Christmas Eve, lights and a prayer for Matilda Mae

Tonight as families settle in for days of celebration please spare a thought for those who are missing their oved ones.

Tonight as Harry went to bed I gave him my bless, as every night, and said a little prayer as I always do, whenever im going to bed myself, I'll pray again and, as always, thank god for allowing our boy to have a happy and healthy life and beg for it to be a long one.

Tonight, thinking of my boy and the never ending love I carry for him I pray for those families who had their little angels taken away far too early.  I pray for Matilda Mae, the miracle baby who was too precious for earth and had to go live with angels. I pray that on this Christmas Day her family can find peace in their hearts.

Tonight I take a moment from my own family's celebrations to ask people to help The Lullaby Trust by donation and telling people about it, so they can help stopping Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and help those families I now pray for. Just go to www.justgiving.com/Aida-Leal and donate. 

I wish you all a Christmas of light and peace. 

Wearing a Jumper for children

So Christmas Jumper Day is upon us and there are some amazing looking people all around wearing their festive garments to raise money for Save The Children.

If you haven't been in the moon for the past week you might know that I have also been doing that to raise money for The Lullaby Trust - read all about it here - but today, as Westfield Stratford is donating £10 to Save The Children - toe very blog post about Christmas Jumper Day, just tweet the link to @westfieldlondon- I thought I'd share this selfie of me and the bosses.

In my head all goes to charities that helps kids so I'm super happy to get involved.

Unfortunately I'm stuck at work today so can't explain much of what's going on but you can find much more info here.

Also if you have a spare pound or time to tell people to donate, please get donating and spread the word about #christmasjumperfridays http://www.justgiving.com/Aida-Leal

Fundraising for The Lullaby Trust, 100 followers and my 1st Giveaway

As you may or may not know, last week i started fundraising for The Lullaby Trust. Many people have been asking me why am i doing this.

Here are a few answers:

I was brought up into charity, my parents taught us to help people around us - from an elderly neighbour who might need a hand with their heavy shopping bags to a homeless person who could put to good use the woolly jumpers we had outgrown. 

Of course charity does leave you with a great feeling inside and after what was a hard year for our family, that sort of calm in my heart is rather welcome - don't fool yourself, charity is a "selfish thing"

Mainly, what made me chose The Lullaby Trust, customise and wear a Christmas jumper to work was the horrible thought of families spending Christmas without their babies. It's the most wonderful time of the year, unless you can no longer see your little angel's face light up at the sight of a Christmas Tree. 

The idea of loosing a baby or toddler for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is just too painful and I'm hoping to help The Lullaby Trust saving those precious lives and give support to bereave families. 

The site has been up for a week now and we have raised £106 so far, that isn't a bad start but I have been cracking my brain to try and find an effective way to spread the word and just as we reached 100 followers I felt it was the perfect time to do our first ever Giveaway.

So to put something nice together I teamed up with the lovely Seema - contributor to Beauty Bites Wednesdays - and We've managed to put a nice prize together for people willing to go about telling everyone about this charity appeal.

To enter just follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter below, You can to tweet about #christmasjumperfridays for 5 entries- please include a link to our JustGiving page http://www.justgiving.com/Aida-Leal and like our Facebook page for another 3 changes to win. For more chances to win you can also follow me on twittter and of course - as that's what this Giveaway is all about - you can make a donation and as a "thank you", you'll get 10 entries to the prize draw - you can do that everyday for more chances to win ;) 

The only mandatory thing is to leave a comment on this blog post.

So now for the all important prize. The lucky winner will get a half an hour Indian Head Massage - courtesy of Seven Stones Massage - and a little pampering kit with a fancy Grace Cole Bath Kit and a Ashleigh & Burwood incense and candle set.

Good luck everyone. Now, please let's get giving!

T&C's:
This prize draw is open for the UK only (sorry anyone outside the UK but I had no sponsors for this and am paying for the Pampering Kit and postage myself.
There is no cash alternative
Prize draw will happen on the 13th of January, Prize must be claimed until 23rd of January 2014 a second winner will be chosen after that.
Half an Hour Indian Head Massage is available in London only - prize must be claimed by the 1st of May 2014 - if you will not be in London until then you can transfer the treatment to a friend, if that happens please contact me by email so that I can arrange a new name for the voucher.
Disclaimer: The Indian Head Massage was generously donated by Seema Amin, the other prizes were bought by myself, this is not a sponsored post.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Silent Sunday

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Jumper Fridays - getting ready

So as I told you last Friday every Friday until Christmas I'll be wearing a silly/festive Christmas Jumper to work. That is to help The Lullaby Trust this amazing charity that helps families affected by the sudden loss of a baby or toddler and funds research to try and prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

You can read all about my decision to get involved fundraising for this particular charity here

NOW, when I said I'd wear a silly jumper I think people assumed I would just buy a Christmas in whatever shop and wear it to work, those people couldn't be any more wrong.

My plan is to customize my own jumper every week. Being something done for charity it wouldn't make sense to spend loads of money on it so I got myself a boring red jumper and am using my own Christmas decorations to make it a festive garment. I might add the odd decoration from a charity shop here and there.

Every Friday I will take pictures and put them out there - Twitter, Facebook, Blog, Pinterest and wherever else it could help us spread the word.

I won't reveal tomorrow's look just yet as that would spoil the surprise but this was me brainstorming

To sponsor me please go to my JustGiving page 

you can also donate by txt, please send a message with the code LLBY88 £1 to the number 70070 to donate £1 you can also donate £3, £4, £5 or £10 via your mobile just by changing the amount that goes together with LLBY88. If everyone who reads this blog or come across me on social media donate a pound we will already make a difference.

Get giving!

Flashback Friday - Matilda Mae and The Lullaby Trust

Back in February I came across the story of Jennie from Edspire, who lost her 9 month old baby girl to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome ( also known as Cot Death). She put her gorgeous and healthy angel to bed one evening not knowing that her baby would never wake up again.

Matilda Mae was this beautiful smiley girl, she left behind her parents, her brother and sister and they all miss baby Tilda very much. Jennie finds comfort on writing her blog and by doing that she opened a window into her world of suffering and bereavement. Her words are sad but powerful and beautiful and filled with love.

By writing about her loss Jennie brought home the fact that Sudden Infant Death is real, it does happen. On the night when i read her story, I dried my tears then rushed into Harry's room to make sure he was ok. My boy was sound asleep. My heart was pounding and the tears wouldn't stop. I think every mother who read her story felt her pain - you don't really know what that pain is until it happens to you of course but the fear of losing a child is real for most of us.

At the time my lill guy was suffering from ear infections on and off and we had clothes and blankets hanging over the sides of his cot, it was practical having them to hand during the night. That evening I took them away, took anything that was in his cot. He didn't even used to roll over but I couldn't risk having a cushion on his bed. That night I struggled to sleep, Jennie struggles to sleep every night.

Over 300 babies still die every year of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), in the UK.

Every year there are another 300 Baby Tilda, 300 Jennie. Parents are left with their arms empty, they have no baby to hold. 

Through Jennie I've learnt of The Lullaby Trust, they provide families with support and advice. They fund research on SIDS and provide support to families affected by sudden death of a baby or toddler.

I'm lucky enough to have a healthy and lively child at home. I'm lucky for waking up to his smiles every morning. Every night i pray for him to have a long and happy life, I love him so much my heart aches. The thought of not being able to kiss my boy, getting his cuddles, hearing his laughter, that alone is unbearable.

Every time I read one of Jennie's posts I wish I could hug her and take away her pain, unfortunately that is not possible. I have then decided to help in a more practical way, by helping to spread the word about the Lullaby Trust and raising funds for their research and support services.

So this December I will wear a silly Christmas Jumper to work every Friday in hope that people will sponsor me and help raising funds for the Lullaby Trust. All details will go online in a few days, after all, the first Friday is 6 days away. For now you can help spreading the word. I'll be tweeting under #christmasjumperfridays and sharing information here on the blog and on our Facebook page. Our JustGiving page will be live soon so please, watch this space!