Rob is 5 years old!

Five years ago today, my life changed forever!  Suffering from a pretty heavy case of pre-eclampsia and hypertension, I had been in the hospital for 4 days.  I was 37 weeks pregnant, so the doctors were pretty sure Rob was healthy, but "white, male" babies' lungs are the weakest, so they wanted to run a couple of tests before delivering him.  Finally on Monday morning August, 28, 2006, I was put into labor.  Twelve (12) long hours (plus a couple of "Get him outta me!" screams on my end) later, Robert Corry Morris, Jr was born. I was now a mother.  Never again would life revolve around me, but rather life became about my quest to provide a stable, loving, Christian home to the greatest gift I had ever received -- the life of my child.

Length: 19 1/2"

Weight: 5 lbs, 7 oz 

Now, let's fast-forward 5 years!  That tiny baby has grown into such a wonderful young boy!

Height: 45.5" (3' 9.5")

Weight: 47 lbs

Sleeping Patterns: This summer you have gone to sleep around 9 or 9:30 and you will sleep until about 8 AM.  That is, unfortunately, about to change as school will start back next week.  You are a good sleeper.  you still like Mommy to read you a book and lie down with you for a few minutes.  Occaisionally you will wake up in the middle of the night and come to my room to potty.  You want me to walk you back up to your bed.

Eating Habits: OMG if I hear the word "snack" again some days I think my head will spin!  Rob, you are a wonderful eater and you will eat healty foods.  However, you are so busy, that you won't allow yourself to get full at meal time, so you want to snack constantly.  You wake up hungry.  You want breakfast in a hurry.  Usually it is either a waffle or cereal. 

New Discoveries & Accomplishments: You are learning to ride a bike and a Razor scooter.  You have just discovered how to add with your fingers and you can figure out basic addition/subtraction so long as the sum is 10 or less.  You are really into space, stars, and planets, too.  You are going to repeat 4K this year, due to your late birthday.  Mommy and Daddy have prayed about it and we want you to grow into a leader, not a follower.  So one more year of maturity will likely give you life-long maturity.  However, you are so ready to learn!  You absorb knowledge!  You took piano lessons this spring and loved it.  Daddy is not keen on you playing the piano, but you say you want to be a "rock star" and musicians all say it starts with a piano.

Places You Love:  You still love going to the park, but lately it has been so humid and hot that we haven't had a chance to go lately.  You love the zoo and everything about it; the train ride, the snakes exhibit (shudder), the tiger, and the splash pad.  You really love swimming!  We have gone to the beach a couple of times and you prefer the pool to the sand!  We swam at cousin Miles' pool several times and you had a blast. You also love, love, love going to Mimi and Rocky's house and cooking with them!

Special Friends: You started "school" this past year.  You were in the 4K program at Prince of Peace Catholic Church and School in Hoover, AL -- also our church.  Ms. Tania was your teacher and you were absolutely crazy about her.  So were we.  She was a dear person to you. 

You also made many friends in class, but the one friend you idolized was Ryan B.  Ryan who turned 5 early in the fall, is moving onto Kindergarten this year.  But I know you will make many new friends this fall and these are the boys and girls you will stick with for years to come.  Plus, you will still see Ryan at POP all the time!

Current Events: This year has been the year of extreme weather!  Today the US East coast is shielding itself from Hurricane Irene, which is making landfall as I type.  The south is still recuperating from the devastating tornados that swept 16 states and killed over 300 people in Alabama alone.  Just this week there was an earthquake in Washington, DC -- a first since WWII.  The East coast is bracing itself for Hurricane Irene set to make landfall sometime on today or tomorrow.  Lastly, this has also been the year of the death of Osama Bin Laden, thanks to a classified, US Special Operations raid.

What We Did This Day:  Today Mommy woke up in Portsmouth, NH and I'm missing you so much!  I am supposed to be coming home today, but Hurricane Irene has pushed my travel plans back a day.  You woke up with Daddy, but tonight you are spending the night with Mimi so she can keep you tomorrow while Daddy is at work.  I have a surprise for you!

5 Years of Rob...In Pictures

I cannot believe it has been 5 years!  Here are images of how the years have flown by:

My special boy.  You truly captured my heart!!!

Like Mommy, icing is your favorite part of b'day cake! 

Rob's 1st birthday

Not many 2-year-olds know who BB King is, but you did! So a guitar-themed party was TWO-too fun!

(That's you, below, in the red shirt.)

(L-R) Madison, Ana Lynn, Colby, Rob, and Hunter

Age two is also the year that Papa Joe bought you your 1st of now 3 guitars:

Rob (2) and Papa Joe

At age three, we went to Pump-It-Up for a birthday party.  Mommy was quite pregnant with your baby sister, and going to a place where we could just walk in and walk out sounded like Heaven!  Plus, the inflatables made for some very happy kids! I can't find a picture of that party right now, but trust me, it was fun! It was at age three that you discovered your fascination with pirates, so you had a Pirate birthday cake.  However, as evident in the photo below, you still love guitars!



Rob (3) August, 2009

 By age 4 your looks had even begun changing.  Your baby face was now that of a young boy's...destined for maturation.

We tend to repeat good things in the Morris household.  Case in point: another Pirate birthday cake.  We had your party at our house this year. And we served this delicious treat:

And here we are today.  Another year has passed and you are my big five-year-old.  I am so proud of you.  I can say that I want you to stay young forever, but I know you are headed for great things and I must let you grow up if I want to be witness to your success.  I love you, Robert Corry Morris, Jr!!!

Party Shots

Rob's party was so much fun, but I wanted to share a couple of shots that didn't make yesterday's blog...

Baby Maddox and his mom, Sheila.  She says he has just "discovered" his tongue...He kept sticking it out at everyone all day long!  So cute!

Caroline was in one of those moods where she would not stand still at all.  Sad, because I really wanted a good picture of her.  Why?  I MADE her dress!  It took 4 attempts at the top half a while, but I am so proud of myself! 

Luke is a walking miracle and proof of God's plan for his life.  Born at just over 1 pound, he is healthy, smart, and cute as a whip.  His life has God-given-purpose and I pray that he finds it someday.

My oldest friend, Amber, made an appearance!  I just about cried when I saw her because we just don't see each other very much anymore.  Our kids' lives are consuming us, rightly so.  But that affects our ability to cross paths these days.

Scooby Doo and A Birthday, Too!

Rob turns 5 on Sunday, August 28th.  Sob.  I cannot believe we are already at 5!  I will be out of town this weekend, so we scheduled his party this past weekend.  Rob is totally into Scooby Doo right now, so that became our party theme.

Let me go ahead and say that I take credit for very few of these ideas as being original.  Thanks to my new obsession, Pinterest, and to my older obsession, blogging / blog stalking y'all, I have seen so many cute ideas out there.  It is probably proper to credit all my borrowed ideas, but I make no money off this blog, nor did I charge an admission fee to the party.  I'm pretty sure I'm not violating any copyright laws.

Rob's shirt was made by the sweetest, cutest blogger out there...Jennifer at Life in the Green House, who also makes children's apparel at Braylabee's.  I did not receive any promotional consideration for advertising, but she did such a great job, she deserves props!

The Mystery Machine's color scheme became our party pallette -- aqua, tangerine, and lime green.  I threw in some purple randomly -- inspired by chic Daphne's minidress she wears in every episode. 

Via the magic of Windows Paint and Staples Print and Copy Center, I made three lamintated signs to decorate with.  They featured some of the more catchy phrases from Scooby Doo cartoons:

If you look in the background of this picture, you will see the goody bags for the guests.  By the way, who came up with the idea of giving gifts to our party guests?  It seems like a nice gesture to thank your attending guests, but the concept of goody bags has gotten out of hand at childrens' parties!  Anyhoo, I didn't give out "goody bags" I gave out "doggie bags"...

I think they were a hit, don't you?  Finally it was time for the party to begin...

As our guests arrived, I made a point of saying, "Did y'all hear that noise?" and "There it is again...what was that?"  Meanwhile, I had previously arranged for my nephew, Josh, to fiddle with this old, mysterious looking book I usually decorate with.  Out popped a treasure map and a CLUE...(map drawn on the other side)

In "the yard of play" i.e. the backyard, the kids found this:

A Scooby Doo pinata! Isn't he cute?  We love Sooby Doo, so bashing him over the head just wouldn't "doo".  This pinata's goodies are obtained by pulling strings from the bottom...

Once the proper string was pulled, out fell 100's (okay maybe only about 30 or so) ghosts!  i.e. Dum-Dum suckers converted through the magic of tissue paper and a sharpie

What else came out?  Another CLUE! 

This clue read "Mashing monsters is what it's all about...go have fun. Twist and shout!"

When all the kiddos ran inside, "Monster Mash" was playing and the kids had an impromptu dance party.

Amid all their revelrie, yet another CLUE came floating down the stairs, attached to a ghost (balloon

concealed underneath a pillowcase).  I didn't get a photo of this one, but his clue said the following:

"Go to the place where you would dine...look under the placemats for another sign!"

What did the meddling kids party guests find?  A bunch of dog tails!  It was time to play Pin The Tail On Scooby Doo!

After all the kids had a chance to pin their tails, Josh discovered there was another, final clue on the back of the game board.  It read:

"With so many ghost friends to help you out, you're sure to sold this mystery...no doubt!

Go back to the place where you began. Discover the TREASURE...I know you can!"

We all ended up back in the living room, and the treasure was a box full of presents for Rob.  I tried to explain that the true "treasure" was the large group of friends Rob will "treasure" his whole life.  Looking back, that may be too deep a concept for a 5th birthday, but you can't blame me for trying!

Finally it was time for cake.  I have to say, there are some great higher-end bakeries out there, but good ol' Publix makes delicious cakes!  By going through a commercial "chain" store, I had only one choice for the design, but it turned out cute and it tasted so moist and delicious!

Have you ever tried to get 12 kids to all sit still and say "cheese" at the same time when there is a huge cake sitting out on the table?  Hint: it doesn't work out...

All in all, the party was a raving success!  Rob has told me time and again that he loved it.  It was chaotic, and I'm not sure every kid there understood the "storyline" but they all knew they were having fun!

Mirror, Mirror; Where'd Ya Go?

Hey kids!  Guess what time it is?  No, not Howdy-Doody Time...it's DIY time!

Last night I "inherited" this gem from my sweet sister-in-law to be, Laura:

It was originally a pretty, silver-framed mirror.  The mirror broke and Laura decided there was no use for the flimsy frame anymore.  Silly, silly Laura.  She has a lot to learn about repurposing and upcycling!

I knew immediately what I was going to do, and it all began with a can of oil-rubbed bronze spray paint.  Let's face it, ORB may just make the world go 'round...

Walmart sells a 4-pack of cork squares and they are easy to cut with a pair of scissors.  Shame on me for not taking extensive shots of the whole process, but it was such a breeze that I was done before I'd really gotten started! 

Ta-da!!!  I made a new corkboard for all of Bubba's artwork.  It hangs proudly in our playroom!  I'm super excited, but I really would love to see him go back to school, for reasons none the least of which include my wanting some new art to display.

BEFORE:

AFTER: