Tales of one woman stumbling her way through motherhood.
Oh sure, you might have thought you were getting a blog post from me today, but you’re not.
Instead you get this:
And this:
And this:
Revel in the cuteness and expect a real post in another day or so.
Or you can go visit my other blogs where I’m giving away Naturalizer shoes and Sephora gift cards.
I try not to ask a lot of everyone who comes by this blog. I’m happy to share stories and photos and have discussions about deep topics like special needs education and which eighties cartoon to have my daughters watch next.
But today I’m asking for a small favor. Columbus Parent magazine is having a cover photo contest, and the winning child will get to be the cover model for one of the monthly issues. I normally try to avoid anything that involves voting – popularity contests just bring back nightmares of coming in last as a child, and I often feel that those with the most resources generate the most wins. (Although I actually have a pretty stellar resource with this blog and the Internet.)
However, I decided to enter this contest for a few reasons. First, I’ve got a couple of good-looking kids who would both make excellent cover models.
More importantly, this would be an excellent chance to feature a child with autism on the cover of Columbus Parent. Cordy is not only beautiful, but she’s smart and charming and has an incredible story. At three years old we didn’t know what the future would hold for her when the autism label was applied. Would she be able to go to college? Would she even be able to attend a regular classroom?
Everyone who visits here regularly has followed along through her transformation. Today, at seven years old, she spends 90% of her day in a mainstream classroom and about 90% of the time she’s a cheery ball of sunshine as well. She’s reading well beyond her first grade level and has just started working on double-digit addition and subtraction. The school wants to test her for the gifted education program. The latest report from her teachers is that she now runs with packs of other kids on the playground at recess instead of playing by herself, and possibly even has a friend or two.
Cordy’s a success story, and she is a positive example of a child with autism living well beyond her label. She has her difficulties and still struggles with a lot of social issues, but she’s thriving in her environment.
So…this all leads up to the favor I’m asking of you. Will you please vote for Cordy in the Columbus Parent contest? You don’t have to be a Columbus resident to vote. All you have to do is leave a comment under her photo with the word VOTE in it somewhere. Or just the word “vote” would do, too, if you’re in a rush.
You do have to register for the site to vote. (I’m sorry – I wish they didn’t have that restriction. Check your spam folder if you do register, as the confirmation email seems to go there for many people.)
The voting round is open until October 17, 2011 at noon ET. I can already tell there are some kids in this contest with large families, so we’ll need all the help we can get! The top 5 kids with the highest votes will go on to the finalist round where the magazine will select the winner.
What’s in it for you, you ask? I don’t really know what to offer in return. The privilege of knowing you helped the Amazon warrior princess get the cover of a magazine? A hand written thank you note from her? (Warning: her thank you notes are very short.) A promise from me to post more often?
Anyway, if you have a moment, please leave a vote for Cordy! And share it with your friends, too!
(And now I swear I won’t ask any more from you for at least another few months.)
It seems to sneak up on me every year, but today is yet again the Official Delurker Day, the once-a-year plea for those of you who quietly read to write one little comment of support. (Or even if you do comment, please say hi also!)
It’s hard to believe I’ve been blogging now since 2005, and it’s even harder to know that I don’t get to do it as often as I used to. There was a time when I really cared about my stats and would religiously follow them each day, looking to see which posts got the most attention and trying to guide my writing towards more like those. Since starting my crazy job working the night shift, I’ve had way less time, and significantly less brain power, to devote to blogging. As a side effect, I’ve also lost my obsession with my stats. I know less people come by here now, and that’s OK. (Even if Mom 101 named me one of her Top 50 Mommybloggers that didn’t make the Babble top 50 mommybloggers list and are probably more fun anyway. Also? There’s some awesome blog reading in that list.)
So while I may not write as often now, I still come back because I want to interact. I love it when others read and enjoy what I write, and I love finding new people who share my interests. I feel bad that I don’t get to interact with my readers as much as I used to.
(And let’s not talk about the backlog in my Bloglines. If I comment now on a post you wrote two months ago, take it as a compliment that I really wanted to comment, even though it took me that long to read it.)
However, just because I’m not writing or interacting as often doesn’t mean I have less appreciation for my readers. I’d probably still be here writing even if I was just talking to myself, but thank you for coming back and taking an interest in my life. I truly do appreciate it, and I value the friendships that have developed from this little corner of the internet. Thank you all for keeping me sane.
(And for putting up with the extraordinary number of parentheses in this post. Apparently half of my thoughts are really asides or after-thoughts.)
So if you have a moment in your busy schedules today (or whenever you read this), drop a quick comment in and say hi.
And one more thing – if you’re even more moved to do so, delurk in the world community and make a difference to the people of Haiti after that devastating earthquake. Donate to the Red Cross – even $1 helps – or if you can’t, use your blog or Twitter or Facebook to get the word out to others, asking them to help. The people of Haiti have already undergone a tremendous amount of poverty and hardship before the earthquake, and they need our assistance more than ever now.
Edited to add: I’ve now added a button on my sidebar that lets you donate to the Red Cross for the Haiti relief effort. All donations go directly to the Red Cross.
As many of you know, earlier in the year I was asked to be a March of Dimes Mom, serving as a blog ambassador to help raise awareness about prematurity and birth defects. I’ve always been a supporter of the March of Dimes and their cause, and I am honored to volunteer my time and a little of my words and blog space for them.
I’m thankful that both of my daughters were healthy, full-term babies when they were born, but I can sympathize with those who aren’t as lucky. My mom lost a daughter due to prematurity, a terrible moment in her life that I know she carries deep in her soul.
November is Prematurity Awareness Month, and March of Dimes will be releasing their Healthy Baby Report Card, a state-by-state rating of infant health care. I’m not sure where Ohio will stand, but I hope it’s higher than I’m expecting.
Also, March of Dimes is teaming up with Bloggers Unite to promote Prematurity Awareness Day on November 17. The goal is to have 500 bloggers posting on that day about a baby that they love to bring awareness to the ongoing need for prematurity research funding.
From the Bloggers Unite website:
Medical advances give even the tiniest babies a chance of survival, yet for many babies premature birth is still a life or death condition. It’s the #1 cause of death during the first month of life. And babies who survive face serious health challenges and risk lifelong disabilities.
The rate of premature birth has never been higher. In half the cases, we simply don’t understand what went wrong. We need to fight for answers. And, ultimately, preventions.
November 17 is dedicated to raising awareness of the crisis of premature birth. The March of Dimes invites bloggers like you to get involved.
• Learn about premature birth at marchofdimes.com/fightforpreemies
• Put a badge on your blog during November, Prematurity Awareness Month®
• On November 17, blog for a baby you love and to help others
I’m planning to join in, and I’m hoping you will pencil in a reminder to do the same on November 17. You can also place a badge on your blog for the month of November to help raise awareness – right click and save any of the images below to your computer and then place the badge on your blog with a link to http://marchofdimes.com/fightforpreemies
I get a lot of e-mail each day. Please don’t think I’m bragging, because in no way am I proud of the spam I have to delete from my Inbox continuously. Some of the legitimate e-mail includes PR pitches (some of which also end up as spam), asking me to review a product or post a press release. My favorite e-mails are from blog friends or even complete strangers who took the time to say hi.
And then I get an e-mail like the one below. A complete stranger, asking so little, with so much to gain from our effortless act of signing a petition. How could I not help? Please read Victoria’s e-mail and sign the petition to help promote Spinal Muscular Atrophy awareness and accelerate research to find a cure.
From Victoria:
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Dear Christina,
I recently found your blog via a mother who follows mine. I immediately bookmarked you and am thrilled to now have your website at my fingertips. Although it may seem random, I am writing to you because I feel drawn to your writing voice and I thought perhaps I may find a advocate in you. And, frankly, I am desperate.
I have a beautiful 16-month-old little girl. She is a happy baby with a fighting spirit — and it is a good thing because she has already been through enormous challenges. My daughter, Gwendolyn, has a degenerative and terminal disease. Over the last eight months, I have grown accustomed to feeding tubes and medical machines filling her nursery. I have even come to terms with the knowledge that I will most likely lose my baby before she reaches the age of two…well, some days any way. I am hoping that you will consider helping me raise awareness about her little known but all too common disease and highlight a petition my husband and I started.
My daughter, Gwendolyn, was born perfectly healthy October 2007. Unfortunately, at 9 weeks old she became very ill and was eventually diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy or SMA, the #1 genetic killer of infants. In fact, 1 in 40 people unknowingly carry the gene responsible for SMA. It is terminal. It is degenerative. It is cruel. Gwendolyn will never walk, never sit up unassisted, and spends most time completely flat where she is most comfortable. Some days I can not pick her up or snuggle her because the movement is too much for her. She may never speak, although we are hopeful. And while she currently has some arm movement, it seems to weaken every day. She needs help to breathe and even to swallow her own saliva. However, her mind is perfectly fine and already she wants so desperately to do all the things that her failing body hinders.
Although, Gwendolyn’s disease currently has no treatment and no cure, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has described SMA as the disease “closest to treatment” and researchers claim they are just a few years away from finding a cure. And, there is landmark legislation, the SMA Treatment Acceleration Act, currently sitting in Congress that, if passed, would provide researchers the resources needed to make that last crucial step. In addition, SMA research has already benefited the research of other diseases, such as ALS/Lou Gehrig’s, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Tay Sachs, and many others. In fact, it is because so much is known about SMA that the national organizations consider it a “model” disease from which so much can be learned and put toward saving countless lives.
Having been initially told that there was nothing we could do but go home and love our baby, it is empowering to know we are so close to changing this outlook…and, perhaps, saving our daughter’s life. Thus, this summer my husband and I joined the battle being waged by the SMA community nationwide and created an online petition – www.PetitionToCureSMA.com – as a grassroots effort to drum up broad national support for the SMA Treatment Acceleration Act. Our petition has received backing from the SMA community – FightSMA and Families of SMA – and to date has over 49,000 signatures from all 50 states and many countries. The petition has also been a useful tool in raising much needed awareness of this infant killer.
We are just one family fighting to end this cruel disease, but with the support of others it is within our reach. So please, as a parent, I am asking you to consider signing the petition: www.PetitionToCureSMA.com (it takes 30 seconds) and helping us promote SMA awareness. With your support, thousands of children can have the future they so deserve.
You can learn more about Gwendolyn on our blog: www.GwendolynStrong.com. Here is a petition promotional video you are welcome to post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Victoria — Gwendolyn’s Mommy
www.GwendolynStrong.com
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Here is a bit more about SMA:
Tech geek, wife, mom of two, Disney fanatic, woman with ADD, and a complete domestic zero. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up, but that's not so bad when you get to keep trying new things, right?
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.