A Week Before Her Due Date

March 7th

This photo was taken 8 years ago today at my sister's horse show in Hillsborough, NC. March 7th, 2010 was just one week before Lily's due date and 9 days before her birth. ❤️🐴 

This popped up on my Facebook Memories today. I posted this the same day that the photo above was taken. I was eager for Lily to be born... what I didn't realize was those were the last days I'd have her here. I was in Hillsborough, NC and had no idea that in a matter of weeks, my baby girl would be buried in Hillsboro Cemetery in Crozet, VA. Ruby commented on this post and asked to be reminded what her guess was for when Lily would arrive... I reminded her it was March 16th. 

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A Week Before Her Due Date

This photo was taken 7 years ago today at my sister's horse show in Hillsborough, NC. March 7th, 2010 was just one week before Lily's due date and 9 days before her birth. ❤️

This popped up on my Facebook Memories today. I posted this the same day that the photo above was taken. I was eager for Lily to be born... what I didn't realize was those were the last days I'd have her here. I was in Hillsborough, NC and had no idea that in a matter of weeks, my baby girl would be buried in Hillsboro Cemetery in Crozet, VA. Ruby commented on this post and asked to be reminded what her guess was for when Lily would arrive... I reminded her it was March 16th. 

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When Lily Went to Philly

7 years ago at this time of year, Lily went to Philly. I was right at 29 weeks pregnant at the time. ❤️ 

Earlier this week, I saw these two things on Facebook "Memories" that I posted in December 2009:

My mom, brothers, sister, Lily and I were together on this fun and memorable trip. We walked around downtown, got hot beverages at charming local coffee shops, explored historic/touristy destinations, tried the famous Philly cheesesteak sub, and stayed at the oldest hotel in the city. My mom and brothers went to an Eagle's football game. 

I kept having contractions and we joked that "Lily wanted to be born in Philly." My belly was getting a lot bigger, to the point of not being able to button up my coat all the way, as you can see in the photo above. That makes me giggle. :) Lily was growing big and strong!

One of the first posts on this blog of mine was something I wrote when we were in Philadelphia - City of Brotherly Love. I talked about wanting to treasure the time with my family, especially my sister, who was growing up so fast... little did I know that I was living some of the only days with my daughter that I'd ever get. It never could have crossed my mind. I am so thankful my girl had lots of adventures during her time on Earth with her adoring family.

Here are some of my favorite photos from that trip...

I have several pages in Lily's scrapbook from our Philly trip. Excuse the bad-lighting photos with glaring (from the page protectors). I'll explain more about them when I eventually (hopefully sooner rather than later) share my entire scrapbook for Lily.

Oh, those little socks... we got them at the Betsy Ross House for our Lily girl. Now they will remain in a scrapbook, never having been worn by her. But they are so very precious to me as they were bought specifically for her... when she was still here.

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Halloween Then and Now

All the cute kids dressed in their adorable costumes makes me wonder what Lily would have wanted to dress up as... What would her interests be? What would she like?

If Lily were here, I definitely think she'd be a crazy cat kid, like her mommy was/still is. I'd totally have dressed her up like this. 😘😂🐱

Anyways, I do have special memories from this day when Lily was here. We were staying in Crozet, Virginia (my hometown) at the Bed & Breakfast where we used to house and dog-sit. Wow, what an incredible blessing from the Lord that was for many years. It was another adventure from Lily's life. I wanted to have a "Harvest Party" and posted about it on Facebook.

I had wanted to go all out dressing up as a pumpkin, but only ended up wearing an orange shirt. I said because of my round belly and the orange, I was still dressed as a pumpkin. What a sweet and funny memory. 

Here's a picture of me on that night. 

Here is my sister Emma and her friend Naomi that night, dressed up as the cutest bumblebee ever and a cowgirl.

Here's another picture of me in the orange shirt. This was later on in my pregnancy, when my belly had gotten bigger. It's obviously not a great photo with the quality, where I'm posing, and the phone in front of my face, but I'm thankful for every random inclination I had while pregnant to take photos of my growing belly. I immensely treasure those photos now. I obviously didn't wear the shirt out of the house when it got too short like this and was just hanging out at home.

I've kept all my maternity clothes because they remind me of Lily. I hope to wear them again one day if I have another baby. I like to wear them occasionally now. I wore that same orange shirt yesterday. Here is a photo of my niece Harvest and I (who would have ever thought when I was posting about my "Harvest Party" that I'd have a niece named Harvest just a few years later). I'm wearing my Lily ultrasound necklace and it was so sweet that Harvest kept playing with it while I was holding her. She made the cutest 1-Up Mushroom from Mario Kart (her mommy was Luigi and her daddy was Mario). ;)

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Life Chain with Lily

Something popped up on my Facebook Memories that reminded me of a memory from when I was carrying Lily. On this date in 2009, I participated in the Life Chain in Raleigh, which is a nationwide prayer event for the end of abortion. My own belly bump was starting to show at that time.

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Adventures with Lily ~ Topsail Island

Most years in the Fall, usually at the end of September/beginning of October, my mom Ginny, sister Emma, and I, along with my mom's best friend from college (Grace a.k.a. "Aunt G"), take a trip to the Carolina coast for a couple days of fun, rest, and relaxation. The weather during early Fall at the beach is gorgeous! 🌊🐚🐬🐳

The first trip we took was when my Lily girl was here. We went to Topsail Island 7 years ago around this time of year. I was 16 weeks pregnant at the time. As you can see in the photos below, I was finally starting to look pregnant, rather than just feel pregnant.

Lily had oh so many adventures during her short time on Earth and I will forever cherish those sacred memories. I cannot believe it's been 7 years.

That's my mom and Grace in the background

I still have this Topsail Island hat that I got in 2009 in Lily's memory chest

This is what I wrote about that trip to Topsail in Lily's pregnancy scrapbook:

"At the end of September/beginning of October, "Aunt G" (your grandmother's best friend named Grace) took us to Topsail Island for a short getaway vacation. We had a blast, staying at the Jolly Roger Inn right on the beach, eating delicious seafood at a local restaurant, splashing around in the waves at Surf City (where there is ironically a sign that says "no surfing allowed") with your Auntie Em and laughing hysterically as she held us up in the water in her small arms (we really floated), watching the breathtaking sunrise over the ocean, feeding the seagulls cocoa puffs from our balcony, watching and listening to the waves crashing upon the shore, walking down the pier, taking a lovely walk along the water's edge, relaxing in the sand and soaking up the sun, enjoying the beautiful Fall weather and the presence of the Lord. You're a beach girl like your mommy!"

Here are the pages in my scrapbook about our beach trip:

Here are screenshots of my Facebook posts about our beach trip in 2009:

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When Lily Went to Philly

On Saturday night, I watched a few minutes of the Philadelphia Eagles vs. the Washington Redskins football game on TV (my brother Joseph's favorite team is the Eagles and my brother Adam's favorite team is the Redskins. Otherwise, I wouldn't care haha).

Anyways, the game was in Philadelphia, which brought back memories of when Lily went to Philly at this very time of year 6 years ago. I was right at 29 weeks pregnant at the time.

Then, yesterday I saw these two things on Facebook "Memories" that I posted on that date in 2009:

My mom, brothers, sister, Lily and I were together on this fun and memorable trip. We walked around downtown, got hot beverages at charming local coffee shops, explored historic/touristy destinations, tried the famous Philly cheesesteak sub, and stayed at the oldest hotel in the city. My mom and brothers went to an Eagle's football game. 

I kept having contractions and we joked that "Lily wanted to be born in Philly." My belly was getting a lot bigger, to the point of not being able to button up my coat all the way, as you can see in the photo above. That makes me giggle. :) Lily was growing big and strong!

One of the first posts on this blog of mine was something I wrote when we were in Philadelphia - City of Brotherly Love. I talked about wanting to treasure the time with my family, especially my sister, who was growing up so fast... little did I know that I was living some of the only days with my daughter that I'd ever get. It never could have crossed my mind. I am so thankful my girl had lots of adventures during her time on Earth with her adoring family.

Here are some of my favorite photos from that trip...

I have several pages in Lily's scrapbook from our Philly trip. Excuse the bad-lighting photos with glaring (from the page protectors). I'll explain more about them when I eventually (hopefully sooner rather than later) share my entire scrapbook for Lily.

Oh, those little socks... we got them at the Betsy Ross House for our Lily girl. Now they will remain in a scrapbook, never having been worn by her. But they are so very precious to me as they were bought specifically for her... when she was still here.

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