Ducks and Dogs and the Deuce

When I was pregnant with Eliza, I posted here about shopping on Etsy for art for her nursery.  I was so excited to decorate it, and I wanted to special-order something just for her.

This painted canvas was perfect for my Baby Duck.

We planned to hang this above one end of her crib.

When the worst happened, and we never got to bring our Baby Duck home, we packed away all of her little things, but that canvas remained out on a shelf in the guest bedroom.  A quiet little reminder of the baby we miss so much, and maybe of our hope that one day that room would become a nursery again.

When I got home from our first successful nonstress test on Monday, I found an unexpected package in our mailbox.  It was postmarked from Australia, and the name on the return address looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.

Inside, there was a letter from the Etsy artist who painted Eliza's baby duck canvas, almost a year and a half ago.

She said in her letter that that after I posted about this painting, way back in October of 2010, my blog generated some traffic for her Etsy shop, so she checked the blog periodically.  She was so sad to learn in December that our baby never got to see the painting we had specially ordered just for her.  (In fact, the painting arrived just a few days before we lost Eliza.)

Recently, she checked the blog again and learned that I was pregnant with the Deuce.  She said that she knew she wanted to create something special, just for this baby.  Her Etsy shop has expanded, and she's no longer commissioning paintings; however, she now does custom nursery prints.

As a special gift for the Deuce, she took two of the doggie prints that she sells in her shop, and personalized them to look like Cooper and Little Mac.  And then she packaged them up and mailed them all the way to St. Louis.  Just for the Deuce!

By the time I got to the end of her letter, I was bawling my eyes out.  I was just so incredibly touched that a stranger in another country would want to reach out to us with such kindness.  David came in to check on me and all I could do was hand him her letter--I hadn't even had a chance to look at the adorable prints yet!

Cooper counts to 12!

Little Mac sings the alphabet!

Are those the cutest things you ever seen or what?  I love them!

We are still waiting to set up the Deuce's nursery, but I can assure you that I can't wait to frame these and display them.  I want to put them up near the corner with the rocking chair, so I can sit there and tell the Deuce that there's a nice lady on the other side of the world who painted the baby duck picture for Eliza and then made these pictures--just for Deuce.  Just another sweet way that our two babies are linked by love.

Special thanks to Kylie, for her talent and generosity.  If you're interested, you can view all of the adorable nursery prints that are available in Kylie's Etsy shop if you click here.  And if you don't have pets of your own, you can probably request Cooper and Little Mac to be featured in your prints as well.  Because, I mean, look at them--we are talking professional model material here.  AM I RIGHT?