A visit to Indiana

I had originally planned to spend about four days in Indiana for Rachel and BJ's baby shower, but a few unforeseen circumstances prompted me to change that to a ten-day stay. First, just before the trip, I had some pregnancy complications (all resolved now!) that forced me to limit my activity. I was on light bedrest, so couldn't go to work or take care of Adelaida. My mom came out to help me, and rather than have her come back out to New Mexico after the baby shower, I stayed in Indiana until I was able to resume normal activity. Second, we had scheduled to have the tile in our house redone over a two-week period, the week before and the week after the baby shower. That would put Adelaida and me out of the house for the weekend over which the most work was going to be done, and we made arrangements to stay with a friend for part of the first week during the tile demolition phase. But a few days before that project was scheduled to start, the contractor delayed it by a week, which would have meant that Adelaida and I would be in the house during both the demolition and the heavy tile working weekend. It just made sense all around to extend our stay in Indiana!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from that trip:

Rachel and BJ pose with some of Rachel's old jazz dancing costumes. Cleaning out your parents' house can be fun!


We also found a box of my old karate gear. Brings back memories!


Adelaida with Uncle Michael. She just loved to have him pick her up and swing her!


Papaw juggles Ripley and Adelaida


Christa, Courtney, and Chloe play with Adelaida


Adelaida reads a book with Grandma


Adelaida still loves hats and mittens!


This is one of my favorite pictures of my beautiful little girl.

A baby shower ... and a new nephew!

Way back in February, Adelaida and I visited Indiana for Rachel and BJ's baby shower. They had a co-ed baby shower for the family that included mingling with family, lots of wonderful presents, and great food. Here are a few pictures from the shower.

Adelaida examines a bunch of balloons (that were not for Rachel's baby shower -- they just happened to be attached to a table at the church).


Such sweet table decorations


Adelaida skipped her nap for the baby shower, but did get some rolling-around-on-the-floor time. Of course, she had to take her socks off her feet and put them on her hands for the occasion!


Amanda, Laura, Adelaida, Papaw, and Melanie at the shower


OK, somehow I managed to take fourteen pictures at the baby shower and didn't get a single picture of Rachel or BJ. That takes talent!

Anyway, the baby shower was in February, and Rachel was very beautifully pregnant. And BJ was radiant with anticipated joy at the thought of his unborn son, who we still thought of as Patrick-or-Simon. I'm sure you can picture them perfectly!

A month passed, and I warned Rachel not to go crazy with anticipation and not to expect to give birth exactly on her due date, because first babies are often a week or two late ... and then, three days before her due date, Rachel delivered a beautiful healthy baby boy! Simon James Murphy arrived on March 19th, 2011, to very proud parents BJ and Rachel.

Here are some of Simon's baby photos:






Simon is eight weeks old now and growing so quickly! Although I haven't met Simon in person yet, I have seen him on skype and look forward to holding him in September. Welcome to the world, nephew!

Busy, busy

It has been a long time since I posted anything, but that is not because nothing has been happening! Rather, we've been so busy (and I've been so tired) that I've had a hard time finding time to sit down at the computer to compose a short blog post.

I'm going to try to be better about posting pictures here, but only when I find that elusive free time. Maybe when Dale can walk and drive again?

One reason I haven't had time to post much lately is Dale's knee surgery. The surgery was almost three weeks ago now and was (according to the surgeon) a great success. The surgeon removed part of Dale's patellar tendon and used it to fashion a new ACL for him. He was also able to repair the torn meniscus in his knee, which makes his short-term recovery harder but will allow Dale better use of his knee in the long term.

Dale did great after the surgery -- his only job was to lay on the couch and let us take care of him for two weeks, which he did fabulously. Of course, I couldn't have managed those two weeks without my mom and Dale's mom's help -- they both came out to stay with us and did most of the work around the house: cooking, cleaning up, serving Dale, playing with Adelaida, and just about everything else that needed to be done around the house. Thank you so much, Mom and Charlotte!

After the first two weeks, Dale was able to get up and move around quite a bit more, although he was still on crutches and will be for another week. He also went back to work last week, with mid-day rests to ice his knee and do his physical therapy exercises.

Here are some pictures of Dale's surgery and recovery:

the "before" shot -- note the lack of incisions and presence of leg hair ...


I was able to sit with Dale after they prepped him for surgery but before they started cutting on him. We tried to talk about anything other than the upcoming surgery!


Dale's knee about 24 hours after the surgery. His eight incisions (one long incision to remove the patellar tendon, four small incisions for the arthroscopic meniscus repair and ACL replacement, two small incisions to drill holes through his bones, and one small incision to drain excess blood) are held together with staples. Has Dale mentioned yet that they drilled holes through his femur and tibia?


Dale's knee surgery has been one reason I haven't been able to post; the other reason is that I'm just tired all the time right now! Of course I knew that gestating babies is hard work, but didn't appreciate how physically exhausting it is! I'm now 29 weeks, and my doctor assured me on Monday that if the babies were born right now they would be just fine with no long-term problems. At only 29 weeks, they aren't really ready to be born yet and I'm certainly not ready for them to be born yet, but it is reassuring to know that, if they were born now, they would be OK.

This is a picture of me at 28 weeks. Just imagine what 12 more weeks of pregnancy will do to my belly!


Of course, I wouldn't dream of leaving you without one cute picture of Adelaida. Here she is in March showing off her ability to put her hands in her pockets. She had to pull her shirt up to her chin to find her pockets, but she is getting much better at finding them now!