Clayton's Aunt Anna and Uncle David come!

Clayton was so excited that Aunt Anna and Uncle David came in for a long weekend. They came in on Thursday night and even babysat Clayton on Friday during the day. Then they let Justin and I go to dinner on Friday night. THANK YOU! As you will see below, Clayton had a ton of fun with them. Anna and I were able to go do some shopping and the guys got their fill of college basketball and Guitar Hero. I was even able to get everyone to play a couple hands of Pitch! Oh, I love that card game. We were not excited that they brought cold weather. I mean is it really necassary for it to snow 3 inches on March 28? Good news is that it is sunny now and the snow is almost gone. Thanks for coming to visit Uncle David and Aunt Anna, we can't wait to see you again in 2 weeks.

Riding on Uncle David is fun!

Aunt Anna reads Hippos go Berserk!

Clayton loves playing with the string that pulls his truck.

Clayton and Aunt Anna playing. He is such a cheese ball.

Clayton enjoys some of the teething toast that Nana sent. I think more ended up on Uncle David then in his mouth.

The Little Yellow Chair

Thanks to Nana who kept the Little Tikes Yellow chair that Anna and I played with. She sent it down this weekend with Anna and David. As you can see it was enjoyed by all!

Clayton loves using his chair to stand up, I think he was moving it here.

Uncle David borrows Clayton's chair to do some work. Maybe you can get him one of his own for Christmas Nana.

Misc. Pictures from the last week or so

We are excited to say that Clayton finally has 2 teeth! He has his 2 lower front teeth coming in. So far he has been a trooper. I will be curious to see how he does and how long it takes him to bite Keely! Oh boy! Here are some good pictures from the week.

Clayton enjoying a teething biscuit and his measuring spoon.

He liked putting it in his mouth and letting go. So silly!

Don't we look innocent!

If you see this toy RUN!

So I went to a huge garage sale called "KidMania" in Edwardsville, IL two weekends ago with my friend Megan. I got a bunch of books, all of which I either wiped down with Lysol wipes or sprayed every page with Lysol. Yes, I am a freak. I also got Clayton a Fisher Price train and this activity table. I thought it would be a great thing for him to play at since he wants to stand up all the time. Well, Elmo is possessed! The thing is so loud and no matter what you touch Elmo starts making noise and moving his head back in forth. I thought about posting a video, but was afraid no one would ever come back and look at our blog. Yes, it is that annoying. Anyway, fair warning to all you moms out there. :) Oh yeah, and Clayton loves it!

Ok, this is my third post tonight, so I will save some of my updating for tomorrow. Make sure you scroll down.

A couple of weekends ago we went to the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament downtown. Justin’s Alma mater, ISU was playing. We went with Shannon and her fiance Dave. (They also went to ISU). ISU won the game and we had a great time. It was Clayton’s first NCAA basketball game.

Justin, Clayton, Shannon and Dave at the game.

Daddy won't get me a funnel cake so I am going to eat him!

Clayton and Daddy talk basketball!

The Keely Clean Up

Ever since Clayton started eating food and not just bottles, Keely has shown more interest in his dinner time! His booster seat is the perfect height for her to steal a few licks. Clayton is not Mr. Innocent in this because he now waves food off the side to get her to come over and throws things on the floor. Not a great thing to start!

Clayton got in a fight with his Oatmeal!

Keely is taking care of the Oatmeal!

Our Little Leprachaun!

Not a great Picture, but these are the cute Kiss Me, I'm Irish pjs that Aunt Shannon got him.

Clayton had a great 1st St. Patrick’s Day! We went over to Grandma Dianne’s daughter’s house. She made yummy Corn Beef and Cabbage. We wouldn’t let him have any green beer and we warned him about unofficial St. Patrick’s Day at U of I.

Murphy Family Update

So for the sake of giving an update and not having it be a 10-page paper, I will do a list. Justin, yes I am obsessed with making lists!

1. Anna and I were able to surprise Mom and Dad and go up to Chicago to the Boys State Swim meet a couple of weekends ago. We had such a blast! It brought back so many memories of when we would go up when we were little. We haven’t had a campout in a hotel room like that for sooo long. Yes, my dad still snores! Mom took us shopping and of course Anna scammed her into buying stuff! The guys did great swimming and improved on almost all their times. I don’t think it has sunk in yet that my dad is done with his coaching. I guess I know he has my little guy as his next swimmer! He better make him do lots of pushups like I had to do in swim class! I also had a ton of fun chatting with Anna on the drive up and back. Justin and David you should be scared that we had that much time to talk about you two.
2. Clayton is on the move!!!!!!!!!!! The little guy now goes from crawling (belly crawling) to sitting up and playing to climbing up to standing. He is so cute. I love walking in to his room and seeing him sitting in his crib like a big boy! Funny story, Justin and I were soooo tired this past week from all the basement renovations, etc. Clayton wasn’t ready for bed so we put him in his crib to play and Justin and laid on the floor in his room. Keely joined us and curled up next to me. Next thing I know, I wake up and Clayton is yelling. Justin, Keely, and I had passed out on his floor and apparently he was a little mad that no one was paying attention.
3. Big thank you to all of our diaper fairies! Especially, Nana and Grandpa! We went out and bought diapers for the first time this week. Yes, we made it 11 months without having to buy diapers! All I can say is if you know someone having a baby get them diapers! It is nice as a parent to be able to buy your child fun stuff sometimes instead of the boring diapers, food, etc.
4. I AM DONE PUMPING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My goal when I got pregnant was to breast feed for a year. Obviously at the time I had no idea I would have to pump the whole time. I made it to 11 months, and it has been a true test of my patience. I would have never not done it, but the time it takes to not only pump, but feed and clean bottles is amazing. I would never suggest some should pump if they can do the real thing! I could never have made it so long without Justin! He has been amazing about getting up and feeding Clayton in the middle of the night when he was little, helping me in the mornings when I have to get ready and pump. I could go on and on. He is an amazing husband and dad! (Justin is happy for me to be done because he was having nightmares that included the incessant noise of the pump)
5. Keely is up to her same old silliness. She can’t wait for the nice weather to get here and stay! She loves going on walks with her little brother. She is also really excited about the basement getting finished so her and dad can hang out in his office.

Well, I think that is about all I can think of at the moment. Clayton has Grandpa and Nana coming down this weekend for a visit. We are excited to have them see him, since this month he seems to have changed so much! Hope everyone has a good rest of the week.

Thanks Grandpa B!

Big thanks to Grandpa B for coming down and taping and mudding all the drywall in the basement! It was an all day project. Grandma, Aunt Heather and Uncle Drake came too. As you can see by the pictures below, Clayton and Keely had some good napping buddies today! Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Drake, Keely and Heather snoozing after lunch

Clayton catches some Zs with Grandma

Grandpa working in the basement and Justin supervising

Blog Slacker/Basement Remodel

So I know I have been a blog slacker as of late. We have been running around as usual. I will give a Murphy Family update sometime this weekend. We are headed to the Missouri Valley Basketball Tournament this afternoon to watch ISU, so I have to make this short. My dad might disown me though if I don't get some basement remodel pics up! :) Since we will be staying in the St. Louis area for awhile and Justin is working from home, we decided we needed to finish the basement to have some more room. Once completed we will have a office, family room and play area. This sounds like a ton of space, really the area is not huge, but it is all space we didn't have before. I am super excited!!! So is Clayton. Justin's friends, Tim and Matt have done all the work so far. We hope to have it all done by Clayton's Birthday. We should have better pictures on Monday when the guys are finished with their part and all the tools are out. Anyway, here are some pics and like I said I will get more updates up this weekend! Have a great Saturday and enjoy the summer like weather!

Looking at Clayton's playroom, the door coming into the basement is on the left where you see the light. There will be a closet on the far left wall.

Standing in the family room area looking down to Justin's Office. There is a small closet at the end on the left and then where Tim is standing there are 2 pocket doors going into the laundry/storage area.

Looking back down from Justin's office to the family room area.