Happy 4th Birthday Elliott Michael Rounce!

Happy birthday.....over a month late.  My sweet first born turned 4 on April 10th.  He was super excited about his birthday as we celebrated it going to the Northwest Train Museum and riding their train!  My social butterfly thought it was the best thing ever as he talked to the conductor and all the other kids riding along.  I don't think I saw him but once or twice the whole ride.  Knowing that he was happy and in his element soothed this mama's heart.  I worry about my son and his sensitive nature, but that is for another post ;)

Now what can I say about my Elliott?  Hmmm...I could fill books and books and never quite get it all down.    He was the beautiful child who made me a mother.  He was a long labor and painful entry due to his deciding to have his hand up by his face....which made my recovery and millions (just a bit of an exaggeration) of stitches incredibly memorable.   It was quite an early introduction to his dynamic personality, as he does love to make an impressive entrance even now. 

My boy had a hard first 6 months of his life.  He had severe reflux and had such a hard time putting any weight on.  We spent a lot of time at the doctors trying to help him keep any food down.  He was on 2 medications for the first year of his life and then at 6 months the doctors at Children's finally prescribed him medical grade formula and our sweet son finally had relief!  I cannot tell you how much this formula helped our little man.  Cameron and I were so thankful that he was finally not in pain!  We could walk into his room without smelling the stomach acid as soon as we crossed the threshold.  We could finally do something that actually helped him!

As soon as his reflux was figured out we began to see our boy and his personality grow and shine.  He was happy and bubbly.  Funny and cuddly!  And temperamental and stubborn and seriously opinionated.   It cannot be said that we have easy going children.  It would be a straight up lie ;) 
However, we loved watching him change into a curious toddler.

Since then he  has become such a delight to us.  He is an avid learner!  I've never seen anything like it.  He devours books and begs me to read to him all day long.  Since he was 2 1/2 he has known all his ABC's and their sounds and we are currently working on reading.  He has read several books to me so far ;)  He loves figuring out how everything works.  Loves watching Mighty Machines and any kids show that is educational and describes something he loves in detail.  It is rather humbling when your son teaches you things you didn't even know!  However, I wouldn't have it any other way, I am so proud of his eagerness to gain knowledge.

 Always has to have his tools nearby.

Elliott is social.  Something I am having to learn how to deal with as that is not my natural inclination.  He is truly a kind little boy.  He wants to be everybody's friend and will literally walk up to anybody and talk to them.  Doesn't matter how old or young, male or female...he is right there introducing himself and asking question after question.  I love this about him, I love that he is not scared or wary of people yet.  Though, I have to admit  it also scares the crap out of me...which is why I never let him out of my sight when we are out in public.  Haha.

 Loves his smoothies...after having the stomach flu..hence the pile of towels ;)

The last thing I want to tell the world about my big boy is how loving and affectionate he is.  I cannot tell you how many times a day he tells everyone in our family that he loves them.  Or how he says thank you to me after I make lunch or dinner.   And don't even get me started on how his hugs are so freely given that sometimes we have to remind him that not everyone is as...huggy as him. ;)  It hardly seems fair to mention that he tells me often that I am the best mom ever, or that he is happy that I get to be his mommy.  Seriously folks!  I am not even exaggerating a little bit.  Oh....and I'll only briefly touch on his protectiveness about his sister. When we go to the doctors he gets agitated when they start touching her and he keeps asking them, "What are you doing to Missy?"  He is such a special little boy and I'm not sure what I did to deserve him.

 Elliott and his Missy when she was still in the NICU

I know deep in my heart that he is going to do amazing things in this world.  He is strong, stubborn, and above all, good.  It is my honor and pleasure to be his mother.  I could not ask for anything better than to have the privilege of watching him become the great man he is destined to be.  

Rocking

I have a couple posts....okay...a lot of posts to catch up on.  Elliott's 4th birthday, Easter, adventure days, Mother's day...all that good stuff.  However, that is not what I want to write about tonight.  Tonight I want to talk about my battle with slowing down and living.

I do not know if it has been said before on my blog, but Cameron and I are fairly strict parents.  As soon as it is reasonably logical, we get our kids on a schedule starting when they are babies.  We are teaching them to say ma'am and sir.  We do not tolerate them talking back or speaking in disrespectful tones to us or anyone.  They are disciplined pretty consistently and we rarely back down.  Now, this is not to say they are perfectly behaved children. Hehe...actually it sometimes means quite the opposite.  Elliott still throws fits sometimes and is going through a talking back phase, but the point is that we correct him every time and make sure that he knows that he is responsible for his behavior.  Our home is one where good and bad choices are discussed on a daily basis. 

Now that I've finished that little diatribe, I can focus in on what I wanted to actually say.  Bedtime at our house is routine as well.  We go up, gather in Annabelle's room and read scriptures and say our prayers.  Then we sing songs together and read a story to little miss.  She is put to bed and then we go and brush Elliott's teeth and then he gets a bit of one on one time with a story and cuddles before I say goodnight and leave.  We try to be really consistent in this so that it does not become chaos.

I'm going to probably get a lot of flak for saying this, but here it is.  Cameron and I let our children cry after a certain age when we know that nothing else is wrong with them at bedtime.  We do not go in and pick them up every time they cry or whine.  They don't sleep with us and never have.  I know this doesn't work for other parents and I have no judgements towards them, but in our family it works very well.

Anyway, (wow...that was a freakishly long and boring introduction...do forgive me) tonight when I laid Annabelle down and walked out of her room she started to cry.  I looked back at her and smiled and said, "goodnight babygirl" and left again.  As I was brushing Elliott's teeth I continued to hear her cry and for whatever reason, tonight I walked back into that room and saw her distraught little face and picked her right up.  I wrapped her in her blankie, held her close to me and sat in the glider.  She didn't move or try to get up (which is what she does 99% of the time), so I knew her tears this time were for something more than not wanting to go to bed. 

Rocking her slowly, I looked down into her blue blue eyes and I couldn't help but softly brush her baby cheeks.  However, then my mind went into overdrive and I thought about the fact that I still needed to workout, go down and do dishes, do more laundry, get Elliott to bed and somehow fit in a shower as well.

I stifled the urge to quickly put her back down and get to work because she is now 18 months old and I honestly don't know how that happened.  Truly, it leaves me speechless every time I think about it.  Plus, then Elliott walked back in and asked to hold her and rock her.  So we all sat in the glider and he wrapped his little boy arms around her and told her a story about a little boy and his trains to, "help her feel better mommy."  As I looked at these two beautiful human beings that just happen to be mine, I prayed that I would be able to feel this peace and calm more often.  I want to stop worrying about the endless chores around the house just a little bit, and focus more on being "present" as a mother.  The way I felt when I slowed down even a fraction of a minute tells me that it will be well worth the effort.