Reaching Out...One Shirt at a Time

Yesterday at Kindermusik, Drew and I sported our CHD best.

We both wore CHD shirts in recognition of CHD Awareness Week.

I wore my "I (heart) A Child With a CHD" shirt and he wore his Big House, Big Heart shirt that states when his heart was mended and lists out Warriors and Angels on the back.

I expected some stares, maybe even some questions, I did not expect to meet another heart mom this way. I don't know why, really. It's such a common birth defect, I guess it only makes sense that I would.

We had a new mom and kiddo in our class yesterday and I noticed her reading Drew's shirt...REALLY reading it. Taking in the words, getting closer so she could absorb them. I thought, "wow, cool, she's learning today and I can be a part of educating another Mom."

After class, she came up to me ...

"What problems did your son's heart have?"

I started in with my normal explanation, "He was born with two Congenital Heart Defects and had Open Heart Surgery when he was 9 months old..."

She said, "I know...so did my son...I was wondering which ones he had."

I said, "Your son is a heart kid too? Wow! My son had PS and ASD."

Her son had TGA and ASD and underwent surgery at CHM, just like Drew. His Cardio is Dr. Turner, whom Drew had as well, and his surgeon was Dr. Delius, also Drew's surgeon.

She told me that she had never before met another heart family and that Drew's shirt made her very emotional, in a good way. She was happy to know of another kid out there like her son. I invited her to join us in IMH and she seemed to welcome the invitation.

See what a simple thing like wearing a shirt can do? It can reach families who thought they were alone in this and show them that they're not. That there's a sea of families, wading through this mess we call CHD, in the same boat as she is. And that we are all there for one another.

One shirt at a time ... one day at a time ... we're getting there slowly but surely.

The Low Down on our 1st Fundraiser!

Last night was an amazing experience.

What we managed to pull off in only 2 months time was incredible.

The response was phenomenal. Everyone we spoke to, everyone our spouses spoke to, everyone our event managers spoke to stated they were having a great time. People were getting into bidding wars over some of the bigger auction items, pushing the bids up and up, increasing our final numbers by leaps and bounds...

CHD Families in Metro Detroit thank you!

We are excited to announce that we believe we shall do this again next year, same place, perhaps same weekend, make it an annual "kickoff" event, seeing as the start of Awarness Week will be two days after this Saturday in February. I have to give some MAJOR props here ...

To Jen, for running all over town, soliciting donations and wheeling and dealing. For getting both locations for the event. For hosting meetings at her house. For selflessly giving of her time to IMH while also raising her two young boys, working and taking care of her personal responsibilities. I could never thank you enough!

To Julie, for sharing her talent for graphic design with us, for coming up with our "theme," for designing and putting together our programs, our invitations, our bid sheets, our auction item spreadsheet, our processes and responsibilities for the evening, etc, etc, etc... For driving 45mins-90mins multiple times to meet with us, to stuff comfort bags, to attend support meetings and learn about why we do this. For making our cause YOUR cause. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

To Andrea, for being our financial guru! For handling all the payments, the guest list and assigning bid numbers. For setting us up to take payments online. For always being willing to help with anything, even though you just started back to work full time for the first time since having your baby girl. For being my right hand woman since May! You rock girlie!


To Krista, for jumping in, feet first, without hesitation in November after only joining up with us in September. For being willing to take on more responsibility than you originally signed up for! For the amazing slideshow! For the AWESOME auction items you procured. For speaking at the event and allowing me to do what I do best, stay in the background and mingle, working the crowd one person at a time. For making me laugh all night!

To Melonie and Lisa, for being willing to jump on board and do whatever you can to help. Melonie, for the poster (which was AMAZING) and still being willing to help where you can, even though you are very busy with your family and work. Lisa, for driving 45mins-1hr to meet with us, for making our cause YOUR cause.

To everyone, for how WELL we all work together!!! We made an amazing team and I am so proud of this event!

And lastly, to the two men in my life ...


My amazing husband, Bill, for putting up with a stressed out and frazzled wife for the last couple of weeks as I fretted over getting things done and was out of the house at meetings and doing prep work until midnight. For allowing me to be on the computer all the time, working on things and figuring out how to improve what we were doing via email or FB chat with the ladies. For coming to the event and schmoozing with all our guests. For upping the bids and helping us raise more money. For standing by me and beside me since the beginning!


My beautiful, courageous, funny little man! You are my inspiration and the reason why I do this. For you and for all your friends, be they a warrior or an angel. I do this so your children don't have to endure open heart surgery, or heart caths or vent tubes or chest tubes. I do this so other parents may be as fortunate as Mommy is and will see their babies grow into toddlers and beyond. I am so thankful to have you in my life. I thank God daily for the blessing of having you as my son. I love you!!!

CHD Awareness Week (2/7/10-2/14/10)

IT'S CHD AWARENESS WEEK!

How are you spending the week?? I'd love to hear from you.

We kicked it off right last night when It's My Heart - Metro Detroit hosted our 1st Annual Raise a glass to CHD Awareness Wine Tasting and Silent Auction Fundraiser! We had about 75 people attend and all of our AWESOME auction items went to good homes. We were incredibley blessed by the event and, when I have some pictures, I am going to devote a post to the event (look for it this week).

Our plans for the week include:

Using the blog to promote awareness by posting facts about CHD and/or "Faces of CHD" stories every day until Sunday

Wearing articles of clothing promoting awareness... OR just red with an IMH button

IMH-Metro Detroit has a display at the Awareness event at UofM's Mott Children's Hospital and flyers posted at Children's Hospital of Michigan.

On Saturday, IMH will be attending a fundraiser with Heart of a Child to raise money for CHM's Cardiovascular Surgery Department.

For today, please enjoy the video that played at our event last night! A big thanks to Krista for doing this for us!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqSFT229s1w

I Just Discovered ...

2 amazing new blogs!

And since my hot linking abilities stink, here are the URLs:

http://littlehomeontherange.blogspot.com (I believe I found this on The Macs blog)

and

http://theprudenthomemaker.com/winter (this is for the meal plan)

Talk about organized!!! Both blogs, but especially Blog #2, are written by Moms who KNOW how to meal plan, are extremely organized and are generous enough to share their talents with the rest of us. I pray that, as I learn from them, I can at least get the meal planning under control.

My friend, Heather, also let me in on a site (Just Mommies) that has an awesome cleaning and organization schedule. So, I hope to get better at creating a schedule that both works and doesn't drive me crazy from this site as well.

Just passing it along to all my friends in the same boat as me ...

And if you know how to hot link, won't you PLEASE share with me? Thanks in advance!!

Sidelined

I have been sidelined

By my foot

Getting old STINKS

I am in the midst of trying to figure out what the heck is going on with my foot that I seemed to have injured at some point late last week. I took yesterday off running and will repeat Week 3 beginning tomorrow, for only 2 days this week, in preparation of beginning Week 4 next week.

If my foot cooperates

If it doesn't, I guess it's a trip to the Doctor for me to see if this is, indeed, plantar fasciitis (PF) or something else...

I am hoping for something else

Everything I have read about PF makes it sounds like it is manageable, but not curable, and a total pain in the rear. I will need to get special orthotics, watch what other types of shoes I wear, probably get new running shoes (and mine are BRAND NEW as it is), tape my foot, stretch and possibly even wear a brace (or, a rainboot my friend, Juli, tells me!) to bed. And this is all after initially resting my foot for a few weeks.

DAMN IT

Excuse the swears, but I just got into running, I was enjoying it, and now, this. I have weight to lose, muscles to tone and a body and mind to challenge with this C25K program. I guess I will have to hit the road again tomorrow and figure this all out. Until next time ...

On a sidenote, when did Jillian from The Biggest Loser turn into a Psychiatrist?!

Realizations

Wow, two posts from me in one day!

This is going to be a rambler, I am sure.

So, I have been visiting blogs today. And, after checking out about a zillion blogs, I have come to some conclusions ...

I am not crafty

I am not creative

I am not photogenic

I do not have a great sense of style

I am SO not organized

I think I am missing the "Suzie Homemaker" gene

Phew. Got that all out there. No, this is not some "woe is me" post, bear with me. It's just the truth. I'll take it point by point.

I tried scrapbooking once. I had all the best intentions of making this scrapbook the most fabutastic one ever, documenting my engagement, wedding events, wedding and honeymoon. I got to my wedding (about 7 pages in) and that was that. I got bored, I ran out of ideas and I was done. And now, 3 years later, it is somewhere in my house collecting dust. I can't sew, I don't make things my child can wear or I can sell on Etsy. I buy those things from others much more talented that I. I check out their blogs and Etsy sites and I turn green with envy. Oh, to be so talented. But I digress...

When I look at some of these blogs, I can't help but think "these Moms are hot!" And not in any gross ways, so get your minds out of the gutter! It's more of an awe type thing. Like, "wow, she's got it so together that she makes it look like she just threw it all together and looks fabulous." Like it took no time to get dressed, do her hair or put on make up...it looks so natural! If I didn't spend time working on myself, my pictures would look even worse than they do. Trust me. I am not saying I am ugly, I know I am not, I am simply NOT photogenic. I don't know how to do make up to play up my best feature, my eyes, and so they disappear in pictures unless I have my makeup professionally done. ALL pictures of me WITHOUT makeup are a total nightmare. I post them because they often have Drew in them, and are memories I want to share with others, but I cringe when I look at them. It used to be that I wouldn't even allow pictures to be taken of me without makeup on, but after realizing I have like 3 pictures of me and Drew in the hospital, only one of those being a family one of the 3 of us, I have changed that policy. Life is too short to not capture every moment I can.

This brings me to my next point ... my sense of style, or rather, my lack of style. OY. This is something I have always struggled with. Finding a style that works for me, or my house, and going with it. Knowing, intuitively, what works and what doesn't. When it comes to my house, I am slowly making progress with this. My living room is nearly where I want it to be, our guest bedroom (minus the clutter) is awesome, our bedroom is shaping up nicely, the bathroom is decent (although I REALLY wish I had gone with a furniture sink/vanity) and, when the kitchen is done, it too will be amazing (I left out Drew's room because that is, of course, adorable and yes, my house is this small). I wish I could translate this to my own personal style, and I mean in the way I dress. Part of this is being self conscious of my "problem areas" and not being able to wear things that are currently in style. Part of this is not being willing to spend money on shoes, bags and other accessories when I would rather spend that money on jeans and other articles of clothing. But, accessories are what MAKES the outfit. I need to figure out where to shop so that I am not spending an arm and a leg, because, really, where do I go on a daily basis that I need to spend a boatload of money on such things? But, I would like to look cute on a more regular basis...and not just for my husband, for myself. I always feel better when I look my best.

I like to make lists, it helps me think. Making lists and being organized, however, are not the same thing I've discovered. Making lists does help me think through things, but it does not help me ACCOMPLISH said tasks. In all honesty, it helps make me MORE disorganized because it creates more clutter that I must then organize, file, or throw away because it takes up space on our counters, our dressers, and this is space we don't have to give up to random sheets of paper with all my chicken scratched notes. I have junk drawers in about every room in our house. And get this...clutter makes me CRAZY. I hate it. So, why oh why do I allow myself to continue down this path to crazy town??? I wish I knew. But, it's on my list for this year. Stay tuned for progress reports...

And this brings me to my last point, the "Suzie Homemaker" gene. I touched briefly on it during my discussion about my lack of creativity and craftiness. I cannot sew. Not even a button on a shirt. Not even a hemline. I don't know how to operate a sewing machine. It's embarrassing. My Grandpap could've been a tailor for gosh sakes, and I can't sew one stitch. Naturally, I also cannot be creative and make things if I can't hem a pair of pants! I have tossed around the idea of taking a sewing class, possibly a photography class, and maybe even a cooking class to help me with my lack of "Suzie Homemaker" skills. The only problem is time. Between being a full time Mom, President of our chapter of IMH, my direct selling business, attempting to run the house and my new running program, I barely have time to sleep and shower. But, one day, I'll have Baby #2 and I know I will have even less time. So, maybe I do one thing at a time? I am open to suggestions.

And there you have it. My rambling realizations from today. More things to add to my list for 2010 and beyond. I want to be all I can be, and want to be, because I think it can only make me a better Mom in the end. To be utterly happy and content with who I am can only be good, right?

I am going with yes.

I Can SO Relate

I've mentioned my friend, Krista, previously and how she is blogging about the 20 things she is working on for 2010. You can read more about her here: http://20littlethings.blogspot.com. (I swear, if I ever figure out how to hot link, look our your windows, because I am SURE pigs will be flying) What I have not mentioned is that she is a fellow heart mom.

I met Krista when IMH-MD was participating in the Big House, Big Heart Race last October. In early September, she contacted me about raising funds for our organization...and raise funds she did! She blew the rest of us away in fundraising!! She quickly became more and more involved with IMH and the more I got to know her, the more I respected and liked her. I just plain like her. It's as simple as that. And I can so relate to her as well.

She blogged this week about having a "cause," about being "that person" who will ask you for donations, tell you statistics, be "obnoxious" simply because it is important to her to be so. Well, I can so relate because it's important to me too.

She also blogged about how she feels that she and her son, Luke, have the "lamest" story to tell. I can so relate because, often, I feel like who am I to be pushing this cause so much when my son came through surgery like a champ, doesn't have to have any repeat surgeries (more than likely) and is supposed to lead an otherwise *normal*, long, healthy and active life? Well, she also stated that she doesn't so much do this because of Luke, but because of the other parents she's met along the way whose story doesn't have such a happy ending.

For all the Drews and Lukes out there, there are twice as many Aidens, Coras, Hazels, Sams and Mavericks. (and the list goes on and on, but I have to stop here) Sweet little cherubs who are loved just as much by their parents as Luke and Drew are by myself and Krista. Amazing little Warriors turned Angels who never got the chance to come home, who lived lives on machines in hospitals, or who came home undiagnosed to pass away suddenly in their mothers' arms.

So, like Krista (because I can SO relate), I am fighting for those babies every bit as much as I am fighting for my son, my future children and my future grandchildren. I am fighting for these Angels' parents because I get to hold my son, and play with him, and watch him learn and grow every day. I get to be woken up every morning by his sweet little voice calling out to me. I get to laugh at his funny quirky habits. I get to feel his arms around me and his sweet kisses on my face. I get to hold his hand and teach him new things. And you know what, as much as I cherish those moments with him (and believe me, I do), I can't say it's exactly fair. How is it fair that one parent gets to have these moments and another doesn't?

And thus, I fight on. I get in your face (literally and figuratively) about statistics, I tell you stories about our Warriors and Angels. Why? It's not because I want to scare you. It's because I am compelled to do so. I am compelled to help find better treatment, possibly cures, for CHD. I am compelled to help create a world where less babies and kiddos die from CHD in the future. Where more parents have little league games or dance recitals to go to, instead of lonely gravesites. Where more parents can sit down and watch their kiddos playing, instead of sitting down to watch videos of them.

I can SO relate Krista.