To stress or not to stress...that is the question

"Stress is nothing more than just a socially accepted form of mental illness." So my question is why do we stress so much? Is it worth it in the long run and what do we gain from it? Yes, a certain amount of stress is necessary and keeps things interesting, but when it's causing you to lose sleep at night, stifling your creativity, sucking the life out of you and causing mini panic attacks all of the time, it's obviously too much. My husband, Matty Watty, is going through a tough time at work. As a project manager, the poor guy has a really full plate and is totally stressed to the max. He has to deal with people with extremely thick accents, who are rude, unappreciative, and extremely demanding. His is constantly overloaded and can never seem to catch up from the work that keeps getting piled on him. I, the fixer that I am, try to be as encouraging and supportive as I can, but I know it doesn't do much. He makes good money doing what he does, but is it worth his sanity? I recently went back to work and accepted a position that was about 15K less than what I was making at my previous job. But you know what? I don't stress at work. I'm able to do my job and leave it at the door when I go home. It's so laid back and to me, that's worth the pay cut. It's like I bought piece of mind. My previous job sucked balls so bad, I'd come home in tears. I'd dream about work and it was always a burning thought in the back of my mind. I could never get away from it enough to relax. So I'm trying to encourage him to find something else. I know it's hard for some people to go backwards in their profession, but honestly, I don't think he's going to do this type of work much longer anyway. I told my future sister in law one day, "you are at work 85%-90% of your time. If you are miserable at work, you are miserable 85%-90% of your life." That really puts things into perspective. So I say, go...take the cut....find something you can at least be satisfied with, so you can at least somewhat enjoy life. After all, you only get one shot at this life, so you better make it a good one, right? To wrap this up, I'd like to use this quote: "Brain cells create ideas....stress kills brain cells." It's just not worth it!

Weekend in St. Louis

So, I had a marvelous time this Memorial day weekend. This time last year, I was absolutely HUGE, 8 months preggo and just had my babyshower. It was possibly the best baby shower I've ever been to. :0) My girls did a fantastic job putting it together! From the crazy onesie game that Melissa concaucted to the interesting apple/chicken/snicker salad to the swollen cankles I had by the end of it, it was definitely a memorable experience and I love my friends and family for thinking of us so much. So this year, we (the girls and I) all decided to have a girls' weekend in good ol' St. Louis. It's been a long time since we've had a girls' trip. Everyone has seemed to either get pregnant or acquired a child in some form or fashion....so needless to say that our annual trips were put on hold last year.

So, we all flew in on Friday morning...starting out the day with a healthy diet of coffee and bloody mary's. Upon arrival, with the cameras flashing, we all piled into Becca's Trailblazer and our vacation officially started! Thank god I called shotgun....they look a little crowded back there!

So off to the Loop for some shopping, FOOD, and drinks. It's pretty funny how certain things catch our eye, right? Of course the statue with ginormous boobs was one of them...tity, tity, tity!

So after molesting this unsuspecting statue and walking miles and miles in the heat, we tracked on down to this awesome pizza spot called Pi. It was like a bohemian version of Fireside Pies. The pizza was fantastic and I had the strongest mojito-martini thing ever....mmmmm! So after a marvelous lunch, we mosied on back to the car, a meer 10 miles it seemed, to go and get pedicures. I friggin' love pedicures. My feet always look so fabulous and I love to just sit, read juicy gossip magazines and get a foot massage. I guess I'm a girl after all, right? After the pampering, we went to the house to get dressed and then off to dinner. We went to this tappas bar called Barcelona, had more drinks, and awesome tappas and finger food. It was so good! And then it was time for....oh yes....karaoke! We ended up at this hole in the wall karaoke bar, where we tore it up, had lots of shots, lots of drinks and LOTS of singing at the top of our lungs. Oh yes! The Journey NA-NA-NA's were in full effect!

So Kellie, Keisha and I tried our luck at the microphone and well, at least we didn't sound as bad as some of the dorks that were up there....I think? But hey, beer makes everyone sounds like an American Idol finalist, right?

We are some really big dorks, but whatever. Kellie and I had a brutal rendition of "Goodbye Earl" and Keisha and I busted out with "Father Figure" and the always classic "Black Velvet." I freaking love that song! We had a blast! We ended up closing down the bar, so we all went home, ate large quantities of junk food and then passed out. The next morning, we got up, ate a quick breakfast, got dressed and went to the wineries. Who knew St. Louis had such beautiful vinyards? Suck it Napa! These were absolutely fabulous!

It was getting pretty hot and a few of us, ahem, MELISSA, looked a little green around the gills from the night before, so we went to this little biker bar to get a beer and get out of the heat. After some excellent people watching....like this guy....

We ended up going back to the house and chilling out on the patio. We got Imo's pizza (not sure why we kept eating pizza, but it was soooooooo good) and just sat and girl talked for awhile. About 10:00, we ended up at this frozen custard place in downtown St. Louis and it was freaking amazing that there had to be about 150 people standing outside waiting in line to get ice cream. Absolutely incredible! And the custard was good too! So after the sugar rush, we all went back to the house and hung out in the basement and talked about boys and skidmarks and stupid stuff. None of us Texas folk are used to having a basement, so this was the coolest thing ever! It was about 1:00 in the morning, so we all decided to go to bed. I bunked with Melissa and we couldn't sleep for anything because it was A. pitch black and B. we kept telling scary stories. I felt like I was about 10 years old at a slumber party, but seriously, we kept freaking ourselves out! It was hilarious that 2 grown women with kids were absolutely terrified to go to sleep! Again, we're dorks, but whatever!

So the next morning we all got up, ready and packed, and set off for the airport. We all had a wonderful time and I was sad that it was over so fast. I really miss getting together with my friends. Each one of them are different, but we all seem to compliment each other beautifully and I just love them! Now to end this blog, I'd like to note the catch phrases that were shouted thoughout the trip.

"I'm so tired of your face!"

"You fucking whore"

"Snakeskin lookin' cheese"

"Mama bird's here"

"Nature!"

"Ass-HOOOOOOOOOLE"

and the always popular...."Tity, tity, tity!"

I love you girls and I can't wait to see what we do next year!

Popeye

I have come to realization that daycare is both a blessing and a curse. I absolutely love our daycare....it is the bomb-diggity as far as daycares go. They feed the kid organic, low sugar, nutritional foods, teach him sign language, pipe in classical music in the class room, read stories, do paintings and arts/crafts, and get some serious exercise. The teachers are so attentive and they are just really great with him and I just love them and feel so secure about them watching my precious child all day. Now, on the flipside, daycares can be a nightmare, as I've now experienced what every parent talks about....childhood sickness. Over the past 3 months, we've had conjunctivitis, bronchitis, multiple ear infections, Type B flu, fever, eczema and your typical, standard colds. And also, not only is your kid sick, he gives to you. Here mommy....here's some swine flu along with this drawing I made for you! I hope you like it! I know that it's hard for working parents to find someone to watch their offspring when they're sick. So many choose to bring them to daycare anyway, despite of their kid being extremely contagious. So their diseased kid plays with your kid and bam! The ENTIRE class, the rest of the parents, their friends, their dogs and anyone else that comes in contact has now become infected. So our latest debacle has been orbital cellulosis with a side of double ear infections. Look at my poor baby's eye:





He was not happy whatsoever and ended up having to get a shot in the leg. So what the heck is orbital cellulosis, you ask? It's apparently a bacterial infection that can result in vision damage and potential blindness, if left untreated. HOLY CRAP! Had I known there was all of these freaky diseases out there, I think I would've thought twice about going back to work. All I can say is when your kid is sick, please, please, please keep them at home, leave them with grandma or someone other than daycare, because they unknowingly infect the entire school and everyone else. Daycare is a giant petri-dish for ferocious viruses and bacteria. It's going to eventually turn me into a germaphobe before it's all over with!

I joined the club

Ok, so I feel awful that I haven't set up a blog or kept a journal of my journey through motherhood and having the whole family life. So much has happened to me over the past year (well almost 2 years), that I've hardly had time to actually sit and jot down my thoughts. But I'm afraid if I don't document this experience somehow, that it will just become a collection of distant memories. I can remember when I was pregnant, how I actually bought a journal and even a special pen to write down thoughts, feelings and emotions I had experienced. I think I wrote in about 5 pages of it and it's now in storage somewhere, stuffed in some random box. Even though the intention was there, I just didnt have the time to keep up with it. So, I decided to take the bull by the horns and make the time to write something down. So here's the first official blog of The Murphy Show. I just hope I can keep this up!

Ok so, I'm a mother now! Holy crap! I feel like I just woke up one day and BAM! I'm a mom! I went from being a social butterfly...someone who was perfectly content with only having dogs, no curfew, few resposibilities, and a permanent boyfriend, to all of a sudden being a wife and a mother and having the whole nuclear family life. Who is this person I have become and where in the heck did she come from? I must admit that even though all of this is unfamiliar territory, I am SO THANKFUL this has happened to me. I can honestly say that through out this whole experience, it has allowed me to tap into unchartered potential that I thought I never had. I've got this beautiful little human who is a part of both of us. I can see the little smiles and faces he makes that look just like his dad. I can see the quirky little things he does that are the same things that I do too. I wasn't expecting this and being a mother was always a thought I had in the back of my head as "well, maybe someday." But here I am! And I must admit that I LOVE it. I love my son more than I thought I was ever capable. He is the very best of us. He is such a happy and curious little boy, who's smile is infectious and who I miss terribly, even if I'm away for just a few hours. He makes me want to be a better person and I can't imagine my life without him now.

As he grows and learns new things (which is every freaking day, it seems), I want to somehow take those memories and accomplishments and lock them in a vault to take out and treasure over and over. Does that sound bad or too over the top? It might to those who don't have kids. I must admit that I was one of those people at one time. I didn't understand how people could be so wrapped up in what their kid was doing....how they seemed to define their very existance based on the actions of their child. They always talked about what he/she figured out how to do or how cute they were or what was the color of poop they had that day. It was kind of disturbing how they couldn't seem to talk about anything else, other than their kid.

Ok, I get it now. I have officially joined the club.

Even though I still feel like myself (well most of the time anyway), I feel like I've made some great accomplishment...the selfless act of bringing something bigger than yourself into the world...nurturing, caring and loving it more than you love yourself. I made sure to not drink, not to smoke, not to eat crappy food, to get exercise, take my vitamins (even though they made me puke) and read every baby book I could get my hands on, took the stupid baby classes, all just so I could make sure I was going to give this kid the best possible life I could. He's almost 11 months now, and everyday, I think about how everything Matt and I do can shape his life and how it can affect the type of person he'll become. So I think this experience has made me a more aware, a more conscience person. I try not to obsess on things I do and how they might impact my child forever, like forgetting to brush my teeth before I go to bed or feeding him something that's not 100% organic, for example. Obsessing over that stuff can drive you crazy, if you let it. So, I just try to lead by example and just hope that my efforts and my love for this kid helps him turn out to be a decent human being. That's all I can ask for! It's just going to be a long journey getting there...one I'm so very thankful to be on!