Gastroschisis Awareness Day Celebration, Texas Style

So, I'm sure you've heard me mention a time or two that my daughter was born almost two years ago with a birth defect called gastroschisis. That is where the abdominal wall doesn't close in utero and the intestines (and sometimes other organs) are outside of the body at birth. July 30th has been recognized by a few states as the official Gastroschisis Awareness Day, so we had our annual celebration yesterday. It was held at Cook Hospital in Fort Worth. 

Over 120 people showed up, we filled that entire room. 

Three full bags of things were donated. Thank you to my reader Amanda who sent in some headbands to donate! 

Yup! Gastroschisis Awareness Day is officially recognized in the state of Texas, thank you Governor Rick Perry! 

These are the gastro kids that were the stars of the event. 

Daddy and his princess. She's wearing the official color of gastroschisis: green! 

Oh so thankful for this little girl. 

The Carter blood drive van was on site. 21 units of blood were donated, which means that it can save the lives of 252 babies! 

It was a great time, and it was nice to finally meet the other gastro parents in the area. It was a definite reminder that gastroschisis isn't a "one time and done" thing, there were a few kids who still had tubes attached to them and others that still have on going complications. So say a prayer for these kiddos, and hug your kids tight, moms. They're a precious, precious gift. 

Bella Pouch Review and GIVEAWAY from Pink Stitches!

So, a couple of weeks ago, Bonnie from Pink Stitches asked for volunteers to review her Bella pouch and do a giveaway, and I totally jumped at the chance! As a mom to 3 girls with one on the way, I knew that having a little purse pouch in my arsenal of patterns would never go to waste. 

The pattern comes with 16 pages with great pictures and instructions. I was a little hesitant when it came to sewing the outside to the inside fabric and flipping it, but I just followed the instructions exactly and was so excited when mine looked like it was supposed to! 

The only things I did differently than her pattern was I didn't have any batting on hand, so I used some fleece that I had, which worked out fine. And I didn't have any button snaps, so I used velcro, and again, it worked out fine. I love that I can enlarge the pattern if I want to make a bigger purse for my girls. The size it is now is perfect for my makeup and to throw in my purse. 

Want to see how mine turned out? It didn't need a ton of fabric, which was awesome! The outside was made with one fat quarter. 

My oldest daughter has already claimed this one as hers! You can pick up this pattern at Bonnie's Etsy shop for the super low price of $6.50, but one of you lucky girls is going to win a pattern for yourself!

Want to win? 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bubble bib necklace GIVEAWAY from Groopdealz!

I know you've heard of Groopdealz, right? It's an awesome site that send you an email every day with a stellar deal, priced up to 70% off! Sometimes it's jewelry, sometimes it's clothing, other times it's stuff for your house or for your rugrats. Whatever it is, it's always fabulous and priced at such a steal! I love Groopdealz, and it's one of the few emails that I always open immediately so I don't miss out. Adorable things + great prices? Score!

Even though I know it's Monday, so let's start it off right. I have such a treat for you today! It's one that will make all of your friends (and your favorite blogger, yours truly) completely and utterly jealous! Up for grabs is a super adorable bubble bib necklace! It's being offered at $19.99 on Groopdealz right now, but one of you lucky people is going to win one!

One thing I noticed recently in my "Outfits I heart" pinterest board is that there is always a statement piece of jewelry, either a huge chunky necklace, or blingy earrings, or lots and lots of bracelets. So yes, statement necklaces are so hot right now! 

This is just a quickie giveaway, so don't delay! Don't you love giveaways, when you don't have to wait forever to find out if you've won? This giveaway ends this Wednesday at midnight! They're so pretty, I'd have a hard time picking out a color. Maybe the turquoise one! Or the magenta! Or the black? They're all fabulous. 


So for all of you lovely LCW followers, here is the rafflecopter! I know you want to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Family Pool Fun

Remember when I said that I got a new camera? My goal has always been to use it to it's full potential, which means getting it out of auto mode. Yesterday was the first time I've been able to use it outside in the sunlight. 

I'll admit, I've been really frustrated so far. Indoors, I just can't get the lighting right without making it grainy. But talking to a bunch of photographer friends, apparently it's really hard to do without an external flash/studio lighting. So I started feeling better. These are what I shot yesterday. I'm happy with them, but know I have a lot to learn. 

After I snapped these, I did put the camera in the car and hop in the pool with the family. And yes, I'm one of those preggos who will rock a two piece the entire pregnancy. Belly bump and all ;P

My Maternity Photos

Yesterday I hit 29 weeks pregnant. I can't believe I have 11 weeks left, it feels like I've been pregnant forever. It's funny, on facebook, someone will announce that they're pregnant, and it seems like the next month, they're in labor and having a baby. Meanwhile, when YOU'RE the one who's pregnant, it feel like years. 

A couple of weeks ago, hubby and I had my maternity photo shoot. I was 27 weeks, when you're obviously big enough to look pregnant, but you don't feel like a whale just yet.

I didn't want the cutesy maternity photos. You know, the heart over the belly, Daddy kissing the baby bump, the shoes on the belly. We did those last time with Ava, and while I think they're adorable, this time I wanted something different. I found this picture on Pinterest and knew it was the way I wanted to go. 

I hired my favorite make up artist, she's done my make up on a lot of my photoshoots (and did the make up in my blog profile pic) and I think she's awesome. Even hubby got a bit of concealer and bronzer :) The photographer came over to my neck of the woods, and went to the field that hubby and I had scouted out the week prior. And these are what we came up with. I adore them. 

Thanks for letting me share! Holy cow, I'm so freakin' excited to meet this kid.

Gastroschisis Awareness Day is coming up

So, if you've been following me for any amount of time, you'll know that almost two years ago, my daughter Ava was born with a birth defect. Her birth defect is called gastroschisis, where the abdominal wall doesn't close in utero and the intestines and sometimes organs are outside of the body at birth. I won't do a whole recap, but if you're interested, click this link to read up about our NICU experience.

 Ava spent 66 days in the NICU, and had 4 surgeries to fix her gastroschisis. We weren't even able to hold her for two weeks after she was born, so we wouldn't hurt her. She spent most of those two weeks sedated to keep from pulling on the silo bag/incisions.





July 30th is Gastroschisis Awareness Day. A few states have officially made it "Gastroschisis Day", which is awesome since there is no known cause for gastroschisis, and the rates it occurs just continues to grow. It used to be a 1 in 5000 occurrence. Then it was 1 in 2200. The rates just continue to rise.

So on July 28th, we will be joining a few other gastro parents in Fort Worth for the 3rd Annual Gastroschisis Awareness Celebration. Avery's Angels is the organization that provides so much help and information to parents. One of the things they do is send out care packages to parents, and as always, they are looking for donations. Some of the things they're looking for?

 





See all the wires that Ava was connected to? NG tubes, monitors, Gastro babies can't wear regular onesies, since they need a way to keep the wires free and it needs to be easy for the nurses to check surgery sites.

So one thing that Avery's Angels is always looking for is new and gently used button up onesies. A button up onesie is like what Ava is wearing in the picture. We also had good luck with two piece outfits (the tee or tank top with little shorts or bloomers). Just something that the wires can come out of. 

They are also looking for socks and mittens. The socks are great, not only for chilly feet, but they keep little fingers from pulling on their wires. I can't count how many times Ava pulled out her feeding tube or her NG tube, and it would be so stressful to her for them to have to reinsert it.

They are also looking for little hats and hairbows. You get so focused on all those wires and surgery sites, and it's nice to have a little accessory to make you feel "normal". I remember when our nurse put this bow on Ava, and it really brightened up our day. Instead of looking at all of Ava's wires, it was nice to be able to ohh and ahh over how adorable she looked.








Other items they're always looking for? Small toiletries for parents are always wonderful. Sometimes you spend hours up there in the NICU, and it's nice to be able to step out for a minute, rinse with some mouthwash and feel like a new person. Little notepads to jot down questions for the doctors are great too. Nothing is worse than waiting all morning to see the doctor, you see him for 5 minutes and completely forget what it was you needed to ask. Lastly, food and gas gift cards are amazing. We drove 80 miles round trip every day to see Ava, and that isn't cheap. Plus, hospital food gets old, and it was nice to be able to go through a drive through and get something to eat. 

Dear friends, will you look through your old baby stuff and see if there is anything you can donate? It'd be a good excuse to finally clear out all of that stuff that you've been meaning to go through. If you do run across something to donate, you can mail it to me (message me for my address) and I'll bring it with me to the celebration to donate. 

Every little thing like this makes a horrible situation just a little bit easier. Trust me, you don't know how hard it is until you've been there, and anything that helps is immeasurable, mentally and financially. 

So, I'm pretty sure that makes me a "real" blogger now

So, I've been blogging for a year and a half now. And I'm always looking for ways to improve. But when you read through different blog posts about how to make your blog posts better, the main thing you see over and over and over is that you need "great pictures". 

Well, my iPhone 4 and my little point and shoot just weren't cutting it. I haven't used my point and shoot in auto mode in forever, but even so, the pics weren't bright and crisp. And no amount of photoshop was going to make them much better. 

I've been talking to hubby for a long time about wanting a new camera. In the past couple of weeks though, we've really been discussing it. Not only the price, but what I want. I put a post on FB (I have a lot of photographer friends), asking their opinion on Canon vs Nikon, what to look for, etc. The general consensus was to just head up to Best Buy and hold a few of them, see what felt "right". 

I ended up liking the Nikons better than the Canons, and narrowed it down between two that I wanted, the D3200 or the D5100. After doing a lot of research, I decided on the D5100. 

The prices online were better than in the store which they price matched (gotta love the 18 months no interest financing), and we went with the bundle package. The camera body with the 18-55mm lens, a 55-300mm lens, a memory card and a bag.

Holy crap, I love it, although it is totally making me feel STOOPID. I don't want to just use it in auto mode, so I've been trying to learn the manual modes, but hot dang. Fancy = complicated. 

So I'm hoping to start having some better pics for ya on this blog. If I can ever figure it out and the "hey dummy" question mark stops flashing at me on the screen. :)