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!

Christmas 2010: Indiana

After leaving the Parkes family in Tulsa, we drove to Indiana, where we spent a week visiting with so many family members. Adelaida had a blast -- loving on GG, rough-housing with Uncle BJ, and generally being adored by everyone. Below are some of my favorite pictures from this part of the trip.

I'm not sure who is more content here: Adelaida or GG!


Adelaida likes most people, but there are a few that she really adores, and her Poppa is one of them. Every time she sees Poppa, Adelaida starts to giggle uncontrollably -- she just can't get enough of him!


Adelaida snuggles up to her Auntie Rachel M. (No, Adelaida does not have a gigantic butt here -- her butt is just being pushed up by Auntie Rachel's gigantic baby-laden belly!)


Adelaida discovers a rocking horse that is just her size!


Several years ago, we consciously taught our dogs that people who were standing or sitting on furniture were not to be jumped on, but it was OK to play/wrestle with people on the ground. Looking through all these pictures, I realize that we must have unconsciously taught Adelaida the same thing. Whenever she wants to play with someone, she directs them to "lay down!" and then begins to crawl on them and expects to be tickled, swung in the air, and much more. Here, Uncle Michael was directed to "lay down!" and Adelaida immediately sat on his chest and began poking his face. Poor Uncle Michael!


Adelaida notes a certain similarity between the lion's mane and the furry growth on Uncle BJ's cheeks.


Grandpa takes his turn as "mountain" for Adelaida to climb on.


Adelaida with Auntie Sami


Adelaida has a thing for copper pots larger than she is. Uncle Michael put her in this one, and Great-Grandma Fox was delighted to see her have so much fun in her fireplace pot!


Adelaida and Henry have always been good friends!


A nice picture of Uncle Michael and Adelaida.


Nonna learns that she is going to have not two new grandbabies this year, but three!


Dale wins the beer-tasting competition this year. His cream stout was, by almost-unanimous decision, the best cream stout of the tasting!


Cousin Evie teaches Adelaida to play the piano. Evie is almost four years older than Adelaida, and Adelaida just adored Evie! Adelaida followed Evie around for most of the Fox Family Christmas Party, and Evie was so good and patient with Adelaida and I'm sure Evie will make an excellent big sister!


The farmer in Adelaida's life gave her a John Deere truck for Christmas. Adelaida loves it!


As usual, we had a great visit with family. We look forward to future Christmases, when Adelaida will be the oldest of several cousins and will lead the younger ones all around the house!

Christmas 2010: Tulsa

Well, Christmas has come and gone and once again I find I'm more than a month behind in blogging about it. But better late than never, right?

Our Christmas vacation this year started with a long drive to Tulsa. It was long primarily because we were driving with a very-recently-toilet-trained two-year-old, so we tried to stop frequently enough for her to use the toilet, but ended up changing her pants pretty often, generally in the car on the side of the road!

We arrived in Tulsa, where Adelaida immediately started playing with her cousins. Elizabeth is old enough that she was very generous with offering Adelaida toys; Sarah and Adelaida are almost the same age and so were able to play together well, and Adelaida just loves to look at babies like Benjamin. Mamaw had so much fun with four grandchildren to entertain, and within a few minutes of arriving we announced that I was pregnant, so she spent several days thinking about future Christmases with five grandchildren!

We took over a hundred pictures of our time in Tulsa; here are some of my favorites:

Mamaw with Benjamin


When Richard and Dale get together, they enjoy rough-housing with the kids together. Here Adelaida and Elizabeth are perched on Dale's and Richard's shoulders; both girls had been upside down moments before!


Adelaida in her Christmas dress


Adelaida, Elizabeth, and Sarah all like to read books, so whenever one of the girls sat on someone's lap to read a book, another girl would inevitably climb up as well. Here, Elizabeth and Adelaida are reading a book with Dale.


Sarah brings a book over, looking for someone to read to her.


Me, happy holding a sleeping Benjamin!


Mamaw with Adelaida, on Christmas day.


In the midst of opening presents, we revealed that my pregnancy is a double pregnancy! Mamaw reads the card announcing that we are having twins and started revising her thoughts to future Christmases with six grandchildren!


Adelaida's favorite present was a baby doll that she immediately named "Yonna." She sat down and cared for the baby, feeding it a bottle, holding it, and patting its back. I know she loves babies but had never seen her so maternal!


Mamaw holds Adelaida and Benjamin


Sarah and Adelaida snuggle with Aunt Laura


One benefit of blogging about something over a month after it happens is that I get to relive the fun times by looking at the pictures! Adelaida has been sitting here with me as I prepare this post, enjoying looking at the pictures and seeing her family.

Visiting Denver: playing at the park

Our hotel in Denver was just a short walk to a great community center and park, so we took Adelaida there several times. It was nice to get out of the hotel room and to let Adelaida play on the park equipment. She enjoyed the stairs and slides -- until she saw the swings! Adelaida loves to swing, both in a baby swing (so she can swing really high) and in a big-kid swing (she is very good at holding on to the chains and rarely falls off).

Here are some of the pictures we took at the park:

Adelaida preparing to go down the slide


On the big-kid swing


Adelaida thought it was so funny when her Mamaw and her Momma got on the swings with her


Adelaida's favorite place to go on the playset was the top of the climbing wall. She could reach that platform by stairs and liked to walk up the stairs to the top of the climbing wall and look out. It was an awfully long way down, so Dale followed her up there a few times to make sure she didn't fall.


Dale showed off his monkey bar prowess as Adelaida watched


The park was beautiful, so we decided to take some family photos while we were there.

Me, Adelaida, and Dale


Charlotte with her four grandchildren: Elizabeth, Benjamin, Sarah, and Adelaida


Richard and Laura with Elizabeth, Benjamin, and Sarah

Visiting Denver: "Hi Nina!"

While in Denver last month, we took all the kids to the Denver Zoo one morning. The weather was just chilly enough that the zoo wasn't very crowded, but warm enough that we were comfortable there. Adelaida really enjoyed the animals!

The very first animal exhibit we saw was the hyena exhibit. Keep in mind that Adelaida had just started putting two words together and has never seen a hyena before (as far as I know). Adelaida saw the hyenas, shouted "puppy!" and I told her "those are hyenas. They look like puppies but they are hyenas. Can you say hyena?" She watched the hyena for a minute, then stretched her arm out, waved her hand, and said "Hi ... Nina!" Isn't it funny how kids hear something new and mold it to fit their experiences? Adelaida had never heard the word hyena before, but she knew that I often asked her to say hi to an animal so thought I was asking her to say hi to the puppy named Nina!

Elizabeth, Sarah, and Adelaida are pretty good about staying with us, but we did have one incident where a child ran off full-speed before any of us could stop her. We were walking from one exhibit to another when we came into view of a large grassy area that was not part of any exhibit. The grassy area was filled with geese -- probably forty or fifty geese -- and Sarah ran ahead of us to see them. On the sidewalk in front of the geese was a man with a stroller and two young children. He was squatting down to point out the geese to his kids and Sarah ran right up to him, put her hand on his leg, and started pointing with him! He took it really well and started talking to Sarah, asking her if she had ever seen geese before and listening to her excited babbling. Eventually we caught up to her, and eventually she realized that the man she had been talking with was a stranger -- the whole scene was just so funny!

The weather forecast indicated a very slight chance of rain, so Adelaida sported her rain slicker for the zoo excursion! We didn't get any rain, but the rain slicker is just too cute to pass up whenever we have an opportunity for her to wear it.


Elizabeth is two years older than Adelaida and Sarah is six months older than Adelaida, and Adelaida loves to do what older and bigger kids are doing. So when Elizabeth and Sarah stood at the glass to watch the birds, Adelaida went right up there and stood next to them -- despite the fact that she was too short to actually see anything!

Near the end of the visit, Adelaida was getting tired and Sarah was getting bored with the animals, so they worked out a nice arrangement that benefited everyone: Sarah pushed Adelaida in the stroller! Sarah did a pretty good job of steering: she ran Adelaida into stationary objects only a few times.


We ended the trip to the zoo with a short train ride. Adelaida was pretty tired by this time and wanted to be held. She wasn't very excited about leaving her stroller, but was consoled by the opportunity to sit on my lap.


It was a great trip, full of fun memories and lots of animals!