March for Babies 2013

Today was March for Babies!!!

We had BEAUTIFUL weather!  It was 62 and sunny when we left the house at 8:45 am.  This was a far cry from the 26 degrees we experienced last year!

We met grandma and Ashley at grandma's house to pick them up to join us and took a quick few pics before we left of Team Maddie:

We got to Hudson Mills just after 9 o'clock and there were already lots of people there!  We hung out at the VIP tent eating doughnuts and drinking coffee while we waited for the opening ceremony to start.

And grandma ran around with Maddie in the field while she picked dandelions for everyone.

Then dad took a turn...

And she ran off some more steam on the tennis courts...yes, this was all BEFORE the walk, hahaha.

And then the walk was ON!!!

Agan, there were a ton of people there, probably about the same amount as last year.  I'd estimate easily over 1,000.

 Dad rocked the sweatband AND pinwheel on his head for most of the walk.

 I didn't take a picture, but the first checkpoint was sponsored by Target and I have to give them a LOT of credit.  They were giving out awesome food and drinks (fruit snacks, granola bars, cereal bars, animal crackers, etc) as well as pinwheels and balloons for the kids!

The second check point was sponsored by Pet Supplies Plus and they were handing out goodie bags for all the puppies on the walk.  Dozer and Bebe scored some awesome bags complete with frisbees, tennis balls and treats!

And, the third checkpoint was sponsored by ProQuest again this year.  It's all for the kids!  Face painting, bounce houses, cup cakes, pop corn, cups full of gold fish crackers, etc.  It's Dr. Seuss Land!

After this check point the people start to thin out as many stay to play for a long time and then just sporadically finish off the end of the walk.

The fourth checkpoint was sponsored by Golden Limousine and they were giving out cotton candy for the kids and had a big trolly there for kids to go into and check out.  We decided to let M try cotton candy.  She was not a fan.

FINISH!!!  Ryan sprinted ahead with Maddie to "win" the race.  LOL.

After we finished walking I ran into something I thought I wouldn't ever hear at a MOD walk...

"She's SO TINY!!!  How old is she?!?!"  I replied that she was 17 months and the woman responded with "OMG, Spencer you are bigger than she is!!!"  Um, yeah.  We're at a walk for premature infants.  Most of them are going to be small.  What?  LOL.  Apparently Ryan later overheard her husband explain to her than "She was probably born premature."  HAHA!

We raised a total of $633 dollars this year, which was $50 more than last year!  YAY!  So, we got a March for Babies t-shirt and and $25 gift card to Kmart or Macy's (which I donated back to MOD).  Here's what this year's shirt looks like:

And, finally, a very special thank you to all of our donors:

Judy & Michael Barron, Stacy & Eurides Cepeda, Diane Tavana, Donna Simari, Stephanie Quarles, Rachael & Jarod Andersen, Megan Bolte, Bonita Kazmir, Kathryn Vasquez, Susie Hammons, Jean Spink, Cassie Schissell Barber, Nate Ramsayer, Amanda Bearce, Ryan & Stephanie Gubbins, Lindsay Willett, Jacki Billings, Nikole DeLuca, Holli Dreischarf, Kelly Gravatt, Laura Marek, Mary Olivio, Tara Rabiola, Autumn Rivera, Ruth Bass, Jackie Cronin, Jill & Aaron Duffy, Jenny & Louis Malic, Tamara Block, Victoria Schilke, Janice & Kevin Winslow, and an anonymous donor...

...without the wonderful support of each and every one of you, our walk would not have been the success that it was!  So thank you thank you thank you from the very bottom of our hearts! 

Rainboots, Chicken Noodle Soup & MOD Shirts!

After scouring the internet for what seems like ages, I *finally* found a company that makes rainboots small enough for my peanut's feet.  So, I ordered them.  The were stupidly expensive.  Oh well.

But they're super cute.  Maddie is in love with them.  She hasn't stopped playing with them since we put them on her feet.  I wish I would have video taped when we first put them on.  She was walking around 1 millimeter at a time.  It was hilarious.

Next up, chicken noodle soup.  We finally got around to making the chicken noodle soup recipe I posted last week with our leftover chicken and stock.

Verdict is that it was good.  Not awesome, but good.  It could use some onions and maybe some more pepper.  And definitely less noodles.  We put in too many noodles, lol.  We'll definitely try this one again, but dress it up a bit more.  Also, we boiled the veggies for longer because 5 minutes wasn't going to make them soft enough for M.  Instead, we put it in with the stock, brought it all to a boil, boiled for 10 minutes, THEN added the noodles.  It worked out well.

And finally, our March for Babies shirts arrived in the mail and I AM IN LOVE WITH THEM!!!

My mom informed me today that she thinks she's going to come walk with us, so I put in an emergency order for a shirt for her.  The wonderful Julie at It's a Preemie Thing told me she would be able to get it made for us!  YAY!  I love her!  I also placed an order for one for grandpa and Trina.  My plan is to take a pictures of us wearing them at our family photo shoot in July!

Our walk is on May 5th.  I hope it's a little warmer this year, since it was 26 degrees when we left the house last year!  :X  Also, we're SOOO close to our goal!  Only $83 dollars to get there...and 13 days!  So, if you feel inclined to donated to a wonderful cause, you can do so here:  http://www.marchforbabies.org/mramsayer

I also want to give some props to my BIG GIRL!  I don't know if I can call her a baby anymore.  She *finally* was able to get her 15 month shots.  She didn't cry at ALL when they gave her the first one.  And it contained the tetanus booster which I know first hand HURTS!  And she cried for like 30 seconds when she got her 2nd one.  I think it might have stung a little bit.  But she was such a big girl for her shots!  I couldn't believe how well she did!!!!

MARCH FOR BABIES!!!!

It's that time of year again!  It's the March for Babies!

We did it for the first time last year in honor of Madeleine and all of the other January 2012 preemies from my mom's board.  This year, I would also like to walk in honor of several other preemies that have touched my heart:

Elizabeth, Avery, Will, Addison, Patrick, Alexandria, Christian, as well as baby Emma who we lost just a few short weeks ago at 4 months old.   And of course, John...Miss Maddie's preemie twin.

I hope to make this an annual thing that we do every year with Madeleine.  To celebrate.  To remember.  To give back.  To support.  Preemies will always have a very special place in my heart.

If you find yourself with some extra time the morning of May 5th, please consider joining us for the walk!  The more the merrier!  It was a really great time last year and the weather cooperated quite well.  If you're interested in walking, please visit Maddie's site and click the link to join us!

And as always, if you find yourself with a little bit of extra cash in your pocket, please consider donating to the cause.  You can donate easily by credit card, Paypal, cash or check by visiting Maddie's site: http://www.marchforbabies.org/mramsayer.

March for Babies

Today was the March for Babies walk in Dexter.  I was a bit hesitant about even going when I woke up this morning and saw that weather.com said it was 26 degrees and wasn't going to get above 40 until after noon.  We discussed it and after going outside, we determined that weather.com was on crack because it was *definitely* warmer than 26.  We decided to take pictures before we left since coats were definitely required:

 
After pictures, we bundled Miss M up and headed out for the 9 am registration.

As we were pulling into Hudson Mills Metropark, Ryan asked how many people were going to be there and I told him I had no idea.  I had secretly been worried all morning that because of the weather we'd end up being a hand full people there.

Boy, I couldn't have been any further from the truth!!!  It was absolutely packed and it was a HUUUUGE event!  There were a number of tents giving away freebies (like Ashley's sweet new Flagstar backpack), face painting for the kids, balloon animals, etc.  There was a refreshment tent where a local bakery, Bearclaw coffee, Coke, and Dominos were giving away free food all day.  I'm really bad at estimating the number of things, but I'd say there were easily over 1,000 people there (Ryan would say easily over 500, but close to 1,000).

We made sure to make our way over to the balloon tent to get a balloon for Maddie to release during the balloon ceremony:

After picking up M's balloon, we started to wander around to check everything out.  Ashley picked up a sweet Flagstar backpack and Ryan drooled over the Chrysler's on display (specifically the Dodge Challenger SRT8).  We also ended up finding the start/finish line.

During the opening ceremony, a woman talked about the loss of her baby who was born 21 weeks early.  It was heartbreaking to hear her talk and choke up during the speech.  Afterward, she lead the release of the balloons:

After the opening ceremony, we started the walk.  I knew there were a lot of people milling around the main area, but I had no idea how many people were actually there until I saw all of us stretch out onto the walking path.

I don't know if you can see in the picture, but the people wrap all the way around to the right at the very front.  As shocking as it might sound, or maybe it doesn't, we were near the front of the pack.  There were still a TON of people waiting around to start the walk!

There were a bunch of check points along the way where area sponsors were handing out water, freebies, and food.  We picked up a sweet doggy bag for Bebe from Pet Supplies Plus and it has a bunch of awesome toys and snacks for her!  There was also a huge check point that they set up as "Superhero" themed and it had all kinds of stuff for the kids to do: bounce houses, games, balloons, snacks, face painting, etc.  We all snagged a bag of pretty awesome popcorn there!

Along the way, there were signs of local preemies and some of their stories.  A lot of them were very touching:

In the end, we raised over $500 in honor of Maddie.  We had a wonderful time at the walk, and can't wait to do it again next year!

A huge thank you to all of those who donated to the cause!  You are all amazing!

And, a special thank you to my friend, Lauren Edwards, for designing the back of our t-shirts!  I loved them and it will be something special we can save for Maddie to see when she's older!

March for Babies

This year I have decided to do the March for Babies in honor of Miss Madeleine.

Every day, thousands of babies are born too soon, too small and often very sick. I'm walking in March for Babies because I want to do something about this. And I need your help.

Please support my walk by either joining us in Dexter at the March of Dimes event on April 29th or consider making a donation. Making a secure donation is easy: just click the 'donate now' button on my page:  http://www.marchforbabies.org/mramsayer. Thank you for helping me give all babies a healthy start!

The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.  Your gift will support March of Dimes research and programs that help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives. And it will be used to bring comfort and information to families with a baby in newborn intensive care.