Too Many Books

In late May, we attended another graduation party. Damn Murphy cousins finishing high school and costing me money! Jussst kidding. I didn't mention yesterday, but I am proud that both cousins are amazingly brillant and one will be attending Ohio State while the other will (blech) attend The University of Kentuky. I don't hold it against him, though. Many of the Murphy's are UK fans. I just pretend I'm down. So, some other cousins came to this second shin-dig, which was super exciting because they have a little baby boy who was born December 16th, just TWO days after my Stella. Caleb has the prettiest eyes, and I'm not jealous that he is soooo much longer than Stella, because she might be peanutty, but I like her like that. (Also, she rolls over way more than he does.) On Memorial Day, otherwise known as Hotter than Hades Day, we took Stella downtown for the first time. We attended this annual music festival called "Abbey Road on the River," in which a b...

A Little Lame I'm so lame. I never have time to comment on blogs these days. It does make me sadspice, so I'm going to work on catching up on the 1342 posts in my google reader. (Seriously. Thirteen hundred unread posts. I follow waaay to many blogs.) Saving a Little After giving birth to an expensive human being and also purchasing iPhones, we are cutting corners here in the Murphy household. I'm looking for ways to save money. So far, not going out for lunch is helping me to keep more money in my checkbook to pay the bills. However, I need to find other ways to cut back. I'm semi-addicted to TLC's Extreme Couponing, and want to try to start cutting coupons. Howevs, I don't even get a paper in the mail and I keep forgetting to leave the house on Sunday to go buy one... oops. Just wondered if any of you are "coupon-ers." How's that workin' out for ya? Any tips for getting started? Reading a Little It's a far cry from my readin...

I've given up breastfeeding. I lasted four and a half months. In truth, I've mostly just been breast pumping , because my supply was never extensive enough to keep up with Stella. For weeks now, I've been pumping less and less milk... it just wasn't there. And it wasn't worth the time it takes (5 to 6 pumping sessions a day @ about 30 minutes each = time I could be playing with Stella. Or sleeping.) I did nurse her sometimes, and I thought I wanted to have "one more" nursing session with the knowledge that it would be the very last time I would feed her from my breast. I knew it would be hard, emotionally, so I decided to forget it. Usually, I'm a sucker for anything that will make me feel sappy and require Kleenex. But I'll always have fond memories of the last time... The last time I nursed her was a couple of weeks ago. She had the flu, and she wouldn't take her bottle. I literally had to force her to eat; she was only getting an ounce...

I'm kind of sadspice. I go back to work Tuesday. Stella will still have another week before she starts daycare, as hubs is taking a vacay week next week to stay home with her, which means we'll all be home together this weekend and on Monday. Soooo.... my point being... today is my last day of just Stella & me at home. Maternity leave pretty much rocked. I mean, I guess it's kind of like being in labor... it isn't so wonderful while you're in the midst of it, but looking back... it was amazing. There were moments during those days alone when she was fussy and I was exhausted that I just wanted to trade places with my husband and RUN back to work to get a break, some adult interaction, a full night's sleep (yeah, he gets that. I let him sleep, because I might be dog tired but I'm still a control freak.) But, now that it's basically over I feel like maternity leave was the most precious time. I will never get to spend that much time with her alla...