The Moberg Family

Category: Selah

  • The Christmas Count Up!

    The Christmas Count Up!

     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 work
    Although 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!

  • It’s Tweet to be ONE!

    It’s Tweet to be ONE!

    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 Banner
    The 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 family
    Elliott 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 Suz
    Sweet Charlotte teaching Selah how the doll she gave her works.
    Playing peek-a-boo with Kari and Ava
    There 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!!!!

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Selah B, 11 months

    Selah B, 11 months

    It’s. Just. Gone. Wayyyyyy. Toooooo. Faaaaaaast….

    Every day she grows more independent. Every day we see more of her personality budding. Every day she gets closer and closer to become ONE YEAR OLD.

    But she’s never been as close as THIS. How is it that my next blog post of her will be her TWELVE MONTH blog post?!! In some languages, “12 months” is translated to “one year.” Could it really be????!!!

    Well, hello, month 12. Nice to meet you. Let me introduce you to the baby girl who is now entering your sphere.

    This baby buns tells you HOW it is.

    The fruit of the status of “little sister” is loud and clear. If Elliott takes a toy out of her hand, she clenches her fists and makes this face. If we tell her something is off limits, she clenches her fists and makes this face. I am so thankful I got it on camera 🙂 because I just think it is the most precious “I’m upset” face that I have ever seen. I have said this before about her, but I LOVE when she tells me what’s on her mind, even if she’s upset about something. I’m glad she’s learning how to communicate!

    “But that’s not what I WANTED!!!”

    Her “chewer” status remains current and up-to-date.

    “Hmm, could I get my mouth on this?”
    “This is a start…but I bet I could get more in mouth if I just turned it a little….”
    “There we go…that’s better!”

     

    And if she’s not chewing on it, she’s wearing it.

    She LOVES hats!
    “I don’t think Elliott will mind if I borrow this for a little while…”

     

     Conquerer.

    She is the most determined baby I have ever known…she will face ANY obstacle…she LOVES to climb, and she will not back down.

    She is SO into the Bumbo this month because it’s a new obstacle to climb. She climbs in and out of it, and pushes it against things so that she has a step up to climb. I found her on the couch the other day because she had used the Bumbo as a step to get up there!
    She climbs up onto this train…
    …and rides it all day long…

    Her Favorites

    Her favorite inside places to be are on the couch and beneath tables…especially if Elliott is in either of those two spots. When she finishes dinner before him, she immediately crawls to his chair and laughs and giggles at him while he finishes eating.

    “Hey, Elliott…throw me some scraps, will you?”
    And then they cuddle.

    “Get me OUT of here!”

    She must have my sense of adventure because she still has a total obsession with the back door, the front door, and the door to the garage. Anything that lets her OUT makes her very, very happy.

    “Selah, if you would just learn to walk, Mommy would let you outside to play more often!”

    Butterflies

    We ventured to the Butterfly Pavilion so Selah and Elliott could get an up-close look at the beautiful creatures. Elliott HATED the butterflies (“No like butterflies, Mommy!”) and Selah slept through most of our experience. But, she eventually woke up and a butterfly landed on me as I was holding her! Brian got a picture for Selah’s good friend Olivia who loves butterflies! She just moved to England.

    This one’s for YOU, Olivia!! I hope you’re more excited about the butterfly than Selah was in this moment…haha! P.S. I know it doesn’t LOOK like a butterfly, but I promise it is!! 🙂
    La familia

    “Up-pa!”

    She does THIS all the time…therefore melting my heart ALL DAY LONG. She crawls up to us, stares up with those huge blue eyes, bats those mile-long lashes and says…

    “Up-pa!”

    Bet that makes you want to come pick her up yourself, doesn’t it? Well we had three special visitors this month who thought the same…

    Grandma & Grandpa!
    THRILLED!

     

    “Now, Grandpa, I really think that I-90 is going to be your best bet for the drive home.”
    And one week later, “Aunt Anage” came to visit!!

    Standing Firm

    She has been standing for a few seconds at a time for a couple of months, but this month she gained total control. She can stand as long as she wants to.

    There she was, just a walkin’ down the street!

    “Look, Mom! One hand!”
    Singin’ “Do-Wah-Diddy, Diddy-Dum, Diddy-Do!”

    Our Delightful Bean

    Some other fun milestones from the month are that she grew two more teeth for a total of eight, she started DANCING by moving her arms from side to side out in front of her any time she hears music or someone is singing, and she learned how to go down the stairs feet first!

    And she remains the sweetest…
    …silliest…
    …most beautiful…
    …baby girl in the existence of all the earth :).

    Happy 11 month  birthday, our sweet Selah B!!

     

     

  • Selah’s Nursery!

    Selah’s Nursery!

    I know it may seem silly to put a post up about my daughter’s nursery when she’s now almost a year old. But if you know me, then you know that I love details. Putting together my kids’ nurseries have been two of my favorite projects of all time, because it’s one way that I love to show love.

    Because of that, it was super hard for me that she didn’t have her own real room until she was almost 8 months old! I know she will never know the difference, but having a place that I have made special just for her is important to me. So I finally got all of the details finished up last month and I am excited to share her room with those of you who love looking at nurseries as much as I do :).

    When I went to search for bedding for our daughter, I encountered the same problem that I did when I was looking for boy nursery sets for Elliott–I didn’t love any of them! But then I found this fabric that I just adored, and wrote to my good friend Amy who had made Elliott’s quilt and wall hangings…and begged her to help me with Selah’s nursery as well :).

    And she agreed! Hooray!! Amy and her mom are so unbelievably talented…I’m so grateful for their hard work (once again!) so that my daughter could have the most beautiful nursery that fits her perfectly!

    I felt all along that Selah was going to love bright and bold colors. Once I found this fabric, I couldn’t get it out of my mind. So we ran with a bird theme…and I just think it’s perfect for our little Selah B. Although I do have a dream tucked away of learning how to sew one day (one day FAR, FAR, FAR AWAY…), I secretly love that I DON’T know how to sew yet…because it’s way more fun and special to have the hands of my friends and family part of my daughter’s beautiful nursery.

    So, come on in, and see the fun for yourself…featuring Selah B. herself!

    Such a fun personalized sign from Aunt Paula…the perfect entrance to her room!
    Good.
    Better :).
    Best! 🙂 🙂
    Amy made the gorgeous bumper and my sis-in-law Melanie made the beautiful bedskirt!
    Amy also made all of these adorable birdies!! Aren’t they tweet?!! I.LOVE.THEM.
    Peek-a-boo!
    The corner of her bedroom where we spend lots of time cuddling, laughing, chatting and reading :). You can also see a glimpse of her quilt and the adorable birth announcement collage that Kevin and Tabitha got for Selah.
    The awesome wall hangings! Amy created the wall hangings and Marilyn sewed the birth announcement that’s attached to the middle one.
    My mom helped me put the birth announcement on the wall hanging by sewing it all together!
    The AMAZING quilt!! Isn’t it gorgeous??!!! Isn’t Amy awesome?!!
    Selah is–seriously–in love with her quilt. It usually hangs on the back of the rocking chair, and as soon as I’m done nursing her, she runs her fingers over it again and again and again…
    You can see how much she loves it…and life…and the bottle of paint in her hand :).

    Thank you to everyone who had a hand in creating Selah’s nursery…I am so grateful for each of you! I think of each of you every time I stare at your handiwork! 

  • Selah B, 10 months!!

    Selah B, 10 months!!

    Oh my word, Selah is SO MUCH FUN. Her little personality continues to BLOSSOM and it is such a JOY to learn more and more every day about WHO SHE IS!!!

    Selah officially has her first two words down this month!! She’s been saying “Mama” for a while, but just after she turned 9 months, she was using it consistently, in context, and without prompting…which is when we count it as an official word :). A couple weeks later, we noticed that every time we would say grace as a family before dinner and then say, “Amen,” Selah would say, “men!!” A few days later, Elliott was pretending he was going “Bye-bye,” so we were both saying, “Bye!” back and forth, when Selah chimed in and said, “Bye!” Then, right before she turned 10 months, she handed me a book and said, “Boo-ka!” Um, so cute. So since she doesn’t say “Bye” and “book” repeatedly, they’re not “official” words yet, but still! We’ve got a little talker on our hands!!

    What else does she do now?

    She snuggles.

    Bless my ever-living soul. My girl has become a snuggler. She just DOES this now…unprompted. And when I put her down for bed, she pulls back and plants a huge open-mouth kiss on my lips.
    Snuggle time and books before bed!

     

     She waves.

    Yes, she was waving last month, but this month she is a waving MACHINE. She waves, “hello,” “goodbye,” and “night-night.”

    She laughs.

    SO happy to be outside!

    She multiplies.

    Twins.

    She “walks.”

    She’s still getting comfortable with it, but she’s used her little walker a few times!

    She flies.

    You saw it here first, folks.

    She chews.

    On everything. But especially shoes.
    Elliott’s are her favorite…

     

    She does this.

    And I have no idea why, or where she got it from, but is it not the cutest thing in the world?!!

    And this.

    Sassy pants.

    She sleeps. 

    Precious moments.

    Finally, the girl sleeps! After many months of sleeping-through-the-night regression, she is back. She pretty much always makes it through the night on her own now, but if she does wake up, all she needs is this little pat-pat from her Daddy-O, and she goes right back to sleep. This Mama is happy :).

    She gives back rubs.

    “Don’t worry, Mama, I’ll rub your shoulders next!”

    She puts everything on her head!!

    Hmm…who’s hiding behind the hard hat?
    Ohh! It’s YOU, Selah Bean!!!
    “Look at this cool hat!”
    “Does it look good, Mama?”
    “Look! It fits perfectly!”
    “Except I can’t see.”
    “Oh NOW I can see!”

    She loves bath time, and her big brother.

    “Elliott, will you teach me how to wash my hair?”
    “Like this, Selah!”

    She loves the office.

    Seriously, LOVES the office. When anyone is in there, she wants to be in there, too.

    “Oh, come ON, Elliott! Let me in! Please?!!”

    And when that door swings open, she books it inside and then shuts the door behind her.

    “Victory. She’ll NEVER find me in here…especially since Elliott and I left all of these hand prints all over the glass. The windows are opaque now!”

    She’s learning her boundaries.

    I love watching her learn about boundaries. My love for training my kids is an entire other blog post, but I am remembering the joys of it this time around with Selah. She for sure knows her boundaries, and she for sure loves to test them :). She knows she’s not allowed to climb up the stairs by herself, and this particular morning I had forgotten to shut the gate. We were playing in the play room and suddenly she looked up and realized the gate was open…

    And she gave me THIS face…
    …and then crawled toward the open gate WHILE watching to see what I would do…
    …then got to the open gate and paused…waiting for me to take action…

    …and when I didn’t, you’d better believe she booked it up those stairs :). But you know what? That’s a VICTORY…because although she’s not fully staying within her boundaries yet, I love that she KNOWS what they are. But again, that is for another blog post :).

    The other big boundary we have been working on is that some things are not okay to go in her mouth. She’s been pretty successful at listening to this one for a couple months now, but she started the cutest thing this month…when she puts something in her mouth that she’s not supposed to have in there and we say, “No, thank you, Selah!”, she hands it to us. Oh my word, it’s just too precious to even describe. So, watch this:

    She LOVES rocks so much so that she eats them. This particular evening I thought it would be good to work on that little habit.

    Well, she reached for a rock and the temptation overcame her. I reminded her it was a “no, thank you” to put it in her mouth.

    She looked up at me and held the rock in front of her mouth while staring at me to see what I would do.

    I looked at her with my “mom” face and said, “No, thank you, Selah…we don’t put rocks in our mouth,” and she immediately did this:

    “Okay, Mama…here you go…”

     

    She explores.

    I can do this!
    Her classic “sit” position. Especially when she’s studying…
    Look what’s in here!
    Conquered.
    The tongs have been a popular toy in our house this month…oh, the endless fun you can have with tongs!
    She always wants to know what’s going on “up here.”
    Always.

     

    She IS…Selah Bean, the wonderful.

    Her personality has exploded this month…as I looked back over the pictures I couldn’t help but think, “Wow. Her personality is so apparent!” She is SO PASSIONATE. She is passionate about the bath tub, about not wanting to go to sleep, about heading out to the garage or anywhere outside, about the bathroom, about the stairs… Wow, is she passionate! And if anyone restricts her from her passions, she will LET YOU KNOW how she feels about that :). She is such a goofy, strong-willed, loud, SWEET little bundle of joy. It’s hard to believe that she can be such a strong combination of forceful and determined, yet snuggly and soft and lovey-dovey at the same time. What a gem. I love how God has knit her together.

    Check out the personality in our sweet little 10 month old baby girl, just during one meal time!

     

    Happy 10 months to our sweet Selah B.!!!!

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Selah B, 9 months!

    Selah B, 9 months!

    She just keeps getting bigger, folks….she just keeps growing, GROWING, GROWING!!!

    Selah had many fun milestones this month. She took her first swim and started waving for the first time! She’s been standing for a few seconds on her own and eats seconds on all the finger food she is now eating ENTIRELY by herself (adios, purees!)!! She gained a third tooth and dropped her third nap. She converted from the scoot crawl to crawling on all fours and celebrated her first Fourth of July.

    And every day, we see more and more of her sweetest little heart overflowing in her budding personality. Babies.Are.So.Much.Fun!!!!!!

    They both wanted to have a water gun fight, and this was my solution :).

    First Swim

    We enrolled both the kids in swim lessons, which was a SUPER fun two weeks! Elliott came so far and Selah…well, Selah loves to splash and lick the water off her chin :). But it was a fun family activity and I’m so glad we did it!

    Sportin’ the hoody and matchin’ the mommy.
    She loved playing drums on the edge of the pool!
    Sweetest face ever…
    Could those lashes possibly be any longer???
    Mmm, I love the taste of this pool water!
    Practicing going under water…Brian blows in baby’s face, Baby makes this face…
    …Baby gets dunked under water and then gets to fly out of the water and breathe in fresh air again!
    Representing the good ol’ US of A in her swim attire…thanks, Grandma and Grandpa for the cute suit!

    She LOVES mirrors…

    Eating…and the Eating Game…

    She eats totally independently now…what a gift for a busy Mama!!

    “Wait…how did you know that my Mommy didn’t feed me lunch?”

    So, I’m still not entirely sure how this little “game” started, but I THINK it was because we were trying to train her out of blowing raspberries at meal times. For some reason, she picked up on how much “fun” that was, and she would just blow raspberries throughout every meal, thus literally blowing raspberries all over the house. (She’s actually never had a real raspberry…but you get the point :)). So I think–in order to get her fixated on something other than that, I started puffing air out of my nose when she would do the raspberry thing. Well, somehow or another, she started this little game where she would pout her bottom lip out and blow out of her nose…and it became the CUTEST, and CLEANEST, new game to play at meal times :).

    Cutest.Game.Ever.
    How can you resist that face?
    I know…you can’t!

     

    CONSTANTLY on the move…

    She’s started crawling on all fours instead of scooting/pulling herself along the floor. This, as you can imagine, has made her much faster at getting around! And her determination with play time hasn’t slowed down, either.

    She loves this little ball popper toy, and has officially figured out how to use it this month!
    “Look how BIG I am, Mommy! I tower over this barn and school house!”

    Look at these cute pies!

    Sitting on their baby blankets that Nonna crocheted for each of them!
    Brian was training Selah here: “Selah, just do this when a boy tries to come near you. Got that? Good!”
    “Daddy, don’t you know that I only have eyes for YOU anyway??”

    First Fourth of July!

    The Moberg 4 on the 4th
    Hanging out with Daddy…
    …which, of course, fills her with joy.
    No, Selah, you WAVE the flag, not EAT the flag!
    I was trying to pose her standing up against this stool, but she INSISTED on knocking it over every time, ha!!
    “See, Mom? Isn’t the stool cuter like this?”
    Happy 4th of July!

    Peekaboo!

    And the day after she turned 9 months, she just started playing Peekaboo with me all on her own…CUTEST BABY EVER :).

     

     


     

    Happy 9 months, dear Selah Bean!!

     

     

     

     

  • Selah B, 8 months (WHAT?!!)

    Selah B, 8 months (WHAT?!!)

    You know when you’re on the first part of a roller coaster? And you slow-l-l-l-y creep, creep, creep you’re way up to the top? It’s exhilarating and exciting…so much anticipation builds in you as you slowly climb up, up, up. But it’s calm. It’s slow paced.

    That’s what the first 5 months of having a baby is like for me. Like I said, for me, the first 5 months are a breeze! I mean, come on–all they do is sit there!! But then they hit that 6 month mark and, I am telling you…it’s like the moment your car rolls over the peak of that roller coaster, and life gets REAL up in here!!!

    Cr-o-s-s-ing the 6 month mark…and holding my breath…

     

    All within 5 days (the week after turning 7 months), our little Selah Bean got her first two teeth (FINALLY), had her first several vomiting experiences (SO SAD), started walking herself along the edges of things (IT STARTS…), started pulling herself up onto furniture (BINS, COUCHES, TABLES, ANYTHING IN REACH!) and learned how to climb up a step (TIME FOR A BABY GATE!). This girl is EVERYWHERE. I can’t believe how fast she moves, and she still pulls herself everywhere with her arms rather than doing the traditional “crawl”.

    7 MONTHS:  She-e-e-e’s…CRAWLING and EATING REAL FOOD!!!!! Weeeeee!!
    8 MONTHS: She’s CRAWLING FAST and EATING REAL FOOD and PULLING UP ONTO EVERYTHING and CLIMBING STAIRS and WALKING HERSELF ALONG FURNITURE!!! OH YES, and EATING SMALL CHOKE-ABLE OBJECTS!!!!
    THE REST OF HER LIFE: And it will only get wilder from here on out 🙂

    But seriously, this girl is the essence of sugar and spice. The SUH-WEEE-TEST, SPIE-SEE-EST little thang that you’ve ever met. And oh, how we adore every square inch of who she is. Well, here she is…my big 8 month old girl!!!!

    She walked her lil’ spicy self from the table to the couch all by herself!
    She climbs…
    …over…
    …everything in sight…
    And even taught herself…
    …to joyfully…
    …climb up stairs. She wants it, she goes after it, no matter what obstacle is in the way. In this case, “it” was a coat rack.
    “Yes, Mom? Is there a problem? Why are you running towards me so quickly?”

    She started pulling herself up…and now pulls herself up onto EVERYTHING… 🙂

    “Oh, hey Mom! Watcha doin’ up there on the couch??”

     

    “Now how do I actually DRIVE this thing?”
    “Um, mom…could you give me a hand? I can pull myself up, but I don’t know how to get down yet!!”

     

    Until the next week, when she learned how to get down, too!

    This is where Selah usually camps out…she LOVES the backyard, and will just sit here, staring out the window like a little puppy until I let her out.
    “Can I go outside, Mama?”
    “Not right now? That’s okay. I’ll just squish my face up against the glass and dream.”
    …and…back down!

     

    She LOVES BEING OUTSIDE!

    Can you tell who taught her what the coolest toy to play with is?
    My sunshine.

     

    She also LOVES…

    …cabinets…
    …chairs…
    …drawers…
    …t.v… (When both the kids had the stomach flu, I turned on a show for Elliott and it was the first time Selah had ever seen one! She was MESMORIZED, cocked her head to the side, and just STARED…)
    …and I mean LOVES making the “raspberry” sound…it is HER FAVORITE…
    …chewing on Elliott’s shoes… (I know, I know…we’re working on it…)
    …AND, my feet.
    She seriously can’t get enough of my feet.

     

    She got her very first two teeth!

    “Whew, Mom! That was a LOT of work for just two teeth!!”

    And I started giving her REAL food… and, unlike her big bro, she picked it up quite well, and LOVES feeding herself…

    “So I just pick these little things up and eat them? No problem. But how do I eat this Puff on the back of my wrist??”
    She couldn’t pick up cut up banana chunks so I just gave her half a banana…
    Only a little gagging…
    “Hmm, the question is, ‘Do I LIKE this?’”
    “Yeah…this is cool.”

     She had some very special play dates this month:

    Special friend Stella flew in all the way from Tacoma!!!
    Here is Olivia! And the three of them started the “Big Blue Eyes Club”!

    She adores her big brother, who also adores her. She follows him EVERYWHERE and wants to be EVERYWHERE that he is. Good thing that Elliott’s greatest thrill in life is being chased!!

    This is the best summary of our days. Selah chases, Elliott squeals and runs (or drives) away. And she goes AFTER him. Maybe that’s how she got so fast at moving?!!!
    She wants to be next to him…
    …under him…

     

    …over him…
    (“Don’t mind me, Selah. Just a minor repair. Safety first!”)
    …on a stroll with him…
    …with him all the time!
    Sing with me: “So happy to-gether!!”
    Elliott usually finishes dinner first, and so when he’s through he runs around like crazy playing. She ALWAYS twists around like this so she can watch his every move.
    But he usually can’t be that far away from her for very long, so he’ll pull up a chair and chat with her while she finishes… MELT.MY.HEART.INTO.FOUR.BILLION.PIECES.

    Happy 8 months, my sweet little Selah Bethany. You light up our lives.

    Oh, my Sugar…
    …and oh, my Spice…
    …you make EVERYTHING so incredibly NICE!!
    BEST ROLLER COASTER RIDE I’VE EVER BEEN ON!!!!!!

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Selah B, 7 months

    Selah B, 7 months

    Seven months old. Unbelievable.

    Infants are so easy, and then they have to go and cross the 6 month mark and get all complicated! 🙂 Once they hit 6 months they start eating, they start crawling, they start becoming ANOTHER CHILD, rather than just a baby. One more mouth to feed during mealtimes, one more kid to chase after, one more little person to train… THIS is where having two kids starts to get REAL.

    Oh, Selah B…how do I love thee?? Well, let me count the ways…

    1. Play

    Selah just LIGHTS up when Elliott is near. They’ve really been playing together this month. Here is one of Elliott’s favorite games to play…bring as MANY TOYS AS POSSIBLE to Selah :).
    And then, of course, HE takes a turn :).
    Here is her other favorite playmate…the mirror!
    “Well she looks like a fun friend! Let me get a closer look.”
    “Mama, I want to be friends with her forever!”
    “What? Did I do something?”

     

    2. Laugh

     

    He just makes her laugh…
    …SO HARD!!!

     

     This is our lives…EVERY.DAY. 

    3. Stand

    She is SO HAPPY when we set her up to stand at her play table! SO.HAPPY.

     

    4. Dance

     

     

     

    5. Eat

    After begging and pleading with me, I finally allowed her to start some solids…

    Avocado was NOT her favorite…

     

    “Mom, I think we need to have a talk.”

    6. Move

    For a couple weeks, she would go into “push-up” position while on her tummy. Just toes and hands touching the ground. And then she learned how to get herself into the “moving” position…

    “i really want that balloon.”
    “…but I can’t reach it.”

     

    “OHHH…so THIS is how you go from a sit to a crawl! That was exhilarating!!”
    “Look at me! Look at me!!”

    Her very first “movement” was a crawl, but she hasn’t really “crawled” in the typical sense of the word since. But boy, does she MOVE! She mostly pulls herself with her arms to get around. And wowsers! She is ALL OVER THE PLACE.

    7. Explore

    With moving, comes exploring! She got to experience grass for the first time at the McCabe’s house!

    “Now what is THIS? It looks more interesting than that food my Mom is feeding me…”
    “Mom, is this dessert??”

    8. Chat

    This month, she has started having conversations with us! I love it!! Her favorite word is “Bap” but she also likes, Mamama, Bababa, and the raspberry sound. One night at dinner, she and Elliott had an entire conversation like this for a good 10 minutes. IT.WAS.ADORABLE. We only caught a few seconds of it on camera, but at least you get a glimpse of the cuteness factor!!!

     

     

    9. Total and utter cuteness…

    “We love our coordinating outfits from Auntie Melisa!!”
    Simply adored.
    My delight.
    “He-ey!!”
    The eyes!
    The wink!
    The lashes!
    I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight for the ends of Being and ideal Grace…

    Happy 7 months, my darling, precious, standing, dancing, moving, eating, laughing, babbling bundle of joy!!!

     

     

     

     

  • Mmm, mmm…gooood???

    Mmm, mmm…gooood???

    I dread starting solids. Solids makes everything about infants WAY more complicated. You start solids and suddenly they’re applying for college. Not my favorite. 🙁

    I delayed as long as I could, but I could tell Selah was starting to need more to eat in a day. So, at about 6 and 1/2 months, we finally took the plunge. We decided to start with carrots…

    “Ooh! That looks different…and quite yummy!”

     

    “WHOA! Mama, I think you’ve made a big, BIG mistake!!”
    “Bleh! That DOES NOT seem edible!”
    “I mean, seriously! Should I spit this out? What’s going to happen if I swallow??!!”
    “Let me get this out of mouth!”
    “I think my tongue’s on fire.”
    “I’ll eat this instead. Yes, this tastes MUCH better.”
    “Whew! Well, glad THAT’S over…”

     

     

     

  • More DA MORE!!!

    More DA MORE!!!

    Elliott’s very first real word was, “more.” He had been saying “Mama” and “Dada,” but “more” was the first word that he used in context and consistently. And other than, “Uh-oh,” it is still his favorite word. When he’s especially passionate, he doesn’t just say, “more,” he yells, “More DA MORE!!!”

    He uses it all the time, in every scenario you can possibly think of.

    I’ll never forget one of the first times we were at Sea World watching the dog show (dogs are HIS FAVORITE). The “Who let them dawgs out” song blasted loudly as dogs of every type sprinted out from behind stage and into view, running to the beat of the music. I looked at Elliott and said with expectation: “Big guy!! Do you see all the dogs?!?! Aren’t they so cool?!!!”

    “MORE!” he insisted, bluntly and impatiently.

    This is–literally–how ALL of our conversations go:

    “Elliott, did you have fun playing with your friend?”

    “More!”

    “Elliott, did you like going to the zoo?”

    “More!”

    “Elliott, was that a yummy special treat that you had?”

    “More!”

    Elliott, you did so great throwing that ball!

    “MORE!!”

    “Elliott, are you grateful that we got to take a special airplane ride??!!”

    “More DA MORE!”

    He is simply not able to truly enjoy or appreciate the present because he’s always looking to the future, and he wants to make it very clear that we know that he wants more of that thing that he loves.

    And my heart breaks. Doesn’t he know that I long to give him “MORE”? Doesn’t he know that it fills my heart with utmost joy to lavish him with good things? Doesn’t he know that I want to spend the rest of my life giving him good gifts, whether the form of those gifts looks like special play dates, balls, a chance to serve, or every-once-in-a-while–sugar?! Doesn’t he know that his daddy has to literally hold me back from buying every thing I see in Target that I know will bless him???

    But mostly, the state of his heart breaks mine because he reminds me so much of me, and my heart towards my Father.

    Sometimes when I am really, really, really grateful for something, a sneaky lie creeps its way into my mind and quickly tries to convince me that that something will be taken away. So as a result, I cannot fully celebrate gifts or the ones whom I love because of this little lie that they will probably be snatched from my hands. It is a rotten trick, but nonetheless it has been trying to persuade me to grab hold of its false comfort every since I can remember. “If you don’t embrace it too much, it won’t be as hard on your heart when it’s taken away…”

    I remember being a little girl and not being able to fall asleep some nights because I was so afraid that my parents were going to die. One specific night when I was about 4 years old, I cried and cried one night in bed until I finally ran to my mom for solace. And I don’t remember anything that she said, but I clearly remember what she did. She scooped me up, sat me on her lap, held me close, and rocked me. What brought peace? Not promises of what the future would hold, but the comfort and security of my mama’s love.

    Fear robs. It robs from me. It robs from us. My God is not a God whom I should look upon with fear, because there is, simply, “no fear in love,” (1 John 4:18) and He is all-consuming Love. My God is not a God who tells me that I should live in fear, because He has “not given us a spirit of fearfulness” (2 Timothy 1:7).

    It’s difficult to put into words how grateful I am for all that the Lord has given me in this simple life I lead. It is not glamorous or easy, but it is perfect. Perfect because of the ones I get to do this crazy life with.  He’s given me a husband who adores me and lays his life down for me. Children who bring me more delight than I ever could have imagined possible. Friends who love us. Family who takes care of us.  Yet as I approached my 31st birthday, and I examined the state of my heart, all I could honestly find was, “More DA MORE!!!” I don’t want more things, I don’t want more money. I simply want more time with the ones that I love. More days with my daughter, more days with my son, more days with my very best friend who has added such a tremendous amount of joy in the last few years that he has loved me. I want more giggles with my Selah and more tickles with my Elliott. I want more games of “Get you!” and more rides on the swings. I want more soccer and I want more tea parties.

    And, of course, all of that is GOOD! It’s good for me to want more time with my family instead of less! It is good for me to miss my husband like CUH-RAZY when he hasn’t even been away from me for 24 hours. But it’s not good when there’s fear robbing from my gratitude. It’s not good when I am so concerned about what tomorrow may or may not bring that I can’t fully, fully value and enjoy today. 

    Colossians 3:15 says, “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts…and be thankful.” Don’t you love how the “peace of God” precedes thankfulness? I do. Not peace from financial security. Not peace from a known future. Not peace from the guarantee of prosperity. No, what brings peace? The comfort and security of my Father’s love. I love that it is only because I am at peace with Him, at peace with His love for me, that I have the ability to be thankful.

    Peace from His perfect love, which covers and fills me. The peace of God.

    Because of THIS: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11).

    Ahhh, peace. HE longs to GIVE me more…more than I can fathom. Sometimes I think of Elliott and how little he really understands about the world. To him, Heaven would be a ball pit filled with every type of sports ball that there is. And while that does sound great, 🙂 he doesn’t even know…oh, he has no idea of the incredible joys that will be made known to him as he grows…the incredible gifts just around the corner. He, like me, literally cannot fathom what MORE there is to come. And that’s okay. I only desire for him to take great delight in the gifts and treasures of today, and simply trust that I long to give him more.

    So this year, I desire MORE. More understanding of God’s love for me. More revelation of how much he lavishes me in love. More trust that He desires to give me good gifts. More peace in my heart that allows me to be filled with real gratitude..

    Real gratitude for DA MORE…

    More play dates at the park with my son, throwing balls, climbing high and swinging hard.

    My morning birthday buddy.

     

    More special treats at a cute little coffee shop, reading books together in a new, fun place.

    Because SOMEONE’S gotta treat this birthday girl to a latte with whipped cream the size of her face when Daddy’s out of town!!

     

    More HUMONGOUS, MEDAL-WORTHY tantrums thrown upon leaving said cute little coffee shop, if it means that I get to be the one to train and shape my son into becoming a godly, wise, filled-with-self-control man.

    (No picture available. I’ll leave the scene of me trying to get him into his car seat while screaming, crying, and flailing next to a busy road up to your imagination.) 🙂

    More scraped up knees and bloody faces if it means we were playing a rousing and hilarious game of “who can get the ball first?”

    But you shoulda seen the other guy…

     

    More special birthday outfits of yoga pants and maternity t-shirts (not because I’m pregnant! Only to hide my post partum belly!) because my crying, wounded son’s pee leaked completely through his diaper and onto my much-cuter, pre-blood and pee clothes while I was consoling him.

    Well, at least I was showered when he peed on me!

     

    More snuggles and kisses from my baby girl, who was so excited for my birthday today that she woke up earlier than she has in 4 months so we could start celebrating during the 5am hour…

    Worth EVERY extra minute of missed sleep.

     

    More ribbons and bows from my teething, fussy, adorable little blue-eyed beauty!

    “If you’ll just let me chew on this spoon, I’ll stop crying.”

     

    More laughter and love from this perfect face …

    Elliott is entertaining her; can you tell she simply adores him??

     

    More fun treats that bring the perfect end to hilarious days…

    Wine. Birthday cake. Mint chocolate chip ice cream. Pikes Peak. Yes, please.

     

    More, more, MORE of my handsome, strapping husband. More emails and text messages and phone calls from the love of my life, who has lavished me with celebration today, even from thousands of miles away.  Who lavishes me with celebration every day, loving me and exhorting me and encouraging me and spurring me on and fanning me into flame and filling me with truth.

    Mother’s Day

     

    MORE. More DA MORE!! of days and days filled with the peace of my Everlasting God, which drives me to gratefully enjoy the many abundant and perfect gifts that He has lavished upon me.

    Happy 31st birthday to me!! And may I have many MORE DA MORE!! 🙂