Last Day!!!! Giveaway!!!

If you didn't know already... GO HERE

GIVEAWAY!!!!

It's the last day to donate and be included in the drawing for a $50 gift certificate to
sTuck in the Coop Etsy Store


We have raised so much in the past week and I am SO thankful to each and everyone of you that has donated money to Nolan's Team for the March of Dimes walk. It means so much to me, you have NO idea.

NICU benefit

 

Every year the Boston Red Sox host a dinner and sell tickets to donate to the NICU that Nolan was in. The best part about it is the dinner takes place on the spring training field with the Red Sox players there for autographs and stuff. So we HAD to go, it was Chris' favorite team and all the money went to Nolan's NICU.

All 850,000 raised!

We also brought along 2 of our close friends who hold the Red Sox near and dear to their heart.


In 2007 a co-worker found out she was expecting a baby boy with a heart defect. They chose to fly to Boston to have a procedure done in utero. The procedure was unable to be completed and they were told they could return to Ft Myers. They chose instead to stay in Boston since that hospital is one of t he BEST in the country for fetal heart defects. In May 2007, baby Eli was born. Eli was a beautiful baby boy who melted all our hearts back home. His mom updated on carepages everyday with Eli's surgeries, obstacles and and shared her baby with all of us. While they were in Boston, the NICU encouraged them to go to some Boston Red Sox games, so they did... many times. They were new found Boston Red Sox fans because of Eli.

Come July, Eli's infection won the battle and he went to be with the lord. I remember reading her story although I didn't know her as well and felt so touched by Eli. They continued to follow the Red Sox because that was Eli's team and reminded them of their baby boy. Low and behold, the Red Sox won the World Series that year. Amazing huh?

Anyways, as soon as I found out about this NICU benefit I just HAD to call her up and invite them. They already go to almost EVERY spring training game so I knew they would be up for this.

We had a blast and you can tell how much the Sox means to them. It's kind of like her anchor, make sense?

Well, tonight they had a silent auction and one of the autographed balls was signed by Lester. She just HAD to have this ball... why?...

Lester pitched a "no hitter" at the game that fell on Eli's 1st Birthday. I am so happy to announce, she WON that ball!

I had a blast with you J, and I am so glad I have had your shoulder to cry on and your words to pick me up the past 9 months. You are such a gem of a friend and a 'sister' in such a special heart aching way.

Thank You.

Guilty.

I broke down, I now use my twitter account. ------->>

I signed up a long time ago, followed a few celebs but never checked. But since the work FB invasion 2010, I decided to make my FB super duper private and use twitter for fun.

I am actually having fun with it, at least what I understand of it so if you have twitter go ahead and follow me. I don't have too much to say but maybe you can find some entertainment in it.

And for fun, I'll leave you with this picture. We went shopping yesterday and I am proud to say, I didn't come home with any anchors, not one. I talked myself out of it, if I could I would have bought them all. They all needed a home at the Dowaliby house, right? Naw, I'll save myself a divorce over a house full (hoarding full) of anchors, well at least for this week I will.

Giveaway!

Have you seen the awesome giveaway I posted last week? We still have a few days left!!

GIVEAWAY CLICK HERE!!!!

THANK YOU so much to everyone that has already donated! We have raised over $200 just in the past few days! I really want to break $1,000 by the time the Giveaway is over so we have just a little over $300 more to raise by Friday.

Dear Nolan,

Happy 9 month birthday little guy.Talk about a Marvelous Monday if there ever was one.

9 months ago today, you made your appearance but not by choice.  I still can't believe you would have been 9 months old today, it just seems like yesterday you were born. 9 months is an eternity in my world, I didn't even carry you for 9 months. But here I am sitting here amazed that that I have made it this far.It's been hard living without you Nolan, very hard.

I still find any chance I can get to talk about you, the delivery itself or your short but miraculous life here on Earth. I almost look for chances. Just like tonight when we were out with friends, they were talking about child birth and I sometimes forget that I experienced part of that. It's not that I am forgetting YOU, it's the fear and urgent-ness (I know it's not a word) that happened that morning that overshadowed what I really went through.

I gave birth, I went through the motions...

I had the baby dopplers on, 2 blue circles that they had the hardest time finding your heartbeat because you were so dang tiny. We called family and especially your Grandparents at the last minute to tell them your name that we has just finalized seconds before that.

Your Dad was dressed up in OR blues and his poor feet didn't even fit into the booties. We know where you got your big feet from. Oh and in all the rush of everything, we almost for got a camera to bring into the OR. I guess when we were admitted, I never once in a million years would think that you would be arriving just a few hours later. Dad only brought my pillow, some pajamas and of course my laptop to the hospital that night. But thankfully Grandpa and Valorie remembered and had a camera delivered to Dad just in time to head back to the OR.

I remember feeling confident given the situation. I wasn't  scared about the spinal or even the surgery itself. I WAS scared about the foley catheter, I bothered the heck out of that poor nurse about making sure she put it in after I couldn't feel it. I remember Dr Fish having such a calm attitude even though she was probably just as nervous if not more than I was. I remember shaking uncontrollably after the anaesthesia had been administered, but the anesthesiologist reminding me that it was normal. I remember asking TONS of completely random questions to Dr Fish, but you could tell I was a bit loopy. Daddy claims I was pretty humorous and Dr Fish even commented on it a few weeks later.

I remember when Dr Fish took you out and I got to hear a squeak from you. The best sound ever and reassurance you were going to fight. I remember the OR nurse calling into the room your APGARS and Dr Fish saying you have better APGARS than some of her full term babies. What a proud moment for your Daddy and I. I don't remember much after that because the anesthesiologist gave me some nice meds to knock me out so I wasn't awake for the rest of the surgery. I know daddy came to see you right away.

I.gave.birth.to.you and I gave you life.

 It may have been one chaotic, rushed and scary delivery but it happened and it happened with loads of hope that you were going to make it. I am so thankful for all the Dr's, OR nurses, my poor nurses that morning on 2S, and the unbelievable NICU team that worked on you. One day, and I hope soon, I can be one of the respiratory therapists working on a baby for another Mom in my spot. It's what I went into respiratory for and now I have even more of a reason and a passion to go there.

I miss you Nolan and that will never change. I love you more than anything in this world and I wonder what life would be like everyday if you were still here. So for this Marvelous Monday, I have to admit that I am so thankful that I got this experience, I got to give birth to you, I got to meet you and got to have that hope for you. 

Just an hour after you were born

 Happy 9 month birthday sweet baby, I love you more than I can EVER express.

Love,

Your Mommy

Missing him.

Missing him.

Missing his perfect huge feet just like his Daddy's

Missing our family of 3

Missing the happiness

Missing being happy for others

Craving that happiness again.

This is what made me so happy 12 months ago. The carefree, exciting announcement that we were expecting. 

I just miss it. I miss it all.  

Giveaway!

It's GIVEAWAY time!

This giveaway is for a $50 gift certificate to 

sTuck in the Coop Etsy Store

I am in LOVE with her store and she has some of the prettiest personalized hand stamped jewelry I have ever seen. I encourage you to head over to her store and take a peek.

Heather is kind enough to offer  this giveaway on her behalf for such a special cause,  

The March of Dimes

How to Enter

For every dollar you donate to Nolan's March of Dimes walk, you get one entry in the giveaway.

Then come back to the blog and comment your donation, even if it's $1.00- it counts. $1.00 is better than NO dollar. But I do encourage lots of dollar donations for more entries 

(I do see all the emails with the donations, so no cheating )

Additional ways to enter after a donation:

1. Announce this Giveaway on your blog.

2. Tweet this Giveaway

3. Facebook this Giveaway

Then come back and leave another comment with your link to your blog, or let me know you tweeted or FB'd.

I look forward to seeing how much we can raise for such a good cause and in the name of our baby Nolan.

This Giveaway will end on Friday, March 12th @ midnight. Winner will be randomly selected via Random.org and Winner will be announced on Saturday, March 13th.

Good Luck everyone!

Random Tuesday Thoughts

• I forgot what it's like to wake up with the window open and see palm trees. Our window is usually shut with the black out curtains up. But I fell asleep with the window open, it was just too cold nice out. It looks warm doesn't it? HA! I'm over here wondering if it's going to warm up here in South Florida any time soon.

• Did Jake really pick Vieanna? I guess so. Either way, I would have felt bad for either girl, he 'looooooved' both and didn't even KNOW who he wanted to marry when he picked rings out. The man I married at least KNEW he wanted to marry me before he decided to ask. And here is this for a thought:

• What airline does Jake fly for? Cuz if he is this bad of a decision maker, I'd like to make sure I'm never on his plane.(BustedKate)

• Chris claims he knows why we don't 'fight'. Before you go gag, we DO fight. But we don't have the screaming matches, slamming of the door fights, leave for the night fight. Why? I don't know... we just never have in 7 years. I know they say fights are GOOD in a marriage. But if you spend a weekend with us, you will notice how much we bicker or pick on each other. Chris claims this is the secret to a marriage. He thinks because we laugh when we get annoyed and start making fun of each other, that it doesn't build up frustrations. I guess I'll go with it. This all stems from his grumpy ass waking up this morning and stemming a 20 minute car ride of insults (seriously- it's funny), it was hilarious.

• In all seriousness, we love each other. And if we have gotten through the past year, we can make it through anything.. I hope.

• I'm in love with my new anchor shirt that I am wearing today. Thank you to the person that kindly informed me that Charlotte Russe had a huge nautical selection. You made Chris' day when I came out with a bag of new shirts. HA!

• Speaking of Red/Blue & Anchors stuff... I am still in awe of my AWESOME new Coach bag. My Coach Outlet find for $110, original price..... $398!!! I fell in love with this Blue bag! I am head over heels for it! Lame, right? I know it's a 'loud' bag, but I don't care... it's ME!!- or at least the new ME.

Before it was mine

AFTER it was mine!

• My parents officially transplant for a 2nd time to Florida today!! They should be here in less that 3 hours. I wonder how it will be living in the same city as them again. Last time they lived in the state, I lived WITH them! This will be a fun change and I'm excited to have my family back.

• Can't wait to see what the new blog design will look like. It should be launched this month. I wanted something with Nolan, our Family and still have it suited for the future with out steering away from the reason THIS blog was started in the first place.

• Guess I need to get a move on and announce this giveaway, maybe I will go work on that now.