Our Christmas Decorations

This year I tried to make everything "baby friendly" around our house for Christmas. Here is what I came up with:

Decorations placed in the corner of the room behind furniture. No way for baby to get to.

Tian's Advent Calendar with movable nativity.

Toy Ornaments for Tian to play with and learn his animal sounds.

Tian's toy Christmas tree. Decorated only with toys Tian could play with.

M is for Music

I always knew that when the time came for me to become a mom I would stay at home with my baby.even though I loved my job! I had grown up with my mom staying home with me and remember all the special times we had together. And my husband shares the same memories of his mom staying home with him and the special moments they shared. So when the time came we both agreed this is what we wanted and I was excited. Just like my teaching job, I would get to plan lessons everyday for me and my baby:) But those first months being with baby donft require a lot of lesson planning. Just nursing, holding, doing laundry and sleeping seemed to be the daily activities. I can still remember the day I was sitting and nursing and looked out the window to see the school bus going by and tearing up a bit thinking about how I missed my job. But most of all missing the op-portunity to use the gifts and talents God had given me towards music and teaching. Then one day I ran into a friend who told me about a music class she was taking her infant to and invited us to come. After joining the class for a month and seeing how much my son enjoyed the interaction and how much I enjoyed seeing moms and babies light up with music, an idea popped into my head. (Or rather I heard the still small voice of the Holy Spirit speak into my heart.) \This is some-thing you could do.. How I thought? I would need instruments, a location and would I be able to teach some-thing like this with my son? It seemed like a lot of work, money and uncertainty. Maybe I would just con-tinue taking my son to this class. But I decided to pray about the idea and see what Godfs plan was and sure enough He had it all figured out. Anne Marie said the idea would be great to offer at the Efree Church as a ministry outreach to moms and ba-bies. I found a friend who used to teach infant music class that wanted to get rid of all her instruments and I was able to purchase them from her. And my son turned out to be an excel-lent assistant in the class. And now after having done the class twice, I can see what a blessing from God it has been. Not only have I been able to share my love for music and teaching in a new way (with moms and babies) - but I have been able to build relationships with other moms sharing in the same experiences with me, have my son enjoy the company of other babies and use this class as a ministry to the community also. I really believe God truly wants to bless us and bring joy to our lives in every circumstance when we are open to what He has for us. So I would encourage you to be open to what God may be calling you to at this time in your life. Allow Him to show you where you can use the gifts and tal-ents He has given you.maybe in a unique way you never expected at this time of your life.

12 things I could have done without in Tian's 1st year

Ever since I posted my blog 12 things I couldn't have done without in Tian's 1st year I have wanted to post this blog relaying the 12 things I could have done without. I know when you have a new baby on the way as a first time mom you have no idea what you need to have on hand so sometimes you think you need to get everything to be ready. However looking back I wish I would have heard from some other moms a little more before purchasing certain things. So here are my thoughts and I know everyone might not agree with me and in fact some moms might have loved some of these products. That is fine. These particular items just happened to be a waste for Tian Elliot Mouer:)

So here goes the top 12 things I could have done without.......

12. Food plates - Tian seems to do best eating everything out of bowls now or just on his high chair tray. So at least for now the toddler food plates have not been in use.

11. SwaddleMe Sleeper - Tian was never happy in one of these and so the 2 we got were never used.

10. Too many pacifiers - While we thought it was a good idea to have lots of different pacifiers on hand to find the right one for Tian it turned out maybe we went a little TOO overbored. I would recommend just having a couple to try and see which your baby likes best then getting just enough of that kind. And since Tian only liked the pacifier his first 6 months of life it might be a good idea not to stock up on 6+ ones too early.

9. Best Bottom Diapers - We cloth diapered and decided to try a variety of diapers to see which worked the best. These were not good at all and consistently leaked and did not seem to fit Tian right either.

8. Tots Bots Diapers - Another diaper we found that did not fit Tian good and were disappointed with.

7. Seat protector mat to put under carseat - After purchasing one we found out from a certified car seat installer that these were really not safe to use.

6. Fleece pajamas - Our little one was quite the heat magnet. We found that he was not comfortable at all in fleece sleepers and would actually wake up sweating in these. Cotton, zip up pajamas were the best for him.

5. Baby Food Grinder - Thought this would be a good purchase after seeing friends use it with their little one but found it to be more of a pain than anything. Found it much easier to just cut up pieces of finger food for Tian when it was time for him to eat table food.

4. BJorn Carrier - Tian hated being confined in this. Although he loved being in Mama and Dada's arms the carrier was too confining for him. Did not even get one use out of this but at least we bought it used and maybe the next kid will take a liking to it?

3. Infant Sunglasses - Can anybody get their baby to keep these on?

2. Full Size High Chair - While we didn't purchase one of these I just wanted to share that I am glad we didn't. Instead we got a fisher price seat that hooks onto one of our dining room chairs and it has worked great. It is portable, easy to clean (the whole seat fits in the dishwasher) and it was cheap! Great space-saver and a lot simplier than a full-size chair.

1. Winter coat for an infant - Purchased a puffy winter coat for Tian's first winter and only wore it once on him to get a picture in. Realized he wasn't suppossed to be in his carseat in a winter coat and used a carseat cover instead which I would recommend getting! Don't bother with the winter coat.