You stare at the ultra sound tech, who was gentle and quick with the news, and you ask stupid questions over and over, like, “what do you mean there’s no heart beat?”
When there’s no answer that comes from her mouth, and only several unsatisfying, “I’m sorry’s,” you turn to your husband to explain.
You look at your husband and ask, over and over again, “how can this be?”
When he only answers by squeezing your hand tighter and with silent tears that stream down his cheeks, you keep asking, over and over.
You get off the table when the ultra sound tech leaves you alone and you curl up on his lap and cry hysterically, still asking the same question and shouting, “no, no, no” to no one in particular…but deep down you know you’re talking to God.
You are moved to the doctor’s room and you wait together, crying and in disbelief.
The doctor comes in, and with your head buried in your hands and tears puddling on the floor beneath you, you ask, “WHY am I still throwing up? How can this be?”
You are convinced, when you ask, that she will respond by saying, “What? You’re still throwing up? You’re still so sick? Oh, well, then of COURSE the baby is still alive. There must have been a mistake.”
But she does not.
You ask a hundred questions that you’ve had to come up with on the spot.
And then you leave.
You hold your husband’s hand and close your eyes over and over again, hoping that if you blink hard enough you’ll wake up from this reality that feels far too unreal to be real.
And then suddenly, you are grateful. You have never taken your children for granted, you have always known they were miracles, but suddenly, right then, you are more grateful to God than ever before for the two lives he has already given to you to raise and love on this earth.
Your husband says, “let’s go get our kids and hug them tight,” and you know he is thinking the same thing.
You somehow drive home, in separate cars, and walk into your familiar, messy house. Everything is the same, just how you left it, yet everything is so different.
You sit on the couch and tell your 3 year old that we are not going to get to meet the baby in your tummy as we had planned. We will not get to hold the baby or see the baby, the baby will not get to sit in the extra high chair like he talks about every night at dinner. You tell him we will meet the baby in heaven, and when he asks when we get to go there you don’t know what to say.
He asks a few more questions, that you mostly don’t know how to answer, and then he jumps up and proclaims that he wants to play.
You are sad that he doesn’t get it, and so grateful that he doesn’t have to.
You put the kids down for naps.
You cry. A lot.
You lay in bed with your husband and cry so hard together that you soon can’t discern whose tears are whose.
You sleep. Sort of.
You wake up to the sounds of your two children laughing and playing hard with your husband, and you are so grateful hear the sounds of LIFE flooding your home.
You fight your nausea and head downstairs to be with your family.
Your husband hears you and runs to greet you at the bottom of the stairs with red eyes and a kiss.
You cry a little more in his embrace.
Your children run to you, and you cling to them with tears streaming down your face.
You play with them, gratefully.
You jump and down and shout hooray when your 3 year old puts his poops in the potty.
And then you turn around and laughter spills from your heart when your daughter puts her big brother’s underwear on her head–again–like a hat.
And then you cry some more.
You grieve and grieve and grieve.
You cry with your husband.
You cry with your best friends.
You pick yourself up, get the kids dressed, and go eat sushi.
You delight in your son using chopsticks for the first time.
You delight in your daughter who boldly walks up to every stranger in the restaurant and says, “hi!”
You go to the park.
You cry on the way.
You get home, get the kids in bed, and cry with your husband some more.
You process.
You pray.
You grieve.
You cry.
You thank God, for the hundredth time that day, that you married a man who values LIFE, and who fights for life.
And then you thank Him again.
You take a pill and try to sleep.
You wake up and you remember…
You see that your husband is not next to you, and then you hear him…downstairs, in the middle of the night, crying and crying out to God for a miracle.
You go back to sleep.
You wake up after fitful sleep and see that it’s morning. Your heart aches, and then you remember why.
You see that your husband is still not next to you.
You pray. And pray and pray.
You think. About everything.
You wonder…
You call out to your husband.
He comes running in the room, with red, red, wet eyes, and proclaims scripture after scripture to you, declaring God’s goodness, declaring hope…all through a broken, broken heart.
You cry, and thank God again for your husband.
You thank God for his weakness in this moment, and also his strength.
You go back to the doctor for another ultra sound…just to see…just to see if God had performed a miracle.
You see instantly that the miracle was not the kind you had hoped for.
But you get to see your baby on that screen again, and you love your baby, somehow, even more than the day before and the day before that.
Your littlest baby…
You remember that your littlest is in the arms of the One who formed him or her…understanding and experiencing His love more than you ever have.
And you are grateful. And sad. And grateful. And so, so sad.
You realize this is all far, far too much for you to understand.
And so you look up.
Because what else can you do?
You look up.
You are surrounded in darkness, so you look up. And you see Light.
You look up through your tears, you look up through your grief.
And when you look up, and see Him, your grief is comforted. Not less, but comforted.
When you look up, and you know…you KNOW…that this sweet little one will never know pain, will never experience hurt, will never taste sorrow…when you look up and you know THAT…then you can breathe again.
Because your littlest is in the arms of the Lord. The arms of the Lord.
You wish with everything in you that your baby was still with you. But when you look up, you are okay. Because the alternative is so rich…you know the alternative is Glory Himself. In the arms of the Lord.
You wonder how you will put one foot in front of the other. Walk out of the room. Love your family well.
And then you remember…
You remember him on your bed,
you meditate on Him in the night watches.
Because He has been your help,
Therefore in the shadow of His wings, you rejoice.
Your soul follows close behind Him,
His right hand upholds you… (Psalm 63)
How quickly you forgot. But at least you remembered…as soon as you looked up.
Yes, you are in shadow, but you are in the shadow of His wings.
And so, you rejoice.
Somehow, in His strength, you rejoice.
Rejoice in His salvation.
Rejoice that One died so that we ought never need taste the pain of death.
You know there has been no eternal death here…no, your baby is with the Lord.
Your baby has passed into LIFE…life with Life Himself.
You know there is no eternal death. Only eternal life.
You believe that His goodness cannot be overcome by darkness.
You don’t know how in this moment, but YOU KNOW.
You know you will remind your soul to hope continually,
and you will praise Him yet more and more.
Your mouth shall tell of His righteousness and His salvation all the day,
for you do not know their limits.
You will go in the strength of the Lord GOD;
You will make mention of His righteousness, of His only (Psalm 71).
Though this feels very much like “the end,” you know it is just the beginning for your littlest one.
And so, while nestled in the comfort of the shadow of His wings, you look up.
By you I have been upheld from birth;You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb.My praise shall be continually of You. Ps 71:6
Oh, sweet baby, you are up in heaven now, praising Him with all of your heart, mind and soul. Yet still, our heart will ache for you until the day we can hold you in our arms, alive. Goodbye, our most precious, precious baby…Goodbye for now.
I will admit, I sort of dreaded March 20th this year. I am definitely a little sad that my baby boy has left the TWOS. I have LOVED watching him grow this year. Whereas when they are one I learn so much about their personalities, it is while he was two that I got to see so many glimpses of his heart blossom. Yes, I realize that I will only get to see more and more as the years go on, but it was a sad farewell for me on March 20. This past year, I have watched his passions ignite and his heart soften. I have watched his love for people increase and his hunger to know the Lord and His word grow. He still carries a unique love for balls of all sorts but is fascinated with big trucks and wants his daddy to tell him about every truck he sees. “Daddy! Know this truck ‘dues’?” he asks each time. He still LOVES to read and could sit and have you read to him all day. He could be in the middle of almost anything, hear one of us reading to Selah in another room, and he will come RUNNING to snuggle in next to us and listen. He has memorized a few of his (long!) books and will often “read” them to us. He is still a puzzle genius. He loves applesauce. He always wants one of us to “sit close by me!” during meal times. When Brian eats his breakfast “on the go” (which happens often), Elliott will say, “Daddy, will you please sit down? Close by me?” I’m usually his dinner favorite 🙂 and it’s not enough to be sitting about a foot away from me. He’ll turn to me and say, “Mommy, please scoot me close by you?” and I will pull his chair over until it is touching mine. Usually what follows is a sweet boy cuddling up to my arm, looking up to me and saying, “Mommy I ‘yove’ you. AND I ‘yike’ you.” He melts my heart and amazes me every day.
A big three-year-old hug! (Drool and all…)
One of his favorite things to do is be a “Working Guy.” For months and months now, he’ll put on his hard hat, grab his tools, announce, “I’m a working guy!” and go “fix” something that’s “broken” in our house. It’s usually the chairs around the kitchen table that need fixing…almost daily :). So we decided to have a Working Guy birthday party with 3 of his favorite buddies (unfortunately, his friend Mookie couldn’t make it at the last minute but I’m sure he’ll be over soon to be a working guy with Elliott) and then we had a family Working Guy birthday party where he got to (start) building his very first REAL Working Guy project with his daddy…a soccer goal!!
I tried to keep it SIMPLE!! Yay, me!! 🙂 Parties just bring out this addiction in me (seriously, I think it might be an addiction!!!) that makes me want to go all out. I LOVE to celebrate and I LOVE a good party. So, being as we decided a week and a half before his birthday to have a party I was really forced to keep it simple. I’m pretty proud of myself :). One of the best parts? USING MY BRAND NEW SILHOUETTE CAMEO!!!! Seriously, this thing is amazing. Definitely added to the “life-changing” list. With just a few strokes on the keyboard and the click of a button, the machine cut out ALL of these signs FOR ME!!! Oh, it’s a brand new day in the party-planning world :).
Welcome to the Party!Elliott’s first present and his friends’ gear for the party!Come on, now…how adorable are these? Each Working Guy (and Selah the Working Girl) got his/her very own tool belt complete with tools and personalized hard hat for the party.The birthday boy, wearing one of his daddy’s old shirts from when he was a kid, eager for the party to start!That morning, we asked Elliott what he was most excited about now that he was 3, and he said, “I get to eat CAKE!”The foreman, reviewing the projects of the day.Elliott opened his first present from us (a REAL working guy outfit!) and then equipped his working guy friends with their working gear. (**Note: I thought the tool belts and hats were the COOLEST things ever but there was never even ONE moment, literally, during the entire party where they all had on their gear at once, haha! But I did catch one moment on camera where they were all at least wearing their hard hats (you’ll see that below)! Things you learn after throwing a birthday party with three year olds :))Here’s the whole crew–Elliott’s best buddies. Selah, Malachi and Justus (we missed our buddy Mookie!!).They “helped” Brian build model machines and then painted them to their liking.Here is Justus meticulously painting his hanger plane gold.Selah INSISTED on doing everything the boys did, and so after not falling for “pretend painting” we finally gave her some real paint to paint with, too. 🙂Next, we had the ring toss.Each boy got a ring around the cone at least once!They hammered golf tees into foam (for SURE the hit of the party…get it?? “hit”?? Haha…)This working girl learned the ropes from her big birthday bro!They built towers…
And lastly, they refueled with some yummy lunch and, of course…CAKE!!
How old are you, Elliott? “THREE!!!” (plus 5??)Mmmm…Those working guys needed some CAKE!Us.
A few days later we had a “family” birthday for Elliott with both sets of grandparents there! Elliott started construction on his very first REAL working guy project…a soccer goal made out of PVC pipes!
All the grandparents!Checking the plans with Daddy…Measuring the correct length…And sawing with Daddy and Grandpa. WHAT a WORKING GUY HE IS!!Once a working guy, always a working guy…
-Grateful for new life. Grateful for the Lord’s mercy on me every day.
-Up for the challenge.
-Hopeful.
-Aaaanndd…nauseous most all the time. 🙂 But not necessarily like I’m going to throw up all the time…only really when I’m eating and gag reflex is really bad. Or when I don’t eat quickly enough, I throw up. But I will take being nauseous over throwing up ANY day of the week!!!!
-Super, super weak. Gone are the days of getting out of bed AND making the family breakfast AND unloading/reloading the dishwasher by 8 am. Getting out of bed is my max :). And sometimes I can even make the family breakfast on a good day!
-Like I’m eating all the time. Because I–literally–am. This is the HARDEST part by far…trying to find SUBSTANTIVE (i.e., MEATY) things to eat every 1-2 hours, day AND night (although at night I can get by with snacks). Whew. And then it takes me 30-60 minutes to eat said meal. So by the time I finish eating, I’m onto preparing the next meal. All of this is extremely difficult with two little ones running around…and not to mention that I have to focus and go to my “happy place” in my mind to make it through each bite without gagging/throwing up. A wee bit challenging when my kids want to sit in my lap as I eat, take bites, and ask me questions about EVERYTHING. But hey, we’ve survived this far :).
-so grateful that this pregnancy is overall so much better…
What’s working…
Lavender essential oil to help me sleep (miracle in a bottle). Apple sauce in squeeze pouches and Zone bars throughout the night. Brian brings me two hard boiled eggs and apple juice before I get out of bed. My tummy settles, I nurse Selah and then go downstairs for the third hard boiled egg. Make the family breakfast and then 30 minutes later, make 5 or 6 sausage links (dipped in maple syrup!) for my second (fifth?) breakfast. Hot dog for an early lunch. Nap with the kids. Macaroni and cheese for second lunch. Big snack of some sort, twice. Dinner. More macaroni and cheese for second dinner. Bed.
There you have it–my schedule. It’s what’s working right now, and keeping me from clinging to the toilet ’round the clock!!
The Vomit Count…
THREE TIMES. THREE times, folks!! That’s A MIRACLE!! When we found out I was pregnant, Brian said, “I think you’re going to throw up a maximum of three times.” I rolled my eyes and laughed…that’s usually a good average–per day–during one of my pregnancies. But so far–he is RIGHT! And I will NOT be ashamed to shout that he is right from the rooftops if, indeed, I make it the rest of the 9 months with no more upchucking. Please, Lord…
Biggest challenge of the month…
Besides the fact that Elliott, Selah and I have all been sick the last two weeks, the biggest challenge has been trying to wean Selah. I decided about week 6 that as much as I didn’t want to, I wasn’t up for losing the extra calories. So we began the process on that Monday. On Tuesday, she got sick and a tooth started to pop through…great timing :). So we did our best, but it was too hard to wean a teething, very sick and congested baby. Plus, she still won’t really take a bottle (or a sippy cup) of milk very well so the one feeding I had dropped she wouldn’t really drink any milk. And it was important to keep her as hydrated as possible. She’s now been sick for two weeks 🙁 so I’m hoping this upcoming week she’ll finally be over it and we can start the process again…
What’s out?
Going to the grocery store with the kids. Sheesh. I can barely stand up to get my 12 meals prepped every day, in addition to their 5-6 meals a day…just thinking about loading my 1 and 2 year old in and out of the car–twice–to get groceries makes me want to cry. So I promised Brian I would keep the kids alive during the day and he promised to do the grocery shopping :).
What’s in?
Cheeseburgers….THEY’RE BAA-AAAAA-AAAA-CK!!! Really, any kind of MEAT is my saving grace these days. And Mac and Cheese. So much mac and cheese (hey, at least it’s organic and whole wheat :)). And Ginger Ale, the natural kind.
Quotes of the month:
6 weeks, 1 day: “So does this mean you’re going to stop being able to look at me now?” –Brian, after I had had my first super nauseous day. (You may or may not remember, but during my ENTIRE pregnancy with Elliott, if I even LOOKED at Brian first thing in the morning, I would immediately throw up. It wasn’t that way with Selah’s pregnancy, but I think he’s still scarred from the experience, haha!!)
6 weeks, 2 days: “Hey! We’ve got this! We’re in the home stretch now!” –Brian, after I had relayed some sentiment about how this was just the beginning… 🙂
6 weeks, 3 days: As Brian saw the very pronounced baby bump protruding from my tummy: “Awww!! Look!! Our beautiful little baby bump!!” Me: “Or, a beautiful little taco soup bump…either one!” 🙂
8 weeks: “Hmm…I probably shouldn’t have had as many cups of coffee as I did this morning because I can’t get this needle in your arm!” –the nurse, trying to draw blood from my arm for a blood test. Yes, EXACTLY what I want to hear as she goes for prick number 3 to try and get the needle into my vein… :/
Some things I have been overwhelmingly grateful for the past 4 weeks:
-That I’m not a single mom
-That I have incredible friends who care deeply for me
-That Brian is amazing
-That we live in AMERICA…hence, food options that I (sort of) trust everywhere I turn.
-That we live 3 minutes away from a Carl’s Junior
-That I’m throwing up less than ever!!
-That the Lord’s mercy is always abundant and right on time.
8 weeks!
Well, there you have it…one month down, and FOR-EV-ER to go………. 🙂 Thanks for journeying with me! 🙂
We are SO thrilled to announce we have another little life growing in my womb… Baby Trés Bien, due October 12, 2014!
Why the nickname, you ask? Well, it’s just the only nickname that kept coming to mind when I found out we were pregnant. It’s baby number 3, which is where the “tres” came from. However, as many of you know, Brian speaks spanish with a French accent. Hence, the “tres” (trace) turned into “trés” (tray)…which, of course, must be followed by “bien” to complete the French phrase. How good our baby number 3 is!!! Trés bien!!
Elliott’s reaction: Well, Elliott’s been asking for “another Selah” for a LOOONG time… 🙂 From time-to-time he would ask me, “You have a baby in your tummy?” Or he would say, “I want another Selah!” So, needless to say, we couldn’t wait to tell him the news. When we sat the kids on the couch to tell them, this was roughly the dialogue:
Me: “Big guy, we have some fun news to tell you!”E: What?Me: We’re going to have another baby! You’re going to have another little brother or sister!E: Or like Selah. Me. Well, the baby probably won’t be JUST like Selah, but it might be a little girl or it might be a little boy.E: Right now?Me: No, it’s gonna take 9 months…it’s gonna take a long time. So you’re going to have a birthday and then Selah is going to have a birthday–E: SELAH ALREADY HAD HER BIRTHDAY!Me: Well, you’re right–E: Why her have TWO birthdays??!! Me: Well, she’ll turn 2 years old for her NEXT birthday.(insert lots of talk about birthdays…) 🙂Me: The baby is in my tummy right now, but the baby is SO tiny. Over the next few months the baby is going to grow bigger and bigger and bigger.Brian: So in a few months Mommy’s tummy is going to be a lot bigger, and then you’ll know that the baby is growing big and strong inside Mommy.E: Big and strong like you! (pointing to Brian) And like me! And like ME!!! And like Selah.Me: Do you think the baby will be a boy or a girl?E: Um, a boy.Brian: Do you want a brother? A boy like Elliott? Or do you want a girl like Selah, another sister?E: Another Elliott.Brian: You want another Elliott? Buddy, that sounds so fun!E: And I want another Selah. Who’s his mommy?Me: Well, buddy, I’m going to be the baby’s mommy.E: He’s going to be a big boy, like me. And he wear these? (pointing to the jammies he had on)Me: Well, maybe one day, if the baby’s a boy, he can wear those clothes. But when the baby is born we’ll give the baby baby clothes to wear. E: How the baby get in your tummy?Me: God put the baby there!E: Who be the baby’s daddy?Me: Daddy is the baby’s daddy. E: Who will drive her?Me: Well, buddy, Daddy or I will drive the baby wherever he or she needs to go.
Selah sat on the couch next to Elliott yelling, “BABY!!!”at the top of her lungs periodically throughout the entire conversation :).
So, stay tuned as we journey through another pregnancy as a family. October feels SOOOOOO far away, but hopefully with two littles running around and a summer to look forward to, the time will go by quickly. Click here to read about my first (real) month of pregnancy, even though it is officially “Month 2.”
We had probably seen “Pets Rule!,” a captivating, delightful, and highly-entertaining show at SeaWorld at least a dozen times. Elliott has always been quite taken by dogs and animals of all sorts, and this show was FULL of them—dogs, cats, pigs, ducks, you-name-its–all moving to the beat of the music while performing incredible stunts. Perfectly trained animals, clearing having the time of their lives as they showed off their mad skills while the audience cheered loudly with admiration, awe, and excitement.
Pets Rule!
So there we were, probably the thirteenth time in, and we got to THEE PART. You know, thee part…? Where they cue the touching music and make their speech at the end? Well, the woman had barely spoken the first three words of her monologue before the tears began to ROLL out of my eyes.
“…But you know, not all the animals you see here today were always so happy and healthy. As a matter of fact, some of the pets you have just seen perform, like Fresco or Casey, were either surrendered by their owners or picked up off the streets and taken to shelters and had no one to care for them. Take Chad. His owners gave up on him. They said, ‘He had too much energy and couldn’t be trained.’ Well, as you can see, Chad is very well behaved. Chad responded to every instruction he was given, jumped through hoola hoops and over obstacles and threw balls into hoops…”
Chad was not just “trainable.” Chad had been trained to be an extraordinary dog. A dog who performed amazing feats and tricks that most dogs will never do in their lives. His teachability and talent were clearly qualities that had been inside of him all long…it’s just that he had been given up on.
My lip quivered like a small child and I finally stopped trying to hold it in. Brian looked at me, incredulous. “Are you…crying??” he whispered in total awe. “What is wrong??”
“It’s just…it’s just…” I blubbered. “It’s just that this speech gets me every time!!”
Now, just to be clear, I’m not really an “animal” person. I mean, they’re great and all, and I love watching them do cool tricks and I’m happy for my friends who have pets that they love…but they’re not really my thing. So, as sad as it is that there are pets who have been abandoned and given up on, my heart beats for a bigger thing…my heart beats for the children who have been abandoned and given up on.
The speech…the speech about Chad and the other abandoned animals…It’s such a reflection of how our world views kids these days…how parents, teachers, society view our children. Unruly children, exasperated parents. You see it everywhere. Children in the grocery stores, throwing fits and screaming at their parents; parents throwing fits and screaming right back at their children. Children abandoned…everywhere. Physically, emotionally, spiritually…abandoned. They have not been trained. Where are the parents?? Where are the fathers?? Where are the mothers?? Where are the ones who will, instead of giving up on “unruly, impossible, nothing-can-be-done” children, go to their knees and ask God for His grace to understand the Word—where every piece of wisdom needed to parent in righteousness can be found? What I have heard over and over from parents is, “He is too out of control. There’s nothing to be done.” Why is it that the moment someone hears I have a 2-year-old, their expectation is never that he would be the delight that he is, but instead that he would fall right into the “the norm,” which is, “naturally,” that he would be a “terrible two-er”? Why are the “terrible twos” considered a “normal,” “expected” part of aging? I have a hard time believing that Jesus would have walked by a “terrible two-er” and said, “Oh, yeah…just get used to it. There’s nothing to be done…just carry on, and hope that age 3 comes quickly.” Yet this is what we seem to believe as a society.
I encountered it in teaching every day. A father who would roll his eyes while talking about his daughter (in front of her) and telling me how impossible her attitude was to deal with. A mother who labeled her son “devil child,” and then was filled with rage when he lived up to her expectation.
And over and over I saw—the root of the problem was not the kid. The root of the problem was that the kid was not trained. The kid had been abandoned—emotionally, physically, spiritually—and now was unruly. Over and over parents threw their kids at me each day telling me they were impossible. But a little training, coated in a lot of love, went a LONG way.
Unfortunately, a teacher can most often only go a “long” way…it is very difficult to go the entire way. That’s the parents’ jobs. To love and train their children relentlessly and diligently their entire lives.
But I see it in homes, too. Homes where the parents deeply love their children and love the Lord, yet have resigned to certain aspects of exasperation because “aren’t kids just exasperating?” It’s what we’ve been taught. Parenting is already the most difficult job that there is, and I want to breathe HOPE into you that it’s NOT your lot to live with exasperating behavior, rebellion and disrespect!! It’s not good for you OR your child! God promises us more!! I have observed this resignation in many, many families where the parents (excellent, excellent parents) just didn’t have vision for this “more.” This is what grieves my heart—like the owners who gave up on Chad because he was “untrainable,” I see parents, my friends, who are at the end of their ropes, exasperated and fed up. Unlike Chad’s parents, at least they don’t send their toddlers to the streets (haha), but they do not search out for more in their homes because of this stereotype that babies/toddlers/kids can’t be trained and are just meant to be frustrating their first few years of life. It grieves my heart because I know that’s not their heart for their kids and I know they are not living in the fullness with real vision. Vision that there truly could be peace. That the fruits of the Spirit could, indeed, be alive and active in their homes…even—even—in a home filled with babies and toddlers (and more).
I don’t condemn Chad’s previous owners—that’s not the point. But there’s this piece of my heart that wonders what could have been for them, had they had vision to really train him. I imagine he would have brought an enormous amount of joy into their home.
Elliott, taking great delight in this incredibly sweet, well-trained pup.
So to say that I am passionate about the training of children unto righteousness, godliness, holiness and practically, unto respect, self-control, and love probably doesn’t do my passion justice. But if you have spent even five minutes around me, with my kids or any others, my passion will probably be quite obvious. I am inserting a mini series of “Training” posts within my “Victorious Parenting” series because, I believe, training is fundamental to being a victorious parent.
I know this because I know this is God’s heart for us as his children and also for us as parents. Not only does he say, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6), but THE ENTIRE BIBLE is filled with training. Instruction. Teaching. If we neglect to train our children, we neglect to understand God’s heart in many areas of our own lives and the lives of our family. And that, my friends, is a big deal.
So, I will leave you with this: Proverbs 29:17 (in several different versions) to breathe some hope.
Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart. (ESV)
Discipline your children, and they will give you peace; they will bring you the delights you desire. (NIV)
Discipline your children, and they will give you peace of mind and will make your heart glad. (NLT)
Correct your son, and he will give you comfort; He will also delight your soul. (NASB)
Now doesn’t that sound nice?!?!
The following is from a commentary I read on this verse: “Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest,… Ease of mind, satisfaction and contentment, freedom from all anxious thoughts and cares; the correction being taken in good part, and succeeding according to wish and design; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul; by his tenderness to his parents, obedience to them, and respect for them; by his prudent behaviour among men; by his sobriety, diligence, and industry in his calling; by his fear of God, and walking in his ways; than which nothing can give a greater delight and pleasure to religious parents.”
This Scripture speaks to a picture of a child who is disciplined, trained…a child who brings peace rather than chaos. My children are far from perfect. (Perfect will never be my goal.) But I will tell you with confidence—they are trained (and, obviously, will need to continue to be trained every day for the rest of their lives). This Scripture could not ring more true in our home, as Brian and I say to each other constantly, “Our children are so delightful!!” Not because they act perfectly all the time (again, not the goal), but because so much of the time, our children are, indeed, tender to us, obedient to us, have respect for us…Selah, even at 16 months old exhibits all of these behaviors on a regular basis. By the grace of God, in these early years where selfishness and tantrums are very real battles, our kids are already delights to our souls. And they did not just COME like that, like some people assume :). It has taken a LOT of training…but wow, have we seen fruit from that training!! Every day I am grateful for what we have invested in their early months and years, because it surely brings delight to our souls every single day. My heart is not to boast in anything I have done (because it was only through utterweakness and hours of prayer on my knees that I came to understand many of these truths), but only to boast in the truth of the Scriptures that promise us that when we train up our children according to the Word, there will be good fruit.
So, let’s join together and grab hold of the GOOD NEWS!! I hope you will join me on this journey to explore what God says about training our children unto godliness! I hope you will join me on this journey of HOPE as we take the Word at His word! Stay tuned for the next post: “It’s Not You, It’s Me.”
I couldn’t let 2013 slip away silently, without writing a little something to REMEMBER who we are as we finish out this past year and begin a new one. If I had written a Christmas letter, this is what it would have said. 🙂
There’s not a day that goes by that Brian and I don’t turn to each other and say, in some fashion, “We are so, so, so blessed…” Now don’t get me wrong…we have had QUITE the year in some aspects, and someone looking at all of our various challenging circumstances might call us anything but “blessed” this past year. But “blessed” is all we can see when we look at what matters eternally. We are so grateful for the goodness of the Lord and how He’s carried us through every trial and lavished us with AMAZING children, faithful parents, loving relatives, and deep, life-changing friendships. How could we possibly be more blessed, even when our circumstances are trying?
SELAH, 15 1/2 months
Our sweet and spunky thrill baby who is extremely passionate about her favorite things. She has a special love for hats, coats, and shoes still, often trying to put a second pair of shoes over the ones she currently has on.
“Help, please, Mama?”
She loves picking up various articles of clothing laying around the house and putting them on her head or around her shoulders like a scarf.
“Look what I found!”“I didn’t think he’d need them while he was on the potty…”
She loves to dance, especially during worship, which means she is a perfect pair for her big brother who has recently started singing ALL the time. He often breaks out in spontaneous song, and she breaks out in spontaneous dance! (Watch this cute video, and ignore the fact that I don’t really know the tune or the words…)
She, like her big brother, is very particular about the way things should be (where on earth do they get that trait from??) and tells me how various parts of our routine should go. After getting her pajamas on for bedtime, she very passionately insists that she wants to read a book and she gets very, very upset when we don’t have time to read one. When I get her up in the morning she points to the chair where I nurse her and asks for milk, then she points to the boppy and says ,”Boop!” Then she points to her blanket which she likes over her during that morning nursing time. She finds every tiny piece of trash and food on the floor and brings it to me. She also LOVES to throw things away, and I think I’ve finally trained her to only throw away diapers and trash, not toys. 🙂
She can’t get enough of the trash can…
She still climbs ON and IN EVERYTHING including our HIGH kitchen table chairs which has caused many near-heart attacks for this Mama :/.
“Just helping you with dinner, Mama!”
She loves to take a “bipe!” of anything that we are eating, and besides yelling out, “bipe!” she opens her mouth INCREDIBLY wide to show us that she means business. If you ask her for a kiss, this is also the same face she makes…so you never know what you’re going to get :).
“Can I have kiss, Selah Bean?”
She is so, so playful. I love seeing how her spunky little mind works. She has several little “games” she plays with me…one is that as soon as I go to get her in the morning, she won’t let me pick her up until I’ve played peek-a-boo through the crib slats at least once with her. She also has this funny little game where she breathes out through her nose several times, waits for me to mimick her, and then she growls. I think it is SO FUNNY.
Sometimes, if I’m in the kitchen and she’s playing in the living room, she’ll call out to me and then do the breathe out/growl thing. As soon as I do it back to her, she’ll go right back to playing :). How awesome is she?? She fills my heart with utmost gratitude, joy, and constant laughter and awe.
ELLIOTT, 2 3/4 years old
I’ve said it before…but this child just brims my soul with delight. He LOVES friends, his sister, the bible, “building a big house” with duplos, wearing his jammies, singing songs, tiny things (ANYTHING that’s “tiny,” he LOVES), his daddy’s old playmobile set, puzzles, being a “working guy,” and animals. He still has a love-hate relationship with animals: he only ever wants to eat off the two plates that we have with animals on it and loves playing with his animal figurines, but refuses to go near an animal that’s alive and breathing. Recently, he’s developed a huge passion for stickers; he will go through an entire book of stickers and stick them in one pile onto another piece of paper.
“Don’t worry, Mom, I think I can fit at least 400 more stickers on this sheet of paper.”
His super power, besides having a phenomenal memory, is noticing incredibly subtle nuances or when anything is new or different. As we moved into the winter season and I began wearing more sweaters and warm things, he noticed every time I put on something he didn’t recognize. “This is new?” Recently he has discovered the word, “Why?” which has certainly given me a run for my money as a mom :). We did have some breakthrough recently…usually every day as Brian leaves for work, Elliott asks which car he’s going to take. When Brian answers, “the truck,” Elliott asks, “Why?” and Brian explains that he wants to leave the Suburban here in case we need to go somewhere. Well, the other day he said as Brian was leaving for work, “You take the truck? You take the truck so we have the ‘burban in case we need to go somewhere?” Elliott memorized his very first bible verse at the beginning of December, and loves talking about bible stories. A few weeks ago, he put a laundry detergent clear plastic cup on his chin like a beard and said, “I am Noah!” We then built our own ark out of duplos and filled it with animals!
“Let’s build an ark!”
He LOVES, and I mean L-O-V-E-S, applesauce. He eats an unbelievable amount of applesauce in a day and we definitely have to cut him off after a while. One morning while I was putting Selah down for a nap, I could hear Elliott opening and closing things in the kitchen and obviously working on something, I came downstairs to THIS face…INCREDIBLY pleased and delighted himself:
He couldn’t WAIT to show me what he had done ALL BY HIMSELF as soon as I got back downstairs…
Turns out he had gotten a bowl and spoon out for himself, opened the fridge, took out the applesauce, poured it into his own bowl, put the applesauce back in the fridge, and enjoyed his special treat that he prepared himself. As you can see, he was SO PLEASED with himself. So then I opened the fridge to look at the brand new applesauce jar that I had JUST opened, and this is how much applesauce was left :).
I keep telling him he’s going to turn into apple sauce if he keeps eating it at this rate!
Elliott has such a tender heart towards the Lord and LOVES to read the bible. He makes sure that we read it every day in this household…talk about accountability!! 🙂 One night a couple months ago, after requesting several stories that didn’t happen to be in the children’s bible we were reading, he finally said, “Read about Jesus, God, take mine sins away….Jesus DIED!” I’m in awe of his faith already at the age of 2…a toddler who does not want band-aids or other soothing methods when he gets an “owie,” but who cries out for Jesus to heal him instead. Pure delight to my soul.
THESE TWO….
BFFs.
Having two siblings who love each other (most of the time, haha!) is simply extraordinary. I think to myself multiple times a day, “What a GIFT to have two children who LOVE, and who are LEARNING to LOVE, each other…” The majority of the time, they play incredibly well together. Elliott is such a phenomenal big brother most all day long, and looks for ways to bless, serve, and help his little sister. When she’s crying in the car (which is most of the time, haha!), he sings, “LA, LA, LA, LA, LA!!!” at the top of his lungs until she starts to sing along, too, and forgets why she was crying. When we pull into our cul-de-sac he says, “Look, Selah! See? See??? We’re almost HOME!!!” When I get Selah in the mornings, as soon as I’m done nursing and changing her she asks for “Dada” and “Elliott!!” She will ask for him until he finally wakes up and then she RUNS into his room screaming because she can’t wait to see him. As soon as I get Elliott up, one of the first things he always asks is, “Was Selah asking for me?” They are truly BFFs. Lately they have been holding hands a lot, and it is the most precious thing ever.
Running around the house, holding hands…
He makes her laugh. I love how much laughter is in our home each day!! (You probably don’t have to watch the ENTIRE video to get the point…) 🙂
They have some sort of sleeping unity that I think is CRAZY. We have video monitors in their rooms, and I’m telling you—SO MANY TIMES they end up sleeping in the exact same position at the exact same time. I’ve probably taken a picture of it a dozen times, but it happens SO OFTEN! Isn’t that crazy?! Has anyone else experienced this??? I took these pictures seconds apart…
Her.Him.
He is also super helpful with her…feeding her when I am getting dinner ready and constantly telling me what she needs.
SO helpful, and she LOVES being fed by big brother!
When Elliott needs to go sit in a time out, she automatically goes and joins him. Kind of defeats the purpose of him being a little bit isolated so he can gather back up his self control, but it’s just so dang cute that I have a REALLY hard time telling her to move…I just love her love and admiration for him so much!
“Ahh, thanks for the sympathy, Selah! I’ll take it.” 🙂
She would be content snuggling and hugging him all day long…unfortunately he doesn’t ALWAYS have the patience for that :).
“I LOVE you, Elliott!!”Though he doesn’t always have the patience for hugs, he is constantly giving out kisses…
US TWO.
I continue to be the most blessed Mama on the planet, constantly in awe of the privilege it is to raise these children and spend every single day with them. I got to help teach a parenting class during the Fall, and it stirred up my faith even more for being a mom! Of course it can be challenging to train up these little ones, but the joy just so far exceeds the challenges. I LOVE my job!!!
Brian just finished one business adventure, and is on to the next. So although we are very much looking forward to ending our year-long transition streak, we are also super excited and expectant for what’s ahead. We are realizing that our entire marriage has been one big transition after another, yet it’s incredible to see how transition has made our marriage that much more stable. Brian and I so often say to each other, “I’m so glad it’s YOU.” We have had our fair share of trials and challenges this past year, but each time we have come out with a much deeper faith, much deeper confidence in the goodness of our God, and much greater love for one another. There are SO many questions we have pressed into in the last year, regarding life and godliness, and each time we examine the Word and come out in agreement over what it says, we praise God for the rare gift of unity that He’s poured out on us. THIS Scripture has been life:
“So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.” 1 Peter 1:6-7
I think I can honestly say that I do not take a single blessing in my life for granted. Each day is a gift. My time with Elliott and Selah is so precious…I will never get these little years back, and although some days seem very LONG, I just don’t want to waste a single minute of each one. Each day with my husband is a gift. I married a man who works incredibly hard at every task that is set in his hands, who serves without question or expectation of reward, who guards his tongue, who selflessly takes care of those around him, who lives with integrity of character despite being misunderstood and mistreated, who holds a high standard of godliness in our home, who cherishes me and lavishes me with praise daily, and presses me to not settle short for less than the fullness of Christ. Never in a billion years could I possibly choose another. When I said on my wedding day, “The Lord has seen to every detail of what I need” I had no way of knowing how deep and profound I would come to understand that statement four and a half years later.
Transition and loss, new days and gain.Adios to Mexico, Hello, Rocky Mountain plain.Trials and joys, sickness and healthAnd a faith that is stronger than the greatest wealthWe thank you for your lessons but bid you farewell, 2013…This entire year you showed us that we are so very blessed indeed.
With great love,
The Mobergs
I had big plans of baking a birthday cake for Jesus with Elliott on Christmas Eve, so we could throw a good ol’ fashioned birthday party on Christmas Day. And…it for sure didn’t happen this year :). Add it to the list of things to look forward to for next year!!
We made a big family breakfast and decided to let the kids open their first gift since we knew we would get home close to bedtime. We got Elliott Mr. Potato Head and Selah got the Mrs.! I THINK he’s only seen one of these once, but he recognized it RIGHT away and exclaimed, “I GOT A SWEET POTATO!!!”
“My SWEET POTATO!!!”“I have no idea what this is, but Elliott is REALLY excited about his and so I’m sure there’s a reason to be excited about mine, too!”
Our church didn’t do a Christmas Eve service so we searched around for a service to bring the kids to so we could sing some carols. We got a little bit dressed up…
Come ON, now!!! How adorable is this little Christmas baby?? (And, of course, the BEAUTIFUL stockings made by my dear friend Courtney!!)Christmas Eve, 2013
…and made the trek all the way down to Centennial to attend a service that was offering camel and donkey rides afterwards :).
She was hesitant at first, but then really enjoyed the ride, I think!The boys, and the cute donkey pony.
Then we all went out to eat at Panera together, which was very fun and unique for Christmas Eve :).
CHRISTMAS DAY!!
We let the kids open stockings before breakfast, and I’m pretty sure those little trinkets from the dollar store are some of their favorite gifts :). After our big breakfast, we dove into the pile of presents.
The Big Man on Campus
The big man got a big basketball hoop! (Can you see that he’s holding one ball in his left hand as he throws another one towards the hoop? That’s my boy :)).Elliott loves his new truck from Uncle Kevin, Aunt Tabitha, Taylor, Hailey & Micah!
The Baby Bean
Selah was nothing short of PURE DELIGHT as she opened up each gift. Though she was MOSTLY passionate about climbing on the presents…
“This whole present thing is an awesome obstacle course!”
But when she finally got to open them, she would SCREAM at the top of her lungs as she opened each present, and then proudly show it off…
“THIS!”
The Daddy of the House
I won’t even bother telling you about all of the thoughtful, nice gifts that I got for Brian, because THIS one was his favorite and the only one he talks about…
Brian’s “big” gift……a new trash can to hold our recycling that fits under our kitchen sink. No, seriously, this was his FAVORITE gift…you should ask him about it sometime!
La Mamacita
Apparently Santa picked up my several (hundred) (not-so) subtle hints about what I wanted…
…the two best gifts anyone could ask for AND…a Silhouette Cameo 🙂 🙂 🙂 :).
My other really fun gift was from Elliott, who apparently has been quite bothered by my “broken” slippers (they have had a hole in the toe for months)…he told Brian they should get me new slippers for Christmas!
When we started talking about opening gifts that morning, Brian said to Elliott, “Big Man! Should Mommy open the gift from you first?” And he instantly responded, “Yeah! They’re SLIPPERS!!” Hahaha!!!Merry Christmas morning!!
We celebrated with my family the next day, and it was truly a memorable meal that involved smoke alarms and a ridiculous amount of smoke :). NOT my mom’s fault…definitely the oven’s fault, but wow–it was quite the ordeal. Doug and Melanie saved the day by keeping all the kids happily locked in my parents’ bathroom and playing very entertaining games to keep them laughing hard and distracted from all the craziness. Brian stood on top of a ladder and disabled the smoke alarm that wouldn’t quite ringing, and somehow, in the midst of it all, my mom STILL managed to produce the most phenomenal Christmas dinner. There’s just nothing like your mama’s cooking, is there?! It was excellent.
Here’s part of the Mauss clan! )Minus the Smith family, who wasn’t able to make it out to CO this year.)I’m not afraid to say it: My nieces are the most beautiful nieces on the planet! (Including my niece Courtney who’s not pictured!!)
Haven’t had enough yet? Well, here you go:
Sporting her brother’s shades…A little snow play…Merry Christmas to all!!!
WHAT a FUN, FUN, FUN Christmas season this was!! Elliott was finally old enough to justify putting in some effort towards the Christmas countdown and the kids and I just had a blast. I kept it ULTRA simple and it was all fun with no stress. Next year I’ll try and solidify my activities more in advance so that I’m not making a trip to Michael’s every week for supplies :). If you have a toddler, these activities were pretty good for him. I decided to post what we did (successes and failures!) because I found others’ lists so helpful as I planned!! My biggest advice if you’re planning on doing this next year: 1. Make sure you have a Michael’s nearby! They had a few really fun, cheap crafts that were all cut out and ready to put together. I strolled through at the beginning of the month and added those crafts to the list! 2. FOR SURE take it day-by-day. I had my list of activities in an excel sheet and often printed out the cards weeks at a time, but I never placed them in the envelopes until the night before…sometimes the morning of depending on what I was up for! One thing we did post-Christmas was inspired by my super talented friend Elizabeth who made red and white peppermint play dough for us! I set the kids up with the yummy-smelling dough and some Christmas cookie cutters and they BOTH loved it! Such a fun idea!! Next year, when the kids are older, I’m excited to do more “giving/serving” things and also go on some more adventures…like to The North Pole which happens to be in Colorado Springs!! 🙂
Here’s our envelope tree! Elliott got to open one envelope every day, but always wanted me to pull the card out after the very first one he pulled out got a little wrinkled :). I would hand him the envelope, he would lift up the flap and then hand it back to me saying, “You open it, please? Don’t wrinkle it!”
The Christmas Countdown!! (Or should I say…”Count UP”??The anticipation builds as he says, “What does it say?? READ it!”I LOVE surprises 🙂 and seeing his face light up with joy after I read each day’s surprise to him was MY FAVORITE PART…
Besides our fun Christmas activities, we made it a point to read the bible as a family together every night. Brian reads to Elliott from the “big” bible every day, usually while I’m making breakfast for everyone, but for the month of December we read through the Old Testament of the Jesus Story Book Bible (which is AWESOME if you don’t have it!) and tried hard to make it a family event each night after dinner. This bible is so cool because every single story points out how God orchestrates everything to lead us to Jesus. It writes about how God rescues His people time and time again, and then explains that soon He would send an even greater One who be The Rescuer. It’s just awesome. Then, of course, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we read about how He came!! I printed the Advent reading schedule from the internet, colored it, and we simply put a star next to the Day once we had read the story.
And the time was sweet. Usually at some point throughout the day, Elliott would be in the midst of doing something and suddenly shout out, “Mommy! READ THE BIBLE!!!” at the top of his lungs. And I would remind him that we were waiting for Daddy to get home. After dinner we would all sit on the couch. Selah insisted on having her water bottle with her each time and she would climb up onto my lap as Brian would start to read. Then, she would push her way into Brian’s lap and point to the picture on the current page and say with passion and enthusiasm, “THIS!!”
“THIS!”
After a few minutes of pointing as Brian read, she would climb back into my lap and wrestle and play.
During wrestle-mode
Elliott has been in the “WHY” stage so he spent most of the bible stories asking “WHY” about everything. “Why he have a beard?” “Why he in a whale?” “Why he sitting against a tree??” 🙂
I also got to teach Kids Church this month so it was super fun to lead Elliott and his little 2-3 year-old buddies into an understanding of Christmas. He even learned the month’s memory verse, Luke 2:10-11, several weeks ago! I had never worked on it with him; I had just been teaching it to the whole group of kids (mostly targeting the older kids) on Sundays. So I was shocked one day as I was listening to him play and he started saying, “Don’t be afraid! Because I bring you GOOD NEWS…” He normally runs around the living room in circles saying it, but below is the best recording I have.
Click on the “CC” button at the bottom of the YouTube video to turn the close captioning on…it’s a little difficult for the common ear to understand his pronunciation sometimes :).
This Christmas season just felt so FULL (in the BEST sense of the word)…full of Jesus, full of hope, full of sharing in the wonder of the miracle of his birth, and–of course–full of FUN. Elliott is super familiar with all of the people who played a role in the Christmas story. He picks out shepherds every where we go, saying, “Shepherd! He has his staff! So he can guard his sheep!”
Here is our Christmas Countdown!
Day 1: Decorate the house and tree as a family!
Our little nativity set from Grandma & Grandpa was one of the first items we took out of the Christmas bins……it provided HOURS upon HOURS of entertainment this month. Plus, it was a super handy prop while teaching kids church! I would HIGHLY recommend this 🙂
Day 2: Decorate your own little Christmas tree with Selah!
I had seen this idea on Pinterest and was planning on buying the materials to make it, when lo and behold Michaels was selling the entire kit all cut-out and ready to go. For 50% off, of course! Yes, please.
My little elves at workAlthough the felt pieces don’t stay on SUPER well, Elliott still had fun with it throughout the month. Selah definitely enjoyed it from time-to-time, too.
Day 3: New Christmas movie: Charlie Brown Christmas
I’m not kidding you…this is often how they watch shows!! Melts this mama’s heart.
Day 4: It’s snowing out! Make snow crafts!
When we woke up to snow, I knew we had to do something snow-related.
My beauty, staring out the window at everything covered in WHITE…
This snowman was super fun because I literally came up with the idea on the spot when I saw the snow and we had all the supplies in our house. I just drew the main body with glue and Elliott pretty much did the rest. (I cut out the hat and scarf and did the mouth…) We used salt for the snow at the bottom since that’s what we had!
Building his snowman…SNOW cute, huh?! 🙂He really liked this craft 🙂
Day 5: Counting with Christmas trees
Super fun idea from Pinterest! And super easy to put together with supplies I already had in the house.
I had to help him count “the ornaments” for some of the trees, but he overall did a pretty good job on his own!
Day 6: Bubble bath “snow”
Selah’s first bubble bath, and–I think–Elliott’s second! Why don’t I think to do bubble baths more often?? Elliott helped me make the “snow” and jumped right in to play, but Selah was pretty confused and disgusted at the white fluffies over-taking her normal, beloved bath water.
Elliott helps make “the snow” while Selah won’t move from this position…“WHAT on EARTH? My hands are FILTHY with this ‘snow’! I thought baths were supposed to make me CLEAN!”
Elliott saves the day by showing her how harmless and fun this “snow” really is…And she finally relaxed a little and started to have some snowball fun!
Day 7: Family Breakfast! Snowman pancakes
So. Much. Fun.
Elliott’s snowman (oops…forgot the hands and hat!)I don’t think he noticed 🙂There we go…my snowman had all its parts!Brian wasn’t a big fan of putting all of that candy, fruit, and bacon on his pancake so I made him a melted snowman :).
Day 8: Go out to dinner as a family, look at Christmas lights, come home and drink apple cider!
This was kind of a disaster :). We should have just picked a few houses to look at in our neighborhood, but instead we drove about 25 minutes away to hit several houses that were listed as some of the best Christmas lights in the city. Well, Selah’s not the biggest fan of long car rides :/ and so she was crying long before we even arrived at the first house. AAAAND….it was a bit of a LONG night. Note for next year: stay local :).
We took a picture of this house so we could decorate ours like this next year. 🙂We came home, put that poor, screaming Baby Bean to bed and got Elliott all pumped up for his first taste of real apple cider. We stared at him as he took his first sip, HUGE smiles spread across our faces from ear to ear, and held our breaths…When he came up for air after his first drink, this was the face we saw.
You would think he LOVED it, right? Well, soon to find out, I think he was just trying to play along with the excitement on our faces. Because after his first sip he laughed with us and when we asked him if he liked it he said, “yes,” but when we asked if he wanted to take another sip he said, “No, thank you…” and gently pushed it away. HAHA! This is the kid who could scale a mountain for a sip of apple juice. Oh well. We tried :).
Day 9: Since it’s still too cold to play in the snow, let’s make our own!
Did I mention it wasn’t just snowy that first week of December, it hovered around ZERO DEGREES the entire week. It was C-O-L-D.
Start out with some baking soda……add a little shaving cream…And you’ve got yourself some SNOW!And a one year old who still isn’t impressed with this whole “snow” theme…And a two year old who was in Heaven 🙂He may have had a little help with this snowman 🙂
Day 10: Build a nativity set!
Michaels saves the day again. Elliott pretty much couldn’t do anything to put this together other than punch out the foam pieces, but he LOVED the activity. He also LOVED taking it completely apart the next day :/. And, for some reason (?) the many, MANY little separate mini pieces have provided hours upon hours of entertainment for him…he just sticks them all together and then unsticks them and then REPEATS… Hey, more power to him.
Punching out the GAZILLION tiny pieces….He put all the completed put-together people and animals in their places…And here we have our very own little “homemade” nativity set.
Day 11: Wear Christmas jammies all day, make Christmas cards and mail them out!
This was a good idea that went very, very badly. Note to self for next year: wear smocks over Christmas jammies. Or wear Christmas jammies on movie day (which, now that I think about it, makes WAY more sense…) Elliott got a TINY amount of paint on his Christmas jammies and it was ALL OVER from there. Melt down city. Fortunately, once the jammies had been washed, he recovered and we were able to finish the Christmas cards :). And just look at how cute they are in those jammies!
Oh my goodness…is he MY kid, OR WHAT?!! HAHAHA!!!!Got the thumbprint lights idea from Pinterest and then we added our own captions :).
The green “lights” were Selah’s thumb…obviously completely guided by me. I also ended up guiding Elliott’s thumb, too…I think if he had had a better day 🙂 he may have been able to do it himself, but he definitely needed help. Probably a better craft for 3 and ups.
Day 12: Make a Christmas decoration for the house with Selah!
An adapted Pinterest idea
Day 13: Family Movie night with popcorn (Veggie Tales Christmas)
This was one of those days that I was grateful Elliott can’t read yet :). At the last minute we decided to have some friends over for dinner so it ended up needing to be a FRIENDS movie night. When I pulled out the card I carefully said, “Well, tonight you get to watch a new movie with your FRIENDS!” Haha…
Day 14: Go out to breakfast as a family
Because at the very last minute we decided to ditch the idea I had planned of going to a Winter Fest…so we came up with this super creative idea very quickly…haha :).
Day 15: New Christmas book, hot cocoa & carols
Day 16: Work a brand new HUGE nativity puzzle!
If you don’t know already, this kid LOVES puzzles. We haven’t gotten him a new puzzle in a very long time and he can practically work all of his with his eyes closed. So I searched around and FINALLY found this one…which is AWESOME! It was the perfect level of challenge for him.
And it was huge, which was really fun. He’d never done a floor puzzle before.Selah really, REALLY wanted to help but her “help” was frustrating the puzzle master at work. So I tried to distract her with her own while he finished up…Almost done!!Tah-dah!!
Day 17: Make special treats for our friends!
He helped me make Mint Brickle!
Day 18: Make presents for our friends (and Daddy…shhh) and deliver everything to our friends!
I really wanted to do something along the lines of giving, and this was a good start. Due to a variety of circumstances, he only actually got to DELIVER the treats and little presents to one family (because the rest ended up coming over!), but it was still really fun!!
I got this idea from Pinterest, but adapted it by using bells (instead of wooden beads) for the heads and figuring out how to use the pipe cleaner to hold it all together so I wouldn’t have to use glue. (Because who wants GLUE on their Hershey’s kiss??”Then we put them in baggies and stuck this little message on there to go along with the verse they were all learning during kids church…I got this picture-puzzle idea from Pinterest. Though he couldn’t really help place the strips of the picture on because that needed to be exact, he could paint the modge podge on himself!Fun, huh? And we kept it a secret from Daddy until Christmas Day!
Day 19: Peppermint Day!
Oh man, this was so much fun that I’m thinking about doing a Peppermint WEEK next year…Maybe I could do themed weeks like “Snow Week,” “Peppermint Week,” etc…and do things each day that correlate. We all dressed in red and white, ate candy canes and Elliott did two candy cane crafts. Favorite quote from the day: As Elliott took his first bite of candy cane, he said, “I like it! It’s cold!” I said, “The candy cane is cold??” He responded, “Yeah–see?” as he breathed out super heavily. “See???” And he breathed out again. I realized he was trying to articulate that cool, pepperminty feeling that you get when you eat mint! Haha…I love it :).
After several failed attempts to get all three of us in our candy cane clothes in a pic, this one will have to do :). You can see how cute the kids are and I am wearing a white shirt and a red vest :).This was SO simple and SUCH an age-appropriate, GOOD craft for Elliott. I simply cut out a white candy cane shape. We talked through how to mark every other stripe red, and then he colored in the stripes with red dots in them.He then dipped cotton balls and red pom poms in glue and had to place them on the red and white striped parts!Here he is, showing off his completed candy cane artwork while singing, “Angels, We Have Heard On High.” And Selah is posing near him because she just assumes that’s what she’s supposed to do when I have the camera out :).He also did the classic “pony beads on pipe cleaner candy cane ornament.” They were out of red and white beads at the store, so I had to go with a multi-pack, but as we started the craft I realized it was better this way–it provided one more element of challenge. This was another super age-appropriate craft for him as he had to think about patterns, and he was able to do the whole thing entirely by himself.What a cutie with a cool candy cane!
Day 20: Wrap your own “presents” while Mommy wraps presents!
Another GREAT idea (I thought) from Pinterest that went horrible :). Wrap up a sheet pan from the dollar store, stick magnets on bows, and there you have your very own “presents.” The blog post I got it from talked about how this provided hours of entertainment for the kids. “Perfect!” I thought. Well…not in this household :). Elliott kept snatching Selah’s bows from her so she couldn’t decorate hers and even after correcting him several times he just couldn’t keep his hands off her present. After multiple rounds of tears, correction, discipline, second chances…I just put the “presents” away and decided to wrap mine at nap time. Oh well…it’s the thought that counts, right? Haha. 🙂
I took this picture MUCH later on…not on the day that it didn’t go so well :).
Day 21: Go to a Christmas party!
Day 22: Zoo lights!!
We met up with our friends the Sundbys and although it was FREEZING and Selah was not a happy camper unless she was walking BY HERSELF :/, it was really fun to go.I think Elliott somewhat liked it, but his favorite part was…DEFINITELY the REAL elephant that we got to see.
He kept asking the whole time where all of the animals were, and so I told him they must have been sleeping. Almost every day since then he has asked me if the giraffes are awake yet :). When we got in the car afterwards, I asked him if he had had fun. He answered, “Tiny bit.” 🙂 So maybe we’ll skip this next year when he’s not free anymore…
Day 23: Make nativity puppets
This was just like the nativity set from Michaels, but puppets instead. Again, all he could (mostly) do was punch out the foam pieces, but he just LOVED this craft, and had so much fun playing with the puppets.
Well, because I think I’ve already far surpassed writing the world’s longest blog, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day details are in another blog post :). Click on the link to read all about it!
There are few things more fun in life than celebrating the life of your children. Yes, I DO celebrate them every day of their lives…but once a year, a super special date rolls around, and I get to go a little above-and-beyond. My baby girl only turns one once!!!
A few good friends flapped on over to join us, and Brian’s parents even flew over for the festivities! What a joyous day!!
“It’s TWEET to be ONE!”
Let’s get this party started!“TWEETS”
Selah Beans, Ruffled (Feathers) with Bird Droppings, Boiled Bird Eggs (read: Deviled Eggs fail!), Bird Beaks, Bird Seeds, Fruit From a Big Green Egg, Bird Nests, and a Bird Bath
My, oh my, how the first year flew by! Put the Selah Birdies in order from month 1- month 12!Selah’s Birthday BannerThe Birthday Girl!!!!
Everyone ate the “bird food” and the big kiddos got to do a craft.
Here’s Miss Ava, showing off the awesome bird she created! (You can’t see it too well, but she is feeding the bird a gummy worm!) 🙂
Time for CUPCAKES!!
My friend Tish did all the cupcake baking for me! They were AMAZING!!!!
We couldn’t wait to see how Selah would react to her very first taste of sugar! I think this is my favorite part of the 1 year old birthday parties :).
As everyone sang, she didn’t even noticed the flaming pink and chocolate yumminess that I was holding for her. She just stared at everyone…studying everything! Maybe we were off key??Elliott helped her blow out the candle.…and then she carefully inspected the foreign object in front of her.“What on earth is this squishy sponge-like substance?”“Okay, now it’s on my hands…eww.” (In other news…Like father, like daughter; like mother, like son…look at each of our faces, haha!!)So when she wouldn’t take a bite, Brian finally gave her a taste……aaaannddd she wasn’t super impressed :).“What did I do to deserve THIS? Is this a rite of passage for turning one?”“Mama, can we have a little talk about this cupcake thing? Privately…in another room, please?”“Maybe if I offer it to someone else with a cute smile on my face, they’ll fall for it…hee…hee…”“I’m full now, Mama…may I please be excused from eating this pink and brown sponge?”
PRESENT TIME!
Selah was lavished by our friends and familyElliott was a VERY good helper and VERY willing to help Selah open all of her presents. Such a servant :).Selah has a slight obsession with hats and shoes. Since we live in Colorado, I thought it only appropriate to get her a cowboy hat and boots. We couldn’t WAIT for her to open it up! Here she is trying it on for the first time.Our friends the Sundbys got Selah this AWESOME giraffe chair, without even knowing that her favorite passtime is throwing herself without caution onto floors, couches, pillows, beds, etc. This giraffe chair has provided HOURS of entertainment as she lounges, rolls, somersaults, climbs and throws herself on top of it!
Some of our FAVORITE PEEPS:
So grateful that Selah gets to walk alongside of Miss Ariel as she grows up. What a beautiful, tender-spirited, kind, already-godly 9-year-old role model!Family photographer 🙂 and dear, dear friend… Auntie SuzSweet Charlotte teaching Selah how the doll she gave her works.Playing peek-a-boo with Kari and AvaThere she is!“Your turn!”Finally getting to meet Sara and Emmy!The guests who traveled the farthest to celebrate our Selah Bean…Grandma and Granpda!!Us.The favors
We celebrated a couple weeks later with my family down in the Springs. Her super special birthday gift was this beautiful, hand-made blanket by my mom.
What a gift to be treasured!!
October 8, 2013: HER ACTUAL BIRTHDAY!
The night before Selah’s birthday, I was on my way home, thinking about the day that Selah came, and I just began to cry…how had one year FLOWN by already…It was Brian’s birthday, and I vividly remembered every detail of where I was, how I was feeling at that VERY MOMENT one year ago…resting in such faith, knowing that The Great Shepherd was writing her story. There were so many unknowns. And oh, how faithful He was, and how faithful He has been…to guard, protect, and guide her life. It’s a crazy concept to grasp, but nothing could be truer: God loves her more than I do. Whew.
So, eyes wet with tears, I came home to such a fun sight: Brian and his dad putting together the play kitchen that his parents got for Selah. We were so excited for her to wake up to it on her birthday!!
Brian and I turned in for the night and began to relive those very moments in time, one year ago. And as I blubbered through my mess of “He was just so faithful to us!!” Brian burst out, “Let’s go sneak into her room and write her an email!!”
I love it. If you don’t know already, both our kids have email addresses (and they’re waiting to hear from YOU!). We write to them regularly, often attaching pictures off of our phone from the day’s events. So we snuck into her room around 10 at night with our little lap top in hand…It was PITCH BLACK and HILARIOUS as we fumbled about, trying to be quiet but without ANY source of light. We finally got the computer on and began to type to her as we listened to her breathe. It was perfect. And a million times more fun than the labor I was in one year earlier at that very moment :).
And many hours later, our baby girl awoke…as a ONE YEAR OLD!!!!
And both the kids got right to work!!Thrilled to be one, thrilled to be in Daddy’s arms…This shirt is SUPER special because, besides the fact that it is adorable, it is a hand-me-down from Kari’s girls, Ava and Charlotte…who wore this shirt for each of their 1st birthdays, too!We celebrated by doing the thing that Selah loves most–going to the park and going up and down the slide OVER AND OVER AND OVER again…She just loves to be thrilled!!!After the park we got out her other special present from us–a stroller! With a super sweet baby doll from Auntie Melisa!She walked with it for a minute or two, until……she realized it was the perfect object TO CLIMB…“I think I’m starting to get the hang of this stroller thing…do you think the doll minds that I’m stepping on her face?”“Okay, this is AWESOME! NOW I see why you got me this toy!”And, finally, we tried round 2 of the whole “cupcake” thing. She was much less cautious this time around…And even looked like she ENJOYED it :).Happiest 1st birthday, Baby Bean…what a JOY to celebrate you!!!!
How do you explain the awesome wonders of the twelfth month of Selah’s life in one post? How do you sum up the ONEderfulness of the first year of Selah Bean’s existence? How do you solve a problem like Maria?
Like this.
She walks.
She talks.
Her favorite words are, “Up!”, “Heh-whoa” (hello), “Hi,” “Bye-bye”, “Uh-oh” (when she drops something on purpose), “WHOA” (when she falls or something else falls), “Ma-ma,” “Da-da,” “nigh-nigh,” and “M-M-M-M-M-a!” when she wants to nurse or eat.
But my favorite one of her words is, “Heh-whoa!” She’ll put most any object up to her ear and say it!!
She also used to say it OVER AND OVER AND OVER again any time someone would walk into the room, but I was never able to catch that on video. But I did get her to say it, prompted:
She claps.
She claps her hands, and her puzzle pieces!
She climbs.
I love this picture because this is totally the face I make every time she discovers something new to climb…incredulous, impressed, shocked, and proud :).She climbs EVERYTHING…Booster seats are one of her favorite things to climb, along with car seats, chairs, and tables.
She plays.
Though we’ve seen this the last few months for sure, this trait in her has come out especially strongly in the last month. She is SO PLAYFUL. She is goofy and funny and just loves to play. She loves to be THRILLED.
She spends most of her play time with this in her mouth.One of her favorite things to do is throw herself backwards. She loves couches and beds and soft pillows because THIS is what she loves to do!! It freaks us out most of the time because she’s not super careful about making sure the thing behind her is soft before she does this.
This is such a silly, boring video :). And I’m in the background constantly correcting Elliott because I’m afraid he’s going to hurt her :/. But if you want a true glimpse into Selah’s world of wrestle and play, here it is!!
Here she is, going UP and DOWN the slide over and over and over again :).
She loves deeply and passionately.
She is deeply passionate about head-wear and feet-wear. She’s totally obsessed with hats and will put anything and everything on her head and say, “hat!”
See the headband on her head? She put it there herself :).
Every time she finds anyone’s shoes or socks on the floor, she sits and attempts to put them on.
See the sock in her hand? She LOVES socks.
Besides being accessorized with hats and socks and shoes, she is deeply passionate about her favorite people. When she sees someone she loves, she screams at the top of her lungs. In normal circumstances, we are training her not to scream, but I just can’t train this out of her…it’s too sweet. I don’t want to quench her excitement and passion. She really does loves people like her mommy :).
By you I have been upheld from birth;
You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb.
My praise shall be continually of You. Ps 71:6
