I'm a mom first

The other day while working on bows for an upcoming boutique, my baby boy started to cry. I eagerly jumped up to go nurse him. I love the bond that nursing brings and am always happy to do it but I also love to craft, so I wondered why I stopped so quickly. I could have finished the knot I was tying before running to my baby who had only been awake for 2 seconds. My answer to myself was this: I am a mom first.

I started Rock-A-Bow as a mommy based business. To help my family but also to be close to my children. The whole concept of the business was to be a mom first and make a little money on the side. I want to stick to that idea as Rock-A-Bow grows (which I am excited to say it has been growing).

So...I am making myself and my children a promise now. I am a mom first and I always will be. I am not saying that I haven't been taking care of my children. Don't get that idea. The whole purpose of this thought is that since that original statement the other day, I have been thinking about how Rhiannon and my friend's daughter Anberlyn were the inspirations of this company, yet it seems everyone owns Rock-A-Bow goods except my own children.

When did I stop crafting for my kids? Why should they be the last ones to wear or own something cute mommy made? So I am sticking with my mentality of I am mommy first. Tonight I will drop all the costumes I am making for other people and start the costumes I bought material for but almost decided not to make for my own children. (Orders will still be made on time, don't worry). Next week I will start making Talon's quilt for his crib. A keepsake I look forward to him having.

I cannot wait to continue to adorn my babies in things that I have made for them!

2 Years Ago

It all started two years ago. It was the first time I held my baby girl. It was also the first time I felt my heart grow.


Love at first sight does not do the feeling justice. I wish I could explain to you and to her the way I felt when they put this little beauty on my chest. I had waited so long to hold her and she was finally here.


At that moment I just "knew" I could never love more. And then the day came, she said mommy, low and behold I could love more and I did in this moment. A few months passed and she said "I love you" for the first time. Melt my heart! Or the day she walked out of her room and exclaimed "Mommy Im a princess" This heart of mine just might explode!


It seems that everytime I think I cannot love anymore, my baby girl goes and proves me wrong.


Happy Birthday Rhiannon. Mommy loves you more than you can ever know.

Upcoming Boutiques

Hey there! You may have noticed that my Etsy store is still closed. I know I said that I was going to re-open it soon after Baby Talon arrived. I have an excuse though. I have some boutiques coming up. Trying to stock up some goodies for you to drool over! But how can you drool if you don't know where to find me? So folks, here is a list of the upcoming boutiques.

October 23rd
Christ Lutheran Fall Festival Vendor and Crafters Village

760 Victoria Street

Costa Messa, CA 92927

November 6th
Piece & Joy Christmas Boutique
(hosting my very own boutique woo hoo)
819 N. Roanne St.
Anaheim, CA 92801

November 14th
Private Residence Boutique
I'll get ya more info soon

I also have an application in for my churches Christmas Tea Boutique, Ill update you on that one soon!

Why Me?

In our lives we sometimes have days or times that make us want to curse everything. I have had a few of those days in the past couple months. The other day, thinking about it all, it overwhelmed me. I cried out to God "Help me Lord, help me get through this!" and somehow in that prayer I uttered the words "Thank you Jesus that I am able to walk through these horrible situations with you"

Wait? What? Thank you for the horrible? Are you Crazy?

No, not crazy! Not in the least bit.

You see, I serve a God who is not only good to me during the happy times but through the trying as well. I know that He is by my side guiding and teaching me through all of these difficult experiences. Instead of asking "why, why me?" and having myself a little pity party, I have decided to ask "God, what would you like to do with this? How can I use this to glorify you?" I am choosing to praise Him. Even in my trials. I am challenging you, my readers, to do the same.

Boy oh Boy!

Remember this blog? You know the one about how I used to be so uncreative (is that a word) and then I somehow was inspired over and over again by the changes in my life? Well, it has happened again. Rock-A-Bow has a new inspiration and his name is Talon. That's right folks, my baby boy has got me creating fun new things. We have burp cloths, tag blankets and onsies. I'm even thinking of venturing into the world known as pee pee teepees. What do you think?

Rock-A-Bow released the new items at a very small neighborhood boutique. They won't be going up on the website for a while since I'm trying to stock up for all of the holiday boutiques I will be participating in but you can take a look at these pictures I have for you. These are from that neighborhood boutique I told you about.

Don't worry I will keep you posted on when and where all these boutiques will be and if you can't make it to one, you can always custom order whatever you need!

Anyhow, here are some pictures for ya!

Don't worry there is still lots of girlyness going on at Rock-A-Bow!

Bringing Home Baby- Talon Reid Murphy

Ahhh an induction. I have a love hate relationship with inductions. I hate them because the labor is harder. The love factor? I was completely prepared for Talon's arrival. Bags were packed, babysitter for Rhiannon was all lined up and hubby already had the day off. Oh, and you have a perk too, I know the exact minute everything happened. Makes it really easy for you to follow along.

I was told to call at 6am to confirm that Hoag Hospital would be ready for my appointment at 7am. I could not sleep the entire night before. Could you? I mean I knew I would be holding my baby boy soon. When 6 o'clock finally rolled around HOAG WAS BOOKED! Were these people for real? I was up all night and all these women decided to have their babies and leave no room for me? Okay, I know that they didn't plan when they went into labor but that is how I felt at the moment. They told us to call back at 830am to see if there was room yet. Thankfully there was (sort of), we were told to be there at 10.

We arrived at the hospital at 9:45 only to be told that they were still a little busy so we would have to wait in the waiting room. How odd it felt to be sitting in the labor and delivery waiting room waiting for none other than my own baby.

At 10:30 they finally got me into a room and all checked in. I was dilated to 2cm upon arrival. My water was broke and IV's including pitocin were placed by 12pm. At 12:20, I had my first contraction. See how convenient that is. It was all on paper from beginning to end.

Contractions started off pretty light, I was actually asking Steven everytime I had one. "Babe, check, was that one?" I thought maybe I was eager and just imagining things. Around 2:20 contractions were evident and the epidural was in. Did I need it yet? Probably not but why feel pain if you don't have to? This is when the waiting game really began. All there was to do was lay down and roll from side to side. Ah the torture. When would he be here?

At 5:00 I was dilated to 5cm. I was told that if things didn't start progressing a little faster that they would put in an internal monitor to see just how strong these contractions were (since my 1st baby was born in 9hrs. they thought I should be moving along a little quicker). At 6:00 I was checked again and I was at 9.5cm. WOW when did that happen? It was time. Where was the doctor? It took her about 15 minutes to get there. "I could be pushing" is all I could think the whole time I was waiting for her to arrive.

In comes the doctor. While she scrubbed in, the nurses broke down the bed. It was go time. At 6:25 it was time to start pushing. After 5 pushes he was crowning. The first thing the Doctor said when she saw his head was "How big did I say this baby would be?". My husband told her that she had estimated 8lb. Her response "This is a really big baby..." Yeah, that is something I want to hear as I'm pushing the baby out. Whether I wanted to hear it or not it was evident with every push. One, because I could feel it and Two, because everyone kept informing me "This is a really big baby". After a few more pushes he was here, in my arms finally. Talon was born at 6:47pm (a grand total of 6hr and 24 min) weighing in at 9lb 9oz and measuring 22.5". They were right he was a big baby indeed!
Due to how quickly he had come out, combined with his size his face was slightly bruised. I was also informed by my husband that when he first started crowning the dr had to remove the umbilical cord from his neck. It took him a few minutes to cry and a little longer for his breathing to sound normal but at the end of the day we had a big healthy baby boy. Our miracle baby has arrived!
We are now home and happy...Especially Talon's big sister Rhiannon!

Where is Toddler Talk?

I know, I know, I just started posting a weekly blog and already it has stopped. As of today I am 37 weeks pregnant with an almost 2 year old. I promise that after this baby comes there will be more toddler talk and plenty of other blog posts. Sorry for now. But check back soon for more good stuff, even pictures of a new baby boy!