Meet Our Newst Morris: Pt 3 Sami's Babies!

Guess who's here: Sami's babies! We are now the proud observationists of 2 baby doves! Mommy Sami frequently leaves the nest to go get some food for these little ones. They are so cute! Thank you Bobby for the photos. You are now the official Morris-Wildlife-Photographer...

Remember their neighbors and that random-looking nest on the opposite post? Well, they're still there. And they're still mean as a snake! But they seem not to mind the new babies on the porch!

Hungry Thursday

Time to try something new!  Today Caroline is 5 1/2 months old.  She eats - well drinks - voraciously, so I decided it was time to throw her a little changeup...food!  Rob's first food was bananas.  I have always heard to "try what you know" so bananas it is.  Here goes nothing.  First, let's discover the spoon:

Hmm...that's kinda tasty.  Hey, Mommy, can you make it even better?

Okay...we're on to something now!

All in all, it was a success.  Caroline ate about 1/2 of the smallest sized baby food jar of bananas,  then she washed them down with 3 oz of formula.  Her brother Rob was 5 months old when he first tried to spoon feed.  Here's a flashback since I was not a blogger back then:

Tuesday's Fun in the Tuscaloosa Sun

Thank you, Aunt LarJean!  We really enjoyed our Tuesday.  In a change of pace, Caroline was the one to be dropped off at Miss Beth's house this morning.  Rob and Mommy had a play date in Tuscaloosa hanging out at Laura's apartment complex pool.

Rob had so much fun!  He kept telling Laura "thank you so much for inviting us to your pool."  But I must say, the highlight of the day was when, out of the blue, he looked at Laura and me and said "Surf's up, kids, surf's up!"  We laughed so hard at that!!!

No trip to Tuscaloosa would be complete without some 'Bama action, so we also went to check out the progress on the South endzone expansion.  It is absolutely beautiful!  There are some real architectural details being used here!  See for yourself:

Well, that was so much fun, but now it's time to go home.  Rob, get your towel...(PS: he got some laughs for the serious monster growls he was doing, too)

Siblings Without Rivalry

Bobby's right beside me asking why I'm doing a 2nd entry at once...just because!  Enjoy...

Meet Our Newest Morris: Pt 2

So, the other day Sami left her nest for a few minutes.  I took advantage of her absence to crawl up there and see exactly what she was guarding...Here's what I saw:

Okay, then I needed a better look:

Well, I'll be!  There ARE eggs, after all!

As I was climbing down, I noticed this (left) on the other front porch column which was later occupied by some new kind of bird (right):

Whatever kind of bird that is has allies.  I have recently been living out my own version of Hitchcock's The Birds...they will swarm you and dive for your head.  Sami just stoically sits there watching it all unfold as if to say "there goes the neighborhood."

Not to be outdone by the birds, Rob decided we needed yet another addition to the Morris household...

 

Rob decided his name is "Goldie".  Do not adjust your computer screens; this is a red Betta fish.  He is not gold.  I think Rob believed he was getting a goldfish.  He and his Nona went to the pet hotel (PetSmart) and brought Goldie home.  Rob asks me every 5 minutes if Goldie is tired of swimming yet.  He also asked what we would do if Goldie died.  Well, Goldie would then get to go to Heaven and be a fish angel, but if we take care of him, that won't happen for a ling time.

Lastly, Rob said "I've wanted a pet fish for my whole life!"

Show Us Your Life - Favorite Books/Children's Books

So, Kelly's Korner wants to know what books we liked as a child, and since this is Much Ado, I figured you would like to know, too.  Actually, I have a hard time remembering one stand-out favorite as a child.  I just remember a love of books.  I went through all the Ramona Quimby books rather quickly and really enjoyed her.

Later on, I can remember having an affinity for Ann M Martin's The Babysitters' Club and for Francine Pascal's Sweet Vally High.  Actually, my middle name is Elizabeth, and since Elizabeth Wakefield was so beautiful and well-received by all of her peers I just couldn't see any other option: I would now be known as Elizabeth.  Lizzie to my closest circle.  That didn't happen.

When I finally found my literary footing, I discovered Shakespeare.  I like the comedies best, followed by the tragedies.  Despite my father majoring in history as a collegian, I could care less about Shakespeare's history plays.  My favorite from the bard:  The Merchant of Venice.  I don't know what it is, but I really like Antonio and I do sympathize with Shylock. 

If you couldn't tell, I even named my blog after a Shakespearean comedy, Much Ado About Nothing.  In the summer of '06 while I was pregnant with my first son, I re-read through several Shakespeare works.  Rob could have very easily been named Antonio, but we had deep reasons to give him the initials RC, and Romeo just wouldn't work for my son's name.

New Baby Superstore Moves to Town...

So, I went to Buy Buy Baby today. In case you haven't heard, it's the newest baby superstore in Birmingham. It's in the old Circuit City location at Patton Creek, adjacent to the Riverchase Galleria. It's nickname shall be Bye Bye Babies R Us...

Oh yeah! In a metro area which has 5 Targets, 50+ Wal-Marts, several big-name department stores, etc, I never understood why there was only 1 Babies R Us. Seriously, I spent actual time on this perplexity. You would think Babies R Us would have everything a mother ever wanted, being the only specialty store for 100 miles or more...not so, my friend. As is usually the case in corporate monopoly, BRU took for granted the fact that we the consumer shopped there simply out of necessity, rather than out of desire. Their staff became very lethargic; their merchandise became very sparse; their store, despite a recent remodle, became very antiquated.

I only spent $7.43 today on some Dr. Brown's bottles replacement parts -- did you know they melt in the dishwasher if they fall down and land on the heating coil? Astonishing. But I could easily have spent $74.30 or more...there are great name brands including many organic items, lovely sales people wh0 know where everything is located despite only having been open for about 4 weeks, and they take Bed, Bath, and Beyond coupons!!! Who doesn't get a royal-blue postcard in the mail for 20% every once in a while? Love it.

Bye Bye, Babies R Us. Wish I could say I will miss you...but I try very hard not to lie anymore!

Meet our newest Morris...

I love my front porch! And it is only getting better thanks to our sluggish-but-steady landscaping efforts. I also love my creeping jasmine which has finally summitted my front porch columns. For years there have been birds' nests atop each column. If you would open the front door quickly on any given morning, you would hear startled wings flapping away. However, this weekend was different. Picture it, Sicily, 1938...oops, the Golden Girls are on TV in the background. Okay. Picture this:

Sunday Rob and Caroline had a great time visiting with Nona, Mee-Maw, and Granddaddy. We were all saying our goodbyes on the front porch when Granddaddy was the first to notice her/him:I don't know, do males or females sit on the nests? This little lady (I'm assuming) was not moving. She locked eyes (okay, one eye) with us and froze up. I even put her through quite the photo shoot and she stoically sat. Who knows how many eggs she is incubating. Rob is so excited. He wanted to make sure--by asking no less than 50 times--that she was still there. I asked him what we should name our newest family member and he promptly replied "Sammy." Well, what if it's a girl? He reminded me that "Sami can be for girls, too."Welcome to Baronne Street, Sami. We can't wait to see what other surprises you have in store for us. Oh, and don't worry about our neighbors' cat. We'll protect you from the nosy feline:

Caroline is 5 Months Old Today!!!

So, I meant to start this a long time ago, but here is my 1st monthly Happy Un-Birthday Caroline Elizabeth post. Caroline is 5 months old today! Here's what we have accomplished in 5 short months of life:

Weight: 14.5 lbs

Sleeping Patterns: You usually go to bed about 7:30 PM and will sleep until 2:30 or 3 o'clock AM. You wake between 6:45 and 7:00 AM. You take a nice mid-morning nap and a long afternoon nap. You may cat-nap in the early evening depending on how the day went.

Eating Habits: You take a 6 oz bottle about 4 times a day now. You still nurse at bedtime and overnight.

New Discoveries & Accomplishments: When we went for your 4-month checkup, Dr. McCown asked if you could roll over. Not yet but almost. He put you on your tummy and you promptly rolled over (for the very 1st time) like you had been doing it forever. Now you roll all over the place. You really like your tummy these days. You are so strong. You want to move; you rock back and forth, but have not figured out that you can get up on your knees and crawl. You are trying to sit up alone. You will sit for about 2 - 3 minutes then topple over. You love your "lovies"...you have a silky square one and Rob gave you his prized "baby blanket" which you also love. Your face lights up at the sight of Daddy or Rob, so you definitely adore your family.

Places You Love: Going to Nona's while Mommy works for her, sitting in the Johnny Jump-Up, sight-seeing at the Galleria, being around other people (such a social butterfly)

Special Friends: You really respond well to your brother and to your special cousins Lauren, Micah, Josh, Miles, and Madison.

Current Events: The oil spill off the coast of Louisiana may affect Alabama and Mississippi coastlines by next week. Will the beaches be black this summer?

What We Did This Day: We went to hear Lauren and Micah perform an impromptu piano recital at Uncle David and Aunt Mary's house, then you went to your first of many Bridal Teas. This one for cousin Michelle Muro.

(PS) I borrowed this format from someone's blog -- the person doesn't even know I'm a reader. But imitation is the highest form of flattery, right?

Since I missed out on blogging her first few months, here they are in pictures:

Caroline 6 wks old

Caroline 3 months old...can't sit up alone yet, but already chillin'

Caroline 4 mos old...it was April Fool's day and she looks "up to something".

Oh No He Di'n't...

...but oh yes, he did! Look, I think my husband is so handsome. Perhaps it's the simple knowledge that he's my soulmate, but I just am totally absorbed by his "look". Not in the Matthew McConaughey Dolce & Gabbana ad sort of way, but more in the Eric Clapton "Just The Way You Look Tonight" sort of way.

So it was much to my chagrin that last night while I was enjoying Relay For Life of Hoover with some friends, he went to BFF Matt's house and did the following. Oh and for the millionth time, he did not ask for my permission and would not have cared if I said don't do it. Quit asking me "Why did you let him do this?"

Here are some Before and After shots for you to enjoy. Or to gasp at. Whatever...