Our Little Wonder: 4.5

She's four and a half (and then some, really), and I still say God added extra sugar when He made our Moriah girl....

She is this beautiful mix of cuddly and rowdy. One of her top love languages continues to be climbing all over you, and she'll give me a million kisses in one day if I stay still in one place long enough. 

Moriah loves to play legos, baby Merlissa and Husband, Lol Dolls, and so many other things with her big sister, but she loves sneaking away into her own little world with stuffed animals and dolls just as well. When she's living her best life, Moriah changes her clothes more than five times in a day and loves her cozy pajamas most of all. She's really good at dressing her little brother and all of her dolls too. Having a baby sister has been mostly a joy for her. She loves to stare at Zina and say all kinds of sweet things to her. 

Moriah is loving Cubbies and MOPS, but she tends to keep to herself in group situations. She recently told me that she didn't play because no one asked her to. She's just as happy sitting at the table and doing all of the hard puzzles quietly. Meanwhile she can be one of the loudest at home. She keeps our family laughing with all of her little voices, but she has a deep concern that others will laugh at her and can't see that it's just because she's really cute. 

My favorite recent Moriah story happened at Cubbies. She was taking a bathroom break while the class was talking about their story. The teacher was asking if anyone knew what God said after he made everything. No one was answering so finally Moriah flung open the bathroom door, poked her head out and said with confidence, "HE SAID IT WAS GOOD!" She then shut the door and went on with her business!

Also worth mentioning: Moriah can make a huge mess in her room, lost in her world of play. She likes to lock the door behind her. Her middle childness comes out any time she excuses herself from the table saying, "Guard my food." She's a sucker for sweets, loves ethnic foods and detests having her hair brushed.

This is Moriah's last year before Kindergarten. She insists that she wants to be home schooled. We spend a lot of time waiting on Moriah to get ready so I'm praying really hard she'll be ready when the time for kindergarten comes. Until then, this Mommy is trying to soak up the sweetness of my baby in the middle of two other babies, and I can't really sum up how I feel about her better than the words of Moriah herself: "I love you more than diamonds, hearts, jewels and sparkles all mixed together."

Our Little Wonder: 3.5

Our second born is 3.5, and I think we've finally decided she's not a baby anymore...

It's funny how the things we marveled at when she was brand new are still true today. She was all over us then and is all over us whenever we allow it now. Big hugs and climbing on her people are two of her favorite things. She loves her people. One time we asked her and her sister if they were best friends. Moriah answered immediately with a whole-hearted, most enthusiastic YES. She loves chasing and tickling her baby brother, and I love when she says "Mommy, I love my WHOLE family". Our little wonder loves big. 

Moriah spends hours playing with baby dolls and has gotten her sister to love them all over again and her little brother to join in too. She is proving to be quite the trend setter around here. The household favorite baby was named by Moriah. Her full name is Baby Merlissa Jessi Allisey Rachel Princess. 

When it's suddenly quiet, you'll find our girl dressing baby dolls, playing make believe with them,  packing multiple bags for vacation, or building and creating stories with lego pieces. Moriah is quite content in the space of her imagination and often enjoys playing solo for extended periods of time. She also changes her clothes more than any other person on the planet. Her fashion choices are creative and fun and usually involve making a huge mess. She loves making a statement by tying clothing in unconventional ways to create a new look ;) 

Moriah has a strong social side as well. She is finally an AWANA cubby and loves going to "school" at church. She's always asking if we have MOPS, and she even invited a new friend to MOPS while playing at the rec center one day.  

The many faces and dance moves of Moriah continue to amaze. She has a real serious kind of edgy persona that comes out. We're not quite sure where this comes from, but it's quite entertaining. She loves Lauren Daigle's song "Oh Lord" and refers to it as "stand my ground". Toby Mac remains high on the list as well. 

Nap time has now become rest time because Moriah was staying up until 11 p..m. or later talking to herself and all of the stuffed animals she could fit in her bed. It's a wonder she even fits in her bed most nights. We have come up to find piles of animals and books surrounding her. Sometimes she has them all covered up in a very calculated way. We've even found situations like this in the hallway outside of her room. Her creativity and crazy come together to make some pretty hilarious scenarios and has us wondering quite often what is going on in that mind of hers.

 Moriah is without a doubt uniquely made, and we're so honored to call her ours.

Our Little Wonder: Three Years

It's hard to know where to begin when a little life is lived so big that it's just bursting at the seams... 

Moriah is our middle girl, but she loves to live on the edge of extremes. She loves to play at full sound, running, jumping, dancing, giggling, chased and chasing...at the same time she can sit forever playing alone in her room talking softly to Peppa, princesses, baby dolls, or stuffed animals. Her temper can flare with screaming, vein popping, and exasperated sighs, but she's also the most empathetic member of our family. Countless times I've seen her carry the hurts of Felicity and Ephraim as if they were her own. I continue to marvel at where it all comes from and be thankful for the special work God did in creating Moriah Ann...

Moriah makes us a bit crazy at times. When things transition from loud to quiet too fast, you can almost guarantee she's upstairs changing her wardrobe AGAIN. Her favorites are swimsuits, tights, tutu skirts, and princess dresses. She's very independent and does a great job of dressing herself but gets extremely frustrated if things aren't working out and generally leaves a trail of wardrobe changes behind her. She also started waking up in the night again, and I'm not kidding she always wakes up sounding like a horror film. We're working on that. Age three goals. 

On the other hand, MoMo definitely keeps us all laughing. Her crazy, frozen, serious/somewhat disturbed with a bit of silly faces when she hears her favorite songs in the car have us rolling, and she has taken to dancing in a swimsuit on our ottoman every morning. "Mommy, can I have "Lights Shine Bright?" Her moves are a unique slow-Mo arm sequence with intense faces followed by supper fast punching arms. Gets me every time. 

No one will ever forget her grand entrance to the living room at Christmas proudly carrying the removable section of her potty chair and announcing her great accomplishment. She says the funniest things like "Look Mommy, I got screw drivas under my pillow. Wanna see 'em?!" and things we're still trying to undersand like "tamation is yuck. we have to clean it" and "let's go to the chocari baseball game" What is tamation and chocari? No idea, but she sure knows. 

A few other things can't be left out like Moriah's obsession with sweets and impersonations of Elmo and Cookie Monster. Her favorite foods are "Thai" which is anything with rice, chicken and red sauce and Tunisian cous cous. Every once in a while she surprises us with a Tunisian word and still wants a Tunisian story. She's a charmer for sure and seems to have a thing with older men. We are terrified! She adores her classes at church and all of the teachers and little friends that come with them. Chocolate eggs at Easter (almost a year ago), the crazy fireworks we saw on the 4th of July, open gym and Day Camp at Bloomingdale Church all made a lasting impression on her and come up pretty regularly in conversation. All things physical like summersaults and climbing seem to come naturally and without a hint of fear. And we've all fallen in love with the things she says:

tank tang/ chicken
tanakits/gymnastics swimmin' suit
green beams
swimmin' cool
You got armpips?
What you got?
What you say?
mash-a-tabowls/ mashed potatoes
I love you, sweetie.
Oh you so cute!
Oh my crash!
nuggle/granola bar

When I first coined her our Little Wonder, I had no idea how true to her it would be. As we leave year 3, I find myself on the edge of my seat excited and just a little terrified for what's in store for year four. No doubt some crazy, fun, hilarious, times ahead with just the right splash of sweet to keep us all under the spell that is Moriah.

Mo Mo in the Middle: One and Three-Quarters

Any day now our little Wonder Girl will no longer be our baby and will be promoted to Big Sister so I thought it would be great to finally write something since I clearly missed a one year, 1.25 and 1.5 year post on this sweet girl. Moriah Ann may very soon be in the middle, but not to worry, she's definitely middle like Oreo middle, or sandwich middle. She adds so much life to our lives, and we just can't get enough...

Moriah is a high energy girl who loves to chase and be chased, tickle and be tickled but also appreciates giving and receiving a good snuggle too. Her voice is loud and so is her ability to express exactly how she is feeling. Mo Mo is a babbler for sure and mainly walks around jibber jabbering at this point.  When she does use one of her words, it's usually prefaced by a little moaning-groaning "Ehhh". Some of her favorite first words are Mommy, Daddy, Sissy, NO, Where'd Go?, Cut-a-cu-tu (cous cous), puppy, key-ca (kitty), meow, woo-woo (barking), nana (pasta), go-go (yogurt), cookie, poo, kay (ok), star, wa-wa, and tootsie (thank you Daddy for giving her way too many tootsie rolls...not sure what we will do when we run out of our bag from America!). 

While she definitely makes a lot of noise she also does this hilarious whispering routine and sometimes mouths what seems like a whole story silently but with all the expression in the world on her face. Case in point: 

Our brave, adventurous girl loves to be outside in the mud and puddles and was a pro this summer on the playgrounds in Portugal. She climbed the slides like gang busters and even started running down one of them before she realized that was not such a good idea! Recently she has become super sensitive to anything on her hands that shouldn't be there like lint, mud, banana. This is proving to be quite the challenge given her conflicting desire to be into any and everything!

Moriah is very social and goes to others quite easily. She'd much rather spend the day out than in and everyone knows her name at our market. If her feet touch the ground when we get home, she heads straight to the neighbor's gate until she's greeted with a warm hello and plenty of candy. 

Puppies, Minnie Mouse, dancing her heart out, eating constantly, getting worked over by daddy, running away from anyone trying to dress her, playing the role of little sister exceptionally well (tickling, mimicking, chasing, biting, pinching all included), and demanding oranges from the garden,  are Moriah's current specialties. 

Reading books is also a favorite past time for Moey. Minerva Louise the Mixed-Up Hen and anything with a puppy in it seem to be her go-tos, and she also declares emphatically that every prince and princess she sees in the pages is Mommy and Daddy. 

Our little shorty in stature remains a wonder to us in all of her ways. Moriah Ann, we are beyond grateful for the place God has given you in the middle... smack-dab in the middle of our hearts.

Welcome Little Wonder: The Doula

To be frank, we could not have done it without her:

Cheryl, we are forever grateful for everything you did for us throughout pregnancy, the delivery and the aftermath of Moriah's birth. There are not enough words to convey thanks for the gift that you have been and continue to be to our family.

For all of these things and everything we don't mention or that we didn't see, Thank You.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we give you A Portrait of an African Doula:

From the very beginning, Cheryl walked this journey with us giving us the courage to take each step forward. Her language ability, medical experience and motherly touch carried us.

She endured waiting with me at the doctor's office for 2-4 hours at a time. We experienced surprises at each and every appointment including but not limited to: our initial surprise that Dan would be in the men's waiting room and we would be in the women's, a yelling fight between the receptionists and a patient, shock upon hearing that "no man has ever been in the delivery room", the look on the doctor's face as we explained the concept of a gender reveal party and why we only wanted Cheryl to know the sex, waiting for 4.5 hours when we actually made an appointment, and showing up another time without an appointment, being written in as number five on the list, and getting in almost immediately...
Always just a phone call away, she answered so many questions I had and eased my fears with her knowledge and care. She brought along her tools whenever we were going to be together and checked my blood pressure (only done once at the dr.) and the baby's heartbeat which I would not have been able to hear otherwise.
She waited with us. For at least three weeks she went to bed with her phone beside her ready for our call. She delayed going to the capital to be here with us.
On the day of Moriah's birth, Cheryl did all of the things I expected and more. She helped dress me for the hospital and let me lean into her for contractions in-between. She told me it was time to go and encouraged me that I could do it when I was sure it was impossible.
When we got to the hospital they said I should go in alone. I was terrified, but she insisted that she would not be leaving me at all. They let her in. The doctor was insisting I get an epidural. She made sure I did not. He insisted I get a shot to completely knock me out for the afterbirth and stitching. She did not let it happen. When everyone was told to leave the room, and I fainted two times, she came running in when I was finally able to call out her name. She also took a few bites of my hospital post-birth meal of fish. I do not generally care for fish so I particularly didn't want it after giving birth. No shame on me, Cheryl came through!

We drove home with Moriah the same day she was born. Cheryl rode right along with us and stayed the night in Moriah's room so I could get some rest in-between feedings.
More than just the medical side, she added so much celebration, fun and good food to our last year. She made a delicious gender reveal cake and kept the secret long enough for us to be surprised. She cooked for our gatherings, letting me rest for the last few weeks of pregnancy, and after being with us all through the birth, she was at our house that night cooking us dinner. We were truly spoiled and so loved by this woman.

For real, her love lives on even though she is now on the other side of the ocean. We will hold it forever!
We love you Cheryl!

Our Little Wonder: 11 Months

How is it possible that Moriah is already eleven months?!? Today I realized it's a leap year so that means we get an extra day with this little one before she is one... 

One thing is for sure, Moey is on the move! She's crawling, cruising, bouncing to the beat, and splish splashing.

This month she lost a little bit of her Mad-Mo and showed a bit of a snuggly cuddly side. She loves to snuggle especially after just waking up as well as with her purple teddy bear and Felicity's moose and white teddy bear. If we say "Moey, Ni-Night" she grabs the closest soft object and puts her little head down on it to cuddle up. 

She's becoming quite fond of Felicity and loves to join the fun whenever big sister is dancing or shouting. One time she even cried when Felicity left the room. She also loves baths and food. If the water is running and her clothes are on, she will let you know that she wants in that tub! Yells also come if she notices everyone else is eating something different than her. She simply will not stand for it! 

Moey's play time is becoming a little more varied. She spends minutes upon minutes playing with little spoons putting them in and out of little play cups and into her mouth. She's also the Queen of emptying everything...wipes, drawers, ziplock containers, the washing machine, Felicity's nightstand...sometimes the mess is worth the trade off of being able to get something done!

Moriah finally got her fourth top tooth and is figuring out how this whole mouthful of teeth thing works. She has bit her little lip on more than one occasion and fallen in ways to make her mouth bleed at least three times. Grinding her little teeth is also something she has taken to in her discovery process. Eek!

These days Moriah is still known to wake up in the night around 2:30 and 4:00 a.m. but goes back to bed relatively quickly. She did tease us by sleeping a few times straight through until 6 a.m. She's down to two naps a day and still loves her mommy more than anything else in the world. I think she thinks I'm her personal jungle gym. 

Our Little Wonder: 10 Months

After two straight months of relentless teething, Moriah Ann has the toothiest smile you ever did see:

If she had it her way, she'd be in mommy's arms 24/7, but she stands at mommy's feet and holds on to my legs for dear life whenever I put her down. She's practically giddy when she sees the baby carrier and lasts a good while if she's facing out. If some kind individual is holding her, I leave the room and try not to even let her hear my voice. She is such a baby, baby when it comes to her mamma! 

Aside from the whole mommy thing, she has no fear. Moriah loves bath time: standing up, belly bathing, splashing, and playing with her sister in the tub. 

This month she even had her first cat fight with our cat friend, Lady, who sleeps with her kittens on our porch. I put Moriah down so I could lock the door, and she charged toward Lady doing her courageous crawl. Lady and MoMo had a stare down until Lady hissed. Moriah didn't flench and let out a big yell just to let Lady know who is boss. Seriously one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

On the talking front, she loves the Da-da, ha-ha, na-na sounds, but we haven't officially had a first word...she may have said "drop" (dop) while eating. The verdict is still out. 

She's an amazing eater but insists on doing it herself. Any food put in her mouth is taken out and put back in by her little grabby hands. She also has an unfortunate habit of rubbing her eyes with foodie fingers! Moriah loves lasagna (little Garfield girl) and only eats eggs if they are salted. Citrus fruits are also another favorite. As the second child, she enjoys sweets far too much and too soon. She discovered candy canes on our tree and goes straight for them, biting until she breaks through to sweetness. 

Moriah is ALWAYS in motion. She has learned to pull up but struggles to know how to get down. She moves to music, bouncing to the beat whenever it's playing. Crawling is her jam. She moves from room to room now which keeps things interesting. We've also discovered that she's the reason every seat has a strap and every toy has a warning. 

There's rarely in-between with Momo. Mad Mo grunts and lets out yells and Sugar Mo flashes that big smile and claps those little hands. 

Ten months in and Dan and I came to the same conclusion on the same day at different times: Moriah is unique, a different kind of creature...her own little personality is filling our hearts and our family is forever better for having her in it. We love you little Bailey girl!

Our Little Wonder: 7 months

Moriah Ann is a Go-Getter with a strong little personality for sure. If she wants something she lets us know by stiffening her little arms, pumping them and grunting until she gets it. Usually what she wants is MOMMY (she's got it bad) or FOOD... but mostly Mommy. Pounding her hand on the table is also a favorite tactic. 

The girl has got grip. She grabs arms and necks with some intense strength!

She's also a rollie pollie girl...reaching and turning every which way on her back and tummy. She can even do a bit of a backwards crawl. 

Moriah talks on her own terms, AKA not when I'm trying to video her. Ba, Ma, Ga, ahhhh....

Water is her favorite. She squirms her way out of the Bumbo into the tub and loves splashing around. Having whole cups of water dumped on her head by Felicity doesn't even phase her a bit. 

There's no hiding anything from this one. Even when we put something behind her, she doesn't forget that it's there and continues to reach and grab until we move it completely out of reach or give in and let her have it. The look behind the shoulder is classic Mo-Mo. 

Moriah continues to be an expert eater. This month we pretty much started letting her eat anything that qualifies as "real food", not sweets, because she seems to want to eat any and everything! Her first tooth came in on the day that she would not stop eating the lamb at our friend's house. She chewed and chewed, refusing the cous cous and the veggies, and sure enough her first little tooth popped up that very night (bottom left, Oct. 1).

She continues to struggle with fussy time the two hours before bed, but it also proves the easiest time to get her to laugh. Felicity had her cracking up for the first time multiple times in a row as she declared "No monkeys in the stroller!" while I was trying to keep the girl calm by walking her around outside. 

Our family has had a lot of transition this month, and for most of it Moriah has been sleeping in a pack-n-play, in a house that's not our own, in a room with a bunch of someone else's storage.We went back to our home where she was born for a few nights, and she slept straight through each and every one without a peep so you see it's clearly not her fault that she doesn't regularly sleep through the night in the in-between that has been our existence these days!

I'm so thankful we have this sweet, strong girl to keep us smiling in this crazy life. Moriah Ann, we are smitten with you our little Go-Getter Girl. 

Our Little Wonder: 3 Months

Moriah is growing so fast these days that I feel I must confess I took these pictures at 3 months and 2 days because she looks different than she really was on June 2nd...

We're thanking God for the growing and hoping that it's the reason why she's regressed in the sleep department. Our little wonder clock lets us know every time two hours has passed. Daddy has fittingly given her the nickname Booma (owl in Arabic). But oh those sweet sea blue eyes keep us from getting too upset about it...

She chews her fingers and drools like a pro, and anyone who has ever held her will make sure to always have a burp cloth because Fount Moriah always loves to share a bit of her milk. Sleep still requires a good swaddling and promenade with the binkie, and a prolonged kiss on the forehead always gets those eyes to close.

Her favorite toys are her plastic keys, heart sensory blanket, and Felicity's shiny beaded necklaces that we only take out while big sister is at preschool. :) Daddy successfully gave Mo-Mo her first bottle and mommy a much needed nap this month. She drank every last drop without complaint but struggled a bit when our friends tried to give her bottle number two a few days later.

This big girl also rolled from her tummy to back a few times during month three and from tummy to back with a bit of help. She loves talking to us. Her favorite word is "Ahh, Ahh, Ahh!" Though her sister has yet to notice her much, Moriah loves to watch Felicity and listen to her sing and talk on and on...

This month Moriah definitely knows her mommy and will find me with her eyes. When I say "Kissy Mommy" and hold her up to my cheek or lips, she opens her little mouth to oblige and flutters her little eyes.

She loves grabbing, her best friends are Chuck and Lulu (the hedgehog and owl on her bouncy seat), and like any good Meditteranian girl she enjoys olive oil treatment for all of her dry skin needs. :)