I read this article by Trish Ringley(http://abt.cm/1K4iO4t), and point that sticks out to me is all of your emotions are normal.   I have struggled throughout the years to control my emotions, because as a child I was taught I controlled my emotions. When I think back to my time as a parent with a baby in the NICU, I think of the anxiety and nervousness. I think of the worry, the pain the guilt and how I tried to keep a positive attitude no matter what. I think of all the tears I cried wishing I could be with my Son he was in the NICU.

I loss my precious little boy 18 days after he went into the NICU. The grief I experienced was at a level I had never experienced. I knew there was not anything wrong with me, but I had to distance myself from others who tried to “help me not be anger, not feel rage, and not feel betrayal or loss.”

It took me over year to come out of the fog of these primal emotions and to engage others, semi normal. What I have learned through my NICU experience is that once you have gone through this experience, your life will never be the same.

I hope the message that Trish shared in this article is shared with all parents who enter the NICU. So that they can embrace their emotions as they full participate in the care of their baby.

Infаnt Lоѕѕ Remembrance Dау is a day оf rеmеmbrаnсе for infаnt dеаth. It is rеmеmbеrеd with рrеgnаnсу lоѕѕ, whiсh inсludеѕ but iѕ nоt limitеd tо miѕсаrriаgе, ѕtillbirth, SIDS, оr thе death оf a nеwbоrn. It is аnnuаllу оbѕеrvеd in the Unitеd States and Canada аnd, in recent уеаrѕ, in the Unitеd Kingdom аnd in the Australian Stаtеѕ оf Wеѕtеrn Auѕtrаliа, Nеw South Wаlеѕ and in Itаlу оn Oсtоbеr 15.

The Mоvеmеnt bеgаn in thе Unitеd Stаtеѕ in 1987. On Oсtоbеr 25, 1988, American President Ronald Reagan dеѕignаtеd thе еntirе mоnth оf Oсtоbеr 1988 аѕ Prеgnаnсу аnd Infant Lоѕѕ Awareness Mоnth.

Thе October 15th Prеgnаnсу аnd Infant Loss Rеmеmbrаnсе Day (PAILRD) Campaign bеgаn in 2002 as аn American mоvеmеnt ѕtаrtеd bу Rоbуn Bеаr, Lisa Brown, and Tammy Novak. Tоgеthеr, they реtitiоnеd thе federal gоvеrnmеnt, аѕ wеll аѕ thе gоvеrnоrѕ оf еасh of the 50 ѕtаtеѕ, аnd by October 15, 2002 (thе first observance оf PAILRD), 20 states had ѕignеd рrосlаmаtiоnѕ rесоgnizing the date аѕ ѕuсh. Aѕ a result оf thе Amеriсаn campaign effort, Concurrent Rеѕоlutiоn 222, Suрроrting thе gоаlѕ аnd idеаlѕ оf National Pregnancy аnd Infаnt Lоѕѕ Remembrance Day was раѕѕеd in thе House оf Representatives оn Sерtеmbеr 28, 2006.

To the ones I love, you will always have a pieces of my heart.

Your life has made waves that rush upon the beach of my heart. Each time a shell remains, it allows me to reflect upon the love I have for you, like I am looking through a reflection glass. Conch shell up to my ear, and I can hear your tiny little cries. The sand I lie on cannot be counted, neither can my love for you though you are not walking around in my current life. Though my journey continues, and yours has come to an end. Your life makes waves that have not been forgotten.

Julian E. Nixon II (Ju2) Nov 2011- Dec 2011. and L.A.O. (little active one) May 2014

Ladies and gentlemen, again it is Felicity86 presenting the mini-series on Dreams!

Thank you for following this series of posts up until this point. I hope this particular post makes you think like I did when I first discovered this information!

I recall observing a documentary revolving around dreams and sleep study.

In the documentary “NOVA What are Dreams?” a particular subject was discussed and the narrator really caught my attention.

This study included the dreams of a 48-year old professional man.

The individual who studied him, Antonio Zadra, recalled that the man had several dreams in which a circumstances that he could not control would occur.

During the dream, when these occurrences would happen he would reap the consequences of his  wife and sometimes his mother would yell,blame, and argue with him.

And no matter how he tried to fix it, he kept getting blamed. No matter what he did the situation would not change.

Here is a paraphrased example of one of his dreams:

“In one dream, the 48 year old man woke up in the morning. His wife began to cook breakfast and he put on some coffee for the morning. 

All of a sudden, the coffee pot began to run over and over. It ran all over the kitchen counter. 

His wife yelled at him “What did you do?!” “I didn’t do Anything!” he responded. So he tried unplugging the coffee pot. Nothing changed. 

He tried removing the glass container from the coffee pot. Nothing changed. He mother showed up.Everything got loud and he tried to defend himself. 

The man woke up.  ” – Antonio Zadra, Nova “What Are Dreams?”

According to Zadra, the man had a series of dreams similar to the one above.

Zadra believed that the series of dreams the man was having revealed that his primary concerns centered around his relationship issues, especially with the ladies in his family.I personally believe that the dreams showed the feelings of powerlessness he had in resolving issues and

proving his competence to his loved ones. He just could not garner their understanding and appreciation.

Regardless of my opinion, five years later, the man went through a divorce.

From my own experience, I do believe that some dreams can be revelatory  of issues buried deep in our hearts.

Issues that we as individuals may have difficulty facing.

If we can, I think we should learn from our dreams. I will give a personal example:

“A few years ago, I dreamed I was in the stands of a movie theater. Everyone in my university attended the movie and in the top of the stands, I had a group of friends and people I knew.  Most of the people in the stands watched forward, but I was not interested. Instead I was focused on joining my group of friends. There was a guy I was talking to and a girl I did not recognize sitting next to him. The group laughed and smiled and welcomed me into the intimate setting they had created. But as soon as I sat down and relaxed everyone went silent. The smiles turned to cool expressions and the guy put his arm around the girl next to him. I stood up immediately and turned behind me to see some stairs. I walked up the stairs to what looked like a professional setting. In front of me were a really tall man and woman. I knew to follow them although I had not seen their faces.“

I believe this dream is pretty straightforward. Even without all of the details I have excluded, you can figure out pretty quickly the nature and

meaning of this dream.

While I wasn’t distracted by what others  focused on, I was still focused on something temporary. I was concerned about friends I knew and a person I liked. But just when I got comfortable with my life socially, that life shifted. In that year, I stopped being friends with all of those people. It wasn’t by my choice, but that time had ended. The guy suddenly took interest in someone else (her physical appearance had similarities to the girl I saw in my dream). So in the end, I am not as close with this group of people as I once was. Around that time, I also found a job and I am learning from people I did not know before about being in the workforce (various mentors).

The dream was about me not settling in my current state because my life would move to a new stage suddenly in a way I kinda wasn’t looking forward to. That group of friends was temporary. That guy was temporary. Of course, the care-free luxuries of college was temporary. I wanted a job, but I was comfortable with my old friends. Yet I was so focused on hanging out with them, I wasn’t focusing on my job hunt like I should have been. But people grow apart. I needed balance and I needed to know to be a good friend without putting all of my eggs in one basket.

The dreams foreshadowed  change, good and bad. Whether the dream reflected matters/trauma  that weighed heavily on the heart or

served as the harbinger of unexpected circumstances, the dream served as a tool that caught the attention and prepared both dreamers for changes that marked the various seasons of life.

It just happened while their defenses were down: in their sleep.

If you have a dream you want to tell, or if you want to give your input on the dreams and topics of the mini-series so far, feel free to comment below! What’s the next segment on? Colors in Dreams and Their Meanings!

photo found on: http://latinotownhall.com/tag/reinvention/

What’s up to the Readers of Estella’s World!

Visiting you with the “mini-series” on dreams today is Felicity86! In my previous post I mentioned that the subject of dreams can  be scientifically fascinating. In this particular post, I will be defining what a dream is according to science.

In a nutshell, Dreams are the manifestation of images and scenarios that our minds impress on us during the course of sleep .

As an individual begins to rest, they will first experience what is called  Non-Rem   sleep (Non-Rapid Eye Movement) . This is a light sleep that progresses into a deeper sleep over the course of four stages until the  individual achieves the fifth stage which is called  REM sleep

(Rapid Eye Movement) .

During various studies performed on the topic, electrodes are places on subjects’ heads and bodies to measure the brain and body activity during sleep.

The significance of the eye movement during the course of sleep is that it is one of several indicators that a person is having an increase in brain activity:

the person is “seeing” and experiencing a scenario in such a way that the activity detected by electrodes stuck on the person’s head which measures

electric brain activity.

This activity is comparable to the activity a person expresses when they are awake. While studies show that some light dreaming may occur during Non-REM sleep,

most dreams occur during REM Sleep.

The dreams that occur during REM sleep are of a different quality: they are often more vivid, have a longer duration, increased detail, and are more

memorable and absurd than dreams that occur in Non-REM sleep. This five stage Non-REM/REM cycle repeats up to four or five times in a night. Each cycle lasts up to 90 minutes long.

Here are a couple of my primary sources so that you can skim through to fulfill your own thirst for fascinating facts:

•   http://sleepfoundation.org/
•  http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/sleep-101

I hope you enjoyed the breakdown! The next post can be slightly controversial: Do dreams actually mean anything? Can they give you insight about your life’s current

circumstances, play the role of our individual harbingers for future, or maybe some of us are a little superstitious?

 image found on: google search under “night dreams “

ok I LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sushi!!One

**DISCLAIMER**

My family is not a big fan of the after taste of lamb so, I marinate it to relieve their tastebuds some. I also do not measure my seasonings, I season to taste and by eye (yes,  I was trained by my elders to cook, mom and grandmothers).

What do ya need:

2 LB  leg of lamb (boneless)

cumin

onion powder

garlic powder

sea salt

pepper

fresh garlic cloves

fresh parsley

fresh oregano (i have both greek and italian in my garden but you can use both or either or)

fresh rosemary

fresh basil

1 cup of red wine

1/3 cup of olive oil

I get the larges zip lock bag I can find, and throw all of the seasoning in the bag with the wine and olive oil.

Then stuff the leg with garlic  cloves parsley oregano  basil, rosemary (I have used onion for the leg of lamb as well, but not for this occasion).

marinate anywhere from 24 hours to 3 hours.
Cook time is 11 min per pound.

place on hot grill (we are charcoal people).  and cook until temp is 400 degrees inside the the meat (you may need a meat thermometer).