Our New House

After new paint, new carpet, etc., we're in.... still more to do. But, *sigh*, we're in.

Stinky diapers

Eamon figured out the answers to this one on his own! Haha!! :)

Fall 2009

It's been a busy fall here in the Murphy establishment. While Brendan is at work, Eamon and I have been attending playgroup after playgroup (Mondays and Wednesdays are local playgroups, Tuesday is library time, and Thursday is Signing playgroup in Portland). We've been really enjoying ourselves and meeting new friends. But we definitely look forward to the down days of Friday. And, of course, the weekends with daddy!

Here we are playing with some markers. :)

The past few weekends have been great. We went to the zoo again last weekend. We LOVE the zoo!! (Thank goodness for zoo memberships!!) Eamon and I take trips to the zoo at least monthly. We sometimes meet our wonderful friends there. Or sometimes make it mommy and Eamon time. But last weekend daddy came with us again. The sea lions were all over Eamon! He loved it!

We've had some beautiful days out here in the past month. The leaves are changing and the weather has been gorgeous! We went to the pumpkin patch a couple times. Eamon loved it there. Not only were there lots of people and kids to watch, but there were games, food, animals, and most importantly... DIRT!

Summer 2009

EEEK! Shame on us! Its been a long time... Let me see if I can do a quick catch-up...

Sorry it has been so long! But my days are not like they used to be. I have found myself spending less and less time doing anything. Except playing outside. Don't get me wrong, Oregon summers are beautiful. The weather is perfect, the sun is shining, there are lots of things to do. But since Eamon started walking in July, we have done NOTHING but play outside. And coincidentally, "outside" is one of the clearest words Eamon can say. He's had a lot of practice.

In mid-June, Eamon was still crawling. Well, kind of. He would literally run as fast as he could while still holding on to our hands (even 1 of our fingers), but as soon as we let go, he would sit down. He was 100% capable of walking. Just didn't want to. He would pull himself to standing, then sit back down and continue to crawl. (Also about this time, Eamon became interested in playing with the dog's slimy ball. Now he and Addy are the best of friends.)



Eamon would be comfortable enough to push his hippo up and down the bumpy driveway, walk around it to see what was inside, walk back, and continue pushing. But he just would not let go and walk on his own!

We actually caught some of his first steps on tape. (Yes, it was definitely staged. The chairs were precisely measured. The toys were placed in the perfect spot on each chair. But finally!! Our fifteen month old takes a step.)

In a short time, he was running. But he still enjoys crawling on the ground to play with the bugs, dig in the dirt, roll in the grass. And just after he starting running, he began carrying things and climbing in and out of his wagon (thank goodness for wagons!!!).

Both Addy AND Eamon love the tennis balls now. Sometimes Addy takes them from Eamon and he cries "Addddyyyyyyy." Sometimes he throws them to her and they are the best of friends. And sometimes he teases her. Poor girl. Since Eamon came in the world, things have just gone downhill for her! (The upside is that she spends most of her days outside with us. At the park, in the yard, taking walks. And we move slower, which allows her to sniff more and eat more grass. Ah, to be a dog!)

Eamon loves to play Ring Around the Rosy. He'll point to you and dance as his way of telling you that he wants you to sing it with him. He always tries to recruit Addy mid-song. Often times, he'll want to do it all by himself. When he does, though, he never waits until the "fall down" verse to drop down. What a goof!

Eamon is getting to be so smart. He knows at least 25 words and at least that many signs. He can tell you 20 animal sounds and can point most of them out. He knows his name and how old he is (and likes to show me on his fingers). He can point out his body parts and say what they are. He knows what trucks, cars, tractors, and trains say. And he is ALL boy. He loves sand and dirt, bugs and boogers, spitting and snorting. And, without us harping on or favoring anything in particular, he loves cars and fire trucks and balls. And he absolutely adores football. (He KNOWS football, including "throw the ball," "catch the ball," "run run run," and "fall down." He shouts "touchdown" all the time. He wants to watch football on TV, he wants to walk to the school to watch the kids' football practice, he wants to see pictures of football every morning in the newspaper when we eat breakfast, he wants to play with his football with anyone and everyone, and he always wants to wear his dinosaur pajamas that have footballs on them.)

And he loves stickers.

Eamon has become the greatest helper. He's very good at watching what Bren and I do and copying us. He likes to stir (and taste) his alphabet (letter) soup. He likes to wear our shoes. He "cleans" his hands and tray with a washcloth after he is done eating. He "combs" his hair and brushes his teeth with us. He blows his nose. And lately, he has been taking bags and bending down in the grass to "pick-up" Addy poop. (No, I don't actually let him near the stuff. But everytime he gets a bag in his hands, he has to go to the grass and pick up some "poop.") What a helper!

We've been having a lot of fun! Both Brendan and I are doing well and keeping busy. Brendan has had a lot of big cases and trials, and he is really enjoying his work. I've been working part-time at home doing research and article posting for a fire service. And we are up to our ears in the home-buying process. Hopefully I'll do a better job keeping up with these posts. Eek! :)

Just plain CUTE

Other than his incredible fussiness due to ROSEOLA (yeah, I'd never heard of it... wish I had been on the look-out), Eamon has been super cute.

He loves to wear beads. These are green ones that went with the Christmas Tree ornaments (well, ORIGINALLY went with the ornaments. Now they are situated in Eamon's toy box between his blocks and his train). He also likes to push around Tupperware lids. Yeah, I know. What a goof! :)

Watch as he takes off his beads then immediately puts them back on again. And then looks at himself to reiterate the fact that yes, he does look better with them on!




Eamon has fun eating and drinking. Sometimes he over does it. Then he fake coughs! :)




Eamon has always loved boxes. This one is big enough for him to sit in, but small enough to climb in and out of. He did break one of the corners apart, but he still loves it. He also likes to put things in it. So cute!

Eamon's first HUNT

Brendan grew up doing hunts on Easter.


And not just a little Easter Egg Hunt.


I'm talking individualized, complicated, rhyming poems leading to a hidden spot with another similar poem (and often a delicious treat or a nice prize), which leads to another and another... These hunts would take hours, often longer as whoever was a teenager at the time would say "this is stupid" or "I quit" (only to be guilted back in to the hunt).


These hunts often led:
--to parks to dig up more clues,
--to nearby schools or playing fields,
--across town to friends' houses (or even calling these teenage friends on the phone and singing them the listed bunny song to get the much-needed clue, not knowing for sure if you read the clue correctly -or if it was correctly written- and definitely leaving friends laughing at you for a long long long time),

--dirty laundry hampers ("and bring down the laundry, while you're at it!"),

--mailboxes ("and get the mail while you're out there!"), Etc.

The hunts often included hemming and hawing (that ALWAYS helped!), telling mom and dad that the clues don't make any sense (and sometimes they didn't, as if they had any control over it... after all, the Easter Bunny wrote and hid the clues!), looking EVERYWHERE in case the clue-seeker were to stumble across the clue (which occassionally happened but always confused things even more). The first clue was usually hanging outside your door when you woke in the morning (and there were always extras for visitors. One Easter a few years back, Bren's parents were up really late... there were the three kids, me, and two law schools friends that lived out of state who didn't travel home for Easter. Oh what fun!).

This year was a little bit different. Of course there were clues. And of course we all got them. (Even Bren's parents got a hunt... their first clue read: Your first clue is attached/ To the van's trailor hitch./ This year's bunny will prove/ That payback's a b!tc%. [Their hunt next year will be much harder!]) The rain and cold forced us to do Eamon's first hunt indoors.

Now, of course the hunts can't begin too difficult. So, it was easy to decide that Eamon's first hunt would be only challenging for a one-year-old. After his morning nap, we placed him on the floor in the living room. His job, which he did wonderfully, was to follow the egg trail. The process took quite a while because, as we expected, once he found that first egg filled with his first taste of mini Oreos, why wouldn't he open every egg he found?! (Only a couple ended up having Oreos. The rest had animal crackers and goldfish. And a few had stickers... boo! That was dad's idea! He loves them now. But at the time, "just stickers?!") :o) The eggs led out of the living room, down the hall, up the stairs, in to our room, and across the floor to his new wagon filled with goldfish, new sippy cups and sneakers, and several little toys.

The picture below was taken after we wiped off the Oreo scum from his lips.

Happy First Easter, bud! :)

EAMON IS ONE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EAMON!

It's hard to believe, but it's true. Our little boy is 1!

Though he is not much of a picky eater, Eamon's favorite is homemade macaroni and cheese. So, thats what we had for dinner (of course!). We had our friends Adam and Beth over for dinner, too. Afterwards, we wore party hats (Eamon's lasted all of 3 seconds before he snagged it right off!), sang Happy Birthday, and began dessert.

Eamon had never really had dessert before. At the time, he enjoyed watermelon and bananas and that was his dessert. So, when it was time for cupcakes with chocolate frosting, I knew he would devour what I put in front of him. Instead of overwhelming him with this decision (eat it all up quickly or savor every morsel... yeah right), I began to break off pieces for him. He sucked them down before I could break off another piece. So we gave him big chunks (well... like... the whole rest of the cupcake). He liked that. LOVED that. Then we decided to put our party hats back on and get a picture of Eamon in mid-first-cupcake.

He DIDN'T like that.

(Don't worry. After the picture was taken, we took off his hat and continued with the festivities!)

The year in review....

And summing up all of our thoughts of the past year (except those of our now neglected dog... what was her name again? Oh, yeah... Addy). :)

We love you, little man!

Tulip Festival

We are very lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the country. In the spring, it is gorgeous out here. The rain lasts through the winter, so the trees and grass stay green. But spring doesn't really hit until the flowers come. This year, we decided to splurge and spend the $5 to see the tulips. We couldn't have picked a better day. The weather was perfect. The sky was clear. The tulips were in full bloom.

And Eamon? Eamon was CRANKY!

We were lucky enough to get a few smiles out of him, though. After we conceded to letting him crawl in the dirt.

He also liked to rip off the petals. We didn't encourage that.

The flowers were beautiful. Rows and rows and rows of them. With Mt. Hood in the background. We'll still of it as a good time. Well, mommy and daddy will, at least. :)

SCREAMS

Eamon has been answering everything with a scream. He answers people with a scream, Addy with a scream, toys with a scream, splashes with a scream, birds with a scream, food with a scream, the phone ringing with a scream... you get the point. He especially likes to scream at mealtime (right about the time he starts getting full). Yesterday, I took a video of him having a snack and screaming.

I sent this video to Bren's phone, but he didn't get a chance to view it until he got home. When he opened the video at home, Eamon was next to him. And when Eamon heard himself screaming on daddy's phone, he of course had to scream in response. (Even Addy wanted to come see what the commotion was about!)

This, too, shall pass. Right?!?

Swim lessons

The other day, Eamon and I began swim lessons. Now, I do not take "swim lessons" literally as I know that he will not learn to swim during these lessons. The problem is, neither will the other students, even if they wanted to.

You see, I have a child that loves the water. And I mean... LOVES the water. He cries to get IN the tub (if he only knew it takes me LONGER to get him undressed and undiapered when he is flailing around) and cries when we make him get OUT. And for the precious time that he is in there... he never stops the smiles.

So, on our first day of "swim lessons," we put on his swimmy diaper and his little whale swim trunks and headed to the pool deck. We had been "swimming" in the pool a few times, so as soon as we stepped on to that deck, Eamon was well aware what would happen. Like the other young women, I went and sat in the shallow end of the pool, sitting my child on my lap. You would think that the two inches of water surrounding us was the biggest tease in the world. His feet could hardly even reach the water. Even when he struggled and reached for it, it was just too far away! So, I sat him between my legs and he turned around and gave me a great big grin.

Just then, the instructor walked up to us from a deeper area (3 feet) in the pool. She had a beautiful quiet 6 month old girl on her hip. As we all went around and introduced ourselves and our babies, I realized the mess that I had gotten myself in to. Of the ten or so babies there, ranging from 6 months to 2 years old, and their mommies, my child was the only one talking out of turn. Well, squealing, really. You might even call it a full-on scream. And though he was enjoying every minute of sticking his hands in the water, it was just not good enough for him. While the other ladies politely tried to introduce themselves and their little ones, Eamon splashed. And squealed. And yelled. And splashed some more. Soon, mommies and babies were moving away from us. Moms repeated their names. The instructor repeated the directions. And repeated the directions, again. It took her a few tries. But, eventually she learned to wait for Eamon to take a breath, and throw out instructions while he couldn't interrupt. When we finally did get all the way in the water, the moms stayed away from us. So did the instructor. Not like it made much of a difference. With the echos on the pool deck, no one could hear anything over Eamon's screams anyway. But I don't blame them. Who, other than Eamon, wants a typhoon in your face?

Naked feet, please!

Well. It has come down to this. Our baby does not like anything on his feet. When he is not busy terrorizing the dog, eating fuzz, and knocking over blocks, he likes to let his feet "breathe." We hopped in the car for a short ride the other day. Not minutes later, we pulled up to our destination. And there was Eamon. Shoeless and sockless, unless you count the sock hanging out of his mouth. He wasn't too happy, once I caught him in the act, and held on to his feet as if to say "they need to breathe!" So, I proceeded to put his socks back on (as easily as you can put on a wet bathing suit) and cover the spit-coated things with spit-coated shoes. And off we went!