The Moberg Family

Author: Susanne

  • Thankful…still!

    This post is a little late, but since we’re STILL thankful, I figured it would be okay to post a post-Thanksgiving post :). (How many times and different ways can YOU use “post” in a sentence?)

    We had a very unique Thanksgiving this year! The staff wanted to celebrate, despite the fact that we were in a country that doesn’t recognize the holiday. The only problem? No one knew how to cook a turkey. So the Mobergs, turkey extraordinaires, spoke up and volunteered to cook the turkey for the staff and the Dominican family of 5 who would be joining us.

    We prepped the turkey and put it into the oven.

    Brian, Elliott, and me preparing the turkey

    Then we went for a swim!

    …because what else do you do while the turkey is cooking?
    My little turkey shark 🙂

    And then we got ready to eat!

    Carving the turkey!

    We made the juicy turkey, bomb mashed potatoes, and boat loads of gravy. And–THANKFULLY–it all turned out quite deliciously!!

    Our plates! Mmmm!!

    And here we all are, sooo stuffed!!!

    The Crew (Danny & Danae, we miss you!)

    This was our…

    …first Thanksgiving with our sweet baby Elliott!

    …first Thanksgiving in a foreign country.

    …first Thanksgiving where we went for a swim outside while the turkey cooked.

    …first Thanksgiving where it was hot enough to wear a skirt to dinner.

    …first Thanksgiving eating with a group of strangers who we now call friends!

    Happy late Thanksgiving to you!

  • You know you’re a missionary in YWAM San Pedro when…

    I wrote this for a newsletter for the YWAM base here and thought I’d share it! All of them apply to Brian and me except for the first one… Enjoy!

    You know you’re a missionary in YWAM San Pedro when…

    -you can say you’ve built 9 homes for 9 families who didn’t have one before you arrived.

    -it’s a normal part of your week to bring love and the Word of God to a group of Haitian refugees.

    -your cool-down at the end of a long, hard day is jumping into the glorious pool in your front yard.

    -driving a vehicle on the local roadways no longer has clear, uniform rules…it’s more of a free-for-all sport.

    -a long, wooden stick with a hook at the end doesn’t remind you of Captain Hook, but rather makes your mouth water for the delicious coconut it’s about to knock down.

    -bug spray serves as your perfume or cologne.

    -your room registers at 82 degrees Fahrenheit and you comment on how cool it is.

    -the beautiful Caribbean Ocean is only a 10 minute walk away.

    -you find yourself playing “Where’s Waldo” throughout the day with the chameleons that scamper about.

    -you have learned the mastery of speaking in short sentences because everything you say has to be translated.

    -the smile on a child’s face and the embrace of a warm hug is more-than-enough to transcend every language barrier.

  • He’s not a baby in a cradle anymore…

    He’s not a baby in a cradle anymore…

    On Elliott’s 8 month birthday (November 20), he woke us up bright and early (as has become tradition ever since living in the Dominican Republic) at 5 am. How did he wake us up? Not by crying. But by standing up in his crib, walking himself around 2 corners and 3 sides to get to the side parallel to our bed, pulled the blanket out that we tuck underneath the mosquito net so he can’t see through the side of his crib (so if he wakes up early and we’re not ready to get him, he won’t see us), and peered his beautiful blue eyes which were brimming with a huge smile over his neon green pack n’ play.

    Like this:

    “Good morning! Happy 8 month birthday to me!”

    And the line from a Misty Edward’s song rang through my head with slightly different lyrics: “He’s not a baby in a cradle anymore…”

    I can’t believe how much Elliott has grown up. I can’t believe how much more we love him with every glance. I’m still not quite sure how we got the most incredible baby boy ever created, but I don’t even ask…I just thank God every single time I set my eyes upon my Elliott, every single time he comes to mind, every single time I get to hold him & hug him, laugh with him & play with him, read to him & sing to him…

    He has certainly grown up this month! Elliott has accomplished so much in his 8 months of life!

    elliott has now been to three different countries!

    The good ol’ US of A, Mexico, and now the Dominican Republic! This is us at the airport, about to get onto a red eye flight to Miami, where we laid over for a couple hours and then hopped on over to Santo Domingo.

    Getting a little sleep before hopping onto the plane…
    …and waking up and getting a little play time before hopping on a plane 🙂
    This is the sign that greeted us upon our arrival
    I think Elliott looks just like the Dominican child, don’t you?

     

    waving

    So, I”m not quite ready to say that he’s entirely waving on purpose, but it sure does seem like he is! For a few months he’s had this habit of hitting something over and over with his right hand…he loves discovering things like that. But just in this last month, he’s been doing that same motion in more of a “wave” right when he greets someone. Here he was “waving” at me while playing with one of his new bffs, Jose Luis.

    “He-ey!”

     

    elliott has mastered the art of pulling himself up onto everything & playing on tile floors

    I’ll be honest…the tile floors FREAKED me out when we first got here…Elliott had just learned to crawl a few days before we got here and so I was terrified we were going to end up in the ER in need of stitches. But–it’s been so incredible to see how well he’s learned how to move, and how much more in control of his body he is! We rearranged our room so he could have a fairly big space to crawl around without too many sharp corners and laid a mattress down on the ground so he’d have a padded place to play, too. He climbs up (and down!) on the mattress with incredible ease…I am so impressed. 🙂

     favorites

    Elliott’s starting to have “favorites”…which, of course, are mostly the things that are not ACTUALLY toys! He’s also started carrying his toys with him everywhere he goes. I think it’s the cutest…he crawls and climbs with his toys in hand, and if he drops one, he always goes back to get it…

    He loves…

    this empty water bottle
    this hanger
    this ziplock bag (and his teething ring)
    all drawstrings, shoelaces, etc.

    Not pictured is one of his very favorites: a used package of wipes. What can I say? The kid loves plastic. Some of his favorite “real” toys are…

    his phone
    his keys
    his ducky ring set

     

    “mowgli”

    I’ve been calling Elliott “Mowgli” this month because he walks just like him! Isn’t this hilarious? I think it could be because of the tile floors, but who knows…

    Will the real Mowgli please stand up?

    Elliott “Mowgli” Moberg

     

    laughing

    I think I might say this every month 🙂 but one of my favorite parts of this month is just laughing with Elliott…Ahh, it’s the best!! I think he has the best sense of humor! The other day he was crawling under the desk and “hiding” so I was playing hide and seek with him and he just thought he was the funniest creature on earth every time he’d “hide” himself under the desk and I”d “find” him. We play so many fun games like that all day long…it is the best. We laugh so hard every day!!

    One of Elliott’s favorite “laughing friends” is Jose Luis…I’ve never seen Elliott laugh as quickly and naturally with anyone like he does with Jose Luis. It is so fun to watch Elliott make new friends!

    laughing with Dad

     

    first minor accident

    It was bound to happen eventually, right? Elliott was playing on the floor like usual and I think he just got ahead of himself and went face-first into the tile ground. He only cried for a few seconds, but as I pulled his head away from my shoulder after comforting him I saw this HUGE fat lip…so sad :(. It’s pretty hard to see in this picture, but look at the right half of his upper lip…little puffy lip :(. It was back to normal the next day. 🙂

    new teeth!

    For sure impossible to get a picture of it, but Elliott got his third and fourth teeth! He got his right and left incisor. The top two middle teeth are showing through the gums so they can’t be too far behind!

    He continues to chew on EVERYTHING…

     

    random fun

    And fnally, a few of my favorite cute pictures from this month…

    driving lesson

    Happy 8 months, my sweet, sweet boy. 

  • Welcome to the Caribbean!

    Several weekends ago, we took Elliott to swim and play at the beach for the first time! The YWAM base is a quick 10 minute walk from the beach…glory.

    And…!

    He hated it. Literally, hated it. Poor kid :(. He was terrified of the sand.

    Baby Shark was not a big fan of the sand…

    So, he took a nap with Dad while I played in the ocean with friends.

    Seriously now, could anything possibly be more darling??

    Then he joined me in the ocean:

    Now there's a little smile!

    He loved splashing in the ocean, but just really hated the wet sand…we even tried again after his nap! But we went back the next week and he had a blast playing in the dry sand…so…baby steps. Baby shark steps!

    Baby Shark, Mama Shark, Daddy Shark

     

     

  • Meet the Staff!

    MEET THE STAFF!

    Malcolm


    Malcolm is the leader of this base and is originally from England. He is a genius when it comes to strategy and logistical details. He has been serving in missions for over 18 years and personally recruited every staff member to pioneer this base! 

    Danny & Danae

    Danny and Danae were the first two staff members we met because they picked us up from the airport! Danae is originally from Olympia, which is a cool connection, and Danny is originally from Mexico. Danae has an incredible gift with kids (Elliott LIGHTS UP as soon as Danae walks into the room) and Danny is our amazing cook!

    Johally, Mitch & Keira (Kiki)
    Johally and Mitch have beautiful Kiki who lights up the base with her hilarious faces and super adorable personality. Johally and Mitch have been extremely influential here already, and have made some incredible connections with families and churches here in the Dominican Republic. They have a passion to do counseling type work with married couples. Kiki loves Elliott so much–so much so that she calls both Brian and me “Elliott.” I have to get a recording of the way she says Elliott because there may not be anything cuter in the entire world…
    Adrienne & Joe
    Adrienne and Joe are dating, and this is their dog Tormenta. She got lost during a bad storm and they found her when she was just 2 weeks old. Adrienne is an incredibly talented woman of God who is passionate about discipling and walking with women, teaching kickboxing classes, and empowering others with vision to run into their callings. Joe is an extremely loyal and faithful friend who powerfully encourages others and gleans awesome revelations from the Word of God. And, they are pretty darn cute together, aren’t they? 🙂


    Sthefany & Rafaelito

    Sthefany feeds Elliott his dinner every night :).


    Rafaelito & Sthefany live on this property with us. Their dad Rafael is the property caretaker (I don’t have a picture of him). They L-O-V-E Elliott! They come running when they see him and scoop him out of my arms. He loves the attention and having “a brother and sister” to play with him all the time. Sthefany feeds him his dinner every night, and is eager to help with him in every way she can. They don’t speak English, so I get to practice my Spanish with them all the time! They teach me lots of new words every day.

    Jose Luis
    Jose Luis is not officially staff here, but he volunteers here every so often. He is Dominican, and another fun person to practice speaking Spanish with. He was here the entire first week that we were here, so we all got to know him well. I have rarely seen Elliott laugh as hard as he does when he plays with Jose Luis. Jose Luis is a kind, tender, caring guy who serves and loves everyone around him all the time. 

  • It Could Be a lot Worse…

    Preface: This post is not for the faint of heart.
    ***

    Thank you for joining me for today’s episode of “It Could Be a Lot Worse.”

    Whenever I’m miserable, I always try to think of a way I could be more miserable, and it usually helps me take off my grumpy pants pretty quickly and move into gratitude. (As evidenced in a post I wrote over a year ago: The Journey to Mazatlan.)

    My mosquito bites are making me miserable*.

    If you’re ever in the mood to practice self control, fly yourself on over to the DR and shake hands with a few mosquitoes. And then after they have venomously sucked your blood and left dozen of marks on their new-found territory (aka, your epidermis), try not to scratch the bites. In fact, cut your fingernails so you can’t scratch the bites. So there you have it–the world’s most challenging lesson in self control.

    I know you’re going to think this must be an exaggeration, but I literally have WELL over 100 mosquito bites. I counted about a two weeks ago and I was at 79. By mid-morning of the next day I had at least 30 more. I’m sure I’m nearing 200, but I figured I’d estimate low for my sanity (and yours).

    So as miserable as I’ve been having all of these mosquitoes CONSTANTLY swarming around my body, the moment I start to get so annoyed that I’m tempted to cuss, (yes, I am actually that aggravated with them) I just think to myself, “This could be a lot worse. I could be warding off poisonous spiders at every turn…ugh….now that would be a lot worse.”

    And suddenly the sting of the mosquito itch bothers me a lot less. The buzzing of the mosquito wings makes me much less batty. And…here it comes: the the nuisance of my mosquito companions actually drives me toward gratitude. I mean, if I have to pick a battle, I would pick it with almost anything that has any number of legs OTHER than 8.

    So that brings us to the other night when we were all sitting around in the common area and Joe looks at me and says, “So have you seen a tarantula yet?”

    I’m pretty sure time came to a screeching halt, the earth quit rotating, and the moon quit illuminating light. I stared back at Joe blankly, “Excuse me?”

    “Have you seen a tarantula yet?”

    “I’m sorry…WHAT? You’re kidding me, right?”

    “No, not at all.” Joe says quite bluntly with his usual matter-of-fact way of communicating.

    I glanced at Adrienne, Joe’s girlfriend, to confirm whether or not he was pulling one of my mosquito-laden legs. “He’s right…” she said with an apologetic smile.

    “You only see them every once in a while,” he calmly explained.

    “How big are they?” I probed.

    With that, Joe kind of smiled and held his hands together to form a circle with about a 7” diameter.

    “You’re kidding me.”

    “Not at all,” Joe laughed.

    And that brings us to the next evening. It was a cool night (and what I mean by that is, I only had a thin layer of sweat covering me rather than beads of sweat dripping from every square inch of my body) so Brian decided to take a swim and I dangled my feet in the water beneath the moonlight to try and cool off my itchy legs that were burning as if they had literally been set on fire.

    The security guard was walking his normal rounds when suddenly he picked up his speed and was clearly concerned about something. With alarm, he started rushing toward something. His eyes were focused on the ground in an open grassy area so I was never concerned for a moment that there was an intruder or anything like that. I followed his gaze to the ground which is when I saw this large shadow scurrying across the grass. I would recognize that eight-legged trot if I were blind-folded in a dark room–it was totally a spider.

    No, wait. It wasn’t “a spider”.

    IT WAS THE WORLD’S LARGEST 8-LEGGED CREATURE THAT I HAD EVER SET MY EYES UPON.

    It was a mammoth. And my conversation with Joe came flooding back to my mind as I realized I was face-to-face with a tarantula.

    Well…when I say “face-to-face,” I mean from 50 feet away. But do you realize how BIG a spider would have to be for me to see it in the DARK from 50 feet away? So though we were 50 feet away, I was practically face-to-face with him. And it was positively the most disgusting face I have ever seen.

    I bet you want to know what happens next, don’t you? Well the security guard takes the stock of his gun, lifts it high above his head, and starts slamming it against the monster over and over and over again until he was satisfied that it was dead. I was laughing and cringing with every blow. He then scooped it onto the barrel of the gun and again, from 50 feet away in the dark I could see the silhouette of its EIGHT, GIANT, FURRY, THICK legs dangling over his gun as he carried it off the property.

    Whelp, I suppose it’s time to play another round of, “It could be a lot worse…” 

    * “Miserable” is defined as: “We are loving our time here in the Dominican Republic, but are hating the mosquitoes that pervade every aspect of our lives!” But it was much more satisfying and took up a lot less space to just write, “miserable.” 🙂

  • Home is Where You Hang Your Mosquito Net

    Home is Where You Hang Your Mosquito Net

    Estamos aqui, afuera de Santo Domingo, La Republica Dominicana!

    For all you English speakers, I just said: Here we are, just outside of Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic!

    This is the sign that welcomed us just after we got through customs…Ahhh, we’re finally here!!!! 



    Still can’t picture where we are? Let me help you.

    Here is the bottom half of the good ol’ US of A and Central America.

    Can you see Haiti and the Dominican Republic over there on the right? Just north of Venezuela, and just southeast of Florida?

    Here is a close-up of the island. Haiti on the left, the Dominican Republic (or, “the DR”) on the right:

    Here is a close-up of the DR):

    Do you see just east of Santo Domingo, it says, “San Pedro”? Well, that’s where we are!!
    So…yes, here we are. And WHO are WE, you might ask? We are the Mexican Mobergs. We are the Mexican-two adults, one baby, six bags, one car seat, 50 lbs of baby food, and over 200 mosquito bites between the two of us-Mobergs. 
    This is our home for a total of 6 weeks. 
    The property is beautiful.
    I took this right after a storm…cool, eh?
    The people are lovely, the weather is HOT and HUMID, the sky is crystal clear (except when it’s not…like in all these photos…haha).
    And the mosquitoes are the most awful creatures in the existence of existing. They are the bane of my existence.
    How disgusting is this? You can count 13 mosquito bites on my leg and foot JUST from this one view. (It’s kind of hard to see but there are 5 on the right side of my foot alone.) Everyone says there’s an “initiation” week, and then your blood adjusts or something and it gets better. However, we’re on day 11 and they are FO’ SURE still biting the heck out of me. All I do all day long is put on mosquito repellent, but still they find me… :/
    And now for a little tour. The property is one big rectangle.
    Here is the first half of the rectangle, looking at the front gate from our balcony:
    The villa to the left of the gate has the office, community room, and kitchen on the first floor, and then it has two bedrooms upstairs. 
    Here is a view of the second half, looking at it from the gate:
    The Villa on the left is where our room is. The single guys stay in the villa to the right.
    A close-up of our villa! Our room is in the upper left part. So the window that’s open on the far upper left is our window.  And the balcony that’s to the right of the window is our balcony. We share our villa with Danae & Danny and Adrienne. We share a bathroom with Danae & Danny.
    Here is a picture of our room, mosquito net and all…
    Elliott’s pack ‘n play is equipped with his very own mosquito net! YEAH!

    The only problem with sleeping in the same room as Elliott is that now I want to take pictures of him even when he’s sleeping!! So here are a couple of my favorite sleeping shots, through his mosquito net:
    Elliott rarely falls asleep on his back, so when he does I just think it’s the cutest! And, seriously now–could his outfit possibly be any cuter?!
    Stay tuned for a “Meet the Staff” post!!

  • Dreams

    “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12

     

    I grew up with dreams.

    And I am convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that my dreams are from God. That He, the Author and Perfecter of my faith, planted these dreams in my heart long before I knew what the word “dream” meant, and He–and only He–is the One in charge of fulfilling them.

    There are so many “itty bitty” dreams that my Creator has knowingly crafted and accomplished in my life, but here I want to reflect on four of the “big” ones. (Note: I must put the size of these dreams in quotes because really, is anything “big” or “small” for our God?! With a spoken word, every part of creation was crafted into being…I can’t think of a more simple “act” on God’s part and yet with that, he created the greatest of all complexities!)

    Ever since I can remember remembering, I’ve always dreamed of being a teacher. Not sure where that came from…neither of my parents were teachers by trade, although they are both quite gifted in teaching. I remember sitting in school (as early as first grade) thinking, “Wow, my teacher is doing a great job of teaching me…I should write down everything she is doing so I can teach this well when I grow up.” Every grade I attended became my new favorite and thus the grade that I wanted to teach when I grew up.

    Somewhere along the line, I became passionate about Mexico. And little Mexican children. Definitely not sure where that came from… But I knew I had to learn Spanish, and it wasn’t until my freshmen year of high school that I was finally able to take a course. And I immediately fell in love with the language that I apparently had a natural knack for. And meanwhile I dreamed of living in Mexico one day, doing mission work and teaching little kids how to speak English.

    I went to college to pursue my teaching degree and finished with a bachelors in Education, endorsements in Spanish and Elementary Education and a minor in Teaching English as a Second Language. Perfect set up to pursue my dream. Not long after graduating, I was offered a job teaching at a Language Immersion School in Tacoma…and I remember blinking several times as the job fell into my lap…Really? Really? Could this really be happening? So many parts of my dream are coming true…

    Ever since I was a little girl, I have dreamed of marrying a prince who would adore me and cherish me and love me forever. I remember when Brian led me by my hand to the boat that was supposed to take us to a job site he was called to in the middle of a date we were on, and saw the gorgeous pink flowers and the perfectly wrapped presents inside and suddenly there I was again…in my dream. I was floating through a dream, watching Brian lead me across the dock and down the steps into the boat. And I heard myself say, “Wait, was is this?” And I saw my brain ticking…It’s not quite my birthday yet, so this can’t be a birthday surprise…and we haven’t picked out a ring yet, so he can’t be proposing…and wait a minute, we’re supposed to be heading to his job site…What is this? And I watched the tender and knowing smile spread across Brian’s face as he told me to sit down while he started the engine… And the dream went on, as a ring was slipped on my finger, as my brother and sister-in-law (who live thousands of miles away) suddenly appeared on the dock of the restaurant where we were to eat lunch, as the woman gave me a beautiful french manicure, as we ate dinner with both sets of our parents, as we drove to Brian’s home where our closest friends were waiting for us and as every day after that passed and my ring was in constant view, secured in a permanent place on my left hand. Really? Really? Could this really be happening? My dream, my prince has finally come? The reality of this dream becoming a reality was almost too much for me to handle…I couldn’t even filter and sort the gazillion thoughts flooding through my head during our engagement season, the night before our wedding day, and as I walked down that aisle towards my prince.

    Ever since I was a little girl, I have dreamed of being a mom. I have just loved “little ones” ever since as I realized that there were “little ones” littler than me. I volunteered in our church’s nursery, read every book in The Babysitter’s Club series, and enrolled in courses to be a certified baby sitter while still in elementary school. I ordered books on fun craft projects with kids and I’d bring them with me when I landed babysitting jobs. About 5 seconds into my teaching career I was ready to apply for my foster care license because I just couldn’t handle the injustice that so many of my students lived under. I wanted to be their mom. I knew I could do a good job, by the grace of God, and I wanted to take them home with me… When Elliott was, after a long hard labor, placed in my arms that Sunday evening, I just wept and couldn’t believe this dream was being realized. Really? Really? Could this really be happening? I have a son…a most perfect son… And not a day has gone by since that I have not been overwhelmed by the goodness of the Lord to give us this perfect baby boy.

    Ever since about 2001, I have dreamed of being called and sent out by God. I have dreamed of being a missionary. I have dreamed of working in an orphanage or working with children and families who are in need. I would read about times when the Lord would call his people in Scripture, and I would beg Him to call me. “The Lord spoke to Joshua…saying, ‘…Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them–the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you…No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your lives; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them…” (Joshua 1). I would read things like that and pray, “Oh God! Would you call me in the same way? Would you give me the land for your Name? Would you be with me, not leave me, not forsake me?” I would read about the destitute in Scripture and the ways that the Lord asks us to take care of them. “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8-9). And I would long to defend the rights of those who cannot speak up for themselves. I longed to be with the broken and the hurting. I longed to bring the love of Jesus to those who were suffering. The words in Isaiah 6 were the cry of my heart: “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” I told the Lord over and over that I promised I would go if He would call. And He has called me various places over the last 10 years. I have been called to my students, I have been called to my colleagues, I have been called to my friends, I have been called “to the least of these,” I have been called to Africa, I have been called to the Eastside of Tacoma, I have been called to my husband, and I have been called to my son.

    And then the Lord called us to Mexico. To do all of the above. All my dreams, colliding into one.

    As is the reality of dreaming–dreams feel so surreal. So real, yet so unreal at the same time. You pinch yourself over and over, blink until there are tears streaming down your face, but again and again you wake up and realize that the dream is, indeed, reality. And so here we are, selling most everything that we own, because we’ve heard him say, “Whom shall I send? Who will go?”

    And we, two children of God on our knees, have blinked and pinched ourselves to the point of realizing that yes, He is asking us to go. And though I think we’ve known in our hearts that this was our call since the moment we heard of the opportunity, we are finally able to audibly say, “Us, Lord! Yes, send us! We will go!”

    And so we strap our little one our back, and we go…We go with the faith that “He who’s promised is faithful,” with the faith that “a longing fulfilled will bring life,” with the faith that, “God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne.”

    Here am I, Lord. Awake, alert, and ready to be sent out into this dream that You have fostered in my heart. Send me, God!

  • 7 Months!

    7 Months!

    There are so many milestones that happen between 6 and 7 months! Elliott started eating solids and has become a super confident mover! He can make his way anywhere he wants to–and quickly at that!

    I’ve been telling new moms the secret to getting their child to crawl: put them in a room where they’re not supposed to touch anything…and they will start crawling!! Elliott’s been up on all fours and moving around since the 6 month mark, but one day I was packing up a room filled with candles, glass vases, sharp objects (things like that) and I set Elliott down and he TOOK OFF! I’ve never seen anything like it! I told Brian he was like a ravenous beast. He was even making these “beast-like” sounds!! It was my first real glimpse of the true BOY in him, and I just loved it. I had never seen him move that fast, and he hasn’t slowed down since…

    I tried to keep the pictures to a minimum this month :). But here are a few of my favorites from October…

    seriously now, could he possible be any cuter?

    favorite faces of the month

    precious face

    sippy cup drama
    We tried the whole sippy cup thing for about 2 days because I read in a book that you’re supposed to (?!) and was so frustrated because all he wanted to do was chew on it, not drink out of it. Thankful for wise mamas who have gone before me to tell me he doesn’t need to be drinking out of a cup yet :). 

    my confident, suave mover of a boy…

    napping game

    Elliott and I play this little game every time I put him down. I lay him on his back in his crib, and he instantly gets this HUGE smile on his face because he knows it’s time for our little game…He flips over on his stomach as fast as he can and I run to the door and peek through it and say, “Goodnight!!” or “Rest well!!” and all kinds of other sweet nothings and he just laughs and laughs for about fifteen seconds and then all of a sudden he’ll throw his head down and start sucking his thumb. That’s when I know he’s really ready for a nap :). So I decided to document it one day…this is as I’m peeking through the door at him…

    “crawling” (ish)
    Here’s a little video to show you a little sampling of how he moves:

    crawling for REALS!

    So, the truth is, I had this post completely written and almost ready to post on the NIGHT of Elliott’s 7 month birthday. I was so impressed with myself. But I needed Brian’s help to upload the last video and, well, it never happened. So now that I’m ready to post it, I’m adding an update!
    When Elliott was exactly 7 months, 3 days old, the little man decided it was time to REALLY start crawling. The awesome thing about that day in particular is that it happens to be the EXACT day that BRIAN started to crawl when HE was a baby! Isn’t that awesome?!
    I caught a quick video of him on my phone the next day.

    Happy 7 month birthday, my little love!!!
  • Adios, Amigos

    Adios, Amigos

    Leaving our family and friends is for sure the hardest part about leaving… We’re going to miss everyone so, so much…
    Adios, familia
    A “Hello, Elliott,” and “Goodbye, Mobergs, etc.” party 🙂
    Adios, amigos
    Lots of friends gathered to say goodbye, Mexican fiesta style.
    Elliott wore this AWESOME hand-me-down from the Hippes! It’s a Mexican soccer jersey!!!
    Elliott’s buddy Tony had on a matching jersey jacket!!
    AND…there was a photo booth at our goodbye party…does it get much cooler than that?

    Adios, mejores amigos
    A few of our friends came together to have a last supper with us. Not the best quality picture ever, but at least we got Duke the surf boarder in the background!