A Little Recognition

Through blogging, sharing my story, and reading others’ writings, I realize the importance of recognizing the blogs that inspire me to keep writing. Over the past few years, I have become engrossed with the stories of others that in some ways mirror my own yet always offer new perspectives on pregnancy loss, infertility, and navigating successful pregnancies after so much suffering and grief. I am glad to have recently have found the blog Breastfeeding Bistro who graciously began following my blog and nominated me for the Liebster Award. While in the past I brushed off such nominations, I now see the significance of us supporting each other in our writing endeavors.

It is nearly impossible for me to chose one blog that is my favorite, as so many have allowed me to enter others’ worlds for brief moments at a time. There are many stories of infertility, adoption, recurrent pregnancy loss, and having rainbow babies that have touched my world view. After losing our Sophia, the grief dragged me into a very lonely place as I believed no one (except my husband) would ever understand. Once I connected with this community, my grief found friends. My grief encompassed losses other than my own. My grief has become compassion for others. My grief had lead me to sharing our Sophia with the world. My grief is now my pride.

I encourage my followers to take the time to read some of the blogs listed below and feel as enlightened as I have been by the community that has lead me to be the rainbow mother than I am today.

On a lighter note, keep scrolling for the 10 random facts about me.

Thank you to all to have been reading Sophia’s Story, whether you started from the beginning when I shared parts of my memoir, or joined my blog family once I began sharing our rainbow baby Evelyn. I hope the Sophia’s Story community will continue to grow, share, and heal.

Please take a moment to check out these blogs (a small sampling of touching stories-read with tissues handy and your heart open):

Recurrently Unlucky

Mothering Caroline Grace

Remembering Rylan

Being Everlee’s Mom

Mommy This Mommy That

And finally, ten random facts about me:

1. Watermelon is my favorite fruit. If I had no self control, I would eat a whole one in a sitting.
2. I played both piano and clarinet for many years (and I hope to pass along my knack for music to Evelyn)
3. I love my gossipy celebrity news. (It provides a good diversion when life gets too heavy).
4. I have a goofy pug named Rocky who loves his baby sister nearly as much as she loves him.
5. I have always wanted to write and publish a book. My earliest memory of this was when I was eight years old and sent a letter to a publisher about my Dinosaur Book (illustrations and writing done by me!) Needless to say, I was turned down. But hey, at least I tried.
6. Making Evelyn laugh has become a new pastime of mine. Her giggle is contagious.
7. I love my coffee, especially lattes.
8. I love to travel and see new things. I even spent a year in Spain during college (where I met my husband).
9. I grew up in Milwaukee, WI and still don’t like beer (not sure how that happened). But I do miss a good fish fry.
10. I have lived in four states including Maryland, Wisconsin, California, and North Carolina. Each new place has widened my view of humanity more than one can imagine (and we now have good friends all over the country!)

If you have been nominated for the Liebster Award, please find the guidelines listed below.

The Liebster Award (2016) works like this.

1. Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog. Try to include a little promotion for the person who nominated you.

2. Display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”.
3.  Write a 150-300 word post about your favorite blog that is not your own. Explain why you like the blog, provide links.

4. Provide 10 random facts about yourself. (This year I’m making this optional. If you wish to engage with your readers it’s a great idea to include random facts about you.)

6. Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 200 followers. (Note that you can always ask the blog owner this since not all blogs display a widget that lets the readers know this information!)

7. List these rules in your post (You can copy and paste from here.) Once you have written and published it, you then have to:

8. Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post or mine if you don’t have all the information so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!)