Ziti Man

I made baked ziti for dinner tonight... it was a hit. There is now an orange ring around my bathtub.

Back At It

I ran in my first post-baby race this morning! I ran the Deseret News 10K, and it was SO fun. I had forgotten how much I love it.

I used to run all of the time before I had Cade, but I quit while I was pregnant. I tried a few times to get into it again after Cade was born, but I was so out of shape I would get frustrated and give up on it. I finally made up my mind on Cade's birthday that I wouldn't give up this time, so this race was a huge accomplishment for me. I feel like I'm finally back in the saddle! I'm thinking 1/2 marathon by October!

I have to give a big thanks to my amazing husband who woke up at 5:00 am on a holiday, drove downtown in crazy July 24th parade traffic and walked a mile with a 1 year old because there was no parking just to be there at the finish line for me. Love ya babe!

Cade Walks!! Cade Walks!!

Cade took his first steps yesterday! He figured out that it makes everyone excited, so now he will stand up, put his hands up like "look ma, no hands!" and smile and look around at everyone until we're all clapping for him.

We're So Proud of You Dallin!!!

My little (not so little anymore) brother, Dallin, left yesterday to Afghanistan with the Air Force. He is a member of the reserves, and didn't have to go, but he volunteered to serve his country. It was a very somber experience seeing him off from Hill Air Force Base yesterday. I have so much respect for every member of the military, and for their families. It was heartbreaking watching dads kiss their babies goodbye, and husbands wiping tears from their wives faces. These men are making more of a sacrifice than we can even understand, and I hope that we can all somehow show them how grateful we are for them.

Dallin, we love you so much. We're so proud of you. You are an amazing kid, a great brother/brother-in-law, a wonderful uncle, and an honorable American. You better never forget that we'll always be here praying for you.

Well Balanced

Cade loves stacking blocks... he would play with them all day if I let him. The other day, I was cleaning the house while he was playing with his blocks in his room. I went in to check on him, and I found that he had taken the doughnuts off of his ring-stacker-thing, and stacked two of his blocks on top of it. He was just sitting there looking at it like he was so proud of himself. I was pretty impressed! I tried recreating it later, and it was hard for me to get it to balance like that! I told Russ about it and he said "Wow, maybe he'll be an architect." I was thinking more like the circus... one of the two.

**Uneventful but Cute Pics**

Soooo..... I realize that my blog is 99.99999% about CADE, and I also realize that most of our pics and videos are probably boring to the outside world... but I really don't care :)

The fact of the matter is that I don't keep a journal, scrap book, photo book, nor do I even develop most of my pictures. So I'm just going to keep on postin' random cute pics that probably only me and the grandmas enjoy, because I LIKE IT, and because I'm a proud mamma! If your looking for a witty/cute/entertaining blog, check out my fun friends. :) With that being said, here's some cute pics from the last couple of weeks.


I love this little grin...

Crusty Smile...

Cade is just tall enough (if he stand on his tip toes) to look out our windows. He loves it. I think this picture is so funny.... his head is about as big as the rest of him.

Tooting My Own Horn

That's right, tooting my horn is exactly what I'm doing.

We needed more seating in our living room, and this is what I liked from PB...

It's $1200!! Are you kidding me?! Let's just say that's not QUITE in our budget right now.... so I thought, "hey, there can't be much to this, right?" So I reupholstered an old chair that I picked up at a model home sale! I spent about $75 in fabric at the discount fabric store(10 yards!!), and about a zillion hours.... and this is what came of it!!



Sure, I still think that the PB one is cuter, but for $1100 less... I'll take my version, thanks.

Cade's 1 Year Pictures

Cade had his 1 year pictures taken on Saturday, and Jeni, the photographer, posted a few "sneek peek" pictures on her blog today.... I absolutely LOVE them. I think that Jeni did a fantastic job, and her prices are really reasonable. Click here to visit her website.

The Big Day

Cade started out his day by opening presents. He got a red wagon from nana and papa...

and a car from mom and dad...

(his shirt says "I'm 1 Today" on the front, and "Murphy" on the back)
Then it was time to party...
Gettin' this party started:

The party-goers:

I can have my cake and eat it too:

The after party (dinner with the Berry's at Applebees, followed by fun in the park, and story time by nana and papa):


Russ and I had tons of fun. Cade, well...


we pretty much wore him out. It was a great time. Thanks everyone for celebrating our little man with us!

Cade-o is 1!!!!

What?! I can't believe it!!! Cade is 1!! Cade's birthday is today. I LOVE this age... he's learning so much every day. We love him so so much. He is completely full of life and energy. He knows what he likes, and knows what he doesn't! He has this laugh that is more like a throat-clearing noise, and whenever he gets excited, he starts panting like he just got done running sprints. He really is something else. We love every little bit of him.

His 1 yr appt is on Monday, so I'll let you know his height/weight then. He has grown so much though just over the past few weeks. Here's what he has been up to:
~ Says mama, daddy ("gaggy"), hey, and blankie "ankhee"
~ Still doesn't crawl. I know that he CAN, he just doesn't want to I guess. He has definitely got the combat crawl down though. He has started pulling up onto everything, and is getting pretty good at "cruising" around furniture and toys.
~ Eats everything. Favorites include the little Gerber cheetoe things, yogurt bites, and whatever is on my plate.
~ Is sleeping through the night like a champ! He started sleeping through the night at about 9-10 months(Those of you that get to experience this when your baby is 6 weeks, I don't want to hear about it).
~ Loves watching dad work on things.
~ Loves his polka dot blanket. He can't sleep without it. Whenever he sees it, he buries his face in it and starts laughing.
~ Loves music. Toys that play music are his favorite.
~ He's pretty much completely bald still. He has a little bit of red hair in the back.
~ Has 8 teeth, and loves to bite mom with them.
~ His 12 month clothes are just starting to get too small for him.
~ Favorite activities are by far riding in his wagon, jumping in his Johnny Jumper (he falls asleep doing this every night and naptime), and swinging in the park swing.
~ Whenever I read the line "I love you all the way to the moon, and back" from his favorite book "Guess How Much I love You", he starts laughing.

Cade, you are the light of our lives! We are so happy that you are a part of our family. We love you more than words can say. Happy birthday little guy.

Easter

We spent this Easter in Louisiana. Russell's Aunt Rosalie passed away the week before, so everyone was there for the funeral. The service was beautiful, and we had a good time with family and friends reminiscing on all of the happy memories that we have of Rosalie. She was a truly beautiful person, and she will be dearly missed. We were happy that we did have the chance to spend Easter with Dan and his family, and Ann and Conrad. Here are a few of the highlights...

 
 
 
 

It's Coming....

Can you believe that Cade is going to be 1 in a couple of weeks?!?! I can't!! Here is the invitation that Russ came up with. I have to say, I think it turned out pretty stinking cute.

My Other Blog

I consider myself to be a cheap woman. It's true. If I can save a buck, great. If I can get it for free, even better. I've started another blog devoted to bargains and giveaways. Check it out at http://mybargainjargon.blogspot.com/

All Tuckered Out

The only way that I can get Cade to sleep lately...

Spring Swingin'

Cade and I are LOVING the warm weather that we've been having the past few days. Utah springs lasts about 5 minutes, so we're trying to take advantage of every second of it! I took Cade to the baby swing at the park for the first time. He LOVED it.

BAD Habits

Cade has picked up a few bad habits in the past few weeks...
like banging the remote control against his head...

and picking his nose...

Where does he learn these kinds of things? Not from mom... I guess that leaves... you guessed it.

How Time Flies...

I can't believe how fast these kiddos grow up!

Cade and Izzy's first date (about 4 weeks old)



Now:


Holding hands already?!




For the life of me, I could not get them both to smile at the same time. Oh well. Cute little stinkers.

9 Months!

Cade turned 9 months old last week! He is...
*17.6 lbs
*26.8 inches
*giving kisses and "fives"
*says 'mama' all of the time
*LOVES his sweet potatoes (his nose and ears are starting to turn yellow from eating them so much... the Dr. told me that if I keep it up, I will turn the bottoms of his feet orange).
*Is not even thinking about crawling/scooting
*starting to stand up holding on to furniture
*has three teeth on bottom and four on top



So, I'm trying to encourage Cade to crawl, so I lined up his favorite puff cereals in front of him... he was so annoyed... he just looked at me like "What the heck, mom? Why do you have to make things so complicated?!"

I'M A NEW WOMAN

I am happy to say that last night, Cade slept from 11:00 pm until 8:30 this morning!!! I don't think that I have had more than 3 hours of sleep at a time in the past 9 months, so a WHOLE night without him waking up?! I feel amazing!! Thanks to everyone for your suggestions! We tried different things every night for about the past two weeks, and hopefully, we've got it figured out now. I started feeding Cade rice cereal at night instead of in the morning, and I also started feeding him formula. I think that he just wasn't getting enough in his tummy to hold him over. Not only is he sleeping better at night, but he's napping better too... he used to never nap for longer than 45 minutes, but for the past 3 DAYS he has taken a 2 hr nap at noon, and a 1 hr nap at about 4.

Let me tell you, it is a GREAT DAY in the Murphy household!!!

Cade's Favorite Things

Two of Cade's favorite activities are 1- poking at my eyes, and 2- pulling out my earrings. Here he managed to get away with both, and he's happy as can be.

My Sweethearts

I'm so lucky to have TWO wonderful guys in my life that I love MORE than ANYTHING!

The Man Way

Russ always watches Cade while I work in the mornings. The other day, I came home and found Cade like this.... I asked Russ what had happened. He said that he couldn't find a clean bottle, so he gave Cade a sippy cup of juice (Cade can't drink out of a sippy cup yet). Russ was working on his computer in a chair next to Cade, and looked down a few minutes later to find Cade holding the sippy cup upside down, watching each drop of juice splash down on his chest. So, Russ cleaned him up by stripping him down and giving him his 'woobie' and a blanket. Apparently this was comfortable for Cade, he fell fast asleep, after kicking off the blanket of course.

Maybe I just need to take a lesson from my husband on getting my baby to sleep... let him sleep naked?!

Help Please!!

So, for the last four days, Cade has gotten into this thing... he doesn't want to take naps all day, and if he does go down, he wakes up 45 minutes later. I put him to bed at 7:30, then he wakes up at 8:15 and doesn't want to go back to sleep until 11. I was thinking that maybe I just needed to get him onto a 1 nap schedule (he has been taking two/day)... so I kept him up all day except for a 1 hr nap. He went to bed at 7:30... and woke up, ready to play at 8. I put him back in bed, and he cries and cries (tearful cries) until I pick him back up. He's grumpy, I'm grumpy... we need help!

Cade's First Word!!

Cade just said Mamma!! Ok, it was more like "ah-ma", but I know what he meant.

8 Months

Cade turned 8 months old yesterday. I can't believe how fast he's growing. We went to the Dr. yesterday, and he is 17 lbs., 7 oz! He is sitting up really well now, is doing a lot better at eating and sleeping (thank goodness), and every day he grows more and more curious about the world around him. He wants to hold/eat everything he sees. He is so full of life. He always has a smile on his face and gets so excited about everything. His favorite things to do are to look at himself in the mirror (he laughs and laughs, and then tries to eat his face in the mirror, it's so cute), and to play with dad's XBox controllers. If he sees a cell phone or laptop, he dives for them, literally. I love him so much. He is such a sweetheart.


I had to put this picture up... Cade always sleeps just like this... with a pacifier, his little teddy bear, holding his blanket with his right hand, and his head jammed up against the crib railing on the upper left corner of his bed. He will not sleep any other way. If I put him to bed on the opposite end of the crib, he manages to scoot over to his favorite spot. He definitely knows what he likes!