then and now

My mom tells me that I had better be careful to record which baby is in what picture or else I will get them confused later on. While I agree with my mom about all kinds of things, I think she's wrong here. Here are pictures of our kids, both in the same outfit at 7 weeks of age.




Now, maybe it's just because I'm their mom and it's my job to stare into their faces for hours a day, but I don't really think they look alike. Of course, they look like brother and sister and there are a few resemblances (such as their having similar eyes). But, really. Who is going to confuse these kids?

I realize I do forget things about Israel as Eden starts to take over the "what my infants are like" portion of my brain for the time being. I know Israel had hair and I know that it was blonde from birth, but I really thought it was more visible than it seems in the picture. I do know that their demeanors are opposite from what these two pictures would tell you. Israel most often wore a skeptical kind of look on his face; Eden usually looks pretty happy and is currently smiling a lot. The noise I remember from Israel is a percussive, spitting noise that led directly into a cry. Eden's predominant noise in my mind is her cooing and her squeaking. Whether it's because there is so much else going on or because it's really quite soft in comparison to her brother's, Eden's cry is nothing noteworthy to me. I never used a monitor to know whether Israel was crying (who needed it?!) but I have gone in to check on Eden to find that she is crying and has been for who knows how long, which would make a monitor a good idea if it weren't just one more thing to remember. As an infant, Israel seemed to skip the small reminder that he was there and getting hungry, preferring to go straight to the, "Why aren't you sitting around just waiting to feed me?! I'm MAD!" scream. Eden, on the other hand, wakes up saying, "I think I could eat now...or later...whichever." Some things about them are the same, I'm sure, but these two just feel so different from each other to me.

Just recently, I had a day when I was playing with Eden before Israel got up and kept thinking, "Oh, no. I don't want Israel to get up. This is my favorite time of the day." And I began to be afraid that Eden was my favorite kid. I started plotting how never to let Israel know this. He woke up and Eden went to sleep. After Israel and I had chatted over breakfast and snuggled in the recliner together to watch Sesame Street, I started thinking, "Oh, no. I don't want Eden to get up. This is my favorite time of the day." And I began to be afraid that Israel was my favorite kid. And then I smiled to myself and realized that everything was alright. For all their differences, Israel and Eden have in common that they are my favorite kids.