2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 100,000 times in 2010. If it were an exhibit at The Louvre Museum, it would take 4 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 4 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 120 posts. There were 2 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 116kb.

The busiest day of the year was October 7th with 495 views. The most popular post that day was The Birth of My Stillborn Baby-Part 10.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were justacloudaway.com, search.aol.com, en.wordpress.com, blogcatalog.com, and search.conduit.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for stillborn babies, stillborn, helleborus, stillborn baby, and angels.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

The Birth of My Stillborn Baby-Part 10 July 2008
42 comments

2

Angel Gifts Comfort Grieving Parents of Baby Loss March 2008
10 comments

3

Writing Poems for a Friend’s Baby that has Died March 2008
9 comments

4

Planting Helleborus in Gardens Remembering Babies February 2008
1 comment

5

Music, Memories & The Death of a Baby March 2008
15 comments

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Angelversary Pregnancy Loss Ribbon Garden Flags

For those who have lost a baby or pregnancy, our month to remember the dreams we had  is October. We also share this month with those who have been touched by Breast Cancer. Angelversary Pregnancy Loss Ribbon Garden Flags create awareness of  those suffering “silent grief”.

An angelversary is the death date of a much wanted baby. Miscarriage, molar pregnancies, cord accidents, incompetent cervix , stillbirths, and SIDS are tragic ways our children become angels.

Bereaved families of pregnancy and infant loss may not have a public angelversary get together, but they do acknowledge the day their world changed forever.

The angelversary garden flags can also be hung like a banner by inserting a hollow PVC pipe or dowel. If you know the gender of your baby, tie a bow of the appropriate color and adorn with remembrance keepsakes. If placed outdoors, use rust proof keepsakes.

If you do not know the gender of your angel, green or yellow ribbon can be used.

Your garden flags can also be placed into your memory gardens.

 Angelversary Pregnancy Loss Ribbon Garden Flags Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. A $20.00 check can be sent to:

Just a Cloud Away, Inc. Po Box 327, Julian, NC 27283,

The costs include shipping, handling and taxes. If you live out of the Continental United States, an additional fee may apply. If this is a sympathy gift, please include the mailing address of bereaved family.

PVC pipe and garden stands can be purchased at your local hardware or garden shops for under 12 dollars.

 Happy 6th Angelversary Baby Tanner-September 28, 2003

Peace Love and Hugs from Above

Diana 

www.justacloudaway.com

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Creating a Remembrance Gift for Grieving Parents

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Gifts Remembering Deceased Angels

When my baby Tanner passed September 28, 2003, sympathy flowers were delivered almost every day for a month. Scruggs Florist in Greensboro, North Carolina delivered the most because they were located less than a mile away from our house. 5 1/2 years later I am helping the florist create an appropriate sympathy basket for bereaved parents of baby and pregnancy loss.

The grief from pregnancy and infant loss is an overwheming sadness where parents often suffer in silence. If this type of loss hasn’t happen to you, it is difficult to understand. Acknowledgment of a much wanted baby is one step towards supporting bereaved parents.

Scruggs Florist now carries a sympathy basket for the death of a baby and for angelversaries. The sympathy gift includes:

1 Indoor Plant
1 Azalea Plant
1 Basket
1 Just a Cloud Away Remembrance Kit
1 Plant Care Sheet
1 Zodiac Sheet
1 Memory Garden Tip Sheet
1 Scrapbook Tip Sheet
1 Pamphlet-Ways to Comfort Bereaved Parents
1 Pamphlet-What not to say to Bereaved Parents

1 out of 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage and 26,000 stillbirths occur every year in the United States. If you know of a bereaved couple who has suffered the loss of their angel, you may want to think about sending a sympathy gift for the angelversary or death date. There are not too many loving parents that ignore this special and tragic date.

There are many supportive gifts included in the Scruggs Florist sympathy basket for grieving parents. There are also ideas for those supporting and comforting them.

Remembering all baby angels….

Peace Love and Hugs from Above

Diana http://www.justacloudaway.com

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Scrapbook Store Says No to Baby Loss Product

A friend of mine called a local scrapbook store asking to carry Just a Cloud Away Remembrance Kits on consignment, meaning, I would leave the kits in the store and only be paid when they were sold. He said no, I don’t want anything depressing in my store. Shit no, did he just say what I think he just said. I can tell you this, he is incredibly lucky that I was not the one making the call. So I will ponder what could have prompted such a dumb ass remark.

This scrapbook store owner:

• must not carry memorial scrapbook products of any kind, they are just too sad
• has not experienced baby loss himself because of his gender
• has had no family member or friend experience miscarriage, stillbirth or any pregnancy loss (one out of four pregnancies ends in miscarriage and it is possible no one shared their loss with him because of his warm nature)
• does not believe in Heaven and reuniting with our loved ones passed
• no sense of hope or faith
• is unaware of National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month, with October 15th the actual day
• probably feels sending flowers as a sympathy gift is safe and avoids the issue and does not condone expressing ones grief and memorializing a life is of any importance

So I may have taken his response somewhat personal and he may have a very good reason for not wanting to carry remembrance kits for babies.

2 local scrapbook stores kindly carrying Just a Cloud Away Remembrance Kits for pregnancy and infant loss are:

• The Scrapbook Shop
• Got Memories

I cannot take these responses to heart, which is a difficult task for me. I take great offense to individuals or companies who have an opportunity to carry a product specifically for baby loss, who currently have none available for bereaved families.

We all have unique passions after our angels pass and this is one of mine. Sometimes I feel that it is us against them. It is not healthy and I would love for our grief not to be silent anymore.

 

Peace Love and Hugs from Above  www.justacloudaway.com

Diana

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Angel Keepsakes for Angelversaries

This angel craft can be given as a sympathy gift on the deceased baby’s angelversary or death date. No parent will ever forget the day their child left this earth. This keepsake gift can be handcrafted by you because of it’s simplicity. Take the time to remember a child forever loved and missed with the bereaved parents on this day.

Materials you will need:

• A small glass plate
• hot glue gun
• magic marker
• tweezers
• elmers glue
• wax paper
• dried & pressed flowers & foliage
• pearl necklace or other
• decoupage
• gemstones
• engraving tool (optional)

Choose words for your plate and use marker and write. My handwriting is terrible but it is part of me, a mother of angels.

Take your engraving tool and gently trace over the letters then wipe off marker. This tool is inexpensive and can be foundat local craft stores. If you are not going to purchase this tool, simply take glue and go over the letters and sprinkle with glitter.

Now place pressed flowersand foliage around the plate the way you would like it to look. Flowers can be taken from your gardens, place between wax paper and put several books on top to flatten overnight. i have bought silicon gel to remove the water from the flowers, completing drying them. You can also do this isn a warm oven. Take the glue and adhere flowers with a small paint brush. Tweeters are very helpful to move your flowers.

Apply your angels gemstone to the center of the flowers and let dry for an hour before applying the decoupage substance. This will dry clear, so don’t worry that it is looking foggy.

Decoupage will form a protective seal for easy cleaning of your delicate flower blooms.

I chose hydrangea flowers, foliage from Russian Sage and blue gemstones for my son Tanner’s angel keepsake plate.

I have inherited many of my grandmother’s jewlery and used my hot glue gun to attach a broken strand of her pearls to the backside to hang Tanner’s plate.

These angelversary keepsakes can be hung from windows, on a wall or an angels shadowbox.

A lamp’s finial can even be the location for a deceased child’s keepsake plate.

Remember a friend’s baby on their angelversary, because parents do.

Happy Angelversary Sweet Babies

Peace Love and Hugs from Above

Diana  www.justacloudaway.com

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Stillborn 1st Birthday and Mothers Day

Last week was mothers day and my 4th without my stillborn son, Tanner. Ave Maria was sung in church and my tears came freely because it was sung at his memorial service too. The day was rainy but beautiful as well. All of his gardens were exploding with rose blossoms to brighten my mothers day.

For Tanner’s first birthday or angelversary, we received many gifts in his honor. My girlfriends living out of state gave me a gift certificate to a plant nursery to purchase what I thought was appropriate for him. We also received money for his birthday to purchase plants. I choose 3 “Little Gem” Magnolia trees, pale pink “Knock Out” roses and “Sissinghurst” verbena groundcover or perennials.

We live in the country with a great deal of land to erect several memory gardens for Tanner. The “Little Gem” magnolia trees were chosen because he is a little gem to us, the roses and verbena were selected because they are drought toloerate, bloom from May until frost and are very easy to grow.

The very first memory garden my husband and I created in Tanner’s honor has matured quite a bit. The roses are soft apricot in color and make for beautiful cutting roses. This variety is called “Pretty Lady”.

Mothers Day seems to be the perfect time to visit his garden to pull some weeds, reflection and cut beautiful roses to bring indoors from his special place.

I will plant more in the fall to fill in the spots where last years drought did a number on the plants.

It is never too late to give a gift in honor of a baby that has died. Angelversaries are usually grieved in silence and receiving a keepsake, gift certificate or memorial plant could help a bereaved parent on a difficult day.

To all the Mothers of Angels……………

Peace Love and Hugs from Above  www.justacloudaway.com

Diana

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Memorial Gardens Honoring Names

I loved him before he was conceived and his name is Tanner. My beautiful son was born still and 2 days before we would know of this horrific news, I decided to nickname him Tanner Nanner. His name was determined the day we found out he would wear blue and his name stands at the entrance of his Memory Garden.

Hearing Tanner’s name, writing Tanner’s name and seeing Tanner’s name is important for me to move forward on my healing journey, with him in my heart.

My husband constructed a name plaque for Tanner’s Memory Garden. It is a simple memorial craft you and your spouse can create for your sweet angel baby. Materials needed:

• Piece of pressure treated wood, 2x4x whatever length you need
• A router tool
• Copper pipe and fittings (connectors)
• Strong adhesive, I think he used gorilla glue
• A hacksaw
• Table saw
• Vice grip
• Letter template to trace onto the wood

This project took a few hours because my husband needed the sign for Tanner’s name to be just perfect. He traced the letters onto the pressure treated wood and placed it into the vice to hold it still while he used the router tool to cut the letters. He then cut the access wood with a table saw. With the router tool he made a grove around the perimeter of the wood for the copper pipe to rest nicely. With a hacksaw the copper pipe was cut and fitted around the wood and connected by 90 degree elbows. Gorilla glue was used to permanently bond the pipe. We gently hammered Tanner’s name plaque into the ground and after a few months to dry (pressure treated wood needs to dry for months before you can stain or paint it) we will paint the letters. At the base of his name plaque are beautiful helleborus plants.  A name plaque can even be created for a memory garden at church.

This could be an activity for a grieving father. My husband didn’t talk much and just wanted to fix things with his hands. The mortared stone benches in Tanner’s garden, the name plaque, and the shadowbox were all his way of comforting me and also helping himself on his healing journey.

Naming a deceased baby loved before conception helps family and friends by enabling them to purchase mementos when they feel helpless. My brother and sister-in-law bought us a wind chime for Tanner’s 1st angelversary with his name and heartfelt words to blow in the wind, making angel-like music for our ears.

Several girlfriends and women I have met through support groups have named their miscarried and stillborn babies. There are also bereaved families that chose not to give their children names. It is a personal decision.

Another way to add your child’s name to their memory garden is on an engraved memorial brick.

The names chosen for my children who have died are just as important as my living child for the mere fact of my belief and faith in heaven and the opportunity to hold my children again someday.

“While we were dreaming of your baby ways

God was planning your heavenly days”

Peace Love and Hugs from Above  www.justacloudaway.com

Diana

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Angel Gifts Comfort Grieving Parents of Baby Loss

Sympathy gifts given to comfort bereaved parents after the death of a baby usually have images of  sweet angel babies’. 

When our first son Tanner was stillborn I was obsessed with Heaven and if I’d be able to hold him again. Years later I am wondering about Angels, how they came about and why so many baby angel gifts are available. After Tanner died many sympathy gifts and cards had images of baby angels on them. I loved the pictures because they offered a beautiful visual of what my baby may look like.

Angel decorative plates, angel statues and figurines, angel frames, angel jewelry, angel candles, books and music about baby angels, stuffed angel animals, angel ornaments, outdoor angel monuments, angelversary garden flags (found at http://greensborogardens.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/angelversary-garden-flags-for-pregnancy-loss/), 

and angel pictures and paintings. The theme of our pregnancy and infant losses are usually that of a baby angel and what society chooses for us. Maybe it’s because the angel images are so sweet and innocent, like our Heavenly children. It was comforting to see these small children with wings, living in a place too glorious for words.

I have been very curious about the evolution of angels and why baby angels are appropriate gifts for pregnancy and infant loss.

The word “Angel” comes from the Greek word “Angelos”, meaning messenger. So an angel is a “being” sent by a Divine Individual carrying a message. Christianity, Judaism and Islam all have references to Angels, where their significant function is directly related to the Divine. The word “Angel” does not describe physical features or traits, only their intended function.

The earliest documentation of the existence of angels were in the book of Genesis. Adam and Eve were escorted from the Garden of Eden by angels. However, these angels called Cherubim were celestial animals with wings having human faces.

Looking through art history books, an early vision of a baby angel was created in the 15Th century. An Early Italian Renaissance fountain piece of a young angel holding a dolphin was sculpted by Verrocchio. Maybe the change in the physical form of angels were influenced by this poetic era, newly embracing the physical world. It could have been a combination of political, social and religious changes that prompted artists to create such picturesque angelic images.

We do know that the word angel is a “being” who is sending a message and a “being” directly in contact with our Divine. I would like to think that my Divine God allowed our stillborn son Tanner to send many messages to us. Our angels do give us signs and these messages are never taken for granted or thought of as coincidences. Open your hearts wide and receive your sweet angel messages.

Peace Love and Hugs from Above  www.justacloudaway.com

Diana

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Scrapbooking and Memorializing Infant and Pregnancy Loss

Our children who have died as a result of miscarriage, stillbirth, SIDS and other tragic pregnancy losses are still a part of our family unit. There are so many beautiful ways to keep their memories close to our hearts through the art of many crafts. Remember your angels by creating something just for them. 

Poems, sky journals, zodiac signs, music, the season, nature, and other elements can help you tell and preserve your child’s story. Share your feelings as a family and participate in the creation of this special and unique keepsake forever treasured, honoring your baby.

 Please visit  Additional Memorial Ideas with images.

 Suggested Scrapbooking Supplies to Start Your Babies’ Memorial: 

• Scrapbooking adhesive (glue, dots, tabs)
• Scissors or razor blade and surface to cut on
• Colored Cardstock (the colors of your child’s essence)
• Pen to journal with (scrapbook safe- will last longer)

 Other Embellishments could include: 

• Glitter
• Gemstones
• Ribbons

• Decorative Cording
• Brads, Eyelets, Flower Pins
• Yarn
• Buttons

• Patterned Papers
• Colored Ink

 Before Starting your Child’s Keepsake, Gather Everything in One Place: 

• Mementoes
• Shower Invitations
• Pictures or Fingerprints of Other Family Members to include
• Piece of Baby Blanket
• Lyrics to a Special Song
• Letters to Your Baby
• Dried Funeral Flowers
• All Relevant Dates
• Positive Pregnancy Test (or picture of)
• Sonogram Pictures
• Lock of Hair or Sachet of Ashes
• Journal Entries
• Note the Sounds and Fragrance Reminding You of Them
• Wedding Photographs
• Religious Keepsakes
• Sympathy or Congratulation Gifts or Cards

 After looking through craft, card or scrapbooking magazines, choose a design that may help organize your son or daughter’s story. You are welcome to copy a design on this site too.  Will the memorial have straight lines or will you tear the paper, creating soft edges? Will it have a combination pictures and words? Can other children help? Will your spouse contribute? Do you have animals to include?  

Take some time to cry and reflect on your baby. This activity cannot be completed in a day or not recommended. I feel very connected to Tanner after a good cry because his spirit seems to be inside of me, just the very place his life began . I hope you will find an ounce of peace creating your sweet babies’ scrapbooking memorial.

Peace Love and Hugs from Above  www.justacloudaway.com

Diana

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