If you are on Facebook, I hope you have taken the time to "Like" us on the Teeny Tears official FB page.
However, if you are interested in participating in the Teeny Tears project, I invite you to also join the Teeny Tears Diaper Exchange group! If you want to help make diapers to donate for angel families in your local community or anywhere else, it's a great place to get started, ask questions, post pictures, discuss your "flannel habit", and share your progress with others involved in the project!
Note: you do NOT have to be able to sew to participate! There are many ways to join our project!
Sawyer's Heart
Sawyer's Heart Project provides immediate support and comfort to bereaved parents who have experienced a pregnancy loss, stillbirth, or the loss of an infant through distribution of hospital memory boxes in the Chicago area.
We are honored to provide Sawyer's Heart with 96 diapers for their memory boxes! These diapers were handcrafted by our very own Vanessa and have been donated in memory of Sawyer Erik Williams.
"Sawyer's spirit lives on in the hearts of many who he touched so deeply in his brief life."
To find out more about Sawyer and the legacy of love and service he leaves behind, please visit:
The Sawyer's Heart Blog
Angels of Hope and Sawyer's Heart Website/Donate
Sawyer's Heart on Facebook
Avi's Embrace
Avi's Embrace is a division of Project Sweet Peas that is dedicated to providing comfort to the families of Indiana by donating packages for those with a child in the ICU as well as to families suffering the loss of their baby.
We at Teeny Tears are honored to provide Avi's Embrace with 50 diapers for their bereavement donations -- handcrafted by our very own Jana, Carol, and friends! These diapers have been donated in memory of Charles Avi Edward.
Learn more about Avi's story and see how Avi's Embrace is making a difference by visiting their website or by finding them on Facebook.
For Love of Carter - Round 2
Teeny Tears enthusiast Jana has been up to her diapering adventures again! Jana invited friends and family to participate in a diaper night; a great time was had by all!
While participating in a March for Dimes event, Jana delivered a donation of diapers to the Labor and Delivery unit at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle.
Surviving twin and miracle micro-preemie Cohen spent long months in the University of Washingon NICU.
These 80 diapers (40 sets) were donated in memory of Cohen's twin brother, Carter Garen Kimmel. Another 20 diapers were donated to Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep of Everson, WA. She packaged them in a creative way, pinning the sets together with a straight pin and slipping the distribution cards inside the diapers.
You can read more about Carter and Cohen here. You can see slide shows of these special brothers by clicking here.
Jana's mom Carol has joined the Teeny Tears team behind the scenes as our sewing resource expert and dedicated diaper cheerleader. She has a lot of experience with fabrics, machines, and stitchery and has boundless enthusiasm and love for the tiny angels we serve. We are very grateful to have her years of sewing experience and mama-wisdom to rely upon for our project!
I think this picture of Carol on a recent cabin vacation really illustrates her energy and personality!
Carol also makes beautiful, tiny angel wraps to go along with the diaper deliveries. Instructions to be posted soon!
Jana's family and friends love the angel families of the Great Northwest!
Do You Shop Online? iGive.com
Do you make any purchases online? Chances are that your favorite stores are members of iGive.com and they will donate a portion of your online purchase to your favorite diapering cause, Teeny Tears!
Thousands of stores are giving back to their communities by participating in iGive.com:
Carter's donates 1.2%
Hancock Fabrics donates 1.6%
Joann.com donates 3.2% (including gift cards!)
Old Navy donates 1.6% (including gift cards!)
Amazon donates .8% of your purchase**
And so. many. more!
**Amazon is a little weird in that you need to route through www.igive.com/Amazon for it to track and donate. Most other participating stores track automatically with your installed button.
Does this cost me anything?
NO! Registration is FREE. There are no fees at any time for your participation. No cost to you, nice donations for Teeny Tears!
How does it work? Do I have to know which stores are participating?
You do not have to know which stores are participating. When you register for iGive.com and choose "Teeny Tears" as your cause, you will download the icon to your toolbar. Whenever you purchase through a participating store, the purchases and donations will be automatically calculated! There is nothing for you to do except shop as normal! (And you have to keep the button installed for at least 90 days or it will reverse the bonus!)
How much will this benefit Teeny Tears directly?
When you sign up for iGive.com and choose Teeny Tears as your cause, iGive.com will give a $5 bonus to Teeny Tears just because you registered! If you make an online purchase within 45 days of signing up, Teeny Tears will receive ANOTHER $5 bonus! Beyond that, any purchases you make through participating stores will donate a small portion of your order directly to Teeny Tears.
What if I never shop online? Would this still help? What can $5 do for Teeny Tears?
$5 for Teeny Tears will purchase enough flannel, safety pins, and thread to soften the road of approximately TEN grieving families. We are passionate about providing modesty and dignity to the worlds tiniest angels. We shop sales and rely upon the generosity of others. We appreciate every scrap of fabric that is dropped on our doorsteps, each stack of diapers that arrives in the mail, and every dime that is contributed for shipping expenses and diaper-crafting materials. $5 would indeed be a meaningful contribution to our project.
Register for iGive today! Click here!
For Love of Daniel
My sweet TTTS friend Lisa is very involved in her local NICU Family Support program. One of the many ways she shows her love for the NICU families in her community is to donate micropreemie angel clothing and remembrance tokens to those who have lost their valiant battle. This year, she added Teeny Tears diapers to her donation. These clothing items may look big, but they are actually very very tiny -- for angels under two pounds.
All of these items have been donated to Inova Loudoun Hospital in Leesburg, Virginia in loving memory of her beloved angel son, Daniel Carl Hutchings.
"Softly the leaves of the memories fall,
Gently I gather and treasure them all.
Unseen, unheard you are always near,
So missed, so loved, and so very dear.
No longer in our lives to share,
But in our hearts you're always there."
~ Author Unknown
Desert Sage Young Women
The wonderful Young Women of the Desert Sage Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spent an evening tracing, cutting, and ironing diapers. These lovely young ladies have great compassion for the angel families that receive these little tokens of love; they are always eager to pitch in for diaper service.
I took the diaper pieces home to sew up and they are ready for delivery! These 40 little treasures will be donated to LDS Hospital of Salt Lake City, Utah.
In The Beginning, Arah's Story
Many of you have read how the Teeny Tears project came to be. My sister Heather sent me a link to a friend's blog with itty bitty diapers for preemie and micropreemie angels that had been created by one very special and inspired angel mama named Arah. One look at those diapers and my whole world changed. I have been very thankful for her love and support of Teeny Tears and our mission to spread her special brand of love across the world. I do believe that Dex, Olivia, and all of the other Teeny Tears angels are watching over us, very amused. ~Megan
Today we are honored to share Arah and Olivia's story:
"In November of 2007, our daughter Olivia was born. Weighing 3lbs. 9oz. and a length of 16 inches, she was tiny for 37 weeks. She had Polycystic Kidney Disease and lived a short 1 hour and 53 minutes, which was more than we could have hoped for when we were told the diagnosis at 19 weeks pregnant.
Throughout my pregnancy, while others would have been buying things for a nursery, we were preparing for her funeral. My dad built her casket and my mom had a burial dress made. I remember the day we picked out her plot at the cemetery while she kicked around inside me, it broke my heart.
My doctor had referred me to a program at the hospital called Forget Me Not, which gives supportive care for families with unborn infants diagnosed with life-threatening or life-limiting conditions. We were able to plan our birth and ask questions and just felt like we weren’t going to be abandoned.
During our time in the hospital, we were able to bathe, dress and photograph her. Her big sister, Brinley, was able to meet her as well as many friends and family. We had molds of her hands, feet and face made (some of my most favorite possessions). The hardest thing was handing our sweet baby girl over to the chaplain before we left the hospital, empty handed.
Three months after Olivia’s death, I was asked to consider doing photography for the same program that I had just gone through. I had wanted to give back to the program and this was perfect for me. I said yes. Four+ years and well over 100 babies photographed later, I am now on the Forget Me Not board and am the photography coordinator.
After a particular session, a mom, who had known her daughter would not live, had made her a small diaper, knowing that she wouldn’t be big enough to wear the preemie diaper the hospital would provide. The idea came to me, "Make tiny diapers." My first set of diapers were donated in honor of my daughter, Olivia. I had so many nurses and others asking about a pattern, that I posted it on my blog. My goal was to give families one more thing that they could take home. I had no idea how big a reaction my little diaper patterns would make.
Megan has kindly kept me informed of all the places the diapers are being sent. I get super emotional every time I get a new email telling me that more families are able to cover their little baby’s bum. I am so very happy that so many people see the need for them and it seems they are spreading like wildfire!
Megan is just amazing. She has done so much to help families through Teeny Tears. We have never met in person, but I do know her sister.
I would also like to personally thank all of you who have helped make diapers. It may have made the loss just a little more bearable by knowing that their tiny baby meant something to someone else too.
And to leave you on a happier note, just three days before Olivia’s 1st birthday, we welcomed her little sister, Sarah, into our family."
For Love of The Pollard, Marsh and Cowart Angels
As a passionate diaper activist in her own right, Vanessa has officially joined the Teeny Tears team as my partner in crime behind the scenes. We are on an ambitious quest to Diaper the World.
Meet Vanessa!
Vanessa is an amazing mom to three special little angels: Adam, Cayla, and Marley. She had been looking for an economical and unique project to do in honor of her babies when she stumbled across our project through Utah Share and loved it. She immediately organized a sewing event and posted it on FB, inviting friends, family, and fellow angel mamas. They answered the call, packing along sewing machines, scissors, safety pins, and all the flannel they could carry!
These super sewers labored to create 412 diapers. 160 have been donated to photographers of NILMDTS of SLC and are not pictured. These diapers below (all 252 of them) have been donated to Jordan Valley Hospital, Pioneer Valley Hospital, Tooele Hospital, and the University of Utah Hospital. Some have been donated in memory of Adam, Cayla, and Marley Pollard. Some have been donated in memory of Evan and Isaac Marsh. Some have been donated in memory of MaRee Cowart. All beloved angels, gone too soon.
The 412 count does NOT include this exciting stack of leftover unsewn pieces!
Vanessa invited me via email to attend her grand sewing event and I was thrilled to go. It was a fantastic experience. (Some of the following photos were taken by me; the better ones were taken by Vanessa's talented photographer friend, Lara.)
Vanessa posted many wonderful things on the wall, including WHY she was doing the project (click to enlarge and read their beautiful story). Elsewhere she posted full sewing instructions for the crafting teams.
Great event, great people, great food, great feeling.
For the generous group of families that contributed in so many ways to the creation of these diapers, I post a thank you message from the bereavement coordinator for three of the hospitals that received these diapers:
"I am in receipt of the beautiful hand made colorful cloth diapers that were so lovingly made for our tiny patients.
I first want to express the gratitude of our families at receiving such a lovely handcrafted item. Please understand that they want to keep everything that their baby has worn, including the diaper. Suffering heartbreak and loss of such a tiny innocent baby is tragic but thoughtful little items like these help them understand that people care about them, their baby and what they are going through.
All of the items have been appreciated and I am overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of this gift. Each and every diaper will be lovingly given to and used on an angel baby.
Giving to others is tremendously healing and brings a sense of comfort in knowing that we are serving humanity. As the chaplain at our facilities, I send thank-you’s from everyone as they marvel at the beautiful work. Again, thank you from the families who so appreciate what you are doing."
For Love of Carter - Sleepless in Seattle
When my friend Jana emailed me for the first time about making diapers, I learned that she was raising a TTTS single surviving former micropreemie. Naturally, I assumed that she had crossed paths with me in the TTTS Facebook groups. Not so! She found me on Pinterest and the rest of our commonalities are mere "happenstance". If I believed in "happenstance". And I don't really.
Last Christmas Jana donated stockings and gift bags to her local NICU. Teeny little diapers were right up her alley. Jana is actually combining two of her projects into one at the moment (and writes about it in a way that cracks me up). Check it out!
Jana and I have spent many (many) wee hours of the night online together brainstorming, obsessing over our mutual "flannel habit", and having grand diapering fantasies. She has great visions for Washington! (Consider this a shameless call for volunteers and donors in the Great Northwest. She can use any and all donated flannel, tracing, cutting, or sewing assistance that she can get to take Washington by storm! For real!)
Jana is donating her very first set of 60 diapers to the angels born at St. Joseph's of Bellingham, Washington. They have been created in memory of Jana's son, Carter Garen Kimmel.
This is Carter's twin brother, Cohen. He and Carter would have fit in that teeny little diaper when they were born. He's Jana's right-hand baby in the project (as you can read on their blog).
For Love of Spencer
As I have mentioned before, my life has been greatly blessed by my association with other families whose lives have been forever changed by Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome. Two such kindred spirits are Dana M. and Melissa J.
Dana and Melissa both lost one of their twins after hard-fought battles in the NICU, losing their fight to complications of TTTS and prematurity. Both of them have courageously sallied forth on their journeys, raising single survivors with Cerebral Palsy. Last December, Dana spent Wyatt's Angel Day tracing and cutting out diapers in his honor. When the surprise package of diaper pieces arrived on my doorstep from Canada, (first I cried. Then) I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them: start a TTTS diaper exchange. I would sew these diapers and donate them to a hospital in memory of another TTTS angel.
The internet makes for a very small world sometimes; as luck would have it, Melissa's boys were actually born just up the road from me before their family moved out of state. When she began making plans to come to town around her sons' birthday, I decided to surprise her when we met in person.
We enjoyed a memorable night that still makes me a little emotional. It was very hard for me to say goodbye. She received spontaneous kisses from Crew. I was able to show her the diapers that Dana and I had made in memory of her little Spencer.
I will be using this beautiful material to create diapers for Dana's angel.
My name is Megan and tiny little diapers make my world go 'round.
For Love of Emma
Facebook is a funny place; it's where my 1st-cousin-once-removed Chuck found me. He's one of our Seyferth family historians, up my biological father's side of the genealogical bush. He's a great man and I'm proud to call him family. He recently reconnected me with his daughter, my long lost 2nd cousin Crystal, and it's been wonderful to follow each other's blogs and visit over email! From the time I was eleven years old, I haven't had much association with extended family and I find myself marveling sometimes to have found such kindred spirits in the family tree. (Sending a loving shout-out to the whole Midwestern Seyferth extended clan; you know who you are!)
Crystal and I have many things in common, including a stillborn child. Emma Catherine would have been 11 years old this past February. In memory of their special angel, Crystal and her girls sewed their first batch of diapers, donating these 16 beautiful little treasures you see below to Genesys Regional Medical Center in Grand Blanc, Michigan. The good folks at Genesys took care of Emma and her family during the beginning of their journey 11 years ago. I know that the angel families at Genesys will really appreciate the special donations made in honor of their lovely, beloved Emma.
"Just before taking the diapers up to the hospital, the girls and I sat and prayed for the families that would be receiving a diaper. As I was walking out the door Sissy said, "Wouldn't it be neat if a family needed one of these today?" The innocence of a child right? Of course it would not be "neat"...sadness, grief and destroyed dreams accompany these diapers, but yes, it would be neat to fill a void for one of those families. My biggest prayer is that God provide comfort to a family that suffers an infant loss and if the family is not a believer, that somehow, God uses their experience to draw them near to Him.
Fabric From Aimee
Very early in my journey, I connected online with my beautiful and generous friend Aimee, whereafter we became blog and email buddies. Her little miracle, Connor, was born just a few weeks after my boys. He had a rough and tumble 4 months in the NICU and is now a thriving little three year old! She and another NICU graduate mom created a blog and facebook page to support families that are going through or have survived the NICU experience.
The Sprik Family donated money for diaper fabric through our Teeny Tears Paypal account. I was able to buy several yards of beautiful fabric and I can hardly wait to tear into this pile!! Thank you so much, Sprik Family!
This post will embarrass her, but I'm too grateful to not post it :)
For Love of Leah
The very first TTTS friend that I made on my journey was Melissa H. Our relationship began with a tentative email exchange way back in April of 2009. Our friend Cyndi H. joined our tiny nontraditional support group in August of that same year. We are all mommies that lost one child due to Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome before spending long months in the NICU with our micropreemie survivors. I could go on forever (and ever), but suffice it to say that I dearly love these women and their families.
Cyndi and I came up with an idea that has been, frankly, very hard to keep secret from Melissa! We conspired together to create a diaper collection in memory of Melissa's angel daughter, Leah. We wanted to complete the package in time for Daphne and Leah's third birthday tomorrow. We finished just in time and surprised Melissa yesterday.
Cyndi cut out and mailed me a stack of diaper pieces from Ohio....
And I sewed! We ended up with 122 diapers for the angels born at Mount Sinai Hospital of NYC. (86 tiny diapers and 36 bigger ones.)
Happy birthday, Daphne and Leah! We love you and your whole family!
Riverton Utah Hospital
Heretofore, we have donated primarily to large, high-risk hospitals and regional support organizations that service multiple facilities. It hasn't been intentional; it's just the way it's worked out so far. Many hospitals (I would venture to say most hospitals) do not need a gargantuan supply of micropreemie diapers for their bereavement needs. This little batch of 24 diapers will be donated to the Labor and Delivery Unit of Riverton Hospital. It will meet their needs for quite some time.
The bunny fabric was dropped off on my doorstep anonymously one night and I think the pattern is so cute.