Tag: siblings

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Golden birthday – Shecklet #1

How can this kid be 15?!?

He is a kind, compassionate, and easy-going teenager. We have watched him grow so much over the last 15 years – physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I look forward to what the coming year (and start of high school in the fall) have in store for him!

Today he shared his birthday with his younger sister, who received her First Holy Communion at 5:30 mass. As a follow-up to his practice golden birthday, we had him open his gifts mid-afternoon, before we headed to church. He also requested a cookie dough ice cream cake, which was a very popular dessert at his sister’s reception!

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First scooter ride of 2021 🛴

This trio isn’t ready to give up their winter sports quite yet, but with the temp hitting 50 today, they were ok busting out their scooters to enjoy a ride around the block and do tricks in the driveway.

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Sewing donuts 🍩 🧵 🪡

The Shecklets’ got a sewing craft as a part of their “share” gift for Christmas. They started making their donuts. Shecklet #4’s is completed, two are in progress, and one hasn’t been started yet.

The kids are learning how to backstitch, whip stitch, and stuff. It’s fun to see some of their creativity come out in their designs.

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School pics 2020-2021

Thanks to Covid and distance learning, I’m not sure if my kids will have “official” school pictures. So like so many other things this year, we did something different. No uniforms, outside, and fall colors.

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6/16/2020 – one month

I find myself making note of “anniversaries” every week. Things like “I should be X number of weeks pregnant now,” or “it’s been X weeks since we were told there was no heartbeat,” or X weeks since I delivered Astrid,” or “we buried our daughter X weeks ago.”

Today marks 1 month since we went to the hospital to start my induction and subsequent delivery of Astrid. I still catch myself wondering if this has all been a dream. I scroll through the photos we took in the hospital (and while wishing we had taken more) am grateful for the ones we did take.

I miss our baby girl so much.

Her older sister, Shecklet #4, asked to see pictures of her little sister last night. (I had been waiting for her to ask rather than ask if she wanted to see them.) She asked a few questions about her skin color, but other than that, just commented about how small her fingers were and how cute her feet were. She would have been so good at loving her little sister here on earth.

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5/19/20 – Additional planning

Astrid’s Grandma Patti (Jake’s mom) offered for us to use the baptismal gown that Jake and his siblings were baptized in to wrap around Astrid when she is laid to rest. The dress was made by her Great-grandma Lois and is a similar design to the one that Grandma Lois made for the Shecklets’ baptisms. Jake brought the gown over to the funeral home yesterday afternoon.

Today we heard back from our Judy from our parish, who has been guiding us through planning Astrid’s funeral mass. We did some minor additions to music and asked for Shecklet #3 to change roles with Jake so she could read the intentions at mass. Shecklet #1 will read the first reading (Wisdom 3: 1 – 3, 9) and Shecklet #2 will read the second (Philippians 3: 20, 21.)

Two of our friends worked together to create a Meal Train for us for the next few weeks and we have been blessed with two meals thus far. Much like when we returned home from my brain surgery in CA, being provided a meal during a time of recovery, and in this case, recovery & loss, is a gift that means so much. I know people say “it’s the least I can do,” but really, it means way more to us.

I keep scrolling through the photos we took of our time with Astrid in the hospital. We still have not had a chance to look at the ones taken by our nurses, but we will get there. The organization, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, that is available to take photos for families experiencing the loss of their babies was not able to come to the hospital to take photos for us, but they do offer a retouching service. Once we’ve looked at all of the pictures we have of Astrid, I plan to send a selection to them in hopes that they can be retouched if possible.

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5/18/20 Funeral Planning

Funeral planning.

Those are two words I never dreamed I would be writing about my child. How do you go from telling your husband you’re pregnant to selecting bible readings and music for your baby’s funeral mass?

This isn’t what we want to be planning. We want to be picking out a car seat, choosing a crib, stocking up on diapers.

As I told one of my aunts tonight, emotionally, this is the hardest thing I have ever done. I feel like right now we are just getting things done/prepared for Thursday’s funeral mass & burial and then after that, the larger waves of grief will hit. Then there are the milestones that we won’t actually be celebrating with her on earth – her due date, first holidays, first birthday, etc.

And yet, I know that she is in heaven and she isn’t hurting. She is with Great Grandma Fran, Great Auntie Helen, Great Grandma Veronica, Sammy, her Papa Dale, our goddaughters Gianna and Faith, and so many other loved ones. The kids know their sister is a little saint, we can ask her to pray for us, and we have the hope of seeing her again one day. I’m so grateful for our faith.

I hope I can look back on the readings we chose for her funeral mass and find comfort when I’m struggling. She is a child of God. She belongs to Him. We were given a short time with her, but as it says in Philippians 3:20,21 “..our citizenship is in heaven.” She is where we all should long to be one day.

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Shecklet #1 is 14! 🎂

How can our oldest Shecklet be 14?!? Time seriously needs to slow down for a while. This kid is the kindest, most creative, and loving teenager I know. He requested burgers for his birthday dinner and a cookie dough ice cream cake – thanks DQ! Grandma & Grandpa and two aunties joined us for a social distance dinner in the driveway.