Wave of Light 2009 Photo

The big one is obviously Bear's and the little one is Babybear's.

We Were Gonna Have A Baby...

I've posted this on my blog before, but think it's worthy of posting again.

Her Name Is Tyla Renee

With today being October 15th...I'm desperately wanting to hear my daughter's name.

Her nickname is Babybear, and that is how she is widely known as. She had that nickname before she was born, before we knew she was a girl. Her daddy's nickname is Bear, and so, of course, she was babybear.

But... I've decided to step out of my comfort zone and just put her name out there. I mean, really, what's the worst that could happen?

Her name is Tyla Renee. My beautiful babybear gone too soon.

Walk to Remember 2009

Yesterday was our 3rd Annual Walk to Remember for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness. It was yet another success!

This year we had approximately 50 people, which is nearly double the size of our first walk in 2007. I find it hard to believe it started with me saying "I wish there was a walk in our city. Maybe I could start one." Yes, I brag a little bit, but I can't help it, I'm proud of this achievement!

But, of course, I could not have done it without the help of the committee. This year, we had 3 new members on our committee and they were absolutely wonderful. In fact, I won't lie, I let them do more work this year than I did myself, because, to be perfectly honest, I wasn't all that sure I wanted to put on the walk this year without my husband.

In the end, however, I'm glad we went through with it and that it appears everyone enjoyed the event. The day was a bit chilly, but thankfully it did not rain, or worse... well, I won't say that forbidden word. The sun made a brief appearance when we released the balloons. I took that as a sign that our babies were very happy to have balloons to play with.

Planning for next year's walk will commence shortly. As we were packing up to go, the committee was already buzzing about ideas for next year, how we can make this bigger, better!

I would like to thank everyone who came this year, who helped made this walk a success. I would especially like to thank all the beautiful babies, and in particular, my babybear, for giving me a purpose in life.

Here are a few photos from the walk:

Bear Love for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness

October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. October 15th is particularly notable as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. Recognized in the U.S., several provinces across Canada and I believe also a few other countries around the world.

This is kind of a spur of the moment idea that came to me...

In honor of October 15th, my province now officially recognizing October 15th as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day and the fact my daughter, better known as "Babybear", was due to be born in October 2005 (she died in July at 26 weeks gestation), I've decided to spread some Bear Love.



Isn't he adorable?

Now he just needs a name. I'm open to suggestions!

I put these bears in the memory boxes I make to donate to the hospital, though I haven't made one for a while.

My idea (with a little help from YaYa in fine-tuning my original idea):

This little bear would like to travel around blogville spreading love. Because it is October, I think we should spread the love among bereaved parents who have suffered a miscarriage, a stillbirth, or a loss shortly after birth.

How it will work:

He will travel from October 15, 2009 - October 15, 2010. Although, he may change his mind and decide to travel forever. :)

He will be sent from one Blogger to another. Each blogger who gets him will take a photo (or many photos) of his "traveling adventure" ... the photos can be of the blogger holding him, or the bear with something that meaningful .. that reminds you of your baby/babies... Their headstones or a photo of them or whatever you feel comfortable taking a photo of. It is recommended, however, that you blur out any last names from photos for privacy and safety reasons.

Each blogger will send the photos via email to me, along with description of photo and/or a story told by the bear and /or a letter to Bear from them. Bloggers may post about him on their own blogs but must send me the link to that post. Bloggers must send me a link to their blog whether or not they post a post about the bear. The reason for this is so that when I post about the bear's adventures, I can link to your blog.

Each blogger will keep him for no more than 1 week, and then pass him along to the next blogger.

Each blogger, should they choose, may send their own personal cards or other items to the next blogger to keep. The bear, however, must continue to travel.

The bear is no bigger than my palm, so should not cost too much to mail around. However, due to cost of international shipping, perhaps we should keep this bear traveling in Canada and the US.

Every so often, I will post an update on the bear's travels, with the photos/stories (I may even create a blog just for him.)

Who will get the bear?

* You must be a blogger.
* You must be a bereaved parent via pregnancy or infant loss
* You must live in either Canada or the US.
* You must be willing to mail the bear to another blogger after your visit.
* You must love bears.

Further guidelines will be announced later.

Now before this little bear goes on his adventure... we need to sort out a few wrinkles in his travel plan. And he'd like your help in solving these few problems...

1. What is his name? The poor guy doesn't have a name! (Give your suggestions here and next week I will post a poll with some of the suggestions and see which name is chosen.)

2. My first thought was to send him around to all my bloggy friends who are bereaved parents. But then I realized that some of my bloggy friends don't know each other. So we have 3 options of how to work this.

Option 1: If you want to partake in Bear Love, you can send me an email and I will pass along your address to the person who will send the bear to you. This option may be the most complicated.

Option 2: You will send the bear to someone you know in blogville. This means that not everyone I know will get a visit from the bear, but many other people will.

Option 3: I can post a Mr. Linky or similar thing and if you wish to partake you will post a link to your blog, and the person who has the bear will click the name that comes immediately AFTER theirs, and email that person to say they have the bear and will be sending it to them and inquire their mailing addresses. If you do not hear from that person within a set amount of time, you may move to the next person on the list. This option will allow anyone who is interested in Bear Love to participate.

Please answer the poll below and the option with the most responses will be the way we do this.



3. If you have any suggestions for a blog name if I start one for this adventure, let me know! Again, I will do a poll later to choose the best name.


Looking forward to all your ideas and suggestions!

Edit: just as I was about to post this, I thought of a name for the bear! He has some patches on his body and so I thought "Patches" would be a good name... for he will be patching up the tears in your heart.... what do you think!? Still open to suggestions...

Friday Fragments: how ice cream can be depressing

Welcome to Friday Fragments!

**********
I'm on season 6!



**********

I got my Stampin' Up! order this week. I'm so excited!

**********

There seems to be an invasion of cats in my neighborhood these days. Emma, being the good watch dog that she is, growls at each and every single one of them.

**********

This week, October 15th (Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day) became official in my province. And I was there to witness the proceedings as the Bill was passed. It was certainly bittersweet.

**********

**********

Our Walk to Remember is in just a couple weeks! Better get cracking on getting everything ready.

**********

I had my very favorite gelati this week for the first time in forEVER. Since I wrote this post. I got the same flavors you see there.

**********

In reading that post, I realize it was written just a few days before we found out my husband's cancer was back. He had worked an extra shift on Sunday (even though he was in alot of pain) and took the car which he normally didn't during the rest of the week) and stopped to pick some up on his way home. *sigh*

**********

I'm really missing my family.

**********

Well, this edition of Friday Fragments has come depressing. Let's move on to the Friday Funny:

My Wave of Light 2008 Photo

This is my Wave of Light Photo.

Unfortunately, I forgot to light it right at 7pm, but I didn't entirely forget.

I miss you babybear. xoxo

October 15th - Wave of Light - Pregnany & Infant Loss Remembrance Day

If you take a photo of your candle burning, I would love to see it!

Walk to Remember 2008

Some of you may be aware that October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. In the United States and in New Brunswick, Canada, October 15th is the official Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. The rest of the provinces have not yet made it official, but that does not stop us from acknowledging the occasion.

For the second year in a row, I have organized a Walk to Remember along with a couple other people. The purpose of the walk is to just gather together in a unified manner to remember our children gone too soon. If we happen to spread a little awareness in the process, then that's a bonus.

This year's walk was held on October 4, 2008. We chose this date because the Canadian Thanksgiving is the following weekend, and, well, quite frankly, after that it's not entirely uncommon to begin our winter season.

The weather was beautiful on Saturday with the sun shining brightly. A cool breeze was blowing but not so much that it would prevent anyone from spending time outside.

We started off with a little memorial with a few poems, a moment of silence and the readings of the babies names.

Then we went for our walk, which took about 20 minutes. We walked down the roadway until we got to the path leading to the flower gardens. From there we walked over and around the duck pond (which really should be called a Geese Pond!) , through a parking lot, into the forest, past the playground and back to our starting point.

After the walk, we handed out prizes and served cake and coffee to our participants.

All in all, it was a success, and several people said they look forward to returning again next year. That just makes it all worth it.

Our children shall never be forgotten. I love you, Babybear.

Here are a couple photos:

passing the flower gardens
(out of photo range)

going around the duck pond

Talk about Tuesday

(click above banner to see more participants)

I have a fair bit to talk about today, since I missed last week's TAT and I have some new things to talk about today.

A Thank You

First, I would like to thank everyone for their condolences on the loss of our family dog Scottie. The last time I saw him, he had lost a fair bit of weight and was walking kind of oddly. I knew it might be one of the last times I saw him and I took some photos. It was difficult to take the photos because he kept moving, but I think I got one or two. I'll have to find them so I can send them to mom.

The Day That Never Came...

Today is the second anniversary of what was my due date. When a baby is born, a due date becomes kind of a forgotten fact, as focus shifts to the day the baby was actually born. However, when a baby dies before it is born (as my daughter did at 26 weeks gestation) or when a baby is severely premature, the due date becomes embedded in the parents minds, especially the mother. It is a painful day for me, a painful week, because I know I should be celebrating my daughter's second birthday right about now.

Walk to Remember

On October 20th, the first annual Walk to Remember was held in our town. I am particularly excited about this because I was one of the organizers and we had a pretty decent turn out for the first year (approx. 25 people). The Walk to Remember was organized in conjunction with Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day (Oct. 15th). Here in Canada, it is not yet officially recognized except in New Brunswick, but with more awareness it will eventually be recognized throughout the nation.

Happy Birthday

my brother's 1st bday (1979)

My brother is 29 yrs old today. I know I'm having trouble believing it because, well, he's supposed to be 3 yrs younger than me and *I* am 29... (nearly x 3).

Happy Birthday to my brother.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

What the Pup did.....

My Wave of Light Candle in Memory of Babybear


To see other Wordless Wednesday Participants click here.

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day (October 15th)

You may remember this blog. .

October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. Here in Canada it is not yet official but I am hoping that in the near future it will be.

Why is this day so important to me? It is important to me because 2 years ago I lost my daughter at 26 weeks gestation due to severe pre-eclampsia. She was (and is) my only child. She is the reason I titled my blog "with an angel on my shoulder".

I found this video on YouTube last year. It is a heartwarming video of a young boy reading "We Were Gonna Have a Baby, but We Had An Angel Instead" (author: Pat Schwiebert) in honor of his baby brother. I thought I would post it here for you to see.