An Amazing Post

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I know many of you know who Franchesca is- she's designed so many of our blogs and creates the most beautiful and inspirational word art. She has shared her sweet Jenna Belle and her huge beautiful heart with us all. I am so very fortunate to know her in real life and to call her my friend. Fran recently posted one of the best blog posts for grieving moms that I've ever read. Seriously.

If you haven't seen her post titled "When You Lose A Baby" please click here and take a minute to read it. I could relate to every word, every emotion. I'm sure many of you can as well. It helps me so much to know that even though I'm 15 months out from losing Aiden, my feelings are not crazy and it's ok to continue to grieve. I am not alone. There are women out there that "get" it.

And for family and friends who may be reading this blog because you know someone who lost a baby- I hope it helps you gain a better insight into the tremendous pain that is felt when a child is loss. Maybe you'll understand a little more where your loved one is living in this moment. The pain doesn't go away. We love our children forever. We miss our children forever.

Guest Post- 12 Days of Christmas With You in Heaven

I'm so honored to be guest posting at Small Bird Studios today during this amazing series "12 Days of Christmas With You in Heaven". Especially because I get the chance to talk about my sweet Aiden. I have to say thank you to my lovely friend Fran for allowing me to share with her readers my sweet baby boy and one of the special ways we're remembering him this Christmas.

If you have some time please stop over and read my post. I'm sharing a tutorial on how to make a personalized frosted candle holder to include in your holiday decorations.

And do go back to Fran's blog for the other days in the series. Many moms will also be sharing with you special ways to remember your children during the holidays.

Oh and please come by my blog on December 1st!!! I'll be sharing the other ways we plan to include Aiden in our Christmas celebration this year and in years to come. There may be a few other special surprises too!!!

Much love to you all......xoxo

****UPDATE**** I made some more candle holders with spray gloss instead of the kind you paint on and I like the way that worked better. Just a suggestion if you're trying out this project!

Aiden's Certificate of Life

I just have to say that I am so so very grateful for all the sweet BLM friends I have met along this journey. You all truly give me so much support at the times when I need it most. When I opened my e-mail yesterday my friend Fran completely surprised me with this amazing Certificate of Life for Aiden:

OMG I was in tears looking at it- it is so beautiful! She even added his cutie pie foot prints for me! What a great gift to receive to honor him and his 10 months in Heaven.

Aiden's Certificate of Life is on display on the Lost For Words card line website that Franchesca and Carly Marie have created. Yay! He's so special :) If you haven't checked out the website yet please stop over and take a look at their beautiful cards and Certificates of Life.

Thank you so much Fran! You are such a blessing to so many mamas!

xoxo

A New Fabulous Look!!!!

In case you haven't noticed I have a new look!!!  My niece Kayla would say, "It's just fabulous Aunty Tasha!  I love it!"  Kayla has lots of unique little quotes and they just tickle me :)  I'll continue to share them with you here.

I love, love, love the way the blog turned out and it's all thanks to one great, fantastic, talented, super sweet lady........Franchesca at Small Bird Studio.  She found the perfect scrapbook set with all the colors I wanted.  Of course you know purple had to be all over it but I wanted some blue for Aiden as well.  Can you believe the perfect set was the first one on the list she sent me- amazing!!!  I love the dragonfly- it makes me think of Aiden playing with one at the park or in our yard.  I love that image.

Fran worked so hard to make the page exactly what I wanted and was perfectly ok with my indecisiveness- LOL!  She completely understands the need us baby loss mamas have to make our little angel's space perfect.  She even thought to include Aiden's footprints in the quote I have on the sidebar of the page.  I love that you can tell how much Fran cares about you and your little one as she works with you.  It definitely shows in all she does.  Again I can't say thank you enough!

If you love my new look check out her page and get a makeover yourself!

Finally I just have to say how much I love this picture:

One of my best friends (and Aiden's Godmother) took my maternity pictures for me and this one was the favorite for me, her, and Nygel.  I love the fact that I can see myself looking down at Aiden. Denise stood up on my bed to get this picture and I was so happy with how it turned out.

I couldn't look at this picture for a while after he passed.  It made me so sad to think that he should have still been where he was in this picture but instead he was gone forever.  But when I was trying to find pictures for Fran to use in my header I remembered this one.  My favorite picture.....of me and Aiden.  I realized I really wanted a picture of us together to be the first thing people saw on my page. It makes the blog I've created to honor and remember him complete.....absolutely perfect.

I love you my miracle angel baby.  Forever and ever.


Love,
Mommy

Support Group

My support group at Bo's Place has been a great source of strength for me over the last 5 weeks. The 3 women who are a part of the group with me are wonderful, strong, supportive, creative, fun, and know how to give a great hug! Our facilitators have presented us with such carefully planned activities and topic discussions each week. I can't believe my time at Bo's Place is coming to an end. But I know I'm stronger because of this group and for that I give thanks. Thank you God for knowing what and who I needed at just the right time.

So I wanted to share something from my group session this week:

This little master piece is my quilt square for a quilt that will be kept at Bo's Place. Each person who goes through a grief support program at Bo's Place creates a quilt square to remember their loved one. It can be words, pictures, scribbles, what ever you like. Once they have collected enough squares Bo's Place sends them off to be made into a memorial quilt. All the people in a support group together will have their squares placed on the same quilt so they are always together.

They have some amazing ladies that work on these quilts! Every one of them is a perfect piece of art. Once the quilts are ready they are hung on various walls throughout Bo's Place. From the first day I walked into the building I was struck by how touching these quilts are. I couldn't stop reading square after square, learning about all the love shared for lost family members. There are squares made by all ages and some of the best are the simple drawings of small children who don't quite have the words to express their feelings....their pictures say it all.

I'm so glad that Aiden will always be remembered on the walls of Bo's Place because this group has truly helped me in my grieving and healing process.

On another note I wanted to share with you all a few things that I think are just great!!! First is the Jenna Journal Drive. Franchesca at Small Bird Studio is doing a journal drive for her baby girl Jenna's birthday. The Jenna Journal Drive will provide journals to parents in the NICU to record their memories and feelings during their journey, Please check out her page and donate a journal or two or three!

I know that journaling has helped me a lot in this grief journey and I think it's great to provide other baby loss mamas the same outlet to express their feelings. I'm personally going to try to collect at least 10 journals for the drive. If you want to donate with me let me know. All the journals I send will be in memory of Aiden and will include a very beautiful sticker with his name. If you want to donate on your own go to this page for all the details. I'll be sending my journals the around the middle of March so that Fran will have them in time for Jenna's birthday on May 5th. If you want to send a journal in Aiden's memory let me know soon! You can leave a comment or send me an e-mail.

Next I wanted to share Tiffany's page that offers support for those experiencing the loss of a baby because of SIDS. In His Name provides resources and survival kits for families in honor of her beautiful son Julius.

I hope you will all take a moment to stop by her page and support this project. I know that it will mean so much to the families that are dealing with this horrible loss. Also go visit Tiffany's page and enter her awesome giveaway for the month of February. It's sponsored by Franchesca which means it will be really great!!!

Finally I wanted to share some love! Mattie has arranged for herself and other bloggers to post about all about love during the month of February. This blog series is called What Love Really Means and will run from February 1st through 14th. Each day she will post which blog to visit for the day with the goal of helping other baby loss mamas feel loved- what a GREAT idea!!! Mattie is also doing some great giveaways during the month so make sure to check those out too!!! 

I think you should definitely take some time to visit these blogs each day. We could all use some love and hope and what better time to do it than February- the month of LOVE! Also it's a great chance to get to know other baby loss mamas and their precious angels.

Whew! That's it for now...this one was kinda long! I hope everyone has a great Saturday!