It takes a village

It takes a village and boy am I thankful that I have an amazing village! I haven't had much time to blog lately because I have been busy do all sorts of things! Last week, which I can not believe it was already last week, was spring break and I took this time to really lay back and embrace not having a schedule.  I was able to spend the week at home with my family who is my true support system and I have no idea where I would be without them.  I used this week to revive my sanity and reboot my system, getting ready for these last 78 days before the Miss Iowa Finals. I did everything from sleep in, to eat my favorite meals at my favorite restaurants to spend a day shopping with my mom and brother to working on the details of the event I am working on.  (More about that later!)  I am thankful that I was able to spend this week at home and to get things done that get pushed aside in everyday life.  One of the big tasks I had while home was finding the perfect clothing and jewelry for head shots which we have tomorrow!!  This was fun and frustrating at the same time and I am pretty sure my brother never wants to do another pageant shopping trip with me again!

With head shots tomorrow, this is where I am thankful for my village!! For anyone that thinks getting to Miss Iowa is a solo journey is a fool.  I have grown so much in the past few months since winning Miss Pearl City and I still have plenty of time and drive to improve myself before hopefully fitting in the shoes of Miss Iowa.  The Miss Muscatine Scholarship program has AMAZINGLY, WONDERFUL, GIVING and SELFLESS sponsors that will do anything to help us out!  I always enjoy working with our sponsors and I am pretty sure I have seen almost all of them in the past 72 hours!  I have had a workout with Jon at 8One8 and boy did my arms feel that the next day and I even had a nutrition check in with Jennifer Lintz, to make sure I am right on track for these next 78 days AND a lovely and very helpful conference call with Michelle and Jessica at Legacy pageant consulting!  I was also able to fit in a hair cut and color touch up at ANewU Salon in Muscatine, which was relaxing and fun as always.  Then I was able to get some color from a spray tan from the fabulous Nicki Boyd who owns Jet De Soleil in Iowa City.  Nicki is one of my dance mom at the studio but more importantly she is an impeccable spray tanner!  Then tomorrow when we get our head shots taken I will be in the company of the wonderful photographer Michale who owns Mississippi Pearl Photography.  Michale did my last head shots as well as other things for me in the past and it is always a pleasure working with Michale and I can't wait to work with her again tomorrow to get the perfect Miss Iowa head shot!  Then lastly, I will be heading to a very familiar place on my journey to Miss Iowa, which is 8One8 studio.  For the first time I will NOT be working out or walking aways sore because we are grateful to use the studio space as the place for our head shots! This is what I mean about how wonderful our sponsors are.  They help out in as many ways as they possibly can!  Once I am done with head shots I will head down the street to the Adler Theater where we will have our second Affect competition of the season.  I am excited for this competition because there will be a lot of familiar faces in the audience and competing, including the adorable ladies of River City All Stars, whom I was able to guest choreograph for!

Then, I can not forget the phenomenal board of Miss Muscatine.  Our head shots and these sponsors wouldn't be around with the fabulous help of Ashley and Kindra. I can't wait to see them tomorrow as well because it has been too long!

I can't wait to share my new head shots with you all and can't wait to share some more exciting news soon!! Until next time-
XOXO Miss Pearl City, Christy Scimeca

Steve is...

I sat here and tried to think of a witty title to this post. But in the end there is no witty title to tell this story. Steve, is an inspiration, a joy, a blessing, a lover, a pain, a brother, a fighter, a son, a miracle and most importantly, Steve had the chance to grow up and be Steve.  There is no perfect word to describe Steve because since day one he has surpassed all expectations that were set for him.  Some of you know Steve's story because you have lived it through our family but others don't know anything about my family and our story.

When I was five years old I found out I was going to become a big sister.  Little did I know at that time that he would teach me the most valuable lessons in life and he would shape me to become the person I am today.  At 26 weeks Steve was born via emergency c-section because my mom suffered placental abruption.  He was born March 16th 1997 at only 1 pound 13 ounces.  I personally do not remember much from this day because I was only five, but I do remember getting a phone call from my mom and dad telling me his name and not quite understanding why I couldn't see my new brother.  Neither did I know at this time that we wouldn't be able to bring Steve home for 125 days.  When Steve was born he suffered grade 3, grade 4 brain intraventricular bleeds that caused him to develop hydrocephalus.  Hydrocephalus is the build up of cerebral spinal fluid in the brain that puts harmful pressure on the brain.  To get rid of that fluid Steve received an external shunt in his brain for 2 month while we waited for him to grow big enough for a Ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt.   A VP shunt was placed in his head at day 70 when he was only 3 pounds 3 ounces.  As a result of Steve's prematurity and the brain bleeds at birth Steve still suffers today from cerebral palsy.  Steve's cerebral palsy is classified as left sided hemiplegia, where is affects only the left side of his body.  For Steve, he can still use the left side of his body to an extent but it takes more effort and concentration.  He wears AFO's on his legs to walk, a full one on his left side and a half one on his right side and he wears a hand brace on the left side at night and during certain activities to keep his wrist muscles in a straight line.  

When he was only 2 1/2 weeks old he had surgery for PDA (opening in heart that didn't close at birth) and still has a large scar on his chest today.  While in the NICU Steve was intubated to help him breath and because of damage that occurred when doing this he now has a paralyzed vocal cord.  He also has vision issues called ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) his bad eyesight as a result most of the ROP resolved now but he still wears glasses 24/7.  Along with all these major and minor surgeries during his 125 day stay in the NICU Steve had issues with sucking/eating where it took him over an 1/2 hour to drink 20 cc's because of this he was tube feed via a NG (nasal gastric) tube.  They had to regulate his sucking, swallowing and breathing because his heart rate and breathing would drop into apneic spells which means he would hold his breath and stop breathing.  This required constant regulation.  Also during his NICU stay he suffered from sudden onset kidney failure from toxic levels of antibiotics.  Luckily, it all resolved and was not an underlying issue.   Lastly, he was on oxygen his entire hospital stay, and even came home on oxygen and continued to use the NG feeding tube to eat.

When, I read that back it truly shows how much of a miracle Steve really is.  For those of you that know him he lives each day with a smile on his face even though he has faced all these hardships.  Therefore, the perfect word to describe Steve is a MIRACLE.

Christy Scimeca, Miss Pearl City 2015

Time flies when your having fun!

WOW! Like usual life has been super busy!  In the grand scheme of things we are now in the double digit days away from Miss Iowa Finals!  I can not believe that finals are only 99 days away!! Every other day I change my mind on if I am ready for not, I try to tell myself and convince myself that I am but I am grateful that I still have 99 days to be the best version of myself.

On a smaller scale this past week has flown by, I was invited by Irving B. Weber Elementary to teach gym class to 3rd-6th graders for the week.  I spent my mornings from 8:45 am - 12:05 pm teaching these elementary school kids how to dance and how to use dance as a form of expression.  I had an absolute ball with these kids.  I had some familiar faces from the dance studio and some hesitant participants (mostly the boys) but by the end of the week every class learned a short dance and walked away knowing some new moves and a smile on their face as I promised.  It was so fun for me to be able to share my love and passion for dance with those who have never experienced dance or unable to go to a dance class for any reason.  There were times when we danced together and time that I just let them dance around and express themselves.  I even saw kids dancing around the hallways when I wasn't teaching them!

Just a small portion of the kids I got to spend my mornings with!

Kids are so welcoming and made me feel right at home! 

Monday, I will head to Des Moines to the state capitol for Advocacy day for the March of Dimes.  I am very excited to speak with legislators and work with March of Dimes staff and volunteers to bring awareness to the March of Dimes and certain issues.  Stay tuned for updates!

XOXO-

Christy Scimeca, Miss Pearl City