so before i say what the giveaway is, i will give the backstory. i know that most of you have heard me talk {er, write} about one of my closest IRL friends, rebecca. in june of last year, 3.5 short months before we lost Juju, she lost her precious Lily. she started a blog before she even got pregnant with Lily to document her journey, and of course, i was one of her followers. anyway, when i was visiting her blog one day shortly after she lost Lily, i noticed that her blog had gotten a "face lift." the whole thing had been redone, and pics of Lily were added. it was amazing. i remember thinking to myself how glad i was that she was able to include her baby girl on her blog. then it november, exactly 1 month after Juju passed away, i found myself doing the exact same thing.
i wasn't sure that i was even going to continue blogging after he passed away, especially not after i received a couple of nasty comments from anonymous posters immediately following his passing. but i decided that i was going to keep telling his {our} story. i'm still here, so obviously, my story is not over yet. and since he is the reason that i am forever changed, since he has made me a different person, a better person, a more loving person, i'm going to continue to share him with the world. so i asked rebecca for the info for the person that designed her blog, so that i could also memorialize Juju on mine. he is the reason i started the blog after all.
and that brings me to the person who is sponsoring this month's giveaway, franchesca of Small Bird Studio...
i honestly can not say enough good things about her. she is absolutely amazing. she is so kind, caring and compassionate. but unfortunately, she is also a BLM. she lost her baby girl, Jenna Belle, in 2009. you can read all about Ms. Jenna here. and i recently found out that Small Bird Studio is named after Jenna. so awesome! you can read all about how Small Bird Studio got it's name here. when she read that i was going to start having monthly giveaways, she so generously offered her services for one of them. i tell ya, this woman...there are no words adequate enough to describe her. ♥
the giveaway:
so that brings me to the giveaway...this month's giveaway is for a blog makeover done by the one and only franchesca. and it includes:
♥ Custom Header
♥ Custom Background
♥ Standard Text Sidebar Titles
♥ Choice between two or three columns
♥ Text color matching
♥ Custom coloring on sidebars and post area
♥ Installation
i'm hoping that one lucky BLM will get to make their blog a more personal space, and that they are able to memorialize their precious baby(ies) the way that rebecca and i got to memorialize ours.
how to enter:
it's easy. just leave me a comment telling me 1 {or as many as you want} way that you have integrated your little one and their memory into your daily life {for example, blogging, journaling, etc}. i love to get ideas for things that i could do to keep me connected to Juju and share him with others. i will keep this giveaway going until midnight {CST} sun feb 13th. and then on feb 14th i will announce the winner {because i'm sure BLMs will need a little extra happiness on that day especially}. good luck!
21 comments:
What a great giveaway!
And I'm really sorry you got nasty comments. That's ridiculous.
Fun, what a great giveaway! I wish I needed a blog makeover but Franchesca has already worked her magic on Harper's blog :) Good luck to everyone!
This is a beautiful giveaway, Tiffany! I have begun to blog, although it was well over a year since River passed away that I finally started! My husband and I also started an organization in River's memory and that has kept him in our lives, daily as we brainstorm ways for this to help as many people as we can. Thank you for continuing to share your sweet Julius, despite rude people. Thank you for the opportunity to win this wonderful gift!
What a wonderful giveaway! I love your blog design by the way.
I too lost a son. He was born 15 weeks premature but fought for 17 days in the NICU before he passed. Since my son was born and died, I have begun journaling for myself and blogging. My husband and I make our own arrangements for Logan and his picture is everywhere. He's just as much a part of our lives as our rainbow baby and he always will be!
I have been wanting...NEEDING a blog makeover for so long! After Gage died in 2009, I haven't even added new pictures. I would really love to have an awesome new blog design to honor Gage. I try to keep up with my blog, but I have some other important projects I am working on too...like getting awareness of Wolman's Disease out there! This is a very exciting giveaway!
I was a late bloomer where blogging is concerned. I was on such mental lockdown after my 1st loss and without much of a support system. After my 2nd loss though I finally just couldn't keep from blogging to help process and push forward in life. So, I'm new at blogging but so far it has been very helpful!
I just wanted to thank you for doing this amazing giveaway! Franchesca recently gave mine a makeover after my 2nd loss and I just love her work.
Blogging has helped me tremendously since my losses and this community of loss moms constantly encourages my heart.
Much Love.
I have an idea for a new blog, so I'd love Franchesca to design it since she did Mikayla's blog. =)
I started blogging after my daughter Mikayla died and have been so amazed by the support I've received. I also wear at least one piece of jewelry that reminds me of Mikayla each day.
I cannot imagine people writing nasty comments at such a time. What kind of people can those be? I keep Adrian's memory alive by praying out loud about him before dinner together with my husband, and of course blogging.
Abigail is part of our daily life. I blog about her and we visit her grave as a family. We also talk about her throughout the day and write her letters that we send to her on balloons. I am determined to keep her part of our family's story.
Tiffany, this is a great idea. Thank you so much for planning this giveaway. I am always so touched by the BLM world and how willing everyone is to host giveaways to help those in need. I know how great it feels to support those who I connect with the most. I regularly honor my baby girl by starting my blog last April/May, wearing "Kennedy jewelry" and now having "Kennedy's Korner" where I have pictures that other babyloss families have made for me and gifts that people have given me in honor of her. My other hope is to start a walk in the Madison area for babyloss families to remember their babies in the month of October.
You are so sweet.
I have mementos of Megan, things that say her name on my window sill. Every single day when i do my dishes, i stare at her name, I talk to her as much as i can...
oh yes, I am also in the works trying to figure out how i can organize a run in her name and get the word out about sudc.
Awesome giveaway.
Matthew is with us everyday. We talk about him and include him in someway in everything we do. I have my "Matthew" necklace that I wear every day and my 6 year old has a similar one she wears on occasion. His pictures are up in every room so he is always with us. We have a Sunday tradition of visiting the cemetery as a family and we make sure that people around us know that not only is it ok to talk about him, but that we want to talk about him.
Every year we do two things, we walk with march for babies and have a new "Matthew" shirt design every year. We've raised nearly $20,000 in the passed 3 years <3 My daughter loves to wear her Matthew shirt all the time. We also have a balloon release and "party" for his birthday every year. Our family and friends meet us at the cemetery and we release balloons with messages we write on them. On the backside is his picture and website so we can share him with the world.
Tiffany this is a wonderful giveaway <3
Before I had lost Holden, I was doing a little Blogging, just getting things off my mind. And now after I lost Holden, I find myself writing a little more. And sometimes my words don't seem right. I even started a second Blog dedicated to Holden, it's letters to him, that I know he reads up in heaven. (yep that's right, they are letters to my son) Things I want him to know. I would love to make his blog the best there is!
What a great giveaway!! Kael my son passed away at 5 months old from a neuromuscular condition. We keep in in our hearts always! We send balloons, decorate his grave and light candles often. This year for his 3rd birthday I am doing a blanket drive for the hospital that made his life as painless as possible. We love and miss him everyday! I love to blog to get out my feelings and emotions. What a great giveaway!
What an wonderful and generous giveaway! ♥
I have Bryston and Colton's urn on my night stand. So it is in constant view. Especially when I first wake up and when I go to bed. we are in the process of packing right now (moving in a few months) but when we move I will have a special area set up for the boys' things. I made a scrap book and also made a hardcover photo book that I want to have out. I have beautiful figurines (Thanks for my "Two Together" figures ♥) That will be set out as well. We light candles with each passing month. They are in my prayers every single day. And last year was our first year to attend The Walk To Remember, which we plan to attend every year as well as the candle light vigil. I could go on and on...We try to incorporate our boys with everything we do. Decorate pumpkins for them at Halloween and hang special ornaments and stockings for them at Christmas. ♥
♥ Juju ♥ He is so very lucky to have a mommy like you. You are an amazing woman :)
I love everything you post and how you are so open with your words and expressions of that sweet boy.
I try to post many pics on FB for our family, and take as many as we can.
Daily she is my joy and love.
I haven't started blogging but want/need to!!!
Your blog was such an inspiration to me as I searched the web for support following the loss of Aiden. Because of it and all the other amazing blogs I have come across created by other BLM, I started my own blog. It's been a wonderful way to remember my angel and to deal with my grief.
I also keep a journal that I write letters to Aiden in- that's helped a lot too because I feel like I can talk to him whenever I want to.
I love your giveaway for February- so awesome!!
What a great giveaway! Franchesca did my blog Addison's Wings and I love it. I would love for her to design my new blog for my memory box project. I know blogging has certainly helped me express the emotions I can't seem to talk about. And thank you for sharing Juju's story (I love his nickname!).
I wanted to say that aside from my blog, I keep my angel baby a part of my life by having an 8X10 photo of her on both nightstands and the blanket she was wrapped in at the hospital is folded up between our pillows. We always talk about her and we did have a family gathering for what would have been her 1st birthday. We have a tree adopted in her name so we had the party at that park and happened to get the lot right next to her tree.
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