Bree and Bauer’s Blog

Our constant train playing continues!

We’ve gotten some new train cars in the past couple days that have become fast favorites including Salty, the tractor (no name yet), and Douglas.  Our playroom is just one glorified train station.

Bree decided yesterday that she would spice up this train playing.

She went to her dress up box and got out about everything she could find…she offered Bauer an apron with a lion on it, a fireman hat, a soldier outfit and his conductor hat.  He wanted nothing to do with that nonsense.  His boy instincts are becoming very solidified as he approaches two.  In other words, his tutu wearing days are probably over.  Bree’s always got a new victim once Bennett arrives!

Bree would not let his indifference deter her.  She showed her tractor a good time while sporting a tutu, tiara and a mini umbrella.

She also helped me get dressed for my part as the conductor!  Bauer’s train conductor hat (that he won’t wear) looked pretty darn good with my pink feather boa, don’t you think??!!!

It truly is such a blessing to have my boy/girl combination to keep things interesting and completely unpredictable!

In my short time as a mom, I’ve seen my kids fall in love with certain toys and seemingly not be able to get enough of them.  Every time I’m convinced that the particular love affair of the moment has some staying power, I invest in a few toys that I’m sure the kids will love.  This action alone signals to my munchkins that it must be time to move onto the next fling.

We’ve had a good six month obsession of “Curious George”.  We are still exploring with “Dora” but not on a regular basis.  Bree had a good stint loving on her “Abby Cadabby” of Sesame Street.  We still “Go, Diego, Go” a few times a week.  And we had a short lived love affair with “Ni Hao, Ki-lan” when I was convinced the Chinese really were taking over the world.  We “Fresh Beated” for a few weeks and most recently have been stuck on the adventures of our favorite brother and sister bunnies “Max and Ruby”.

Yes, most of our concentrated likes start due to a TV show or movie of some sort.  I’m not sure if this makes me a good or bad mom, but my kids love their tv.  And the latest love for Bauer follows that same pattern.

Grammy had a old Thomas the Train movie in her video collection probably from a few years back when Andrew (my nephew) was Bauer’s age.  This was around Christmas time so Bauer was about 18 months.  Truthfully, it is a pretty awful video…the animation is very out-dated and the narration makes me want to curl up in a ball and go to sleep.  But Bauer was intrigued.  He would be watching it long after the other kids or adults had left the room.

We already had a train set from IKEA that Bauer had definitely invested many an hour playing with.  But those were just generic trains…nothing to write home about so to speak.

Sean also took Bauer to see a real life-sized Thomas the Train (that you can ride) back in March.  This really brought his love of trains to a new level.

I gradually bought a “Thomas” video for our house and found a “Mud-Covered Thomas” car at Tuesday Morning for about a 1/3 of the price it would be at Target or Walmart.  I decided to give it a go.

Bauer was instantly in love.  He carried it everywhere.  He was a man of few words, but could say “Thomas” almost perfectly.  Unfortunately, Bree was also very excited about the newest toy to enter Murphyland and I think may have inervertently hidden Thomas somewhere so super secret that even she can’t find it again.

Back to Tuesday morning I went….another Thomas for such a great price.

And the collection began to grow.  And grow.  And grow.

Over the last couple months, I kind of expected the fascination to wane but it seems to only get more and more intense.  Bauer puts all his Thomas trains to bed at night and loves to wake them up to play each morning.  He also rarely likes to leave his trains unattended.

This is how I found him watching a tv show yesterday:

I was pretty impressed he could carry that many train cars at once.  He’s been working on this trick for weeks.  Normally he has one in each hand, but I guess with an ever present train-loving sister, you can never be too careful.

Sean and I hit the craigslist jackpot a few weeks ago and were able to get more Thomas stuff than any one kid should want or have for just $100.  He will be getting a new track for his birthday and we have already started the “new train car each day of July” birthday present.  It really has turned out that he and Bree have both gotten a new train car every couple days.  It is hard to exclude Bree when she truly seems to enjoy playing trains as well.

We are having a Thomas themed family birthday party on Saturday (even though his real birthday is still a few weeks away) and I know his eyes are just going to light up when he sees Thomas on the plates, banner, table cloth, etc.  I’m really looking forward to it.

Now don’t worry, I’m not expecting the Thomas infatuation to last forever….but I’m feeling pretty good that I will at least get the rest of the month to revel in my investment of Thomas.  And there’s always Bennett to pick up where Bauer’s love affair leaves off in a couple years as well!

Choo-Choo!

The weather wasn’t looking too promising, there were planned celebrations on the 3rd rather than the 4th, and well life these days is rarely what we expect each day..

But that did not stop the Murphy Clan from joining up with our family at the Kiowa lake house hoping against hope there would be a break in the clouds just long enough for us to do some of those traditions we have begun to expect will happen on this holiday.

And overall, we were pleasantly surprised…

We had some of the best “seats” in town to get candy at the golf cart parade….

Grandad was the cheerleader for all the grandkids to get more candy.

Bauer and Daddy sharing some bubble gum after the parade.  Bauer was also working on a lollipop.

My sister and I surveying the damage from afar.

We puddle jumped which is normally not a  July activity in Texas…

We carnival gamed with the best of them….there was even a live horse to ride this year!

Bree is so ready for Price is Right…a pro at Plinko like games!

An annual favorite…fishing!

They made it around about 4 times and neither of them screamed or pushed the other off…SUCCESS!

We ate ice-cream, turkey legs and pulled pork sandwiches like it was our job…

Who doesn’t like to eat with a view like this?

Cousins on an ice-cream run…wish my camera would get its act together!

The official ice-cream monster of the carnival!

Bree and Allison “sharing” a turkey leg.

We climbed bounce house obstacle courses like we were twice our age…

We swam in freezing cold water with the cousins…

Audrey showing her floating skills off….

Up, up and away…great picture taken by cousin Allison.

Audrey and Bree racing to the end of the pool.

Who holds the third baby in family pics like this???  Hmmmm….

Grammy and Bauer relaxing the day away!

We got the speedboat to start up after over a year…talk about the unexpected.  Check out the three dogs not wanting to be left behind!

We laughed a lot, cried a lot (Bauer mostly), and just enjoyed the chaos that is our family all together…

Bauer about done for the day…

Diane, Jennifer and Mom at the parade.

Serious game of “tennis” going on with the boy cousins!

Bauer enjoying the some of the spoils of the parade!

We lit some sparklers and watched fireworks….Bree got to go on the boat past bedtime for the first time this year.

And we went to bed exhausted only to wake up the next morning and were reminded that all the activities the day before were on the 3rd.  We had yet to live the 4th!

We swam and ate some more before we were just “4th of July-ed out”!

Again, this being one of my favorite holidays, I never expected to be ready to put this one in the books.  But I was and we did.  But not before making enough memories to last until next year.

Knowing that there will be an 8 month old baby hanging out with us next year on the 4th, I think I’ll be ready to call it a day by noon

Hope everyone had a safe and fun weekend!

On one of the many to do lists I have made myself in anticipation of Mr. Bennett coming to join the family, I had marked down that I must finish Bauer’s scrapbook of his first year before his 2nd birthday.  I did this for Bree and love looking through it.  She has even looked at it a few times and loves to say “baby bree” as she points to all the pictures.  As I am the baby and know firsthand how hard it is to keep up with baby books and pictures after the first kid arrives, I am steadfast in my conviction to do it for each of my boys as well.  Yep, I just used the plural of boy….I’m gonna have two in a few months.

While scrapbooking truly is a labor of love and sometimes I do look at my stack of pictures and just get way overwhlemed, I really enjoy it.  There is no “right” way to do it and that is what makes it so fun for me.  Some of the pages are total guesstimates on time….he’s sitting up, he’s eating solid foods, he’s all smiles.  While I don’t have all the dates written out like I did with Bree, I was able to put most of his milestones in some kind of order.  I’ve had so much fun reliving his first year through the pictures.  It was so fast while it was happening, but having so many pictures really has allowed me to cherish each moment.

In all honesty, if it weren’t for this blog I’d be lost on what happened during his first year and really most of year 2.  I spent a few hours the other day reading the blog from when I became pregnant with Bauer and up until the last few entries of this year.  It’s a novel to say the least.  When I write one blog, I appreciate my quick effort, but I truly patted myself on the back (which for those who know me best rarely happens) for keeping up with my blogging month in and month out now that I see the long-term output.

I laughed at so many moments and realized that some of my blogs are very cyclical (and repeat every few months)…such as ones about losing my sanity, how it feels to be a parent, the chaos that is my life.  But overall, its nice to see how far I’ve come and how this whole journey really just involves getting out of bed each day and putting one foot in front of the other.  You suddenly find yourself years into a challenging adventure and can’t imagine it being any other way.

In addition to the scrapbooking fun and walks down e-memory lane, this week as proven to be the week that I am finally pregnant.  I know, I know….that must sound silly because I’ve been pregnant since last February.  But truly, up until this week, I would say that most people would probably have just assumed I have been hitting the snickers and ice cream a little to often as opposed to being pregnant.  But this week, I “popped”.  There is a growing Bennett in there and while some of my clothes still camouflage it a little, overall I can no longer hide it.  Not that I want to hide it, but it is nice to be able to wear some of your non-maternity clothes these past few months.  Sadly, those days are in the past now.

I’m not sad because I don’t like maternity clothes.  Quite to the contrary, they are so comfortable.  I’m a litlte sad because my collection of said maternity clothes has changed this time around.  Did I mention on the blog that Sean may or may not have unknowingly given all my maternity clothes to Goodwill when we moved houses last November?   There is no sign of them in this house so we are assuming that is what happened.  Luckily, I had a few things that were still hanging in my closet and a few friends who have passed their clothes my way.  But there was something so comforting about that set of maternity clothes that I wore with both of my other kiddos.  It makes me realize that as much as you expect it to be, this pregnancy journey is never just mundane and predictable.  For the next 5 months, everyday will be a game to see what I will put on my body!  Humorous in its own crazy way.  I’m just blessed that this will be the biggest difference in this pregnancy and the other two.  Maybe Bennett could come on time as well instead of a week late, just to be different from those other two crazy B’s.  A girl can dream right???!!!!

I bought a scrapbook for Bennett today and also ordered his frame for monthly pictures for the first year to go with his two siblings on the wall by their bedrooms.  Now all we need is a lot of diapers and formula!

It’s getting easy for me to believe that this is really going to happen…probably a good thing!!!

The Murphy clan is going to have 3 wild “b” kids and many more e-memories to make and document!

Glad y’all can be along for the ride!

Hope June is ending on a fabulous note for all of you!

We’ve been over this before.

Patience is not something that comes easy for me…most days I’m pretty sure if patience were a gene of some sort, I was born without it.

It seems as if God has grown tired of me not working on this trait, thus He blessed me with being a mom.

And for the past 4 years (I include getting pregnant in this figure), I have gotten to work on this virtue EVERYDAY.

I keep thinking it will get easier.  And it doesn’t.  Is it just a mental block for me or what?

I pray about it, i read about it, I attempt to use all the techniques that will stop me from yelling at a child or dog or husband who happens to get underfoot.

But still I struggle.

I was thinking this morning as I took the kids on a walk how much I am already missing phases of the kids that have passed us by.  I miss my 6 month old and 2 year old who would fall asleep in the double jogging stroller at any point in the day and I could just run and run and run.  I miss when Bree got excited about going to any park.  Now it seems as though she has turned into a “homebody” and would rather be at home driving me nuts than anywhere else.  I miss when Bauer was just a follower and not such an independent thinker.  I miss when Bree mostly ignored Bauer’s existence instead of attempting to take any and every toy he has ever wanted to play with just to get him to scream.

I was thinking about all these examples this morning between feeding my kids fruitsnacks and water and making sure Bauer didn’t climb out of his seat in the stroller while we were crossing a busy street - all in the vain effort to have something that might resemble a workout for this prego lady.

I realized pretty quickly that the only reason I miss those phases so much now is that I can look back and see that I had more control then.  There were less opinions in the mix…mainly 2 less toddler opinions…on what we were going to do during the day.  The combination of liking control and not having much patience is kinda troublesome if you want to be a mom.

Do you see my problem….

As we got back from out walk and the struggles of sharing toys, staying on task, and general chaos continued, I just laughed inside.

I keep acting like I have a choice in this matter of either developing more patience or not.  I keep forcing God to put me in my own personal “time out” again and again by refusing to cooperate and not take my lack of control so seriously.

Toddlers are going to be toddlers.  And while I miss those old phases, I love the conversations I get to have with Bree and Bauer now.  They might be short lived, but they are signs of a active and energetic mind trying to figure out this world.  Maybe they will let me figure it out with them.  Maybe I just need to start over and learn some lessons along the way that I obviously deleted from my memory bank.

Or maybe I just need to take a nap…

Whatever the case may be, for all your moms out there who think they can’t possibly pull one more strand of hair out of their head, I’m right there with you.

As much as I would love to tell myself and others that these are some of the best days of my life, they are also some of the most challenging in ways I never imagined.

One memory to end on…

This morning Bree had two cups of apple juice.  I asked her to try and go to the bathroom a short time later. This was the conversation:

B: “I didn’t like the apple juice, Mommy!”
J: “It doesn’t matter if you liked the apple juice, you still drank it!”
B: “I want to go on the potty in the garage!”
J: “Bree that is only for when we are at the park or somewhere without a restroom!  Please go in your bathroom and try to pee pee!”
B: “NO, GARAGE!” and she starting heading that way.  I hear the dog door swish and know she is in the garage.  I wait about 3 minutes until I hear the dog door swish again.
B: “Mommy, I went pee pee in the blue potty.”
J: “Did you wipe?”
B: “Yes Mommy”
J: “How did you wipe, there is no toilet paper in the garage?”
B: Getting indignant, “I did wipe Mommy!”
J: “So if I go to the garage right now, I will see a potty full of pee-pee and toilet paper?”
B: “No mommy, I already poured out the pee-pee!”
J: “WHAT????!!!!!”

I went out to find that she had gone to the bathroom in the blue potty, there was no toilet paper, and she had poured in out all over the garage floor. There may have been a lot of yelling and a long timeout after this episode for both of us.

Really, God….do you need to test me so much in the first 3 hours of the day….

Hope everyone is having a great week!  I think I really might take that nap and at least dream about being a person with a shred of patience or of my days of control that have passed us by!

Back in March 2009…

Sean and I started and finished our day in a state of controlled chaos…namely a 3/4 year old soccer game and a 3 year old birthday party.

Activities like the ones today really become humorous at some point and you do find yourself enjoying all the insanity while its going on, but as you walk out of the doors of the venue to leave, you realize you may or may not have been holding your breathe for the last two hours and that you may at that moment just pass out on the ground.  Luckily neither Sean or I passed out today, but we sure did laugh at the adventures that took place.

While a lot of our best friends from TCU enjoyed the day on the lake boating with each other, Sean and I had a completely different set of plans.  We wanted to integrate the annual “Boat Day” into our day’s activities but when you have a soccer game at 9:45 and a birthday party at 3:30 and hopefully some naps for everyone in between it becomes a lot tougher.  I wasn’t sad or upset, maybe just a little nostalgic for the simpler time of spending all day on a boat with a beer or 12 with Sean.  I think being 5 months pregnant helps me not miss spending all day sober in 100 degree temps even though I do miss the fun that was had just hanging out.

So back to the non-boat day adventures of the Murphy Clan.

Bree had her first soccer game of her life today.  The first two practices that Sean told me about did not leave my expectations very high for her performance at this game.  She cried in the corner at the first one and then only half participated in the second one.  She also was the only kid to refuse to put on her jersey when Sean handed them out at the second practice.  Oh and did I mention Sean is the head coach.  Bree gets so “excited” when he pays attention to anyone but her.  Insert sarcasm here.  Good times.

So when we actually got Bree to put on her jersey this morning and a pair of shorts (although there was a request to wear a dress under her jersey), I was feeling like there may be hope.  On the way to the game, Bree said she couldn’t move her feet and that she wanted her shinpads off…the hope started to fade.  We switched shoes in the parking lot and got her inside.

She ended up doing great.  I think I remember her kicking the ball once or twice and she managed to stay on the court (indoor soccer) or on the bench at most of the appropriate times.  And she did not cry.  This was a big one.  The whole situation I witness during the game made me feel much better about her level of participation in the sport.  Sean had kids who wouldn’t get off the bench, wouldn’t let go of a mommy or daddy’s hand, were done about 3 minutes into the game with playing and wanted their shoes off, cried on the court and off the court, etc.  It was a cluster to say the least.  But the kids that wanted to play had a blast.  It amazes me how you can already tell the talented kids at age 3 or 4….unreal.  The verdict is still out with Bree.  She may be hiding her inner “Mia Hamm”, but its doubtful.  But that’s what’s great about being three.  You just get to try it all out.  And that makes me as a mom feel like I’m doing my job!

Check out number 2 and her pink sock/shinpad combo!

See…she totally looks like she knows what she’s doing!

Any chance Bauer got to touch a ball, he took.  Bree took any and all chances to sit on the bench.

Sean did amazing as a coach….he has so much energy…and I thanked him afterward for being willing to do this now and in the future.  I would probably just make the kids cry more….

Overall, our team was pretty miserable in the practical soccer aspect….we scored twice to the other teams double digits goals….but this is why they don’t keep score…and it gives us so much room for improvement!

Bree desperately wanted to play “goalie”.   She finally got her chance and unfortunately she moved out of the way of the ball when it came near her.  I think the standing still in front of the net was the allure of the position….not so much the job.  So funny!

After soccer, we headed to lunch at Firehouse Subs.  It was a great refueling stop before we headed to Academy for some true tennis shoes for Bree and then home for naps.

Talk about more controlled chaos at Academy.  I got completely yelled at by a woman in the kids’ shoe aisle due to me moving her basket about 3 inches to the right so I could see the sizes.  She was obviously having a bad day and luckily Bree told me about at that moment that she needed to go poop on the potty.  It could have gotten ugly real quick.  That lady had obviously been to one too many soccer games for her sanity.

Sean and I got to relax a little and watch TCU dominate in the College World Series during naptime.  It was short-lived as Bree joined us at about the 4th inning.  But it was still nice to lay on the couch and not think about anything but purple for an hour or so.

After naptime, we headed to the much anticipated “Pizza and Playdough” birthday party.  The kids got to make there own pizzas (starting with the dough).  It was again…controlled chaos….but really fun.  And we got dinner out of the deal.

The calm before the storm…

My cute little cooks!

Trying out our mixing bowl as a hat!

Daddies at work…so adorable!

I tried to convince Bauer to keep cooking…he was ready to run around!

My pep talk obviously did not work…I took over for Bauer…

while he headed over to the cars!

Sean tried on Bauer’s apron…sexy man!

And the final product…yummy!

The kids really enjoyed it and Sean again showed his superb toddler gathering skills by starting a rousing game of chase, ring around the rosey, and cars with all the kids while the pizza cooked and after dinner.  My sister tells me all the time I should rent him out…I’m beginning to see why.  He is truly an amazing father and just so inclusive of all kids.  I was thinking that if preschool teachers made more money he would be set in a career for life.

I think the reason today was so fun, besides the opportunity to watch soccer, baseball, and pizza making, was that I got to spend the whole day with my partner in crime.  Even though this parenting thing is such a crazy adventure he allows me to laugh at it and appreciates my sarcasm when no one else can.  He allows me to forget the life-style I have sacrificed to get to this point.

Occasionally, I do long for those simpler days, but then I remember during those simpler days with fewer dependents, how I longed for a family and a wonderful man to raise that family with.  I got my wish times a thousand times over and I feel so blessed that I have days like today to truly remember why I’m so happy being a mom.

Thanks for taking this grand adventure with me, Sean!  Happy Father’s Day to such an inspiring man!

We’ve created one amazing family…one play-dough outing at a time!

It’s a boy. And I’m still trying to internalize what that means. And the truth is I don’t really have a lot to go on. But I have way more than I did when we found out the gender of the other two Murphy kids. With those two I had no expectations except what I’d seen in my own upbringing or from watching other families. I just had anticipation of what my little girl or boy would be like.

This time it’s a completely different feeling. I wonder if this boy will be just like his brother. Will I see red hair covering his head after he is born? Will he love trains? Will he run into everything he possibly can and have bumps and bruises as battle scars? Will he be huge like Bauer? Or tall like Bree? Will he laugh like Bauer? Will he sleep through the night at 8 weeks (Bree) or 8 months (Bauer)? So many comparisons yet to come!

Realistically, it’s hard not to picture him like the boy I already have. I’d be totally happy with a very similar version of a Murphy boy. But I’d also be okay if Bauer and his brother were like night and day.

I truly went into today’s sonogram thinking the announcement would be for a girl. I knew that I didn’t care either way…the clean bill of health was way more important to me…but that doesn’t stop you from speculating what the outcome will be. Let’s be serious, I’ve been thinking about the implications for both genders ever since I got pregnant 5 months ago.

So I spent most of the 1^st half of the sonogram just trying to grasp the fact that there were boy parts and that this meant all those bags of girl clothes could be cleaned out of the attic and Bree’s closet. I was more shocked that I think I thought I could or would be. It did not help that Bree still says that we are having a baby girl. She said it no less than 10 times during the sonogram. Oh her stubbornness….I could definitely do without that trait in this baby boy!

At some point during the sonogram, I forced myself to focus and tune out all that noise in my head. The more I got to see his head, his arms, his toes, his kidneys, his heart, his spine, the more I could feel my heart fall in love with my true baby boy. He will hold a special place in my heart because he will be the final addition to the family. And we will share that in common….Sean, Bennett and I are all the babies of our families.

I played trains with Bauer tonight while Sean and Bree were off at soccer practice. He has no idea that that his potential best friend is growing inside my tummy. But I could feel Bennett doing all kinds of flips and wiggling. I know he is looking forward to grabbing Thomas the train out of Bauer’s hands and saying “Get me!” as he runs out of the room with a grin the size of Texas on his face.

Welcome Baby Bennett…we have quite a clan here waiting for you!

See ya in 20 or so weeks!