And the winner is…
Comment entry #27 Rachel, congratulations!!
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Going through the holidays as a loss mom is so difficult.
I laugh. I cry. The phone rings and I don’t answer. I cry some more. I laugh. My husband chooses his words carefully. I cry again.
No one can follow the roller coaster of my moods like another mom who has been on the same heart-wrenching ride.
So today I am thrilled down to the pile of tissues at my feet, to be able to give something back to the community of amazing women who have supported me for the last four years.
As soon as I found out I would be hosting a day of the 25 days of Giveaways for Loss Moms I ran straight to the beautiful creator of Lauren Nicole Gifts in hopes they might donate one of their amazing, hand made pieces. All of their creations are made to order with such care and you can find everything from hand stamped personalized silver jewelry to pieces just for moms and even wax seal jewelry.
Through the generousity of Denise Freidhoff, owner of Lauren Nicole Gifts, I am able to offer one lucky reader $75 to spend on something of your very own. Here are just a few of the many pieces I fell in love with (if anyone knows my husband please steer him to this post for not-so-subtle gift suggestions):
Footprint Bracelet (made with your child’s actual footprint)
Mom’s Garden Necklace
Wax Seal and Name Necklace
This giveaway is open to parents who have lost a child only. To enter, leave a comment with anything you would like to share about the little one(s) you lost… a name, a special time, how you remember them during the holidays, anything you want to say I would love to hear.
Many thanks to:
You can also find Lauren Nicole gifts on twitter and facebook.
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Beautiful… I had two miscarriages this year and two last year. Here’s hoping for a successful pregnancy resulting in a sibling for Lucas in 2012.
Hugs to you.
xoxo
We lost our first so very early in the pregnancy that it was over before it even began. Sometimes I wonder about him/her and wonder what he/she is doing in heaven. That baby was and still is very real, no matter how short a life on earth he or she had.
I don’t know when this closes, but oh well. When I was pregnant my mom sent me three little stocks for Chrismtas with A, B & C. I still put those out every year. I have a tiny tree with initial ornaments made to look like decorated sugar cookies, one of me, hubby, and each of the girls. Caitlin’s C goes front and center. And I’ve found a series of Hallmark penguin ornaments with three penguins. I buy the new one each year.
Brooke Janae and Alexcyn Grace would have been celebrating their 3rd Christmas this year. Every year gets better, but there is always something missing in my heart.
The emotion that has no name. This is what I’ve always said/felt about losing a child. Horrible, yes; Devestating, of course – but truly, there is no word, is there?
We had a spontaneous, triplet pregnancy with three identical boys. Things were cruising right along, we’d gotten past our shock, realized we did no actually need to purchase three more cars or three more houses, when we discovered that one of our babies would not join us in this world. Thankfully, his loss did not negatively impact our surviving babies and all three were delivered at 32 weeks.
We have ornaments a friend made when I was pregnant, they simply read, “Baby A, Baby B, and Baby C”. My boys love to put them up and want them stored together.
It’s been almost ten years, his angel day was earlier this week. I’m very sorry for your loss of Hadley and thank you for taking a moment to honor the babies that don’t get to be part of the wonderful chaos that is the Christmas season.
I dont want to enter, though it’s sweet & the jewelry is beautiful.I just want to share my angels, Jenna Angeline, Clara Elizabeth & an angel we never got to name. Jenna was born sleeping Sept 13, 2004, due Dec 31 . Clara was due Christmas day 2007 & died in my husbands arms shortly after birth Aug 28. Our other angel was confirmed lost Sept 22 2008 @ 8 wks gestation. We now have twins via donor eggs & gestational carrier by 2 of my best friends. We still remember our other children & look forward to holding them again someday.We tell our earthly children, daughter Jenna Elizabeth & son, Sebastian about their sisters. My daughter will tell you the “girls are in heaven”. Having earthly children has both increased & eased the loss, if that makes sense. I have so much fun being a mom to them but I also wonder if our other children would look/act like them & I’m sad I neve saw their smile or heard their laugh. My sweet Christmas babies that I never got the chance to know.
This is the first Christmas with my third kid so I am very excited, how she will feel with the whole family, etc, etc…I will try to do my best:)
this is my first Christmas as a mom with an angel. these past couple of months have been very difficult. i keep thinkin that i should hav a 5 month old right now. even though i am so blessed, i still am havin a hard time enjoying the holidays. ((HUGS)) to all other families that hav angel babies!
I remember my Jeremiah everyday. He is greatly missed. I talk about him and during the holidays do gift exchanges with other mommies who have lost their babies. Thank you for hosting this giveaway 🙂
Would love to be entered in the giveaway..
I lost my first baby in 2004. He was due 12/26., which makes Christmas bittersweet. I made a bracelet in his memory, and the irony of it it’s red (garnet for my and my husbands birthstones) and green (peridot for his birthstone). I wear it every Christmas. Many think it’s just a bracelet, but it’s a way to keep his memory alive.
I also lost all three triplets in 2005. We are blessed that their loss happened during the season when you can clearly see Orion’s Belt in the sky. We remember them with stars…on our tree, in the sky…
Remembering my sweet Sullivan, who would be turning one on December 31st. I miss you so much, my love. It has been so hard for me to go on without you.
It is so heartbreaking to think about all the babies this list of comments represents. It was so nice of you to have this type of give away. Take care.
Oh I know, I had a hard time reading through the comments, it took me more than one try to get through them all. Devastating that we have all had to endure such loss.
I miss my Roosevelt IV. So much but so thankful for the time i had with him. This will be my first christmas withou him. Thank you for this giveaway.
I don’t want to be entered in the giveaway, I just want to add my Sam and Alex. I was only 9 weeks pregnant when I found out that I wasn’t going to ever hold my babies in my arms. I think about them all the time, especially now as it was just after Christmas that a test confirmed what I had known for 2 weeks. People don’t understand how 4 years later I still mourn the loss of my unplanned, teenage pregnancy but I will always remember the babies that I’ll never hold in my arms. I wish I had started a tradition for them at Christmas. I’ll remember everyone’s precious babies spending the holidays with mine.
Thank you for hosting this giveaway. My daughter would have been 3 years old yesterday, December 22. She was born sleeping at 40 weeks due to a uterine rupture. Having something to memorialize my little Michelle would be a great comfort.
My baby girl, Maddie, had the most beautiful, long fingers I have ever seen. The doctor commented on them immediately.
What a sweet and amazing gift! In Jan of this year we got the biggest shock of our lives….we were pregnant with our 3rd child &our youngest was only 9 myths old……unfortunately we lost our sweet baby just into our 2nd trimester @15 weeks ….just 4 days before his big sister’s. 1st birthday. I ache to hold him….I never knew it would hurt this much to lose a child that I never got to officially meet…..his name is Ian Patrick
My sweet boy was born December 8,2007. Bailey Winter Dumitru. We chose his name to remind us that in all things there is a season…winter will one day turn to spring…life will replace death…and the sun will shine again. xo
What an awsome giveaway. My son, Aidyn Clare entered into heaven on September 5, 2011. He passed shortly after delivery. I would love a piece of jewelry with his footprint on it.
This is a beautiful giveaway, Jessica. Thank you so much for hosting. I don’t know exactly what to share right now about my little Kennedy, but I am proud to be her mother. I am proud of the many gifts she has brought into my life. Friends, memories, remembrance events are only to name a few. I am blessed… Hugs to you this holiday season. <3
Oh my goodness I so want to win and I know exactly what you mean by the emotional roller coaster! I lost my daughter last September. She was stillborn when I was 8 months pregnant and she had down syndrome and a hole in her heart and just didn’t make it but she is perfect to me. I also had another miscarriage this summer at 9 weeks pregnant and am now 15 weeks pregnant with my rainbow baby and hoping all goes well. Thanks for doing this giveaway!
we lost one of our identical twins to Twin to Twin Transfussion syndrome. We had surgery at 18 weeks to save our boys and i spent 10 weeks on hospital bedrest, delivered at 28 weeks, Riley passed when they were 4 days old, Logan had heart surgery 2 days later and then again at 3 months old. We remember Riley everyday when we look at Logan. It was 4 years ago in September that we welcomed and said goodbye to Riley. We miss him everyday!!!
I bought a special necklace with all 5 kids names engraved on it the day that my 5th son was to be released from the hospital. 2 hours later, he unexpectedly went code blue in my arms and now lives in Heaven. I have not taken that necklace off since March 2008. However, I just gave birth to our rainbow baby last week and now I need a new necklace that includes his name. Crossing my fingers that I can win this gift certificate. It would be just perfect 🙂
Hugs,
Trisha
These are beautiful!
I have a ring with Raime, Elora and Connor’s birthstones that I wear. It’s engraved with ‘Always in my heart’
What a nice thing to do!!!! I’m not sure what to write. No one is more deserving over anyone else. My daughters name was Emily. We had her 3 days. Her identical twin is here with us. I have always wanted one with both their names.
hello,
my name is josa porter and i am the mother of wyatt and jake.
jake was wyatt’s identical brother and we were lucky enough to have him with us for 3.5 hours before he passed away peacefully. in his short life, he knew only love.
i think of him a lot during the holidays. and also of all the other parents who have had to cope with this type of loss.
love,
jp
I would love to be entered to win any of these in memory of my Calypso
Every year I have a Christmas tree in my bedroom of only SnowBaby Ornaments for my special Katie girl. She has spent every Christmas in Heaven and one day I will spend it with her there. Although it has been 31 years since she left me, in my heart it still feels like yesterday. Thank you for remembering all the moms who do not get to hug someone this season.
Those necklaces are so beautiful, and all the stories heartbreaking. I don’t want to enter the giveaway, I just want to say my son’s name here: Benjamin Thomas, gone for eight years this coming December 31st, the day of his birth, hours after his death on the 30th.
So terribly missed.
This is our 3rd Christmas without River. I wish we could have had one holiday season with him here. We had 6 short days after he was born, and we miss him tremendously. Thank you for hosting this giveaway.
This is our 3rd Christmas without our son. Oh how I miss him. He passed away at 5 months old and never got to see a Christmas… I wish he had gotten at least one. Ill never forget the times we got to hold him, sing to him, rock him and the one football game we all got to go to. What a lovely giveaway!! Hugs mama
My Ellie passed away 14 months ago from a bacterial bloodstream infection at nine months old. Our little girl was so full of joy and happiness, that I know Christmas would be here favorite time of the year- it makes the holidays even that much harder…
Thank you for hosting a giveaway- hope you have a peaceful Christmas.
Aiden was born May 28, 2006. He was such an amazing baby. He was always so happy and loving. Sadly, he passed away on November 17, 2006. I miss him dearly, but if it wasn’t for losing him I’d never have started therapy and found myself. I am happily married now, with a 10 month old, Evan. Evan was born February 9, 2011 with his twin, Keenan. They were born at 24 weeks. Keenan had problems from the beginning and had a tough journey in the NICU. Unfortunately, Keenan was a slave to his problems and passed away on February 22, 2011. Evan spent 135 days in the NICU and is now right next to me, playing and smiling away. Every day is a tough day, but, if it weren’t for my Angel Sons, Evan wouldn’t be so well-protected and healthy. Thanks for letting me share.
Wow! Her designs are beautiful!
I lost my daughter, Lily Angeline, at 23 weeks on 8/3/08 due to a placenta abruption and uterine rupture. She was my very first pregnancy and we had tried for 18 months to get pregnant with her. She beat all the odds just to get to my uterus because I had already had one fallopian tube removed and my RE told me my remaining tube didn’t work and IVF would be the only way to get pregnant. We didn’t know that I was already pregnnat when my RE was giving us this news. We picked out her name even before we knew she was a girl and I truly feel like God had a hand in us choosing her name because Angeline means “messenger of God”.
Thank you for hosting the giveaway!
This will be our 2nd Christmas without Logan. He died at 6 1/2 months old in the NICU. He was alive for his 1st Christmas. I took hims some small rattles and opened them with him. I hung his stocking in his room. The NICU took a picture of him with a a bear in a santa hat. Every Christmas I hang his stocking with his brothers and sister. I put the bear and his picture in the stocking. I also buy all my children new disney ornaments every year and write their names on them.
I lost my 4 month old suddenly in September 2009 to a virus. Not a day goes by I don’t think of him. Even though this will be 3rd Christmas without him, it doesn’t get any easier.
Sending hugs to other families of angels.
I was pregnant with two sets of identical twins. My girls Emma and Sophia died at 24 weeks while their brothers Alex and Nathan were born at 28 weeks in Aug 2010. The boys had a very difficult road for the first year but are doing well now. We are so lucky to have our boys but we miss our girls so very much.
Sending love and support to other parents with angels as well.
Emerson Kay Schmidt (7/28/11) my little angel. This is our first Christmas with my girls and my angel.
Such a beautiful name, Brooke. I know this Christmas is so difficult. I will be thinking of you and your family and hoping for moments of peace.
Wow! What an amazing gift:)
Our son Sebastion was stillborn August 12, 2010. This past week marked what ‘should have been’ his first birthday. We buy him ornaments for our family tree, and put a mini tree out at his grave for the holidays.
Tyler is my angel baby, I lost him when I was 20 weeks pregnant just 2 days before my birthday. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about him and wonder what he would be like. My Tyler has been gone for almost 3 years now and it still feels like just yesterday.
Alexander is in heaven. This is his first Christmas. He is currently an only child. It we are working on giving him an earthly sibling to watch over.
Jessica….what a wonderful gift! Zoe would have been 5 years old this week. Our extended family does a big gift exchange among the 15 little cousins (ages 1-17). I am blessed that my SIL has always included Zoe eventhough I struggle with the gift to request. This year we asked for baby blankets to give to the NICU where she & her triplet sisters were born. We no longer live in Georgia so my SIL & nephew took the gift to the NICU yesterday. Afterwards they went to a doctor appt & in the waiting room were dozens of ladybugs (real ones), which you know is our Zoe symbol. And there was a young girl about 5 or 6 years old with special needs in the waiting room with them. Her name? Zoe!
Great giveaway! My baby is Carleigh and she was born still March 28, 2009. If I am picked give it to Christine Pastore above <3
wow, it breaks my heart to see the responses. How unfortunate we are all on this journey of grief. It’s been one year since we lost our baby Alina. Her twin sister reminds me everyday of what we are missing. Wrestling with the joy and sorrow over the holidays.
I would love this to make something special in memory of my angel, Michelle Pastore. She passed away from a brain tumor on July 2, 2008 at only 17 months old. I miss her so much and life will never be the same for me without her.
We lost James a little more than 2 years ago- Dec 19 2009, 10 days after a premature birth. He was the biggest but weakest of the quadruplet set (though on every ultrasound looked the healthiest). This year we are lighting biodegradable lanterns in remembrance of James after Christmas. He is doing an amazing job looking over his three sisters.
My babies were born at Christmastime, just 7 days beyond the new year. At Christmas eight years ago, I was 29 weeks pregnant with three healthy, viable babies. I was also in full-blown preeclampsia with test results to prove it, and a doctor who was such an egotistical moron that he never bothered to read the test results. Carina’s death resulted in my being hospitalized at my own insistance and I was immediately delivered when they realized that I was going into seizures. Her death likely saved my life and surely saved the lives of her brother and sister. She was born sleeping, perfect and beautiful and had clearly died just hours before delivery. My heart breaks every year at this time, knowing what could have been and still having the world presume that my triplets are twins. She was the baby that I first came to know when I was pregnant, and I am grateful that I got to know her in utero. It would mean so much to me to have her tiny footprint on a piece of jewelry.
My son Hunter is my hero. We had undiagnosed TTTS and it is simply a miracle that he survived. He should have died in utero; and if he had, he would have taken his brothers Patrick and William with him. He fought so hard so that his brothers could live. Hunter, you are my warrior and I am lucky to be your mom. Please continue to watch over your brothers this Christmas. We miss you and love you very much!
How Beautiful! This year we are starting a new tradition with Peyton. We will decorate her grave blanket as a family on Christmas Day, and then all go up to lay it there before dinner. In the past we have done this about a week before, but I felt like she needed to be a part of the Christmas Day tradition. My favorite memory of her, is the way she would lift her head off my chest, sigh, readjust it, and snuggle back into my chest. She was pure love, and just writing this makes me ache for her that much more. The giveaway is beautiful. xoxo
Thank you for such a great offer!
This will be my third Christmas without my sweet Elise. She was stillborn on 4/6/09 due to a cord accident at 36 weeks. Some days the grief and pain are overwhelming, but, like you, I have 4 here on earth that need me moving, so I do.
I have two angels Mikayla Grace 6/13/10-6/15/10 and Chase Gabriel (4/22/11). I love the footprint bracelet!
I miss my triplet Nathan everyday when I look at his brother and sister and think there should be three instead if two. No one sees them the way I do. Thank you Jessica for doing this
These are beautiful. My little boy, Ross, was born and passed on May, 16 2009. One of the hardest things is that because it was 2 years ago and because I am pregnant with my third baby since his passing… People expect me to be over it. Truth is, I hurt more everyday. I love my children so much but I love Ross just a’s much. I miss him everyday, I cry atleast once a week. I hurt he is not with us. It hurts at Christmas because I think he should be opening gifts with us, it hurts taking family pictures because I look at them and know something is missing, it hurts knowing I should be kissing one more little forehead goodnight. It hurts that people are forgettig him… And I am trying so hard to keep his memory alive. it hurts that I am afraid of remembering what he looks like, I close my eyes and think about those sweet little lips and round cheeks…
One thing that doesn’t hurt is having him in my life. Yes, I want my little boy back, but I would rather have the pain of losing him than to have missed out on ever knowing him. He changed me, made me look and love life differently… Made me want to be a better person so I can get to heaven and hold him again.
Merry Christmas my sweet angel.
My little precious Stella Rose is in heaven. I look at my Madisyn Ella and I wish she could play with her twin….laugh with her and just be with her. So missing her.
Thank your for offering this give away. I am remembering my 2 angel girls Janessa who I loss in 2010 and Hope Abigail who I loss this year in May.
What a beautiful thing for you to be able to offer your readers. I lost my triplet girl, baby Hope. This years seems to be the worst so far. I’m struggling to find ways to honor her this year. Just had an awful breakdown this morning after one of my immediate family members referred to my girls as “twins”. Happy Holidays to you and your family!
How beautiful! I love this idea. I shared your post with a friend of mine who has lost two babies.
Holidays are never easy for me. Thank u to all of u who have come together. Thinking of my 10 angels and Triton. Xxo
This is so beautiful, Jessica…thank you! Our sweet son, Jaxon Tanner, was born with his wings when I was full term on November 26, 2005. He was perfect in every way and the only reason they could find was a cord collapse. We just honored his angelversary by sending balloons to heaven as we do every year for him.
Only women like us can know the inner strength a loss like ours takes in order to come through the other side…
Thank you for hosting this great giveaway. I’m a mommy to a beautiful little girl in Heaven named Laken Taylor Johnson born sleeping on April 8, 2010.
Laughing and then crying, rinse and repeat. I know it well. While I hold his older brother Louis and am absorbed in the adventures that a Christmas with autism brings, my aching heart will also be soaring with Henry Francis. It would have been his third Christmas with us.
Konstantin Jamen… It will be 5 years in January.
This year had been hard and I am using holidays as an excuse for escapism. Not working so well, actually.
((((group hug))))
This is beautiful, Jessica. I’m
Not sure I qualify, as mine only made it to 18 weeks. But he was a boy, and even though I didn’t know him…my heart is broken every day.
You absolutely qualify, lots of love to you Katie. xo