Promise Yourself

By accident I stumbled on this poem by Christian D. Larson, and I thought I just have to have it on my blog. Enjoy!





'Promise yourself to be strong
that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity
to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that
there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything
and make your optimism come true.
To think only the best, to work only for the best
and expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others
as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past
and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times
and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself
that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger,
too strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.'

Sometimes I Wonder What Children Think When They Do Things

Sometimes I wonder. Few years ago I was sitting on my backyard and I was enjoying nice weather. It was kind of loud, because children in other backyards were playing. I didn't really mind. However, I overheard this one incident that made me laugh.
- 'What did you do that for?' - a mother asked one of the twin sisters; in the mean time one of them was crying.
Silence, and no answer from the sister in trouble. Now its all mother talk.
- 'How would you feel if someone put your head under the water?' - a mother asked.
- 'How would you feel' - she asked again.
Silence continued and mother kept talking trying to discipline the twin in trouble.

So sometimes I wonder why children do that. Explore. Have Fun. Discover. Action and reaction. All that probably. Since that incident I have now my own child, and sometimes I wonder what he is thinking too. The other day we went to the playground. At that time there was a grandmother with two children, a boy and a girl. He was trying to play with them, but at the age of almost two you think they are playing together, yet no. If you observe carefully they are in their own worlds. Just hanging out close.

Matthew

Matthew is very happy and polite boy when comes to playgrounds, but when he sees other kids running around and doing crazy things, he laughs and then he joins them. My heart sometimes stops - running without breaks, sand flying. However, today he wasn't so bad. He was playing in the sand and moving the sand from one place to the other. Then who would thought. He takes his full hand of sand in his hand, and puts it all on the girls head. So spontaneous, that I didn't have time to stop him. So innocent too, because he started to laugh (really laugh), while I am trying to clean the girls long hair.

- 'Its okay' - the grandmother said.
- 'No no it is not' - I said.
- 'I am sorry again' - I said.
- 'Mathew why did you do that for?' - I said to Matthew.
- 'Why do that' - he asked.
- 'Yes, why?'- I said.
- 'Why?' - he said.
Finally I caught on to his play on words game.
- 'Matthew, please say you are sorry' - I asked.
- 'Sorry' - Matthew said.
- 'Its okay Matthew' - the grandmother replied.
Matthew laughed.

Children? Things they will do. I think I prefer when he hugs girls instead, because if they fall at least it was a good intention.

Dr. Google My Baby Is Colic - Can You Help?

My baby was born. It was me and my husband - new parents, some experience from others, little knowledge from the books. However it all comes naturally anyway when comes to taking care of the baby. Well how hard can it be - they need food and need to be changed? I was breastfeeding. Totally new to breastfeeding - new as I could be. Baby latched his way, chewed my nipple. I got thrush and infection, but I was still breastfeeding (believe or not two years later I am still breastfeeding). My Matthew was a hungry baby, as far as I could tell then. Now days, probably comfort and soothing. Every two hours he would eat. I remember that one day, I was holding him for four hours, no washroom break, no getting up. Yes I would do anything for my baby. Well, the best thing about Matthew was that almost exactly 7 pm he would get fussy, and started to cry. All this in the first three days being home. We tried everything, radio, rocking on the chair, walking back and forth, singing, playing CDs, moving in the stroller - nothing worked.

When Matthew was dismissed from the hospital we suspected that he had jaundice, and he did. His doctor scheduled him for blood test. All we could do was keep him in on the sun. After the test, next evening doctor called and confirmed that the he did in fact had mild jaundice. Told us to keep Matthew on the sun, and to bring him for another test in few days.

- 'Doctor, can I ask you a question' - I thought I get some advice on the crying, while I have him on the phone.
- 'Yes' - deep voice answered.
- 'Baby is crying around evening time, and I cannot figure out what is wrong' - I told him.
- 'He is colic, too young to know, look up on Google - okay' - he said.
- 'Okay' - I answered in shock, especially about the Google part.
- 'Good bye' - he said and hang up.
- 'Good bye' - to any body if still left there on the phone.

Okay what did just happened, I thought. Look up on the Google? Doctor, you get your advice from Google too? May be every time there is something wrong, I will just look up on Google and Dr. Google will solve all my baby's illnesses and problems. Never mind may be make him even more sick. Self diagnosis can be very frightening, when you start reading any medical book or web sites with medical information.

That night I read everything possibly about colic. To my conclusion I have learned that everything was wrong with my baby. I got scared.

'I cannot take it anymore.' - I said.

Next day we have scheduled appointment with breastfeeding nurse. Believe or not she was the best thing ever that happened to us. She thought us how to breastfeed properly. She told us when baby is fussy just put him on the breast. 'He wants to be close, he wants to be nurtured' - she said. 'He is growing, and needs to adapt fast to the new environment outside mommy's belly. He needs to be close, and breastfeeding is the best thing you could give to your baby' - she continued.

That was the best thing someone ever told us. We really have been blessed with nurse that really cared. Baby was and is now healthy as it can be. As long Matthew was close to me and had access to food - he was happy.

'Dr. Google may be another time we will consult you, but this time you were wrong. There was nothing wrong with our baby.'