My children, the old and the new

Life has been good, if busy. We have been short staffed here at Marias and at all of our units with fewer Filipino VISAs being renwed there are fewer nurses here to work the units. Luckily everything is very fluid here and everybody is very willing to take up what ever slack must be and fill in where needed. My contribution is, I am sure, quite a bit less than some of the more experienced nurses, but at least I am able to take over a little of the daily work load. It has taken me a little bit longer to get back into the swing of seeing to my own floor than I hoped. Things have been different with fewer staff membersand everyone working together. Sometimes it makes it more difficult to figure out just what my role is. Getting a stomach bug didn't help, but now at least, I think I am finally finding my niche and being able to be of help. Some little ones are not doing well while others are starting to flourish. There have been bugs that come and go, taking more of a toll on some than others. It is the way of it here, both the amazing healing and growth, and the heartbreaking all wrapped up into one very unique building in this world.

When I was last working in Marias I had an entirely different floor I was caring for. Now that nurse has  returned I am caring for another. I had made it my priority to know and love and take the very best care of those children that I could. Now they have their nurse returned who has known many of them since birth. She knows them far better than I could have in the short time I cared for them. I am happy for them to have her back, and I know they are happy to have her. Besides, I know how much she loves them and lvoes being back. It isn't interesting to me to now have this opportunity to meet and learn of these children on my new floor. Just as I had to win them over and get to know each of them on the other floor, I get to start that adventure on this one. I have been here for a month or so now and I love to see them openning up to me. I know I am no longer a passing face when they start to run out to greet me, or show me their toys, or babble all of their exciting stories when I walk in. There is one little girl who was always very shy and would be scared if I passed too closely, now  it is the most amazing reward to have her light up and start enthusiasticly waving when she sees me coming. Our relationship still mainly consists of happy waving and me handing her toys and asking her about her day, but that is enough for now. Her little friend who cried the first time I got too close now starts "talking" (more accurately described as enthusiatic babbling) to me when ever I come in. I try to make sure to take a moment to enjoy his conversation as he points to  random things in the room and explains all about them. Then he will chase me crawling on the floor and laughing as I check charts. He is also a bit too fond of the responses he gets when he starts blowing rasberries and spitting, a delightful trick another little girl kindly taught the whole room. My "no, not good, don't do that" is apparently endlessly amusing. Another of my little ones from my other floor was moved to this one while I was away. Seeing how much he has grown and what he can do now is absolutely wonderful! He is, thankfully, just as fond of cuddles as he always has been. I could go on and on about all of my new kiddos. They are just as wonderful and each have so many unique stories and quircks. I will try and save some stories for other blogs, and try not to surpass attention span limits. I have a couple other blogs I am hoping to put up soon about cooking, things you typically see driving in China, snow days, and the grocery store. But we'll see :) For now here are some semi adorable pitcures of amazingly adorable children!

This is one of his favorite faces