Tessa Soleil

What keeps someone from blogging for almost a year?  I guess chasing an overactive 2 year old and being pregnant might qualify.   But the time has come that a new blog is needed.  

The birth of our 2nd child - Tessa Soleil Mouer.  Tessa was born Saturday March 2nd at 10:03pm (2 hours before her due date).  She weighed in at 9lbs 9oz and was 21.5 inches long.   She has some dark hair and eye color is yet to be determined.  

Her name Tessa means "harvester" and Soleil (so-lay) is the french word for sun.   We hope her name will have a significant meaning in her life as a Christian someday as a harvester of souls.   

We are very excited to have her with us watch her and her brother grow together.   We are also very thankful and blessed to have a healthy and beautiful baby.  

Leading the Freeze dance

Finally able to do a layup

Emptiness

A few days ago I went to the doctor for the 1st big checkup.........time to see baby #2. I had missed my period and had a positive pregnancy test and things seemed to be falling into place. I told my husband before I left I should be home with pictures and we both smiled.

So as I sat looking at the ultrasound in the exam room watching the doctor point at an empty dark spot where my baby should have been I wasn't really sure what to feel. Happy? Since as the doctor said there may have been something wrong at conception and the embryo never developed? Sad? Because I was never to know a baby that could have been? Scared? Because I would have to have a surgical procedure done to remove all the tissue that my body was continuing to develop thinking I was pregnant? I actually just sat there looking at the empty black hole and thinking that was kind of how I felt. Empty.

Thankfully my "empty" feeling didn't last long. Within seconds I felt the reassuring peace and comfort of the Spirit telling me it is all in God's hands. I found that as I let the Spirit fill me the emptiness turned into an overflow of peace.

Peace knowing God is in control of every aspect of our lives and we can be without worry or fear knowing His direction and control is perfect. And peace knowing even when the direction of life may not be what we expect we can know God will fill us with the deepest joy in the end. And peace knowing there is hope for a future filled with new possibilities and joys and normal ultrasounds.

No matter what the emptiness - Don't let the emptiness consume you. Be thankful the blessings and joys you have in the present and live in every moment. Know God has a perfect plan for your life all in His timing. And let the Spirit be your source of truth and comfort.

101 ways to keep Tian from climbing the walls (literally)!

Now that Tian has started his new skill - climbing - I have realized the time has come for me to return to my teaching days. I thought I would not be doing lesson planning again for quite awhile but the time has come........daily preplanned activities for my little "over active" boy.

So I have decided to start posting the things we do and while I don't have 101 things that we have done yet, probably by tomorrow I might:). And thanks to my new favorite app (Pinterest) lesson planning has been pretty easy! And I have also realized messy stuff is pretty easy to cleanup if it keeps a toddler occupied for more than 2 minutes.

#1 - Indoor Sandbox (made with flour and baby oil) that kept Tian busy for 45 minutes!

#2 - Homemade Finger Paint or if it turns out more like slime go with it.

#3 - Cook up some soup

#4 - Go Outside

#5 - Go Outside (to a playground)

18 months

18 months have passed since Tian Elliot came into the world and I sometimes try and remember what life was like when he wasn't here. I can't quite remember those diaper-free, sleeping through the night, and sleeping in on Saturday days! But then again why would I even want to.......Life has forever been changed and in a good way:)
As Tian continues to grow it is so much fun to watch him learn and develop. Some of my favorite moments are watching him discover new things making me appreciate and wonder more at the simple things around me.
Like in other month posts I always like to post some highlights for the last several months but this time I thought I would share some favorite events and some not so favorite events. Regardless they all brought many laughs:)

Favorite things of the last 2 months........
1. Tian riding in the shopping cart car at Giant.
2. Trying to work more on Potty Training (Yeah - Tian learned to sit down on his potty by himself and enjoys getting stickers for using the potty correctly!)
3. Tian starting to dance more to music and singing La La's.
4. Tian starting to communicate more verbally. Like when he wakes up and walks over to the stairs and starts yelling "dada" to see if dada hasn't left for work yet. Or saying "out please" to get out of his high chair. Or chasing the cat around the house and yelling "kitty" at the top of his lungs.
5. Tian's new interest in coloring and scribbling. A nice sit down relaxing activity for Tian and mama:)


Least favorite things of the last 2 months......
1. Tian no longer wanting to sit in normal shopping carts while mama shops but instead squirming and screaming to be let out of the cart. Needless to say there haven't been too many shopping trips except to Giant.
2. Trying to work more on Potty Training (When Tian didn't quite sit down on his potty in time and I walked into the room to find a little pile of something NEXT to the potty.)
3. Tian's first stomach virus and mama's first time getting vomitted on.
4. Teething that never seems to end and when will the teeth pop through?
5. Tian's new ability and fascination with climbing on EVERYTHING........toilets, couches, chairs, coffee tables, etc.


Happy 18 months Tian!

Won't You Be My Neighbor

The other day I was contemplating how few non-Christians I know. With a recent challenge to pray for lost friends and acqaintances at our church I actually struggled a bit thinking of people to pray for. It came down to some distant relatives who I know need to find a relationship with Christ but other than that I couldn't think of anyone I see in my daily circle that I could pray for. (Side note: I think it is important that God laid my relatives on my heart and they need prayer just as much as anyone else. I was just questioning why I have so few lost people in my daily life to reach out to.)

Then it hit me while I was sitting at home hanging out with Tian looking out the window. (Yeah sometimes I feel like that little nosey old lady who is always looking out her window at what others are doing.......but hey entertaining a toddler all day long can get old.) A voice that has been stirring in my heart for awhile speaks again....."You have plenty of lost people around you everyday that you could reach out to." The handicapped man who lives all alone, the pregnant teenage girl living with her family, the dad who lost his wife in a car accident and is raising a 1 year old, the young family with 2 toddlers, the elderly couple who love to sit outside and enjoy nature. There are plenty of people out there that you see everyday and need to know me - Your neighbors.

And the stirring in my heart is right. These people are lost and need a light in their lives and just maybe that could be me. And the stirring gets me excited. But it quickly is diminished by feelings of fear and doubt as to how it could ever happen. How would I ever build relationships with these people. Yes I can do the occasional hi how are you talk but something more than that? Do I just go up and knock on their door and invite myself in or invite them to church? I quickly realize it needs to be a little deeper than that. And lately I have been finding out how it can be..........through the fearlessness of a toddler.

Everytime Tian and I go outside Tian quickly gets bored with our yard and decides it's time to go explore somewhere else. Does he have any hesitations about the new surroundings he is going in or the new people he is going to meet. No. He is excited to go and share with them in whatever they are doing. So this usually means I am there tagging along and it is amazing how an energetic, happy toddler can make anyone smile.

I need to be more like that toddler. Happy, excited and enthusied at the possiblity of going to visit and spend some time with my neighbors and share in their lives. Yes I need to get out from behind the window and begin to share in the lives of my neighbors.

So to leave the challenge in the words of a Fred Rogers and because songs always stick with me...........

Won't You Be My Neighbor
It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood
A beautiful day for a neighbor
Would you be mine
Could you be mine

It's a neighborly day in this beauty wood
A neighborly day for a beauty
Would you be mine
Could you be mine

I've always wanted to have a neighbor just like you
I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you

So, let's make the most of this beautiful day
Since we're together we might as well say
Would you be mine, could you be mine
Won't you be my neighbor
Won't you please, won't you please
Please won't you be my neighbor