It’s exciting to watch an event grow legs and walk on its own. Not only did “Green for Prems” walk, but it hit the ground running!

The sheer number of people who “attended” Li’l Aussie Prems online national event via Face book, ordered bands and wore green in honour or memory of a very special child (or children) in their lives was astounding and far beyond our expectations. I guess that goes to show that the stats really do under estimate the number of lives touched by premature birth—11% of babies are born early. That translates into thousands of people affected.

All you need to do is look at the Green for Prems event page, the number of photos and stories there to see just a portion of the premmie community. It really has been lovely to see such an outpouring from so many people supporting this cause and allowing us, in turn, to support other charities who do so much to help families during difficult times–Yasminah’s Gift of Hope, Sewing Mummy, Backpacks 4 Aussie Kids, C.H.I.L.D.

Louise and i have been friends for almost 7 years after meeting on a wedding forum in 2003. We watched each other plan our weddings from online and became great friends from a distance (myself from Sydney at the time & Louise in Queensland).

When i gave birth to Ronan (at 27 weeks) it was a whole new world, not just for me but almost everyone on the wedding forum. Very few members had been touched with prematurity in their families so it was by total surprise not only to myself but also the wonderful members that i had given birth so early as many of us were pregnant with our first children.

As the months went by and Ronan was in hospital a new forum had emerged where many of us moved to as it was specifically for parenting since we were all married and moved onto motherhood. I felt like i was starting to lose the plot. I found it hard to be on a forum where other mothers were experiencing full term births but i also felt happy for everyone as well. This is where Louise stepped in and made me see the light at the end of the tunnel. At the time Louise was a psychologist and has been practising for many years. Louise was a rock for me from the time Ronan was in hospital to the years following his discharge when i was struggling with the developmental delays he was facing. All the babies on the forum were now crawling and even walking, all born months after Ronan and he was barely even rolling yet! Louise spoke with me on many occasions about how and why i was feeling like i was. She guided me and helped me get back on track especially when i was feeling down. We spoke for many hours on MSN (was the easiest way to chat) and has been there since the inception of L’il Aussie Prems and supported everything i have done for other families touched with prematurity. I wanted to create an online support forum for families of premature babies after the struggles i faced personally with finding that “understanding” and Louise has supported every step. The forum has now reached over 1,200 members Australia wide with many of us finding that balance of support we had longed for.

Louise has been a support to me personally on many levels and also L’il Aussie Prems since day one. Louise was one of our very first sponsors to ever come onboard. She has financially supported the website for years and also donated MANY prizes for competitions for our members as well as Sponsor every event we have held, most recently our Premmie Hero Awards.

Louise has now moved on from her Psychology days and is now an award winning photographer. We FINALLY met last year as we were both in Sydney visiting family. Since i now live in Melbourne and Louise hasn’t had a chance to visit Victoria, it was just shear luck that we were both going to be in the same state at the same time. I took my 2nd son, Tristan (born at 36 weeks) with me to visit family. Louise and i met at Parramatta Park on a glorious day and she took the most amazing photos of Tristan. He was around 6 months old and ever so cute. Louise has such an eye for photography that i cannot believe that it took her so long to realise. She started out with buying a good camera, taking photos of friends and has excelled in her art since then.

Emotive Images provides wedding photography, portrait photography, newborn photography, child photography, trash the dress sessions and more in Brisbane, Queensland. Louise is an amazingly talented lady with a heart of gold. I am honoured to call her a friend and i am sure that we will continue to stay life long friends.

Below is a view of some of the stunning photos she took of Tristan in April 2009.

Please visit www.emotiveimages.com.au to book your session with Louise.

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Louise is a proud sponsor of L’il Aussie Prems

We will be featuring all our sponsors in the coming weeks so stay tuned…

Elizabeth has become a great friend over the past few years and i wanted to introduce her to you! If you are wondering who Elizabeth is, she is the fabulous woman behind LaToriana – an online boutique with an exquisite range of clothing & accessories and an avid supporter to premmie families.

Being on the Premmie Foundation committee i kept hearing the word “Elizabeth” when we were in our meetings. Amanda and Bianca were raving on about Elizabeth about who and what she does especially for their group in Bendigo, Loddon Mallee Kids (premmie charity). The first time we made contact between us was in September 2008 (so long ago) with Elizabeth introducing herself and letting me know about her premmie baby range. I now know what a kind hearted, generous, considerate and giving person that she is. I now rave on about Elizabeth myself to almost everyone i meet because she has given so much to me by way of support and friendship over the years! She has been an enormous support myself and L’il Aussie Prems on so many occassions.

From the top of my head these are the amazing things she has done for L’il Aussie Prems;

• Sponsored the 2009 Premmie Hero Awards
• Sponsoring the 2010 Premmie Hero Awards
• Gave up her time to be one of our award judges last year
• Donated a $70.00 prize for a recent raffle that was ran over the weekend
• Donated the most gorgeous Vanchi carry bag for a prize
• Placed endless blogs about the awards and about L’il Aussie Prems on her site
• Drove all the way to my house (over 2hrs away) so she could meet the premmie parents for a photoshoot we did for the Herald Sun last year & it was the first time we ever met! I was soooooo excited!!

I know that there is sooooooooooooooooooooo much more and she gives so much to all the premmie groups. Elizabeth is a saint and i have been wanting to let you all know about her for such a long time (maybe i have been secretly keeping her to myself)? noooooo i haven’t but i know that there are 1000s of other people who recognise & know of her goodwill, generosity & the support that she gives to everyone so i can assure you that many of her friends will nod their heads in agreeance.

Elizabeth’s astounding generosity goes far above the realm. She has just amazingly donated a weekend away at a Beach House for my family (the boys will love the beach). The gorgeous members at L’il Aussie Prems had been organising over the past few months to arrange something to give back to LAP (which i was totally unaware of). I was caught off guard by their generosity and Elizabeth’s as well. I cannot thank them all enough! We all work hard because we love to help others not because we expect anything in return. Elizabeth is one of the most unselfish people i know and i cannot believe what she has given to my family.

Elizabeth is a hero. A hero mum. A hero friend. A hero for giving so much of herself to her business, customers and those who support families of premature babies. I am proud to have met her and proud to know her. She has always believed in every vision i have put towards her & i am excited to finally introduce Elizabeth to you.

Elizabeth’s famous tag line is “let’s grab a cuppa“, so let’s all raise our coffee cups and celebrate Elizabeth for the amazing person that she is!

Visit www.LaToriana.com.au for gorgeous clothing, toys and accessories.

Lisa from Overall Being has been an amazing support to L’il Aussie Prems over the past few years. I remember Lisa from when i started the website back in February 2007 and she has grown so much over the years personally and professionally. She dedicates her time to her website whilst also showing nothing but professionalism, support and respect to her customers and stocks the most beautiful products and is always on the lookout for more. Overall Being is about creating memorable moments, who provide unique & gorgeous gifts ranging from personalised products, aromatherapy, jewellery, photos & massage…..Making a lasting impression for the mind, body and soul.

Overall being has been a supporter and sponsor of L’il Aussie Prems since last year and has supported all our events including just recently a raffle being drawn on behalf of the website and our Premmie Hero Awards. I met Lisa late last year and she was so welcoming and i couldn’t believe that she lived only 10mins down the road from me and had never bumped into her before. She is a mum with 4 gorgeous boys and still finds the time to support others, truly inspiring.

If you are a fan of massages and everything for the soul show your support for Lisa by visiting www.overallbeing.com.au

We will be letting you know a little about all our sponsors over the coming weeks.