This time last year I received this fabulous print through the post from http://www.nameart.co.uk/ 

Being a big Twitter fan I had followed Charis for a while and admired her fabulous work with names and art, during September 2012 she announced her newest venture 'Footprints' 
I loved them and knew they'd be a great addition to our house and whilst I needed to include Alexander I wanted the acknowledgement that our circumstances were a little different.

Chatting with Charis she came up with the above picture including him as a member of our family, as Harrison's Twin and big brother to Joe but that his feet are millimetres smaller than Harrison's suspending him at an age always younger than his twin. His feet are a different colour to ours as he is different, I can't change this!

Since our commission Charis wanted to make these footprints a part of her site, realising there are many families in positions such as ours and so we batted a few ideas out on twitter and now Charis has created 'Never Forgotten' footprints and she has generously decided to donate 10% from the sales of these prints to The Lullaby Trust  http://www.nameart.co.uk/themes/footprints/never-forgotten-footprint

I'd like to say a public Thank You to Charis for taking the idea for our prints and making them available to all families who have lost a member, we can no longer include them in photo's or watch them grow with us but the footprints are a permanent reminder that they were and always will be part of our family. 

So I've a few things to catch you all up with ...

Big Ball Central is going full flow at the minute and I am getting quite a few enquiries for places and tables for 2014 which is superb.  Numbers are up to about 470 at the minute which is mind blowing for me and I need to say a huge Thank You to all of you who have gone out and made the effort to fill a table or two (or three).  I am still taking bookings for tables so if you have been umming and ahhing then New Dock can accommodate so many more so don't delay get in touch.
There are still a few deposits outstanding so I would appreciate if you could get those to me asap as your final total is due on 30th November.

I had an amazing email last week from Dave Molloy offering his help as an events organiser all for free!  This rarely happens I know but for me I have 3 fabulous companies doing this now, Glamourpuss Weddings, Giant Events and now Events Line.  
Having met with Dave last week I know that Keiron (Giant Events) and myself are excited about what we can achieve with Dave's help, listening to the two of them talking lighting and AV made me chuckle and I'm very lucky to have two such passionate and knowledgeable guys helping me out with what is turning out to be a mammoth event.  I don't want to spoil the surprises we have in store but I am very very very excited!!!!!
http://www.eventsline.co.uk/

Last week Sarah Nicholson the founder of The Mumdrum a newish parenting site spoke to me and did a blog piece as part of their Safer Sleep promotion alongside The Lullaby Trust.  Sarah took a great angle for me not concentrating just on our loss but what we have gone on to do since and how The Lullaby Trust has helped us carry on if you didn't manage to read it here it is http://mumdrum.com/the-mumdrum-blog/b/weblog/archive/2013/10/15/nicola-richardson-the-lullaby-trust-alexander-39-s-ball.aspx  Thank You Sarah you were lovely to speak to and am glad to hear the campaign got great feedback.

On the same day I had a meeting with Gill Ryder, The Lullaby Trust's Regional Development Officer for the Yorkshire and East Midlands Area.  The money we raised in 2012 went towards funding a Seminar for Health Professionals in our region and I'm pleased to say that it will be going ahead on 29th November.  Gill asked me to play a part in the day by standing up and speaking to these professionals about our experience, everyone is different when it comes to such things and by making them aware of their actions and how they can be perceived hopefully we can get a consistent standard of care and even in the 6 years since Alexander died there have been procedures put in place that I know could have helped us more back then.  I'm immensely proud that the money you donated is being used to great effect.
On a side note I know Alexander's Charity Ball donation paid for a family day in the Yorkshire region as well this was held yesterday (unfortunately we couldn't attend) at Butlins in Skegness, I hope everyone who went had a lovely day.

As you can see from our picture we have a spectacular poster advertising for 2014 a HUGE Thank You to Tia at Who Ate My Crayons for donating her skill and time to complete this for us it's beautiful I love it, watch out for her designs on the night for our brochure!    Go take a look at Tia's website and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter,mention cake I bet she'll follow you back!!!
http://www.whoatemycrayons.com/

So there we have it things are moving on at a head spinning pace and I know that 2014 is going to be the event of the year
 Are You Joining Us?

October is recognised by many as being the internationally recognised month of awareness for Pregnancy and Infant Loss, announced by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 many parents who have suffered the loss of a baby have clung to the tradition of never forgetting those little lives.

Today on October 15th we will be joining the millions of families lighting a candle in memory of our son and all those little ones who have left a gaping hole in their families.  At 7pm everyone is invited to light a candle in ALL time zones ALL over the world.  If everyone lights a candle at 7pm in their time zone for one hour this means there will be a continuous 'Wave of Light' over the entire world on this day.

It seems like such a little thing to do but in a time when babies are still dying it helps those of us who are fighting daily to raise awareness for our causes.  We think about our babies daily and all we ask is that you think of them too for a short amount of time.

If you'd like to light a candle for Alexander you can do so on his Memorial Page http://lullabytrustinmemory.org.uk/Alexander-Richardson.html