Ability Camp for Jacey

Well it has begun....we have officially started fundraising to send Miss Jacey Bird to Ability Camp. We are so excited to start this journey together with you all! Here is a brief intro to Jacey and our family for those who don't know and also our quest to send her to camp.

Jon and I met in high school and have been together for about 9 years now. We've been married for 5 years and welcomed our little Jacey Bird almost 3 years ago. Jon works as an Accounts Payable Clerk and is going to school to finish his Accounting Degree. I interestingly enough went to school for my Special Needs Teaching Assistant Certificate, and am now staying at home to be with Jacey. She joined our family in August of 2008 and has been such a joy ever since.

A few months after she was born, Jacey was diagnosed with a rare type of Cerebral Palsy. She was born with very little white matter in her brain. Now it has been explained to me that our brain is like a computer and the white matter is like the chords directing the info to our body parts. Because Jacey has such little white matter, her body does not move as it should. She has had surgery to help her rigid and spastic muscles in her hips, strabismus surgery on her eyes to help straighten them, and 2 injections of Botox in her legs to help relax the muscles. She is such a trooper! She has the funnest little brown-red curls and the best smile ever! (Not that I am biased...okay maybe a little bit)She is also such a happy, goofy kid. Her spirit is so sweet and she is just a special little lady.

My husband and I heard about this fantastic camp in Ontario that works with individuals with Cerebral Palsy, and decided that it was something we wanted to do for Jacey. It is called Ability Camp (abilitycamp.com) and it offers very intense physical and occupational therapy. It also works on eating skills, toilet training and communication. It is amazing the work that they do. The camp is 5 weeks long and between 5-6 hours a day of therapy including the hyperbaric oxygen. The camp is awesome but is also costly. The estimated cost is $6000 for the Camp, $4000 for the Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy and close to $5000 for extra costs. (Flights for 3 people, food, and vehicle rental for 5 weeks)

We have begun fundraising and will continue with: a large extended family garage sale, a bake sale, a continual bottle drive, a Bird Girl raffle and petitioning other social clubs. We hope to raise all the costs and enjoy and learn from this great experience. Although it is costly, we think Jacey is worth it!!

Any donations, support, ideas for fundraising or anything at all are appreciated. My email is ahinko@hotmail.com

This scripture is from Matthew Chapter 6, the Sermon on the Mount
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

Thank you so much! Love The Bird Family (Jon, Alyson and Jacey)

These are my days....

A day in the life of the Bird Girls

So the Bird girl and I have enjoyed being at home these last few years. (Not like there have really been a ton of years in our professional relationship but...) I thought I would break up our day so that you can see how we roll. My morning begins with some breakfast and a butt change, I will spare you the details.We almost always watch Harry and His Bucket of Dinosaurs and then Miss Bird turns into a dinosaur herself, which is hilarious. Then Jacey and I hang out on the big red carpet, I like to think of it as the Big Comfy Couch, but not so stupid. This is where we work out, let's not get silly here, Jacey works out not me. I enjoy a glass of chocolate milk! We do our phyios stretches and we work on our little fine motor skills and wear our special hand equipment. This goes on for a good hour or so, or until Jacey rips the hand stuff off via her pirahna mouth. We also spend time in her Pony Walker, affectionately called "Walker, Texas Ranger" or her new standing frame, which she loves. These are all fun and interesting unless Mommy is unloading the dishwasher, playing the piano, dusting, washing the floor, wiping down things or even taking a moment to pee by herself. Then all heck breaks loose and the bird girl yells and yells for me to come running and play with her still. Sheesh! So after we are done playing and working out we snuggle together on the recliner with a bottle for a mid morning snack and then hit the sack. This is one of mommy's favorite 20 minutes of the day...yup I said it 20 minutes...jealous?!? That is what a nap consists of around here. My lady drops like a sack of potatoes into her bed, squeaks once usually and is out like a light for 20 whole minutes. You can imagine my happiness as I either rush through a shower and put clothes on, or do the tidying jobs that Miss Scream a thon wouldn't let me do earlier or third option..is more embarassing. I sit on my butt and relish in the "I don't have to hold my kid 24/7 for the next 20 MINUTES" plan. Hehe The little lady makes some fun talking to herself noises and squirms for a good 5-10 minutes and I dilly dally around cause I want her to know I don't run at her beck and call (she clearly runs the show around here!). We are up and off to the races again! She loves to have fresh air hit her smack in the face, so often times we go sit on the front porch if it is nice out. We don't go on the grass much as we gag, yeah we gag alot and that leads to barf and that leads to mommy barf and so we don't go on the grass much. BUT she does love the air. Then we play, sometimes we go downstairs and see the bunny and chinchilla, sometimes we fiddle around with toys, sometimes we go bounce on mommy's bed. Jacey loves books, music and anything she can get her digits on to chew. So one of those things occurs in this time period. Lunch is next, something delicious, like leftovers or baby food or a sandwich. We are all out gourmet around here! Then you guessed it some more playing, we practice walking in our walkers again with our little leg braces on which is adorable to watch and sweaty to participate in. We also like to re-organize the DVD's, oh wait WE don't like to do that JACEY likes to do that. Sometimes we catch a Backyardigans or Toot and Puddle (mostly cause I love the potty reference name) and or Toopy and Binoo. These are our favs. Then we sit and wait for daddy to come home for supper and a tubby. Then it is off to sleep so that Mommy can tell Daddy all these details. Fun hey?!? If this is not our day, we are running like crazy women to appointments in the city which is fun too! Glad you enjoyed a day in the life....bet you wish your day was as fun. Peace out! - A

Yes, barely made the month cut off!!

Soooo since I have decided to try really really really hard to blog like every 2 weeks or once a month (let's not get crazy here)...here I am, March 31st at 10:00pm....nailed it!!!

Our family has been busy since our big trip. Jacey is working out at the Glenrose every two weeks and is busy getting into another Rhymes and Storytimes with her cousin Mia. Fun to watch the ladies play together, Jacey loves her cousin and Mia loves Jasus!! hehe Her way of saying Jacey, pretty cute. Jacey also is having another surgery in June. It will be on her eyes to help straighten and strengthen the muscle as well as some Botox injections. Just to clarify the botox is for JACEY not ALYSON...although ALYSON wishes she could have some botox as well. Her stress is creating wrinkles which makes her look 100x meaner than she really is (which is only like some meaness). I digress, she is having surgery and we are ok with it. She is also loving popping up onto her knees and sitting back on them, ALL THE TIME! It is pretty radical to watch. She is pretty proud of herself.

Jon is still working, and being nice to me. (Which is a good thing) He is excited for some one on one daddy time this weekend while I am away. He will swim with the girl and cook for her...or reheat some leftovers...whatevs! I am heading out of town with my mom, sistas and some other family members to SCRAPBOOK. I am uber excited to relax, and work hard on my tiny lady's baby book. Should be fun!

Anyways, don't want to get all carried away and think because this post is semi long that I am a wicked, awesome blogger or something. I mean c'mon! =) Love ya's - A

Did y'all die of a "she finally posted" heart attack?!?...I did!

These last few months have been pretty busy around here. My last post of an unmentionable date was about Jacey's birthday and surgery. Since then she has been doing really good! Update(jot note form):
- Jacey did a 16 week program weekly at the Glenrose called 1,2,3, Go! and it was an intensive physio/occupational therapy/speech and other professionals class
- She wore her little casts on her legs for 6 weeks and then they were cut to be removed only during physio and bath time and then another 3 weeks
- She has "conditionally" been accepted for GRIT school program this fall which works 5 days a week for 3 1/2 hours a day out of our home 1:1 with an assistant. WAHOO!!
- We have some new equipment to help her little hips continue to heal and hold off her next surgery
- We have had more genetic testing done and it has been back and forth, but for the time being looks non-genetic (we are totally not making more little people till we know)
- Jacey had her first haircut, it was a bit sad but really made the curls pop back up again
- Christmas was great with both families and the Bird Girl was spoiled as per usual
- Jon's dad recovered well from his open heart surgery and has had no more problems and his mom has gotten a full time job (exciting but sad to not get to see her on our weekly visits in the day)
- My dad has had some medical stuff go on, but is healing like a trooper and my mom has been working away at her doula certification
- My sibs are same old same old...except Jenny got pregnant again..what a fertile myrtle the turtle. hehe We are beyond excited about it!!
- February our family along with my sister Jenny and her hubby Graham and their little woman Mia all went down to Florida for a vacay. It rocked!! The girls were rock stars with the 8 hour days and we hit up some great Disney parks and spent some $$ outlet shopping and really relaxed for some time off! It was greatly needed after the year we had.
- Jon got a new job working in the city for a Property Managers company which he is loving and he gets to have lunch with his dad every day which is special.

So that about sums it up, we are continually in the city for appointments but feel crazy blessed that we get to be so close to all the resources we need for out little lady. We have had some yucky go on this year but the positive is outweighing it ten fold. Now lets cross our fingers and hope that I will post weekly...monthly from now on! =) Love- The Birds

The Bird Girl's Surgery

Hello all,

I think I will be doing the writing and updating for a bit, I am your new host of a little game I like to call How is Jacey doing? Well not so much a game but she is definitely testing the limit of how long she can go without sleeping...Well as most of you know Jacey had surgery this week to correct her eyes and hips. Yes 2 in 1 surgery, we talked to the surgeons and they said that the surgery went very well. And as of noon yesterday Jacey has been in a room at the Stollery Hospital recovering from those surgeries. She is doing really well and still is finding time to play drop the soother and drop anything that is in front of me onto the floor game. A favorite of mommy and daddy....nope just kidding not fun at all. She is doing really well though, the only thing is she is having a hard time sleeping. That is why Mommy and Daddy are resting now and have time to update the blog. Her biggest problem is her lack of movement she has a big cast on her legs and they are seperated by a broomstick I have included a picture of this as it is pretty cool and she definitely got some wild colours haha.

Well that is the update so far we would like to thanks everyone for there thoughts and prayers during this time and for everyone who has sent messages, we really do appreciate it and love you all.

Also in a final note today is Jacey Bird's birthday Happy 2nd Birthday to a sweet special girl and even though it is no fun to have a birthday in the hospital I think straight eyes and straight legs are a not bad present...well maybe some toys would be better but we are unconventional parents like that haha.

Take Care,

Jon, Alyson and a recovering Jacey