Our Newest Adventure . . . . .

Well first off I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who came to our fundraiser. In spirit and in person! There were a ton of people there and I think that we surprised even the Boston Market staff! It will take 5-6 weeks for us to get our donation check, so we won't know officially how we did until them. But I think it was a success!

Last week we ordered a bunch of stuff off of Oriental Trading Company, and it came in today! The day of the fundraiser, too! We ordered some little stuffed monkeys and teddy bears - which are a perfect size for a isolette! We also ordered some put it together yourself picture frames that I spent some tim putting together tonight! Cute fun ones for baby girls and sports themes for baby boys! I think I am going to have a lot of fun putting them together . .  . . my husband, not so much, LOL Currently he is playing some army game on the PS3. He is a good sport, though. (And I think he actually likes putting stuff like this together!) Probably this weekend we will start putting them all together and getting that kind of stuff ready for the bags. We are spending Saturday at my sister's, so maybe her and her boyfriend will want to help us! We'll see, though! Here is a picture of the frames I put together tonight, and the cute little animals, too!

Overall today was a good day. We got to spend some time with some great friends and raise money for MJ's Memories all at the same time. Then I got to come home and do some artsy craftsy stuff, which is fun, too! The more items that we are able to make 'homemade' the more love that goes into these care packages. I hope that the recipients can feel how much love that we put into the bags. Just thinking that someone who is facing the devastation of having a baby in the NICU - then receiving one of these bags makes me smile. I know that I would have loved one when MJ was in the NICU. We received a few similar items, but nothing to the scale of what we are doing. The blanket that was given to me, I still sleep with every night. It is the blanket that was wrapped around my baby boy as he passed onto Heaven. I am thinking of getting a tattoo of it, actually. I have MJ's feet prints on my back, and would love to get the phrase, "Rest in Peace, My Son" underneath it, with the words looking as though they are resting on the blanket. Here is a picture of my tattoo, and the blanket I am talking about . . . 

My Tattoo For MJ

(with Will looking over my shoulder)

the blanket MJ was wrapped in when he passed into Heaven

Fundraiser Today!

For anyone in Topeka, KS we are having another fundraiser today! Please go to Boston Market tonight for dinner and bring along the 'ticket' I have put up on here. 15% of sales tonight will be donated to our project!!

Funds generated tonight will go towards buying things that will be included in the gift bags that we donate to hospitals as part of our Project Sweet Peas called MJ's Memories. Things that we will purchase include:

Baby Blankets

Disposable Cameras

Hand Lotion

Lip Balm

Travel Size Hand Sanitizer

Journals

Pens

Baby Hats

Booties

Scratch Mittens

Tissue Packs

Children's Books (for young siblings)

Crossword/Sudoku Books (for the parents)

Playing Cards

Stuffed Animals

Picture Frames

Hand/Foot Molds

Baby brush/comb

Gift Cards

Travel Size: lotion, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, toothpaste (for the parents)

For more information on our project, please visit http://www.projectsweetpeas.com/ Thanks!

A Few More Fundraisers

So we are planning a few more fundraisers for our bags in the next few months, which we are pretty excited about. Our first fundraiser is going to be next Monday, February 22. We are having a fundraiser night at Boston Market in Topeka, KS. That night Boston Market will donate 15% of their sales (as long as the customer brings the coupon below). We hope that a lot of people will go to Boston Market that night and get some yummy good and help us out!

The other fundraiser that we are planning is a Garage Sale Fundraiser. We have a ton of stuff in our house that we really don't need, so we are going to clean it out and have a garage sale! All of the proceeds from that day will be donated to buy stuff to fill our bags! We are pretty excited about this fundraiser as well. Today we bought a new tv (super nice HD, 47 inch, all that jazz). And we are going to try and sell our old one for a good price. We got our tax return back and figured that we have had a hell of a past six months, and that we deserved to treat ourselves. Neither of us have ever had a new big screen before, so that's what we really wanted. (Actually, Willlie wanted it more, LOL). I really wanted some new kitchen dishes, so that's what my splurge was! We have a lot of other stuff to put in our garage sale and are going to let our friends know that if they want to get anything off of their hands, we will take it! Hopefully they will go well and we can make our bags super awesome!!

We have another fundraiser in the works, but that one is a super huge one that I am going to save for when it happens! Try not to get too excited!

Huge Success!

So yesterday's fundraising event was a widely huge success! I can't believe all the people that came to our event, and all of the support that was given to us and our quest to help send support to families who are going through the NICU experience. Not only did it feel amazing to know that so many people were helping my husband and I, but sooo many people wanted to know about MJ and his life. And that honestly means more to me then anything. I so desperatly want to make sure that MJ is never forgotten, and that his short life will live on in the love that my husband and I have for him.

The fundraiser started out pretty emotional. My little sister and I both started tearing up quite a bit, actually. Caitlyn was there when we lost MJ, so all I really had to do was look at her, and she knew what I was thinking. I am so thankful to have her in my life. And my whole family, really. My older sister has been a rock for me, to call and scream and vent. And my parents coordinated the entire fundraiser yesterday. My husband's family has been just as amazing. We truly are blessed with amazing families, and we are so thankful for them.

Anyway, soo many people came yesterday! I saw people that I went to high school with, that I haven't spoken to in years! And old neighbors and people we went to church with, and the list goes on and on. It meant so much to me that so many people came to support us. We got so many donations, easily enough to fill 200 bags full of goodies! Imagine, 200 families comforted just a bit, in memory of my amazing son MJ. How awesome is that???

We also received sooo many monetary donations and raffle ticket proceeds, and we sold 10-12 Awareness Bracelets! I wasn't really keeping count, I was talking to so many people, that it was truly a whirlwind yesterday.

And I would have to say that the best part of yesterday was meeting another Project Sweet Peas mom, Theresa. I live in Topeka, KS and my parents hosted the fundraiser in Mundelein, IL (just outside of Chicago). Theresa has started her Project, called Donny's Shining Light, in memory of her son, Donny. He is also a CDH baby who graced this Earth for six days. Theresa has just joined Project Sweet Peas, and I am so very thankful that I was able to meet her! I also got to meet her beautiful daughter, Rachel Rose. Rachel is Donny's little sister, and is 13 months old. Will (MJ's twin) totally loved her! It was so cute to see them together. It was so nice, too, to have

someone there who knows what I am going through, and I can totally relate to. Just about everyone that I talked to would say "You are doing so well . . ." and things like that. Theresa knows. She knows that I am not really doing that well, that I am real good at faking it. (Another b

logging babylost momma says 'Fake it until you make it' so that's what I am doing right now). That I can put a smile on and say, "Oh, thank you". Right now I feel like doing MJ's Memories is the one thing that I can do for my son, and therefore I have to do it the best to my ability. And that's why I am doing this. And it was so nice to have someone there yesterday who knows. And understands. And doesn't say how well I am doing, because she knows. Thank you for being there yesterday, Theresa!

Overall yesterday could not have been any better. I wish more then anything that I didn't have to do something like this. That I have my son in my arm's and we spent Christmas showering our two boys with presents and love. But instead we spend Christmas blinking back tears and feeling empty. We did our best for Will, but still, it was really hard. I love and I miss you MJ!! I hope that you are having an amazing time in Heaven. Hugs and kisses from your Mommy!

It's Been a Few Weeks

So it's been a few weeks, a few emotional weeks. The holiday's are finally over and they weren't as bad as I thought they would be. It was very good to see Will's first Christmas, but very sad to have to celebrate without MJ. I don't want to get into too many details, because knowing that we have to live and we have to go one without MJ breaks my heart.

But today is our first fundraiser for MJ's Memories! I am very excited about it, yet it is very bittersweet because I would give anything to be able to have my baby boy in my arms and not have to do something to remember him by. The fundraiser is from 3 pm to 8 pm today at Kaiser's in Mundelein, IL. I will update later on today or tomorrow on how it went, and add some photos, too.

So, I was really hoping that making and selling the Awareness Bracelets would be a really great way for income for MJ's Memories. After our first Craft Show, I thought that I was correct, but after last weekend's utter disapointment, I am just not sure if we are going to be able to. We have sold a few online (thank you to everyone who did), and a lot to family and friends (thanks!), but not enough to full fund everything that we plan on doing. I was looking around for another craft show to go to, but I can't find one for a few months. I don't know if I am looking in the right places or not. I am simply Googling 'Craft Shows in Topeka, KS'. Maybe I am not doing it right? I thought that in the Art and Craft Show world that there were events just about every weekend. I must be either wrong or not looking in the right places.

Hopefully at the end of the month at the fundraiser that my parents are doing, called MJ's HUGS (Help Us Give Support) that we will be able to sell a lot. I am really excited about that fundraiser. We have a ton of great raffle prizes, and they have already sold a ton of raffle tickets, which is really cool!

I sent out my first gift bag today (sort of), which is a little exciting. Averi Hope is a CDH baby who is really struggling right now. Prayers would be appreciated! Anyway, I met her mom, when she was still pregnant, and it turns out that she is from Fremont, CA, which is were my husband, Willie is from! Small world! Anyway, I sent her out a package today with some stuff that is gonna be included in our bags: a name plaque, baby blanket, teddy bear, birth record pillow, baby girl bows, and a deck of cards for Teresa and Kevin. I hope that they really like it! I hope that it can at least make them smile for a bit, because I know how hard it is to go through the incredibly emtional roller coaster that they are going through right now. Averi is going through a lot of the same stuff that MJ went through, and I just pray every day for a different outcome. I get so upset when any CDH baby losses their battle, and I feel especially close to this family because of the similarities of Averi and MJ. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as Averi continues her battle.

Well, Saturday was our big craft show to sell a ton of bracelets and raise lots of money for our gift bags. Yeah, right. We got to the 'big' show bright and early at 9 am (show started at 10 am) to make sure we got a good spot and set up so our table looked great. We were all ready and set to go at about 9:45 am and all we had to do was wait until people started showing up. Well, we waited, and waited, and waited. Then we started looking around and realizing that this was not at all what we had thought we signed up for. There were only about 20 vendors there (I thought there would be about 60+), and the place was very rundown and not in a very good neighborhood in Kansas City. As we waited and waited for people to show up, we started talking to the people around us. At about 11 am there had been literally about four people who showed and they just walked through and left. The lady next to us was selling crocheted purses and scarves and I asked her if this was how it always was (they have these shows every weekend), or if they expected more people to show up. She replied that they had already had double the amount of people that they had last week. I literally almost choked. Why the heck did we pay $25 to sit around all day?? After waiting about 30 more minutes and still not having anyone show up, we decided to book it. I did not want to sit around until 5 pm getting more and more mad. The website made it seem like a ton of people showed up and that this was a hugely successful show every weekend. Being that we live in Topeka, KS, about an hour away from Kansas City, we really had no way of knowing if they were telling the truth, or not. And they weren't. Very disappointing, but what are you gonna do? In the end we lost $25 and about three hours of our life. It could have been worse, we could have stayed all day. So glad we faked illness and booked it!

So we decided to not waste the day, and do something for MJ's Memories, at least. When I was at Hobby Lobby the other day, I found these way cute wooden plaques and things to put on them, and I bought a bunch. Being that we were in Kansas City, we stopped at that Hobby Lobby and bought some more, and some paint and went home to get started. They are so cute! We only had enough for 26, so we need to buy some more, but we bought both our Hobby Lobby, and Kansas City's Hobby Lobby out. I think they are just so cute! I would have loved one for MJ's isolette. Here is a picture of them, and my husband, Willie, working on them.

So after finishing our name plaques and resting on Sunday, today I woke up bright and early for our big news interview! We had to be there at 6 am, so I woke up about 4:30 am. We got there and Will was a super happy baby! I was so nervous he was going to be fussy, but he was such a cheeseball! Laughing and giggling at the news anchor, he worked the crowd for sure! The interview went great, it was about three minutes and I talked about MJ's story and what MJ's Memories is and then asked for donations. I really hope that they have a link to the story up on the website, I forgot to ask, so I emailed her and asked. It would be so cool to post a link! Hopefully we get some donations, or at least some interest. We got like four responses from our news article in the paper, so hopefully this will generate some interest, too. Regardless, I am just super happy that I was able to tell people MJ's story. Talking about him helps me and makes me remember him more. I emailed them several photos ahead of time, and they showed all of his photo, too, which made me really happy. I love looking at photos of him! Here's to hoping I get on in a few hours with link!

Into December We Go . .

So we are past Thanksgiving, thank god! It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. I think though that was because Will wouldn't stop screaming the whole day, LOL. He was still recovering from the plane right out to Nevada to visit Willie's family. I think the elevation got to him and upset his tummy. Willie said it was MJ pinching him so we didn't have to think about our first holiday without him. I think I agree a bit, too.

The fundraiser was amazing! It was very emotional, but in a good way. I didn't think it was going to be that emotional, but it was. We met another family that lost their baby to CDH this past year. That was so great to meet another family going through what we are. He was their first baby as well. I think we will stay in touch and friends with them forever, it's a kind of bond that is very special and unique, and I am very happy that we have that.

So this weekend is our big show! I am very excited about it, I really hope that we are able to sell a lot of bracelets. We have a ton to make this week! We figured out how many we want to have of each, and total we have to make about 60 bracelets this week. Willie is amazing, though and we have about half done already, which is nice. On Sunday after we got home from our trip, we made a three part poster board that tells MJ's Story. It really looks great! We are planning on putting that on the table at the art show. The last one we went to we found that the more we told about MJ, the more apt people were to be buying bracelets. This way, people can take a look at his pictures and read his story, and will be able to know him a little bit. We are also going to make one that says a little bit about Project Sweet Peas and what MJ's Memories and Bracelets for Awareness is. I am very excited for this weekend! Can't wait!! I will post pictures of our posters and table after Saturday.

Sold my first bracelet online!

Woohoo! I am pretty excited tonight because I logged into my email account, and someone bought a bracelet! I am VERY excited about this. I was getting pretty down because we hadn't sold any (other than to my mom and sister - and they don't really count) yet. I was starting to think maybe the bracelet idea was not a good one, and it was gonna tank. Hopefully this will be the first of many, because surprisingly enough, making bracelets is NOT cheap. I thought that buying the beads would be fairly inexpensive, but that was not the case. All the beads I bought, I bought on sale 50% off, and we still put a lot of money into them. Basically if I don't buy the beads at 50% off, then I don't make any money at all, only a break even. So I have to buy strategically. So hopefully this first sale will start a trend and I will be able to get a few sold. If not, I always have my back up plan of attending craft shows. My first craft show will be December 5th in Kansas City. I want to make a lot of bracelets for this event, and I really hope that people will like them. It is an all day affair, so I hopefully we will do well. We have to sell a minimum of five bracelets there to brake even, as it costs $25 to be in the show. If we can do well there, I think I will try and attend a show every other month or so. I don't want to overdo it, and get burnt out, so I think that every other month will be a good plan. Right now I am pretty excited, I just hope that it will continue and I can do well.

This is all for MJ after all, and I just want to make him proud. I am so proud of him, and I can only hope that I can make him feel the same way he made me feel. I miss him so much, sometimes it just doesn't seem real that he is gone. But that is the reality, as much as I want to deny it, I just can't. MJ's Memories will mean so much to me, I just want to be able to do well.

Well, things are really starting to get rolling for MJ's Memories. Willie and I hope to be delivering bags to the NICU in January. Next weekend my parents will be in town and I am hoping to get started making my bracelets, and I am currently looking into getting in a craft show that I can sell them at. I am also going to be selling online, at the Project Sweet Peas website, but I will start that once I get a few bracelets made. I just can't wait to get fully started and ready to go.

I have a few other things in the works, as well, which is really nice. My dad is a teacher at a school in the Chicagoland area, and his one of his classes wanted to do a fundraiser for us, which was amazing! They had a spaghetti lunch yesterday and raised over $200 for us! This is going to help so much with getting MJ's Memories started and bags filled!

My parents, who live in the Chicagoland area, in a town called Mundelein are getting together a fundraiser/bag filler for over Christmas. I am very excited about this! This event will be the a huge one for us, and will hopefully fill a lot of bags!

Well the next few weeks are going to be very busy for me, but everything is really started to roll out for MJ's Memories, which I am very excited about. I will keep everything updated and posted as it happens, thanks!