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Busy Buddy by Bee Brave

8/18/2013

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This amazing tray with a removable pillow that also becomes an amazing storage keeper is called a Busy Buddy - the amazing mother, daughter team behind it is called Bee Brave!

Our son David, was a recipient of a Busy Buddy - he is autistic (you can read back through the blogs and find his full story) and we spend two hours in the car every trip to therapy, every appointment, every specialist and every testing...which this summer was three days a week...for him, it is boring and frankly he hates it!

I cannot tell you how much he LOVES this - he can use it at home on his lap to color (we don't have much table space, and he can take it away from the girls), he uses it in the car, he can hide his most treasured possessions inside the pouch for the pillow (it has a zipper)...and well it worked great for mommy when I was laid up in bed and I was able to write out the new requests for gowns even.


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David is pretty picky about what he likes - what child isn't right?! I had just made him a special little bean bag seat/ottoman thing...lol. And this was the fabric he picked out for it. The amazing part of his Busy Buddy, was I was able to send in this fabric and her mother made the pillow with it! David was so excited to see his "moo cows," "piggie" and tractor on the fabric.


Melissa went one step farther and matched the painting on the tray to the fabric as well! Once again - he was in HEAVEN! It was so great to see his face light up when it arrived in the mail and it was perfect timing as we had therapy the next day! But he wanted to take it outside to play with his trucks in the sandbox instead...lol.

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So we compromised - he is David with his Busy Buddy!

He was allowed to take it outside with him, but it had to stay with mommy, I wasn't about to have sand start coming out the zipper pocket...lol.



He doesn't always smile, but he wanted to say "mooooo" as his picture was being taken. The boy loves cows, what can I say? He wants to be a cowboy when he grows up.


When I sent in David's fabric for his Busy Buddy we also went a couple steps farther and created a wonderful bond and work relationship on the Gracie's Gowns end with Bee Brave.

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We sent all this amazing fabric over to Bee Brave to help make the pillows for other children, teens and adults that end up being on their sponsorship list!


Of course, it is mostly all scraps from gowns that have been made for children by Gracie's Gowns. Some of our gowns we have lots left over, and this is the case with these fabrics, but we also sent lots of smaller pieces to use as well for their mini stress relievers!


We filled up a diaper box of fabric and mailed it out to Melissa and her mom and something even more amazing is stemming from this too!

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We are participating in CureFest 2013 in Washington D.C. - it is an event sponsored by The Truth 365 to bring awareness and support for Pediatric Cancer.


The event is on September 1st, 2013 and all of the participating organizations, work with children who have cancer, fund pediatric cancer research, promote awareness, etc.


Bee Brave - is sending us 50 mini stress relievers for our goodie bags to distribute throughout the time of the event! We wanted to help promote other organizations that are small like us, but work with children who have cancer, and just chronically ill children as well and let them not only put informational materials in our bags, but include a little item too!


Melissa sent me this picture of some of the ones heading our way here soon! All I can think of when I see this is the precious kiddos that received gowns from the same fabrics and it makes me tear up, knowing they have inspired something so amazing in my own heart and really and truly are the heartbeat that keeps Gracie's Gowns running!

If your organization isn't attending CureFest and would like to include an item and informational materials in our goodie bags, we are putting together 50 bags. The items need to be at my house no later than the 29th of August so I can get them put in the bags.


Direct sales companies are allowed to include an item, but I am only taking one representative per company - and you must include a sample item with your information. Please contact me BEFORE sending anything, just to make sure I don't have another representative already - and that I need to keep my eye out for a package - same with any organization.
To learn more about Bee Brave you can visit their 
Facebook Page at (stop by and send them some love, Gracie's Gowns style of course):
https://www.facebook.com/beebrave2013



And their website is:
http://www.beebrave.org

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Something a Little Different

8/18/2013

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So while we were offline for a few weeks - it did allow time for some creativity to happen because my mind goes at about 1,000 thoughts a minute, especially for Gracie's Gowns.


I was able to find and start using a dual-colored awareness ribbon!! This is fabulous, especially for all our families wanting Freckles, but I wasn't able to do a particular color, much less a dual-color ribbon. Now we can use all the colors in the coloring box of embroidery threads (no limits there) and do solid colors that I may not have fabric for, but also due ribbons for the conditions that have two colors. Here is what it looks like on Abby's Freckles using the red and blue for a C.H.D. Awareness Ribbon.
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Also, my dad wanted to help support Gracie's Gowns, but didn't want to just be a pocket-book for us. He has been wanting to contribute for a while, and definitely helps any time he can and where he can...and finally had come up with something he needed my sewing skills for, but also would help Gracie's Gowns in advertising/marketing and he paid for it too...lol.


He wanted gowns for his C.P.R. baby manikins - so that his students could practice the steps of C.P.R. start to finish and also get a feel for really removing the clothing in the process. With a little adjusting - our newborn gowns fit perfect on his manikins and was the start of Gracie's Gowns and Healing Helpers also teaming up together (another blog for later - P.S. we love, love, love working with Healing Helpers!!).
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Now he wants some for his adult manikins....that is going to take some work though - they don't have arms to hold anything on...lol. Anyway just wanted to share a little tidbit from things that were happening in our world here, that also involved Gracie's Gowns, just behind the scenes. Each of these gowns has a "Made by Gracie's Gowns" iron-on tag on them...I purchased those from Cherry Hill Designs (love them too!!).


Hope you're having a great weekend - it is raining and pouring here, which is making me super sleepy. Not to mention the busy week we've had. I have one more blog coming up today that will feature a great organization we've worked with personally and professionally. You won't want to miss it!


Much Love,
The Kidd Family
Gracie's Gowns
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The Chartres Cathedral 

8/2/2013

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When I was in high school, I had to opportunity to go to France with my French teacher, friends in my level and students from other French levels as well.

It was an amazing trip - everything I loved all in one place. Music, the history of France, the shopping everyone talked about, the monuments and artwork...it was spectacular.

The cathedrals and castles were probably the most intriguing sites we saw. Of course the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre and Versailles were unique and ravishing, but the cathedrals really drew my attention above all else.

Something about the architecture, the amount of work that had to be done my so many people, over years and years of time...and even sometimes having to be redone because of fires, natural disasters and war. And the final project still standing for all future generations to see, it was breath-taking. Most of the cathedrals are still in use for religious services in France (sorry random side note there and memory from touring). Chartres Cathedral was the one that intrigued and amazed me the most. And here is why....

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The Rose Window - look at it, isn't it just beautiful! That is all stain glass. This alone took years to complete...the detail is so intrinsic and most of it is still the original glass that was used when the window was first constructed in 1215. The scene the window depicts is the Last Judgement, and was a gift that at the time cost 80,000 pounds! Now let me share a little story with you as to why I am even blogging about Chartres Catherdral, the Rose Window and why it's detail, the beauty and the work involved mean so much and can really put things into perspective for each parent who reads this.

Once again - this is from a posting on Facebook - though I do not know who originally wrote this, to give them the credit, but I pray one day they see the blog and realize how much of an impact it really has on those who read it.
Invisible Mother

 It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way
 one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be
 taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'
 
 Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping
 the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see
 me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of
 hands, nothing more! Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this??

 Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock
 to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is
 the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

 Some days I'm a crystal ball; 'Where's my other sock?, Where's my phone?,
 What's for dinner?'

 I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes
 that studied history, music and literature -but now, they had disappeared
 into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's
 going, she's gone!

 One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a
 friend from England . She had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she
 was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there,
 looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to
 compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when she
 turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you
 this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe . I wasn't exactly
 sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'With admiration
 for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

 In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover
 what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could
 pattern my work:

 1) No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record
 of their names.

 2) These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never
 see finished.

 3) They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.

 4) The passion of their building was fuelled by their faith that the
 eyes of God saw everything.

 A story of legend in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the
 cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird
 on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man,
 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that
 will be covered by
 the roof. No one will ever see it'

 And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

 I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost
 as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you. I see the sacrifices you
 make every day, even when no one around you does.

 No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've
 baked, no Cub Scout meeting, no last minute errand is too small for me to
 notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see
 right now what it will become.

 I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of
 the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work
 on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went
 so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime
 because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

 When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's
 bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the
 morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for 3
 hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a
 monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there
 is anything more to say to his friend, he'd say, 'You're gonna love it
 there...'

 As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're
 doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel,
 not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the
 world by the sacrifices of invisible mothers.
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Fingers and Toes

8/1/2013

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When I think about fingers and toes - I almost automatically think about being pregnant for the first time and I just couldn't wait to meet our precious little baby and take in all her features, but especially her fingers and toes. My second thought, is the book you see above.

But what I am going to share with you tonight, I have been wanting to share for a while now - I read it on Facebook on a friend's page back towards Mother's Day this year. Something even more special about this friend is that her baby was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome...and her precious little boy became an angel watching over her.

This story is so touching and so important - being the mother of a special needs child, allows us to appreciate the little things more in life, but it also forces us to re-evaluate a lot of what we think, believe and say. We also know that we want more for our children than what this life has to offer them.

We know that when a new mom-to-be says they don't care as long as the baby has 10 fingers and 10 toes...they aren't telling the whole truth. This is for all the mothers out there of children with special needs - no matter what their condition may be, we are all connected.
My friend is expecting her first child. People keep asking what she wants. She smiles demurely, shakes her head and gives the answer mothers have given throughout the ages of time. She says it doesn't matter whether it's a boy or a girl. She just wants it to have ten fingers and ten toes. Of course, that's what she says. That's what mothers have always said. Mothers lie.

Truth be told, every mother wants a whole lot more. Every mother wants a perfectly healthy baby with a round head, rosebud lips, button nose, beautiful eyes and satin skin.

Every mother wants a baby so gorgeous that people will pity the Gerber baby for being flat-out ugly.

Every mother wants a baby that will roll over, sit up and take those first steps right on schedule (according to the baby development chart on page 57, column two).

Every mother wants a baby that can see, hear, run, jump and fire neurons by the billions. She wants a kid that can smack the ball out of the park and do toe points that are the envy of the entire ballet class.

Call it greed if you want, but we mothers want what we want. Some mothers get babies with something more.

Some mothers get babies with conditions they can't pronounce, a spine that didn't fuse, a missing chromosome or a palette that didn't close.

Most of those mothers can remember the time, the place, the shoes they were wearing and the color of the walls in the small, suffocating room where the doctor uttered the words that took their breath away. It felt like recess in the fourth grade when you didn't see the kick ball coming and it knocked the wind clean out of you.

Some mothers leave the hospital with a healthy bundle, then, months, even years later, take him in for a routine visit, or schedule her for a well check, and crash head first into a brick wall as they bear the brunt of devastating news. It can't be possible! That doesn't run in our family. Can this really be happening in our lifetime? I am a woman who watches the Olympics for the sheer thrill of seeing finely sculpted bodies. It's not a lust thing; it's a wondrous thing. The athletes appear as specimens without flaw - rippling muscles with nary an ounce of flab or fat, virtual powerhouses of strength with lungs and limbs working in perfect harmony. Then the athlete walks over to a tote bag, rustles through the contents and pulls out an inhaler.

As I've told my own kids, be it on the way to physical therapy after a third knee surgery, or on a trip home from an echo cardiogram, there's no such thing as a perfect body.

Everybody will bear something at some time or another. Maybe the affliction will be apparent to curious eyes, or maybe it will be unseen, quietly treated with trips to the doctor, medication or surgery. The health problems our children have experienced have been minimal and manageable, so I watch with keen interest and great admiration the mothers of children with serious disabilities, and wonder how they do it. Frankly, sometimes you mothers scare me. How you lift that child in and out of a wheelchair 20 times a day.

How you monitor tests, track medications, regulate diet and serve as the gatekeeper to a hundred specialists hammering in your ear.

I wonder how you endure the clichés and the platitudes, well-intentioned souls explaining how God is at work when you've occasionally questioned if God is on strike.

I even wonder how you endure schmaltzy pieces like this one -- saluting you, painting you as hero and saint, when you know you're ordinary. You snap, you bark, you bite. You didn't volunteer for this. You didn't jump up and down in the motherhood line yelling, "Choose me, God! Choose me! I've got what it takes." You're a woman who doesn't have time to step back and put things in perspective, so, please, let me do it for you.

From where I sit, you're way ahead of the pack. You've developed the strength of a draft horse while holding onto the delicacy of a daffodil. You have a heart that melts like chocolate in a glove box in July, carefully counter-balanced against the stubbornness of an Ozark mule.

You can be warm and tender one minute, and when circumstances require intense and aggressive the next. You are the mother, advocate and protector of a child with a disability.

You're a neighbor, a friend, a stranger I pass at the mall. You're the woman I sit next to at church, my cousin and my sister-in-law.

You're a woman who wanted ten fingers and ten toes, and got something more. You're a wonder
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The picture above is a charcoal drawing that I made not too long after David was born - I would never have guessed that I would become a mother to a child with special needs, a child with Autism...a child that has become my hero and the best thing to ever happen to my life. 
Some people get to meet their heroes...but some of us have given birth to ours. 
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Working Together and Latching On

8/1/2013

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This is a bit off from my normal blogs for Gracie's Gowns, but I wanted to share an exciting event that is taking place this weekend near us.

The event is called The Big Latch On - and with next week being World Breastfeeding Week, couldn't be a more appropriate time to host such an event. The event in our area is located in Culpeper, Virginia at Yowell Meadow Park.
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As a mother to three children - the importance of breastfeeding is huge, especially when David and Madeline were born, not only did it become important for my own health and wellness, but also to help save our family money on formula costs. I was never able to nurse Aubrey, the NICU at the hospital we delivered at wasn't very helpful and really wasn't on board with breastfeeding, so when we brought her home and I tried to nurse, it just wasn't happening and became very frustrating for us both. It also turned out that she had a milk allergy. When I wasn't able to continue nursing David because he wasn't gaining any weight, I searched and searched for someone that would be able to donate milk, because I knew the benefits for his own health...unfortunately, I wasn't able to find anyone...and the same with Madeline when I had to wean her from nursing because of the surgery I was going to have on my neck.

It was depressing for me to stop nursing Madeline because she was so great - and healthy and the bonding time was amazing! I loved every second, but I was also working a job that wasn't near as supportive in allowing me time to pump between transports or even the right environment. I lucked out in comparison to my fellow co-workers that were also nursing mothers, but it was still rough.

Anyway - one day while surfing Facebook I came across Pink Cocoon and was just blown away. Cindy is an amazing woman and actually helped Culpeper Regional Hospital become the first Baby Friendly Hospital in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I was working at the hospital when the announcement was made they received the accreditation, it was amazing! Cindy has gone above and beyond in the region since then holding meetings, breastfeeding consultations, Douala services, childbirth classes and so much more...all while working in the birthing center at Culpeper Regional Hospital. And this weekend she is organizing The Big Latch On event.
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So where does Gracie's Gowns fit into the picture? Well most know that I have sewn for several years now, and before the last 18 months of sewing our precious hospital gowns I sewed everything from quilts to burp cloths, nap mats to i-spy bags and several reusable items - reusable snack and sandwich bags, organic hot/cold packs, cloth diapers, un-paper towels and reusable nursing pads. This past weekend I was going through my containers of items I have sewn for sale at craft shows, and found a couple nursing covers and several sets of reusable nursing pads. I gathered the items and messaged Cindy on Facebook offering them to her for The Big Latch On this weekend to use a raffle items/goodie bags, whatever she'd like to use them for.

The other amazing part is Cindy also asked for a sample of our Newborn gowns for use at Culpeper Regional Hospital in the birthing center. We've already donated some 2-4 size gowns to the hospital for use in their Step-Down unit. They are reused by the hospital because they don't have that many children admitted, and when they do they don't stay very long. We will also be making them some 6-10 size gowns as well this year.

Here is the package we sent over to Cindy for The Big Latch On event this Saturday - anyone that is in or around the area is welcome to attend. Groups of breastfeeding women coming together at registered locations around the world to all latch on their child at a set time. All the breastfeeding women and children are latched on for one minute at the set time and are counted by the witnesses. The numbers are added up and we see if we can beat previous Big Latch On records or maybe even the world record! 
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Good luck to all participating in The Big Latch On event this weekend and enjoy nursing your babies together! Hope those that win the items we donated like them!
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Selvage, Hope and Glee

8/1/2013

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I am usually not one to look at the selvages on fabrics, especially when cutting gowns.

But this fabric in particular caught my eye because it was different, I wasn't sure really what it was suppose to be, so I looked at the selvage and first saw the "Quilt of Dreams" and thought that was unique in itself, read a little farther down the selvage and saw that the fabric was made for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

That was pretty amazing - how neat is it to make a gown for a child battling illness and fighting for their life with fabric that a portion of the sales were given to one of the most spectacular children's hospitals in the United States and the world?!



I have seen fabric before that benefits ConKerr Cancer, Autism Speaks and a couple other big organizations I can't think of the names right now, but it is always so exciting to pick up fabrics to use for special projects, such as our hospital gowns, and know that another group is benefiting from the proceeds to help THOUSANDS of children.

Well from the seamstress side of it - especially making these hospital gowns for each child, it was humbling...it was rewarding in some ways, but even more so it made this particular gown so much more meaningful and special.

The fabric itself is film strips, I wasn't sure that this fabric would ever work for a hospital gown, but then I received a gown requests for a teen girl who loves the T.V. Show "Glee." There was now potential for this fabric to be used for a gown.

When I read more into the gown request, it was like all the pieces of a puzzle were being put together - this fabric was meant for this request...it was meant for Hope

Hope is 16 years old and has been diagnosed with Severe Aplastic Anemia and also had a bone marrow transplant in 2012. She was born with Spina Bifida and hydrocephalus. She has inspired hope in her family and those that know her. 

Now it was time to Gleek up the gown for Hope - and this is what we did to create Hope a gown that is just as special as she is.

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