Pink 'n Blue Make Two: A Walk To Save Babies

So Sunday was the big day, we all did the WalkAmerica event to raise money for the March of Dimes. You may remember from a previous post that while we were in the hospital with Joseph, we received some support from the March of Dimes. We decided that we wanted to give something back in Joseph's memory, so that maybe other families would not have to go through the same things we did.

We formed a team with family and friends and did our best to raise a little money. Christa conservatively set our fundraising goal at $500, a goal we hoped we could achieve. We were a little nervous about our ability to achieve this goal, as we had already been asking people to donate money to the Ronald McDonald House Charities (another organization that did great things to help us in our time of need.) We sent out emails, posted messages at work, and you may remember when we collectively hit all of you (our faithful readers) up with a blog post in March and added our pledge link to this page.

I am happy to say that we managed to reach our $500 goal, plus a little more. As of this writing we have raised $1731.55 (yes, 55 cents, there are some really weird people out there, not mentioning any names **coughmomcough**), we more than tripled our goal!!!!!!! To say that we are excited would be a drastic understatement of the situation.

Once again we are bowled over by the generosity of our family, friends, acquaintances, and strangers. If I could give each of you a hug, I would, and so would Christa & Emily. We are very proud to say that we are associated with people of your caliber & generosity, knowing that this was done for our little boy is a humbling experience.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

On a more serious note, let's talk about Sunday . . . We awoke just as the sun was peeking over the horizon, there was a slight chill in the air, but we were not to be deterred. We bravely hit the snooze button for just nine more minutes, let's face it, there was a lot of walking to be done and we needed our rest. After dragging Christa & Emily out of bed, I managed to get everyone into the car and we then headed to Grandma Kathy's house to pick up her and Auntie Mandy before continuing on to the walk site in Busse Woods. Thankfully, when we arrived at Grandma Kathy's house, she and Auntie Mandy were already up and ready to go. After arriving at the walk site, we did our final check-in's and then met up with the rest of our team. Some of us foolishly elected not to stretch out, "I walk everyday, who needs to stretch?", the crazy fools, they would pay the price, oh yes, they would pay. . .

Promptly at 9:00ish, the walk began. Emily was very excited to begin the walk, and to be sure that she would have enough energy to finish, she promptly took a nap in her stroller. It was a very easy walk, up the side of a flat mountain, into a zero mile an hour head wind, through zero feet of snow and ice. I had hoped that the return trip would be downhill, or at least down wind, but that was not to be, as we once again had to scale a flat mountain into a zero mile an hour head wind. The total elevation gain was so great that it could not be measured. Apart from our struggles with the terrain, the walk itself was uneventful, considering that this is quite an event, and there were a good number of participants. We consider ourselves lucky that we finished with all of the same people that we started with, and almost all of their parts . . . Although, we did almost have to give Aunt Susie & Carl to the gypsies to gain passage across the pedestrian bridge. Sometimes sacrifices must be made to help the team, however, we did manage to win their freedom with a hard fought game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. I hope those scars may someday heal.

Anyway, I think that the rest of the story may be best told with the stunning photos that I took during the walk (with some help from Christa, albeit minor). It is like they say,"a picture is worth at least four or five of Steve's words."

The day started bright and early. We had to leave the house by 7 am, so we were up at the crack of dawn getting ourselves dressed. Emily didn't let the early hour spoil her good mood. She's such a morning person. Here she is modeling her new white jeans (with pink stitching, of course), her Joseph ribbon onesie, and her new walking shoes.

Emily's walking shoes were perfect for the occasion. They are white canvas sneakers with a pink and blue stripe around the side and sparkly flowers.

Here's the whole gang. First Row: Mommy (Christa), our friend Brandon Wolf & Brandon's dog "Lady". Second Row: our friend Michelle (aka, Chewski), Auntie Mandy, Grandma Kathy, Daddy (Steve), Emily (duh!), Carl (Aunt Susie's fiance), and Aunt Susie.

Daddy and Emily getting psyched up for the big walk.

Auntie Mandy and Grandma Kathy model the back and front of our team shirts. The backs are personalized with our team name "Pink 'N Blue Make Two" and then underneath "In Memory of Joseph Roy Bellock."

Chewski gets in a quick hug before chaos ensues.

Here's the walk Start/Ending point. Appropriately decorated with pink and blue balloons, as well as the Field of Hope pennants. Each pennant had a baby's name on it. There was a blue one for Joseph, a pink one for Emily, and then 6 white ones for Joseph's memory. Each member of our team carried a pennant during the walk. We picked them up as we passed them on our way down the path.

And the walk begins . . . Mommy and Emily take a quick, but very short-lived lead. We really didn't like feeling like we were being pushed forward by the crowd, so we lolly-gagged until we were left with a more isolated walk zone.

Brandon, Lady, Chewski, Carl and Susie march on.

Daddy, Chewski, Brandon and Lady have a good time catching up while walking forward.

The whole gang is here at the first check-point for a quick drink of water and a photo-op.

Daddy found a friendly face in the crowd . . . It's Mommy!

Emily knew how to do this whole WalkAmerica thing . . . she got herself all snuggled into her stroller, with "Cow", and took a nap for the first half of the walk. She didn't wake up until we got to the halfway point, where we needed to turn around and head back to the beginning. Smart Kid!

And we're walking, we're walking, we're still walking . . .

Chewski got a little silly with pennants. She had 2 of them tucked into her hat. Crazy Chewski.

Lady got into the spirit of things with a costume change at "the turn." She started the day with a pink bandanna for Emily and changed into a blue bandanna for Joseph.

Look who woke up for the second half of the walk. Just in time to get hugs from Mommy before we head back out.

And some hugs from Auntie Mandy.

Wearing her hat gangsta' style. Getting down with her bad self.

Because she had slept through the first half of the walk, Daddy made her get in a few steps before we put her in her Snugli for the second half of the walk. After all, this is WalkAmerica, not RideAmerica.

Now that Emily is safe in her Snugli, it's time to get a move on.

Walking back towards the finish line, Brandon, Lady, and Chewski are in the lead.

But Aunt Susie & Carl are not too far behind.

Mommy was afraid to walk too quickly and bounce Emily too much, so she was taking a much slower pace and was enjoying a leisurely walk with Grandma Kathy and Auntie Mandy.

I can see the finish line, we're almost there!

Back at the check-point, we stopped for another quick drink of H2O and Emily wanted to play with the flags for a bit. Everyone else had a turn, she wanted one too.