HappyMama

I’m a big believer in so-called attachment parenting.  I also know that I don’t function well on little sleep, which can be a consequence of “strict” AP.  I’ve been using the advice from the No Cry Sleep Solution book with our most recent baby and I’m seeing amazing differences in how he sleeps.  He doesn’t associate nursing with falling asleep; he associates being laid down in his crib (which is close to our bed) with falling asleep.  He’s the first baby we’ve had who is happy in his crib.  (The others screamed bloody murder whenever I tried to put them down in it.)  He also wakes up happy.  We’ve also been helped tremendously with our 2-year-old’s nap dilemma.  It used to be that if he napped, he’d stay up late at night (until around 10PM), but if he didn’t nap he’d be too tired to behave well in the evenings.  Now, using the advice from this book, he’s willingly taking a nap at the same time each day AND going to bed around 8 or 8:30.  I wish I had this book 4 years ago.  I think it would have saved my family from a lot of grumpy-mommy-mornings. 

While I was recovering from the flu recently, I “permitted” myself to do a bit of reading.  Mom had loaned me a book, and I thought I’d just take a look at it for a while and rest.  Unfortunately, it turned out to be one of those books that I just couldn’t put down until I had finished it at 12:30 that evening - a full 3 1/2 hours past my bedtime!  So much for recuperating. By the time I went to bed, my vision was blurry and I had a throbbing headache.  I’m a total sucker for a good book.

This one was called When Hell Was in Session, and it was the memoir of Jeremiah Denton, Jr., a Catholic Navy pilot who was shot down in Vietnam, captured, and held as a POW for 7 1/2 years, during which time he was tortured and starved.  I don’t know why I hadn’t heard about him before, or if I did I didn’t remember.  But I won’t soon forget him now.  There’s a foundation he’s president of that I’m going to read up on. 

What struck me most was the amount & duration of suffering that this man endured, while separated from his wife & 7 children, and yet he still managed to act with such integrity.  He - and many other soldiers, too - had made up their minds to obey the Code of Conduct that they had been taught by the military to follow under such circumstances.  For example, they were only supposed to give certain pieces of information to the enemy.  When they refused to say more, they were tortured.  They were not to accept special treatments, so when Denton was starving and they offered him a banana one day, he replied, “only if everyone gets one.”  And so he didn’t get his. The book is full of these examples. 

I think that the fortitude of men like these is hard to find these days.  How many young men and women do you know who, under similar situations, would act with such honor?  Most people I know (myself included?) would constantly be rationalizing every tiny little breach.  Hey, it’s just one banana, and I’m starving…  Reading the book was such a great reminder to watch out for what I’m rationalizing away in my own life. 

I was very inspired.

I ordered a new book for the kiddos, The Story of Ferdinand, first published in 1936.  It cost $3.99.  It was reviewed in Faith & Family magazine and I thought they’d like it - and they sure do.  However, there’s an illustration of a “cork tree” from Spain in it, and well, I just needed to learn more about corks in order to answer the kid’s questions about that picture.  This website was extremely helpful.  I had no idea what it meant for wine to be “corked”.  (I mean, I thought I did, but I didn’t.)  If you like wine, you better read it.

This book by Steve Wood has received rave reviews.  It’s for dads.

This book claims to have an answer to world poverty that can be accomplished in 20 years.