The Murphy Boys

Ayrie just turned four and has been thinking a lot about growing up.  Here are three exchanges we had today about growing up: conversation one A: mom, when i was a baby, did i have brown skin? N: yes A: mom, when i’m a man, will i still have brown skin? N: yes A: nods his head in satisfaction **** conversation 2 A: mom, when i grow up will I still have the same voice that I had when I was three? N: maybe, what what your voice like when…read more

“Did I do it? Did I go potty?” Shiya still has to ckeck to make sure. And when he sees urine in he potty he exclaims, “Yay! I did it! My penis went pee pee!” And then he finds the nearest person to do a high five. And then comes the good part.  He gets to empty his potty into the grown up toilet, close the lid, flush the toilet and turn off the bathroom light.  He just loves this part of the ritual! I’m trying to go cold turkey….read more

Ayrie has been taking Atrovent for his trachemalacia.  Somehow the drug holds open his trachea making it less ‘floppy’ so it doesn’t close in on itself. I was talking to the pulmonologist about the atrovant and he told me, “If one of your son’s pupils dilates and the other doesn’t, don’t worry.  He’s not having a stroke!”  I guess the mist from the mask gets into the kids eyes and can make one or both of the pupils dilate.  Luckily Ayrie doesn’t like the feeling of the mist in his eyes so…read more

so where’s shiya?  when Ayrie and I are in Boston, there are always a lot of updates about our progress.  but where is dear, sweet, resilient Shiya when all of this is going on?  luckily we have a lot of friends and family that help out at a moment’s notice and even luckier that shiya seems to enjoy this time.  monica and eryn took care of his time time and here’s a quote from an email update that monica sent to me: Shiya went to bed fine last night, although…read more

i’m sorry. sometimes i don’t have enough patience.  today was one of those days.  sometimes i am too tired, too stressed, too worried (about real problems) or too focused on the things that aren’t important (made up problems) to be in the moment.  i over react and i am not the loving mother that i want to be, that i should be. so sometimes when you feel sad, cranky or obstinant, I am not understanding enough.  i rush you or raise my voice when i should take a moment to…read more

2009 was definitely a time of transitions for us! We celebrated the ‘poof’ of the new year by a candle light dinner of mini-foods, holding hands, giving thanks, looking ahead, and singing endless renditions of ‘Happy Birthday to You”.  Those of you who know me know that I like a little bit of excitement in my life… but I wouldn’t mind a quieter 2010! Happy New Year Family and Friends. Listed below are some of the biggest changes for us in 2009: Shiya can speak in sentences of four or…read more

Okay, so a mom can only take so much love!  A few nights ago Shiya needed to be touching me, three stuffed animals and a baby blanket at all times.  If at anytime he fell asleep, rolled over and lost touch with any of the above, he would jolt awake and scream in apparent pain, “Mommy, blanket! ”  Or “Mommy, elmo!”  Or just “mommy!”  This went on for a full eight hours until 4am.  In hindsight, he was coming down with a cold but at the time I was bewildered, bemused and…read more

Today Emily and Ian announced their engagement. Yay!!  Obviously Ian already feels like a “brother-in-law” and Ayrie and Shiya are his nephews, but it will be fun that they are getting married.  Here are some of Ayrie’s responses All of us were working in the yard today planting perennials and bulbs before winter comes.  Ian dug up a piece of broken concrete and Ayrie washed it off with water “for the wedding” He said out of the blue, “It’s too bad that ye-ye won’t be able to come to the wedding party…read more