How Quickly They Were Gone....

So I've had this picture in my head for the last few weeks and I finally went ahead and did the sketch. I have not put it on a shirt yet because I've been down with a migraine and didn't want to go to the store. So instead of heading out to get shirts, I thought I'd share about Sweet P's new Hand Drawn Design shirts.

It started with my daughter, as many things do these days.... She loves bikes! And I had some plain white onesies so after she had gone to bed one night, I drew her a bike on one of her onesies.

She loves wearing it and loves to point at it telling everyone she sees that she has a bike on her shirt! Once designing the bike I just could stop thinking of other things to put on shirts. I pretty much filled a sketch book full of designs and am now working on tweaking each one to be 'print-ready'. :)

Back to the balloons.... The idea has been forming in my mind for nearly three years now.... February 13, three years ago, I went in for a second ultrasound during my first pregnancy. I was 10 weeks pregnant and they hadn't been able to find a heartbeat at 8 weeks. They said it was too early.... At that 10 week ultrasound, there was not only no heartbeat - there was no baby. Needless to say, the next day was the absolute WORST Valentine's Day EVER! Oh, I tried to be normal and make the day special for my husband but the day ended with my fabulous husband convincing me that ice cream and video games makes everything better. I can honestly say that losing that baby was the hardest thing I have ever had to deal with and there are days I still cry about my little angel.

After my miscarriage, I kind of felt like I became a statistic... "1 in 4 pregnancies end in loss blah blah blah...." It's sad because one minute you have a tiny baby and the next you don't. You don't even really get to say goodbye. You haven't gotten to make any memories. It just seems like there is no closure. For a spit second I considered getting a memorial tattoo... but I couldn't do it... (I love tattoos... think they are in many cases GORGEOUS but not so much for me... maybe someday!) So instead I started thinking about a painting or drawing I could do since, well, that's what I do!

It's taken me all this time but I've finally put a picture with my feeling and it's the balloons. Out of all the balloons, one is floating away... the one that holds a piece of my heart.... Thankfully, he's floating to Heaven to be held in the arms of Jesus!

Coincidentally, a friend recently posted this on his facebook (get your tissues ready! You will cry!) for Sanctity of Life Sunday. Little Eliot's parents release 99 balloons at his funeral... one for every day he was alive... And his dad said it so well - "How quickly they were gone..."

That's the story behind my balloons. Many drawing yet to come! Most likely with silly stories behind them like, "What?!?! I thought a female lion was a tiger!!!" haha true story! :)