Getty Owl Foundation

Happy Virtual Birthday Getty!

by: Stacey

We have so much to giveaway and so much fun to be had today that there was no way I could wait till 7am to get this party started!  So, let’s get started shall we!

Our first giveaway is a BIGGIE and the rules have changed to make it a little easier for everyone to enter!  Up for grabs is this:

A Flip Mino HD 8gb Camcorder with a case!!  Wanna know how to get one?  Well, that is the easy part…you just have to wish Getty a Happy Birthday!   You can do this one of two ways now, with a video OR with a picture!

Let’s start with the video, which has also been made easier.  Record your video, any length you choose, wishing Getty a Happy Birthday.  Then, either post is on the Getty Owl Facebook wall, post is on Youtube or email it to gettyowl@gmail.com.  Then come back here and leave a comment letting us know where your video was posted and you are entered to win!  Here is an example of a video Leyton and I made, but remember you can get as fancy or as simple as you like.

If making a video gives you the heebie jeebies, then you can also take a picture!  You must be wishing Getty a Happy Birthday in this picture in some way!  Here is a pic of Leyton playing a tambourine and wearing his bee hat to wish Getty a Happy Birthday!

Email your pictures to gettyowl@gmail.com or post them on the Getty Owl Facebook wall.  Then come back here and leave a comment saying where your picture is and you will be entered to win!

You have until midnight tonight to submit your entry, pacific standard time.  The winner of the Flip Camcorder will be announced on the blog tomorrow.  Remember, your entry must include a comment on this blog to be eligible as I’ll be using the wonderful random number generator to select the winner.

Have fun!  Be creative!  Come back here in an hour to see what is up for grabs next!!!

Bittersweet Symphony This Life

From Kate:

I feel compelled to post this before Getty’s 1st Birthday. Friday is going to be so terrific for so many different reasons, and I don’t want the blues to consume me, so I thought perhaps blogging about it now would be kind of like a preemptive strike. Those work right? 🙂

I have been very emotional lately and I think it really comes down to a few things.

1st) Getty will be 1. When we sat in that neurologist’s room on that  fateful day in July, I honestly didn’t think we would be celebrating her 1st birthday with her. Our neurologist  had painted such a grim picture of SMA that I thought maybe we had a few months, if that. But here we are, and she is going to be 1 in two days; I can’t tell you how amazing that feels.

I can’t thank the SMA community enough for helping us care for Getty: supporting and guiding  us to ask the right questions to doctors who don’t educate themselves about this disease. I can honestly say, I attribute all of the vitality of our little missy to your help. She is healthy, she is thriving, and she is so incredibly smart. I am so blessed to be her mommy and to also have a chance to get to know her. So I thank you all.

Okay give me a second while I wipe my face of pure weepies. These are certainly tears of joy and tears of gratitude. We need to continue to all stick together and continue fighting for our babies, warriors, and angels. We need a cure like yesterday, so let’s keep pushing on!

2nd) I have been thinking a lot about life in general. I have moments of pure spontaneous meditation, when my body will be doing one thing while my mind is doing something completely different.

So today’s pause was about the meaning of life. I know, really deep, but really, what is the meaning of life?

Another thought was yes, SMA is a devastating disease and, not to trivialize, but if Getty’s life is theoretically on a “timeline”, well isn’t everybody’s? I mean just because she has a terminal disease doesn’t mean I am going to live any longer than she. I know this is sounding morbid, but stick with me.

What gives us (meaning just people in general) the right to not take in life as a gift every day? What gives us the right to assume we have tomorrow? I think that is really the point I have been learning for myself since this journey began. I don’t have any guarantees, so since that is the case, I need to live life to the fullest, and Getty has taught me that. She lives with such grace and I am so proud to be her mommy.

So what is the meaning of life? To live life like you may not have tomorrow would be my answer right now.

3rd) So turning 1 is certainly an awesome milestone. It is bittersweet to see our little girl getting so big. I’m serious, Getty is 23 pounds and 29 inches. They sure grow up fast. I wish time could stand still on Friday, but since it can’t, we will take lots of pictures and make tons of memories.

I hope Getty appreciates the crazy amounts of crepe paper that will stream across the house. I think I bought too much, but damn it, I am going to use it, even if we have some streamers in the bathroom. 🙂

I have also bought a few presents for her that I have restrained myself from showing her. I have already wrapped them. So that little sneaky snake can’t peek. 🙂

Morgan will be coming over to take pictures and my hope is to post on the festivities the following day. Then, after her birthday, we will celebrate 13 months, and 14months, and 15 months, and……you get the pattern.

I just want to thank everyone for all the kind well wishes Getty has received so far. It is so nice to know that you are thinking of Getty on her big day. We are equally so excited to see the birthday videos. Thank you Stacey for your awesome idea, and thank you for having Leyton set the bar so high with his tambourine solo.

Getty Emelia Storm

Born March 25, 2010 at 8:16pm

Happy Birthday Little Owl!

Let’s GETty Ready to Party!

by Stacey

Hello friends!  Can I just tell you that I have been waiting to write this post for months and cannot believe that we have our feet firmly standing in the week of Getty’s Birthday?!  We should all give out a big HOOT HOOT!

This Friday, the 25th, Getty will celebrate her 1st Birthday!  First birthdays are very exciting for any family, but for Getty even more so.  Sadly, because we are still in the midst of RSV season Getty cannot have a traditional birthday.  So, what better than a virtual birthday party!!!

What does a virtual birthday party look like?  Well, it’s full of fun and goodness of course.  Who is invited to a virtual birthday party?  EVERYONE!  That is what makes virtual birthday parties so exciting!  Here is how you can join the celebration.

Let’s start with the big one, make a birthday video for Getty!  Break out your video cameras, web cams, anything you can make a video with and record away.  This is the best way for Getty to see that you are at her party!  Once your video is made, you must upload it to YouTube and title it “Happy First Birthday Getty” and tag it with “Happy Birthday Getty” to make it easy to find.  Then, on Friday, when the video blog post goes up at 8am PST leave a comment linking to your video.  Getty will then get a chance to watch all of you wishing her a Happy Birthday!  What makes this even better…..there is a giveaway for all who enter!  Everyone who submits a video will be entered to win a Flip MinoHD 8GB Pocket Camcorder with case.  This prize is valued over $150 and is yours for the taking.  Here is an example of a video that Leyton and I made today!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQisjJ81x4I&hl=en&fs=1]

There is no length requirement for your video and you can make it as fancy or as simple as you like.  The winner will be selected using random number generator and announced on Saturday morning.

The next piece of exciting news is that the “Lullabies for Getty – Sweetwater Child” album by Angela and Alex Dezen of The Damnwells will be releasing on Friday and available for purchase!  There will be information on how to buy on Friday as well as another giveaway for a $100 iTunes gift card!

Finally, we have 10 more prizes to giveaway throughout the day!  Items have been generously donated by some wonderfully crafty people.  All it will require of you is a comment!

So, make sure you get back here at 8am PST on Friday for our first party post and stay tuned all day as we party hardy with Getty!

Getty Videos D`jour

From Kate:

I uploaded a few videos of Getty.

The first video is of Getty of course. We wanted to make sure we captured her sweet “Bert” giggles.

Giggle Monster

The second video was captured last night. We put Getty into her arms slings and we helped her play with her tambourine. Mark played and sang along with her. Then at some point she literally fell asleep and Mark kept playing and singing in the hopes not to wake her. Yesterday she didn’t sleep as much as she usually does for her nap, so at this point she was beat.

Little Drummer Girl

Last video is her first encounter with Grover from Sesame Street. I bought her a Grover puppet for her upcoming birthday and I couldn’t stand it, I had to let her play with it already. I hope she has presents for her birthday, because this mommy can’t keep anything a secret.

Attack of Grover

I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Our Lucky Charm!

From Kate:

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I decided to get Getty all nice and festive. She was such a good sport about it. So the following pictures are of our “photo session” together. I have also added a video. I wanted to show you the entire scope of her hair. If you notice she wasn’t very happy about being on camera, I was interrupting her Yo Gabba Gabba show. I tried really hard to get a smile, but alas she is a hard nut to crack sometimes.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to everyone. Our pot of gold is almost one year old and she is the best treasure we could have ever wished for.

And last but certainly not least, the St. Patrick’s Day Video

St. Patrick Day Getty