Cruise Pics

There were at least 3 billion photos taken within our group.  Here are some of the highlights from our camera:

I conquered the rock wall

The first two days were SOO windy!!!  Hang on Miranda!!

My inlaws are so fun!!

Hot mother in law!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Michael loves to dance - this is how we welcomed 2013 :-)))

This is our whole group!  From left to right: Dean, Linda, Mckay, Lydia, Derek, Becca, me, Chad, Rachel, Michael, Savanna, Jon, Bruce, Lisa, Miranda, Bryce

Nastiest animals ever.  They were all over the rocks in St. Thomas and Michael was getting way too close to them.

This donkey had real teeth!!

Glad somebody likes to snorkel :-)

My cute SIL Savanna, Rachel, and Jon

Becca rinsing the salt water off after snorkeling

Murdocks

More Murdocks

I can't wait till Cannon learns to snap his dad with towels

Happy 26th Birthday to me!!

Reenacting the zip line

Drinking coconut milk - this is the guy that cut it open for us

Taking a customary indian picture

Big boat!!

Our cousins Miranda and Lydia with Aunt Lisa

Welcome 2013!

My birthday is January 1st so the start of a new year always ushers in a new age and phase for me.  Lucky for me, this year's new age (26!) came with Caribbean sunshine as Michael and I were on the Oasis of the Seas in the Eastern Caribbean.  Ironically enough, we snorkeled on my birthday. 

This may sound silly to you but I am deathly afraid of fish (specifically being touched by them).  And when I say deathly, I mean DEATHLY.  We're talking panic attacks in the middle of the ocean.  Snorkeling and haunted houses actually hold hands at the top of my 'things I never want to participate in' list.  In the past, I have thought it was a good idea to try and conquer fears.  And I still think that conquering can be beneficial in regards to things like public speaking, needles (which I have recently worked hard to move from my 'fear' list to my 'hate, but can handle it' list), hair cuts or other things that will benefit you in the long run.  Fish, though?  Why get over fish?  That's like feeling the need to get over not liking liver or something; it's always a personal choice to jump in a large body of water.

Nonetheless, the whole family wanted to go snorkeling in St. Thomas.  The boat was scheduled to stop twice.  The first time to see turtles and the second to see sting rays.  I am not sure who reads 'swim with STING rays' and thinks Steve Irwin was probably just kidding but that adventure was not even a second thought on my radar.  Turtles though?  Turtles are so sweet and beautiful and... SLOW!!  When we got to the turtle bay I waited for everyone to leave, then I put on a mask.  I'm sure the view was great as I tried to stick my face in the water off the back of the boat without having to get all the way in.  I stayed back there for a good 5 minutes and somehow didn't see a single fish!  When Michael saw me testing the waters he came back and stood by as I jumped in and swam a lap around the boat.  In the process we saw a beautiful giant sea turtle!!  I watched it grazing on the ocean floor for a minute then followed it as it came up for air.  It was so magical!  We swam a little further from the boat and saw a few more turtles before our time was up and the captain called us back to the boat.  As we neared the boat I saw my first school of fish, almost drowned my husband, then pushed a seven year old boy off the step ladder to get back in the boat.  His dad gave me a dirty look but I flashed him one of those beautiful runny-maskara/I-think-I-might-die smiles and I think he forgave me.

What have I learned from this experience? 
A. I am ok with being afraid of fish for the rest of my life if I can still swim with the turtles every once in a while.  Jacques Cousteau and I can always talk about the art of frying an egg or something in the afterlife...

B. There will be no fish in my 2013 resolutions!  I love resolutions.  They are like goals that nobody expects you to accomplish.  Last year I read an article that said that a person is least likely to reach a goal if it is made in the month of January.  Either way, I love making them and I often times do accomplish them (cheers to those of us that accomplished all that we set out to do in 2012!!)!  Here is what I have resolved to do this year:

1. Pay off my car.  We bought my cute Honda CRV in June of 2012 and paying it off will make us debt free.
2. Have FUN with Cannon.  In my opinion, motherhood is an awesome excuse/reason to do fun things every single day.  As much as I enjoyed working, it is AWESOME to spend my days swimming at the pool, taking pictures, going on walks, dancing, going to the library, playing with my baby, going to the park or dog park, etc.  It's great that all I have to do is change stinky diapers, do laundry, clean the house and cook to pay for my extravagant lifestyle!  I have actually gotten to a place where I really like most of those things!  I want to make sure I take advantage of all of the FUN that we can.
3. Restrict my baby voice back to only using it with the baby.  As much as my 28-year-old husband wants me to pretend to be Elmo as we talk about our mortgage...
4. Be an awesome co-captain.  Believe it or not, sometimes Michael and I have different opinions.  I want to work on taking more of a team approach than siding...  Team Murdock always takes the cake anyway ;-)

Oh Cannonbaum! Oh Cannonbaum!

cannon, 9 months

My Sweet Cannonbaum!

I am just overflowing with love for you today and always!  You are excited, energetic, curious and loving.  How could I ask for anything more!?  Today at the doctor you weighed in at 19lb 15oz, putting you in the 50th percentile.  You were 29.5 inches tall, in the 80th percentile, and had a head circumference of 46.5cm, which of course puts you off the charts.  Through the whole appointment you giggled and flashed your brand new pearly whites, having the whole office in love with you by the time we left... And if you didn't catch that - yes!  You finally have TEETH!  Your bottom two teeth both came in when you were 8.5 months old and caused quite the disruption to your typically chipper demeanor for about four days.  When you woke up four times one night and couldn't shake your stuffy nose for about two weeks I knew something was up.  Then one morning I stuck my finger in your mouth and you bit me!  I thought for sure I would be so sad for teeth to barge in and taint that charming gummy smile but I have fallen for them just like I have fallen for the rest of you.

If it's not the teeth, maybe it is the green eyes but something is transforming you into a little miniature version of your sweet daddy.  Your nose is just like his, your hair is growing in (so blonde and fuzzy!!), and you have a little more meat on your bones these days!  I am most grateful for that extra padding you are now carrying around because you seem to have taken it upon yourself to discover anything and everything that you could possibly hurt yourself on.  You drew blood for the first time after loosing your balance and hitting your eyebrow on the corner of a friend's coffee table; it broke my heart.  You also added several beautifully-colored bruises to your head from falls against the wood floor in our entry way, the dish washer, the washing machine, the bath tub and many more.

Even with all of these injuries, however, you are fearless and have started to really understand how to balance your weight and tuck-and-roll to fall.  Your favorite things to climb up on are bath tubs, toilets, the dish washer, your crib railing, and the entertainment system.  When you pull up on the entertainment system you instantly target any remotes in sight, without neglecting to turn the Play Station (that is only for watching movies) on and off several times.

Once you are standing up, your eye level becomes higher and you can't help but cruise around to visit any eligible piece of furniture in the room.  If there is limited furniture you are happy to cruise along the walls and windows to get where you want to go.  You are a very confident traveler and love to enjoy life on every level, from laying to kneeling to cruising around.  Your favorite method of travel, however, is definitely crawling.  You are an INCREDIBLE crawler, darting from one room to another every time I turn my back.  Today I walked into the kitchen and watched you do sprints from one end of the room to the other for a long time.  I would not be surprised if you had a stopwatch hidden somewhere: you were working so hard!  My favorite thing to watch is when you are crawling around and something far away peaks your interest.  Immediately you transform from baby-on-the-move to TURBO SPEED by bowing your arms a little bit more to get closer to the ground, tucking your chin to your chest, and BLASTING OFF.  It is a crack up.

Another side to your all-boy persona is how you play.  You and Tank have started to play tug of war and a very simple version of fetch.  You are getting really good at throwing the ball, but it still only rolls a couple of feet at a time so you often end up chasing it yourself while the dog watches.  We are paying close attention to hand dominance because Daddy and Kimpa are really excited for your future career as a left-handed pitcher.  If Tank doesn't want to play you chase him around anyway, hoping that he will change his mind.  When he does not change his mind it is not uncommon for you to back him into his cage, close the door, and bang on the top of it until he gets really mad.  At this point you like to open the door and get your face as close to his growling snout as possible.  I thank the Lord every day that Tank is not a biter but this is where I intervene.

When Tank is not available for your entertainment you love to play with matchbox cars.  You are more than happy to borrow them from anyone and can sit and occupy yourself with a bucket of cars for very long spans of time.  Needless to say, Santa has been informed.  This fascination with cars (and stealing them from other children) has made you several friends.  You play pretty well with other kids, though you are known to take what is not yours or hit others with whatever hard toy you have at the time.  Last week we were at a church activity and Daddy took you into the nursery to play with the other babies.  He watched you steal from and pummel several little boys around your age, correcting you when necessary.  When the first and only little girl (about two years old, mind you) entered the scene, however, you crawled right over to her and offered her your toy with a smile on your face.  Oh dear... what have I gotten myself into? 

Lucky for me, the sweetness does not end with pretty little girls.  You have started giving
things away freely to your parents, friends, and Tank.  You also love to hold Mommy's hands.  When I have you on your changing table, you are constantly stopping me from getting you dressed or putting on a new diaper just to hold my hand.  Sometimes when we drive you yell and yell until I put my free hand back so that you can hold it while we drive.  You love to hold my hand while you eat, sleep, or while I carry you around.  I absolutely love it.

This month you have also taken up waving, though very selectively.  You wear size three diapers during the day and size four's at night because you fill them up so well.  You have also advanced from a baby car seat to a reversible toddler seat that you will sit in until you are 40 pounds!  Though that landmark may seem pretty far off, your eating schedule begs to differ.  You typically drink about 30 oz of formula every day, have two pureed meals, and a finger-food snack.  You like everything but avocado, and carrots make you puke.  Some of your recent favorite snacks are hummus and green juice.

Cannon, you bring light everywhere you go.  Your energy and laughter are infectious.  Sometimes when you wake up particularly early I find myself confused in the grogginess of the morning, and then I open your bedroom door and your smile clears the fog.  I can't imagine anything more rewarding than being your mother and I feel so lucky to spend my days with you.  You are my heart.

Forever and Always,

Mommy

Cannon Ball is 8 Months!

cannon, 8 months

My Sweet Can Can,

I have just enjoyed every minute with you this past month!  I think this is the month that you have changed the most so far and it is thrilling to stand back and watch.  You are officially a champion crawler and you are determined to get into everything that is reachable by your chubby little fingers.  Your favorite things to grab are Mommy's hair, cords, and dog food.  You also like to play with cars, balls, Tank, and kitchen supplies.

We spent the first two weeks of November visiting your two sets of Californian grandparents and they could not get enough of your cute little smile.  When we visited Irvine you gave your first ever kiss to Momo (Grandma Rachel)!  Chad and I tried to get kisses but Momo was your only true love for a couple of days.  Eventually the kisses started coming our way too but it was so cute how particular you were to only kiss Momo at first.  Grandpa Chad loved to spend time with you balancing on a soccer ball in the living room and it was with him that you pulled yourself up to standing for the first time unassisted.  Ever since then I cannot hold you down.  You crawl like a mad man, stop, and pop up along side anything you can grab hold of.  I love to watch those little eyes and nose appear over couch cushions, dish washers and coffee tables; and you are SO proud of yourself every time.  While there we also met Navy Bishop and Ava Demasters.  Just so you know baby, these are good names to remember in about 15 years and 4 months...  Mommy approves.

After Irvine we traveled up north where Kimpa loved lifting you up to grab the chains on the ceiling fan and taking you on walks outside to talk to you about the leaves, doggies, turkeys and everything else in their neighborhood.  One of my favorite things to watch was when we set you down outside and you crawled onto the concrete.  Kimpa and I were watching you, trying to figure out what you were doing when we spotted a little ant crawling towards you.  You watched it until it got close then slammed your hand down on the cement and smeared it as far as an ant will smear.  You did this several times in a row... oh dear, you are SUCH a boy.  Grandma played with you on the floor to music for hours, eventually leading you to learn how to dance!  You love to bob your little head back and forth when you hear a fun beat and get especially excited when songs have hand motions like the Hokey Pokey and the Hand Jive.  You laugh so hard when people dance, jump, growl or make funny faces at you.  Your toothless little smile has friends and strangers all over the place grinning ear to ear.

While visiting Kimpa and Grandma Cheryl you also won the hearts of Grandma Lee, Dave and Joycie.  We took you over to Grandma Lee's house in your tiger costume on Halloween and she could not stop laughing because you just brought her "so much joy," as she says.  As Grandma giggled, Dave crawled around with you, baby proofing and wrestling as he went.  You loved Uncle Dave instantly and tended to gravitate to him whenever he was around.  We have some darling pictures of the two of you playing together on the floor with your whiskers painted on your cheeks.  Joyce spent her Cannon time pushing the stroller and making a mess out of you!  She LOVED to spoon-feed you and enjoyed letting you smear all of the food in your mouth into your hair, stroller, face and clothes.  It warmed my heart to watch you take your place among so many people that I love.

In general, you are a VERY happy baby.  You make it known when you are hungry, which is now about every 4 hours for a bottle and twice daily for solid foods like oatmeal and pureed fruits and veggies.  You do not like avacado in any form but are willing to take anything else we have given you so far.  Your favorite things are pureed bananas, gumming big chunks of apple, and drinking water from a glass.  Your naps are on more of a schedule now, which makes both of us very happy.  You generally wake up around 7am, go down for a nap around 9am, sleep for about two hours, eat some oatmeal, take a bath, play for a bit, then go down for your second nap.  Your afternoon nap normally ends around 2 or 3 and you generally stay up from then until bedtime at 7/7:30.  You are a great sleeper.  If we wait too long to put you down or you are upset for any other reason you talk like crazy.  Normally you are just full of baba's these days but when you're mad there is a whole new slew of consonants that surface.

As far as October activities go, we had a whole lot of Halloween fun.  Grandma Cheryl made you, Daddy, and I Three Amigos costumes that we wore to Daddy's work Halloween party and our ward's Trunk or Treat.  Everyone loved how cute you were in your little ruffled shirt and sombrero!  We also flaunted your adorableness around the local pumpkin patch and some of Daddy's other friends in a ducky costume that your cousin Zachy wore when he was your size.  We picked out our carving pumpkin at the Stew Leonard's grocery store here in Danbury and ended up getting stuck in the mud on a hay ride and finding out that you are deathly afraid of cows.  You have done great with every other type of animal at the petting zoo, puppy store, and zoo but when we got to the cows you were NOT a happy camper...  Mommy thinks it is your first plea to stay a vegetarian but Daddy has other plans.  You also have strong opinions now about who is holding you or playing with you and are not afraid to choose favorites.  Nothing makes me feel more loved than to see those little arms straining in my direction.

Cannon, thank you for your laughter and your INCREDIBLE amount of energy.  You have me smiling all day and sleeping hard every night.  You are such a perfect little boy.

All of my Heart,

Mom

The Murdocks Lately

I haven't been super great at posting our day to day happenings.  They mostly revolve around fun things like work, grocery shopping, play dates, laundry, playing with the baby, visiting the puppy store, craft nights, book club etc.  But they have also involved some fun things like having Kimpa come to visit; taking an online class taught by the professional organizer from Hoarders, Geralin Thomas; training for and running mini-races; leaf peeping (creepy east coast way of saying 'looking at fall leaves'); baby photo shoots; trips to NYC and pumpkin patches.  Here are pictures to prove it all:

family pictures at Tarrywile Park

mini photo shoot for Grandparents' Day

KIMPA CAME TO VISIT!!  This is the carousel in the mall

spending some time with Kimpa before church

Cannon LOVES the puppy store

NY Mets game

baseball with Daddy!  thanks for the tickets Papa!

tug of war

this boy LOVES the grass and dirt

family appreciation day!

sharon dropped her Kohls coupon into the reservoir and made me fish it out... with a fishing pole and duct tape

oh sharon...  what you'll -do- make your friends do for a bargain

walking 1/3 of the brooklyn bridge

bahaha!

happy baby

sleepy baby

at the top of the empire state building

view from the top

pumpkin patch

daddy and ducky

sharon and I wished we would've gone to jr. high together

lucky ducky!

baby in the leaves

michael's first race!

Happy Seven Months My Little Can-dy Corn!

cannon, seven months

My Dear Little Can-dy Corn,

Happy first Halloween!  You went up in your weight percentile by a touch this month, now weighing 17lb 5oz and in the 35th percentile, rather than the 25th you have always been in before!  I think Daddy has been sneaking you Halloween candy.  You are still in the 75th for height at 28 inches, and the 95+ for head circumference.  Today the nurse told me having a large head means you are smart and I think she is right.  Another theory I am choosing to accept is that the longer your teeth take to come in, the stronger they will be!

Your lack of teeth has not hindered you from flashing that precious smile everywhere we go.  You also love to laugh and are developing your own little sense of humor and laugh at things when you think they're funny, not just when we tickle you.  The funniest things around are Tank and Daddy.  Whenever you see Tank you either laugh or chase him as fast as you can.  Your preferred method of transportation is a speedy little army crawl, from which you just developed your first little boy wound: a rug burn!  I was pretty excited it was a rug burn and not something requiring stitches.  You will do some regular crawling when your motivation is not time sensitive but army crawling is more common.  You have also done a good deal of amateur cruising (holding onto things and walking) as well.  When I stand you up in your crib you can hold onto the side rail and walk back and forth the length of the crib, switching arms at each end all on your own.  You can also transfer from holding onto the couch to the coffee table and walking slowly along those pieces of furniture.  You cannot pull yourself up to standing yet and that seems to be the biggest road block on your mission to move.

When you are not chasing the dog or doing laps around the house it is very common to find you at my feet, ramming your head into my ankles over and over to let me know that you want to be picked up.  If I don't pick you up at this point, you pull on my pant legs, yell, and continue ramming.  I think you are brilliant for coming up for another use for your blessing of a head; Daddy just laughs.  It is much easier to hold you now that you can support yourself a bit and are able to sit on my hip pretty well.  We do all sorts of chores together from making dinner to picking up dog poop: there you are on Mama's hip.  While we are a great team you have also started to give in to your curiosity a bit and play by yourself on the ground every so often.  It is fun to smile at you while I am in the kitchen.  You smile back and slide around on the kitchen floor to show that you are helping.

You help in lots of other ways now too!  You can hold your own bottle while you eat, though you don't really understand why you can't drink if you flip onto your tummy.  You also help me to dress you.  I guess I never thought about you starting to understand the rhythm of getting dressed but now when I slip a shirt over your head you put your little right hand in a fist and fish for the sleeve.  Once the right one is through, the left one does the same thing.  When I am putting on your pants I tell you 'straight!' and you straighten your left leg; the right one is not quite there yet.  To me, this is amazing.  Even if you do whine the whole time (you HATE putting clothes on), you've got the routine down!

Your whining is getting less and less these days.  I remember when you were littler and I would give Daddy high fives on the days you didn't cry your little eyes out at some point.  Now when you whine I just pop your binki in your mouth and the everything is better.  You need your binki less than you used to now, probably because you have so much to say.  You finally said 'dada', which Daddy has proclaimed to be your first word even though you said 'mama' and 'baba' last month.   I love to listen to you babble, spit and blow bubbles as you scoot all around town.  You have also mastered the art of fake coughing, which you think is HILARIOUS when repeated.  The yelling that I used to love has turned more into what I call dinosaur noises.  Just imagine what you think a dinosaur would sound like, turn up the volume to MAX and those are your favorite sounds; they come in many different species'.  These noises are currently working great to recruit new friends but I wonder how this talent will carry over into your older years.  Male cheerleader?  Politician?

Your hobbies and interests have stayed pretty consistent to this point.  You still love to go to the library to read with the other kids, you love spending time outside no matter the weather, and you LOVE going to the puppy store (the workers ADORE you).  Your favorite toys are my rubber cell phone case, my keys, cords, and the plush football that was given to you by your future girlfriend Ava Demasters.

In honor of the season, Daddy and I took you to the pumpkin patch with Raphael and Sharon Tavares recently and you picked out your first pumpkin!  We dressed you up in a ducky costume and you looked SO CUTE!!  We got some PERFECT pictures that you will most definitely hate me for later but that is ok.  The Murdock family will be redeeming ourselves as The Three Amigos at the rest of our Halloween festivities in costumes made by Grandma Cheryl and Kimpa.  I can't wait to see you in your little sombrero!  Everything you do these days puts a smile on my face.  You are a joy of a baby and I love spending time with you.

I love you forever,

Mama

Fall

Is it me or is there a lot more TALK about the rise of fall this year??  I was born in California and moved to Vegas when I was 11.  I remember trying to decide my favorite season as a little girl.  Since the only differences between winter and summer were school and holidays I chose winter because I have a January birthday and love Christmas presents.

After Vegas I moved to Utah and now to Connecticut.  The picture of the snowflake by my favorite season now makes sense to me and I have decided to change my favorite season to summer... though this whole fall thing is really catching my attention!  There are trees EVERYWHERE here (it helps that we live on a nature reserve) and they are all changing colors before my eyes.  I have started running in the mornings with a friend of mine and the crisp air feels so CLEAN!  How long does this last before the-stuff-that-shall-not-be-named starts to fall?  I hope forever.

happy fall from my balcony