Babies make people happy

I believe that babies are an extra ray of sunshine from God.

Every time Colton and I are in public I am stopped by at least one person who asks about the baby, smiles, says "he is beautiful" and then begin to share stories of their own children when they were babies. All of their stories are happy stories.  For some reason I've become drawn to these stories and no matter if I am in a hurry or not I stop to listen.  Really, truly listen.

Last week I noticed two specific instances where Colton shared his ray of sunshine.

I have become a frequent WalMart shopper. (The nearest Target is an hour away and I have learned that I just need to get out of the house, for my own sanity.) While I was in WalMart there were a group of handicapped gentleman shopping with their aid.  I walked past them with Colton in his car seat in the back of the cart.  They all said, "Oh, look at the baby!" and headed toward me.  I had two choices, act like I didn't hear them and continue my shopping or stop, let them meet Colton and tell them about him.  I chose to stop and let them meet Colton.  They touched his hand, asked his name and wanted to talk to him.  I let them and took as much time as they needed to without being in a hurry. They were so happy and all said thank you for letting them meet him.  This sweet baby boy of ours has taught me how to stop being a rush and take time for those who need the happiness.

We also took a trip to Northern Iowa and then on to Southern Minnesota last week so that Colton's grandparents could spend time with him and we could introduce him to his great grandparents. The trip was a success and he proved to be a good traveler.

While in Minnesota my dad so badly wanted a picture of four generations of his family that included my grandma, my dad, Colton and I.  We made a special trip to the nursing home to get this picture.  My grandma now lives there after a severe stroke.  While Adam was feeding Colton in the lounge area he had a lot of "old folks," as we say in Minnesota, stop to ask about Colton and share stories about their kids and grand kids as babies. Even the residents we past in the hall wanted to see the baby.  We stopped to visit with each one of them simply because we knew that he had the power to make their day a little brighter.  This proved true for my grandma too.

While she may no longer know who we are.  She recognized Colton as a beautiful baby she just couldn't take her eyes off of.  It felt pretty magical and just for a moment we felt she probably understood that this was her great grandchild.

We always hear about how happy parents are with their new babies but this love and happiness goes beyond just parents.  It extends to way beyond that and they ray of sunshine they bring to others can sometimes reach the most dim corner.

I want our son to know the true power he has to bring sunshine to others on, what may be, a cloudy day.