The Party

Hi there! (Insert appropriate photo of me waving below.)

So ok, it's Friday night. It's approximately 9:30 p.m. right now as I type this.

I'm still in my pajamas.

As in, the same thing I wore to bed Thursday night.

I know, right?

But whatever. I fully intend on showering in like 20 minutes, after I hit publish. Good thing we don't have smellovision yet. (In a couple years, I'll look back at this post and say, "Remember when we didn't have smellovision yet? I can't even remember what that was like!" Kind of like with cell phones and laptops. And everyone will have to be showered and perfumed before logging onto the computer...)

So I'll start with the best part:

We raised almost 1,000 dollars at Rock Out 4 Babies!

Yes we did! Woohoo! Woohoo! Woohoo!! And the tv station was there too:

That's Jen. She blogs at 4 W Questions about her little supercute little man who was born 10 weeks early. We planned this thing together. Sidebar: Jen and I went to college together and then a few years later found out we were living in New York/slash/New Jersey at the same time. Then it turned out we both had boyfriends we met in college and we were both doing the long distance thing with them. And both of our long-distance boyfriends were refusing to commit. And that was ok with us because we broke up with them. And then we partied. And then we ended up marrying them and moving back here to Florida to be with them. And then we both went on to have children (within a year of each other) and they were both boys and they were both preemies. (Much more on that later -- but you have to admit, it is pretty eery, actually, how parallel our lives are.)

But as you can imagine, we've become dear, dear friends (even though I actually knew her husband before I knew her!) and we planned this Guitar Hero Competition-fundraiser together.

I suspect no matter what crowd turned out, one would always wish it were bigger and that more people came. You measure an event's success by how close you are to having the fire department called because of having a dangerously high occupancy. And unfortunately, no one was calling in the fire marshall on us. But we did have dozens, as opposed to hundreds, and the people who did come were very generous with their support, and no matter what, I have to call this event a success because of that. More than that, though, I think everyone had a blast, I know I did!

And among the Guitar Hero-playing crowd, the number of "Easy Level" players greatly outnumbered the "Expert". In fact there were only two dudes on the Expert level, so you can guess who played in the head to head battle for the grand prize.

Here's one of them (and yes, we made them wear the red feather boa and matching red feather hat. Because if you're going to be a rock star, these are the things you wear. And it wouldn't be an event by Christie if someone didn't have to do something a little kooky at some point. Kind of like talking about having Simon Cowell in their living room.)
There they are, the two dudes. And those were the prizes, an acoustic guitar donated generously by Sam Ash, and an XBox Guitar Hero Guitar and game. We had a lot of other prizes that other sponsors donated for raffles so everyone got a chance to get something fun.

So when we figured out that there were only two really good players and a whole lotta really kind of ok but pretty much beginner players, we played for fun for a while and did a less-competition, more rock out type a thing, until the end when we brought the Experts out again to battle. And only one emerged victorious. But they both got prizes. It's all about charity here.

There was a stage and everything, and Jen's husband owns a production company and he supplied the plasma tvs and the sound system (and his time, thank you T!), and the bar/restaurant he DJs for on the side generously donated the buffet and the room we used. It was amazing how wonderful and generous everyone was in helping us in our fundraiser, including the wonderful women in our preemie mom's group, and how smoothly it all came together. I can't wait until next year because I can already see this event times 1,000.

So it was a blast! The walk is next week, and we'll still be doing Before and Afters all week! (Post anything before-and-after on your blog and link it up right here or e-mail me any before and after pictures and a story and I'll post them right here for everyone!)

* * *

I have to say thank you, again, so much to everyone who has donated to the March of Dimes through this blog so far, I truly truly heart you for your support. There are touching and heartbreaking stories about women, babies, and families everywhere who are or have been affected by prematurity and I don't think I have ever been this passionate about anything in my life. It hits me at my very core. When I think about it even for a second, it brings tears to my eyes and not even because of my experience (because in all my conversations with other preemie moms, our situation was a blessing in comparison.)

I think about the mommy who was released from the hospital tonight, today, a few hours ago, who is walking through the door of her home without her baby. The nursery is done, or maybe it's so early they haven't even gotten to it yet, and she is at home, right now, silently heartbroken. It breaks me. There are families tonight who are grieving right at this very moment, they're all cried out, they're sleepless, and they're praying. Like the family of baby Madeline who passed away this week. Every day I read her mother's unbelievable, strong, heavy-hearted words and I cry, with tears flowing. And Kayleigh Anne Freeman, who was born weighing just one pound and has undergone an incredible journey. She just underwent surgery and the Freeman's Video Blogged about it yesterday and it is just so beautiful of them to open up and share their family with all of us. Please send your prayers to them, the strength of these families is like nothing I could ever describe in words. We are all trying to raise money for the March of Dimes because this money supports research that might one day provide us answers to why this happens, and if this research spares even one baby from being born prematurely, it is worth it. For every reason in the world. So it doesn't matter if you support me or support them or anyone else, please just support the March of Dimes, anywhere you can, you all make a difference.

Love.

The Party

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/04/party.html