My Problem with Twilight

I like the Twilight books; I really do.  A coworker loaned me her copy of Twilight almost two years ago because I had forgotten a book to read during my lunch break.  I was skeptical, but I'll give any book a chance.

I didn't love it.  The actual writing isn't that great and the main character (Bella) was kind of annoying.  Annoying like I want to slap her and explain to her that a 17 year old in love is, well, laughable.  That's not to say that 17 year olds can't fall in love.  My mom got married at 17 and will be celebrating her 30th wedding anniversary in a few days.  But my God, is Bella an example of how not to be at that age.  Anyways, despite my better judgement, I bought New Moon.  I love New Moon.  It's one of my favorite books.  So, I anxiously order Eclipse and Breaking Dawn -- which both suck. 

But the series is entertaining if you can suspend your disbelief long enough to get into the story. 

In fact, this post isn't a tirade against the books.  I've read the books (especially New Moon) at least a dozen times over the last two years because I really like the relationships between the characters.  I realize that Stephanie Meyer isn't Jane Austin or Charlotte Bronte, but she doesn't pretend to be.

Rather, this post is about how much the movies suck.

Twilight sucked.  I watched it a total of ONE time and I cannot bring myself to watch it again.  It's like they said, "Let's take all the redeeming qualities from this book and throw them out the window."  I felt like I was watching two hours of Kristin Stewart biting her lip.  I've seen Robert Pattinson in other movies, and I know he can act.  Kristin Stewart, well, not so much.  I kept waiting for the movie to develop the characters.  I kept waiting for the bond to develop that turns Bella into an Edwardcentric shell.  It never happened. 

Then New Moon came out.  Remember, that I love New Moon.  The previews were pretty awesome and I thought, okay, I'll bite.  I even bought the movie because I was sure I would love it as much as the book. 

*facepalm*

I love New Moon because of the relationship Jacob and Bella have.  I love New Moon because it's slightly less "Oh, Edward."  But again, the movie lacked any depth.  I realize it's hard to put a 500 page book into a two hour movie, but it really seemed like they cut out the best parts.  Even the screenwriter, Melissa Rosenberg, claims that the series isn't exactly high art.  Thank goodness Taylor Lautner is hot, or I'd be out $20.  Hell, even Robert Pattinson said he's bored of the saga. 

So I was pretty much over the movies by the time the 50 billion trailers and clips of Eclipse were released.  Just the fact that Eclipse is probably the most boring book in the series and that the trailers are centered around Riley, who's in the book for all of three pages, put the proverbial final nail in the coffin.  Maybe I'll pay the $1 for the redbox rental in a couple of months, but I doubt it.

I realize that the Twilight franchise doesn't care.  There are enough vampire wannabes out there to make Summit rich. 

I also realize that I'm not the target demographic for Twilight.  I'm not all "Oh, Edward" and I don't desire to be Bella and have a sparkly vampire save me.  Interestingly, the facebook status updates that are constantly blabbering on about Eclipse are from friends who are over the age of 40 or under the age of 21.  I think I was lucky enough to be raised with a generation that was taught you don't need a man (or vampire) to save you from your life.  Or maybe it's because I'm happily married and have no reason to imagine myself giving birth to a vampire spawn.

Or maybe it's because I watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer and realize it's been done before, much better.

Angel will always be better than Edward if for no other reason than he doesn't sparkle.

Also people, please don't name your kid Bella, Edward, or Cullen.  Seriously, Cullen is the fastest growing baby name of 2009.  Twilight is a fad that will fade like NKOTB (look it up, young'uns) and your kid will NOT appreciate it in 20 years.

Photo source:  http://img511.imageshack.us/i/buffy133yq2.jpg/

How Do You Raise More Than One Kid?

Kaelin was an only child for a long time.  After she was born, our family was complete.  We knew we didn't want or need any more kids. 

But life happens and several years later, Jason and I started talking babies.  If?  When?  How many?

Harper was born when Kaelin was 8 1/2 years old.  She loves her little sister and she's a great big sister.  Honestly, I really can't imagine trying to raise another baby without her help.  But things are different now.  I'm older.  I have so much more patience with Harper than I did with Kaelin.  Kaelin had colic.  She would scream for something around 20 hours a day.  When her dad came home, he turned on the Playstation and asked me why I couldn't shut the baby up.  After all, he'd been at work all day. 

I only breastfed Kaelin for 6 weeks and never exclusively.  We didn't cloth diaper.  I didn't feed her homemade baby food.  I had no problem sticking her in front of the tv when she was being too bothersome.  I stuck her in daycare and went back to school without a second thought. 

Harper's experienced the opposite of everything.  She's exclusively breastfed and cloth diapered.  I bought a food processor and have books about making your own purees.  The only tv she watches is when Kaelin or I watch tv.  I'm still not sure if I'll ever go back to work, but I hate the thought of not being with Harper all day.

Do I love Harper more than I love Kaelin?  Of course not.  Do I feel that Harper's gotten a lot more attention than Kaelin did, even as an only child?  Maybe. 

A four month old takes a lot more work than an almost nine year old.  I have to give Harper a bath while Kaelin can take an unsupervised shower.  I have to nurse Harper while Kaelin can pour her own cereal.  Kaelin's content to read quitely in her room while I have to play with Harps.  I try to do special things with Kaelin like let her run errands with me while Jason takes the baby, but she's not really interested.  She doesn't want to watch movies with me and rarely curls up with me in bed.  It doesn't seem that Kaelin feels the same way I do; she's already in negotiations for another sibling (as long as it's a girl).  Yet she tells my parents that she never gets to spend time with me.  Am I missing something?

Wow, I'm completely rambling now.

Would I feel differently if Kaelin and Harper were closer in age?  Or does it not matter how old they are -- I'll always worry that I'm treating them differently?  Does this get easier with more kids?  Harder?  Am I going to have to pay huge therapy bills? 

This is Why I'm a Mom

Baby Butt Woes

Before Harps was born, we decided to cloth diaper -- we didn't want chemicals sitting on her skin 23 hours a day.  But when we came home from the hospital, we were overwhelmed.  There are so many different styles and brands of cloth diapers.  We poured over the internet, but we still didn't know what we should buy. 

So for the first few weeks of her life, we used disposable diapers.  We splurged and bought the most expensive Huggies organic cotton diapers thinking that they'd be the friendliest to her sensitive little butt.  Her bottom got red.  We switched and tried Pampers Dry Max.  Her bottom looked like we had sat her in lye.  (Check out this other Pampers test.)  Since the most expensive disposable diapers we could buy were bothering Harper's butt, we tried Luvs.  Her bottom would be perfect, then within 10 minutes of having a diaper on, it would be red.

We broke down and bought cloth diapers.  We decided on prefolds and a mix of Thirsties and Bummis covers.

And we loved them.

Seriously, have you ever seen a cuter little butt?

Harper's butt was perfect.  The cloth diapers were so much cuter (and cheaper) than disposables.  They take all of 5 extra minutes a week to wash and haven't made any impact on our water or electric bills.  For three months, we went about our business and Harper's rear was as cute as ever.

Until this month.  Harper had a rash, and not just a my-butt's-red-from-the-diaper-rash.  We followed all the advice google could offer.  Harper started spending hours naked so her butt could air out.  I washed her diapers with superhot water.  We slathered her little bum with ointments, but it made no difference.  We put her back into the absolutely cheapest disposables we could find so we wouldn't ruin her cloth diapers with Desitin.

Harper's rash before treatment.

We finally took her to the doctor's and we were informed it was a yeast rash and given an antifungal.  She said she hadn't seen a baby in the last two weeks without a yeast rash just because it was so hot and humid.  She assured us that we were doing nothing wrong and that after a couple days with the medicine, Harper's butt would be as good as new. 

I went back to the internet and looked up all I could about cloth diapers and yeast.  The consensus was that I would have to boil the diapers then rinse them with vinegar so any yeast would be killed.  Obviously, I didn't want to reinfect her while we were trying to get rid of her rash.  We continued to use the $4/pack diapers while I sanitized every cloth diaper we had.  After a few days, her rash went away.  We happily put her newly cleaned cloth diapers back on her.  But two days later, the rash is back.

Harper's rash as of last night.

I don't know if it's because of the cloth diapers or because we spent the day outside in the heat and humidity. 

I really hope it's not the cloth diapers.  I love cloth diapering.  I could try to reboil/rewash all of her diapers and wipes and see if that helps, but I don't know what boiling them a second time will do if it didn't help the first time.  She's never had a problem with the cloth before.  I don't know why she would be sensitive to it now.  She was back in cloth a couple days before the rash reappeared.  Could it be that her diapers are fine, but what remained of her rash flared back up as soon as her butt hit the humidity? 

Do you guys have any tips for a yeast diaper rash?  How do you wash your diapers?

Cora's Story

I just found a new blog and I really can't stop reading.  It's about a newborn who passed away from a congenital heart defect and how her mom is trying to raise awareness.  I'm not going to say much else about it because it speaks for itself.  Just make sure to have a box of tissues handy.


  

An Open Letter

Dear Period,

Well, it's been a while.  Honestly, I haven't missed you all that much.  I knew that we would have to meet up again someday, but less than 5 months?  Why are you punishing me just because my exclusively breastfed baby is sleeping through the night?  It doesn't seem fair. 

You suck,
Jen

(Less than 7% of ecologically breastfeeding moms get their periods back before 6 months.  The average is 14 months.  See... I told you it's not fair.)


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Summer Lovin'

Continuing with the trend of late posts...

Last week, we took the kids downtown to do a little sightseeing and buy Jason a new pair of shoes.  (Good Lord, he needed new shoes.)  The day started with Harper's 4 month check-up and shots, followed by a lot of errands, then we finally made it into Charleston.  I have to say I was pretty impressed with Harper.  Even though shots usually make her grumpy, she only cried once and we were gone for a long time.  Kaelin even kept the complaining to a minimum.  It seemed like everything was working out in our favor. 

Except the weather.

Weather guy said it was supposed to be sunny.

I checked the forecast before we left.  I checked it again on our way.  Sunny, hot, and humid (completely the norm for South Carolina).  Of course, as soon as we get downtown the clouds rolled in and the thunder started.  We had lunch, Jason got his shoes (the guy at the running store was an ass, btw) and decided to walk down King St to the water.  It's only about a mile each way, but it starting misting a few block into our walk.  Not knowing if it was going to stop or start all-out raining, we turned back.  I have to say, I was really disappointed.

This is the view we were missing out on.

Since we couldn't walk to the water, we decided to drive by and at least look at it.  But there was a parking spot!  Right there on the battery!  Yay!  We parked, got the stroller back out and walked along the river.  It was way too hot.  It was way too humid.  There was so much static electricity that our hair was standing up!

Lightning so would have struck her.

We were completely wiped by the time we got home, but it was definitely worth it!  I can't wait until our next outing.  Maybe the aquarium?  The beach?  A museum? 

Kaelin enjoyed it.

Harper wasn't nearly as impressed.

The single picture of all four of us together.

Bye-Bye School

I know I'm a few weeks late here, but Kaelin's last day of school was June 2.  I can't believe I have a 4th grader.  It wasn't all that long ago when she started kindergarten.  Over these last few weeks I've really enjoyed having her home -- almost as I've enjoyed not having to take her to school in the morning or interrupt my afternoon to pick her up! 

I'm definitely nervous though, since it means our homeschooling adventure is just around the corner.  I have no doubts in my ability as a chemistry teacher on the college level, but am I going to be able to teach my own kid Greek history?  What about Latin?  There are books on her 4th grade reading list that I've never even opened.  How am I going to teach her Shakespeare?  What about when she starts giving me attitude? 

Am I even going to have a free minute to myself?

Anyways, I was originally going to write my own curriculum, but after HOURS of research I realized that I have no clue what 4th graders should learn.  Plus, I might have the tendency to pack a little too much into a school day.  I found what I think will be an amazing Catholic homeschool program so we're going to try that, for at least her first year.  If we like it, we'll stick with it, otherwise we'll try something new for 5th grade.  I also found most of the books she'll need cheap so the whole thing will probably only cost us $200 for the year.  (Between fundraisers and school events, I probably spent over a thousand bucks at her old school -- free education, my ass.)

For the summer, she's working through a summer bridge book and a pretty hefty reading list in addition to the activities we have planned like the aquarium and some Civil War battle sites.  As much as I dislike living in South Carolina, I love that Charleston is full of history. 

You Found Me!

Welcome to our new home inside our home.  Home inside our computer?  How about welcome to our new domain?  :-)

Anyways, I've spent the last few days trying to transfer everything over and making sure that links still work and such, but let me know if anything is broken or looks weird.  I'm still sorting stuff out over at KUrunner, so I may have missed something.

Also, I couldn't transfer comments over, so if you are so inclined, feel free to leave them again!  And, if you have a few spare seconds, could you vote for the site so we can get on a list of baby blogs?  It only takes two clicks!

Love and Happiness

I know I haven’t been posting much on her because, well, I’ve been enjoying my family. I would apologize, but no offense to my wonderful readers, I’d much rather be hanging with the kids than sitting on the computer with you.

;-)

In all seriousness, the last few weeks have been great. Jason’s been crazy busy at work, but it’s made us appreciate the time we have with him all that much more. Kaelin’s out of school now and we’ve been having a blast with our mini summer homeschooling session. Plus, Harper’s getting to a really fun age (instead of the eat, sleep, poop newborn phase). So, I have lots to update about when I get a few minutes.

I also checked my blog stats this morning — and people are reading this blog! I mean, obviously, I don’t have the kind of readership that my favorite mommy blogs have, but it just amazes me that people are reading what I’m saying. Two Embrys started out as a blog for my family to see pictures of the kids so I get absolutely giddy everytime I log on and have a new comment. Seriously, if you are reading… leave a comment (unless you’re just going to tell me how much I suck)! I love the advice and information I’ve been getting from you guys. Thanks for reading and putting a smile on my face.

Until next time, I’ll leave you with some pure cuteness — a picture of Kaelin at 4.5 months (the same age Harper is now!)

Front facing car seat?  Oh, what I've learned in 8 years...

P.S. If you like my writing, feel free to mosey on over to my fitness blog, KUrunner. I try to keep most of the mommy stuff over here, but honestly, what mom doesn’t want to live a healthy lifestyle? (Yes, this is shameless self-promotion here. Sorry!)

P.P.S I think it’s safe to say that I might be over my little episode of depression! Yay!

Pot, Meet Kettle

Kim Kardashian, who is famous for… well being famous, recently took to her twitter and posted the following:

 

EWW Im at lunch,the woman at the table next 2 me is breast feeding her baby w no coverup then puts baby on the table and changes her diaper

 

Yes, changing a baby on a table during lunch is not really the best thing to do, but obviously, she didn’t mean the EWW about the breastfeeding woman, right?

My sister breast feeds! Its a natural beautiful thing, there’s nothing wrong w it, but she covers herself, not w her boobs exposed

Oh. So, it’s okay to breastfeed as long as she doesn’t show her breasts.  Gotcha. 

Harper having lunch.

Kim having lunch.

Seriously, who is showing more boob here? 

(Also, for those lucky few who really don't know who Kim Kardashian is, she had a sex tape a few years back and then posed in Playboy.  Now, she has a reality show because she had a sex tape and posed in Playboy.) 

Happy Father's Day

My daddy.

A little more recent.

The man I chose to father my children.

4 Months