March for Babies 2009

 March for Babies is very close to our heart, as many of you know from previous posts, and this year is was very special to us. Our little guy was able to actually MARCH in it. Last year he could walk and all that jazz but he didn't have a clue what was going on. This year he had a better understanding melting my heart when I told him what we were about to do and he just simply replied, "mommmmmma we are marching for me and babies, amazing." I know its a simple everyday sentence, but oh boy! A while back I tried to teach him the word amazing and he would say it here and there but now he is using the word like its the word love. Everything is so "aaamazzzing" to him and I love it. Anyway we had a great turn out for our team this year! Thank you to all that came and supported us in our mission to have every baby be born healthy. Last year we raised about $4,000 dollars. I was hoping to double that this year and in the end I think we will max out at $1000. I was not on top of it this year, but will be next year! So mark your calenders for next April to March with us!

Last year we were asked to write up a summary of Gabe's story so they could publish it onto a board to display at future walks. This is me and Gabe next to his story board. The one next to him is Kate Brendel's. She was born at 22 1/2 weeks and weighed one pound one ounce. She lived for 3 days, she was truly a miracle. Her parents started a team a few years ago that has now developed into a huge foundation here in the Tri-Cities. They raise a lot of money, more than the corporate teams do. They are such an inspiration to us and other families. They have an eight year old son, Sammy who is one of the top youth walkers in the NATION! I can't wait for that to be Gabe! Sue (Kate's mom) had three miscarriages since Kate was born, and they were blessed last year with sweet Morgan. She just turned 1 a few months back so it was great to see her walking this year, she is so full of life! This is our little man after the walk pushing the wagon to go get some hot dogs! Lots of work, push hard buddy!

 These two sweet babies are our newest recruits! Blake is on the left and is Kevin& Megan's five month old, he is so happy and snuggles so much! And on the right is Mr. Malix. He is my best friend Shannon's three month old. He was such a Champ through the whole walk. Oh how I love his cheeks!

 Gabe got pretty bored towards the middle of the walk, where we just so happened to be walking by a little playground area so my mom opted to have some one on one time with him and let him play while we circled around the park. He had a blast playing with her!





 It was a pretty early morning for Gabe, and pretty chilly to being our day, so he was kinda grumpy to start off with. Grandma decided it would be a good moment to snuggle with him.

And here is a picture of our team this year. Our team included: Me & Gabe, Grandpa Greg, Grandpa Karen, Grandpa Don, Uncle Michael and Aunt Jessica "Kaaa", Auntie Trina, Ashley Ostler (Ryan stayed home with a very sick Teancum), Shannon & Malix, Megan & Kevin- along with Riley, and Blake, and Jessica's cousin Jodi. Thanks again you guys!