Half Birthday – Casa de Murphy

As we said good-bye to January, we said hello to 5 1/2 years old for this little man. In keeping with our family photo tradition, here’s the latest teddy bear pic ❤

February was a pretty eventful month for us, so the time slipped away from me before I could get this update posted. We had some fun playing with his shadow one evening after school just before we broke his arm — sooo, this WAS pretty close to his 5 1/2 mark, which technically fell on January 31st.

AGE: 5 1/2 years // 66 months

WEIGHT: 51 lbs.

HEIGHT: 3 ft., 9 in. // 45 in.

CLOTHES: size 5 or 6 to a size small — depending on the brand ; He went through a major growth spurt over the summer and continues to get taller. I feel like we had about a year & a half where he had slowed down a bit with growth and now he’s definitely making up for it 🙂 — He also is very into his own style of dress and I think I said this before….gone are the days where I can buy & dress him in whatever I want. He knows what he wants to wear on any given day and will often fight you on it. At least, he is into matching colors. HA!

WHAT’S NEW:

Liam has continued to immensely change & grow since his birthday. Since he’s our only child, it’s hard for me to compare him to anything else, but at this point, I would say it’s probably this age. He’s just like a sponge and it’s really amazing to watch him learn and be curious about the world around him.

Since just after his birthday, he began Kindergarten. As I recapped in THIS post, he has far surpassed both Stephen and my’s expectations for what he’s been learning. Most currently, he is reading beginner sight word books, and eagerly asks what words are that he doesn’t recognize. He picks up on the meaning of things that I wouldn’t even dream about him getting. For instance, in the Disney movie, Moana, I didn’t think he would understand the significance & connection of the grandmother’s death and the stingray. As we were watching, he immediately told me, ‘I think the grandma just died and that’s her in the water now as the stingray to help Moana‘. I was blown away.

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In September, he started taking Taekwondo lessons. If you see my posts on Instagram, I usually refer to them as karate, but the boys are quick to correct me, as it is technically Taekwondo, and he is now certified with the American Taekwondo Association. He just completed his 2nd belt promotion and competed in his 1st tournament, so not only is he excelling but we are also so proud of the hard work & dedication is showing. A separate recap post is coming soon on all this, but of course, I’m running behind {story.of.my.life}.

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Our new obsession is Disney. We love ALL the parks here in Orlando, and for the 1st time for any of us, we are feeling total Disney magic being able to drop into any of them when we have free time. Santa brought us annual passes and let me tell you, we have been totally been taking advantage of that! I haven’t counted exactly, but I think we’ve visited the parks about 8 times since the 1st week in January. I have so many super fun pics to post soon! 🙂

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NOT SO INTO:

I’m putting this update under the ‘not so into’ as it was a bummer. On Valentine’s Eve, little dude fell off a slide during after-care and got a hairline fracture in his humerus bone on his left arm. He was in a cast for 3 weeks. He did very well with it, but it was an adjustment. We had to keep it dry, so bath time was interesting, but he & Daddy did great with that! He is a lefty, too, so he was a trooper with getting by with his school work & using his right-hand for a while.

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The struggle is REAL people with homework, friends. Little man does fantastic with his schoolwork, and while he doesn’t get a whole lot of homework…he is NOT a fan {I mean, really, who is?} …We do the bulk over the weekends, and there is usually some timeouts involved & stern talks…lol! One day, I’m sure we’ll look back on this & laugh, but man, this is the one area where he really pushes my buttons.

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At some point, over the last few months, we magically {maybe?} entered the gaming universe {help me!}. I think it partly is due to the fact that there is an XBOX and a Wii at the after-care room he attends, so he’s been exposed and allowed to sometimes play it since school started. We also gave him my old iPhone {as an iPod} not too long ago when I upgraded. All I know is that one day, I feel like I blinked, and he was playing games on the iPod, iPad, and Wii more than he was touching his regular toys. I started complaining to Stephen, and he just laughed. Not cool! LOL 😛 — He was back in his play room over this past weekend digging into his toys, so needlesstosay, this mama was over the moon. I love technology, but I’m also all for old-fashioned fun for as long as possible.

You can catch up on all our previous monthly/yearly updates HERE.

Happy Half Birthday, Liam Michael! — Mommy & Daddy love you SO VERY much!

xoxo

Until next time friends,

Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was posting about how much fun we had at little man’s 4th birthday party? How are we already half way to 5?!?! Ya know that saying….”The Days Are Long, but the Years Are Short“? …well, it’s SO true! Don’t.Blink.

Keeping up with our photo tradition, here’s the latest of Liam with his teddy bear. You can catch up on all our previous monthly/yearly updates HERE.

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AGE: 4.5 years // 54 months

WEIGHT: approx. 42.6 lbs. (he was 41 lbs. at his 4 year check up)

HEIGHT: 42 1/4 inches – or – 3 ft. 5 1/4 inches (he’s grown an inch 1/4 since his 4 year check up at the end of August….WOW!!)

CLOTHES: We stayed pretty steady all of last year in 4T but I would say we are pretty strong into a growth spurt now & are quickly growing out of that size. I am now buying all “big boy” size 5 or size XS. No more toddler clothes! He also just moved up a size in shoes and is now in size 11.5.

FAV FOODS: if we could buy stock in Publix popcorn chicken, we would. That’s a definite ‘go-to’ on days when we are short on time and he is a HUGE fan. He tends to be more of a snacker or likes smaller meals. He likes cereal, mandarin oranges, bananas, cheeze-its, cheese, and peanut butter sandwiches.

FAV WORDS/PHRASES: I should log a journal for all the hilarious things this little man says to Stephen and me. Seriously, some of comments that come out of his mouth are unbelievable. He really has the best sense of humor! If he sees we’re upset about something, he’ll say, “you get what you get and you don’t get upset“. Yes, admittedly it’s a sassy response & one that he most likely heard from a friend at school, but the 1st time he said it, I laughed so hard. It was SO unexpected. When he gets mad at us, he says “I’m not your friend anymore“, and likewise when he really wants you to do something for him, he says “Please, I’ll be your friend“. Ah, such persuasion.

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FAV ACTIVITIES: We recently re-modeled the office/playroom, so he loves to play in there with all of his Imaginext toys, superheros and cars. Watching & listening to his imaginary play is something I could do for hours, and of course, it’s super fun to join in & play with him. He also LOVES to listen to music and sing and dance. I still say he’s going to grow up and do something in the arts. His teachers at school say he was Latin rhythm and ask us where he gets it…HILARIOUS!!

DISLIKES: There’s not too much this little dude doesn’t enjoy. Since Pre-K started, I guess you could say he has not been the biggest fan of doing the structured writing activities and learning to write, in general. In a way, I don’t blame him, as I was kinda on the fence for how much is expected of our little 4 year olds, but I didn’t want him to fall behind. We encouraged him and have been careful to not push him…and, I’m really happy to say that he’s made remarkable grown since August. He has learned so much and it’s crazy to see how much his handwriting is improving. Very proud of this boy! /// On another dislike note, I have to say that this boy is JUST like his mama and completely dislikes waking up in the mornings unless he wakes up on his own. Poor Stephen! haha!! 🙂

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As I began writing this post last week, FB showed me these gems in the memories feed that we’ve been graced with lately. I don’t know about you, but I am so enjoying these blasts from the past. Such sweet, sweet memories ❤

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This photo captures the heart of our sweet boy. His pure joy. He asked to pose like this after we did the regular teddy bear pic, and how could I say no?

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