Announcing the arrival of ... our new special Lilly Bear!

 This past March was "Trisomy Awareness Month."  The mother of Sophee, a little angel girl that lived almost 6 months with Trisomy 18, had an auction to benefit a Trisomy support group.  (Sophee's mama has a non-profit shop on Facebook that helps other families going through hard times.  You can read the mission statement here.)  

One of the items in the auction was a special bear that would be handmade for the winner.  (Unlike the rest of the auction, this would go to the person who's name was drawn rather than the highest bidder.)  K., the seamstress, is a mama who volunteered to make a bear in memory of Maisie, her angel baby girl that had Trisomy 18 and was stillborn.

Amazingly I won the drawing for the bear!  I sent K. two of Lilly's flannel receiving blankets to use to make the bear, and shared a little information about Lilly with her.


 Today the finished bear arrived, much to our delight.  It was even better than I imagined!  K. put so many "Lilly details" into the bear.  Red, white, and blue bows grace the bear's ear.  The heart on the bears chest/tummy says "Lilly 7/4/10 - 12/15/11."  It has red, white, and blue star buttons sewn by it.  (And as T. pointed out, the stitching is like little firecrackers.)  The inside ears, hand and foot pads, have two fabrics.  One is red with little white hearts and the other is blue with white flowers. 

On the bear's footpads is embroidered Lilly's birth weight:  5 lbs. 4 oz.  And the amazing thing is - the bear actually weighs ... 5 lbs. 4 oz.!  Of course the bear's weight is distributed a bit different than Lilly's was, but it is still quite amazing to think about and feel.

K. made the bear from a pattern and it is 19" long.  How fun because Lilly was 18 inches long when born.  T. and H. and I all had to take turns holding Lilly Bear - she just feels so good!  H. gave her lots of kisses and T. wanted to carry her around.  

Finally, here are two pictures of baby Lilly, with the blankets K. used to make the bear.  One is green with little white polka dots and the other a solid green.

Lilly is about 3 months old here:

And about 9 months old here:

THANK YOU K.!!  We all are in love with our special Lilly Bear! :)