Brooks' Birthday Pictures

D & I had planned a great day to remember our little guy. The 'plan' was to go hiking and re-plant a weeping cherry tree that was planted in his honor that didn't make it earlier this summer. The weather was yucky so both of those ideas were a no go. Instead we spent the day running errands. Running errands was NOT how I wanted to celebrate Brooks' 1st birthday. So to say the least, the day was BLAH. By the time I realized how annoyed I was on how we were celebrating, it was too late in the day to do anything about it and I got very down in the dumps. Not to mention, my husband and I were not getting along like we usually do. I'm sure it was because of how sad we were feeling and missing our son like crazy. The weather probably played a role and the fact that our day of family fun was out the window.

However, as evening came the day did get better. Denny and I began to treat one another like we loved each other:) We picked up a 'Happy Birthday' balloon and went to visit his grave. It was so weird having my babies pictures taken in this way.


My parents, grandparents, Denny's parents and my friend Jennifer (from CA) all came to be with us. We ordered pizzas and had ice cream cake in Brooks' honor. Pizza is my favorite and mint chocolate chip ice cream cake is Daddy's favorite, so we're sure Brooks would have loved both:)

After dinner us and all our family members went outside in the near darkness. We sang Happy Birthday to our son and all released a balloon in his honor. It was very special.

I was still feeling bummed about not re-planting the cherry tree, that I planted this hydrangea my mom bought as a birthday gift to Brooks. And by that time it was completely dark! But, I was desperate to do something more to honor and remember him. It turned out beautifully!

This past week I did get something big accomplished that I've been wanting to do for awhile. We made a permanent arrangement in our bedroom to honor Brooks. I wanted to have an area in our home that was just his. It's hanging on the wall in our room directly across from the doorway so you can see it anytime someone comes up the stairs-it's perfect. The first part is a blown up picture on canvas of his name in the sand. A great family in New Zealand does this as a ministry to families who have lost children. You can find them at www.namesinthesand.blogspot.com I just saved the picture once they posted it on their blog and a good friend, Matt had it put on a canvas.
The second part, which is what took so long, was having his handprints and footprints matted and inserted into a frame with our favorite picture.
The third part is a shadow box of a poem we received at a support group outing where families were gathering to remember their babies who had passed. It's a great poem about a butterfly. It talks about how beautiful butterflies are and when they are flying in front of you how great it is. Then when the butterfly flies away, you wish it were still here. But even though it's gone, you feel lucky to have seen it. Which pretty much sums up the way I feel about Brooks.
Here's a couple different views of everything together. I think it turned out so good. Last year when I was framing pictures of Brooks in our home, I began to think that I'd probably want to change some of them out if God ever let us keep a baby. And I did not want to feel guilty about switching out pictures, so I had the idea of making the permanent place in our bedroom. Love it!