Saying Goodbye........

Memories of your pregnancy, birth and time with your child are precious. Before saying good bye you may want to:

• Take photos
• Bathe your child
• Wash them in a special scented soap
• Put a nappy on them and dress them
• Take your child outside
• Have family and friends visit
• Take hand and foot prints, hand and feet castings
• Collect a lock of hair
• Place items of clothing, blankets/wraps that your child wore in a snap lock bag to retain their smell

You can keep hospital bracelets, name cards and other hospital items used for your child and place them within your journal. Just ask the hospital staff to keep them aside for you.


It might help you to create a scrapbook of your memories including items from your pregnancy like pregnancy tests, ultrasound pictures, belly photos and other keepsakes from your pregnancy and birth.

First Day of School

 

 

 

My eldest child started Kindergarten today.

We have planned for this moment, waited for this moment and rejoiced in this memory.

It's such an exciting, emotional, beautiful gift to be able to send my first born child to school.

 

I found this note 'To My Child's First Teacher' and wanted to share for all the parent's who have sent their child to Kindergarten this year.

 

 

My Name is Zachariah Sherif Aziz

 

1st Day of Kindergarten ~ Wednesday 30th January 2013

 

Age I started school ~ 5 years and 7 months old

 

Height ~ 121cm

 

Weight ~ 22.4kg

 

 

 

 

 

Gift Of Hope for Alexandra Charlotte Blue

A Gift Of Hope for Gavin and Kelly

Alexandra Charlotte Blue was born sleeping at 33 weeks on the 9th of April 2006

Sending Gavin, Kelly, and their three sons

Hope, Light, Love and Happiness

Thank you Gavin for all that you give back to the community, because of your own heartache and the loss of your daughter Alexandra. I wish I had known about the wonderful work Heartfelt can provide families when Yasminah was born sleeping and will do what I can to make sure that every family knows about Heartfelt. I am forever grateful for your support for Yasminah's Gift Of Hope and friendship. You and the wonderful team of photographers behind Heartfelt provide the most precious gift of all, providing families who will travel this road and join this club no one asks to join, with photographic memories of their precious child.

For more information on Heartfelt please see their website http://www.heartfelt.org.au/

Custom Made Journals

I have always kept a journal, but never realised how many I actually owned.

I own a lot of them and these are just the ones I found in my studio!

Each one is about a different moment in my life. Dating my now husband, planning our wedding and trying to conceive our first child.


The ones that had the most impact on my life were Yasminah's pregnancy journal and Aisha and Aaliyah's journals through NICU.


Yasminah's journal is still something that I only occasionally open up to read. There is raw emotion, memories and pain sprawled across the pages. The days following her death, were very dark filled with questions, anger, tears, and feelings of loneliness, depression and helplessness. But writing my way through my grief, three things were very clear. The profound love I have for my child, hope for the future and support from those around me.

Writing is often used in grief counselling, particurly refelective writing. Studies show that reflective writing after the loss of a loved one, can positvely impact on reducing emotional abuse and self harm.

Reflective Writing is a practice in which the writer describes a real or imaginal scene, event, interaction, passing thought, memory, or observation in either essay or poetic form, adding a personal reflection on the meaning of the item or incident, thought, feeling, emotion, or situation in his or her life. Many reflective writers keep in mind guiding questions,
such as "What did I notice?" "How has this changed me?" or "What might I have done differently?"

Thus, the focus is on writing that is not merely descriptive. The writer doesn’t just hit the replay button; rather, he or she revisits the scene to note details and emotions, reflect on meaning, examine what went well or revealed a need for additional learning, and relate what transpired to the rest of life

So whilst our journals are pretty to look at, they also have a pratical meaning, they are a Gift Of Hope. A way to help families heal through reflective writing. Most importantly it provides families with a place to record the memories of their precious child.

The first custom made journal I made was sent to a family who just lost their second child, a little boy who lost his life in NICU.

A simple blue and white journal with a single white flower embellishment and three words

Live, Laugh, Love

It was Wednesday the 26th May 2010, exactly 1 year and 2 months after we lost Yasminah.

Life is what you make of it

If I have learnt anything from the loss of Yasminah, it's that life is short and to make the most out of each and every moment.

You can shed tears that she is gone,

or you can smile because she lived.

You can close your eyes and pray that she'll come back,

or you can open your eyes and see all she's left.

Your heart can be empty because you can't see her,

or you can be full of the love you shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,

or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember her only that she is gone,

or you can cherish your memory, and let it live on.

You can cry and close your mind,

be empty and turn your back.

Or you can do what she'd want,

smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

David Harkins

Today my husband and I celebrated our love as this day 12 years ago we first started dating. We have been through many up's and downs together but always make the most of what we life gives us. One thing that really helped me the weeks following Yasminah's death was something my husband said to me.

You choose how you deal with it

This simple statement turned my life around. I was in the deepths of dispair and struggling to function day to day. I consider myself to be a positive person and I always try to look on the bright side of life, even after everything I have experienced but losing Yasminah broke me and my spirit and changed me forever. BUT after that statement I chose I how I dealt with it and chose to make the most of our heartache and cherish her memory and let her live on in the lives of others, hopefully making a difference to their life.

Life is what you make of it, so smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

Happy Anniversary to my friend, lover, husband and father of our children. I will always remember the first time we met and the fun we had getting to know each other before becoming husband and wife. You always make me laugh and give me a reason to smile. I cherish the memories we have made together and cant wait to see what the next 12 years will bring I will love you always and forever x x x x x x