October

We started out the month of October celebrating the memory of the five babies we lost through miscarriage.  Alicia is part of a group that meets monthly that works to support and educate others that have suffered pregnancy loss, still birth, or infant loss.  Our family participated in the SHARE memory walk and ceremony.  During this ceremony the names of our angels are read and families place flower petals in a pond in their memory.  After which, all of the families do a walk around the pond and can see the names of all of the angels and pay their respects.  This is the first year we have participated in the walk.  While this is a touching event, it is also so hard to see how many of us there are that are tied together through tragedy.  While it is sad, it is also comforting to know that others understand our loss and we all know that there is support here for all of us.  This is an event we will continue to do each year.  As a family we decided that since we aren't able to celebrate our babies' birthdays each year, we will always use this event to celebrate our love for them.

placing flower petals in memory of our angels

the SHARE walk symbol that begins our walk

The walk was marked with baby footprints around the pond.

the marker for our angels

Zach ended up having his elbow surgery this month as well.  His surgeon ended up taking bone and cartilage from his knee so that he could graft it into Zach's elbow for the repair.  He is currently doing well and receives physical therapy twice a week.  His total recovery time will be four to six months.  While Zach was in the hospital our family service project came to an end.  Our family collected (from donors, plus our own donation) donations to help supply the trick-or-treating for patients program at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital.  We used the monetary donations to buy items for the hospital to give out to patients during Halloween.  We decided to do this service project as a pay-it-forward based off of an experience Zach had years ago when he was a patient.  One year Zach was in the hospital around Christmas time and gifts were brought to the patients by Child Life at the hospital.  This was a gesture that brightened Zach's spirits when he was a patient so we thought helping supply gifts for another special event would brighten other children's spirits.  The donations were plentiful and we had over $250 worth of donations (monetary and toys/gifts) for this great cause!

Zach in good spirits before his surgery

post-surgery

physical therapy

donations to Child Life Services for patient trick-or-treating

We also did another fundraiser towards the adoption this month.  Alicia's mom was kind enough to to open a Tupperware fundraiser for us.  We were able to raise about $70 through this fundraiser.  Every little bit counts though and is GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!  Alicia also continues to sell Initials, Inc. to raise money towards the adoption as well.