Fight for preemies - Derrick's story

This is a hard post for me.

I am a twin. My twin sister's name is Maya.

We grew up in a family that was very chaotic. My parents had us very young, also as teenagers. They pretty much sent us out on our own at a very young age... Not good for children, especially misguided young girls... In 1994, my sister Maya got pregnant. We didn't know much of anything about pregnancy. But she did take care of herself and the baby as best as she could...

The day before Christmas eve, she went into labor. She was just 26 weeks pregnant. Derrick came into this world very quickly.

I have never seen a sight like him, and I will never forget him. He was the tiniest little baby I have ever seen. I never could of imagined, at that time, that a baby could be that small. He was the size of a tiny baby doll. He was smaller then all the little stuffed animals in his bassinet. His skin was so thin, he was red. He had lots of dark hair... He was covered with wires and tubes and bandages. He was so small, they did not have a diaper small enough for him.

His lungs had not developed. He was living on machines..... He was not getting better, his body was failing... There was nothing more the doctors could do for Derrick. The technology wasn't there.... He lived for 4 weeks. At 14 years old, my sister had to make the most difficult decision to turn off his machines. At 14 years old, my sister lost her first child...

This loss haunts my sister. It has colored her whole life. She carries it very heavily on her shoulders. It haunts me too... I wish I was there for her more. I wish I understood more to have been there for her... At 14, you do not understand...

If he would of been born today, his chances would of been so much better. Fifteen years ago, he hardly had a chance.... I so wish Derrick's story had a happy ending... I wish he was here.

For Tuesday...

Your memory burns brighter than a million candles...

Happy Birthday Tuesday and Piper.

Cookies for Kids Cancer Bake sale

Since September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness month, My goal this month was to do what I can to raise awareness and funds for research for Neuroblastoma in Tuesday's honor... A little girl I never had a chance to meet, but has touched my life in such a deep and profound way. Oh, how I wish it wasn't that way.... She is my inspiration in so many things that I do now...

Anyways, before I start crying...

I held a bake sale for Cookies for Kids Cancer. 100% of the proceeds go to help fund research in the TOP cancer research centers.

I called up Sharlene from Double the Adventure and enlisted her help. What a great experience it was first of all to meet Sharlene. She is a friend of Tuesday's mama and an amazing, wonderful person! I was so glad to have someone with me there who is as passionate, if not more, as I am about finding a cure for this dreaded, awful disease.

We held the bake sale in my local Community Center during a Health and Wellness Festival. What an amazing experience this was. One of the most rewarding things I think I have ever done. I was touched by how generous people were.

We had lots of goodies and we did not price anything. When someone asked how much something was, we said "As much as you feel you can donate to help find a cure for Pediatric Cancer research" :)

This is the booth right at the beginning. We had a TON of stuff. I actually called around to local bakeries and they donated a bunch of stuff. Most of it was sitting in the back of the booth till we has space. I called up Starbucks too and they were MORE than happy to donate coffee. It was on a separate table on the side....

I put this sign together because I felt it was as important to educate people as it was to donate money. Most people don't know a thing about pediatric cancer. They certainly did not know that September is pediatric cancer awareness month. That has to change....

Here are some of the goodies we offered. Lots of cookies, I made cupcakes and put them in clear plastic cups and put them in Cello bags. That made it MUCH easier for people to take with them....

My red velvet cupcakes, of course :)

I also made gold ribbon sugar cookies.

So, in the end, we raised......

411.00!!!!!! for Pediatric Cancer!

from a little ol' bake sale!

:)

All i see is pink... where is the gold!

September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness month. Most people are not aware of this. Maybe because there are pink ribbons covering everything.

Breast cancer is serious. It runs in my family... I have even had a scare, so I know that it is something not to be taken lightly. I am so glad that there are so many celebrities backing breast cancer and that they have a media marketing campaign that rivals Disney...

But, you know... Breast Cancer awareness month is NOT in September, it is in October...



Everywhere I look, there are pink ribbons decorating everything... Stores, packaging, blogs, news announcements, runs, clothing.... But where is the gold!???! On Sept 13th, National Childhood Cancer Awareness day, I opened up our local Orange County newspaper and what did I see on the FRONT page??? A big pink ribbon announcing that Breast cancer awareness months is NEXT month... This makes me so sad. How come there is no major marketing campaign to raise funds that will help save OUR CHILDREN from cancer. Is it to taboo? Is it too sad to bring to the front? Maybe so, but it is not going away, unfortunately. 95% of women diagnosed with breast cancer are cured. But only 75% of children diagnosed with cancer make it.... How can this be acceptable???

I can't imagine how sad and frustrating it must be for families who have children who are suffering with cancer or who sadly, lost the battle... But I want those families to know that they are NOT forgotten. That this is an important fight. That there are people out there who would do anything to help them find a cure.

Dino Party

My son is 7. I can not believe it. Just yesterday it seems he was placed on my chest and we began our journey together... This little boy made me a mother. The very best gift I have ever been granted... And I could not have asked for a more precious son.

We had a party for Andrew last weekend. We planned it together. It made me laugh because for a boy who is obsessed with Star Wars and Transformers, he wanted Dinosaurs for his birthday theme! Love it! So I took that and ran with it. We started planning quite a ways ahead. Im crazy that way :) We also learned ALOT about dinosaurs along the way.

I didn't get very many pictures because there were so many activities. Im a little sad about that... but the kids had so much fun, I doubt it will be forgotten anytime soon...

Cupcakes! I made dinosaur fossils out of white chocolate and crunched up oreos for dirt.

These are the decorations on the patio. I made it super cheap using kraft paper for the vine like hangings and trash bags to tie it.

Here the kids are breaking open "Dinosaur Eggs" I made them with this crazy concoction of used coffee grounds, sand, flour, salt and water. Put little dinosaurs inside and baked them in the sun. On party day, I hid them all around the yard. They thought they were stones before I told them what they were! Once they found all 36 of them, we piled them on the table and used tools to break open. That was a scary experience, giving 7 year old boys tools to break something! Luckly we had CLOSE adult supervision!

Right here the kids are putting together dinosaur fossils I made using dinosaur fossil sand molds and plaster of paris. They turned out super cute. They had about 9 pieces to complete the skeleton. I hid them in the "secret garden" are of the back yard through the trellis in the background. They were to go in there and collect all the bones. the first team to work together put together a complete skeleton won. They had a great time with this game and loved the real looking bones.

Here they are making Dinosaur terrariums out of mason jars, rocks, moss, fake ferns and little dinosaurs. They absolutely loved this project. The kids kept coming up to me asking if they can take their jars home!

Here are some of the kids after they made their terrariums.

Miss Audrey in her barbie princess dress wacking the heck out of the dino...

SMA Awareness Month

August is SMA awareness month. If you have read my blog, then you know about Miss Gwendolyn Strong. She is a darling little girl who has SMA type 1. SMA is the number 1 genetic killer of infants and Gwendolyn has the most severe type... She and her family have touched my life and my heart in so many ways...

Please watch this video in honor of the little ones who lost the battle too soon, and the ones still fighting, and the ones who will be born with SMA. Then show it to everyone you know and direct them to the petition. The more signatures on the Petition to Cure SMA, the closer we are to a cure for this deadly childhood disease.

Summer, through the eyes of a child...

Before I had kids, summer was summer... Just like winter was winter. Nothing special, except I could wear as little clothes as possible...

Now that I have children (and no longer able to get away with as little clothes as possible...), summer time has a whole new meaning...

It is amazing to watch them and experience their excitement over things like slip & slides and water balloons, watermelon slices in the backyard and riding bikes.

And it is a wonderful feeling when they tell me "Today was the BEST day, Mom!" every night when I put them down for bed... I couldn't agree more... Yes, it is the best day ever... Until tomorrow... I am so blessed to have these little ones...