Easter at My House

 Growing up in a conservative Christian home, we need didn't really celebrate Easter except the church services commemorating the death and resurrection of Christ. We never did any of the fun stuff like egg hunts and Easter Baskets. I always envied the neighborhood kids traipsing around their yards looking for brightly-colored eggs. Then I grew up, left home and my religious upbringing.
Over the years the holiday has evolved from not really caring about it to "oh, now we have a child and she might enjoy some of these activities." But I didn't want to introduce her to all the candy and clutter of trinkets the stores push on customers. Then I read this. Bloody, freaking brilliant.

Last year & before I read the above mentioned article, my daughter got her first Easter Basket. Bunny (which she still plays with), puzzle, book, water bottle (still uses), and mandarins (one of her favorite fruits). She'd barely turned one and I wasn't about fill the basket with candy. These were things she could use.

This year I kept basic again. Coloring book, crayons, bubbles, links for jewelery making, and surprise eggs (used for the hunt). All except basket came from the Dollar Tree. I filled the plastic eggs with her favorite snacks: Joe's O's (from Trader Joe's), cashews, vitamin gummy bears, AND a hand full of pastel-colored mint chips.

I hid the eggs out on our balcony and the hunt was on after breakfast. Oh my word. I think I had more fun watching the search for eggs than her. Seeing her eyes light up and listening to her squeal of joy every time she spotted one, brought the biggest smile to my face.

The whole day she played with the eggs, opening and closing them. She ate most of the treats except for the mint candy drops. Eventually she tasted them and said they were good but she preferred to play with them over eating. Fine by me, kid. When she wasn't playing with the eggs she was outside blowing bubbles. In between, she'd take a few moments here and there to color or create a chain of hearts, stars, and flowers.
All this fun for under $5. Who says you need to break the bank for Easter? This holiday is quickly becoming one of my favorites. For me, Easter is all about the newness of life and rebirth. Spring is truly a joyous time of year, so why not celebrate?

A Sample Baby Registry

Setting up a baby registry can be a daunting endeavor. I know I cringed every time I thought about it. First, of all I despise department stores. Second, I was a new mom. What did I know what I would need?  Third, we lived in an 800 square foot condo that was already cluttered with our stuff. My head hurt thinking about adding all the baby stuff.

Than a friend who is a minimalist and a mom sent me a link to this blog post of an easy earth-friendly baby registry. I basically copied and set it up on Amazon. The beauty of Amazon is you can link other sites such as Babies R’ Us to your Amazon account AND you don’t even need to leave your house.

So I figured I’d share a simple registry that can be a good starting place for any new mom.

1.       Convertible play yard with bassinet & changing table(3 in 1). This is a wonderful thing for a home where space is a premium. The play yard can become a crib later down the road and it easy to move from room to room if necessary.

2.       Sheets & waterproof pads for play yard. At least 2 of each. 3 is the perfect number.

3.       Bottles. Glass is better, especially for heating. Whether your breastfeeding or not, bottles are essential if you plan on ever going anywhere in the first year without your baby.

4.       Diapers. Whether you are planning on doing disposable or cloth, be prepared to go through 12-15 a day the first few weeks. For cloth figure out how often you want to do laundry and go from there. If you are doing cloth you’ll need at least 5 liners, 6 - 8 is better.

5.       Diaper pail. For either cloth or disposable. It doesn’t have to be ginormous. For cloth think of how often you want to wash them; disposable, how often you’ll want to take the garbage out. 2-3 days is usually good, more than that the bin will get really stinky. I found a five gallon bucket with a lid works just fine for cloth diapers and a small-lidded trash can for disposables.

6.       Clothes. Most likely people are going to give you bags of hammy downs or loads of new outfits for your little one. If you do put cloths on your registry, make sure it’s a bigger size from 3 months on. Newborn clothes last a month if you’re lucky and during that first month sleepers are the easiest. I found that sleepers with a zipper worked best for me because I couldn’t never figure out the snaps. 4-5 newborn sleepers are plenty.  If you’re swaddling, 4-5 swaddlers are great.

7.       Car seat. You can’t take your baby home from the hospital unless you have a car seat. The kind that detaches from a base is the most convenient for newborns. Plus the seat becomes a great place to have your baby hangout. I used to put my daughter in hers and bring it in the bathroom so I could shower. They also rock nicely for soothing.

8.       A couple of toys. People love to buy toys for babies & children. Here’s a chance for you to choose what kind of toys you would like your child to have. Babies don’t really need many toys. A little rattle or wire ball will provide plenty of entertainment for them.

9.       Humidifier. Especially for newborns in the winter. Their respiratory tract is so delicate and they need the extra moisture when the heater is running.

10.   Baby carrier or sling. If you want to get anything done in that first month, you’ll discover wearing you baby is the key, unless you have one of those easy babies that will sleep anywhere you place them. I found Moby wraps were the best for my daughter in the first month. Baby Bjorn and Ergo Baby are also great.

11.   Burp cloths and bibs. You can never have too many, but at least 10 of each is necessary.

12.   Teething rings.  Those will come in handy in the future.

13.   Blankets. 2 for the home, 2 for travel, and 2 for spares.

And that’s about it. Simple and basic.

Holidays and New Babies

Daughter helping me get the decorations out.

'Tis that time of year. Shopping, decorating, presents, parties, cards, lights, baking, cooking, wrapping, stockings, trees, wreaths, Christmas plays, events, and the madness continues until after the ball drop on New Year's Eve and the last ornament is put away.

I love this time of year and all the festivities that go with it. Always have, always will. However, last January when my daughter was born, I realized something. I love the spirit of Christmas, but I despise the commercialism associated with it. The whole Black Friday thing makes me want to scratch my skin with a razor blade. Suddenly all the Christmas decorations that showed up in September in most of the major department stores made me want to puke tinsel and mistletoe right in the middle of the isle.

Funny thing is I've actually always felt that way, but never really thought about it as I let myself get swept up in whirlwind of presents, parties, and holiday music. A few years back, I actually stopped buying actual presents for my family, unless it was an item they really wanted or needed; instead I started canning jams, salsas, jellies, and specialty sauces that I then gifted. People already have too much stuff, but you can't go wrong with a nice treat to eat.

As the holiday season approached this year I started to panic. People were going to be buying presents for my girl and not to mention I wanted to get her something special. We are still getting presents celebrating her birth, TEN months ago, and now Christmas. Not that I'm ungrateful for all the things she's received, I am very thankful, but it's overwhelming. Living in a small space doesn't help. The whole idea of a room full of wrapped gifts for one person really freaked me out. She's a baby! What does a baby understand about Christmas and getting presents?

When you have a child, everything you do changes because that child is your responsibility and you want to make sure they are raised properly even though you might not follow everything you teach. I decided right then and there that I would walk the talk. If I didn't want my girl to grow up with a consumerized version of Christmas, we needed to cut back and focus on these three things.

Simplicity. That's my new favorite word. Less is more and make what you do have quality. We decided to decorate, but be basic. A tree, our stockings, a faux bough with lights over the book cases, and some lights out on the balcony. Whatever our presents are this year they must fit inside the stockings (limit 1 or 2 items).

Fun. Christmas & the winter holidays are supposed to be fun. So we've been playing fun Christmas music and games every day, like "let's find all the snowman on the tree." At her age most of the fun is just being silly. So we dance to Jingle Bell Rock and play peek-a-boo with her Winne the Pooh & friends ornaments. I want her to have fun memories about what we did together not what she got from Santa.

Giving. Though she doesn't understand the concept of giving yet, I'm packing a bag of her outgrown clothes and toys she doesn't play with anymore to take to the women's shelter in our neighborhood. This will be a tradition, one that I hope will stay with her for a lifetime.

So far the holidays have been pretty easy and stress-free. In fact I think these are the best holidays I've enjoyed to date. Of course, having a little new person in my home has much to do with it. :)

As always thanks for stopping by, comments are welcome, and stay tuned next week for a little Christmas surprise.

Much love,
Melania