Coleman Russell Murphy is Here!!!

My baby is finally here! Coleman was born on 8/21. He weighed 7 lbs and was 20 inches long. He is completely bald and has the cutest little nose and lips that I've ever seen.

Saturday the 21st started out as any other Saturday. I cleaned the house that morning, and then I went to Sams to get a couple of last minute groceries, diapers, etc. (I was scheduled to be induced the following Monday). Russ had taken Cade to the splash pad, and when I got home from the store, he was asleep for his nap. Russ and I started to watch a movie while Cade was sleeping, and I started to have contractions around 3 pm. I didn't want to get worked up or excited about it, because I had a false labor a few days before, and didn't want to be disappointed again... so I tried to watch the movie but I was mostly watching the clock :) By about 4:30, the contractions were starting to REALLY hurt, so I told Russ that I thought I was in labor, and we needed to get things ready to go. Thank goodness for awesome neighbors who said they could keep Cade until my parents would be able to get here from Idaho Falls. We finished packing our bags and getting Cade's things together, and dropped Cade off at the neighbor's house at about 5:45. By this time my contractions were about 2 minutes apart and were really hurting. I was so nervous that I wouldn't get to the hospital in time for an epidural. Russ was nervous and watching me barely able to breath/cry, so I think that we made it to IMC in about 15 minutes (we went 90+ the whole time we were on the interstate) :)

We made it to the hospital and got checked in at about 6, and I was now having contractions every minute... but was only dialated to a 4! I was dying of pain (baby was posterior and back labor is a killer), and the nurse told me that they typically would just monitor me for an hour to make sure that I was progressing before giving an epidural. THANK GOODNESS that my doctor happened to be filling in for the on-call guy for a couple of hours, so he had pitty on me and we got an epidural right away...................... and then I was happy and everything was easy. Cole was born at 10:15 pm. We are so thankful that he is healthy and that everything went well. We are so blessed to have two beautiful little boys.

My family brought Cade to the hospital the next morning. Cade ran into the room and was so excited to see Russ and I (we've never been away from him overnight before), and then we introduced him to his little brother. He started signing "baby" (he still isn't talking much, but signs EVERYTHING) and was laughing and patting Cole's blankets. It was so sweet -- Cade was holding Cole when my dad asked Cade if he could hold him. Cade started shaking his head "no" and said "mine!" over and over. Cade is always so concerned about the baby... whenever he doesn't know where Cole is, he runs all over the house signing "baby" until he finds him. He loves to kiss Cole and give him hugs, but he is having a hard time understanding why Cole can't wrestle with him.... and tries to start a wrestling match at every opportunity he can.

Cole is the best baby. I can count on one hand the number of times that he has cried in the past week. He grimices and squeaks when he is hungry, but that's about it. He is so sweet and we love him so much.

One last pregger pic... taken about a week before Cole was born:

Weighin' in at 7 lbs (6 lbs 15.8 oz to be exact) :)....

Holding my beautiful baby right after he was born....

Proud daddy. I love him so much.

Our family of FOUR :)

Cade loves "his baby"...

We ♥ ASL

We started signing with Cade after he turned two, since he was only speaking a few words, and was throwing terrible tantrums as a means of communication. I had seen other toddlers and babies using signs before, but I always thought that it would just delay speech, since they could use a sign to get what they wanted instead of a word. I was so wrong!!! I have talked with several speech therapists who have explained to me that using ASL helps improve a childs attention span and eye contact, which are both necessary prerequisites for speaking. Cade is now using about 30 signs, and has picked up about 20 words... and is SO much happier now that he can tell us what he's thinking. It's so much fun to watch how excited he gets when he gives me a sign and I understand what he is telling me. I'm a firm believer in signing with babies now and am totally going to do it with all of my kids.

Pregnant People Have Feelings Too

Top three comments I've gotten during my ninth month of this pregnancy... not even from strangers... from friends who are usually tactful, considerate people...

1. "Your belly is SO BIG!!" (I love this next part as she realizes what she just said and tries to back pedal her way out of it..) "... well I think it's just that the rest of your body is little, so it just makes your belly look SO MUCH bigger."
2. "Wow! Did you get this big with Cade? I mean, does your doctor say that this is normal?"
3. "Dude... you're huge."

I guess people don't know that I already know that I'm huge?!?! Do they really think that this fact needs to be brought to my attention?

Boys Will Be Boys

I came into the kitchen the other day to find Cade's drink dumped out all over the table, he was lapping it up like a puppy, and saying "Ahhhh!!!"

4th of July

For the 4th, my Uncle Tim hosted their annual BBQ/Fireworks show in Provo. They live close to the stadium, so everyone can see the fireworks and kindof hear the concert. Cade was a mess... he just wanted to run up and down the street and play with every kid that he could find. He found his way into the middle of several frisbee and football games... and explored a few of the neighbor's yards. He LOVED my cousin's firework show in the street though. He sat crouched down at the edge of the sidewalk and soaked in every minute. It was funny that all of the boys were there in a line watching/loving the fireworks, and the girls were all scared sitting in their mom's laps. He was a wreck by about 9:00 though, so we headed home to put him in bed and skipped the big firework show (along with all of the traffic). It was a really fun night.