I Heart Birthdays

I love making a big deal out of birthdays. I love having a day dedicated to celebrating someone and making them feel extra special all day. I have many great memories from my birthdays over the years. I can remember all of the awesome birthday cakes my mom made for me over the years, my favorite being my Little Mermaid cake for my 6th birthday. I remember my dad checking me out of school on my birthday each year and taking me to lunch. I remember my 17th birthday when I had High Performance Volleyball tryouts in Salt Lake over my birthday weekend so my mom got a hotel room for some of my friends to come up and celebrate with me after tryouts one night. I remember answering the phone at the cardiology office I worked at on my 19th birthday to my mom's entire 6th grade class singing Happy Birthday to me. I have always felt so special and loved when January 25 rolled around thanks to my mom. I try to make just as big of a deal about my kids birthdays. Let's be honest though, when you become a mother, you stop expecting a big hoopla for your own birthday. I was fine having my birthday be like any other Wednesday, but Mason had something else in mind. He planned an entire Heart Themed birthday party for me. On the way to preschool that morning he told my mom all of the big plans he had, so she took him and Brynn to the party store and let them pick out all the things for my party. When she asked him why he thought it should be a Heart party he answered, "Because we all love her." Thanks to Mason's planning and my mom and Scott's help executing his plan, I had the most wonderful birthday party ever. He had the party completely decorated with hearts. Scott even incorporated the hearts into the wonderful hamburgers he made for dinner.

What's a party without games to go along with the theme? Mason planned some heart activities for us like decorating the windows with heart decals (now perfect Valentines decorations) and playing pictionary with heart shaped notepads and heart pens. The party ended with Heart shaped ring pops as the party favors for everyone. The party was a complete success, but the best part was spending it with the people I love most. Brynn helped make the whole day special by saying, "Happy Birthday, Mom!!" every time I walked in the room, and randomly serenading me with the Happy Birthday song. Miles started off my day in the best way possible by giving me lots of sweet smiles.
Scott showered me with love and did thoughtful things for me all day. We took this family picture using the timer on our camera, and the result was the best family picture we have had taken in a long time. It must have been a birthday miracle!

I am pretty happy with everything the last 27 years have given me. Each year gets better and better, so keep em' coming.

Picture Messages

Scott has been out of town on back to back business trips for the last two weeks and we have missed him like crazy while he's been gone. Time zone differences and 14 hour work days make it hard to find a time he can call and talk to the kiddos, so we came up with a fun way for him to keep in touch with them while he's gone by sending picture and text messages back and forth to each other. Some of the messages consisted of Mason taking my phone and just sounding out random words and then sending them to Scott. Most were Mason and Brynn's messages I transcribed for them. It has been fun including Scott in the random and silly things that have happened throughout our day. It has really made it feel like he's not so disconnected and far away from us. Here are some of my favorite messages that we shared.

Mason: Dad, I am riding my scooter with my BYU sunglasses on. Cool, right? Mason: Look, Miles is doing the pledge!! Scott: Look who I met by the pool today.

(*author's note* Mason and Brynn love the old school Chip and Dale cartoons)

Mason: "Cool, Dad is with Alvin and the Chipmunks!"

(Mason is on a big Alvin and the Chipmunks kick, thank you McDonalds)

Brynn: That's Chip and Daddy, where's Dale?

Rachel: Look who fits in his 3 month clothes. Rachel: Just found Brynn asleep on the fireplace. Apparently she did need a nap today. Scott: Mason- Here's a picture of an alligator I saw at the hotel. They have a pond and river with lots of turtles and alligators.

Mason: I love crocodiles and alligators! Stay far away because it might bite you. Scott: Here is a picture of lots of gators and turtles laying on a rock. The other picture is a gator swimming in the water.

Mason: "They are in a cage because alligators eat humans. Turtles eat plants, so they aren't dangerous, but they are in a cage so they don't hit our heads with their shells."

Brynn: Go BYU! Grandpa gave me a BYU basketball and BYU shirt.

Rachel: How do you like my haircut. I cut off 4+ inches but still left it long.

Brynn: Appletore...Baltimore...Whose your friend...Dad!! Ptew!

(Brynn loves to play this game she learned from Chip N Dale)

Miles: Look, Dad, I'm doing pilates! Feel the burn!!!

(Miles was really not happy to be doing tummy time and almost flipped himself over he was so mad)

Mason: Optimus Prime and Rapunzel balloons at Provo Beach Resort on a date with Grandma and Grandpa.

It's been fun, but we can't wait to have Scott home on Monday.

Look Who's Awake

Crazy to think that today is Miles' due date. The doctors weren't kidding when they told me not to expect him to act like my other newborns until now. The last few days he has started waking up and having some actual awake time other than just for eating. Now when he opens his eyes I feel like he is really looking at me. Let the fun begin! Have I mentioned yet that I love having three kids? It just feels right.

Smitten

All of us here in the Murray household are smitten with our little Miles. It's been two short weeks since his arrival, but it only took one look for all of us to fall completely in love with him. There are so many things we love about Miles. We love the way he sleeps so peacefully. He is still trying to catch up on the three weeks he missed out on in the womb and spends the majority of time sleeping. The few precious moments of awake time I get with him each day are special to me, but for now I am happy to watch him peacefully sleep.We love his Mr. Magoo eyes and wrinkly skin that he hasn't grown into yet.
We love his long and skinny arms, legs, fingers, and toes.
We love when he has a slight smile on his face. I like to think he's happy to be here with us.

We love how he looks like a little burrito when he's swaddled up.

We love how he falls asleep after eating with his legs folded across his stomach. I think he might have been squished inside of me that way. I'm not the only one who loves Miles. Mason is a very proud big brother. After meeting Miles in the hospital for the first time, Mason came home and asked to print out some pictures of Miles. He carried them around with him all day and showed them to everyone who asked about his little brother. That night Scott sent me this picture of how our sweet big brother fell asleep. Mason stops whatever he is doing when Miles is awake and gives him his undivided attention. He loves to sing and read to Miles to help him get smart. Brynn has done really well adjusting to having Miles around. She has been so understanding as I haven't been able to lift her for the last two weeks because of my c-section and instead of being carried has been happy to just hold my hand. She likes to help me with diaper changes and bathes, but leaves if Miles starts to cry. Sometimes she just wants to be close to me, though. This is what Miles' 3am feeding has looked like the last three nights.
Brynn has wandered upstairs while I'm feeding Miles, cuddled up on my legs, and fallen back asleep. And yes, she really sleeps with her hands like that all the time. I am so proud of how well she is coping with this big change.
As always, Scott has jumped right in as a fun and loving Daddy. He claims he does much better when they are old enough to play with him, but I think he's a pretty great dad, even to a newborn.
Life is good.
* Aren't those first three pictures amazing!! My talented sister-in-law, Whitney, once again shared her talent with us and took some 1 week pictures of Miles before heading back to Arizona. Thanks Whit!

A New Look for the New Year

Mason loves his new "crunchy hair".