Rosie’s Charm Necklace…

I wanted to post a photo of the charm necklace that was made on Rosie’s naming day. It has charms with wishes from all her family and friends. There are a couple more still to arrive (three, I think – there’s just about room for them!) It is an 18 inch necklace and it’s pretty heavy now. She is one lucky girl.

Barneys first day back at school went pretty well in the end. He was totally nervous, and anxious, but managed not to have a panic attack. Writing the letter to his school teacher himself (see post below) really seemed to help. In future I shall try this method with him to see if it helps calm him in other situations.

He loved his teacher. So much so that he came home and made a present for her! He got a box (the one our new kettle came in) and painted it, then stuck gold paper, lolly sticks and red glitter all over it. It was pretty big, and very colourful. Today he took it into school with him, and the teacher must have liked it because he came home with a special sticker and a Pirates of the Caribbean light up pen! He has had a few nervous outbursts at school where he has started to panic and felt sick (when moving rooms or going to assembly etc) but the teacher has managed to calm him down pretty well. She lets him sit with her in assembly. Barney says she lets him do anything he likes. He is very impressed!

I was also impressed as she phoned us after his first day of school to let us know how he got on. I am going in on Friday to speak with her. So far so good.

I was reading on an autism site last night about how the obsessive lining up of toys can often be one of the first signs of autism in a child. Barney still likes to line up his cars, but not as much now as he used to. I remember when he was 2 or 3 years old he would spend literally days at a time lining his cars up in various straight patterns. He could fill the entire hallway with his perfectly straight geometric car patterns. Once he had lined up about 200 cars he would start again with a different pattern. Even now, whenever we are going out for the day somewhere where he will need to entertain himself, we always take a big bag of cars for him to play with.

The naming of Emily Rose

Wow! Yesterday was just the most amazing day. It was magical, memorable and very special. Everything went perfectly, without a hitch. I think it was one of the loveliest family occasions we’ve ever held. Marty and I were just delighted with how fabulously it turned out, and completely touched and overcome by everyone’s beautiful wishes and gestures.

To make it even lovelier, my dearest friend from school days came over for the weekend to celebrate with us. It was just so lovely to have her here. Barney totally fell in love with her and talked the ears off her. He is really missing her now that she’s gone.

Everyone put so much effort into making the day run smoothly. My Mum let us use her huge house out in the countryside, which was the perfect location, surrounded by cows, sheep and horses. The kids all enjoyed running around the fields together. My sister Jenny re-iced and decorated Hannah & David’s remaining tier of wedding cake. As always she did an awesome job. Rosie was very impressed with her cake and just wanted to get her hands all over it!

Hannah, Steve and Mum cooked some really tasty food, and others made deserts. I hear Maddi’s

pavlova’s were really nice, and Anna’s buns were delicious, and a real hit with the kids! (And big kids!) Jenny’s girls made a bannoffi which I can testify was just scrumptious! Aunty Maddi made Rosie the best sign which was erected outside so that people knew which house to come to. She put a lot of effort into that sign. So glad I asked her, since I was just going to get an old sheet and some house paint, which wouldn’t have achieved a very classy look! I did make a little display of some of Rosie’s photos and some little things from her life so far… he hospital bracelet, first baby shoes, etc. We put that on the table with the wishes book and charm necklace.

I wanted the ceremony to be quite relaxed and chilled. We had planned to hold it outdoors but we have had such a terrible summer that it was just too wet. But Mum’s living room was big enough for everyone. The family sat in the middle of the room on the two sofa’s and the guests sat around that on chairs. My brother in law, David, ran the ceremony for us and did a great job. He was really personable, and it was lovely to have a member of the family involved like that, rather than a celebrant who none of us knew. It felt more homely and sincere.

The ceremony itself was only about 30 minutes long. David explained what a naming ceremony was and why we wanted to have one. He read out a poem about parenting that I had chosen. Then he asked everyone to come up one by one to add their charms to Rosie’s necklace, starting with her siblings. Badger made several touching wishes for his baby sister, which showed his maturity. He wished her to fulfil any ambitions that she has, to get married and have a family of her own, that she would be smart and beautiful, and that she would live peacefully in the way that she wishes to. Badger’s charm to Rosie was an angel. Tarja’s wish was that her beauty would never fade, and she chose a beautiful black glass bead with pink roses painted onto it. Little Barney said ‘I wish that you would have a happy and a stronger life’ as he placed his pink heart charm onto the necklace. I was so proud that he got up and said it aloud like that. He also took it upon himself to film the entire 30 minutes of service on my camera! That should be some viewing! It was quite funny as when people were saying their wishes etc he kept going up to them real close with the camera and making them giggle.

Every family member got up to say their wish for Rosie and placed on their charms, including me and Marty. Then our friends did the same. If Rosie develops everything that has been wished for her she will grow to be one amazing individual! I was very touched by the different wishes. People had really a put a lot of thought into it.

Marty and I made some promises to Rosie, as did her two guardians and her Grandmother. The guardians, Aunty Maddi and Aunty Hannah, wrote their own promises to her. I was almost in tears when they read them out. They both reflected their own personalities, and they had both clearly spent a lot of time really thinking about how they would like to make a difference in Rosie’s life. Everyone was clearly very moved by their promises. I can’t help but think what a lucky girl Rosie is.

Maddi, Badger and I performed Rosie’s special song. Anyone who reads the blog regularly will know what that is! I sang it with Maddi singing the harmony and playing guitar, and with Badger on the bongos. He did a great job, and Rosie joined in with him at one point as assistant bongo-er, which made everyone laugh. She clearly liked her song and was wriggling away to the rhythm.

All in all the ceremony was, in my opinion, a really moving, precious experience. And it was followed by lots and lots of glorious food, drink and good company! Rosie was a star throughout, despite missing her nap and being totally exhausted. Barney was a happy chappy since his best mate from school came too.

There are lots more photos. I think that you can click the link below to see them (it’s a new blogging feature that I haven’t used before!) I want to say a HUUUUUGE thankyou to everyone who came. Every single person there made it a special event. I personally was deeply moved by everyone’s kindness. Rosie has a beautiful necklace full of memories and a book filled with good wishes that she can treasure for the rest of her life.

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Naming Ceremony Idea... please join in...

I am posting this here rather than emailing to everyone as it just seems easier. Today I am busy sorting out the finer details of Rosies naming ceremony which will take place on Saturday 22nd August. Not long to go!

I have had so many ideas of things that we could do to make the day special, and will be using a few of them. But this one needs your immediate attention! So, all family members please take note... (and any friends who would also like to join in are more than welcome, just contact me for our address or bring it on the day).

I want to make Rosie a charm necklace. The idea is that every family member will make a wish/blessing for Rosie's life and will mark it by adding a charm to the necklace during the service. This will mean that Rosie has a beautiful present to commemorate the day, and something that she can treasure for all her life. We would like every family member to try to do this. It only takes a few minutes on ebay and the charms cost between £1 and £5. There is one seller who does them for 99p with free p&p. I will add some links below to get you started.

So you need to chose a charm. It can be something that represents something, or just a nice beautiful colour, its up to you. Then you need to think of your 'blessing' to go with it. Bring the charm and your blessing to the ceremony, where you will add it to the necklace and read out what you wish for Rosie's life. For example you could wish for courage, inspiration, inner beauty, happiness. Whatever is important to you, with a little sentence to go with it.

Now, it needs to be the right sort of charm. It is called a 'Pandora' charm. Otherwise it wont fit on the necklace.

THIS UK seller, sells Pandora charms for 99p with free postage. And he has a huge range to choose from. Here are some examples....

Hopefully, at the end of the ceremony, we will have something that looks like this (but with more charms on)....

This ebay seller also sells the charms for £2.99 buy it now, with free postage.

Alternatively you can just search for Pandora Charm on ebay yourself. There are literally thousands to choose from. Just be careful that if you order if from an International seller, that it has time to arrive.

So please, if every family member could take the time to join in with this, it will make a very special momento of the day and something that Rosie can one day show her own children. There will be charms on it from family and friends who are no longer with us. I'd really love it if you could all join in with this. And once again, anyone else who would like to do so can, by all means.