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Our son Maxton was diagnosed with left-sided congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) at his 19 week ultrasound. Maxton was born on 3/3/09 at Vanderbilt University. He fought hard for 18 days but earned his wings on 3/21/09. Maxton was an inspiration to many during his brief time on earth and has forever changed our lives. If your child is diagnosed with CDH, please feel free to contact us. Maxton may no longer live here on earth, but he will live forever in our hearts...

To start at the beginning of our story click here and scroll all the way to the bottom.

Friday, December 18, 2009

25 days of Giveaways! :-)

Tomorrow- Dec. 19th- is my turn to give away my item to those who have lost a baby (or more...). I am going to post my giveaway today and I will announce a winner tomorrow night. For those of you who are new to my blog, welcome. I am so sad that we have met under such heartbreaking circumstances, but I look forward to visiting your blogs and reading about your angels.

I reinvented myself after Maxton, and one of the things I found was that I love to be crafty. This was really something I have always known, but not something I have neccessarily always done. Anyways, after Maxton passed, I began painting...

So, I would love to paint a canvas in memory of your little one. By no means am I a great artist, but i can promise that I will put a piece of my heart into your work. I cannot show you what I will be sending because I like to read through the persons blog and create something especially in honor of their angel, but if you would like to see some samples, please go here

Some of you may already have a painting... if this is the case, I have something special in mind, so please still enter!!! :-)

AND... in honor of Christmas and my sweet son, I would like to give away 3 prizes..... so, there will be three lucky winners.

To enter, please leave me a comment and tell me what makes you think of your angel... I will go first!

turquoise makes me think of Maxton. Turquoise is the color of the CDH awareness ribbon. Maxton was born with CDH- congenital diaphragmatic hernia. I LOVE all things turquoise now... Also, butterflies make me think of Maxton... specifically, turquoise butterflies.

Now it's your turn! :-)

22 comments:

Bree said...

I feel so fortunate to already have one of your awesome paintings. I always think of you and Maxton when I see it. You already know that I love butterflies too. Whenever I see them, I say hi to Ella.
I hope you are well Ashley. Happy Holidays!

Franchesca said...

Oh, wow. It's awesome that a color makes you think of your angel Maxton. Fuchsia makes me think of my Jenna. I miss her so much. I would have decorated her nursery in avocado green, fuchsia and violet. Small birds and doves also make me think of her. Anyway, I really hope I win this one! I am a painter too and haven't done so since she died, really. I am going to check out some of your samples now :)

Candice and Rob Beal said...

I'll tell you what makes me think of my baby.....and it's everything! Anything I do I think of Jackson, every where I go, I think of Jackson, anytime I sleep I dream of Jackson, everytime I see parents with their little joys, i think of Jackson, all the holidays, i think of Jackson, and most of all, when i look into my Robs eyes :( Rob and Jackson had the same eye shape and color, and when Jackson and I had our long looks into each others eyes I saw Rob, and I knew the day I lost him I would get to look at those eyes everyday, and yes it brings pain, but it brings joy too...but sometimes if i look into Robs eyes long enough i'll bust out in tears, as i am right now....I would love to win, but really that was all just from my heart and i'm glad you asked the question......love you

Anonymous said...

I am so sorry for your loss of Maxton. *hugs*

Your paintings are beautiful. These days it doesn't take much to remind me of my Jonathan. Winnie the Pooh as we were going to decorate his nursery in a Winnie the Pooh theme. Baby blue reminds me as well as angels.

Susan said...

Hi Ashley. What a great idea. Just about everything makes me think about Gracie, but I have found that there are a few things that have more effect than others. Lone breaks of sunny spots in grey dismal skies make me thinks of her, and one of the students that I work with every week also makes me think of her. Gracie looked JUST like this little girl when she was born; this little girl has Down Syndrome, and it is now strongly suspected that Gracie had either T18 or T21. "Allie" and I have always had a great connection, and some days it give me a little comfort to think that perhaps there has always been more meaning behind it than I could ever realize.

Mrs. A said...

This is an amazing giveaway, so thoughtful and generous of you!
Several things make me think of my girls; butterflies, pink roses - especially those on my rose bushes outside the nursery window and pink. I have always been a pink girl and when we found out we were having two girls I went pink crazy and now when I where pink it makes me think of Adison and Lillian...almost like they are right there with me!

jamie said...

You are very very talented! I am sorry for your loss of Maxton - I plan to read your story today.

Everytime I see something junglish (not a real word huh?). Vincent's nursery was supposed to be in the F.isher P.rice P.recious P.lanets theme. Little monkeys and giraffes on that green background do it to me everytime.

Also yellow roses. My work gave me a very generous gift card to a nursery after Vincent died. We got many flowers to plant in his memory garden - especially blue forget me nots and a yellow rose bush.

You are very generous to offer three paintings- I would LOVE to be a lucky winner in this !

Lareina said...

I'm very new to being a babyloss mama and so don't have a lot of things specifically that make me think of him (most everything does) but one night when I was driving into town and crying my eyes out for missing him, I looked up in the sky and saw a shooting star right in front of me. I think that was him sending his mommy a message and I know every shooting star I see from now on, I'll think of him.

Ter said...

Hi I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. Your son is so precious!

I lost my daughter in 2005, and her daddy in 2008. When I was pregnant we started calling the baby "babybear" (didn't know her gender til after she was born) because her daddy's nickname is "Bear". So, not surprisingly, bears remind me of them.

I will take a peek through your blog today and get to know you and your angel a little bit.

Jill said...

I love your paintings! They are beautiful. There are many things that make me think of my babies, but butterflies especially make me think of them. Acorns is another symbol since we planted an oak tree in their memory. Their oak tree grew little tiny acorns this fall and they were adorable.

JamieW said...

Your paintings are so beautiful. Stars remind me of Oliver. My older son said the word for the first time when he came to visit me in labor in the hospital. He hasn't stopped saying it.

Lindsay said...

There were butterfles all around at Zoe's funeral. It was almost winter and it was a rare thing.
I think of Zoe when I see an out of season butterfly.
I think this is a wonderful giveaway and I would really love one of your paintings.
I am so very sorry that you lost your sweet Max.
Thank you for hosting this giveaway and giving us a chance to get to know you and your sweet boy..
with love,
Lindsay

Katy Larsen said...

This is the first time I have come across your blog. I am so sorry for the loss of your precious son Maxton. He is beautiful. It's strange, I too have discovered my crafty side since losing Hannah. One thing that always reminds me of her for some reason is a ladybug. On the one month anniversary of her birth/death, I bought 3 pink balloons to release for her. When I was bringing them in the house a ladybug landed on one and came inside with me. Then a few weeks later I went to visit my husband at work and one landed on my shoulder. I like to think she sent them to me. :) God bless you. I hope you have a Merry Christmas.

Love,
Katy
hannahshonor.blogspot.com

Jus and Kat said...

Your paintings are beautiful and far more artistic than I could ever hope to be! Things that make me think about Dylan? Well, to echo many others, just about everything! Some specific things are a beautifully clear blue sky, rainbows, the beach, etc. We have his pictures hanging all throughout our house, so there's almost never a moment that we're not thinking of him. But the one that is most "left-field" would be pickles because we use to call him "Dill" all the time!!! :) Thank you for this giveaway!

Kat

Christmas with Kasey said...

r paintings are beautiful, I have the one did you for Kasey in his room, I guess I should call it the babies room... all our babies will be in there! I think of Kasey ALL THE TIME! There isn't one specific thing that makes me think of him most everything does. Hope you are doing well Ashley!

Holly said...

Stars make me think of Carleigh. I call her My Shining Star. Tina even made me a necklace with this theme and I love it.

Allison (Ali) said...

it's kind of cliche but it's angels. I have always been obsesed with angels all my life, now its telling angels for my angel baby.

lost--for--words said...

I love your paintings! It is very kind of you to be offering one today :) I know it will make someone's day a bit brighter.
There are so many things that make me think of my daughter. I wear a silver necklace that has a little footprint pendant that was given to me shortly after Freja died. My two year old jumps up on my lap several times a day and holds/touches/snuggles 'Freja's feet,' which is what she refers to the pendant as.
Really, there are so many things that I see and do every day that remind me of her. She is constantly in my thoughts.

April said...

So many things remind me of Morgan and Blumpy...
Elephants remind me of Morgan because I thought they were so cute when I was pregnant with her. I bought her every elephant toy and outfit I could find. Butterflies landed on her casket, which was covered in white daisies, during her funeral. So butterflies, elephants, and daisies remind me of her.
With Blumpy it's a little harder to pick specific things, because he passed so quickly through my life. When we came back from the hospital after we were told Blumpy had died, we stood outside looking at the sky. We saw shapes in the dark sky of airplanes and dragons and hearts. We think he was drawing to us in the clouds. So now we always look up when we're sad, because we know we'll see something from him.

Christy said...

Your blog, your son, your post-all so beautiful. I've never come across you before and I want you to know how sorry I am taht your Maxton isn't here with us. I lost twins at 24 weeks in April. I'm the same as a lot of these ladies-there isn't much that doesn't remind me of the twins, but if there was one thing that especially made me think of them, it was these 2 robins that kept stopping in my hard all spring and summer. Thank you so much for this giveaway!

Nicole said...

The things that remind me of my son...His twin sister, every aching moment of the day. The four leaf clover, green plaid, green carnations...Me, like so many of these other wonderful ladies, are reminded by everything we see.

Beth said...

Hey Ash--
Please don't enter me into this drawing as I have one of your lovely paintings for Syliva. It graces our dining room right now. We had to move it from our living room due to the Christmas tree needing a spot. Anyhow, like these other moms, not much doesn't make me think of Sylvi. I think about her all day every day. Josh Groban music makes me think of her because we used the song "To Where You are" at her funeral. Anything little girl-ish also makes me think of her as well as the color pink. Flowers, birds and butterflies also make me think of her. Hope you are well, Ashley!
Love,
Beth