Valentine's for Leah!

To celebrate Leah's birthday, a Facebook event has been opened called 'Valentine's for Leah'. If you're on Facebook please search for it (it was created by the community 'EB.Awareness' in case you have trouble finding the event) and join in the celebration!! 

It wasn't set to begin until Friday but we're showing up to the party early and people are already posting some awesome Valentine's for my February birthday girl!  

Someone's birthday is coming up.............

Leah's birthday is coming up on Friday, February 10th!  

She would have been turning 3 years old……

This year I didn't have the time to really plan anything in advance to raise money to donate to dEBra to commemorate her birthday, as I have in the past.  

So to do a little something, I'm opening up my online Avon shop again, and donating 100% of my sellers earnings to dEBra.  I'll run the fundraiser for the entire month!! 

I know people are pretty loyal to their Avon reps, but if you could please consider shopping with me for just one of your February orders, it would be much appreciated!!  

As for the promo code, there is one: FORDEBRA1; but only because it's required by the Avon system.  However, if you spend more than $30 you can receive free shipping by entering the code 'FS30REP'. 


Please don't worry about entering the DEBRA code to ensure your orders' proceeds go to the fundraiser .... since I'm donating 100% of all my earnings your contribution will still be included! 

TO ORDER, PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK:

http://mturnquist.avonrepresentative.com/

UPDATE:

I received a comment from someone asking about donating without purchasing anything ........ 

of course anyone is welcome to do that!

If you following this link:

https://secure.commonground.convio.com/debra/donations/

you can enter your info and donation amount on DEBRA's secure web donation page.  There is the option to make your donation in memory of Leah. And remember, your donation is tax deductible!

Tripp Has His Wings

No doubt anyone who follows this blog follows the blog for Tripp.......

Tripp went to heaven on Saturday the 14th.  Exactly two years and two weeks after Leah.

Late last week I was sitting with Tabby on my lap at my computer and I showed her Tripps pictures, and told her not to worry, that he would be OK because Leah was going to fly him back to heaven with her and he would be all better...........

 

Christmas for Leah, 2011

Even though Leah is gone she is still a part of our family

and so each Christmas I intend to hang her stocking, 

and her ornaments

These are now two of my all-time favorites:

You can read about them, the reason behind them, the parade they were in, and the wonderful woman responsible for them: Here

Last year, 2010; we didn't put up a tree, or do any decorating at all really.  
We tried to ignore Christmas for the most part. 


2009 was Leah's first and only Christmas, and that years tree theme was Butterflies.  


This years theme became 'Butterflies and Angels' without me really even trying..........

Blog Change Coming Soon!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that the blog makeover will be completed soon! 

However, it's not just a makeover/re-design.  The URL will be changing, the blog name will be changing; pretty much everything will be changing.  

Because of the limitations on changing blogger sites, I'm going to have to do a 'We've Moved' post on this blog directing everyone to the new one.  

Mason!

Just another quick post - not for me but for a very good friend of mine.  I used to work with her when I lived in Pennsylvania and now even though Jeff and I relocated, I still work for the same company and so we email almost on a daily basis for work stuff!  

Her twin sister just gave birth to her first born son Mason on May 5th.  He is a-dor-able!!!  

Mason was born with DDH, Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip.  I Googled it and found that it is relatively common, and often has an excellent prognosis.

Here he is in what I believe is called a Pavlik harness:

Can I just say again how adorable he is?!?!

As I know most of my readers are fellow Mommys, I was wondering if I could put the word out there and ask if anyone has had experience with DDH and has any advice or encouragement to share?  And of course, prayers for little Mason and his Mommy and Daddy would be appreciated as well!

Please feel free to use the comments section; but if you'd prefer, you can also email me at: MegGehring (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll be sure to pass everything along!

Thanks everyone!

Check in and Mother's Day

Hi everyone.  Just a quick check-in.  We're doing great - I'm 25 weeks today and little Tabby is a mover and groover!  She seems to be a bit more active than Leah was, and Leah's nature was quite calm and peaceful.  So I'm wondering what Tabby is going to have in store for us when she arrives!

It's been 2 weeks since I did my glucose screening and I think it's a 'no-news-is-good-news' scenario with that.  I'll have my next appointment in 2 weeks just as I'll be entering the third trimester.

Hannah is doing great!! She's been taking her new medication (unbeknownst to her as I am mixing it with the gravy of her wet food) and her stitches came out yesterday!  She's still bandaged only because we didn't want her licking at her freshly un-sutured paw and doing damage.  My guess is that it may be itchy after that (?) and I know she's going to want to give it a thorough cleaning.  I want to take it off tomorrow morning and see how she does with it.  

And much like I had my Leah Journal to document her daily caloric intake and her bandaging regimen, I now have my Hannah Journal where I document her daily medication, paw pad checks and doctors appointments.  

For Mother's Day last Sunday we went to the same Butterfly Garden we went to last year (which I talked about in this post.)  It was pretty much exactly the same as last year - though I guess you can't really change up a butterfly garden too much. This year I remembered my real camera so I didn't have to rely on my phone! Here are some shots:

Here are two butterflies just uh .... hanging out .... um .... (clears throat) .... ya know.

Hey, it's nature - I just document it.  

Just checking in

Hi everyone!  Sorry I haven't updated lately; we are fine - just a lot going on!

But yes, baby and I are good.  My only complaint is that my seasonal allergies are co-mingling with my pregnancy rhinitis to make me a sneezing mess at times.  Most of the time I'm fine - but when I do sneeze a 'good' sneeze (sometimes a dozen times a day); for the next 10 minutes I feel like I'm in the midst of a horrible head cold. Then after a bunch of tissues and being able to breathe through my nose once more, I'm fine again.   

If anything it means sneezing shouldn't startle Tabby when she's a newborn since she's hearing tons of it now. 

I have a regular OB checkup appointment on Friday, which will also be when I'll have my 1-hour glucose test. My blood pressure readings at home have been great; so no problem there ... yet (fingers crossed that it stays that way). 

We continue to slowly work on the nursery: getting furniture in its place, washing & folding stuff and putting them in their proper place, grouping toys in age-appropriate storage bins.  My tendency to over-organize makes it a taxonomy project, which is oddly fun for me.  But the organizing also gives me a chance to take inventory of what we have (tons of stuff) and what we need (not much really).  

My favorite 'project' for the nursery are the window dressings.  I am having 2 custom Roman shades made with fabric I picked out that matches the nursery's colors. They're being made now; though I don't know when they'll arrive.  But once they show up and (please please please!!) fit as perfectly as I painstakingly measured them to fit; I'll be sure to post pictures and a link to the shop where I got them.  

Other than that we've been having some issues with our cat Hannah that has taken up a good chunk of our time and energy  lately.  As it turns out my poor little furry girl has this really rare (wait for it....), hardly seen by vets (wait for it.....), little understood (wait for it......) SKIN DISEASE!  Yep, leave it to us to now have a cat with the rare feline disease called: Plasma Cell Pododermatitis.  

Long story short: we were going to a vet that wasn't (in my opinion) doing all they could - not to mention the vet had never seen Plasma Cell Pododermatitis.  One of Hannah's paws is quite bad off, and we have been  bandaging it.  (Not exactly memories we want to be reliving).  I thought it needed stitches, the vet didn't agree, and she also basically said we didn't know how to bandage her properly.  This vets course of action was to just give steroid shots as the swelling came up, and treat any infection that may come about from the ulcerated paw pad.  

Just so you have a little idea, (and if you get grossed out easily don't click on it) - here is a link to what an ulcerated paw pad of a cat with this condition looks like 

(Please note that Hannahs paw is nowhere near this bad - her ulcerated pad is about 75% less than this): http://www.theskinvet.co.uk/page/343968211

So last Friday I called another vet (one that is much closer to our house), gave the story to the receptionist and she said the owner of the practice is the best around, and would be happy to see us and give his opinion.  

So on Monday off we went and found ourselves a new vet.  He has seen and treated several cases before, he thinks we bandage just fine (duh), he thinks stitches are totally warranted, and he wants to try some medication that has worked for cases in the past to try to clear up the condition all together.  

So tomorrow Hannah will go in to get her widdle poor paw pad stitched up.  If you could, please say a little prayer that all goes well.  I've had Hannah for 6 years -- and my furry girls mean as much to me as my non-furry girls.  

Luckily because of my appointment on Friday I'll be home to make sure she's doing OK on post-surgery day.  

And I'll also get to watch all the coverage of the Royal Wedding!

I'm a big geek for this kind of thing.  Plus, my Mom was pregnant with me 30 years ago when she got up at 4 AM to watch the wedding of Charles and Diana!  I've also been re-reading The Thorn Birds this past week (which is what my Mom read while pregnant with me and where she got my name from).  She was also 29 while pregnant with her second daughter - pretty cool coincidences all around.  

Also, I'm trying to get a design together to re-do the blog to make it more Turnquist family centered, thus including Tabby with her big sister.  And last but not least on our to-do list: Jeff is opening his own business! 

So with being pregnant, working full-time, feline appointments and surgery, business start-up work, prepping for baby arrival, getting the chimney repaired (another ordeal in itself) and all the regular day-to-day laundry, cleaning and bill paying; we're keeping ourselves busy - just the way I like it.

19 weeks, 2 days Level 2 Ultrasound

Today we had our level 2 ultrasound (regular anatomy check).  Thankfully everything went really well!! Tabby's growth and size seem to be right on target.  She wasn't camera shy, nor was she stubborn with the tech. (I seem to remember that Leah was turning in the exact opposite direction that the tech needed her to when we had her ultrasound done!  But that was part of Leah's charm.)

Here are some pictures of our little Tabitha:

She gets a kick out of us:

The tech switched it over to 4D for a moment, so far I can only tell that she seems to have my big forehead:

We also got a good hiney shot for confirmation that she is indeed a girl but I'll spare her the embarrassment of having that posted  : )

18 weeks, 4 days Doctors Appointment

My doctors appointment today went very well!  

My blood pressure was good, I've still managed to not gain any weight, and Tabby's heart rate was 148 bpm.

I was given a consent form to read over on VBAC's - which is what I would optimally like to do, and is my plan A.  We'll just have to wait and see what happens as the months go on to see if that plan will come through.  
(With Leah I learned that you can plan and plan - and nothing, and I mean nothing; will turn out the way you planned).   
Men plan, God laughs.  

My next appointment will also be my glucose screening.  And unlike the OB I had when I was pregnant with Leah, I won't have to go to the office, sit in the waiting room, then drink, and then sit there waiting for an hour for the blood draw.  I was given my 'juice' today, with instructions printed on it to drink it about an hour before getting to the office, then when I arrive I just tell the receptionist that I'll need my blood drawn in X minutes when the hour is up.  How convenient!

No pictures to share from today though ..... but on Monday we'll be going for our level 2 ultrasound and so I'll gladly trade your prayers and good thoughts for some new pictures on Monday.  : )

A Baby-doll for the New Baby

Leah never got to play with her Baby Be Blessed doll .........

with it's scripture patch her Nana picked out just for her: 

It arrived after Leah had departed.  She now sits next to Leah's teddy bear urn on the mantle.  

And now; her little sister's doll is being made by the lovely ladies over at Baby Be Blessed.  I ordered it last Friday.

I picked out the scripture since at the time, only Jeff and I knew her name!  But here it is, along with the scripture:

My hope and prayer is that Tabby not only gets to enjoy playing with her doll baby for many years to come - but that she also learns the importance of the scripture I chose for her and that she comes to understand how lucky she is to have her big sister Leah as her guardian angel.  

Some news ......

Jeff and I have some exciting news to share but we wanted to let Leah do the honors:

Yes, Baby Turnquist #2 is due in late August (8/27 to be exact - and Jeff's birthday is 8/26!)
We have known since mid-December; we had the CVS testing done on 2/10 (Leah's 2nd birthday) and just got the results on Friday.  Baby #2 will not be affected with EB, but will be a carrier.  

(Each pregnancy has a 25% chance of no EB gene being inherited, two 25% chances of getting the EB gene from just 1 parent (carrier), and 25% chance EB genes from both parents and thus, affected).  

And ..................

IT'S 

.

.

.

A

.

.

.
(nother)

GIRL!!!!

Needless to say, we are beyond ecstatic!!!  Not to mention relieved, shocked, exhausted from the wait, a wee bit nervous, and of course: THANKFUL!




Here she is waving hello to everyone:

I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of Him.
1 Samuel 1:27

From a Lullaby to Goodbye

(I have previously posted about this, just as a quick blurb; but now I have more details and actual links to share).

From a Lullaby to Goodbye is a new book, created by Patti McKenna and written by over 2 dozen people who have had to say goodbye to a child much too soon.  The book is meant to comfort newly bereaved parents, grandparents, etc by sharing experiences and offering encouragement.  

I am honored to have Leah's story included in the book.  Her chapter is titled 'When God Gives Us Angels'.  

At the moment the book is only available in ebook format, and only available at the blog Patti has set up for the book:

http://lullabytogoodbye.wordpress.com/

The cost is $9.00

I've been told that the ebook will be uploaded to Amazon shortly as well.

The print format of the book is still in the works; but when it is available I will provide a link.

Leah's Birthday Fundraiser

Well, I just sent in the donation to DebRA for all the money we've raised selling the flower seed cards.  

Though the fundraiser is still not done ...... I am very happy to announce that with the money we've raised so far I was able to send, in Leah's memory, a donation of ....................

$1,055!!!!

Thank you to everyone who has helped; either by buying some cards, sharing the fundraiser with your family, friends and co-workers; or just spreading the word via Facebook!! 

I know Leah is proud of all of us.....

Happy Birthday Leah!

Happy 2nd Birthday in Heaven Leah!

Dearest Leah, Mommy and Daddy love you and miss you so much Princess.

I know that my redeemer lives, 
and that in the end He will stand on the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed, 
yet in my flesh I will see God
Job 19:25-26

P.S. Tomorrow I am going to send in the donation from all the seed cards we've sold over the past few months.  I will do a separate post with the grand total letting everyone know.

Flowers for Leah Fundraiser Update

Well, we're coming down to the last scheduled month of the fundraiser to commemorate Leah's 2nd birthday!

So far $815 has been raised!   

That's awesome!!  Thank you so much to everyone who has donated!

Now, all along I knew having a fundraiser based on butterflies and flowers in the winter was a bit 'un-timely' - but, given that Leah's birthday is smack dab in the middle of winter, that's just the way the cookie crumbles.  

So, with 2 months to go till spring, a boat-load of seed paper still to go around, and still new interest in folks to purchase seed cards, I've decided to continue the Flowers for Leah fundraiser; at least through the spring.

(I just ordered another 250 cards, with a new design to boot!)

So, I will still be sending a check to dEBra the day after Leah's birthday, with whatever we've raised up until then.  After that I will send additional donations in Leah's name until the fundraiser officially ends.  

To order just 1 card, please click on the yellow PayPal 'donate' button on the right sidebar.  

To partake in the most frequent order, a set of 5 cards; the cost would be: 

By check: $27.00         (Email me for details about where to send your check).

Via PayPal: $28.50      (Email me if you like this option and I will send you an invoice via PayPal).  Please note: The extra cost is to cover the fee's PayPal charges 

And again, if you'd like more, please e-mail me and I'll be happy to help you.  

Also, if you live outside of the US; please don't let the hassle of international shipping deter you.  I am currently getting ready to send out packets to folks in the UK and Canada.  

For any and all questions, my email is: MegGehring@gmail.com

Thanks everyone!

Leah's Angel Day

One year ago today Leah, Jeff and I sat together for the last time, this side of heaven.   

And one year ago today Leah became our little Angel Leah; carried home in the arms of Jesus.  

This is my song for her, a song written by another Mommy and Daddy who had to say goodbye to their little girl.  It is sung by that little girls Daddy, Todd Smith of the Christian band Selah.  

Christmas without Leah

Well Christmas is approaching, and I'm so not into Christmas this year; I'm sure you know why.  But with that being said, I'd still like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.  

There are no lights outside our house, we don't have a tree, no stockings are hung, and the furthest I got doing any kind of Christmas decorating was stringing some garland up the banister.

The thought of hanging Leah's ornaments on the tree without her being here doesn't make sense.  Even going through all the bins in the garage full of the decorations seems like too much.  

The garland I put up?  That was a new purchase - no memories are attached to it.  That's the only way I can walk up and down the stairs without sighing to myself.  

Why did I buy it?  Because I thought I'd want to decorate for Christmas, just like I have every other year.  But in comparison to the rest of the non-decorated house, it looks silly.

I ordered a personalized doggie stocking for Sam - it's sitting in my office.  

I even bought 2 ornaments for Angel Leah in Germany - they're laying on top of Sam's stocking. 

We have no set plans for Christmas.  I'm leaning toward a plan of just sitting at home and pretending like it's any other day; that is, if on any other day TBS showed A Christmas Story for 24 hours straight.  Maybe we'll venture out to a movie theater, since for some reason they are open on Christmas day.  

I was thinking the other day about how quickly the past year has gone by - and how in a lot of ways things are back to 'normal'.  We live as if we never had a child because we have no living children.  No toys are strewn across the living room floor - no bottles sit in the sink - and the laundry never includes tiny socks, fuzzy blankets or drool soaked bibs.  I don't buy diapers, and my car is carseat-less.  Unless you went into Leah's old room and saw her unassembled crib and bins stacked up to the ceiling with toys, clothes and blankets - you'd never know that once upon a time not too long ago, a baby lived here.

In the living room we have her teddy bear urn, some of her favorite toys, and pictures; lots of pictures. 

In my office, which was Leah's downstairs room, my desk sits where her crib once did.  Sammie's pen is where the recliner used to be.  That was Nurse Ann's spot to sit overnight.  And sometimes I'd sit there and watch Leah sleep in the mornings.

One of the things I miss the most is the way Leah would smile at whoever fetched her from her crib in the mornings.  Still sleepy, hungry, and probably not too comfortable with stiff sore skin; she'd look up at us with the best smile.  It wasn't her smirk and it wasn't her regular happy smile.  It was 'You again! I know you, I'm happy to see you, and I love you'.  The last month or so she didn't smile at us like that in the morning, but her eyes still said the same thing.  

This past year has also taught me a lot about how other people react to our grief.  

I have blood relatives I've known my whole life who all but ignore me, because they don't know what to say to me.  Which is fine; I get it.  If the shoe were on the other foot I may not know what to say either.

And then I have relatives I've only recently re-connected with who have been awesome.  They don't avoid talking about Leah, they're not scared to talk to us, and they don't see any reason for there to be 'weirdness'.

Also, there are these wonderful perfect strangers I've never met, that I only know via this blog, or Facebook who email me just to say they're thinking about us, who have sent us cards, gifts, their own hard-earned money; just because of what Leah meant to them.  

These last 12 months haven't been easy, by any stretch of the imagination.  

2009 was a challenge with Leah.  

2010 was a challenge without her.  

2009 was full of heartbreak while watching Leah in pain; changing bandages and clearing her trach.  

2010 was full of heartbreak because of the simple fact that she was gone. 

It was full of firsts without Leah.  First birthdays without her.  First Easter, Thanksgiving, and now Christmas; which was the day last year that Leah's condition took a turn for the worse.  

But I said it the day after she passed and the same still stands true today, almost 1 full year later - I'd rather live with heartbreak without Leah than have her here in pain that I couldn't ease no matter what I did. 

2011 can't come quick enough - it has to be a better year.  

Just checking in

Hi everyone!

I know I haven't posted for awhile - but that's because Jeff and I were in Germany from the 7th to the 13th.  Now we're back.  Back in the US - back to work - back to life.

It was nice to go on vacation.  It was nice to not have to go to work for 8 days.  It was nice to see and experience Germany - but it is GREAT to be home.

I'm a homebody; admittedly.  It's hard for me to just 'do nothing', ie 'go on vacation' - so I guess I really did have to travel across the Atlantic ocean so that I literally couldn't clean my house or do laundry or organize my office for a full week.

I put some photos from our trip up on Facebook, and I'll post some here on the blog as well at a later date.  But we're still trying to get back on our regular schedule.  Today was my first day back at work; waking up at 5 AM and such.

But overall here are a few things I learned about Germany and about travelling:

Munich at Christmastime is beautiful.  Cold, windy, snowy and beautiful.

Everyone in Germany smokes.  Everyone: man, woman, old, young.  Everyone, all the time.

Soft toilet paper is hard to find.  Our hotel was a first class, nice hotel.  The toilet paper was 2-ply, quilted, and about 1 step away from sand paper.

Gustav Klimt paintings in person are everything I thought they'd be.

What you think is apple juice there is not apple juice.  It's sparkling water with a small bit of apple flavoring added.

They don't have Diet Coke, they have Light Coke.

Apparently I am a security threat.  I was pulled aside and double searched in both Munich and Atlanta - and my luggage was inspected.

Coffee in Germany comes in small cups, and it's black and bitter.  I knew our trip back home was well overdue when I nearly had a full blown temper tantrum in the Munich airport by yelling that I wanted, "Coffee ... Regular American coffee.  Not espresso, not cappuccino.  Just - COFFEE!"

I require Dramamine to travel by airplane.

It has now been proven that it is possible for me to go 9+ hours without peeing - because airplane bathrooms are gross.

Also, I just wanted to let everyone know who is waiting on Seed Cards to please be patient and I will have some more made up and sent out just as soon as I can!

Seed cards and more seed cards

(After I made up more seed cards this morning I decided to get artsy).

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.  Anyone who knows me knows that I don't really 'do' Thanksgiving for several reasons:
1.) Thanksgiving food is not seasonal, therefore not that big of a deal - you can make a turkey for the 4th of July if you wanted to.
2.) I'm not a fan of football, at all.
3.) People should give thanks year round.

Perhaps one year I will make a big to-do out of the holiday and make a turkey and mash potatoes by hand and so on and so forth ... but I haven't had the inclination to do that - yet.


But I just wanted to post a quick fundraiser update.  We've had a few friends of the family request to purchase packets of 5.   While packaging them up it made me think that perhaps with the Christmas season upon us, maybe other's would like to purchase 5 and give some away as gifts.  You know, they'd fit quite well into a Christmas card!

I've estimated that 2 bucks should cover shipping and handling of these.
So: if you'd like to purchase a packet of 5 the cost would be:

By check: $27.00         (Email me for details about where to send your check).

Via PayPal: $28.50      (Email me if you like this option and I will send you an invoice via PayPal).  Please note: The extra cost is to cover the fee's PayPal charges 

My email is: MegGehring@gmail.com