Introducing....

The other day I was with Justine and I looked at our little Zanie Boy and I just knew it.

He's lonely.

We have worked with him and trained him mostlyish. But we are not birds and he is not peoples. And he is lonely.

And we like him so much. Sometimes he starts to SQUAWK up a storm and we have to go stare at him to see what all the ruckus is about because that squawking is so irresistibly darling and charming and fun.

So I said to Justine..."He needs a friends."

And she said..."YES!"

And Corey said "&%$# NO!"

Becasue he doesn't enjoy when I bring home pets. In fact it is one of OUR world's greatest marriage issues. I love pets. I love the excitement they bring. I grew up with them and worked all my pre-children years with them.

So we sort of went to bed in discord over it. And then next day he saw the light and was in an especially good mood and agreed Zane needed a friend.

So introducing....

Chandler Liam Steelers Gandolf the Gray, the 2nd!

We let Bo name him the Steelers part. He desperately wanted him to have that name. And since he is gray I thought it was appropriate because steel is gray. Let's talk about Steelers for a minute. In the past five years Corey has begun watching football. I like it because it keeps him home on the couch and the kids maul him and bond over foot ball and I get a break. Because Corey's favorite team is the Steelers...

...our family's favorite team has become the Steelers. I even have a shirt I wear on game day. It makes Corey happy and I could care less either way so I wear it. And the little kids love Steelers now.

 Liam is for Justine's favorite One Direction boy band.

Chandler is a name I have always loved and never got to use on a son,

 and Gandolf the Gray is because he is a GRAY parakeet! He is a beautiful little bird. I have seen a gray parakeet every now and  then and they are a lovely color.

Rhett and Justine were the kids who got to come pick him out because Justine feeds and waters Zane and because Rhett has taken the most interest in holding Zane. And the two of them agreed that Chandler was beautiful and he was the one.

The fact that the two kids agreed on one bird out of thirty was an absolute miracle in itself.

I think they agreed  because for the ten minutes we stared at the birds, Chandler Liam Steelers Gandolf the Gray, the 2nd was LOVING TO PIECES some tiny little fluffy bird whose face we never even saw because it was tucked away in pure comfort as Chandler loved and preened all over him.

And we said, "Look! He is a lover!"

And we wanted a lover for our Zane. So he was our choice.

And when we brought him home and put him in with Zane, Chandler was naturally too freaked out to do anything but sit on the perch with his pupils dilated.

Zane sat for the next ten minutes and "kissed" at Chandler's beak and the feathers next to his beak and he "kissed"all over Chandlers beak area. And then he would move away and go back and "kiss" some more.

It BROKE our hearts in such a sweet way. It was so loving and cute.

We said..."Zane LOVES him!!! Zane is a lover too!" 

We were happy because sometimes birds don't accept each other when you add a new one.

It felt good to do something good for our little Zanie boy. Even though it is a minute thing in a world of big things that need to be done, it still felt good. And I get much joy from my children being exciting about animals.

So there you go!