Rhonda and the Girls

The girls had a great time with Rhonda while she was up for Canton’s birthday.  Adleigh took a bit to warm up, but was letting Rhonda hold her soon enough.  Liberty enjoyed having Rhonda all to herself! She can’t wait for Rhonda to come back in a few weeks! 🙂

Adleigh is 20 Months!

Adleigh continues to grow and amaze us! She’s so stinking cute and funny, we just love her!

She is running, jumping, and laughing all over the place!  She can jump like a master and loves running around to keep up with her big brother and sister.

Adleigh is doing a great job feeding herself, wanting to brush her teeth, and dressing part of herself. She loves taking care of her baby dolls and her favorite thing to do is dance with Sophia.

We got a little people princess castle that she and liberty will play with together.  Liberty is Ariel and Adleigh us Belle, luckily they get along pretty well for the most part. Adleigh has had A lot of practice saying “please”.

She has pretty much all of her teeth, minus the canines and her hair continues to be crazy 🙂

She still loves green beans, spaghetti, and yogurt. She’s added a few words but mostly still just yells, that’s life with three I guess 🙂 🙂

She makes a laugh every day and we can’t imagine our lives without her!
Height: 23.1 pounds

Weight: inches

 

Squid Costume 

Canton continues to enjoy creating with the sewing machine. With dad’s help they made a squid costume together!

We went to the Virginia Institute of Marine science open house yesterday. All the kiddos had a good time making crafts and checking out the exhibits. Canton won the grand prize in the costume contest! He spent his $50 gift shop prize on many stuffed animals, he even got one for Liberty.

Wonder what he will make next? Thanks for all the help dad!!

 

To Canton As You Turn 8

May 13, 2009–the day our lives forever changed

Age 1

Age 2

Age 3

Age 4

Age 5

Age 6

Age 7

Last Day Being 7:

Dear Canton,

EIGHT?!?  How did that happen?  You are officially a kid now, not a big little kid, but a straight up kid. I feel like now we are raising you for the big moments of your teen years and the adult you will be, but I will always miss the little version of you.

You started our little Murphy Family!  This past year we have watched you grow taller, grow braver, lose teeth, gain new interests, and take on the challenges of the world.

You started your year still loving Mythbusters, astronomy,  and Star Wars, but your love of marine biology and art has blossomed.  You moved from T-ball to machine pitch and took up interest in sewing, even making your own whale stuffed animal!  My heart melts when I watch you do something you love.

One thing that hasn’t changed, how much you love family, especially your sisters.  Adleigh has been all over the place this year, she’s a mover and a shaker, but you have been right along side her, encouraging her and watching out for her.  You entertain and teach Liberty and have had many great adventures together!  When we moved here your old first grade class made you a book and the constant theme throughout (besides how much they would miss their cool friend) is how much you love your family.  You are not immune to sibling squabbles, but there is no doubting how much you love your sisters.  May you always carry that love and priority in your heart.  Family first!

Always nurture kindness.  You are a sensitive soul.  You love deeply, feel deeply, and hurt deeply.  Protect your heart but treat others kindly.  I love how you will start up a conversation with anyone.  Continue to see the best in people, share what you have and what you know, and stand up for the little guy (make “good trouble”).

Follow your Passion.  One of my favorite things about you is how you laugh with your whole face.  You also can spend hours reading or making creations on subjects that are important to you (marine biology).  Since you were a baby sleep has never been important to you, you are always going 186,000 miles per second (see what I did there 🙂 ). May you always live with the same zest.

We joke sometimes how Liberty, maybe even Adleigh, will move out before you do, and how you will live next door to us when you grow up, but I agree with you; I want to live with you forever too.

The tides are turning, I can feel it.  I love when you come up and give me a hug when I’m not expecting it.  You still ask to snuggle at night and sing our song, thankfully you haven’t retreated to your room slamming the door (yet).  You still spend most of your time downstairs with us, but you are going to the office alone to work more and more, always know we will be here for you, even if you don’t want to be in the same room as us.

It is my honor to be your mom and I’m so glad that I have had to chance to help shape you from a sweet and inquisitive baby to the young man you are becoming. Even if I don’t get to hold your hand as much anymore, you will always hold my heart in your hand, no matter how big it gets.

Adleigh is 18 Months!

So my baby is now one and a half?!?!

Adleigh Sue is a baby no longer!  She feeds herself, tries to escape her crib, and pretty much wants to exert her independence however she can!

Eating wise, she has all 8 of the front teeth and is working on the back ones.  She still isn’t a huge fan of solids–spaghetti, green beans, bananas, and a recent discovery–Chick Fil A nuggets!

Liberty was potty trained at this point.  Adleigh isn’t too interested yet, but I’m sure it won’t be soon.

She has finally started to talk a lot more!  She loves to say “Nanny” in the morning with the phone and facetime her namesake.  She can say “Rha Rha”, “Pap”, “GG”, and Ben!  She can say lots of animal sounds, as well as baby, book, mermaid, dog, and she’s trying hard to say Canton and Liberty, but those are pretty hard!  She has the standard ones down too (hi, bye bye, etc)

Adleigh loves to dance with her Sophia doll, play “This Little Piggie”, sing “Itzy Bitzy”, read books, chase Canton and Liberty, and be outside.  This girl climbed up Canton’s bike yesterday trying to ride it!!  She can easily conquer most slides and has climbed the rungs to the monkey bars as I sprint to catch her!  I can’t be far from her outside!  She always finds something to get into—climbing, eating dirt, you name it.

I love her smile when I go in and pick her up out of her crib in the morning.  So happy to greet the day and explore the world!

Height: 32 inches

Weight: 23.4 lbs

 

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