Month: May 2012

  • It’s the little things

    It’s the little things about Elliott that take my breath away…it’s the little things that I love.

    That’s such a cliche term, I almost hate to write it. But that’s all I could think about all day long…Those few words, running through my head all day. It’s the little things about Elliott that I simply adore.

    I mean, it’s not like I thought that I wouldn’t be proud of my son until he graduates from high school or attends Oxford or holds a doctorate or…I’ve never consciously had the thought, “I’ll be proud of him when…” But today I am just struck anew at how proud I am of my son, every moment of the day. I find myself saying that to him over and over and over again: “I am so proud of you, my son!!”

    Elliott has been kind of obsessed with diapers for a little while now. And, I’m pretty sure the fetish is my fault. You see, it all started because Brian and I could never decide whether or not we should get a diaper genie when Elliott was born, and so now instead of throwing away his diapers in his room, we just throw them away in the downstairs garbage which keeps the smell in just fine until we change it, which is somewhat frequently. Anyway, so because there’s no trash can next to his changing table, I throw the diaper out the door and usually kick it downstairs with my foot. Ridiculous, I know. But when you’re pregnant and carrying a toddler, you’ll do anything to minimize the amount of times you bend over in a day :). But all that to say, Elliott loved watching me kick it downstairs, and soon became obsessed with diapers. (Hmm, now that I think of that, maybe that’s why he’s so in to kicking soccer balls!)

    Anyway, the revelation finally hit me last week with a solution that would give Elliott the joy of fondling his dirty diapers and me the luxury of not bending over again: I can teach him to throw his own diapers away!!  So the training began and within two diaper changes I had my man :). He happily picks up his diaper, toddles over to the trash can, and on the count of three, he throws it in. And of course, praise and applauds in copious amounts always follow. Because I am so proud of my son.

    He was so overcome with the concept of throwing his diaper away the other day that he, in all of his excitement, threw away one of his toys shortly after tossing his diaper. So I quickly pulled it out of the trash and explained to him that we were done throwing things away; that there are some things that are trash that we throw away, and other things that are not trash that don’t go in the trash can. You literally could see the light bulb go on above his head: he quickly looked to the left, then to the right, saw a piece of leftover food on the ground, ran over and picked it up, headed back over to the trash can, and threw it away.

    And my heart simply rejoiced over him, overflowing in abundance and pride. I am so proud of my son.

    Today I needed to change Elliott’s diaper. I was sitting in the play room on the floor with him and I said, “Come here please, Elliott. I need to change your diaper.” He walked away from me at first, but only to grab a toy and come right back to me. And then he laid down in front of me all on his own. I was so overwhelmed at his simple, yet profound, act of obedience that I almost picked him back up, smothered him with kisses and told him to go play because I was so proud of him. But instead, I exhorted and praised him as I wiped the fresh poop off his bottom, more charmed with him than ever before. (And then, of course, he threw away his diaper…) I am so proud of my son.

    This afternoon we went for a walk outside and Elliott was thrilled to have a few close encounters with his favorite animal: the “BBBUUUURRRR!!!!” (Bird) When I asked him if he wanted to talk to the birds, he quickly responded with, “teet, teet, teet!” I am so proud of my son.

    Every day when I think Elliott is ready for a nap, I ask him, “Elliott, are you ready for a rest?” And every day, no matter what he’s doing, he drops everything and walks toward the stairs. He crawls up the stairs, heads to his room, patiently sucks his thumb while I change his diaper, lays his head down on my shoulder for a (very quick) snuggle, and then dives for his crib. Every day. I am so proud of my son.

    But you know the underlying reason why I’m so proud of my son? Because he was created to be a learner, and he is taking joy in learning every day. And that’s why I’m proud. Not because of what he does, but because of who he is. Because he’s walking in the fullness right now. And that’s my goal as a mom: to always create an environment where my son–my children!–can become the fullness of who God created them to be. And right now, God is showing me how much Elliott LOVES to LEARN. So I am focused on creating a home where he can.

    And in the meantime, he takes my breath away. With these “little things.” Every little word he so passionately speaks. Every little step he so awkwardly toddles. Every little kiss he plants on my lips, open-mouthed. Every little laugh that bubbles out so hard it takes over his whole body. Every little thing.

    Happy 14 month birthday (yesterday), my little learner!!

  • Then & Now

    Then…MY FIRST PREGNANCY

    Now…MY SECOND PREGNANCY

     

    Then…Maternity clothes starting in the THIRD trimester…

    Beginning of the THIRD trimester with Elliott

    Now…maternity clothes starting in the FIRST trimester.

    End of the FIRST trimester this pregnancy.


    Then…Throwing up around the clock

    Now…throwing up at the most three times a day (hence, the maternity clothes sooner)

     

    Then…Couldn’t keep any food or liquid down in the middle of the night…

    Now…eating constantly throughout the night…(hence, the maternity clothes sooner!) 🙂

     

    Then…a super detailed pregnancy journal.

    Now…an empty pregnancy journal, yet to be written in.

     

    Then…Hamburgers

    A cheeseburger a day keeps the doctor away

    Now….chicken

    …and I AM…very, VERY happy with this in my hand


    Then…a count-down till the due date.

    Now…a count-down till bedtime. When am I due again?

     

    Then…Painted the nursery blue…

    The little boy who stole my heart.

    Now…will paint the nursery PINK!

    Baby Girl Moberg, coming soon!

  • Alert! Party Zone!

    Alert! Party Zone!

    My sweet baby boy turned one (yes, 6 weeks ago, but that’s beside the point), and we were so excited to celebrate him!! Although this post is quite late, I wanted to get it up anyway :).

    Due to the fact that the majority of our resources–time, energy, and money–for Elliott’s birthday were dedicated to his House Build, I committed to keeping the party itself SIMPLE. But that didn’t mean we couldn’t have some fun :).

    We had Elliott’s Birthday Banner up the whole week preceding his birthday.  Melisa and I designed and made this banner several months ago for Elliott out of the same material that my friend Amy made his quilt and wall hangings out of. We’ll add a new photo each year!

    The Birthday Banner!

    Let’s get this party started!

    We went with a construction theme (of course). And with a few sheets of yellow cardstock, a Sharpie, our printer, some balloons, and some Spanish “Caution” tape, we had our decor.

    THE DECOR 
    Construction signs everywhere!
    Some of our guests relaxing before lunch (American tacos, of course) is served.
    The party game…putting Elliott's photos in order from 1-11 months old!
    Brian designed the cupcake construction signs himself!
    Cupcakes galore

     

     THE FIRST BITE OF BIRTHDAY CUPCAKE!

    Lighting Elliott's cupcake…me and the baby bump 🙂
    Everyone's singing "Happy Birthday," and Elliott is LOVING it!!
    Trying to explain that he has to blow out the candle…
    "Mom, that's the silliest thing I've EVER heard!!"
    "Seriously, Mom? No way! I'm feeling a bit candle shy today…"
    "Helping him" blow it out before he grabs onto the flame…
    "Now what do I do? "
    "Oooh…I've never felt anything like THIS before…"
    "Ehh…let me touch it with my right hand, too."
    When, after a few minutes of poking and prodding this strange sugar phenomenon, it was clear that Elliott had deemed this object inedible, Brian helped him out.
    "Whoa. Now that was different."
    "Let me try that again. Is everyone still watching? Good."
    "Wow. That is REALLY something."
    "I'd better try one more bite."

    Now, when Elliott really likes something that we’ve given him to eat, he either does one of two things: he smiles so big and waves at us, or, he wants to kiss us over and over again. As you may or may not know, Elliott’s kisses are VERY open-mouthed. So after about three bites, apparently he decided he liked it, and leaned in to give me kiss…

    *Melt my heart*
    We BOTH had a chocolate mustache after that smooch!!

    He kissed me two or three times in a row, and every time he did, all of the party guests (of course) went, “Awww….” I think he really liked that, so after every kiss, he broke out into joyous applause for himself. It was awesome.

    So pleased with himself for kissing Mommy. 🙂
    My goodness, I love him!!!

    Brian and I tried to take advantage of his smoozing with the camera to sneak in a family pic. Little did we know that Elliott had very much moved on already.

    "Alright, alright…enough kissing and clapping. Lemme have another bite of that awesome goodness!"
    Finally got a family birthday picture in there :).
    "Mmmm. Now THAT was good. Talk about about satisfaction!"

     

    THE GUESTS!

    Family
    Most of our DTS family
    Mark, Korrin, and two of their boys–Noah (who apparently is camera shy) and Declan. Elliott looks up to these boys so much! We are grateful for these new friends who are on staff here for the next 2 years!
    Louie, Taylor, Micah, Declan, Hailey, Elliott, Noah (Hunter had already gone home to take a nap)
    Grandma & Grandpa Moberg with all the grandkids

     You know, it wasn’t easy thinking about the fact that Elliott’s first birthday would be far, far away from the people whom we love most dearly and from the people who love our sweet baby boy so much. But I am so grateful for how the Lord came through and made Elliott’s birthday lacking nothing. Don’t get me wrong–I missed my family tremendously and all of my dear friends spread across the globe. But Elliott’s birthday was rich. Rich with friendship, with love, with giving to a family in need. We are so grateful that Brian’s family could come down for the weekend, and that our DTS class adores Elliott and were all so excited to celebrate him. We are so grateful that Elliott has new friends here–Noah, Declan, Louie, Hunter and Parker–and most of them could make it to his party! We are grateful.

    Happy 1st Birthday, Elliott Brian!!! What a joy it is to celebrate your life!!!

  • Easter Eggs, Soccer Balls, and Lessons for Mommy

    Elliott is COMPLETELY obsessed with balls, and so we were so excited to bring him to his very first Easter egg hunt that they held at the base. Eggs are just like balls, right? Only squished in the middle? Like a ball with a belt on…that’s what I told Elliott.

    They let the “little” kids get a head start so the big kids wouldn’t run them over. Great idea, except that the head start was about 30 seconds, which is clearly problematic when toddlers “toddle” and big kids, well, SPRINT. So we found an open, low-traffic area with just one or two Easter eggs, figuring the big kids would go elsewhere. We found an easily-spottable Easter egg beneath a table and figured that would be a perfect way for Elliott to start.

    We pointed out the magenta “ball with a belt” to Elliott as I explained to him that he could go get it and put it in his little easter basket! He walked over with me, smiling at the kids who were zipping by him as they hunted for Easter eggs themselves. We had almost reached the funny-shaped magenta “ball” when suddenly, out of nowhere, this little girl wiggled in around me and snatched the Easter egg Elliott was going for! I was SHOCKED. And APPALLED. How could she do that?! Doesn’t she know that this is Elliott’s very first Easter egg hunt, and that was the very first egg he’s ever hunted? And she stole it from him? Doesn’t she know that he’s barely 1 and he can’t understand why someone just swiped his treasure right out from under his nose?? Doesn’t she know that he’s going to be scarred for life because of this?!?!!!

    No, she doesn’t, because she’s 6. And that’s not what 6 year olds think about.

    And no, he’s not going to be scarred for the rest of his life. Because he didn’t even know that egg was “his.”

    So, I quickly grabbed another egg, purple this time, and moved it right close to Elliott and blocked the path so no one could grab it from him. And he got it! Hunt successful!! Phew!

    I grabbed another egg that had been hidden and placed it under the little table. Now Elliott had the hang of it, and he immediately started to go for the orange belted-ball in his sight. He quickly moved over to it, reached out to grab it, and–a little boy ran over to grab it before Elliott!! But this time, my mom-like reflexes were in super-heightened mode, so with a quick “hiya!” I knocked that other kid out of the race!

    No, I didn’t. Because he’s 4. And that that would be horrible of me. Like, really horrible. I can see the headlines now: “Missionary mom sends 4 year old boy to the moon just to let her son play with a 5 cent Easter egg.” Yeah, that would be bad.

    But I did very kindly and urgently tell him that that egg was not for him, it was for Elliott. So back off, kid!!

    No, I didn’t say that last part. But I wanted to.

    This is by far the hardest part about being a mom so far. I have never had the urge (okay, maybe once when I was in high school) to punch someone in the face. But there is something about hurting my little boy’s feelings or doing something that I deem potentially harmful to him, that completely takes away all of my ability to reason and think clearly. All I can see is my fist flying, and everything getting better after that.

    Collecting his eggs
    Learning how to put the eggs in his basket…
    Loving these new "balls with belts"

    But do you know what happened a few minutes later? Elliott’s friend Parker came over and shared all his eggs with Elliott. And my heart just melted at Parker’s kindness. Then, Hunter came along and do you know what Hunter did? Share all his eggs with Elliott. And again, my heart melted.

    Parker (in the sweater vest) and Hunter (in the yellow shirt) sharing their eggs with Elliott, while he's cuddled on Jamie's lap.

    Seconds later, the sweetest little girl came over and guess what she did? Share her eggs with Elliott. Elliott was suddenly surrounded by children, all sharing their eggs with him.

    So in awe of these sweet children's kindness…

    I let out a big sigh as I could just see God’s face looking down on me, with that knowing yet gentle smile, and saying: “Susanne, did you really think you could take care of Elliott better than I could?”

    Elliott, sharing back. Look what they just taught him to do!!!

    So that brings us to the other night, when we were hanging around the base after to dinner. Elliott had spotted a gold mine–not one, but two, soccer balls. He was having a blast playing with one of them…throwing it to me, kicking it, carrying it around…all the ways he “plays” soccer. When all of a sudden, two bigger boys came up and wanted to play “with” him. Unfortunately, it’s pretty difficult for a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old to know how to play well with a 1 year old. Now don’t get me wrong, these two boys are so incredibly sweet…it’s just that they’re 4 and 2, and a soccer ball is involved.

    And Elliott’s world of “playing soccer” suddenly completely changed. It went from a friendly fun game that he plays with his mom and dad while laughing and squealing with delight, to an ultra-intense, fierce, competitive sport with these two older boys who had absolutely no mercy on him. No handicap advantages here! It took everything in me to not scoop up Elliott, grab the other soccer ball, and take him into a room where we could be all by ourselves and he could play fun-, squealing-, laughing-soccer to his heart’s content.

    But instead, I let go. And just watched.

    Watched like a hawk, mind you. Don’t get me wrong, I protected my little buddy when absolutely necessary (like when the zealous 4-year-old wound up to kick the soccer ball as hard as he could while it happened to be inches from Elliott’s face). But mostly, I let go. Cringing on the inside the entire time, I let go. And I just let Elliott be. I watched him get bumped and knocked over. And then I watched him get back up again, even more determined. And you know what–I learned so much about my son that day. He never once cried, whined, or complained when the bigger boys snatched the ball from him and ran. When they stepped on him in their eagerness, when they jostled him so hard that he fell over. No, Elliott chased after them. With all of his might. I’ve never seen him so sweaty, so determined, so covered in red marks on his face and arms from being pushed around. I have never seen him run like that. He would literally run after the ball and then throw himself down on top of it, stand up, and run away with it again. He was determined to play hard with the big boys.

    There was one time that the 4-year-old was waiting for the ball to be passed to him and he was blocking Elliott from getting to it. His arms were out and his feet were spread as he was guarded the territory. Elliott came from behind and I could see his brain ticking. He crawled over, started to go to the left of him, then to the right of him, and then he quickly darted between his legs!! Ha!! We all cheered and hoorayed at Elliott’s cleverness and determination…and you know what? He got the ball.

    We got in the car to go home and I couldn’t hold my tears back one more second…they started to pour out of my eyes in rivers (darn hormones!). It was so hard to just stand there and watch him grow up. To watch him learn what it’s like to play with boys. To watch him get knocked down. But mostly, I cried because I was so proud of my son. I loved learning more about his character in those moments. I loved watching him rise to the challenge, and not shrink back. Because that’s who our Elliott Brian is: Brave, strong, and true…

    I think the absolute, most difficult part of being a parent is letting go. If I had it my way, I would have Elliott in a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, a butt pad…I would pad all of our walls and sharp corners and heck, even our marble floors! I would create a land of perfectness, where he could never be harmed, where no one could steal his Easter Eggs. He would grow up in a bubble and never be exposed to germs and never have one mean thing said to him and…

    And he would never come close to being the boy, the man, that God has designed him to be. In trying to save him from injustice, I would be creating the greatest injustice of all–not letting him learn, discover, fall… (yes, I’m crying after typing the word “fall”…darn hormones!)

    Elliott becomes more “boy” and less “baby” every day…and I know he’s only going to keep growing. Ahhh, and with each new passage into boyhood, it’s like a new layer of my fear is ripped off like a huge band-aid trying to protect my heart. I know I’m one of those sappy, sensitive moms. Let’s be real, I’m one of those sappy, sensitive people, no matter what the context. 🙂 But sometimes my heart aches watching him learn, when it’s one of those things that hurts a bit to learn.

    But I will–I resolve–to allow my son to grow and flourish as God has created him to run. I do not want to protect and hide him when there’s an opportunity for him to soar. The greatest truth I have ever learned about motherhood came from Mama Melisa, almost a year ago. She has one sentence that strikes me to the heart each time she has said it to me, and most recently it rocked me as she spoke about her sweet baby Stella, who had to stay for a little while in the hospital before she could come home. And she said to me, “But Sus, I just have to remember…she’s not mine. She’s the Lord’s. She always has been. And He’s got her.”

    That statement profoundly impacts the way I mother every day. And there are new layers to that revelation and that conviction every day. I’m pretty sure it’s only going to get harder to “let go,” but it’s a lot easier than the alternative…

    So soar, my sweet baby Elliott…soar. Allow the Lord to set wind to your sails with the passions that He births within you. Allow Him to develop you. Allow Him to shape you. And know that I won’t be far… I’ll be right here to rejoice over every victory with you, or to let you cry on my shoulder if you fall…but always, always–I’ll always be right here

    from BABY…
    …to BOY…
    Easter 2011, 1 month old
    Easter 2012, 13 months old!