Baby Aiden

Hey all, I hesitated posting this, but baby Aiden (who I requested prayers for in a previous blog) had his heart surgery on the 23rd and didn't make it through. His parents need the prayers now, and I ask that you send them a few. You can read details at his blog here.

I don't understand why these things happen. It's so so sad. I asked Kaia to meet up with little Aiden and show him around.

frog

I love him.

my new career?

So, most of you know I got laid-off, along will 20-30 other designers at my company. They laid-off every designer in the whole company. Not really sure of the "strategy" there but...I was pretty burnt out. After 3 design jobs, in advertising, in-house and publishing, I think I'm done. I feel I reached my max pay at my last job, and all jobs (all one of them in cleveland) would be a paycut. In order to NOT have to go back to a stressful and time-consuming job, I've landed in the lap of a great opportunity. My fabulous sister-in-law got talking with a lady who owns Planet Green in Rocky River about the piece of art I made from scrap fabrics from Kaia's nursery. Turns out, this lady is a shining hope in my life right now. She asked Kim to have me call her, and I did. She gave me a part time position in her store and wants to sell my fabric art from there. She makes it sound like I can really do this as a living. The day after I got laid-off, I was listening to "this american life" (holla!!!! who listens? it's great) and the episode was about Plan A. The gist was that most of us are working at jobs that are plan b, c, d, e, etc. But sometimes those jobs can get you back to Plan A.

I never was a huge career oriented individual. I felt pressured to go to college from friends and family. I went. I graduated. I now owe (still) $27,000 to that school and am super done with my graduate profession. Now edebted to them until I'm 52....I've decided to take my lay-off as a means to get back to plan a...with the help of this new gig. This week, I rushed to get 6 pieces together in order to have a base (and an idea of how to go about this) of artwork to sell. It's all made from re-purposed fabrics, because, let's face it....buying new fabrics for this would not be so green to sell at Planet Green. And, I'm a recycler! So, it's all non-toxic, voc free and completely green art. It's all for sale (hopefully) next week at planet green, but I will be eventually creating a web-site to sell it too. If you want a piece, let me know! I can do anything in any colors and any animals, scenery, etc. Here's what I did this week, the sizes range from 8x10 to 16x20. I have a couple of humungo canvases in the basement I can create and also can do pretty much any size anyone would want. Some of them look spotty and the colors look off from the originals, but i swear it's the camera and not the art. I used repurposed buttons from the shirts I bought at the thrift store, so no new plastic there. And the chording on some of them is metallic and also recycled from christmas present wrapping and such from the past 10 or so years.

please share!
Here's the one I made for Kaia. I have to name the company after her somehow. Open to suggestions! Kaia's Kandles maybe? lemme know. this one is NEVER for sale. ;)


Here are the rest:
This one is pretty big.

good news and continued prayers

Since finding out that someone posted Kaia's story and prayer requests on babycenter.com's forum for babies with heart defects, I've been an avid reader/prayer for other heart babies on there that are still struggling.

A lovely lady, Paula, from there was following Kaia's story after she found out her baby girl has HLHS (hypoplastic left heart). Baby Hope was born September 14th with kidneys deemed "too underdeveloped for surgery" at the hospital she was born in. Instead of "taking her home to die", mom and dad took her to the Cleveland Clinic for a second opinion, where a God-sent surgeon agreed to give Hope the Norwood surgery, the same surgery Kaia had. In under two weeks post-op, baby Hope is now in the step-down unit, getting ready to go home with her family. Please keep baby Hope in your prayers. She still will need the other two surgeries HLHS kids need to get them to where they need to be to function as well as possible. She has seen many miracles and, no doubt, will be seeing many more. She's been close to my heart and constantly in my prayers. Her story is here.

Another baby needs many many prayers, as well. His name is Aiden and was born to two very loving and extremely devoted parents, Levi and Tracy. Aiden was born on October 9th and has multiple heart defects including unbalanced AVSD with pulmonary atresia and heterotaxy syndrome). I read his story and am all too familiar with the words and feelings and raw emotion of watching your child, wondering if you will ever be able to take them home. Giving it to God's hands and trusting Him to help when all medical options seem to be failing. Baby Aiden will need a full heart transplant, and it looks like they may have found a hospital willing to do it. Please keep baby Aiden, mom and dad in your thoughts and prayers. You can see his sweet face and follow his story here.

there are so many kids out there with these defects, and it's something I never thought nor heard about until it happened to us. These children are truly amazing and special and have shown strength in unfathomable ways. And after being a parent to a heart baby, I know the kind of strength it takes for the moms and dads to get through it as well. They need lifted as well.
thanks for helping!