3rd Annual Halloween Costume Contest!

From Kate:

With Getty starting school and trialing the power chair, I almost forgot about our annual Halloween Costume Contest.

Okay so here we go! Dress your little ones up in the cutest and most creative costumes you can. Take a picture of them. Email the picture to me at hoot@gettyowl.org. So incredibly simple!

I want to change things a little bit this year though. I am going to let you, the readers to pick the top three winners.

Details:

1) Deadline to enter a picture is November 1st. Email address is hoot@gettyowl.org 

2) A collage of all the entries will be up to view on November 2nd.

3) Deadline for voting is November 4th.

4) Make a comment to that blog post of your top three (1 comment per person).

5) Contest selected kiddos will be announced on November 5th.

PRIZES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1st Place: $100 Barnes and Noble gift card

2nd Place: $50 iTunes gift card

3rd Place: $25 Visa gift card

Soooooooo get creative kiddos! We are so excited to see what you come up with and we are equally excited to let everyone else vote. These last few years have been stressful choosing. Now we can just sit back and let everyone else pick. 🙂

We are still trying to figure out what Getty will be this year. But here is our little Getty Barn Owl last year. Hoot! Hoot!

Fun Odds and Ends!

From Kate:

We are trying to squeeze every ounce of summer we can before RSV season rears its ugly head, so I wanted to post all the fun things Getty has been doing and experiencing.

Chalk it Up was Labor Day weekend and we would like to thank Autumn for choosing to be our artist for the Getty Owl Foundation square. You did a terrific job and it was so nice to meet you!

A pirate’s life for Getty. We had a great time dressing up as pirates a couple of weeks ago. She loved the jewels and decorating her treasure chest full of coins and gold. She was no however too happy about the pirate patch. 🙂 That stayed on for about 2 seconds. Just enough time to take the picture.

Aunt Patti comes over once a week and Getty loves her visits. Patti reads to her, they chat and I think what Getty enjoys the most are her amazing massages and smoochies.

Getty and Daddy went out to dinner the other night. Elephant Bar was the destination. They had a great time together and the weather was perfect outside.

Getty took her first trip to a store last week. Her victory garden was in need of some fall flowers so we went to Lowe’s to find the perfect one’s to fill her garden. We strolled down isles. Getty enjoyed the lighting department, the fans, the paint section. We meandered through the cabinetry area and holiday section. It was so much fun to watch her eyes light up in amazement. This was the first time Getty had been in a store. It was a beautiful time to share with her. She did leave the store without paying for those flowers though. Oops. The first time in a store and she is already a shoplifter. 🙂

Getty loves playing music and she loves listening to music, but we learned not at the same time. She was rockin” and rollin’ on the triangle and then I made the mistake of incorporating one of her favorite soundtrack, The Sound of Music. My thought was that it would encourage her music playing, but it did the opposite. She stopped immediately to listen. So instead, we sang all the songs. The picture was taken a couple of seconds I after I asked her to “keep playing”. Um…..no.

We have a Tea Party Game for Getty. I found it this weekend and I was hoping she would like it. So thankful that she did. She loved spinning the teapot to see what part of the place setting she would be able to add to her side of the table. The idea is to get all of the items before the other person to win. Since it was just the two of us playing, she always got the chance to choose between 4 fruits, 4 desserts, 4 cups of tea, etc. We try very hard to make sure that Getty is in control of the decision making in her life and it is a joy to watch her choose with her eyes which one she wants. Needless to say she beat me fair and square. She chose sandwiches, dessert cakes, and cherries to eat. When the game was over, Getty even helped me clean up. We had a great time and perhaps we can make a tea date every week.

Marabeth Quin Print Winner!

From Kate:

I used random.org to generate the winner. Earliest to oldest participant was assigned (1-12). And the winner is……Amanda!

Congrats Amanda! If you can email me at hoot@gettyowl.org with your address, I can get it out in the mail tomorrow.

Thank you to all the participants.

Most importantly, thank you Marabeth Quin for donating such a beautiful print.

Happy Sunday to all!

What A Lovely Lady!

From Kate:

I was introduced to a very talented artist a few months ago by a fellow SMA friend and warrior. I often get cute pictures of owls or owl items to buy from friends on fb. I would be in debt to my ears if I bought every single item. They are all so cute and it is difficult to restrain, until I saw Marabeth Quin’s paintings. They are beautiful and so colorful. Here is her website.

I was immediately drawn to a couple of her paintings for good reason, she paints owls. 🙂 Her inventory is gorgeous and I fell in love with several pieces. Many of them have quotes that resonated with me and well I fell in love with her work, truth be told.

I reached out to her to let her know what piece I wanted to buy and also tell her about Getty. I love talking about Getty. 🙂 In certain regards I felt kind of funny messaging her on fb, I am sure she gets all kinds of people messaging her and I was hoping she would see that perhaps my message was different. When she did respond, I was over the moon. She is such a kind soul and she was nice enough to read my message but also gifted the painting I was going to buy for Getty’s room.

People are good and people are so giving. I want to thank Marabeth so much for being so thoughtful.

Here is a picture of the painting in Getty’s room. I tried to put it in a place so that while she sleeps she can gaze at her two feathered friends.

Marabeth did not stop there. She also sent us a print to be given away to a very lucky individual. So I am going to do a giveaway today. I will announce the winner on Sunday at 12 noon PT.

Here are the rules to the giveaway. It is really easy. I would like you to check out her website and “like” her fb page, Artist Marabeth Quin. She did not ask me to do this, I want to do this because I want people to see her beautiful paintings and prints. Marabeth is so gifted, I want the world to see her talent. After you have liked her page, come back here and leave a comment that you liked her page. I trust that all will honor my wishes to do the necessary steps in order to be in the running. I thank you all in advance. The winner will be chosen using random.org.

Easy Peezie.

Here is the beautiful print for the giveaway.

Beautiful isn’t it. A fitting quote for us all I believe. Letting things go brings such peace in certain situations. Looking forward to giving this print away on Sunday. Good luck to all.

Unexpected

From Kate:

Getty’s last day of trialing the particular power chair she has been using was on Wednesday. We do not know when the next one will become available for her to continue the great progress she has made so far.

I have been in discussion with all kinds of people within our insurance and other resources we can tap into. This fight is obviously not over, it has only begun. Mark is doing lots of research as well. I can google things, but he can really google things. 🙂 Isn’t that strange how one person’s search can so much more affective than another? So I leave that area of expertise up to him. 🙂

I titled this post “Unexpected” for a reason. I do try and find a title that encompasses the theme of a post, and I think this one is pretty accurate.

Getty and I drove to her last appointment for her chair on Wednesday. I was so excited that she would be having her fun “chair time” time as she always gets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This week would be different though, the chair would be shipped off right after Getty’s appointment.

Inside I was so sad. As we drove, I thought about how this fight is just getting started and in the meantime we don’t know when another loaner chair would be offered to us. With RSV season on its way, I felt like our clock was running out and perhaps we might not see another one until after April or May of 2014. I was trying to keep in check, I was doing good, until I started to get Getty into all of her braces.

The OT and I were in discussion while I was putting on her braces. I got a chance to stress how frustrated I was with this process, the system, the “everything”. Knowing that Getty was having so much fun learning how to use the powerchair on her own is so exciting for her. She gets sassy with me if I do not get her braces on quick enough. As I strapped her into the chair and the necessary precautions were taken to get her on her way I was started to cry.

I was crying because honestly when it comes to Getty and her diagnosis, whatever brings her happiness, we fight for it. At that moment, knowing that Wednesday would be the last day until I don’t know when, felt like I had failed her and I just wept. I wept in front of my child and I tried so hard not to. I said to Getty, “You go have a good time with the OT, mommy will sit back here and watch you, you rockstar.” We locked eyes and I think she could see that I was visibly sad.

I sat back on a bench and I watched her get started with her training and then something unexpected happen. Usually once Getty gets the green light, she is off moving about the room. Tearing around corners, starting and stopping, listening to her OT’s commands. But this time she did not move in that manner. She didn’t move at all. She was facing me and she started to move towards me instead. I had my hands propping my head up, still with tears in my eyes and she kept getting closer and closer until she stopped right in front of me. Her OT was asking Getty to “get going”, but she wasn’t leaving my side. She just kept looking at me.

I often don’t know what Getty is feeling. I mean I can tell by her sounds, eye movement, and her overall demeanor, but usually I am guessing. She lacks the ability on her own to hug me or snuggle one her own with me, or say to me maybe “what’s wrong mommy”. But her actions at the beginning of her training said it all. She saw me sad and that was her way of comforting me. So incredibly unexpected and so life changing for this mom.

I got up from the bench and I kissed her face all over. I whispered in her ear that mommy was fine and that I wanted her to have the best day today. “Knock it out of the park kiddo, go for it Turbo.” I said. I gave her a huge genuine smile and I squeezed her cheek. My tears were now dry, my smile was from ear to ear and I was so ready to watch her take flight.

She immediately turned around and found her OT and started her training. I stayed in the background to watch her. She weaved in and out of objects. She started and stopped, she weaved right and left. I noticed Getty would glance over at me once in a while and my smile increased in size.

When the session was over, I picked her up to transfer her and she gave me a huge smile. I kissed her all over and then placed her on the stroller. A huge squeal of excitement bellowed from her mouth, to which I squealed back.

As we drove home, I thought about what had happened between us in the OT office. Getty has always been our teacher. I find that when I am not stopping to listen to her. I mean really stop to listen, I lose my center. With so much fighting and stress that comes with getting everything she needs and deserves, it is easy to get wrapped up in it. But the action and look on her face as she drove straight for me at the beginning of her appointment brought me back down. It was her way to show concern, but I also think it was Getty’s way of letting me know that this will all work out and not to worry.

Getty has always been our guide. I always say, “Getty will let us know.” And she did. It was me that needed to stop and listen.

It is now Friday and I am not stressed over logistics or finding just the right piece of literature to arm ourselves with to make our case. It will come and she will get her chair. I just need to take a breath and just enjoy life. Life with Getty.