I would have chosen Jacob

I have officially joined the ranks of those who have finished the Twilight series. It took me a little while to join the bandwagon of this one. My sister Kelsey gave me the first book for my birthday this past September. Despite how much talk I heard about it I just hadn't gotten around to reading it before that. I am going to share my thoughts on the series, and while I'm not planning to write a summary, if you want to read the series without my opinions which may or may not be spoilers, then stop reading here. I'll be honest about the first book: I enjoyed it, but it made me frustrated. I didn't agree with the choices that Bella made and Edward quite frankly bugged me. He seemed to me to be incredibly arrogant, overly protective, and self-righteous in his opinions (meaning that he did what he wanted to and nobody else's ideas mattered). He knew he was gorgeous, he knew he was intoxicating to Bella, and he knew he could do and say anything and she'd just go along with it. Plus I thought it was creepy that he sat in her room at night and watched her sleep even before she knew about it. And Bella just accepted it all! Like it was fate! Oh I just wanted to give some gumption to that girl! I felt that she was just becoming Edward rather than developing her own persona. I am fully aware that as a person reads a book, she automatically may transfer her own experiences and emotions onto the characters, and I am also fully aware that I perchance have done this. But I dated a few guys like Edward. The kind who knew they could have anybody they wanted, and wanted a girl who would just to orbit them and tell them how wonderful they were. The kind who didn't take the time to find out about the girl's talents and potential and to help her become who she could be. Anyway, to say the least I had a hard time with the first book. I was telling my sister Erin about my feelings and she gently reminded me that the book was written for adolescents. Hmmm. It made me think, and I ended up requesting the final three books on CD from the library. The series definately got more interesting as it went on. It introduced Jacob (well, I guess he was in the first book but he wasn't a big player), who tried to woo Bella away from Edward and was initially moderately successful. I felt that Jacob was perfect for Bella and that she was an idiot for considering anything else. He was funny, down to earth, focused on her rather than on himself, brought her joy and happiness, helped her learn and become and develop, and in general trusted her judgement. I loved how he was confident, but not overly so. He made mistakes but moved past them rather than beating himself over the head with them. The saddest snippet of the book was when Bella saw her future as it would be with Jacob: happy, sunshiney, and with two dark haired kids running around. And she still turned and walked away from it. Sigh. Yes, things ended up fine and dandy for everybody involved, but I'm not one that likes to depend on fate. See, when fate chooses somebody for you, and unfortunate things happen (as they always will in any relationship), then all of the sudden you're stuck thinking "WHAT CRAPPY LUCK DO I HAVE THAT FATE CHOSE THIS FOR ME?" Rather than if you take responsibility for your own relationship choices, and unfortunate things happen, then you think "OK, what choice can I make now to improve this...?" And although Bella was happy with Edward, I think I would have liked Bella as a person better if she had become the person she would have with Jacob. And I think she would have liked herself better. So I think I've made my point in enough ways that everybody can see the reasons that I wish she would have stuck with Jacob. Although if she would have stayed with Jacob it wouldn't really have made as interesting a read what with forgoing the whole vampire/human relationship. But another great thing about the book is that just as I felt the whole shebang was nothing more than a twisted love triangle, the plot thickened and honestly became pretty interesting and intense. And quite satisfying. I became very intent in how things were going to end up and began looking forward to bottle-washing time when I could put my headphones on and hear what they were doing. I finished the final book just this week and was very satisfied with the resolution. It not only held my attention through the entire series, but the grasp on said attention was stronger in the middle of the fourth book than it was in the first. Needless to say, I've already requested the DVD from the library. As soon as it comes out, we'll be the 15th person to watch it. And since they usually get like 50 copies of movies, we'll probably be the 1st people to watch the copy we'll get! So exciting!!

We have now entered the video age

In celebration of the birth of Elijah, my family gifted us a camcorder. I was in tears at the presentation and still cry when I watch a lot of the clips we've taken. I am SO grateful to have another way to save memories! My brother Adam once said that men want to pass on wisdom while women are more concerned with memories. Now, I am as wise as the next one, but he may have a point here. Anyway, here are two of my favorite clips so far...
First, this is when we were leaving the hospital. From the very beginning, Miriam was incredibly protective of Eli. The day he was born, she walked him down to the nursery. She was not invited to go in and when the door closed, she broke down crying. "BABY ELI! BABY ELI!" My thought is that she remembered the stuff they did to her behind those doors as a baby and was trying to stop the madness. ANYWAY, this is on the way out of the hospital. It was so incredibly tender to watch her carry his carseat all the way to the car. I'm crying now just thinking about it!

Here's the second one, and it's funny (in my oh so humble opinion - she IS my daughter, after all). Hopefully it will counterbalance the emotion of the first. Miriam learned how to play Hide and Seek and thinks it's great fun. The problem is, if Daddy isn't hiding in the same place (the bathroom), it really throws her off. She also has a hard time hiding and usually jumps out and says "HERE SHE IS!" as the Seeker is still seeking. ANYWAY, here is a round of her as Seeker. And yes, I know that her diaper and pants are completely sagging and not doing any good. It kind of adds to the moment, don't you think?

Name them one by one

Things I am grateful for:

*That I don't have to worry about going back to work.

*That Eli is so much milder than Miriam was. With Mim, every thing (waking up, diaper changes, even eating) was extreme trauma. She was a happy happy baby, but needed a lot of maintenance to be happy. Elijah just takes things as they come. It is so much nicer to wake up to squeaking and sqwaking that escalates to crying rather than intense screaming all at once. Plus, when he is worked up it is much easier to calm him down. To give Miriam some credit, she was the first child and we did learn a lot with her.

*My Sleepy Wrap. We love it! I can put him in and go about my normal routine but have a humming and squeaking little boy right with me.

*How Miriam adores Eli. She loves talking to him, getting things out for him, helping to hold his bottle, and sharing her toys. She'll even offer her blankets to him, which is big.

*That Elijah was born healthy even with the cord wrapped around his neck three times.

*The way Eli's little head is warm and fuzzy when I kiss it.

*How my recovery from this birth is so much better than from Miriam's. I honestly feel like I'm a month after birth rather than a week and a half.

*That Elijah is man enough to use a pink blanket, a pink burp rag, or a flowered binkie. This picture is pretty mild: Miriam spread her blanket out on top of him after he was asleep. Sometimes he gets the total swath of pink. But he still looks like a boy.

*The "Ba-ba Machine," aka my breast pump. I love being able to give Eli breast milk, for health and even more so financial reasons, but I adore feeding him with a bottle because I get to see his little face and eyes so much better. With pumping I get to do both. Plus it doesn't hurt while I'm actually feeding him.

*The way Eli likes to hold one of my fingers while he eats.

*That Gripe Water, an old-fashioned remedy for upset stomachs in babies, seems to help him so much. He's a lot calmer and sleeps better after a dose of it. No gripes here!

*That my mom stayed with us two days more than she planned on. Thanks mom!

*That Brent can take care of either or both kids without flinching. Here he is rocking Elijah and donning slippers on Miriam's request.

*He also gets up during the night as often as I do without complaining.

*Indoor plumbing and electricity. I can't imaging trying to clean up a dirty diaper in the middle of the night without at least a little light. And I just shudder thinking about doing anything with this sweet little guy without indoor heating!

*That Miriam loves having Eli do ANYTHING with her. She was extatic when we put his rocker next her hers.

*Just that I have such a great life!

*That I can't figure what's up with my font or my spacing but that I'm not going to worry about it!

Elijah Brent Moore

I got on to post this yesterday and thought I had... when I logged on this morning it was still in the editing phase. Stay tuned for more details!

Rock-a-bye baby

First of all, sorry to those who logged onto my blog, saw the picture of the gorgeous baby girl, and initially thought that Eli had come and was Eliza rather than Elijah. He hasn't, and he isn't. As an update on him, we are smack in the middle of our two due dates (the ultrasound lady said February 5th, the doctor said February 10th). If he doesn't come before then, we're heading in on Monday morning.

Secondly, I think we are finally ready for this kid. I've had everything except for his bed done for quite a while. But the bed caused some thinking for me. See, Miriam still sleeps in the crib and doesn't act like she's trapped in there, so I would like to keep her in there for longer. But I also remember that Miriam grew out of her bassinette superfast, so I wasn't sure if we'd have time to transfer both kids to their respective beds. I decided to get a cradle instead, thinking that it would be big enough to hold Eli for enough time for Miriam to transfer out of the crib on her own timetable. I looked on ksl.com and at Kid to Kid and other places and never found one that I liked at a price I was willing to pay. Remember, I'm a cheapskate. So I was telling my mom about my thoughts when she offered the cradle that she rocked five of her six kids in. She got it when Nathan was little and they were expecting Erin for the same reasons that I have wanting one now. So when I was home at Thanksgiving, I took a gander at it and decided it would be perfect. Mom and dad brought it here on Christmas when they made a spontaneous trip to visit Kelsey. It has since been sitting in the basement with me thinking that I just need to wash this down and sand it so that Brent can paint it. And I just kept thinking that. Finally I went down and washed it and sanded it. I don't think I sanded it enough, but I washed twenty five years of garage grime off of it. I also figured out how to reproduce a non-standard sized cradle mattress without utilizing the twenty five year old foam. No dust mites on my watch! Last week Brent hauled it up and onto the back porch when he carefully laid out some newspapers under and started to paint it. The first coat was spray paint and done in the virtual darkness. Miriam stood at the window and watched in fascination. The next day when Brent got home from work, she was not going to let him paint without her help. So Miriam got to paint. And she loved it. Brent had decided the second coat would be regular brush paint what with the round bars causing difficulty with the spray paint angle, and Miriam threw herself into the project with reckless abandon, holding a brush in each hand and layering on the paint like nobody's business, the whole time talking about how she was helping Daddy paint Eli's bed white. The newspapers only made it so that there is now a clean square amongst all of the white splatter on the porch. The resulting paint job has some cracks due to my not sanding and a lot of lumps due to her effective can-to-brush-to-cradle techniques. Brent said he got most of the paint he used off of the areas she took charge of. She stayed focused and energized the whole time and had to be pulled away to let the coat dry. Even as she jumped on the trampoline, she kept a close eye on the cradle to make sure it was okay. She went out the next day and helped with the final spray paint coat, then was thrilled when it got brought inside to mama and daddy's room. She was a little disappointed we didn't put it in her room, but it'll be there soon enough. Probably too soon in fact for her liking. Either way, this little girl is so excited for Baby Eli to sleep in his brand new white bed and she is fully aware that without her, the bed wouldn't be ready for him. And I love the lumpy paint because it shows how much she already loves him.

This is her first energetic swipes when I thought I'd better get a picture before she lost focus. I shouldn't have worried.

This is about fortyfive minutes later when she finally consented to take a break. I love the casually crossed ankles and the impish smile as she continues to dip the brushes. And I think Brent is pretty handsome too.

TWO!

My baby girl turned two on Saturday. My, where has the time gone? Here she is at five days when we finally got her home from the hospital. We were so glad to get out of there we forgot to wash her face before we left. Oops.
By her first birthday she was walking and talking and laughing and loving life.

















But two is an entirely new story. Miriam is an AMAZING little two year old girl. If you'd like to know all the brilliant and astounding things she does and can do, just keep reading.

She knows all of her colors, foods, animals, body parts, and clothing. She knows where all of her toys belong, and can get things out or put them away with just a little reminding.

She can crawl, walk, run, gallop, and somersault. She can squint her eyes (especially if I tell her to keep her eyes peeled or to only look with her eyes and not her hands), do a wobbly walk, a cold walk (crouched down with her hands shaking), and adapts other animal walks at random times. She does a great horse impersonation.

She knows that if she gets up in the night, she can't watch TV. Or read books.

She knows Baby Eli is coming and is so excited. She's helped with his bed, his mattress, and his clothes. She remembers that for Christmas he gave her the set of Baby Einstein books she loves, and calls them her "Eli books."

She loves french fries and brown juice (root beer). She also loves green beans, peas, and broccoli. And chocolate milk. And even if she doesn't eat them, she'll still say she likes them.

Her language skills are great. She does have a tendency to put Ts on the front and/or end of words. "Milk" is "mit," "cat" is "tat," "stuck" is "tut," as is "truck." And sometimes she drops the Ts out of the middle of words. "Letters" is "ay-yuhs." But she's understanding how to string them together and create some great sentences. Tonight's big one was "Bubbles taste gross." You've gotta learn it sometime. The longest sentence I've heard yet was 6 words. "Big green truck take Mimi's diapers." Initially, this was traumatic but then she realized she didn't WANT her old poopy diapers and the garbage truck could have them. We now thank the big green truck when it takes Mimi's diapers.

She has a sense of humor that makes me laugh. She knows when she's doing something funny, and she'll keep doing it just to make us laugh. Sometimes she thinks things are funny when they're not, like running around the car in the driveway three hundred times instead of getting into her carseat. Or kicking her feet while her diaper is getting changed. But we're working on that.

She knows a lot of her shapes. She always gets circle, square, triangle, and star. She's a little iffy on oval and rectangle, but sometimes she remembers them.

She loves letters and numbers. She knows most of her capital letters and quite a few of the lowercase letters. She knows that her favorite letter is M, for Miriam, and dad's favorite letter is B, although I don't know if she knows why. She can count to twelve on her own and to 20 with just a little help. She can identify the numbers up to 10 (I haven't really tried her on the double digits), although she sometimes understandably calls the 9 a 6.

She totally understands the potty and the diaper and even tells me when she just went peepee. She gets marshmallows when she sits on the potty and fruit snacks when she peepees or poops in the potty, but because of Baby Eli, Mama decided to put off the serious "potty training" until a bit later.

Most of all, she loves her Mama and Daddy (although the other day she just called me "Mom" and it made me just a little sad), Baby Eli, and Zeke and JoAnn.

And most of all I just absolutely adore my little two year old!