

I don't know why I was stubborn and didn't take my husband's advice.  I should've just gotten the darn Zofran.  While I've heard that it works wonders for your nausea I've also heard it can stop up the other end for a month or so. No thanks.

I've been feeling pretty sleepy this time around too.  I'm sure missing those naps I could take just about anytime when I was pregnant with Evaleigh.  

A couple weeks ago I was feeling particularly exhausted so I closed my bedroom door as to barricade EJ and myself inside.  I laid down on the bed to hopefully get a little shut eye while I let Evie destroy our night stands and book shelf in the room.  

I was awakened by the noises of swishing and splashing water.

Crap.  

My pregnant brain forgot to remind me to close the bathroom door and EJ was having a blast in our toilet.  One of my proudest mom moments...

There are only a few more weeks til we find out what we are having, can't wait!

happy birthday pops

Yesterday was our Pops birthday!  We love him so much and learn from him all of the time.  He is so special to us and we are grateful to be his kids.  Happy Birthday Pops!  Here is your NASCAR experience video! 

how baby #2 came to be

I remember being in the hospital with Evaleigh right after she was born and thinking, "I can't wait to do this all over again. Like right now."  

I loved being pregnant, I loved my birthing process,  and there is nothing in the world like a baby fresh from heaven.

We always wanted to have our babies close in age.  So, the months passed by and we didn't not try for a little sibling for EJ.  At one point it started to be all I could think about.  It was consuming and frustrating every month that those taunting pregnancy tests would tell me "Not Pregnant".  We had it pretty easy with Evaleigh, it took one month and there she was...on her way.  This baby was a little harder.  I know that there are couples out there who try for years and years and I can't imagine that struggle.  For me 8 months felt like forever.  

It wasn't until I quit worrying about it so much that it finally happened.  I remember praying and telling Heavenly Father that I wouldn't worry anymore.  I asked him to bless us with another baby when the time was right.  That was 3 months before we found out we were pregnant again.

It was the day after my mother's wedding.  My sister was staying over and she and I went to Target to grab a few things.  I told her I would stay in the car with the sleeping babies and she could just run in.  Jokingly I said, "You could grab some pregnancy tests while you are in there!"  I should have known I was pregnant when not 2 minutes after she went in I was asleep at the wheel in a parking spot.  Not to mention I was over 11 days late, which completely slipped my mind in the midst of all of the wedding planning and preparation.

When we got back home I swiped the box from the bag completely undetected.  Sweet.  I snuck upstairs past my husband who was working from home that day.  I went to our bathroom and did the deed.  Not 10 seconds after that glorious, "Pregnant" popped up on to the screen.  I gasped and fell to my knees in tears and immediately said a prayer of gratitude to my Father in Heaven.  I prayed for the safety of our baby and thanked him for trusting us with another precious life.  I couldn't believe that the moment I had been waiting for was finally here again.

I crept downstairs and called John to come up for a minute.  I whipped out that test from behind my back and his face was priceless and he scooped me up in a hug and said, "Really???".  I will never forget the smile on his face in that moment.

I can't wait to become a little family of 4.

grove.

We've been pretty busy around here as of late.  

Our Uncle Grover (the one we recorded these songs for)  passed away two weeks ago.  We have been to Colorado and back for the funeral.  We are still shocked and so sad that he is gone.  He passed away from a very fast moving case of Pulmonary Fibrosis.  He left behind his wonderful wife and two little girls ages 2 and 5.  We owe much of what we have to Grover and Sally.

Uncle Grover offered John an internship here in Atlanta in 2009 after he returned home from his 2 year mission in Mexico.  He took it with plans to stay only a few months and then go out to BYU in the winter.  Grover and Sally invited John to live with them.  It was during that time that we met, fell in love, and got engaged.  John lived with them for a year.  When we found out we were having Evaleigh they passed down everything to us from their little girls; the crib, all of their clothes, shoes, toys, high chair, car seats, strollers.  The list could go on and on.  They would invite us over all of the time to have dinner and play music together.

If it weren't for Grover, it is possible John and I would have never met.

Thank you Uncle Grover.

(a little something John wrote)

Here is a poem Grover wrote last year:

Once I'm dead

And gone

My girls will carry on

My name

My blood 

My dreams my hopes my love

Because they 

Are everything to me

And I'll say 

The same 

to anyone

Its all about family

When I'm dead

Don't cry

Or compose a sad goodbye

Because I

Have lived 

to see my life completed by

My girls

My world

Is complete 

It's all about family

Matilda you

Have my heart

Ruby you're my art

And all I mean

By that is that I love you

When I'm dead

And gone

My girls will carry on

G Mundell Atlanta 2012

(If anyone feels like helping out, a college fund has been set up for the girls here.)