Abrielle Neff Foundation: Trapped in Time

Friday, May 29, 2009

Trapped in Time

Thought I would share another layout from my memory album. This one is titled Trapped in Time. For some of you, this will be your first glimpse into Abrielle's room. For others, this will be the first time seeing how Abby left things and your first chance to see her stuff in two years.

The first picture is of her Princess crown coat hook. On it she hung her Dora robe she had gotten for Christmas (she wanted a robe like Mommy and Sissy), one of her preschool artworks (I think it's from Valentine's), and her play jacket (the one she wore helping out in the yard the weekend before).

The second picture is one of her toy baskets. This is Annabelle (she would pronounce it Andabell) that she was so attached to. She was her favorite doll.

The third picture is of the painted letter "A" that hangs above her bed. Abby helped me pick out the colors for her A, told me what order to paint them in, and helped paint some. We did this project together two weeks before we lost her.

The journaling on the next page reads, "When we came home from the hospital that night, we closed the door to Abby's room, leaving everything as she left it - trapped in time."

The first picture is her Barbies in the jeep, ready to go for a spin. Below that is her princess dress hanging off her butterfly hook. She got this princess dress for Christmas and for some reason had to strip down every time to put it on. She would not put it on over the clothes she was wearing.

The top picture is her twin size bed. The bed was not made that morning, but what kid does make their bed. The sheets are actually brand new. I bought new sheets for the girls the week before and they we able to choose which one they wanted. This set is light pink with darker pink hearts, the other was just a solid pink. Of course both girls wanted this one, so we had to pick numbers and I said they could share the sheets, as in Abby have them one week, Mady the next time after they were washed. Obviously now the sheets will not be shared. On Abrielle's bed is her Nemo blanket that she drug around with Blankie. She had this with her at breakfast that morning. The quilt is her PS I Love You quilt that Mema Phyllis made her. There is also a pile of clean clothes on the bed. These were what were in the laundry at the time and I just couldn't put them away. We didn't empty her hamper ~ it still has the last clothes she wore in it.

The last picture is of her some things on her floor. It is a baby doll blanket, her build-a-bear cheerleader skirt, and one of her "cowgirl" boots. She had pulled these on the evening before with her capris to go help Marc outside.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Our Story...

Abrielle came into this world in a hurry to get started, which gave us our first glimpse at her personality. Not waiting on Dr Jane to put on gloves, only a towel to catch her with, she weighed in at six pounds fifteen ounces. From the beginning Abby had reflux, but there seemed to more than just that as she failed to gain weight. At four months we were sent to draw all kinds of labs, hoping for a solution, but all was normal. By six months of age, the vomiting became worse, almost nightly. We were keeping records of every calorie she ate, every dirty diaper, and every time she vomited. By this time Abby was refusing to eat supper most nights and would throw up her undigested lunch after bathtime at 8:00. Her food was just sitting in her tummy all day. Dr Watson sent us to Omaha Childrens Hospital to Dr Zapata a pediatric gastroenterologist to help diagnois the problem. There, over the next year and a half of her life, Abby underwent testing, treatments, and outpatient procedures. During every procedure she was given a stuffed animal to hold for comfort, even though she had Blankie with her.
To make a long story short, after the accident we discovered St Francis Hospital did not have a program like this for kids and Abby's Hugs was born.

That Tragic Day...

Thursday, March 29, 2007, began like any other school day in our household with the only exception being that it was Abby's sharing day at preschool. We had a rule that if the sharing item was not picked out the night before (which it usually wasn't), Abby had to be ready for school before she could find something to take. This morning was just like most ... nothing was picked out the night before. She hurried faster than usual that way she would have time to find something. After brushing her teeth, she ran to her room to find some clothes. I always tried to give Abby choices, but she was down to her last clean pair of capris. I gave her the option of wearing those, a pair of Gymboree Fruit Punch capris with a bright yellow shirt or jeans and a purple kitty shirt. She decided on the capri outfit which she had actually rejected every other day that week. After getting dressed, she went into Sissy's room and was playing with her LeapPad when I found her. I asked her how she wanted her hair fixed and she said "little pony". (Not that she was going to leave it in anyway) I helped her onto the sink and she dug through her basket of hair things until she found a yellow one. We went into the living room so I could sit down to brush her hair. Since sitting on my lap was now impossible, Abby stood in front of me as I pulled her hair up with the little yellow hair tie. She ran to her room and began looking for something to bring for sharing. She came out with her Little People's Noah's Ark set stuffed full of extra toys. Being a mean Mommy, I said, You can only bring one toy. Aww, was the response as she took the ark back to her room to look for something else. I went on about my routine of making my lunch and everything else to be ready to leave for work. Mady and I headed out to the Expedition and Abby was not following behind. I went back inside to find her and Marc on their way from her room with her big "bobbycat" (bobcat skidloader) for sharing. They had been looking for the scoop that attaches to the front but ran out of time. They decided that just the bobbycat would work. Marc helped buckle Abby in her car seat. Because she was so small we still used the 5-point harness and not just the seatbelt so she required some help. As we left the house, Marc pulled out ahead of the girls and I onto the gravel road. Just around the first set of curves past our house, I slowed down so we could watch the turkeys fly across the road. I am not sure if Abby saw them or not, but she said she did. We continued on, oblivious to our fate that lie ahead.

last added to 10/29 ...this I will add to as I am able ...thanks for understanding.

The Sentence

On June 25, 2008, Ryan C Sundermann was sentenced to 6 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections on charges of involuntary manslaughter. Sundermann wrecklessly caused the death of Abrielle Neff in a motor vehicle collision on March 29, 2007. Sundermann was charged with failing to maintain proper control of his vehicle, failure to drive on the right half of the roadway and operated a motor vehicle after consuming alcohol.
Sundermann was previously convicted of Driving While Intoxicated and Failure to Drive on the Right Half of the Roadway on April 25, 2006 and sentenced to 2 years probation, 12 days in jail, and a $300 fine. On December 19, 2006, Sundermann was again convicted of Excessive Blood Alcohol Content-Prior Offender which he received a Suspended Execution of Sentence of 180 days, was continued on 2 years probation and received a fine.