Month: June 2011

  • 3 Months Old!

    3 Months Old!

    Okay, be warned.
    I am totally becoming “that mom.” In a lot of ways. This month, I have said that about myself on multiple occasions…I feel like every time I turn around, I say to myself with an eye roll, “Oh, Susanne…you are totally ‘that mom’“…
    Like, a FANTASTIC day is a day that I get to stay home all day and just take pictures of Elliott. I’ve taken almost 400 pictures of Elliott. In the last 25 days. I can see it coming now though…“that mom” who has a billion (literally) pictures of her first kid…
    Like, I’ve taken a ton of videos of him this month. That would be extremely boring to 99.9% of the world. But I think they are wonderful. I can see myself being “that mom,” showing these to Elliott’s first girlfriend (when he’s 25) and oohing and ahhing over them, not realizing that she doesn’t care about watching a baby sit on a play mat and do nothing for 20 minutes…

    Like, he’s over 3 months old now, and we’ve only left him with someone once…for about 90 minutes, when he was 2 weeks old. I never thought I’d be “that mom” that never leaves her kids with anyone. In my defense, it really has happened accidentally. I just never want to be away from him, so–naturally–it never occurs to me to leave him. The thought of checking him into the nursery at church is like thinking about sending him off to boarding school…no way!! In my mind I feel like we just had him yesterday and so we have “plenty” of time to practice leaving him with other people…But somehow, 3 months have slipped by soooo quickly…
    So, all that to say, I’ve posted a few videos here, and I want you to be warned before clicking on them. These are actually the best ones of them all :). But I haven’t figured out how to cut the videos down to the relevant length let alone edit them yet, so….”some” people might think they’re kind of boring… If that “some”one is you…don’t judge me :). If you’re easily bored, I would just look at the pictures and NOT click on the videos.
    But if you want to see the cutest baby ever doing the cutest things ever in a perfectly cute amount of time, then I would definitely click on the little videos below…
    Here are some highlights from the last month:

    Though I don’t have a picture of it, Elliott is officially in his crib full time. In fact, this month he has become very aware of his crib, so when I put him down for a nap, he recognizes his surroundings and starts to protest instantly. His eyes look to the left, then to the right, then they get HUGE and he looks at me like, “Noooooo!!!!!!” It’s devastatingly cute.

    Elliott got to meet two of my dearest friends this month!

    Melissa and I have been really great friends since our PLU days. I think I laugh more when I’m with Melissa than any other friend I have. I just adore her, and usually have a sore throat after talking to her because we always have so much to catch up on that we end up talking for HOURS. We could talk for days on end and never run out of things to say. She lives in Vancouver, WA now and was able to come up and spend a refreshing couple of days with us. She got Elliott this adorable little monkey and two super cute outfits! Look how much he loves her!! Such a blessing to see her and have little EB meet her!
    My dear, dear Jennalise. If you know me well, you know how Jennalise has such a cherished place in my heart. She lives in her husband’s hometown of London, so I don’t get to see her as much as my heart would desire. But she is in town this month and finally got to meet Elliott! What a blessing for me! Jenna is also an incredible photographer, and spent some time capturing some amazingly gorgeous pictures of Elliott. To be posted soon…

    This month Elliott learned how to push his shoulders off the ground during tummy time!

    He loves clasping his hands, and shoving them both in his mouth. So cute, until he gags on them…which is a fairly common occurrence :).

    He learned how to roll over from his back to his front! He has been soooo close, and he finally just did it officially with absolutely no help on June 24. A couple weeks ago he learned how to get to his side and then he’d roll onto his tummy but his arm would get stuck underneath him and he wouldn’t be able to push himself up. June 24 was the first time that he rolled to his side, rolled to his tummy, AND got his arm out from underneath him! Yay, Elliott!! Here are some funny pics of him “getting stuck” on his arm:

    On June 20th, when he was exactly 3 months old, he (for the first time) got his arm out from under him when on his tummy, but I had to help him with the first half, as you can see.

    On June 24th, he did it all by himself! Although I didn’t get video of him rolling to his side on his own, I promise he did :). This video is hilarious, by the way. He chokes himself a couple times before we get to the interesting part…like I said, I don’t know how to edit video yet :).

    Elliott talks to himself all the time and has this incredibly cute giggle! We LOVE it! Delightful squeals have filled the Moberg home this month! I haven’t been able to get a great video of him talking, but this is not too bad. Here is a little sample of him talking:

    And here is a video of him singing with his dad….it’s a long one, but worth every minute of your time…soooo cute!

    Elliott is just beginning to learn the concept of grabbing things. He still mostly does it by accident, but one evening he grabbed Brian’s nose over and over and over again, and it looked pretty intentional! It’s a start :).

    And finally, here are a few more random pictures from this month that are too adorable not too post!
    Elliott Brian, you are our joy and our pride! We love you! Happy 3 months!!
  • Welcome Micah James!

    Welcome Micah James!

    Our sweet nephew was born to Kevin and Tabitha on June 3, 2011. He and Elliott are so close in age; it’s going to be so fun watching them grow up together! I’ve been so excited to see what he looks like to see if these cousins would look anything alike! Although their stats so far are pretty darn similar, I don’t think they look very related at all…

    Elliott’s stats when he was born: 8lbs 8oz, 21 1/4″ long
    Micah’s stats when he was born: 8 lbs 5 oz, 21″ long

    But look at how different they look! We’re hoping Micah will share some of his hair :).

    How cute is this picture?!

    Brothers and their boys

    Micah is 4 days old in these pictures. Below is a picture of Elliott when he was 5 days old…still don’t look anything alike!

    Elliott at 5 days old
    Congratulations, Kevin, Tabitha, Taylor and  Hailey! 
    We love the newest addition to the Moberg family!!

    Hailey, Micah, and Taylor

  • Tribute to Daddy-O

    Tribute to Daddy-O

    Brian is not your typical dad, in that no sports game, round of golf, or cigar smoke with his buddies can entice this dad away on Father’s Day. All he asked for was to be with us. So we spent the day staring at sweet Elliott, and ooing and ahhing over every little move he made.

    That is, until I accidentally fell asleep after putting Elliott down for a nap. Two and a half hours later, I awoke to the garage door opening…apparently Mr. Dad snuck out and wandered the aisles of Home Depot & Lowes. Okay, okay…so I guess there are two things that can pull him away from his dear family :).

    Elliott picked out a special shirt to wear to celebrate his dad’s first Father’s Day:

    Like father, like son…!

    Elliott and I made Brian a (pretty dang cute) card for Father’s Day. On the front is a picture of the two of them with the quote, “My father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.” (Clarence Budington Kelland)

    Elliott’s middle name is Brian for a purpose. There is no other man on earth that I would rather have my son grow up watching and learning from than Brian Moberg. Brian–brave, strong, and true. I believe Elliott will embody these same traits as his father! Elliott gets to grow up watching his dad lead his family boldly, love & cherish his wife deeply, and fear the Lord whole-heartedly. Brian will never need to tell Elliott to do these things one day…his life is the perfect example for our son. I couldn’t possibly ask for more…

    And, on a much more surface-y, less deep note…he’s shaping up to look just like his Daddy-O, which is…AWE-SOME.!!! We could use a few more good-looking men in this world!!!






    Happy Father’s Day to the greatest Dad Elliott could ever ask for. I love you, my Love. 

  • “He Was Born For Heaven”

    “He Was Born For Heaven”

    Today is Father’s Day…and it was filled with copious amounts of joy-filled moments staring at our son, playing with him, kissing him, snuggling him, laughing with him, smiling at him…all while I told Brian over and over again how grateful I am that he is my son’s father, and the greatest dad Elliott could ever ask for…

    But with as much joy as today brought, I could not escape the grief that still lines the edges of my heart for my dear friends who lost their baby boy just 15 days ago. Can you imagine celebrating your first Father’s Day ever, but not having your baby in your wife’s womb to eagerly anticipate, let alone in your arms to hold? My heart has been especially heavy today for my dear friends, and for sweet baby Moses whose short life has had a profound impact on mine.

    When we first realized there might be a problem, we began to fight hard in prayer. The next 10 hours or so were filled with some of the most faith-filled prayers I’ve ever prayed, along with one of the hardest battles I’ve ever fought for. I’ve never understood the friends of the paralytic who raised him down through the roof to get to Jesus like I did that night as I cried out to the Lord to save my best friend’s child. I would have done anything to save him. I’ve never cared less about what people thought of me as I screamed out for LIFE in that delivery room. I would have gladly accepted a scarlet letter for being a lunatic if only… And I’ve never felt greater grief in my life as I did in that moment that the NICU doctor so gently relayed the news that I had refused to believe was an option all night long, “There is just nothing I can do to save him.”

    The grief was unbearable.

    And this sweet little baby boy, who was supposed to wait another 4 1/2 months to come out and meet us, sovereignly passed quickly from his mama’s womb, to his parents’ arms, and onto the Heavenly Father’s lap.

    The ensuing few days were some of the hardest I have ever known in my 29 years of life of so far. Everything was suddenly different. I couldn’t look at my own vibrant, healthy, alive son without being reminded of Moses’ death. I couldn’t nurse my baby without being reminded that my dear friend would not get to nurse hers. In just the 2 short weeks that we knew Moses was Moses, he had secured such a permanent place in all of our hearts. Every morning as I watch the sun rise, I see the face of the One who painted it into being that morning. The sunrise…a new day, a new start, new mercies. But even the sunrise was different. We got home from the hospital just as the sun was rising, and I’ll never forget looking out our window and wondering how joy could ever “come in the morning” ever again. You just don’t know if life will ever go on without such intense grief spilling over onto every aspect of it. There were few moments that our eyes were dry those following few days.

    After several minutes of pouring out my heart through a flood of tears and questions, a friend of mine said to me, “Susanne, he was born for Heaven.” And these words brought such peace and the beginning glimpses of perspective. We, as believers, are not citizens of this earth. We anticipate and look forward to and LIVE for eternity. When we keep our eyes on the eternal, we realize how temporary the here-and-now of our day-to-day lives just really is… What are we living for anyway? We are living for eternity. And this precious boy, whose life was just created 5 months earlier, beat us all there. The little stinker :).

    Yet still, we grieve. Every day. But we grieve with the faith that our most loving Father–who sent his very own son to die so that we may be free of the bondage of sin–has purpose beyond what we can fathom in this moment. I hurt for my friends…oh, I hurt so deeply for my friends…there is not a day that has gone by that I haven’t shed tears for them. I wonder if there will be, until we see the redemption that we are believing God for bundled up in their arms one day. Scripture says, “His ways are far above our ways”… I have never wrestled over God’s “ways” as much as I have in the past year. Moses’ death takes the cake for my wrestling career. If we’re only allotted a certain amount of Why, Lord?s, the last 2 weeks have certainly thrown me into debt. But one thing the Lord showed me over Easter was that if I had been writing “The Salvation Story,” I would have never chosen to have the main character–the man who was PERFECT and the full essence of LOVE–suffer a grueling death. For my behalf. A sinner. Who deserves nothing. But God showed me that the resurrection would hold no power had Jesus not died. He had to conquer death and the grave…by dying. If I had authored the story, not only would it not be a best seller, but most importantly–we would not be ALIVE through Christ. Through His death, I live. Through His sacrifice, I am redeemed. And so as difficult as it is to thank God for death, I do so continually…for that death has brought me life.

    And so…so. To the Author of my friends’ story and to the Author of my own life…I thank you that your ways are far above mine. I trust you for the plan that you are unfolding. And though tears are streaming down my face even now as I pray, I thank you that you are in control, and that Moses’ life slipped through your hands…hands with holes in them, marking your own death…Hands whose fingerprints run deep with love that I cannot understand, and hands whose fingers are grasped tightly around Moses’ right now. You are LOVE. You are MERCY. You are SOVEREIGN. Thank you for letting us share in Moses’ life for a short while…it is an honor to love him.

    Moses Myles…I love you so much. It’s difficult to believe that I can love someone who I’ve known for such a short amount of time so incredibly much. But I love you. And I love your parents deeply. I know you are with your Creator now, and I know there is no better place for you to be. But we sure do miss you down here. Elliott can’t wait to meet you. Although you’re running around and talking up there, he’ll catch up to you one day. I am so grateful that you get to look straight into the eyes of Jesus every single day of your life. What a privilege…

    You–sweet, precious, baby Moses–were born for Heaven. Hallelujah.

  • Blogging Backwards

    Blogging Backwards

    If blogging backwards were an Olympic event, I’m sure I could win a gold medal.


    What is “blogging backwards”, you ask? Well, it’s a beautiful sport for those of us who can’t seem to blog on time. Namely, me.


    May is such a BEAUTIFUL month. This year especially. It’s always had my birthday in it, but this year two very special events were added in my world: Mother’s Day, and Elliott’s second month birthday. To top it off, Doug, Melanie, & Fable came to visit! And don’t you worry–we took hundreds of pictures to capture every event… It’s just that I haven’t had time to post them. So finally, here I am. In June, (at least it’s still June 3rd!) posting about our glorious month of May. So you’ll have to go backwards and click on the little “May” link or, of course, just keep scrolling, scrolling, scrolling down to see everything, but I guarantee it’ll be worth every click and scroll. I am sure you will fall in love with our sweet little Elliott over and over again.


    Here are a couple of random pictures from May to salt your trail a little…

    Does he take your breath away like he takes mine?

    Just chillin’ in the bumbo! Thanks, Aunty Emmy for my cool seat!! 

    Hahahaha! Look at this face!!! Do you think he saw a spider or something?!?
    In recent news, Elliott has become SOOOO aware of us! Besides lighting up when he sees one of our faces, his eyes follow us around the room now! He watches us walk around and just stares at everything we do. It is so fun to watch these learning milestones in his life!!


    I’d like to say that I’ll try and do better posting on time from here on out, but let’s be real…it’s only going to get more difficult as the days, weeks, and months go on. So, like I said…hand over the Gold Medal :). 

    Hope you enjoy the posts from May!