Playdate with Ebby Lee

We love getting to hang out with Ebby Lee. We have had several playdates with Ebby Lee and they are always so much fun! But this one was different! They girls are so much bigger and they are so much more active that they would play together!

Erika and I taught together at Kerr and she is staying home with her sweet baby girl + she is expecting another one in April! She is an amazing mom! I love talking with her because I always learn something from her! She is so down to earth and so real! Thank you Erika for being so real and teaching me how not to worry about things all the time!

Ebby Lee is such a cute and happy little girl! She always has a smile on her face just like Murphy Jo! She is so sweet! I loved getting to see her again!

Is she not one of the cutest little girls you have ever seen?

This is the best picture I got of the two of them! Ebby Lee was looking at me and Murphy Jo was looking at Erika taking pictures!

(look at Murphy Jo's shoes! They are HUGE!)

Such a happy girl!

Mr. Tab, Erika's husband gave the girls some bread! It was so cute! Murphy Jo was not sure if it was okay to eat it since she was not in her highchair! But she did and she loved it! I love Ebby Lee's sweet happy face in this picture!

Out with the old and in with the new.......

Oh my goodness, really..... my sweet baby girl is in BIG girl shoe:( I can't believe it.

Well, on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2010 I bought her first pair of Beginner Walkers. They look HUGE but she fills them out very well!

She is really on the edge of walking. She has been pulling up on everything for months now. She is a pro in her walker and can get that thing out of pretty much any tight spot and her old shoes were too tight. So I thought it would be wise to go ahead and get her some new shoes. So Murphy Jo and I headed to Stride Rite at the Outlet Mall in Allen and we got her foot measured and we were off to pick out our first pair of shoes! I had NO idea that I would be getting beginner walkers. But she loves them. She is all over the place in them.

( you are prob. thinking this is a silly crazy post, but it is another one of those milestones I had to document!)

The super old nasty shoes
Look how big her new shoes are!

The beginner walkers

Yep you read it right! Size 4.5 at 10 months!!!

Big girl shoes!

Playdate with Emma Kate

Murphy Jo and I love to get to hang out with friends. I love to watch Murphy Jo around "little people" and I think it is really important for her to have playdates!

Sweet Emma Kate is 3 months old. She is the daughter of my super sweet friend, Meghan Ross. Meghan was my student teacher a few years ago and taught with me at Kerr! She is another one of my lucky friends that gets to stay home with their sweet baby!

When we first got to Meghan's house Emma Kate was sleeping, so it was all about Murphy Jo and believe me she didn't mind at all! BUT we were so excited when Emma Kate woke up! She is such a DOLL! It is so hard to believe Murphy Jo was that small! Anyway, Emma Kate and Murphy Jo were so funny at their first official meeting! Murphy Jo was "acting" like she was crying and then she would stop. Well, that would get Emma Kate going and she would kinda cry and my sweet loving Murphy Jo would laugh and when Emma Kate would stop "crying", Murphy Jo would "cry" again to make Emma Kate "cry" again and you guessed it Murphy Jo would laugh...... OH BOY I THINK WE HAVE OUR HANDS FULL!!!!

Thank you Emma Kate and Meghan for letting us come over! We had so much fun!

Look at that beautiful girl!

Murphy Jo loves looking at herself in the mirror. It was so cute watching her "talk" to herself in the mirror!

And she even loved kissing herself! I just love this little girl!

Playdate with G-Man (Garrett Icenhower)

Murphy Jo and I had a fun playdate with my sweet friend Carla and her sweet and super cute son Garrett! (G-Man) We just love getting to hang out with them! Carla and I taught together at Kerr. She is super sweet and is really missed at Kerr. She gets to stay home with that sweet little guy!

Our playdate was fun! It was so funny to watch Garret and Murphy Jo interact! It was also funny to watch them get jealous when their own moms were playing/holding the other one!

Garrett is a miracle and a blessing! We are lucky to have such a wonderful group of people to play with! Thanks for letting us come over!

My sweet friend Carla with Garrett and Murphy Jo
I just love this boy! Isn't he so cute?

Love, Love, LOVE this picture!

I thought is picture was so funny and so cute! Carla had a small bag of cookies and Murphy Jo went right up to her, pulled herself up and acted like she was asking for a cookie. It was so cute!

Buddies! Murphy Jo almost 10 months and G-Man almost a year old!

She's a BIG girl now!

This is yet another HUGE milestone for me! Look at that sweet girl, does she not look huge in her new ride? WOW, I can't believe she is already ready for this car seat!
This was a huge decision for me! I did a lot of research and a lot of talking with friends before I would purchase a new car seat. Scott and I found that the Britax had the best reviews and seemed to be the safest! We ended up going with the Britax Blvd! She loves it! She looks out the window and laughs and talks everywhere we go! She loves the car!

My sweet big girl!
So happy!

9 Months old..... REALLY:)

(I know the title say 9 months! I am doing some back tracking! Really she will be 10 months on Tuesday!!! But we will get to that later)

Murphy Jo had her 9 month apt on Dec. 30, 2009! She is so good at her apts and Mrs. Amber is always a joy to see. We just love her bunches and bunches! If you need a good Dr. she is one you should try!!!

Anyway, once again we got a really good report! Murphy Jo is doing AMAZING! She weighed 20 pounds and 11 oz. (78%), 29.5 inches (95%) and her head cir. is 17 3/4 (78%) Once again it is proven she is LONG and LEAN!!!!

We are free to eat any table foods! Well, I say any.... we can't have eggs, peanuts, honey or shellfish! And we are to go slow on oranges and strawberries! Everything else is great! We have done some, but I am just going slow with all that! It is so hard for me to believe she is growing up so fast.
We truly have a amazing girl that God has trusted us with! I promise to show her the world and love her! Thank you Jesus for this amazing blessing! We promise to do our best with your help!

Our first Christmas as a family of 4

WOW what a fun night we had! Christmas time has always been one of my favorite times of year, but being able to start our own traditions and being together as a family was the best ever! Murphy Jo had so much fun opening up gifts! HAHA, just kidding Murphy Jo had so much fun playing in the wrapping paper! So was so cute! She loved everything she got but that evening it just didn't interest her! Haleigh had a great time as well opening all her gifts! She always makes out like a bandit! And this year was no different. I would say our girls are very blessed with many people that love them!

Murphy Jo hanging with the paper:)
Hmmm, lets see what else can I get into?

Haleigh got a Stars shirt and Stars Hockey tickets from Scott and I. They went to the Stars game on New Years Eve together!

Mommy and Murphy Jo opening one of the gifts from MomMom J and PopPop T! She has finally mastered this gift! She now knows how to put the balls in the holes! It is so funny to watch her do this! Her fine motor skills are improving everyday!

Christmas Day at the McClouds

One of our Christmas day traditions is going to Scott's sisters house for Christmas lunch! We meet up with Pop Pop G (his dad), Mom Mom P (his step-mom), Nathan and Kerri (his step-sister and her husband) and the twins (our nephews)! We gather for gift exchange, good food and great company! We enjoy our time with them and everyone always has so much fun! This year was a little different for Scott and I, as we got to watch Murphy Jo open up her gifts! I love Christmas time even more since I have become a mom!

Scott playing with the Hot Wheels track we got the twins
Sweet Landon:)

Pop Pop G and a very tired Murphy Jo

Sweet Logan:)

Murphy Jo playing hard!

Scott's sister Kerri and her husband Nathan
A gift for Murphy Jo and Mommy!! YAY for baby wipes! Thanks Mom Mom P!

Super sweet picture of Aunt Kerri and Murphy Jo!

I just LOVE this picture! Scott was such a happy daddy when Murphy Jo wanted to go to the Hot Wheels track rather than playing with her super cute purse Mom Mom P and Pop Pop G gave her!

Yes and she would rather play with the Tonka truck to......

Christmas lunch was fun! We always love going but hate that our sweet Haleigh is not with us.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was much different for us this year! It was so much fun having Murphy Jo here and seeing her sweet face when she opened her Santa gifts! Santa was really good to her this year! He brought her a really cute baby doll and a super cool light up toy!

Being a first time mom I was so exacted to get up and get the Christmas morning started. Murphy Jo got up about 7:30 and she and I tried to get daddy up, but he was super tired so, I went and changed her diaper and gave her her morning bottle. So we waited and waited, but daddy was still sleeping so we watched a little Franklin (which happens to be her favorite now) and then we went and played. At about 9:30 daddy came in and I got so excited and right for the Santa gifts! I loved watching Murphy Jo's face as she opened her gifts from Santa! I loved watching her play with her baby doll and exam her light up toy! Here are a few pictures of our morning!

Doing what she does before playing with most toys..... EXAM IT..... to make see how it works!
Her baby! Don't you just love that face!

Mommy, this baby has my bottle:)

We let Murphy Jo open one gift Christmas morning. We wanted to wait for Haleigh to get here so we could open our gifts as a family! I think this is going to be our tradition. We love Haleigh so much and we don't want her to miss out on the family fun!

Murphy Jo had so much fun BANGING on her music maker! It was so funny!

All in all our Christmas was great! I am so blessed with a great family and so thankful for them! My goal as a mom is to make sure that Murphy Jo understands the true meaning for Christmas. I don't ever want her to think that Christmas is about getting gifts! I want her to know that it is about the birth of our Lord and Savior. I want her to understand it is about giving our time and ourselves and not getting. I hope that I can show her this!

'Twas the night before Christmas

Christmas Eve was so much fun!!! We went to our friends house (The Dunning's) for a yummy dinner, then we came back home and got little Miss ready for night-night! I had bought her the perfect pair of PJ's and could NOT wait till Christmas Eve for her to wear them:)

Anyway, Murphy Jo's Christmas Eve was pretty eventful! It started to snow early afternoon and by the time we went to the Jeff and Karen's house the roads were pretty covered with LOTS of snow! It was sooo super pretty!

Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve!

A sweet picture of Murphy Jo and daddy on Christmas Eve! She LOVES her daddy so much! She lights up when he walks in the room! I think she is already a daddy's girl:)

We're dreaming of a WHITE Winter......

WOW what a Winter we have had so far! It snowed 3 times in December!! How super cool is that. It even snowed on Christmas!!! Murphy Jo had a white Christmas for her very FIRST Christmas! I love to look at the snow, but I hate to drive in it! Scott, Haleigh, Murphy Jo and I drove to my sisters house in Tulsa, OK and boy was I nervous, which made Scott frustrated.

Here is a picture of our home after the first snow. Isn't it beautiful! Scott was so excited that he took a few mins before leaving for work to be Mr. Photographer! How cute is he!
Here is sweet Murphy Jo playing in the snow! She thought it was pretty cool! This was our 3rd snow of the Winter!

She was not sure of it all!

Right after this picture she started to moving her legs and "playing" in the snow. If I would have let her, I bet she would have been rolling and crawling all over the place!