Better Late than Never

Is it sad that 16 months later I am now starting to write in Eliza's baby journal? With all this technology and the online world, it isn't like I haven't documented all these milestones. Yet I wonder when my children are adults, will they be able to access this for future reference or be lost in cyber space?

Is there a service which will take a blog and put all the entries of your choice into a printed book? This would be AWESOME to have. My mother journal-ed the first 4 or so years of my life. Everything to the potty training success to the every day hum drum. I have found it fascinating to go back and see just how much Eliza is like myself. It certainly opens one's eyes to why you are who you are with out our culture heavily influencing a young mind yet.

There were my preschool/childcare friends, phases said, dislikes of food and likes of particular toys. Even the tantrums and constant sickness. I attribute a lot of the issues with my grandmothers addiction of cigarettes. Children's Tylenol and nasal Sudafed seemed to be the norm, along with ear infections after another.

How different of life my daughter is growing up in compared to my early childhood life. I have strong convictions about setting boundaries, daily execution of living in faith and playing a more active roll in my children's education outside of the classroom. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe being a hover parent is beneficial to either side, but I tend to gravitate to the old school approach when it comes to raising children. Something I exercise in the daily grind of the youth center. Band-Aids are not given for everything, and I urge each child to dig inside to tough things out or pull through them with the right support.

After all, we won't always be there to fight the fights or shield them from the fallen world we live in.