12 pictures of the babe

1. Some quiet time in the nursery with my babe

2. EJ pretending to be a lion

3. Polka dots and yellow bows

4. Snuggles after eating early in the morning

5. Post-op doc appointment, struggling with our stroller...wide load in the back folks

6. Milk happy

7. Oh! Those lips...

8. The happiest Auntie around

9. Cookies from Courtroom Connect, thanks guys!

10. GOOD MORNING : )

11. Dove...that's just cruel.  At least Ev can follow your advice.

12. And one more just because...

I can't stop taking pictures of this little girl.  I love her so.

orange grove: a short film

We've spent this weekend with our family in Florida.

It was a beautiful Friday on the ranch.  We picked oranges and grapefruits, went riding in the back of the truck, and looked at old records from the barn to take home and play for EJ.

We love it down here so much.

Enjoy a little film of our Friday:

*they always pick the best faces for the still shot on these videos...i swear.

busy busy busy

I have been a busy lady these past few days.  

Mr. Murphy and I are getting ready to leave for Florida on Wednesday.

We are going down to the ranch for his cousins wedding.

I just love weddings.

While we are down there we will be having our family pictures taken by the ever so talented Audrey Layne (who we just so happen to be related to! Lucky us!) I was able to talk John in to doing these pictures by bringing up the fact that it will be our last chance for pictures together without the babe in tow.  

He hates having his picture taken...perhaps his only flaw.

I have been a crafting fool trying to get a few things ready for our shoot.

(This banner was printed on brown paper bags from Publix.

Free font found here.)

P.S. Can't wait to share pictures from my beautiful baby shower this past weekend.  They will go up as soon as I get them from my sister's camera.  I had a lovely time ladies, I love you all!!

dear pregnancy brain, you ruin everything.

Dear Pregnancy Brain,

You and I need to have a talk.

You see, the last week or so I have been building up husband's birthday surprise and doing a really great job of keeping it a secret.  Secrets can be hard for me, especially when its a gift.  I really thought I was going to make it this time.

Then you came along and ruined everything.

Remember yesterday when all I wanted to do was show Mr. Murphy a picture of my new bangs then you decided to butt in and be all, "BAM, it'd be a great idea to take a picture of yourself in the car and make sure to include his birthday present in the background."

That was rude.  

Can you stop making me stupid now?

Love,

Rachel

Happy Birthday to my sweet husband of 24 today!

I made Mr. Murphy promise me to still act surprised.

I was so close...SO close.

i'm feeling behind...

(21 weeks)

Yesterday I called my mother in an anxious panic with a tear filled sound in my voice.

"Mama, I don't know ANYTHING about birthing babies!"

She assured me that there have been plenty of people who have given birth to babies without ever opening a book.

I have been feeling so far behind.

I haven't read any books.

I haven't taken birth classes. (or even looked at how to sign up for them)

I haven't researched products I need or want.

I haven't started getting serious about decorating EJ's room.

I don't even know the colors I want to use.

We haven't officially decided on cloth diapering or disposables.

I haven't really felt Evaleigh move a whole lot...stupid anterior placenta.

I just feel....so unprepared.

I suppose this all sounds cray-cray.  But I think I let my pregnancy hormones get the best of be this past week.

There is something that clicked inside of my head when I noticed that we hit the half-way point.

I realized that time wise all I have left to do is what I've already done. (I'll just be doing it fatter)

I have all of these fears and this anticipation of hope that I'll be a good mother.

It is what I have always wanted to be, ever since I was a little girl myself.  But now that this moment is finally upon me, I am realizing more and more that being a mother is an incredibly huge and sacred responsibility.

It's a good thing I have the perfect example to emulate.

(me, mother, sister)

Dear Photograph

Dear Photograph,

22 years ago my husband walked this road in Walsh, Colorado with his Grandpa John as a carefree little boy with his whole life ahead of him.

Today we are in that same small sweet town as two crazy-in-love and happily married people with a sweet little baby of our very own on her way.

We can't wait to show her this beautiful simple little town.  Life moves on in the most beautiful way.

Love, us

(this lovely idea from here)

Zombies, Shock Collars, and Pastries

When it snows in Atlanta, the whole city shuts down and we like it.

Except...that's when the Zombies come out.

They must have known we would be stranded here for 3 whole days.

It's Snowpocolypse 2011.

We successfully survived the Zombie Snowpocolypse.

Being snowed in for 3 straight days has its perks.  

We have had to get quite creative with how we spend our time. 

1.) We all tried out our new shock collar system for our dog Pippi, on ourselves.  The boys had a little too much fun with that.

I think being snowed in does make you a little coo-coo. See.


2.)We discovered the glories of food storage. 
We have made:


Strawberry Rhubarb Pastries

(the mess on my chest is a heart tattoo that my mom gave me, with a pen.)

*recipe for crust (here)

*strawberry rhubarb filling from a jar from Kroger or Publix, I can't remember.

Homemade Biscuits

Homemade Monkey Bread

* recipe for monkey bread (here)

3.) We have had ridiculous snowball smack-downs.  

Are husbands supposed to beat up on their wives like this?

4.) We have watched all 3 Lord of the Ring movies
Hancock
Dispicable Me
2 Episodes of the new Bachelor Season
(I hate Michelle by the way.  And I don't want to fall in love with Emily, but I love her. I really do.)
some clips of Man vs. Food
and
Maverick


5.)We have cuddled by the fire.  
It has been going for 72 hours straight.


I suppose tonight I am going to force my husband to watch The Wedding Planner with me and my mom.  
School has been cancelled tomorrow for the 4th day in a row for the hubs and my mother.


There are only so many tongue twisters we can do, we are running out of ideas...