back to work

back to work.....money making work that is. this is very bitter sweet for me. during the first 6 weeks of donovan i would have paid someone to let me go back to work, but now that we are getting to know each other better i find myself not so excited about re-entering the rat race. it is not that i am worried about him i just find it hard to concentrate on anything other than my family right now....which makes counseling tough.

the sweet side of going back to work is our childcare set-up. my mom, gram, comes to charlotte on tuesday mornings and keeps donovan tuesday evening and wednesday until dan gets home. there are many great things about this. first off i am working a modified schedule which means i am not gone all day so i am able to hang out with donovan and mama. second, i come home from work to a home cooked meal on the table, and i get to hang out with mama and dan. third, granny has also come with mama to visit. last off it is probably nice for dan to see me dressed in something other than gym shorts with hair and make-up done....you know to remind him i can be hot.

although i think the drive is a bit much for mama to drive weekly i am so grateful for the opportunity.

grandaddy comes to town

dan and i usually go to burnsville for father's day to spend the weekend with daddy, but this year daddy came to us monday after father's day to spend the day with donovan....and i guess me :) daddy and i realized that we had probably never spent a whole day together just us so it was a pretty special day. daddy only has a couple of weeks left of the career chapter of his life so we are looking forward to open opportunity for hanging out on weekdays just because we can.

i love watching both he and mama enjoy donovan so the day was great. we did all the normal daily routine things, but it was like showing off for me because i did it all with a baby.....which makes me feel like superwoman. i may be spoiled, but daily routine is hard with a baby. so we had lunch, went to the store to get dinner, gave donovan a bath, kept donovan happy (he was still suffering from an upset stomach) and cooked dinner. we were able to have dinner with dan after work and then daddy had to go home. we sent him up the mountain with a cup of starbucks and hopes for him to come again soon.

one of the things i enjoy most about motherhood is life being so simple....let me explain. dan and i have a history of having a packed life with little time to just enjoy the daily routines and tasks. since donovan i spend my days trying to keep the house livable and keeping us fed and clean. it may sound boring...and it may get boring in the future....but for now it is simple and good.

father's day

we celebrated our first father's day at the murphy house. we have a history of half way celebrating since we treat buck like our first born, but this year was a bit more special. donovan and i spent the week before shopping for dad. donovan can make only one errand at a time before meltdown hits so preparing our gifts took some time. donovan's gift to dad was some framed pics. we have a picture of dan's father holding dan at 6 weeks old and it is amazing how much donovan looks like baby dan, and how much adult dan looks like his father did. we copied that pic with some other good ones of dan and donovan (i tried to scan and post but i cannot get it any bigger than the rediculously small pic in the corner). i gave him a new grill pan......and am not sure if that was me being selfish or not :)

saturday we hit the farmer's market early to get our dinner for that night and to experiment with donovan being there for the first time. dan had an early tee-time with some friends he has not seen in a while, and i had a plan to clean the house so we could relax on sunday. since donovan i feel like everyday is a game of tetris. i have in my mind the moves i would like to make for the day, but donovan often has other plans which leaves me trying to make the pieces fit. well saturday was one of those days that i won the game. by the time dan got home dinner was ready to roll, donovan was clean fed and ready for bed, the house was clean, and i was showered.....i was ready to accept the mother/wife award. dan and i were able to put donovan to bed and enjoy dinner on the deck which is something we have not done since last summer. then sunday came....



i had all sorts of plans for the day, but donovan and i were not on the same page. donovan has a sensitive stomach which means often he gets stomach aches which leads to long spit-up covered days for his parents....and sunday was one of those days. dan and i ended the day eating dinner at 9:00pm unshowered with the house being a wreck again....oh well.



all in all i think dan's first father's day was a hit. i am so proud of dan for the father he is and so excited to experience this next step of parenthood with him. he is a good strong player for the murphy team to have :)

welcome clara noel hamrick

one family was missing from our get together in greensboro due to erica being due in early july. it appears that they made a good decision to stay home because clara was born 6/15/10 ....3 weeks early! donovan cannot wait to meet clara...his newest cousin. and we cannot wait to see benjamin, clara and donovan together.

meeting the family

donovan has not met the entire family yet, but he has met some pretty important people. from the first few hours of entering the world he started meeting everyone beginning with the my side of the family. his grandparents on that side welcomed him as their first grandchild...and great grandchild. he also met his auntie lisa and uncle gordon within those first few days. we were so proud to be able to show him off so quickly, and to be able to introduce a first grandchild into the family. my mother has not yet chosen a name for herself so we refer to her as mrs. orr until the decision has been made....so mrs. orr came home with us from the hospital.....thank goodness. i was expecting to want to be alone with dan and donovan when being discharged from the hospital, but after a long hospital stay and a c-section i was so grateful to have my mom home with me. she stayed with us a week and helped us with night feedings, cooking, cleaning, holding, changing and helping to calm me when i found myself getting overwhelmed. when i became a mother i realized i see my mother in a whole new light. being a mother is hard and wonderful and intense and now i know what that feels like.


ten days into donovan's life, pops and bammy made a trip all the way from florida to meet their 14th grandchild. being the 14th in the family seems the excitement would be ho hum by now, but i was amazed at how much it felt like we were introducing their first grandchild as well.....obviously being a grandparent....again...... never gets old. pops and bammy came prepared to relieve us in anyway they could....cooking, cleaning, feeding, diaper changing, and babysitting while dan and i got to take a few walks together. we also got another visit from pops and bammy when donovan was 6 weeks old. yet again they came prepared to feed, diaper change, and babysit while dan and i got to go have a dinner together.



grandpa and grandma murphy came to visit when donovan was 3 weeks old. this week was when donovan decided to "wake up"....to put a positive spin on it. donovan was diagnosed that week with reflux and a milk allergy which obviously made him very uncomfortable. there was a lot of screaming that week, and the grandparents were troopers to help get us through. just in time for the grandparents to leave donovan began feeling better so we were able to get a few shots of him smiling.


brian, donovan's oldest cousin on dan's side, made an impromptu stop on his way back to ny. he was a trooper to hold the little guy while i got some pictures, and to put up with some morning fussiness. i think he is a natural!



this past weekend we made a trip with donovan to greensboro to meet the orr side of the family. due to weather this past christmas we were not able to get together so this was our christmas in june! donovan got to meet his great grandparents which is way cool to have great grandparents on both sides! he also met his great aunts and uncles, scott and susan and judy and terry, and cousins...hannah, jonathan, noah, john, ellen, molly, riley, and he was most excited about cousin benjamin who is 4 months old. they made plans to be more mobile next time they see each other.


dan and i are so lucky to have so many people in our lives to help welcome donovan...as well as to help us to adjust to parenthood. so thank you to you all......and we look forward to showing off donovan to the rest of the family very soon!

our new chapter

dan and i are 7 weeks into being new parents to our son, donovan arnie murphy, and i have realized how much goes on in my day that i want to share. i am just now feeling like my head is above water and i am able to begin sharing our journey. what a few months ago would have been day to day stuff now seems much more special. i find myself documenting donovan's "firsts" with pictures and journals, but i have realized that these "firsts" may be enjoyed by others (or just grandparents) so i am breaking down and entering the world of blog to share our simple joys with the world...well really just friends and family. so much has happened already in our family soi will have to do some backtracking to bring everyone up to date. i would imagine that most of the info you find will be about donovan, but we will also use the blog to talk about the goings and comings of our whole family. so enjoy us enjoying the ride into our new chapter! and speaking of firsts...this is donovan's first car ride home!