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Sunday, May 30, 2010

Beach Day

You have to love New England weather, I love when people talk about our four seasons… Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. As a New Englander my whole life I am not familiar with those four seasons, yup we have four seasons, Cold, Wicked Cold, Hot, and  FREAKING HOT. 

So Spring is here and we are having a heat wave…feels more like August than May.  High 90’s all week ( I know wasn’t it snowing last week) So we headed to the beach.  Ever since I was a child I loved the beach…my mom loves to tell the story of when I was three years old and their was a storm headed our way, and we were at the beach and the waves were wicked and she couldn’t get me out of the water.  I was conquering the waves. As a teen I would spend all my free time from May-September at the beach! When I was pregnant, nothing felt better than floating around in the cool frigid water.

Well I am sad to say, I don’t think my kids got my beach gene, neither one of them seem to love it, they really tolerate it at best.

So I have to wonder why we do it?? Let me tell you the beach is no longer relaxing for me or Mike.  I mean we have to pack up our life…you never know what you might need. (Although, I do wonder why we bother to pack our books!) Then we have to pack the car…unpack the car and carry it all to the beach… to the perfect spot, you know the spot, not too close to the water, not too far from the water, close enough to the bathroom, not near the rowdy teenagers tossing the football, cursing and smoking, you know the spot.  Do you know how long it takes to get to that spot pulling a wagon in the hot sand with two babes, cooler, chairs etc. etc.

Have you ever watched the show “Yes, Dear” the opening credits of them going to the beach… that  is us. EXACTLY!

But, we do it for no other reason, but the beach pictures are the best!! I figure if I keep dragging them to the beach, maybe they will learn to love it as much as their mama!

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Favorite GIVEAWAY #3

The third giveaway in Amiee’s Favorite things is a box of Boogie Wipes!

I am a huge fan of Boogie wipes, they make cleaning the babe’s boogers so much easier!  They are gentler on their little noses, smell yummy, and have saline in them. Giving them away now for the inevitable summer colds that are headed our way!!

How do you enter?!

1. You may leave a comment on the post with the prize you would like to win, Its important you comment on the actual post with the prize not a post from two weeks ago. Worth 1 entry

2. You can Facebookabout this contest, linking to my blog, and then leave another comment here saying "I Facebooked!" leaving the link to the Facebook update. Worth 2 entries

3. You can blog about this contest, link to my blog, and leave yet another comment saying "I blogged about it," leaving the blog link. Worth 3 Entries

You have the opportunity to enter each Giveaway 6 times!

This giveaway is open to US Resident Only! Winners will be announced then after having been selected via Random Org and will notified by e-mail (if available) and I blog the winner. Once I announce the winner, you will have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

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We have a Winner!!!

Congratulations Lindsay you are the winner of Prize 2 of Amiee’s Favorite Things Giveaway!!

Lindsay please contact me at: Amieemurphy@comcast.net with your mailing info!

Thanks off to post Give Away #3!

This is so fun!!!

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Saturday, May 29, 2010

Matter Of Fact

I wonder when it happend…I wonder where I went from losing it every time I uttered the words “significant heart defect” to just saying it as a matter of fact.

Mike and I were chatting with Kate’s cardiologist and we were calculating how long ago we met him. Dr. Marx has been a part of our life for almost three years. We met when I was 18 weeks pregnant with Kathryn.

Oh, what a scary time that was. I remember the day we learned of her special heart, I was so excited to be going to have our “big” ultrasound, hoping for some great profile shots and most of all finding out if our little miracle baby was a girl or boy. (All the while secretly hoping for a girl) Our lives were FOREVER changed that day… I aged about 10 years in 10 minutes.

We saw Dr. Marx quite a bit throughout the rest of my pregnancy, he was always kind, honest, understanding and positive.

I remember having to tell our family, friends and co workers. “No, we didn’t get to find out if Baby Murphy is a boy or girl, but we do know that there is something significantly wrong with his/her heart.” I couldn’t talk about Kate’s heart without crying, sometimes I still can’t.

But, somewhere a long the way I accepted it… I chose to embrace it. There was nothing I could/can do to change Kate’s cardiac status. What I can do, is live life and try not to dwell on Kate’s defected special heart.

I do wonder when the first time was that I was able to talk about Kate’s heart and not get upset. It doesn’t really matter, I’m glad I made it to this point.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Favorite GIVEAWAY #2

The second giveaway in Amiee’s Favorite things is a Glue Glider Pro!! I love it for many reasons:

1. It’s Pink and Green My two FAVORITE colors!

2. It’s so easy to use!! It’s the one tape runner that I can refill without my husbands assistance!

3.  It’s a popular new tool in the scrapbook/paper crafting world

How do you enter?!

1. You may leave a comment on the post with the prize you would like to win, Its important you comment on the actual post with the prize not a post from two weeks ago. Worth 1 entry


2. You can Facebookabout this contest, linking to my blog, and then leave another comment here saying "I Facebooked!" leaving the link to the Facebook update. Worth 2 entries


3. You can blog about this contest, link to my blog, and leave yet another comment saying "I blogged about it," leaving the blog link. Worth 3 Entries

You have the opportunity to enter each Giveaway 6 times!

This giveaway is open to US Resident Only! Winners will be announced then after having been selected via Random Org and will notified by e-mail (if available) and I blog the winner. Once I announce the winner, you will have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

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A Day at Children’s Continued

2:30PPM

We are leaving Children’s, we stopped up on 8 East to drop off a donation to Caroline, in the Resource room. It was so nice to see her. It was even nicer to see the scrapbooks that the patients and families on the floor had been working on. I even saw a few familiar faces.

(All you scrapbookers if you are doing a spring cleaning of your stash….I would gladly take any and all donations you have. I did this last year and it was a HUGE success! I was able to donate boxes and boxes)

Katy Girl Update:

Well we spoke with Dr. Marx and he said he was a bit puzzled, since Katy’s chest xray showed no fluid in or around her lungs. Which he expected that it would be. He said, yet again Katy’s heart has him perplexed. Which leaves me shaking my head wondering what to expect. The unexpected is so hard to plan for, and any one that knows me knows I need a plan…

Dr. Bloom (transplant team) never made it down to see us, she was called away. Not a huge deal, just a bit disappointing. She said she would chat with us on Tuesday.

A good thing is we don’t have to be in until 9AM…orginally we thought we might have to be in at 6AM! So that’s a good thing.

Thank you to everyone who has called, texted, facebooked, emailed, ss, us good. They were all more appreciated then you will ever know!

I am writing this from the van, and I think it is making me carsick…or maybe it’s just Mike’s driving. Anyway… I’m going out with one of my best girlfriends tonight…but I will post GIVEAWAY #2 when I get home! You scrapbookers and paper crafters….might want to check back ;)

6:30PM

Just now getting ready to publish this post. About 15 minutes after I stopped writing in the car….Kate proceeded to vomit EVERYWHERE! OH MY WORD! I think it might be safe to say that she suffers from motion sickness…since she has thrown up maybe 3 times in her life and all were in the car. So we got her home and in the tub…then I went to take a nap. It was a much needed nap and I feel refreshed and ready to enjoy this beautiful weekend!!

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A Day at Children’s

9:30AM

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. I have a love hate relationship with Children’s Hospital. It an amazing, wonderful place… full of the best doctor and nurses in the world. I just wish I never had to meet them. I wish I never needed any of what they have to offer.

I just met a mom who is here with her 15 year old son. She said she has been doing this for 15 YEARS, and I lost it. Finally after the last 2 weeks of almost keeping it together, I lost it…had to excuse myself to the restroom , where I continued to cry and sob for a good 15 minutes. It needed to be done, it was long over do. So there I did it and I hope it can get me through until Tuesday.

Enough about me…let me tell you how our Rock star, Katy girl is doing. We arrived at 715 AM we went to admission did all that paper work. Headed over to Cardiac Pre Op started with a chest x ray!! She did great…the first two pics were great and she was done!!

Then it was on to Vitals and EKG… she weighed in at 20 pounds, which I must say I was surprised and relived to see. It’s not a great number but its not lower than it was when we were last here and for that I a grateful. I thought for sure we were going to see a loss, since all of her 6-12 12-18 month clothes that she had been sporting, are all falling off her, such a blow to us. I went and got her a couple of 9 month outfits. Breaks my heart…I mean breaks it and crumbles it… since that is really the only obvious sign to me and everyone else that Kate even has a special heart.

Then it was on to Blood work…. I chickend out and had Mike go back with her. I need to know my limits.

Now we are sitting and waiting for the Cardiac Fellow and to come and have us sign our lives away.

Looks like we should be done sooner than later, if we keep up at this speed.

Please keep Katy girl in your thoughts and prayers…as she continues to prove to us what a miracle she really is.

Heart Hugs

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Thursday, May 27, 2010

Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner!!!

We have a winner for Prize 1 of the Amiee’s Favorite Things GIVEAWAY!!!

The winner of the OPI set is Brynn!!!

Congratulations!!!

Thanks so much to all who entered and blogged about our sweet girl Kate!!!

I will be posting Giveaway #2 tomorrow. Please be sure to check back in,

Tomorrow is Katy’s Pre-op so we are in for a long day at Children’s. Katybug is going to be poked and prodded (is that even a word) more than anyone should. especially a two year old. I ask for your prayers and good thoughts! They have gotten us this far. It’s helpful knowing that team Katy is rallying behind us.

I dread tomorrow even more so then the day of her Cath at least she will be asleep for her cath, tomorrow she will endure a lot…and her tears will start the moment we pull into the parking garage at Children’s. It breaks my heart, that she knows where she is and what lies ahead of her before she is even out of the car.

I’m trying to stay positive, its just so gosh darn hard!! I just want my baby girl’s heart to be well. I just want her to be better, I don’t want this to be her life. I don’t want her to know this pain. I hate waiting for the other shoe to drop, I hate wondering if every sniffle or cough or low grade temp is going to be the one to send her over and end up with an admission.

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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Amiee’s Favorite Things

I’m sure you have all heard of Oprah’s Favorite Things…well I am doing my own Favorite Things GIVEAWAY!!! Finally…all this talk about giveaways, I am finally coming through… and in my humble opinion I am coming through in a BIG way! For the next 14 to 18 DAYS (depending on my schedule, and available time to blog) I will be giving away something that is currently one of my favorite things. Obviously I won’t be giving away cars, and new washer and dryers. I am not Oprah, and I am funding these giveaways myself with money I have earned from selling on Etsy and Ebay!

So, you might be asking why I am doing this?! Well for a few reasons:

#1 As you all know Kate’s Cardiac Cath is on Tuesday June 1st and I am just trying to stay BUSY BUSY BUSY!

#2 I am hoping to get Kate’s story out there… We need all the prayers and good thoughts we can get for our little miracle girl!!!

#3 Giving Away things is fun!!

#4 You all know my desire to become a famous mommy blogger… so I figure I will bribe readers!

# 5 Giving Away things is Fun!!

#6 I am just hoping to make someone’s day a little brighter!

How this is going to work… My plan is to post a total of 7 Giveaways of my favorite things. I plan to post a giveaway every other day. So I will post one Today and then again on Friday, and so on and so fourth. Today’s giveaway winner will be chosen tomorrow at roughly 8PM. (really as soon as the kids are settled, and my glass of wine is poured) Basically you can enter until I post a winner.

How do you enter?!

1. You may leave a comment on the post with the prize you would like to win, Its important you comment on the actual post with the prize not a post from two weeks ago. Worth 1 entry
2. You can Facebook about this contest, linking to my blog, and then leave another comment here saying "I Facebooked!" leaving the link to the Facebook update. Worth 2 entries
3. You can blog about this contest, link to my blog, and leave yet another comment saying "I blogged about it," leaving the blog link. Worth 3 Entries

You have the opportunity to enter each Giveaway 6 times!


This giveaway is open to US Resident Only! Winners will be announced then after having been selected via Random Org and will notified by e-mail (if available) and I blog the winner. Once I announce the winner, you will have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

OK…so now that all that is out of the way… On to the First Giveaway!!!

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OPI Nail polish Strawberry Margarita…Katy and I are currently sporting this on our toes!

OPI Top Coat

Ulta 6 Way Nail Buffer (LOVE THIS THING)

Monday, May 24, 2010

DISCLAIMER:

This is my blog. This is where I write my personal feelings, and opinions on various topics,share pictures of my family and maybe once I get my Sh*t together, post fun giveaways. I’m not here to please everyone, if you are interested in hearing the day to day happenings of me and my Murphy Clan, you are more than welcome to read, I encourage it.

However, if you are here to nitpick each and every line I write and twist my words, you are not welcome! I don’t write to hurt your feelings, or put you down. If you are that insecure, maybe you should start your own blog. This is not the place for it. My posts are my thoughts and if you are offended, JUST DON’T READ MY BLOG! Its really simple!

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Sunday, May 23, 2010

Slowly but surely…

I am working on the back log… you can read the new posts

here,here

Thursday, May 20, 2010

They don’t get it from me…

Katy and Patrick…love to clean!! They know where all their toys go and are always willing to help mommy daddy clean up.  Whether they are sporting a new bikini and sunglasses…or in their jammies ready for bed!

 

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Monday, May 17, 2010

A new Do for Kate…

Kate has had her hair trimmed and bangs cut in the past.  However, she was still sporting the curly baby hair mullet, that turns into a rats nest while she sleeps or spends anytime in her car seat. So after much debate and discussion with Mike.  We decided that it was time to…CUT KATE’S HAIR!! The hair I wished and willed to grow on my bald babies head!! It needed to be done…sacrifice now for beautiful, think one length hair in the future!!! AHHHHHHHHH… tough decisions we have to make as parents.  I didn’t cry…much and any tears were short lived since OH MY WORD! Does she look ADORABLE sporting her new bob!

The pictures I have are not the best…excuse the dirty face!!!

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Saturday, May 15, 2010

Real Time Blogger

I wonder what it takes to be a real time blogger…every time I seem to get caught up…I fall behind again. Ahhh… such is life. I do have a lot to blog, Maybe I will get caught up before I leave on Tuesday.

Where am I going you ask? Well, if I was a real time blogger… you would know that Patrick and I are leaving on a jet plane on Tuesday morning to go visit one of my favorite aunties in North Carolina! I know amazing! Mike just proved again what a thoughtful loving man he is…and surprised me with this trip for Mother’s Day…Chatting up with my auntie Cheryl and my cousin Ashely behind my back. All I had to do was mention that I would love to plan a visit soon, and Mike make it happen. Reason 999999998 why I love him and can’t imagine sharing this crazy life of ours with anyone other than him. If he’s not planning trips, or brewing me a cup a coffee…he is always showing me just how much he loves me and our little family. I’ll save my post for what a wonderful father he is for next month in honor of Father’s Day.

So as usual…I am going to work on the backlog. But, I will leave you with a few recent pictures.

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