3 Months of James Murphy.

How is James already 3 months?? This month was a huge one of trial and error and learning to be kind to myself as his parent. I am really trying my best, and he is the sweetest baby who helps me feel good about myself.

 I love how MELLOW he is. (Minus the last few days as I started writing this of course). He will just crash at 10 AM, which of course is when all of Cora's fun things are. So he will usually whine and cry for a few minutes but then he just falls asleep. This picture is from Music Makers (every Wednesday at 10).

 I love how he loves Cora so much! He lights up when he sees her (and me), but watching them interact is way cuter.

 He is SO strong. He does not want to rest against my shoulder ever. He is always sitting straight up and looking around. He is so strong and stable.

 He HATES tummy time. But he loves screens. So this was the perfect compromise for us.

 I love watching him light up around Brandon too. For the first little bit he didn't seem to appreciate his dad as much, but now they are buddies.

 He has such a drool problem right now. It's so cute, but messy. So now we use his big bibs when we want his clothes to stay dry.

 Seriously, he is the happiest baby. When we are walking out to the car we just smile at each other (and keep Cora nearby).

 James, you are my little buddy. I love you so much, you keep me on my toes. I'm sorry you're the second child and need to learn to be on your own a lot more than Cora did. I love your happy personality, and how much you light up everyone's life. People LOVE getting your big smiles and giggles. You grow and grow all the time (size 3 diapers?!), and you have such a strong spirit. You have been through a lot in your little life, and you still keep us all happy. We love you!

We love Bubba.

One of the big themes of this month has been hurricane watch in the Caribbean. I am grateful that we moved just before this hurricane season, because hurricane Irma was a category 5 that was supposed to hit Miami. Our friends all evacuated and were without power for weeks. Thankfully Miami missed a direct hit at the last second, but Puerto Rico was hit directly.  That sounded terrible, so when hurricane Maria was coming towards Puerto Rico I thought it would miss. But the mission president called everyone to the mission home/office to wait out the storm. That was such an inspired move, because PR is totally destroyed right now. There is no power, no water, no food, the gas is about to run out, etc. It is so scary to think of my little sister in a place like that. Once they realized how dire the situation was, they began evacuating the missionaries. It is crazy. They ate canned food for days, helped out a little bit, and couldn't go home to get the rest of their stuff because it isn't safe. 

Bethany was reassigned to the Utah Ogden mission, which is super exciting since the mission office is 2 miles away from Tommy's parents' house. I never served a mission, so I can't imagine how she is feeling about leaving your mission. When Brandon was on his mission he was evacuated from Bolivia to Peru because of the political unrest. So he's the only one in our family who can relate to Bethany through this!

But we are just so happy that she is safe. Since she's in Utah now she can be sent her clothes easily. Plus mail will get there more quickly! They hope she will be there for about 6 months until the worst of it settles down, but who knows. Bethany is going to epitomize D&C 4 "If ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work". She will be great wherever she goes!

Labor Day weekend, part 3.

On Labor Day, we went to the Channel Islands. We booked the ferry to Santa Cruz island a few weeks before, and planned out everything. There are no trash cans on the island, so we needed to bring our trash back. There aren't any umbrellas to sit under, so we had to bring our own shade. And the hikes are all super long so we didn't do it. So I wouldn't recommend it with little kids.

BUT. Look at this! We saw dolphins and a humpback whale on the boat ride out. It was amazing. (Unfortunately the video wouldn't load)

  Luckily since we couldn't do anything else, there was a big beach for us to settle down on.

 Since this was national park #8 for us, I took a picture for our photo album. This was the best I got. (2 year old problems)

 

 Tiny elf.

 Cora exhausted herself on the island, and slept the whole way back. And we saw more dolphins! It was incredible, they were swimming under the boat and surfing the wake.

It was such a fun trip! Maybe someday we can do it with all the Giullian kids. Or one day with all of my siblings!

Labor Day weekend trip, day 2.

The next day was Sunday. The wards near us were at odd times, but there was a Santa Monica ward that started at 10 AM and we had already planned to go down there so off we went.

We got to drive down the PCH to Malibu, which was beautiful.

 The building was extremely old and had some beautiful stained glass windows.

 After that we went to the LA temple visitor's center, because it was a record breaking heat wave and we were all sweating our brains out. This was a sweet picture...

 ... followed by what actually happened.

  I love our little family.

  Poor Cora was so tired... so obviously we tried to go to an insanely crowded place. The Santa Monica Pier!

 Seriously, more crowded than Disneyland.

 They had a carousel, so I thought Cora might love it. BOY DID SHE!

 "Woo-hoo!"

End of Route 66

 I didn't know if Cora would be tall enough for the other rides, so we just decided to skip trying those.

On the way back, I convinced Brandon to drive a few miles away and see the house from Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire. It had crazy high bushes and trees all around it, so this was the best picture I got.

 Yes, I did stick my hand through the gate to get those pictures. Totally worth it, a big part of my childhood!

Labor Day Weekend trip, part 1.

Over Labor Day weekend, we went on a sibling trip with Megan, Ashlee, and Luis. Just missing Tay!

Luis and James have a nice little bond right now. James talks to Luis a lot.

 We met up with them at the outlet malls near the grapevine, and Cora had an awesome time at the play place. She also learned a new phrase when it was time to go... "No I won't!"

 Cutest little traveler did awesome.

 We found an Airbnb near Oxnard Beach, and took James out for his first beach trip. So sad, his beach trips are actually PLANNED and not super random trips across the street.

 Giant Cora.

 Megan was an awesome sport and took Cora out into the water a lot.

 2 buddy boys.

Just a bunch of random Cora pictures.

Just a casual family picture. (No, I didn't have my swimsuit on.)

 Cora was so stinking cute. She was totally afraid of the water (what happened to my Miami baby??), but if I was holding her hand she would stand there and wait for the waves. I could feel her tense up when one would get close, but she was brave. I was so proud! And when one totally got sand all over her hair and she cried and didn't want to get back in, I couldn't blame her.

That night we went to Korean BBQ in Ventura. You cook it yourself... it was amazing!

 James was very interested in the food.

 Since it was all you can eat, we ordered some crazy stuff. Like octopus.

Cora refused to sleep in her crib the first night. So she and Brandon shared a futon in the third bedroom and James and I slept in the front room. Apparently she woke up at 3 AM ready for the day. "HI DAD! I AM SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU!"