Books For Babies

For the second year in a row, Jason and I have helped a local organization collect books for babies. We learned about Project: Cameron's Story two years ago after a news story I had done. A local mom started the foundation in memory of her son who was born very premature. Cameron spent more than 200 days in the NICU and at times his parents couldn't hold him. They turned to reading as a way to bond. After Cameron passed away, the family wanted a way to help other families in similar situations. Now they collect more than 2400 books every year to donate to our local hospitals. The goal is to make sure that EVERY baby admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) has a brand new book.


Here's a shot of some of the books
we collected at the game.


I felt a bond with this mom as soon as I heard her story and knew instantly that Project: Cameron's Story was something I had to get involved with. Cameron and Ella were in the NICU at the same time. Although we never met during that time, there is connection that every parent that goes through this experience can relate too. It is a scary time and a situation no one ever expects or wants to be in. I know how important reading was for us while Ella was in the NICU. Jason would sit for hours next to Ella's isolate, reading her stories. They still share this special connection!


Jason reading to Ella in the Nicu...June 2009

 Every February, Cameron's story holds a book drive for one week...collecting new children's books at businesses and offices around the area. This year, Union's hockey team was kind enough to help us promote a big book drive at a game. We ran promos on News 10, the team emailed season ticket holders, blasted the event on the radio and hopefully really helped bring a lot of attention to the cause.

Sara Quartiers, the founder of PCS being
interviewed by News 10.

We collected lots of books (more than 2 big boxes). The Quartiers family (founders of Project: Cameron's Story) came out to the game to watch Union beat Princeton. It was a great night. Jason and I are so happy to be able to take part in this year after year and I look forward to a time when Ella is old enough to understand and be more involved herself.

I'll have an update soon on the total numbers for this year's bookraiser!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

I just finished filling out a stack of paper work for Ella to start SCHOOL! As of next Thursday, Ella will officially be enrolled in Toddler Group. It's a 2 1/2 hour morning preschool program offered through Early Intervention. The program provides kids an introduction to the school setting, while including services such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. It also gives children the chance to be in a social setting which is exactly what Ella is lacking. We don't have any family here in New York and most of our friends have older children, so Ella's chance to play with someone her age is limited.

Ella reading to Lucy

I got a preview of how beneficial toddler group is going to be. We were visiting Woburn this past weekend and Ella had lots of time to play with Lucy (my niece) as well as some of her cousins, Sydney and Caylee. It was wonderful to see her so motivated by her peers. Ella could be considered a copy cat and that's just fine with us. She wanted to crawl just like Lucy...if you know Ella, this was huge. She never cared about crawling and still rarely gets down on all fours. She also wanted to use the "big girl" sippy cup just like her cousin Sydney. Sydney was nice enough to even let us borrow the Dora cup for our walk home! If we can just get her talking like her cousin Caylee, we'll be making big progress. Caylee has a very good vocabulary for an almost 2 year old!!!

Hopefully once school starts Ella will be copying more than Tucker!

These small glimpses of Ella's monkey see, monkey do attitude combined with her determination and an incredible group of family and friends is what makes all the difference. She is going to do so well at school. Stay tuned for the first of many "first day of school" pictures :-)