1 Year Angelversary

August 18th, one year ago I gave birth to my baby girl. I have been thinking about this day for a long time coming. I planned to start the day by going to watch the sunrise with my mom but when I got up at 5:45am it was pouring down rain so we decided to go back to bed.

I finally got up at 8am and watched a little bit of TV. I called my mom to let her know I was finally up. After I got dressed I had to take my car to get one of my tires fixed because it had a huge bolt stuck in it. We went over there about 9:30 to get the tire fixed which only took 15 minutes. We then went back to my house to get Mark and Alec to go eat breakfast. Mark had a BOGO coupon for breakfast at Bob Evans so that is where we went. It was very good, I got strawberry and banana crepes and banana nut bread. I also drank a strawberry and banana smoothie.

After breakfast we decided to go to the mall because my mom was thinking about getting her ear pierced. On the way over Alec said she wanted to get her ears pierced too and I decided I wanted to get mine done as well. Turns out that my mom and I couldn't get ours done because we wanted it done in the ear cartilage and you can only get that done at a body piercing studio not a Claire's. Mom paid for Alec to get her ears done for her birthday present since she hadn't got her anything yet.

We went back to the house to rest a little and see if we could figure out which body piercing place we wanted to go. When we arrived home there was some mail waiting for me. A box? What was in the box? It was my Brinley Bear from Molly Bears. I placed my request probably nine months ago. I made a few donations but it is free to get a bear made. It costs them about $30 to make and mail each bear so I have made donations when I can. The last donation was in honor of a fellow BLM's son's first birthday in heaven. Well I ended up winning the drawing from that donation to have my bear made next. That was 2 months ago. It is crazy that my bear came today on Brinley's birthday.

I think this is such a great service for baby loss parents. They make a bear that weighs as much as the baby they lost. Brinley was 6lbs 1oz when she was born so her bear weighs 6lbs 1oz. You can imagine the shipping costs really add up with all this weight for each bear.




So I ask if you find it in your heart to make a donation in Brinley's name to please do so. You can make a donation here: 

https://www.mollybears.com/Donate_To_Molly_Bears.html

Card from Lisa

Card from Dad and Shannon

I also got a couple of cards in the mail. A lovely one from my friend Lisa and her husband. Another from my Dad and Step-mother. Both of them made me cry because they were very sweet and thoughtful.
 












There were also two plants delivered to our house to let us know others were thinking of us. One came from our good friends April and Brian, the other came from a nurse from the hospital where we delivered Brinley named Stacey. We have spoke a few times since she had a loss like mine.

Plant from April and Brian

Flowers from Stacey

 





We left my house about 3pm to go get our ears pierced but it turns out I couldn't because I am pregnant. I knew I wouldn't be able to get a tattoo because I was pregnant which is what I had originally wanted to do for her birthday. I'm disappointed I couldn't get this done but I would much rather wait and be safe for my rainbow baby.






Back at my house Jenna showed up with the cake about 4:30pm. It was big and green with lots of flowers and some butterflies and dragonflies on it. It had her name written on it too. It was very pretty and yummy!

Over the next few hours my sister visited and some other friends came by. We ate cake and sat around talking. My friend and doula, Ashley, and her friend came by with their kids and hung out for awhile.









We ended the night with lighting sky lanterns and setting them loose from our front yard. We invited our neighbors to come over and let a sky lantern go for their daughter that was stillborn over 30 years ago. I have included a video at the end of us letting go of some of the sky lanterns.

I received a few more things today in honor of Brinley. The first thing was a car decal from my Dad and Step-mom pictured below. The other was another decal in honor of Brinley from my good friend Beronica and her husband also pictured below. I have put them both on my car and I think they look great.

Decal from Dad and Shannon

Decal from Beronica and family

It was a very long day but I'm happy with the way our daughter was remembered. I wasn't in a sad mood all day. I think this is in part because I had my breakdowns earlier in the week. It was just a lovely day to celebrate the birth of our daughter, Brinley.

I am amazed by all of the people she has touched with her short life and love her so.