Rhory Camille: HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY!

I absolutely cannot believe it! Our baby girl is ONE!! 

Of course we had a kitty cat themed party for her - more pictures to come! She has restored so much joy to our family and we are so thankful for her every day!

At one year old she is:

-saying mama, dada, kitty, meow, and eat

-she took her first steps on her birthday!

-she loves her kitty cats and chases them around the house

-she loves to giggle 

-she loves any food we put in front of her, really, anything!

-mandarin oranges are her favorite 

-she is slightly anemic so we are working on that

-she likes to kiss her baby dolls and give them hugs

-she isn't much for snuggling but we do get hugs occasionally! 

-she weighs 18 pounds and is almost 30 inches tall

-no more bottle, only soppy cups

-whole milk!

-haven't introduced juice yet

-she wears bows less frequently because she always tries to take them off and put them back on with great frustration ha 

-she loves the outdoors!

We are so overwhelmed with love for her and again, are thankful daily!  

Rhory Camille: Eleven Months

Well, I am way behind on this! Rhory turned 11 months on August 4, and a lot happened during her 11th month of life! She had her first trip to the beach, found out she would be a big sister, and mommy went back to work! Lots of changes that she handled like a champ. I am so thankful for an easy going baby who rolls with the craziness that is our life. She started saying mama and dada a lot during this month and pulling up a good amount, but no real steps. My dad predicted it would be soon, though!

I'll post a collage of her 11 month pictures soon but for now I am glad to have the post done!

Rhory Camille: Ten Months

Look at that sweet baby! She has such a personality and is constantly making us laugh. Her tenth month of life was filled with much excitement! I started a nanny job so she was constantly surrounded with her "new" friends - a 7 year old girl and a 9 year old boy. They loved her, too! Every afternoon when we dropped them off she would cry and cry because she didn't have her back seat entertainment! 

I have stopped relying on my measuring skills, hence the "ish" in the photos near the weight and height. Ha! 

Her ten month birthday was on the Fourth of July! She wasn't too fond of the fireworks but she had a weekend long celebration! I'll make the slideshow of pics later and post them :) it is so hard to believe she will be a year old soon... I desperately need to get to planning her birthday party! 

Ashlyn 

Rhory Camille: Nine Months!

Nine months! Her first birthday is approaching so quickly - I just can't believe it!! I am so way behind on this post :( but, life has been busy and her ninth month of life happened to be during the month of May which is a super hard month as it is. She has been cutting two teeth and eating more and more! I will put some pictures in a slide show and post them!

We love our sweet girl!

Sawyer's 2nd Birthday

It's crazy how fast time has flown by, and the fact that I am over a month late on this post!

Sawyer's second birthday was rough and it hit us hard. I think with Rhory being here it made us realize everything we have missed out on with Sawyer. All of the things she does are also those things we are realizing we will never see him do. Grief and joy fully existing within the realm of one another. 

We decided to do the art drive again - mentioned in an earlier post - and I took that down on the two year anniversary of his death. We were able to donate a lot of art supplies for the kids! Next year I want to get restaurants involved as drop off locations and make it super big.  

We didn't do a dinner or a get together because I just didn't want to. Josh and I took Rhory out to dinner and then met up with a few friends and family for a lantern release at the grave. We found heart shaped lanterns that I knew would be perfect. We spent the day at Fernbank just enjoying family time, and creating memories. After releasing the lanterns in the evening we grabbed some ice cream at Dairy Queen. A perfect birthday treat that I knew Sawyer would enjoy!

Happy birthday Sawyer! We love you forever and always!

Rhory Camille: Eight Months!

 

Rhory has had a very exciting month! She has started crawling, waving, and saying da-da. She can also sign 'milk' - and we are working on 'more' and 'all done'. She amazes me every day with her new abilities and her excitedness to explore. She loves trying new foods and we are currently trying to stay away from bananas and cheese because she has been a little stopped up. This past month we also celebrated Josh and I's third anniversary and my birthday! Life is moving so quickly, I am ready for it to slow down. Soon we will be celebrating this sweet girls first birthday - what?! She is still nursing and that is going great, so I am very excited that we have been able to make it this far. This month we also participated in the 2nd Annual Congenital Heart Walk in the Greater Atlanta Area in memory of Sawyer. Every time we go visit his grave, Rhory is just as happy as can be! I know she knows how much her big brother loves her because I tell her all the time and I know she loves him too!

I usually post a lot of pictures, but I have become weary of people taking them so I created a slideshow and will do that for months to come...

Sawyers Art 2015

 

Josh and I are so excited to be collecting art supplies again this year to donate to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA)! We will begin collecting them tomorrow, May 1, until Tuesday, May 26. I will be taking them down to CHOA on May 27. As you know May 27 will mark two years since Sawyer's passing, but last year it was very healing to be able to take such a large donation and give to the hospital on a day that really holds so many sad feelings.

I created a flyer this year, that hopefully we can make go viral, and I will post that at the bottom of this blog post. Here is the link to our post from last year. We were so overwhelmed with the success and we are going in to this year fully expecting this year to be even BIGGER, but we need your help!

We are looking for *NEW* art supplies. Supplies must be new because they are being donated to the hospital and we want to make sure they are free of any possible germs. Here is a detailed list of things you can donate:

-Construction paper
-Printer Paper
-Colored Pencils
-Crayons
-Markers
-Pens
-Stickers
-Yarn
-Beads
-Glue
-Scissors
-Glitter
-Bubbles
-Playdoh
-Stencils
-Foam
-Paint
-Paint Brushes
-Pipe cleaners
-Ribbon
-Chalk

These items will be given directly to the Child Life Specialists and both children in the hospital and their siblings use the supplies as "Art Therapy". All of the supplies are well appreciated and last year they were so thankful!

Out of town but want to donate? You are more than welcome to visit our Amazon Wishlist! Here is our flyer - please share with anyone and everyone you think will be willing to help us make a wonderful donation in honor of Sawyer's 2nd Birthday!

 

 

Thank you in advance for your help/donations!

 

With love,

The Murphys