Morgan Adventures

Ducks

2012-02-08T21:12:00.000-05:00

Monday I took the boys for a walk despite the chilly weather, and we were surrounded by ducks when we walked over to the drainage ponds. Obviously the ducks are accustomed to humans--especially those who might have food, so we got a great look at them. Next time we'll take bread, so they can nibble from our hands.

Hamilton kept telling himself and me, "Ducks no bite me; ducks no hurt me." His first few times sounded more like a question, but eventually he could see that indeed the ducks would not bite us.

Once they discovered we offered no food, they lost interest in us. However, Hamilton wanted to walk with the ducks even when they slipepd into the water. It took a bit of coaxing to get him back on the sidewalk for the rest of our walk.

Already February

2012-02-03T16:28:00.000-05:00

Part of me feels like January was so long, but then I remember it's February already--several days in and no blog post yet. I documented our past week with a mix of Instagram pictures and shots with my big camera.

1. Last Saturday my "real" friend and blog friend came to town for a wedding, so we got to keep their darling boy for the afternoon. Hamilton was super excited for a new friend to ~~play with~~ boss around. (I wonder whom he gets that from?) Though the boys napped for the majority of the time that Judah was here at our house, I did get a few shots of the boys' playing in the backyard.

Hamilton explains how the digger works and carefully makes sure Judah "does it right."

2. Monday Mr. Morgan had AAA come to the house to tow our car to the mechanic. Hamilton was in awe of the sweet driver, big truck with a tilting bed, and strong winch that dragged our car from the street onto the truck's bed. For the remainder of the day Hamilton keep repeating, "Man take car to mechanic."

3. Yesterday I took Collier for his nine-month checkup, and he's progressing nicely according to the doctor. Collier did his quick flip from back to belly for her, his pulling up, and his crawling around. He's 18 pounds and 7 ounces, and he's a long boy at 30 inches. He charmed all the nurses with his big smile, and they all remarked how similar he looked to Hamilton (though Hamilton was not with us).

Our sweet boy still wakes up happy, and with only two teeth showing so far, there's lots of drool accompanying his other incoming teeth. Mr. Morgan teases him about having a mullet now, so we'll probably be trimming his hair soon.

I put him in his Exersaucer a lot because, otherwise, I have to keep such a close eye on him--what he's climbing on, putting in his mouth, bumping into, etc. He still enjoys the Exersaucer and for long periods of time usually, so I'm thankful.

Collier opens his mouth all the time, but I love this expression because he seems to be shocked and appalled at what he sees. He's just looking at Hamilton though, and Collier's used to all of Hamilton's antics by now.

Though Collier's been pulling up for several weeks now, he's been trying out the stairs recently but not getting higher than the second step. Well, yesterday I turned my back for just a minute, and he was halfway up. I took out my phone and followed close behind as he went almost all the way up!

And I'm glad I was close behind because once he got three steps from the top, he changed his mind: He turned sideways and started to come back down, i.e., topple down the stairs. Hamilton always had a certain amount of fear and "good sense," but Collier shows no grasp of either at this point.

4. Since Hamilton's now sleeping in a toddler bed that he can crawl out of, I've been getting up several times each morning (in the wee morning hours) to put him back in bed, explaining that it's not time to wake up yet. I kept thinking there had to be some kind of toddler alarm clock with colors instead of numbers to let him know that it's not time to wake up. I hadn't searched yet, but I was reading Brantley's blog post about her similar experience with her two-year-old Roper. I was so excited to discover such a thing exists! I ordered this colored clock for Hamilton, and here's to hoping my own early-morning alarm (though cute and sweet!) can stay quiet in the bed for longer.

5. I'm hoping to potty-train Hamilton soon, so I've ordered this ebook that friends have had good success with. I'll keep you posted on our progress.

Awards, Walks, and Books

2012-01-28T15:37:00.000-05:00

Our week as a list:

1. Thursday morning Collier and I went to Claire's school for her awards ceremony for the second nine weeks. Yes, "second" means there was a first, and there will be two more awards ceremonies this school year. The teachers and administrators give out SO many awards, which makes the certificate or button and recognition seem insignificant.

Claire received awards for A/B honor roll, perfect attendance, and highest average in keyboarding. And lots of kids received this many awards. By the time they started handing out perfect attendance awards (for one nine-week period mind you), I was wishing some of the classes weren't sitting right next to me because I would totally have been reading or playing or texting on my phone. Instead, I decided to set a good example for those sixth-graders by trying to pay attention or look like it at least.

I was looking forward to talking to Claire for a few minutes following the ceremony, but the principal dismissed the parents first to avoid confusion and traffic jams. So all we could say was hello and congrats on our way past her. Here's the only shot I took (with my iPhone) at the event when Claire was being recognized for A/B honor roll; she's standing on the far left beside the lectern.

2. Because of the fabulous weather we've had, the boys and I have taken a few walks on days we're able to eat lunch early. Usually I push Collier in the stroller and Hamilton walks on the sidewalk beside me as we go around our neighborhood loop. He stops every few houses to play on the utility boxes or look at some yard art. It's a leisurely stroll for me. Since we don't have a playground within walking distance, he improvises with crawling on and jumping off every utility box in our neighborhood. I also took these shots with my iPhone, and some are improved using Instagram.

Collier waits patiently in his stroller for Hamilton to finish climbing. Hamilton also likes to pick up litter along the way, so the big gulp in our stroller bag is destined for our trash can.

Since I was putting on my sunglasses before we started our walk, finding these sunglasses Hamilton holds was imperative for him. He surprised me and wore them for some of the walk.

On our first walk this week, Hamilton insisted on pushing the baby.

3. Mr. Morgan has given me several early birthday presents. One was the Kindle version of Catching Fire, the second book in The Hunger Games series. I just finished it last night after several late nights of reading this week. Just as good as the first, though now I'm itching to read the third. I'm also excited about the movie based on the first book that's coming out in March. Claire's read the first book too, so she wants to see the movie. However, since it's rated PG-13, I think I'll probably see the movie first to decide if it's appropriate for our 12-year-old.

Claire's Sleepover Birthday Party

2012-01-23T22:02:00.000-05:00

Claire wanted two friends from school to sleep over for her 12th birthday. So Friday afternoon I picked up the three girls from school--including all their bookbags, instruments (including a cello), presents, and overnight bags. I had the forethought to rid my vehicle of the boys' carseats, so we had enough room for everyone and everything.

On the way home I surprised the girls by taking them by Cupcake to pick out their own flavors. Claire especially loved this surprise, and I enjoyed not having to bake a cake that I wouldn't eat.

Claire's choice was chocolate peanut butter.

I bought Hamilton one too because who can resist this boy's pronunciation of "cake cup." He thoroughly enjoyed having two extra girls at the house to play with him. Since their names were so similar (Cady and Caylee), he just called them both Cady. He asked, "Where Cady go?" many times, and then he'd say, "Where uhver Cady go?"

These polite, sweet friends made hosting a sleepover fun and enjoyable for us, too.

Paleo Fruit Pizza

2012-01-22T20:27:00.000-05:00

I had a "lightbulb" moment Friday in the early morning hours while I was half-conscious in the bed before waking. Since six kids aged four and under were coming to play that morning, I wanted to make a delicious, healthy snack that the kids could help put together. Already for small group this week I'd made these n'oatmeal cookies from my new Make it Paleo cookbook that I'm loving! And I had pizza on the brain from Claire's request for her birthday party dinner.

So I made a "crust" using the n'oatmeal cookie recipe, except I substituted chocolate chips for the raisins. Hamilton helped me "make cook" Friday morning as we prepared the cookie dough and baked as directed.

After the cookie dough cooled, I slathered on coconut milk from a can for the "sauce." Then I let the kids sprinkle on the sliced fruit. Strawberries and blueberries from Florida were on sale this week, and they're so delicious.

I've tasted dessert fruit pizza like this one (before my Paleo days), and it's so indulgent and pretty! With kids decorating this pizza, there was no order to the "toppings." By the end the "pizza" was piled high with fruit, so we sliced it with a pizza slicer and served the kids.

Wonder Boy

2012-01-21T15:30:00.000-05:00

I've been sadly negligent in posting about Collier's monthly progress. I haven't updated since he was six months old, and that's such a long time in baby months! He's now one week shy of nine months. Yesterday he pulled himself up in his crib all by himself! I went in to get him from his nap, and this smiling face greeted me.

He's been crawling quickly and everywhere for a few months, and he's even gotten better and more accustomed to sitting. He also can stand for several minutes at a time by himself, and it seems like he's itching to start cruising around the furniture.

Collier conquer skills so quickly: Just a few days ago he pulled up to his knees, then two days later he's onto his feet. He's even started climbing the stairs. In my memory Hamilton didn't progress this quickly, though Hamilton also didn't have a big brother to keep up with. I think Collier will be the kid that will force us to install a gate at the top of our stairs. He would have gone down head first yesterday if I hadn't been there to pull him back from the brink.

Collier's the happiest little thing, but he's still spitting up some (much to Mr. Morgan's chagrin). He's got two teeth coming in nicely on the bottom, which you can see in this picture. We still call him "Baby" many times, though he's quickly moving from baby to toddler.

Kitchen Makeover Pictures

2012-01-18T22:10:00.000-05:00

Since gutting our kitchen for new custom cabinets was not in our budget, I settled for painting our existing cabinets. Our old cabinets had a country look with the grainy wood showing through the varnish. They're cheap with only the fronts and doors being actual wood, but standard issue for homes like ours. There's nothing completely objectionable about these cabinets, but their appearance definitely didn't do anything for my downstairs. Here are some "before" shots that I snapped just before we started dismantling.

One of the biggest kitchen improvements we did was replacing our sink and faucet with a deeper sink and taller, sleeker faucet. Mr. Morgan and Dad replaced the sink over the Christmas holiday. My "before" shots were after the sink replacement, but imagine a shallow, ugly, barely-functional-for-washing-dishes sink.

After four days of labor-intensive work, the newly painted cabinet doors were back in place. I spent several more days rearranging the stuff in the cabinets and paring down to what I decided I couldn't live without.

I worked hard to eliminate all unnecessary items from my countertops, since counter space is so limited.

Our black appliances seem to pair much better with the new colors of the cabinets.

I opted for a minimal amount of stuff on the fridge. Sometimes it's easy to get carried away with pictures, the kids' masterpieces, and reminders.

I feel like I'm cooking in a whole new kitchen.

I reorganized my spices, oils, and vinegars, moving them away from the heat of my stove. I love the way the new labels turned out, and I decided to keep only my most-used spices on this rack. The other seldom-used spices are in the cabinet in a basket. Yes, they're in alphabetical order. Is there a better order?

The drawer pulls and door handles are the same ones; we installed them soon after we moved in. However, with the painted surfaces the modern pulls and handles show up so much better.

I'm so thankful for my revamped kitchen--and especially for my parents who watched the boys for five days and for Mr. Morgan who helped on his day off, lived in a mess for close to a week, and endured fried eggs for several dinners in a row.

Grandma's 90th Birthday

2012-01-18T11:52:00.000-05:00

Grandma turned 90 years old on Sunday, and we celebrated in style this past weekend with a large party on Saturday afternoon. My fantastic-looking grandmother was the "belle of the ball" talking and laughing with all the guests. So many of her extended family came--nephews, nieces, and cousins from both her family and Papa's. And they came from such great distances traveling six or seven hours to see Grandma at her party. The turnout was truly a testament to this great lady. The rest of the crowd was local friends and family making the party's attendance almost 100.

A Mountville friend made the themed cake, perfectly capturing the spirit of the festive event.

Just as the party was starting Grandma had all her immediate family gather for a picture, including her three children, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. We were only missing two: My cousin Caitlin (Grandma's oldest grandchild) who lives in San Fransisco couldn't make it, and Claire (Grandma's oldest great-grandchild) wasn't with us this weekend. (I'm not sure how Uncle Billy missed the picture, but he was there for the party.)

Aunt Judy made a great display of pictures from Grandma's life.

Mom interviewed Grandma, so I could write a brief life-story that folks could read at the party. Travis did all the graphic design and printing of the invitations, the biography, and the nametags. We had everyone write his name and his relation to Grandma on his nametag which helped when we were mingling. I've included the text of the biography at the end of this post.

Here's Grandma with her living siblings, younger sister Flora and younger brother Thomas.

Sweet Uncle Billy spent much of the party entertaining Collier who seemed quite content sitting on Uncle Billy's lap.

Here's Grandma with her new best bud Eunice. She's just moved to town to be nearer to her family, and she and Grandma have hit it off in the last few months.

Many folks said Collier looks like Travis. I think I see the resemblance sometimes.

My photojournalist cousin Amanda was able to fly in from Florida to attend the party. She also took some great shots that she posted on her blog.

Hamilton was great during the party! Once he found Grandma's birthday balloon (and after eating many cookies and slices of pie), he played so contentedly for the several hours we were there.

After the party, many of the out-of-town relatives came to the farm for chili and cornbread. Grandma loved having more time to visit with her family. My cousin Karsten spent lots of his time on the floor playing trucks with Hamilton.

Here's the biography of Grandma:

Ava Gray Turnage Taylor
born January 15, 1922

Ava Gray Turnage started life on a 25-acre tobacco farm in Greene County, N.C., and for the last 30 years has resided on a tree farm in Mountville, S.C. Though Ava was the fourth daughter to Reetho and Viola Turnage, she and her sisters, Helen, Velma, and Ida, worked hard on the farm. Ava filled the woodbox, cared for the chickens, emptied the slop jars, and carried the milk bucket to her father—a favorite chore because she enjoyed precious alone time with him. The Turnages worked the land to grow tobacco, corn, and cotton using only a mule and a two-mule cultivator; Reetho didn’t purchase a tractor until after Ava had left home.

Named for her grandmother Mary Ava Gray, Ava and her three older sisters shared a room in their four-room farmhouse. Though eventually two rooms were added as three more children joined the family, Arlendo, Thomas, and Flora, her childhood home offered no electricity and no inside bathroom. Ava learned to cook on a wood stove, and by age 10 she was trying out the cooking skills her mother had carefully taught her, relieving her mother of many kitchen duties.

Viola also instilled in her children a love for God and His Word. She had regular devotions with the children as the spiritual leader in their family. They attended Hull Road Free Will Baptist Church where their family’s emphasis on living a Christian life would carry through to Ava’s adult years.

Growing up

Growing up in the community of Arba, Ava traveled unpaved roads on the school bus to Snow Hill High School where she began her education. One certain trip on those bumpy roads resulted in Ava’s needing stitches from having bounced along so fiercely that she hit her head on the top of the bus. A special memory of hers was attending her oldest sister Helen’s high school graduation where the senior girls in their organdy dresses did a Maypole dance. “It was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen up to that point,” Ava said.

Being a teacher, educated at East Carolina Teachers’ College, Viola valued education and made sacrifices for her children’s learning. Viola borrowed $200 so Ava could attend her high school choir’s singing tour. Viola and Ava’s sister Ida handmade her choir robe—a true labor of love for Ava who remembers owning only two dresses throughout her preteen and teenage years. The choir sang in Richmond, Va., Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., at the White House where Eleanor Roosevelt hosted a tea for ambassadors and their wives. Ava was quite impressed with the First Lady. Their final stop was New York City during the World’s Fair. Though the choir tour was Ava’s first time out of North Carolina, her love for travel had just begun.

Following graduation, Ava completed a course in business offered at the local high school, and her first job resulted from a federal program begun during the Great Depression. Earning $20 for each two-week period, Ava worked for a tax collector for two weeks, alternating with another employee who worked the next two weeks.

On her own…but not for long

Ava left her home, traveling by bus to Newport News, Va., where she stayed with her sister Ida and her husband until she found employment as a key-punch operator with the Newport News Ship Building and Dry Dock Company. She rented a room from a couple who lived beside Milton and Jesse Smith—Dalton Taylor’s aunt and uncle. In December 1942 the Smiths happily introduced their young, attractive neighbor to their nephew stationed at Langley Field. Ava and Dalton wed on September 17, 1943 just three months prior to his leaving for North Africa during World War II.

Family life

While Dalton spent nearly two years serving during the war, Ava worked at the Port of Embarkation, and Uncle Milton taught her to drive. Dalton returned in September of 1945 resuming his job with the C&P Telephone Company in Newport News. They eventually settled in Colonial Heights, Va., where family life kept Ava busy with the births of Judy Dalton (1950), Dale Travis (1951), and Linda Elaine (1955).

Once the children started school, Ava worked some to help with expenses. When it was Linda’s turn for kindergarten, Ava drove the family station wagon that Dalton retrofitted with extra seating to accommodate neighborhood children also. Her carpool earnings paid for Linda’s tuition and gave Ava enough extra to buy herself a “white spring coat.” Other jobs tapped her cooking skills including an elementary-school-cafeteria cook and food-service coordinator for a large church daycare center.

The Taylors attended Colonial Heights Baptist Church where Ava helped begin the church’s library, and she served as librarian until they moved. Ava volunteered her time teaching English to Asian women married to U.S. servicemen at Fort Lee, Va. She developed lasting friendships during those five years.

Dalton shared Ava’s desire to travel, and the family visited all but three states while the kids were living at home—though their shoestring budget usually meant camping along the way. The couple also enjoyed traveling in style once the kids left, visiting the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, Vermont’s Von Trapp Family Lodge, Mackinac Island, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island to list a few.

Back to farm life

Dalton retired in 1981 and the empty-nesters moved to Mountville, S.C., in 1983 to help Dale with his newly created Christmas tree farm. Ava was able to dote on her grandchildren, Gray and Travis who now lived close, as well as Judy’s children Caitlin, Tristan, and Karsten, and Linda’s daughter Amanda. Ava and Dalton quickly immersed themselves in church life at First Baptist of Clinton, S.C. Ava continues to be active in her church singing in the choir and enjoying the senior group’s activities. She’s also active with the senior groups at both Mountville Baptist and Cross Hill Baptist, and she’s part of the Mountville Grange and the Red Hat Society.

Ava continues to give special time and attention to her family and friends. After 70 years she still corresponds with her old roommate Alice from Newport News and her dear friend Myrtle in Colonial Heights. Ava regularly visits friends and church members in nursing-care facilities and retirement homes who are unable to attend services. She gives feet to her faith as an encourager, not wanting anyone to feel forgotten—and no one does: Embracing new technology and “free minutes,” Ava spends many nights on her cell phone checking in with friends and family scattered around the nation.

Some Recent Changes

2012-01-12T22:03:00.000-05:00

We've changed Hamilton's crib into a toddler bed to get him used to a big-boy bed before we put the twin in his room. Actually I still have to paint the bed's headboard and footboard, and Deb still has to make the bedding; so this change is only a small move toward replacing his crib.

Yes, Hamilton still is wearing Christmas pajamas, but they are his favorite. He always asks to wear them--his "Sanny Claw jahmass."

And I just got my hair cut and colored today. I feel like a new woman.

Collier now sits up well on his own, though he still prefers crawling around on his belly.

December Roundup

2012-01-05T15:46:00.000-05:00

Because of my participation in the December Photo Project, I neglected to post several pictures. So here's a roundup of December photos starting with the Morgan children posing for a picture that turned into a wrestle-fest.

Hamilton enjoyed this nativity felt-board book even more than he did last year.

Our dear friend Nancy captivates children when she plays with them in the nursery. Hamilton and West sat still for more than ten minutes with her as she read to them.

Hamilton loved playing with these figurines from Claire's nativity set.

Heavy equipment still enthralls Hamilton.

Grandma Judy couldn't get enough hugs from her boys when she first arrived.

Hamilton loved the gingerbread-building display at the Holiday Festival of Lights.

Claire roasted enormous marshmallows over the fire pit and shared them with everyone.

Hamilton was amazed by the giant firetruck made of lights.

At the festival we, of course, rode the train through the light displays.

Claire worked diligently to complete her Puzzleball of the world.

One of Hamilton's favorite gifts was the working drill that allowed him to "take a-park" the racecar and helicopter.

Collier seemed to enjoy all the presents especially the noisy packaging.

An outtake from our Christmas Eve photo shoot, here's a shot of Hamilton trying to escape.

On Christmas morning the kids opened their stockings, and we opened the last few gifts before heading to church for the Christmas Day service.

Next Christmas I'm resolving to start earlier with decorations and festivities. I want to celebrate with an advent calendar of some kind, so I'll have to begin planning and thinking about Christmas way before the first week of December.

The Last Week

2012-01-01T20:55:00.000-05:00

This past week has been a blur of cleaning, sanding, priming, painting, and more painting of our kitchen cabinets. I wore the same paint-stained clothes for five days in a row as I worked from morning until evening. Here's a taste of how we spent our kid-free days (thanks Mom and Dad!) in the Morgan household.

Oh the mess we endured for a week! More details and "after" pictures will come this week as I finish final touches.

December 25

2011-12-25T20:03:00.002-05:00

I love Hamilton's Christmas pajamas especially on Christmas morning as he examines the contents of his stocking. We opened a few presents this morning before heading to church for Redeemer's simple service. Gathering as a church family to celebrate the birth of our Savior was a good reminder to me and my family about why we have Christmas.

December 24

2011-12-24T21:52:00.001-05:00

After our Christmas Eve service tonight, I corralled the kids for a picture. Getting Hamilton to keep still long enough is nearly impossible, but the expressions from the other two were so sweet. And I imagine Collier's tugging on Hamilton's shirt to say, "Come on, Hammie, act right for the picture."

December 23

2011-12-23T10:43:00.002-05:00

This morning the kids opened some gifts from Mimi and Pops so as not to overwhelm Hamilton on Christmas morning. Claire's gift was a Puzzleball, so she, Mr. Morgan, and Uncle Travis have been putting it together all morning. Lazy vacation days are great for fun toys like puzzles which Mr. Morgan enjoys as much as Claire.

December 22*

2011-12-23T10:36:00.002-05:00

Last night we enjoyed a Christmas dinner with both our families. Uncle Travis brought Yahtzee which he and Claire played all evening. Only cute antics from the baby could entice them to take a break.

December 21

2011-12-21T22:46:00.001-05:00

Tonight we visited the Holiday Festival of Lights. Claire enjoyed roasting three enormous marshmallows over a big, communal fire pit.

December 20

2011-12-20T20:55:00.000-05:00

Last night I spent the latter half of the evening wrapping presents after the kids went to bed. I actually spent some money this year on matching wrapping paper, decorative ribbon, and tags, so now under our tree is stuffed with pretty presents. As usual, the excitement of wrapping gifts made Mr. Morgan and I want to exchange our gifts for each other immediately. So we stayed up late for gift-giving.

December 19

2011-12-19T19:17:00.000-05:00

Hamilton loves to color with some company, so tonight after dinner Mr. Morgan sat down to color with him. Then a fly started buzzing around. Mr. Morgan cracked Hamilton up with his clapping attempts at killing the fly.

December 18

2011-12-18T21:35:00.001-05:00

Our church's annual Christmas dinner and talent show was tonight. I have pictures and videos to post from Hamilton's and Claire's performances later, but I love this picture of Hamilton's little friend West. As the crowd listened to a bagpipe performance, West showed his feelings for the sound with his fingers firmly planted in his ears.

December 17

2011-12-17T19:08:00.000-05:00

While dinner was baking, Hamilton pulled up a front-row seat for watching the train go around and around the Christmas tree. When I said dinner was ready, he looked for a second like he might choose watching the train over eating--though I knew he was hungry. But the rumbling belly won. Claire spent the afternoon creating and decorating a journal for herself--and making a big mess on the coffee table that she had to guard once Hamilton awoke from his nap. She's so proud of her cute journal, and she's excitedly begun writing in it already--information and drawings of cats, naturally.

December 16

2011-12-16T20:57:00.001-05:00

Claire's writing invitations for an impromptu piano concert she's giving tonight for Mr. Morgan, Grandma Judy, and me. She even created programs for each of us with an order of songs written. She serenaded us with all her favorite songs and her latest pieces. She said she doesn't want to feel nervous at all during recitals anymore; apparently she got a little nervous once the recital started last night. She declared she'd give impromptu concerts to us often, so she can get used to performing.

Claire's Piano Recital

2011-12-16T15:53:00.000-05:00

Thursday night was Claire's piano recital. Mr. Morgan took video footage of her playing. She played her two songs well, and she said she wasn't even nervous. The little girl in the white sweater listening to Claire cracked me up when I watched the video today.

Though the recital was relaxed and informal, I didn't want either boy to interrupt another child's performance. One student before Claire was to play, the boys both were sitting in my lap, since Mr. Morgan was prepping the camera. Well Collier started bucking like he wanted to crawl around on the floor and Hamilton kept trying to pinch his cheeks for some reason. I'm wrangling the squirmers, as I'm trying to keep them on my lap. Then Collier grabbed a fistful of Hamilton's hair. Repeat--cheeks pinched again, more hair pulled. Miraculously they didn't actually make any noise during these shenanigans, but it was a juggling act in my lap with those rambunctious boys. I was appreciative of the hallway we escaped to after her songs.

December 15

2011-12-15T21:55:00.001-05:00

I visited Hamilton at school today during their Christmas party. I always love to observe him in a different, but familiar, environment. He ran around the room while I got to sit back and snap pictures. I have more shots to share in another post, but I like this shot because it shows him--mouth open, giving West an earful about that cookie. Even his posture looks like he's lecturing. Aahk! And a professorial sweater vest, too?!

December 14

2011-12-14T11:23:00.001-05:00

Since today was pajamas day at school, Hamilton didn't have to get dressed after breakfast. He loved just keeping his "jah-mahss" on this morning. As we were waiting for his ride to school, I wanted to capture his new Christmas pajama set from Mimi and Pops. He quickly grabbed the gingerbread-man ornament he made last year at school and said, "A cookie! I bite it!" Somehow I was able to interject my "No, it's not a cookie!" before he chomped down--while I was taking this picture. If I didn't know better (or know Hamilton's tendency not to pose for pictures), I'd think this shot was staged.

December 13

2011-12-13T21:00:00.002-05:00

Hamilton loves to play on the piano. He especially loves to push the buttons for the different instrument sounds!

December 12

2011-12-12T21:48:00.000-05:00

We finally got our Christmas tree up and decorated this weekend; now our house feels festive. Appropriately we always have a live tree in our house, and we cut a Carolina Sapphire this year. I tend to like my Christmas trees wild and woolly.

December 11*

2011-12-12T14:41:00.000-05:00

The boys love to play in the piano room which houses the Christmas tree this season. I've spent lots of time straightening out the tree skirt, rehanging ornaments, and picking up fallen needles so Collier doesn't sample them as a snack. I love how Collier is fixated on Hamilton who's obviously in motion with his silly antics.

*Didn't even take two weeks to be late on a DPP post.

December 10

2011-12-10T20:26:00.001-05:00

How can a cute kid get cuter? Put him in reindeer antlers.

December 9

2011-12-09T22:06:00.001-05:00

We finally pulled our Christmas decor down from the attic and decorated our tree tonight. Hamilton loved playing with Claire's nativity. Grandma Judy gave Claire this sweet nativity several years ago, and every year she loves to open the boxes with each nativity character and set the figures in a place of honor. Claire showed it to Hamilton this year, and he fell in love. How sweet he was moving the figures around the nativity and trying to tell the story just as she had told him.

Christmas Concerts

2011-12-09T15:37:00.001-05:00

Last week was Claire's orchestra concert, though I'm finally getting around to sharing more pictures. To say Claire was excited about this concert is an understatement: She was giddy even about the rehearsal the day before! She shares a music stand with Cady who's first viola and one of Claire's best friends right now.

Their orchestra teacher was so proud of them, so I'm assuming they did well for second-year orchestra students. As for "good music," I'm sure it was similar to the middle-school-band concerts my parents sat through when I played the flute.

The boys were well behaved during the short concert, though getting Hamilton to stand still for a quick picture is nearly impossible.

Cady's family invited us to party at a local ice cream shop following the concert. Claire was so excited to go with her friends, and I got to tag along and talk with the other parents. Mr. Morgan took the boys home for baths and bed. Claire ate a cheesburger and fries, and she shared a banana split with the other girls. She hadn't eaten much dinner at our early suppertime because she'd been so excited/nervous, but she made up for it aftewards. Here the girls--Claire, Cayley, and Cady--show off their newly purchased friendship rings.

Last night we were not at Hamilton's school Christmas program for long, but after such a busy week a quick night was best for all. Hamilton's performance was truly quick with the two-year-olds' singing only one song.

The boys' matching outfits were adorable, and I'm eager for other occasions to wear these cute Christmas duds.

My little boy looks so tall in his jon-jon suit.

Since I was dressed more festively than Mr. Morgan, he snapped pictures of us three.

December 8

2011-12-08T22:08:00.001-05:00

Hamilton's school Christmas program was a bit anti-climactic for the two-year-olds' parents. We patiently waited through several cute songs from the older kids only to have Hamilton's class thrust on stage just before the last song. Since Hamilton and Grady had not been at school during the dress rehearsal, they were mesmerized during their song by the costumed kids and lighted decorations. Most of my pictures show Hamilton--head turned, mouth agape.

December 7

2011-12-07T21:38:00.001-05:00

Sliced bananas drizzled with almond butter and topped with golden raisins replaced a huge bowl of ice cream as my nightly snack. After a few weeks I truly didn't miss the lactose-laden dessert.

Christmas Party

2011-12-07T11:33:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday Mr. Morgan and I got all dressed up for his company's annual Christmas party. Our dear babysitter came over early to feed the boys and put them to bed for us while we danced the night away. Mr. Morgan looked especially dapper in his new suit. We look forward to this party each year because of the fun friends who always attend--and it's a night out without the kiddos!

December 6

2011-12-06T21:29:00.001-05:00

I've been snapping pictures for our church's website, and last Sunday I caught this little guy not singing along with the other kids. He couldn't help himself from turning around to find the camera.

December 5

2011-12-05T22:21:00.001-05:00

Strand after strand of these colorful beads decorates our church and the necks of our women. Ugandan women hand-make these beads from rolled-up paper, though they used to break rocks in a quarry for 30 cents a day before they were invited to a Bible study by a pastor's wife and taught this beautiful craft. Our missions team to Uganda brought back tons after their last trip hoping we could help these women. Our church and community has given so sacrificially to these women that we've sent back to Uganda nearly $20,000 in donations.

December 4

2011-12-04T20:01:00.001-05:00

The two-year-olds joined the big kids today at church in practicing Christmas carols for the upcoming Christmas dinner. Hamilton loves hearing "Crissmiss keir-uhls," so we're singing Away in a Manger many times a day now. He and his little friend West did a lot of intense staring at the words and pictures on the poster as the bigger kids sang along. I'm hoping they'll grow bolder as we practice more, so they'll actually sing and smile at the Christmas dinner. Because of Hamilton's fondness for Christmas carols, I kept him in the service with me for the singing. He did love the songs and singing, though he prayed out loud along with the elder offering the prayer of confession. Just before the last song, I told him there was one more song before he'd go back to the nursery. He was agreeable with that arrangement, but as the song finished I hesitated in taking him out immediately. As I was trying to determine the best time to make our exit, Hamilton loudly said, "Mommy, no more song!" I took that as my cue.

December 3

2011-12-03T22:46:00.001-05:00

Hamilton's eaten almost all of the gingerbread men. He helped Mimi make the cookies over Thanksgiving, and he's been enjoying them ever since. And no, he doesn't notice when cookies are stale or past their prime. He loves munching on the cookies with sweet icing especially. When Pops eats gingerbread men, he bites off a crunchy arm and says in a silly, high-pitched voice, "Oh no, don't eat me!" So now Hamilton follows suit with the cutest little "Oh no!" as he eats.

December 2

2011-12-02T17:06:00.001-05:00

Hamilton loves the wagon at Mimi and Pops's house. Sometimes he rides, sometimes he pushes, or sometimes he pulls. I love all the leaves on the ground. As a kid I spent lots of time raking leaves, though not usually to clear the yard of leaves. Travis and I would spend hours raking them into piles and wrestle in them, or we'd make trails and create an obstacle course. So much outdoor fun that quickly turned into work when it was time to rake the leaves into the woods and out of the yard.

What I've Learned This Week

2011-12-01T22:26:00.001-05:00

Don't assume that "NO REFRIGERATION REQUIRED"--printed boldly and proudly on a package--means that no refrigeration is required ever. Mold and gross-looking funk will grow on your nitrate-free pepperonis if you don't refrigerate them after opening.
Don't assume when Claire's keyboarding teacher tells her "Mr. Qwerty" invented the keyboard and spelled his name within the key pattern, that he's joking. A quick Google search and two-day discussion/argument with Claire convinced her to set him straight.
Leaning over and resting his head on the shopping cart is more comfortable for my crawling-but-not-yet-sitting-up son. Though strapped in, Collier does not sit well for long in shopping carts.
Don't assume my son's crying screams during his diaper change are because his big brother head-butted him. Don't automatically fuss at the big brother; the baby's cries might be from having his finger pinched in the wipes container. Oops.
A baby who's normally happy while he's being fed might be upset and fussing during mealtime because he's sitting on a small school bus.
Claire's enthralled by a boy who sings. Here was our conversation tonight as we rode home:
"Mama, did you ever have a crush on a boy?"
"Oh yes."
"Did you ever watch him sing?"
"Yes, actually."
"Didn't it make you like him all the more?"
"Definitely."

December 1

2011-12-01T21:49:00.001-05:00

Since most of my blog pictures are of these three, I figured my first December Photo Project submission should be of them, too. They're in Christmas garb because Claire's orchestra concert was tonight. With only minutes to shoot a picture of all of them, this shot was the best we could do. Hamilton's literally saying "cheese," which is OK since usually he turns every way but toward my lens. Collier's sporting new, handmade shoes; they didn't get messed up during his ritual of spitting up right before we leave the house. His newest Christmas outfit, however, didn't make it out of the house tonight. Good thing we have many other Christmas events to attend this month to show off his new duds.

Brunswick Stew for Mom's Birthday

2011-11-25T20:13:00.001-05:00

Dad prepped his cauldron yesterday and shopped for his ingredients on Wednesday. Today was the day for making brunswick stew--almost nine gallons!

Dad and Travis kept the fire going and watched the meat cook early in the day. The afternoon was full of chopping and deboning the meat, prepping the veggies, and combining them into the stew.

We enjoyed the fruits of our labors with brunswick stew for dinner to celebrate Mom's birthday. Hamilton was excited to help Mimi open her presents.

Then he wanted Mimi to hold her "two boys." Kisses upon Collier's cheeks ensued, and our laughing only encouraged Hamilton's manhandling of Collier's poor face.

A Little Christmas

2011-11-25T19:44:00.001-05:00

Since Uncle Billy and Aunt Linda won't be with us for Christmas, they brought the boys' presents with them this Thanksgiving. Hamilton will have plenty to open on Christmas, so he enjoyed opening their presents yesterday. Thomas the Train made an appearance--he always gets a big grin from Hamilton.

Opening wrapped gifts is a favorite of Hamilton's--even if the presents aren't for him. He loves the thrill of the unknown. So when the gifts are for him, he gets doubly excited.

He's been playing with Thomas and Percy since he opened them.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T11:00:00.001-05:00

The Taylor clan gathered at the farm for Thanksgiving dinner this year with more family members than some years.

The men fried the turkey, which has become our tradition for the past several years. Apparently it's a lot of hard work for them.

We women cooked inside, and I contributed a "paleo" pumpkin pie. It was so delicious!

After delicious food, we took advantage of our numbers and played a rousing game of tag football while the little boys napped.

Hamilton and Collier enjoyed the attentions of their Uncle Billy and Aunt Linda who were fabulous playmates.

Tractor Rides and Long Walks

2011-11-22T07:51:00.001-05:00

For a little boy who loves tractors, Hamilton was reluctant actually to climb on the loud machine even with Pops's driving and holding him. But when Pops drove around the yard cutting the grass without Hamilton, the little boy decided he would indeed like to ride. Pops was "making it look like too much fun." (At least that's what Pops used to say when we were kids.) So Hamilton rode with Pops for a few turns around the yard.

Hamilton's school bus and front-end loader came along on our walk, and they took a turn in many dirty spots along the way.

Hamilton, Fatty, and I enjoyed our long walk around the farm in the late-afternoon sunlight.

Parked Cars

2011-11-18T20:42:00.001-05:00

Hamilton loves to play the piano especially the prerecorded songs. He giggles if he particularly likes the tune. Sometimes he'll sing while he touches the keys. Either way he's looking up at the music just like Sissy does when she practices for real. Today as he was playing, his cars took a much needed break.

Where else would you park cars when you're playing the piano?

Speaking of cars, Mr. Morgan now drives a new-to-us Audi A3. He's just as giddy and excited about his new car as Hamilton is about the Matchbox variety. Mr. Morgan may have used the word "blissful" to describe his commute to Claire's school after his first day of driving. Yay!--for his getting a better car to drive, but retiring the Explorer signals the end of an era.

After my flipped-the-car-several-times wreck back in 2004, Dad helped living-single-me pick out the Explorer. When Mr. Morgan and I married, he called it "part of his dowry." It made Mr. Morgan a fan of Explorers, but lately it's been the bane of his existence. Enter the Audi A3. Our car-life is now good again.

Happy Fall

2011-11-17T21:54:00.001-05:00

Somehow I was able to capture Hamilton and Collier with both faces toward the camera, pleasant expressions, and still bodies. The boys wore their coordinating fall outfits on Wednesday, so I had to snap a picture.

Let's be honest: Most of the shots were a mixture of Hamilton's gripping Collier in a bear hug and erratically waving his arms around.

Notice the super-cute pocket Mimi included on the boys' pants--not that they use them yet. I'm afraid to show Hamilton what a pocket's for, as I'm sure he'd find tons of ~~icky~~ boyish things to carry around on his person.

At school today, Hamilton's class enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast with one class dressed as Pilgrims and Hamilton's class dressed as Indians. They made headdresses with paper feathers and "leather" vests from paper grocery bags.

What a cute Indian he was...

before he ripped off his vest.

The requisite, holiday-themed laminated artwork came home with him. Happy early Thanksgiving!

My Boys

2011-11-15T20:20:00.001-05:00

Our cloudy day in Charleston was a good excuse for some backyard fun with my camera handy. I was able to coax Hamilton to lie on the quilt beside Collier--which meant he promptly stole the toy Collier was playing with.

Though nearly squashing his brother, Hamilton complied by sitting next to Collier on the quilt. Collier eyed the school bus--a favorite of Hamilton's--so Hamilton tried to dissuade Collier's curious eyes by body-blocking and stern warnings.

Collier is the easier boy to photograph being only slowly mobile right now.

Hamilton is difficult to photograph; if I get a shot of his face, his eyes are usually downcast.

So I asked him, "Please look at Mama," and I got a scowl. It looks like a refusal to smile.

He tromped around the yard talking to himself.

And Collier scooted himself off the quilt.

I love Collier's happy expression as he looks at his big brother.

As I was on the ground shooting Collier, he army-crawled himself directly at the camera so quickly! Later when I tried to video his new crawling, he wouldn't budge because he'd get distracted by Hamilton. But my clicking camera had motivated his moving across the quilt to grab my lens.

An Overdue List

2011-11-11T21:21:00.001-05:00

As cute as my little banana is, I need to update.

I traveled to the farm earlier this week for a quick trip with just the little boys. I attended the memorial service for a friend (and close relative of my good friends from home) who died last week. The service was sweet with his mother, sister, and brother all sharing some memories. The friendly reception that followed was appropriate for Mountville, and I got to see lots of friends. And someone always remarks, "We never seem to all get together except at weddings and funerals."
We enjoyed curried butternut squash soup tonight--so "gish-shish-shish" as Hamilton likes to say. Claire wasn't a huge fan, but I think it was the curry that might have been offensive to her. Perhaps I overdid it.
Hamilton and I enjoyed our new moms and kids group at church this morning. Usually I just drop him in the nursery, but today we started a new program where we'll be doing activities together. We played with Play-Doh and mixed colors with a paintbrush. Hamilton was far more interested in mixing the paints together rather than using brush strokes to apply the paint to paper. After about 45 minutes of my staying and playing in the room with him, he was enjoying bubbles with the other kids. With no prompting, he came up behind me three different times to quickly hug my back before running back to the bubbles. It's like he was so excited that I was playing in his nursery with him, though he never said anything--just the quick touch.
Last week I took Collier for his six-month checkup. He's 16 pounds and over 27 inches long. He's starting to go up on all-fours and rock back and forth. He'll probably be crawling soon, though his rolling, scooting, and reaching are propelling him well for now. Sometimes it's so hard to keep him on his quilt.
Claire has taken to wearing Halloween-costume cat ears whenever she's not at school. If her dress code allowed it, I'm sure she'd wear the furry things during class. She's a little cat-obsessed in this season of her life.

More Halloween

2011-11-03T22:02:00.000-04:00

Before Halloween gets too far behind us, I wanted to share these other pictures from the weekend. Our dear friend Leven took this fantastic shot of Collier in his cute banana costume.

We joined several other families on Saturday night for a Boo Bash at the Kochs' house. In the mayhem of getting five costumes and three kids out the door, I forgot my big camera. I only had my iPhone camera to use; it's pretty good but nothing like my Nikon. Mr. Morgan and I dressed as the Drapers from the cable show Mad Men. Now Bryce, the bride in this picture, is the second half of the cross-dressing couple. Tiffany, his precious wife, dressed as the groom.

Abby, who has regularly been featured on Morgan Adventures, insisted on a black triceratops costume. Tiffany went all out to create the ancient creature for dinosaur-obssessed Abby.

This shot was the best Morgan family photo while we were all in costume.

Trick-or-Treating

2011-10-31T22:25:00.000-04:00

Our neighbor friends came over for an early dinner before we took the kids around our neighborhood for trick-or-treating. Claire and Mercedes clipped along at a faster pace, and their haul of candy made Claire exclaim, "This is the best Halloween trick-or-treating ever." Mercedes dressed as the Gray Lady and Claire as a black cat. Claire proudly created most of her costume by drawing stripes on a gray shirt and whiskers on her face. We tried to get all the kids in one picture. However, Logan (the turtle) wouldn't stand still long enough, and Collier was already strapped into the stroller.

Mercedes was in character with her forlorn expression; she normally has a lovely smile.

The monkey and the banana were perfect costumes for my boys, and I was thrilled that tonight's wearing was the third opportunity they'd had to don them this holiday.

Hamilton and Logan got really into the ringing of doorbells and asking for candy. They said several times, "Go get more candy!" in super-excited voices--even while they were standing on porches gripping pieces of candy. And we got plenty of it throughout the evening. Hamilton also enjoyed saying, "Happy happy," though sometimes he'd tack a "ween" on the end. Collier was content in his warm costume to ride in the stroller for the evening.

The boys were so cute with their getting in and out of the wagon in between each house.

I know it's dark in this video, but you can hear Hamilton's excited voice.

Six Months Old

2011-10-31T11:32:00.000-04:00

Collier turned six months old on Friday. He's growing like a weed, and he continues to move around so much. He squirms and scoots across the floor while he's playing. He rolls over both ways and spins around so much that he hardly stays on his playmats, especially if he's going after a toy. He enjoys standing, and he can balance himself in a standing position at the coffee table. He does not usually like sitting.

He's still happy and all smiles for everyone who looks his way, and he's still spitting up like it's his job. I know Mr. Morgan is ready for him to outgrow that yucky trait. We're feeding him lots of new foods including sweet potatoes, bananas, green beans, carrots, green peas, and apples. He seeems to like everything as long as it's pureed enough--and ~~shoved into his mouth~~ fed to him as quickly as possible.

Collier has a sweet, cuddly nature; however, holding him can be a struggle if he wants to be on the floor rolling around and playing. He does enjoy his exersaucer which I use when I need him to stay put. He loves watching Hamilton play, and Collier still takes Hamilton's ~~running him over with the umbrella stroller~~ rough playing well.

He spends most of his playtime on his belly gnawing on different toys. Lying on his belly is his favorite position, though it was Hamilton's least favorite.

We love our littlest boy who's growing so fast!

Gonna Get You

2011-10-30T18:26:00.004-04:00

While playing with my new iPhone, I captured a video of Hamilton (hence the vertical picture). He loves to play "Mama get you" which involves my chasing after him saying, "Mama's gonna get you." Typically he then runs to the rug and falls down, starts laughing hysterically, and burps and hiccups several times. Here he started "getting" Mr. Morgan and me saying what sounds like, "Minna gonna getchoo." I love when he cracks himself up.

Everyday Conversations

2011-10-28T15:06:00.002-04:00

Hamilton talks so much about everything now, especially those things familiar to him. Since we have dogs and diapers, we deal with poo daily. I tried my hardest yesterday afternoon to get Hamilton to sing his familiar songs in his precious voice, but all I got was a conversation with a two-year-old about poo. I don't think I imagined motherhood would be this way. It's still cute, though.

Mountain Weekend

2011-10-27T16:38:00.000-04:00

Our weekend in the mountains gave us our first taste of winter: We enjoyed a roaring fire in the fireplace nearly the whole time we were in the cabin. The nights were cold, but the days were sunny and cool. We drove to Spruce Pine for the morning, and Hamilton got to see a train up close. He and Pops were both excited.

The cabin was near a pond that looked beautiful with all the fall color reflecting off the water.

Hamilton loved finding "ticks," and he carried them on our walks just like Pops likes to do.

I could just eat up those chubby cheeks.

Travis and Pops found some corn kernels, so they encouraged Hamilton to throw them into the pond for the ducks and geese.

Since Sunday was Mr. Morgan's birthday, Mom made him a delicious apple pie with "Happy Birthday, Seth" written in the crust. We did birthday celebrations so late in the evening--after our dip in the hot tub--that I didn't capture any pictures of all of us in our pajamas.

I realized once I got home that I didn't get any pictures of Collier; I guess he was napping during the few times I had my camera with me. And our pictures don't tell the whole story of the weekend--which began with our arriving at a cabin with the main power turned off. A refrigerator and freezer full of rotten food had to be cleaned out. Mom's stomach was the strongest, so she got the job. After the rotten-food debacle, the rest of the weekend smelled much better.

Catch-Up List

2011-10-25T16:01:00.001-04:00

Yes, we're still sad about Phoebe; but contrary to the blog's previous front-page post, life continues. I have much to share from the last two weeks. And I have pictures, especially for those wonderful grandparents.

1. My women's conference over two weeks ago was fabulous--no kids, no cooking, no chores! We heard awesome teaching, and I got to hang out with some cool chickies! We ran into lots of friends from other churches, despite nearly 2000 women in attendance. I was surprised and delighted to see my high school chum one morning at breakfast.

2. I've weaned Collier, so he's now fully drinking formula. I was eager to wean because--to me--breast-feeding gets old. I was ready to have my body (and time) back to myself. As I type, I think this all sounds selfish, but I was really ready to be finished with pumping. I weaned Hamilton between five and six months, too.

3. Hamilton does lots of new things now, like saying, "I wuv you!" He loves giving and asking for "high fives." He sings many of his familiar songs in distinguishable words and tunes; I'm really hoping for a video of his rendition of "ABC" soon.

4. We celebrated Mr. Morgan's birthday with Claire on Thursday night. She made him a brightly colored card, and because she had extra clay on hand from social studies class, created a sculpture of herself for him. What father wouldn't love a clay figurine of his daughter? Nevermind that Hamilton points and says, "poop" every time he sees it.

I thought it improved from far away. Something about the tilt of the head and ponytail, I think, is what I like.

5. My blogging has been so light this month, and my other writing is non-existent. I'm not sure why I'm feeling so uninspired these days, but not meeting with my writers' group every few weeks has not helped. Our coffee-fueled discussions helped hold me accountable to writing and blogging, inspiring me with ideas and reaffirming my purpose. Christy and Patty, I miss you! I know there were excellent reasons why we took a break from writers' group, but let's start again soon.

6. Mr. Morgan and I started a cleanse this morning. I'll probably post about our three days without solid food once we're closer to the end.

7. I found a fantastic food blog last week with delicious sounding recipes. I tried the pumpkin spice bars and cookies. The bars were delicious but crumbly because I added raisins and pecans. Sadly, I burned the cookies, but they would have been great without the scald.

Since this post is already long, I'll create another with pictures of the boys from our weekend in the mountains.

In Mourning

2011-10-15T15:13:00.002-04:00

Wow, what a long time since my last post. Sweet Papa Joe called thinking I might have been sick. I have many new items to post and a new layout option to check out, but I must first post about our difficult week.

Our dear Feebs left this world last Saturday, and we greatly feel her loss. Mr. Morgan and the boys went to the farm to hang out, and I went to a women's conference in Atlanta. After a tragic accident, Phoebe was laid to rest at the farm--a place she loved because she had so much freedom to roam and so many places to explore. I wanted to remember Phoebe on the blog as the sweet-natured dog that she was. Her small stature and cocked-head grin could melt any heart.

She was a constant companion to Fatty, encouraging Fatty to act years younger than her bones make her feel. A Fourth of July before we had kids to dress up, we adorned Phoebe and Fatty with festive bandanas for their necks.

Phoebe's gazelle-like bounding around the yard always made us smile. She loved to chew on her toys--and the boys'. She loved to scavenge after our meals and eat her own, though sometimes standing was just too much effort while licking her bowl clean.

And she loved freshly popped popcorn. She and Fatty were in the kitchen because of the melodious sounds of kernels popping.

She didn't mind eating her food off the floor when Hamilton helped feed her.

Phoebe had a special affinity for Mr. Morgan. Even when her bath was done, she didn't want to be far away from him.

She loved sitting in his lap.

Phoebe cozied up to anything that smelled like us--piles of laundry, the babies' Boppy, etc.

Rest in peace, dear Feebs. We'll miss you so.

Five Months Old

2011-10-03T21:02:00.001-04:00

Last Wednesday Collier was five months old, and I'm not getting any quicker at posting his monthly updates. He continues to be a happy baby--except when he's not, and he lets you know it by an ear-piercing squeal. Lately we've had mostly happy days with less squealing.

After a week of sleeping sometimes swaddled and other times not, I think we've given up the swaddle for good. He's younger than Hamilton was when I stopped swaddling him but about the same size. Collier's continuing to grow, so his little arm's breaking free of the swaddle was beginning to be a nightly occurence. At his last appointment, he was over 14 pounds. He's nicely fitting into six-month clothes, and I'm starting him in some nine-month outfits as well.

He still loves to play on his belly, holding his head up like a champ. He rolls over to the left and right, from belly and back, and back to belly. He swivels, too, and he's starting to draw his legs in like he wants to scoot or crawl. He is not, however, showing any signs of wanting to be in a sitting position.

His dark, full hair from birth is gone. I think he may turn out to be blonder than Hamilton, though right now he has far less hair than Hamilton had at this age. Collier loves to smile, and he does so with his whole body whenever anyone talks to him. Claire thinks it's just her talking to him that makes him smile, so don't tell her that anyone's attention produces the same result.

Collier's eating cereal three times each day to supplement his three bottles. Moving from four bottles to three last week has opened up my schedule, so with Collier's two longer naps (instead of three) I'm able to have a little more time to call my own. I've been spending my extra time cleaning the house, since those chores are the first things I neglect when I have too little time.

I haven't seen or felt any teeth yet, but he loves to chew on his pacifier, hands, and toys. He's just discovered his feet this week, so now he chews on them, too.

I tried to get a sweet picture of Hamilton and Collier. Hamilton fussed at first, then promptly dumped Collier over and out of his lap. Fortunately, the grass was plush and soft under the quilt.

Despite what the picture shows, Hamilton is still usually sweet and mostly gentle with his little brother. He always wants to give kisses and hugs to the baby. Collier laughs mostly at Hamilton, which I think is sweet, since Collier's laughs can be few and far between.

Hamilton and Arthur

2011-09-27T21:01:00.000-04:00

My dear friend Christie and her son Arthur visited us last weekend, and it was almost like old times. Except Hamilton and Arthur don't play together as two-year-olds nearly as well as they did as one-year-olds. Hamilton insisted on hoarding all the toys, and Arthur responded by crying and collapsing into a heap. I think sometimes Hamilton just wanted to see Arthur's reaction to his taking a toy away.

No matter how many toys, the boys still fought over the same one.

Here they played "together" for a few short seconds.

Hamilton's scoping out how to relieve Arthur of his Thomas train and police car. Tempting Arthur with Percy (the green train) in the picture above did not work, so Hamilton's having to rethink his strategy.

Both boys did love to play with their tongues stuck out! Notice that Hamilton has slyly stolen Thomas (the blue train) away from Arthur.

What a handful the boys were, but the weekend was so fun. Christie and I enjoyed some girl time on Saturday night when Mr. Morgan took over. What a dear!

Farm Life

2011-09-24T16:02:00.000-04:00

Last week the boys and I headed to the farm for a few days, and it wasn't until this weekend that I discovered the pictures were still on my memory card. We had just a few days of chickens, firetrucks, horses, and stroller walks.

Some Cute Things

2011-09-22T14:18:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Hamilton was singing his version of "Jees Me," and I recognized a few other words. After "Jees Me" and some humming, he clearly said, "Bible tells me so." Oh so cute! Later in the afternoon Claire heard him singing it, and she was so impressed. She tends to make a much bigger deal about things than I, so Hamilton continued to say, "Bible tells me sooo" all evening as his new default phrase. Past default phrases have included "muh hi be-ah" (more hay bales) and "Pah Joe Ten-see," which roughly translates to Papa Joe is in Tennessee. I fully expect him to continue his obsession with "Bible tells me sooo" all week at least.

During lunch I worked with Hamilton on saying his full first name, not just his Grady-given nickname of Hammie. He finally said it! Though it sounds like Hammie-ton. Then we worked on Taylor and Morgan, which he thoroughly enjoyed saying. I also repeated each sibling's full name to him; and when I said Mr. Morgan's full name, Hamilton smiled when I said "Hamilton" for his daddy's middle name. Then I asked, "Do you know Mama's full name?" He thought for a second, cut his eyes, then said, "Mama Tay-uh Mor-ghiun."

Collier tolerates all sorts of loving and hugging from Hamilton. He tolerates Hamilton's lying on top of him like he's destined to wrestle with his brother one day. Collier doesn't even cry with Hamilton's 28-pound body nearly smothering him; Collier just reaches his hands up to each side of Hamilton's face, and they look at each other. Hamilton babbles to him in his singsong voice, and Collier squeals with delight.

Claire has started writing her yet-to-be-published story again. And, her obsession with cats has reached new heights, for the main character turns into a cat in the fifth chapter. Then several days ago she told me, "I'm so jealous of my book. I wish I could turn into a cat." I'm not sure when she'll be finished with her book, but I'll be sure to post it once she's finished. She did ask me the other day--with a bit more pride than I was expecting, "Mama, have you ever written a book?" Well, no I haven't.

Hamilton Lately

2011-09-18T21:13:00.000-04:00

Hamilton loves to help Mr. Morgan around the house and in the garage. Recently, he "helped" Mr. Morgan change the lightbulb in the oven. I loved how immediately Hamilton started doing exactly what he saw his daddy doing--hands on knees staring into the oven.

Then Mr. Morgan pointed out some things inside the oven, so Hamilton followed suit.

Two weeks ago we received a shipment in a huge box, so I saved the box for Hamilton to play inside. Over the week or so that the box sat in our downstairs, Hamilton played with the box in so many ways. Sometimes he got in the box, but other times he wanted me to pull him around while sitting in the box. At times he'd hide inside and declare it was "dark, Mommy." When West came over, they played with their toys inside the box--with way more laughing and sillyness than I thought possible.

Hamilton has always had an affinity for music and singing, and lately he's been able to ask specifically for songs he wants me to sing. "Twinkle, Mommy" means he wants me to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." "Jees Me" means he wants to hear "Jesus Loves Me." Two new favorites are "Rejoice in the Lord Always" and "This Is the Day." He clearly says, "rejoice," but "day" is the only recognizable word for the other song. While I love singing to him, he can easily get demanding, and he never tires of hearing any of these songs.

My sweet, big boy has such a full vocabulary, and he usually surprises me every day with some new word or phrase that I haven't heard from him before. Just tonight he was running around the downstairs saying, "I go so fas!" He'd laugh and laugh then take off again.

Middle September

2011-09-14T14:40:00.000-04:00

How is it the middle of September and I've posted only once this month?! Yikes, time flies. I've made a list to help organize my scattered, blog thoughts.

School's in full swing for both Claire and Hamilton, though it's different this year for both of them. Claire's not only at a new school, but she's also going by a new name--Elaine. She's told all her teachers to call her Elaine, but her friends from her old school still call her Claire. She insists that we still call her Claire, though sometimes Mr. Morgan jokingly calls her Elaine. So all her school papers and books come home with "Elaine Morgan" written on them to which Mr. Morgan responds, "Who's this 'Elaine' person?" At Open House, I had to introduce myself as Elaine's stepmom. For Hamilton, he's learning so many new things at school that he's able to share with me this year. Last week all I heard was "AY-bee-see" over and over, though sometimes his pronounciation of the first three letters would morph into "ay-BEE-see." I'm pretty sure he thought "ABC" was a word. This week he's saying, "Gah may pee-puhl," so I've been saying, "What did God make?" He replies, "God made people." It's an awesome truth, though I wonder how much he understands.
I cleaned the master bathroom yesterday.
While to most folks the above statement doesn't deserve its own, separate number, trust me, it does. The master bathroom took over three hours to clean; the shower alone took an hour. It was disgusting. I won't even venture a guess as to how long it had been since the last cleaning because it would be embarrassing--even for me. But the bathroom sparkles now.
I'm looking forward to an upcoming weekend away with some women from church. I'm happy to have enough milk stored for my trip, and I'm thankful for a husband who'll watch the kids--yes, he'll have help. I love fall getaways!
I wanted to post my own memorial for Sept.11, but I missed it by a few days. So here's my I-remember-exactly-where-I-was tribute. I was a 21-year-old, college senior spending the fall semester at Keene State, which was only five hours from New York City. Students at my school knew people who worked in the Towers and as first-responders. In my Tuesday-morning class, we watched The Today Show's coverage of the attacks. I watched the towers fall live on television. I heard Katie Couric's live conversation with Jim Miklaszewski at the Pentagon when he said, "I just heard something that sounded like a bomb." I had been in New Hampshire--in a new region of the country, at a new school--for about two weeks, and I felt so alone. The local paper's front page showed a picture of the burning towers in its afternoon edition, published actually on Sept. 11, 2001. In writing about the attacks, it's hard for me not to focus on how life-changing it was for me--to make the events of September 11th about me. I didn't lose anyone or even know anyone who lost anyone that day. My fellow countrymen suffered that day, and I can't memorialize the events as well as news programs. But I can remember their sacrifices, our country's loss, and our only Hope for the future.

Wonderful Weekend

2011-09-06T21:42:00.000-04:00

After our first full day back with the kids in our regular routine, I'm so thankful I had such a fun anniversary weekend. I've felt revived and refreshed all day. Mr. Morgan and I dropped the little ones at the farm for the weekend, and we headed to Hendersonville to stay in a quaint bed-and-breakfast. Who but Mom and Dad would watch three kids and two dogs for a long weekend? Yes, they are dears. The kids had a blast, and I think Mom and Dad enjoyed all the crazyness too--though I'm sure they were relieved to see the back of our loaded-down vehicle come Monday afternoon.

Hamilton seemed to have learned tons of new words and to be talking more and better just in three days if that's possible. He loved seeing Mimi and Pops's chickens and collecting their eggs, as well as the usual fun stuff like seeing the horses, riding in the golf cart, and playing with different toys.

Claire got horse-riding lessons and training from the friendly neighbors with eight horses. Susan said Claire was a model student and quick study; I believe Susan's words were, "I'd like to clone her as a student." Claire loved everything about the horses: being dirty and grimy, walking over horse manure (or what Hamilton called "orsie-poo"), and giving treats so they'd do a command. She was so proud to show us what she'd learned, and she loved that one of the Morgan horses was named Claire.

Claire asked what we did on our trip, and all I could think of were the things we don't usually get to do--sleep in, nap in the afternoon, talk during meals without interruption, etc. We also toured the Apple Festival, saw a play at the new Flat Rock Playhouse downtown, and went to see a movie. Though we're still on a fairly restrictive diet, Mr. Morgan and I found some fabulous places to eat including Tupelo Honey Cafe--a definite must if you're in the Asheville area. We loved our time away! We did plenty of reminiscing about the past five years, and I'm so glad I married that man. He still makes me laugh!

Four Months Old

2011-08-30T21:58:00.000-04:00

Sunday was Collier's four-month birthday. He's still growing like a weed, though he's been in a fussy stage for the last month or so. He's also been spitting up WAY more than he was when he was first born. However, the last three days have been great! Since Mr. Morgan's been preparing for his cleanse and we've been eating lighter and better, I think my milk has been a better nourishment for Collier. He's much less fussy, and his spitting up has subsided immensely. In this past month Collier had still been really happy and smiley at times, and then he'd erupt into ear-piercing screams and squeals without any warning. I will continue with this new diet--little dairy, sugar, meat, and grains--definitely until he's no longer breastfeeding.

Hamilton loves to hold Collier; he'll say, "I hold baby" over and over again until I put Collier into his lap. Collier takes Hamilton's holding well especially the death grip around his neck; however, I have to be ready for when Hamilton says "all done baby" and pushes Collier away from his lap--usually at the same time.

Collier's rolling over all the time now onto his belly, and sometimes he can roll back. He's still sleeping so well and going to sleep easily, which took Hamilton much longer to accomplish. I've started him on rice cereal; and after the first try when he gagged and wretched, he's eating heartily and loving it now.

Many times during dinner we also feed Collier his bottle, so we're all sitting at the table together. On Sunday night Mr. Morgan and I fed the boys together first, and we ate later in peace (hence no plates for us). Collier got so tickled at Hamilton's eating and talking that Mr. Morgan got the camera out to record Collier's unprovoked, adorable laugh. Hamilton also does lots of talking in this video which I usually interpret, if you can hear my voice.

Hamilton Hears a Horn

2011-08-30T09:27:00.000-04:00

Hamilton loves to go out into the garage with Mr. Morgan. Sometimes he "helps" Mr. Morgan fix the car or work in the yard.

Hamilton in a Box

2011-08-29T20:58:00.000-04:00

Often Hamilton wants to play on the back porch, but he usually won't stay out there long unless I go with him. After dinner one night, he was playing out there much longer than usual, so Mr. Morgan investigated and found him sitting in the ottoman/storage box.

The toys stored inside may have enticed him to join them.

More Edisto

2011-08-29T20:45:00.000-04:00

Once Travis and Claire arrived, we got out the big toys.

Hamilton and I accompanied the "big kids" to the boat ramp to see them shove off.

Mr. Morgan and Claire took the canoe, and Dad and Travis each paddled a kayak.

Edisto

2011-08-26T21:35:00.000-04:00

The views off the back porch of our house in Edisto were so lowcountry and beautiful. The 900-foot-long-but-four-foot-wide dock with no railings made us a bit nervous with Hamilton's bounding about from side to side pointing at fiddler crabs.

The great house was plenty big for all five of us Morgans and our puppies plus the three Taylors.

At the end of the dock, Mimi fed Hamilton his first fig that she'd picked straight off the fig tree. He loved it.

We went to the beach most days. After a few minutes of warming up to the idea of sand being on his hands and body, Hamilton began to enjoy playing in the sand and surf.

We enjoyed the beach mostly in the late afternoons because it was so much cooler.

We saw dolphins swimming so close to the shore.

Collier spent most of his beach time in this nifty baby tent that was lent to us for the trip.

Oh Vacation

2011-08-26T13:52:00.000-04:00

Why do I feel three steps behind the week after a vacation? I mean, I had lots of good help with the boys and some time to relax and "be myself" (as Claire would say), but this week has been so packed that I've felt behind on most everything. Some events that contributed to the crazyness and busyness of the week:

We returned on Monday afternoon from the beach, so I felt thrown into the week without proper preparation before it was already nearly Tuesday.
Claire's starting middle school meant an afternoon trip to Mt. Pleasant with both boys and the homework-completing/instrument-practicing rush in the afternoon and evening.
Mr. Morgan is preparing for a juice cleanse next week, so we've been eating new, lighter recipes including little meat, dairy, and grains. I've spent more time in the kitchen to make these different recipes for lunches and suppers. (I would also be participating in this cleanse, but I can't since I'm still breastfeeding. So I'm being supportive by fixing appropriate meals in preparation for the cleanse.)

Three Months Old

2011-08-12T20:48:00.000-04:00

Collier has been three months old for about two weeks now, so it's high time I post an update on our precious boy. In this last month he's had several firsts. He has rolled over from his back to his belly--only once though. He has not done it again, though he didn't seem to like it the first time. He cried, which is how we discovered he'd rolled over. He has also laughed once in this last month, though I haven't heard a second time what I deemed a laugh before. Perhaps it was just a fluke, but Hamilton was laughing at this age.

He still smiles a lot, and he smiles for anyone who speaks sweetly to him. Claire and Hamilton both are really good at getting him to smile.

Collier still spends most of his playtime lying on his back on his playmat with toys dangling above his head. I've recently introduced him to his exersaucer which he seems to like at least for a little while.

He loves playing with his pacifier, though he sometimes gets irritated when he pulls it out of his mouth but can't get it back in. This action also irritates Claire who can't seem to understand why he keeps pulling it out when he clearly wants the pacifier in.

The Week with Kids

2011-08-11T21:14:00.001-04:00

1. I've been setting the alarm to wake me up this week earlier than the children, so I can get my pumping out of the way before Collier wakes needing to be fed. Since I'm freed up to feed him when he does wake, Mr. Morgan is able to get ready for work without much delay making his morning easier (I hope). I've used the quiet, alone hour of the morning to read my Bible and journal. I've enjoyed this time to myself as I start my day, though juggling the pump while reading and writing is a bit cumbersome.

2. Caring for two small children has proved more work than I thought it would be--if that's possible. I'm just not sure I was really prepared for how precious little time I'd have to do anything else not involving their welfare. Surely all parents are not this clueless.

3. Since Claire's 11 now, I've been relying on her to help this summer in many new ways. She gives Hamilton baths many nights, and sometimes she'll put him to bed all by herself. Today while I sat in the car with the boys, she ran in to buy diapers. She told me she'd never been into a grocery store all by herself before. Tuesday night Mr. Morgan and I finally saw the final Harry Potter movie, and I was so comfortable with leaving the babysitter only a few instructions because I knew Claire would help her and show her where things were when necessary.

4. I'm so ready for our upcoming beach trip with Mom and Dad. Having help during the day with the boys and staying put during the mornings will be a welcome treat after our busiest week of the summer. Monday we met Claire's new piano teacher. Tuesday Hamilton's friend West came over for camp. Wednesday I had a hair appointment. And, today, we played at the Shealys' awesome, neighborhood pool. Tomorrow is Claire's middle-school orientation, so we'll all be out and about early again.

Old Pictures

2011-08-05T21:30:00.000-04:00

For some reason I haven't taken many pictures lately even though I've felt much better for a week now. As I looked back through some old pictures, I found some that I hadn't gotten around to posting when they were new.

Hamilton helped Mr. Morgan wash the Explorer back in April before the baby's arrival. Hamilton loves helping and being given a job, especially if it's a job he hasn't done before.

All winter and spring Hamilton loved playing in the kitchen cabinets when I was busy cooking in the kitchen. He'd pull all the stuff out then sit himself in the cabinet. He even got good at putting all the dishes back in the cabinet where they belonged.

In May we went to the farmers' market downtown at Marion Square with Mimi and Pops one Saturday. Pops paid the exorbitant rate for Hamilton to play in the jump castle, and Hamilton loved it. I wish my pictures had turned out better, but chasing a moving target through black netting is not easy. I was pleased that Hamilton wasn't afraid to play inside the jump castle, since he wasn't too sure about this activity at our last opportunity. He loved to jump and fall on his bottom; he'd do it over and over again and laugh every time.

Also back in May, I captured Hamilton eating his first corn on the cob. His actual eating of the corn was much cuter, but by the time I got up from the dinner table to get my camera, he wasn't doing his intense and happy eating anymore.

New Art

2011-08-04T20:59:00.000-04:00

I finally uploaded Claire's latest artwork to her website. She has several new pieces from this summer including this mosaic, and there are pieces from her fifth-grade year in the slideshow as well. Feel free to leave comments here or on her website; she loves the blue ribbons she earns for having lots of visitors to her website.

Housekeeping

2011-08-04T20:48:00.000-04:00

Though not literal housekeeping, the readability of my blog is important to me. Since Mr. Morgan's my go-to tech guy, I trust him to tell me "enough already"--and then fix the crazy fonts that I'd rather use on my blog. He said he wasn't enjoying going to the blog and reading it because of how long the fonts took to load. He's my biggest blog fan, so I couldn't abide his not reading it. So we're back to default fonts. Has anyone else had issues viewing the page?

Four-Alarm Birthday

2011-07-30T20:04:00.000-04:00

Amanda and I threw a firetruck-themed birthday party for Hamilton and Grady who both turned two in July. And by "Amanda and I," I mean mostly Amanda. The party had been scheduled before my descent into the pit, so Amanda did most of the shopping and gathering of party items after my surgery. Saturday morning 11 kids and their parents came over to our house for a water-play party. The kids played in Hamilton's pool, with the beach-ball sprinkler, and at Grady's water table.

We served WATERmelon and HOTdogs to stay on theme along with some other party food. My small contribution to the party was the firetruck cake: Though it was pitiful looking, it was recognizable as a firetruck by four-year-old Abby Koch. The boys didn't seem to mind the sad look of the cake with its crazy, too-much-butter icing. They ate it with such delight.

The dalmation-puppy cupcakes turned out much cuter, but only the adults could really appreciate their relation to the theme.

Because Amanda's an awesome mom and party-planner, she arranged for a real firetruck to make an appearance at the end of the party. The kids loved it!

Hamilton ran to the front yard once he heard there was a firetruck. He pointed excitedly at the firetruck as he ran to get a better look.

The kids took turns trying out the driver's seat in the firetruck. Hamilton wore his official-looking fireman's hat with pride.

We attempted a group shot in front of the firetruck.

The Two-Week Pit

2011-07-30T16:45:00.000-04:00

Friends, readers, and fellow bloggers, how I've missed you and missed writing in this space. The first few days after my appendectomy seemed fine, but after the pain of surgery subsided I did not feel any better. I felt worse in different ways. I felt mentally like I was surviving in a dark pit for that week, and I didn't even have the mental energy to open my laptop--much less blog. With Mom's fantastic, encouraging help, we survived. We also received tons of delicious food and encouraging notes from our church family and friends, reminding me I was not alone or forgotten.

After multiple calls and conversations with various doctors and nurses during the worst-feeling week of my life, they decided to do another CT scan this past Thursday which revealed an abscess had developed following my appendectomy. Friday Mr. Morgan and I were back in the hospital so I could have the abscess drained, and now I'm finally feeling much better. I have several posts planned including Hamilton's joint birthday party with Grady and Collier's three-month update.

Unexpected

2011-07-16T16:55:00.000-04:00

I thought Mom and Dad were coming for just a short visit; however, my slight abdominal pain from Tuesday, which my doctor thought was probably an ovarian cyst, turned out to be a ruptured appendix which a pelvic ultrasound and CT scan revealed yesterday. Mr. Morgan drove me to the hospital last night for my emergency appendectomy (Is there any other kind?), and thankfully we were allowed to come back home about 9 pm.

I've got some good pain meds, which I definitely need since the pain is way worse now than it was before removal. Providentially Mom and Dad were already in town, so they've been a huge help and exactly what we needed. Sadly, Mr. Morgan and I were supposed to see THE MOVIE this weekend--the original purpose of Mom and Dad's trip with their free babysitting, but we'll have to wait until I can move around a bit better before going. I'm sure the theaters will be showing it for a while.

Two Boys, One Visit

2011-07-16T10:42:00.001-04:00

I made appointments for both Collier and Hamilton to see our doctor together, since Hamilton's two-year checkup coincided with Collier's two-month checkup. Though it was great only to get out with them once instead of twice, I had my hands full at the doctor's office. Both boys are growing quickly with Collier weighing in at 13 pounds and 7 ounces. He's the size Hamilton was at about five months old! Collier's 25 inches long, which is an inch longer than Hamilton was at two months old. Collier cried a lot more with his vaccine shots than Hamilton did, but he'd calmed down before we left the office. Hamilton weighed 31 pounds, and the doctor said he was growing normally and talking well--by "well" I think she meant "all the time."

Hamilton loves to play on the floor with Collier. This shot is indicative of what usually happens after a minute or two on the floor: Hamilton begins his roll onto Collier.

Camp

2011-07-15T12:13:00.000-04:00

Two days each week Hamilton has standing playdates at Grady's and West's houses, and on Thursday mornings I watch all three boys. Since school was out for the summer, we moms decided we needed scheduled times each week for the boys to play together--and for us to have some time away from our two-year-olds. We call it "camp."

Last week I kept the boys outside most of the morning, and they played in the pool and spinkler. Well, West was a little timid around the water, so he spent most of his time on the backporch playing with toys.

After a few minutes I went inside to check on the sleeping baby. When I came back out, the boys had loaded themselves into the wagon. I pulled the heavy crew around the yard for a few minutes.

Then West got out to try his hand at pulling the other two. I guess I'd made it look like so much fun.

Grady and Hamilton also decided to try pulling the wagon, but they both declare, "Tuh heh-bee, tuh heh-bee" before giving up.

Hamilton and West got a little stuck at one point. The wagon makes for such cute pictures, and I didn't need to do any cajoling to get them to play with the wagon.

A Recent List

2011-07-13T21:59:00.001-04:00

1. I have not fallen off the face of the earth as my mother so sweetly asked me this morning over email. Keeping up with two active boys has proven problematic for my blogging. When I have help with the kids, I usualy find more time to blog. Good thing you're coming for a short visit soon, Mom.

2. Mr. Morgan and I tag-team the boys' baths and dinner cleanup each night; so by the time our little ones are in bed, my brain is a little fried which doesn't make for a good blogging environment. We usually enjoy our new favorite show on Netflix streaming and go to bed early.

3. Yesterday I went to the library with both boys because Amanda and Grady had invited us to go to a toddler reading event. I knew Hamilton would love to see Grady and get out of the house (plus, who can resist Amanda?), so I loaded everybody into the Freestyle for the morning outing. Now Hamilton is a handful by himself, but with Grady's mischievous encouragement he's wilder than normal. Add in an infant who needs to be fed at the exact time we're enjoying storytime. Feeding Collier is a two-hand job, so I had no free arm to keep Hamilton in line. Disaster ensued when Collier spit up way more than usual. He was covered, his bib was soaked through, and the one burp cloth I had was soiled on all sides. Then I stood up to help Hamilton at the craft table after storytime only to discover my shorts were wet with the familiar liquid. As I longed for the comfort of home, Hamilton relished coloring his hands with the only marker in the pile of crayons. I've decided that feeding Collier cannot be done just anywhere if I also am responsible for Hamilton at the same time. I think we'll stay home for most feedings after that experience.

4. Since I spend lots of time feeding Collier and pumping, I watch several shows on Netflix streaming. Hamilton enjoys some of them more than others when he's around to watch with me. I only watch things that don't require all my attention, are entertaining in short snippets, and are not riveting--so I'm not tempted to keep watching once I'm done feeding Collier or pumping. I'm enjoying Clean House, Dress My Nest, and Bones these days. Hamilton likes the opening credits and closing music for Bones, so he asks for it by name throughout the day. I'm not sure when Bones will be inappropriate for him to watch even as sporadically as he does, as sometimes the images are gruesome. But I love to hear him say, "Wah Booh-wensth" (with his cute lisp), and he gets so excited when I turn it on.

5. Though we're one July boy short, Amanda and I are planning a small birthday party for Hamilton and Grady next weekend. I'm hoping they'll enjoy our efforts to make their firetruck-themed party fun. I'm on the hook for another cake, and Amanda found instructions for making what I hope will be a simple firetruck cake.

6. I'm so glad to have composed most of this post from Panera this morning while I waited for Christy. We're attempting to have a writers' group meeting after a two-month hiatus. Obviously, I need the encouragement to write and blog, since my last post was over a week ago. I have much to post including stats from Collier's latest appointment, cute pictures from camp last week, and a growing list of Hamilton's daily-expanding vocabulary.

Sprinkler Fun

2011-07-04T16:28:00.000-04:00

After dinner we hooked up the beach-ball sprinkler that Uncle Travis gave Hamilton for his birthday. He and Claire both loved it!

Hamilton and Claire played in the water as Uncle Travis controlled the flow. Hamilton squealed every time, but on this video he tells Uncle Travis to do it again.

Hamilton's Family Birthday

2011-07-03T22:27:00.000-04:00

With our train cake and abundant family, we had quite a party. We enjoyed barbecue sandwiches and other delicious fare for birthday lunch, then we cut into the train cake.

We sang "Happy Birthday Cha-Cha-Cha" to Hamilton, and Claire's idea was to change the "cha-cha-cha" to "choo-choo-choo" in honor of the train theme. We also added a "whoo-whoo" to the end, and he loved it. He attempted to blow out his candles, though he still needs to work on getting enough air to come out to extinguish a flame. Hamilton thoroughly enjoyed his birthday cake especially the frosting.

We opened presents next, and Hamilton loved them all. After opening this "dog" on a string, he ran around pulling it behind him.

Uncle Travis gave him a water toy for outside, and those pictures will come later.

He opened his train set from Mimi and Pops, and the coffee table served as a perfect table for constructing a train village with help from Sissy, Pops, Uncle Douglas, and Uncle Travis.

Birthday Visitors

2011-07-03T21:34:00.000-04:00

Since we celebrated Hamilton's birthday on Saturday, Uncle Douglas and Aunt Mary came to spend the day at the farm to help us celebrate. They love to come visit when the grandkids are also visiting, and they hadn't met Collier yet. We loved catching up with them on their short visit.

Making a Choo-Choo Train

2011-07-03T21:24:00.001-04:00

Claire's idea for Hamilton's birthday was to make him a train cake. So this past week Mimi and Aunt Judy worked out the logistics of creating a train cake, deciding to make individual cakes for each train car. Mimi bought animal crackers and Swiss Cake Rolls, Twizzlers and pretzel sticks to help create the different train cars.

I made a big batch of frosting, and we added food coloring to make several different colors.

Aunt Judy worked on the caboose, and Claire decided to make a car with half coal and half sand. Jess created a log car, and I tried to do a circus car with animals in cages. The project was so fun; however, we are definitely not professional cake decorators. The yellow cake and buttercream frosting was so delicious even if it didn't look professional.

Though our train looked a bit funny, Hamilton knew exactly what it was. And, as usual, he was so excited to see a train!

At church I mentioned to Bonnie (who made Hamilton's cake last year) that we attempted a train for his cake. We definitely could have used her expertise as a cake decorator!

Fun for the Fourth

2011-07-03T17:04:00.000-04:00

The parade is the highlight of the celebration in Mountville, but with so many friends who come back for the festivities, the whole evening feels like a family reunion. Now all my friends and I have so many kids that it's mass chaos during the hot-dog supper. Collier enjoyed a late-afternoon snooze on Grandma's lap, and Aunt Judy got to experience her first July Fourth celebration in Mountville.

The big boys lounged in the shade after the hot-dog supper.

Travis brought Jess to Mountville for the crazy fun, so hopefully she wasn't too overwhelmed.

Though there were rambunctious children as far as the eye could see, the older folks did make a strong showing with Grandma on the far left holding Collier.

The newest baby in attendance was Samuel who's one month old, and he looked so sweet sleeping on Cindy's lap.

Hamilton played with the dirty tricycle for a long time, and three-year-old Maggie Brooke jumped on while Hamilton pushed.

Then Maggie Brooke returned the favor and pushed Hamilton around.

Hamilton loved the go-cart ride!

Parade Pictures

2011-07-03T14:43:00.000-04:00

Though Hamilton was a little unsure of the decorated golf cart at first, he quickly smiled being back in Uncle Travis's lap for the Mountville parade. Hamilton waved his little flag and giggled as he passed by the spectators.

These sweet girls threw out candy for us spectators.

Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty were precious in their battery-powered jeep.

The "younger crowd" who are now in college and graduate school donned bandanas and cut-offs for their Hell's Angels impression. Each year they come up with the cutest ideas for their parade showing.

Grandma got to ride in this old car again this year.

Mom and Aunt Judy worked hard to decorate the golf cart, making it festive and fun for the kids.

Anything goes in the Mountville parade with little ones riding bikes and older ones driving golf carts and four-wheelers.

Hamilton and Uncle Travis rode in the back of the golf cart that Claire drove.

Mr. Morgan joined in the parade this year to ride shotgun to Claire and to hold Baby Collier.

Claire was excited to drive the golf cart again this year in the parade.

Mimi made Collier a sweet, patriotic outfit especially for the parade, and she made matching bandanas for Claire and Hamilton.

A Little Boy and Big Trucks

2011-07-03T08:55:00.000-04:00

Friday night found us in Mountville at the fire department to participate in the annual July Fourth parade. Hamilton was enthralled by the fire trucks this year, walking around each truck while pointing and talking excitedly.

We found an volunteer fireman who offered to show Hamilton the truck, but Hamilton just expertly told him all about the trucks with lots of gesturing and jabbering.

Hamilton found an abandoned (and dirty) tricycle that he pushed around and around the fire trucks.

Two Months Old

2011-06-30T10:19:00.001-04:00

Tuesday was Collier's two-month birthday, and as much as I try I fear I will be tardy many months with his updates. My timing for a photo shoot was not ideal because Collier was about to be fed. So he's a little fussy for the pictures. Though he smiles a lot (when his belly's full), I still don't have a good shot of it. I also included Hamilton in some pictures because he climbed on the chair beside the baby when I went to get my camera.

I think this shot is so telling of both boys right now: Collier just wants to be fed, and Hamilton loves snaps because he can take his clothes off.

Hamilton loves to help me feed the baby, and he always want to sit beside the baby especially on the couch. And, yes, we're still working on being gentle with the baby.

Collier is such a sweet, easy baby. We're down to four feedings a day with naps in between, and he's sleeping about eleven hours each night now. He enjoys lying on his playmat with toys dangling from above. He gives huge smiles when anyone talks to him--even Hamilton. Hamilton uses a high-pitched, "baby" voice to talk to him.

Collier even enjoys lying on his belly, which Hamilton never liked. Also unlike Hamilton at two months, Collier is bigger and growing faster. He's already in three-months clothes and some up-to-six-months outfits. We go next week for his checkup, so we'll get official weight and length then.

Fun in Raleigh

2011-06-30T09:48:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we traveled again. We loaded up the boys and headed to Raleigh for a party celebrating my cousin's recent wedding. Her father hosted the party, and we had a great time catching up with extended family. Here's a picture of the Taylor clan in attendance.

Hamilton found lots of children and things to play with during the party.

Because the party was a pig-pickin' complete with a whole pig on the grill, Mimi and Pops told Hamilton we'd be "eating pig" for supper. Hamilton went around the whole night saying, "Ee pih, ee pih."

I just love this shot of my two favorite "big boys."

Playing on the Window Seat

2011-06-24T23:00:00.000-04:00

Since my laptop and "desk area" occupy much of the kitchen table, Collier and Hamilton both spend lots of time sitting beside me on the window seat. While I check email or blog, Hamilton plays with his cars or writes on a scratch pad with a pencil. Collier gazes out the window just as Hamilton used to do when he was a baby.

Often both boys are on the window seat together now, and Hamilton gives Collier lots of attention.

This face of Collier's is typical when Hamilton is loving on him.

Wednesday/Father's Day

2011-06-22T18:15:00.000-04:00

Though it's Wednesday and the week's half gone, I'm still getting caught up from our vacation in Tennessee. After trying so hard to be on top of things and buying Father's Day cards several weeks before, I forgot to take them on our trip. Consequently, Mr. Morgan didn't get his card on Father's Day, and my dad received a replacement card a day late. I felt like such a slacker that even my small attempt at remembering and celebrating Mr. Morgan's day was thwarted. Basically, Mr. Morgan got a back-scratch. While he does love my back-scratches, they're not really celebratory. So here's to Mr. Morgan, my loving husband and attentive father. You're the best!

Four Aunts and Four-Hundred Miles

2011-06-22T16:46:00.000-04:00

During the second half of our trip to Tennessee, we drove to Memphis to visit more of Mr. Morgan's family. We visited with Aunt Jane and her family first, enjoying cake and ice cream at 10 am.

Then we had a late lunch at Chick-fil-A with our dear friends Christopher and Emilie who moved away from Charleston almost two years ago. Why luncheon at a fast-food place we have in Charleston, you ask? Because there's a play area that occupied three of the five children for hours, which is required for any visiting among adults.

We headed to Great Aunt Elizabeth's house (where we spent the night) to change clothes before we headed to a Morgan reunion of sorts at Aunt Gladys's house. We enjoyed Memphis barbecue for dinner and absolutely the best chocolate cake I've ever tasted. Aunt Patsy was also at the reunion, so we officially visited with four aunts from three different sides of Mr. Morgan's family--in one day. It was a whirlwind day with all the driving, eating, and visiting, but it was wonderful to see so many folks we hadn't seen in years.

The Morgan reunion was fun and rowdy because of all the kids. Little Elliott and Sloane were so excited to see the baby that they nearly attacked me when I walked in the door with Collier. They immediately wanted to hold him, so I obliged and took pictures.

Hamilton didn't play as much with the girls as I thought he would. Once Aunt Patsy showed him a train he could play with, he was occupied for most of the night.

I attempted to get a picture of all the kids before we left, and this is as good as it got. I think Sloane is trying to put "bunny ears" on herself, and her younger sister Elliott is copying as best she can.

We enjoyed breakfast at Great Aunt Elizabeth's before we headed back to Paris. After much begging, we convinced Elizabeth to join us for a picture. (This shot is the first picture I've seen where I think Hamilton looks a bit like me.)

Boating and Lake-Swimming

2011-06-17T22:25:00.000-04:00

Papa Joe took Mr. Morgan, Hamilton, and me out on his boat while Grandma Judy stayed with Collier. We had such fun watching Hamilton as he donned his first lifejacket, swam in his first lake, and called out, "Bee bo-oh," every time a boat of any size passed us. I guess they were all "big boats" to him. Joe was our capable captain and tour guide.

I attempted to make Hamilton wear a hat, and Papa Joe offered this too-big one.

Notice my death-grip on Hamilton's arm as I'm applying his sunscreen.

After exploring several coves, we found a spot for swimming. The chilly water was refreshing, and it made Hamilton squeal a bit.

We enouraged Hamilton to kick his legs, so we could begin teaching him to swim. So the whole time he was in the lake he kept saying, "Kih-kih-kih." And he loved for Mr. Morgan to kick-kick-kick his legs to make the water churn.

Grandma Judy and Lollipops

2011-06-17T21:29:00.000-04:00

Hamilton has experienced many "firsts" in the last few days, and one of his favorites has been lollipops. Hamilton found a bag of lollipops which he played with for days as toys; he counted them, put them in and out of a plastic box over and over, and carried them around from room to room. Eventually he ripped the paper off one and stuck it in his mouth like an old pro. (Perhaps he's had one at school because I've never given him one before.) Then he and Grandma Judy enjoyed a lollipop break.

Papa Joe's House

2011-06-15T22:24:00.000-04:00

While it took Hamilton until Grandma Judy's second day with us last month to begin saying her name, we'd been with Papa Joe just a few hours before he was saying, "Puh Joe." Today Hamilton's added his familiar, indefinite article to form "Uh-PUH Joe," which we hear with gusto every time Papa Joe walks into the room. (Since Hamilton continues to advance with his speech, noticeable nearly daily, "Joo" has been replaced by "Joo-dee" most of the time now for Grandma Judy.)

Hamilton has spent lots of time with Papa Joe feeding his three, big dogs. They've also spent lots of time walking around the yard and extensive sidewalks while Hamilton pulls the wagon.

On our dog walk this morning, Mr. Morgan took Hamilton for a fun ride in the wagon on the steep hills in the neighborhood. Hamilton was giddy with delight.

This afternoon Joe put clean water in the little pool, so Hamilton enjoyed an impromptu swimming time.

Twenty-Three Months Old

2011-06-11T21:37:00.000-04:00

This month's birthday was the first month since Hamilton's birth that I didn't think about his birthday when June 5 rolled around. I guess I'm busy with other things--like babies and diapers and more diapers. Hamilton's spoken vocabulary is exploding: He's trying new phrases every day, and he's repeating many words that I say. And, his variations are so cute, and some are surprisingly accurate.

Last weekend the incredible Paige Stumbo came to the farm for a photo shoot. We've seen a preview on her blog, and I'm so excited to see all the shots. I'll share them once I get the CD.

Hamilton loves to try new things especially tasks that I'm doing or that he's seen me do every day. He says, "I tryh," as he attempts to take over whatever I'm doing. If the task is too difficult for him, he'll say, "Mah tryh," as he looks back to me to complete the task.

He's such a friendly boy who says hello to everyone. This past week we had two men installing new windows in our house, and Hamilton said hello to each of them every time they walked into the house. Yes, it's been a bit chaotic here this week with curtains and blinds draped over chairs and furniture pushed away from the windows. But our new windows are in now, and they're fabulous!

Hamilton has been attempting to jump since we first tried it during Kindermusik several months ago. His "jumping" so far had been lifting one foot off the ground while bending his knees, which looked funny. But finally yesterday, he was successful at jumping with both feet off the ground at the same time! He also says, "Juh, juh," as he jumps, and he's so excited and proud of himself. I hope to get a video soon that I'll share.