WEBSITE CHANGE!!!

We now have an OFFICIAL website!!!!
WE will no longer be using this- Please check out

www.projectheadstart2010.com

:D

Adios Blogspot you have been good to us <3

Flash Girl Giveaway!

Congrats to Elizabeth L. for winning the quick little girl giveaway.  She had to explain why she DID NOT deserve this. This is what she said:

"Hi, I'm Elizabeth, and I have a little girl who is 2 months old. I don't deserve to win this giveaway this holiday season, because my best friend had twins at 24 weeks, and all she wants is her babies to make it out of the NICU and come home. I definitely do not deserve to have a prize handed to me when my friend can't even hold her tiny babies. This holiday season, I wish I could give her the gift she wants, more then anything, to hold her babies for the first time."

Here is what she will be getting:

A big warm thank you to Mary P for her large and generous donation! I also want to thank DesignsbyNTJ (www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001683071485).

As always we appreciate all donations!

Please send them to

PO BOX 5173

Champaign IL 61825

Month of December Winner

Month of December is officially open.
Due to some economic constraints I cannot announce the winner until the end of January but applications I will take until middle of December so please get them in!

1. Name

2. Age

3. Child's name+ Age

4. Approx monthly income level

5. Tell me a little bit about yourself and your story- Hopes and Dreams

6. Why do you deserve this?

7. Child's Diaper Size

8. Child's Clothing Size (We only take newborn- 5T

)9. Single, Married, Divorced, Dating?

10. Clothing Style for Child

Please send all applications to projectheadstart2010@gmail.com

Remember!!!

We can always use donations! We really appreciate everything that comes our way and there is NOTHING too small!

Please send all items to the following:

PO BOX 5173

Champaign IL 61825

Winner 4- Mom & her Boys

"I feel like any good thing happening to us is a blessing and any good deed done unto us shows us that there are good people out there that make our fight worth fighting."

Please Meet: Krystina M.


Age: 22 years old


Children: Jake (4) Blake (3)

Her Story: My story goes back a little bit. 7 years ago (I was 14) I got pregnant with twin boys. I went into premature labor and delivered them at 22 weeks. They passed away after they were born and after that I started sneaking out, going to parties etc. and just generally acting out, I was in and out of juvi, and foster homes and I was finally able to go home in January of 2004 when I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. After two surgeries the cervical cancer was gone but the Drs told me between that, endometriosis and pcod I would probably never have a baby, and if I did get pregnant it would be hard to make it full term. Then in September 2005 I started dating (again) my high school sweetheart Brandon. I got pregnant in January of 2006 (I was 17- delivered when I was 18). we battled preterm labor the whole pregnancy but with the help of a couple medications we were able to make it to 38 weeks. We spent a lot of time in the hospital for the 3 months following my sons birth in the hospital. He had feeding problems, and seizures, and at one point he quit breathing and turned blue.  When he quit breathing my husband and I decided life was to short to drag things out and we needed to seize the day. So a couple days later we got our marriage license and scheduled everything to be married 3 weeks later (on the one year anniversary of the day we found out we were pregnant with Jacob). About a week after we got married my Dr told me if we wanted more children we should start trying for them because I was going to need a hysterectomy at a fairly young age with my problems. So we agreed to start trying in March. However on Valentines Day we found out i was pregnant (my date of conception was our wedding night =) ). That whole pregnancy I battled preterm labor and had to be in the hospital for about 4 months of my pregnancy, and when I was home I had an iv pump in my leg. We suspected preeclampsia as well but all the tests came back fine until I went for a non stress test when i was 32 weeks pregnant. They admitted for for 24 hour observation to watch my blood pressures and check my urine for proteins. After the 24 hours they decided to induce me because I was about to dive into having eclampsia instead of preeclampsia, and they said I was hours away from having  a stroke. So my son was born on my first sons first birthday. =) He spent two weeks in the NICU before he came home. Once

he did he was VERY "colicky" however when he was 3 months old we took him to the hospital, and found out it wasn't colick after all. When he was born he had the cord wrapped around his neck and between that and the pressure on his soft skull from being premature he developed bleeds in both temporal lobes in his brain. He had been living with them for 3 months and no one ever knew because his primary doctor chalked it up to colick. At that point the Dr's told us Blake was blind, he would never walk, talk or even crawl. He was severely brain damaged, and he was immediately put on SSI. We went through seizures and Dr's appointments, and physical therapy a couple times a week for a long time, AFOs to help with his feet turning in from hypertonia (caused by his brain damage) met with genetic counselors (since both my sons had problems even though they were different problems) and found out they both had (on top of their individual problems) Fragile X Syndrome. Through all of it, my son is turning 3 in September, he had to have surgery on his eyes- but he CAN see, and that boy runs =). He has over come every obstacle thrown at him. he truly is a miracle. Jacob has had developmental delays, learning disabilities and speech problems, but other than that he has come out of it very lucky as well, because his primary diagnosis is Hypomelanosis of Ito, and most boys who have that don't even survive the pregnancy, but he did =) though everything my rocks were my husband and my mom. However a little over a year ago now my mom passed away, which completely through us for a loop. It was not expected, she was only 40. The bottom line is, we have been through A LOT as a family, and while we have had some medical miracles happen, we struggle. Having to pay for gas to get to Dr's appointments etc. It hard to keep up on diapers, clothes etc. Its worth the struggle every day because I can look at my sons faces and know they made it through.  But any help would be GREATLY appreciated. 

Why She Deserves This: I think I deserve this because my family has been through SO many hard ships in the last 5 years, and we struggle every day. Its hard to find faith when all these bad things happen. So I feel like any good thing happening to us is a blessing and any good deed done unto us shows us that there are good people out there that make our fight worth fighting. 


What She will be getting: 

 

 

 

 

 

I want to thank Kayla (our admin) for purchasing some of the items here. I also want to thank everyone who participated in our raffle to raise shipping money! We made 50 dollars!!! I am so grateful! I also want to personally thank Diana S for being so generous and donating her Baby Gap items! She is an amazing women and I am so grateful for all her time and money she has spent for PHS2010. Lastly, I want to thank my mother for making the two matching blankets seen above!

Keep your heads up and have a great holiday season!

SPPOOOKKKYYYY Tutu Contest

First and foremost I want to thank Danielle from Junie Bee's Classy Baby  (www.facebook.com/juniebees) for donating this GORGEOUS tutu !!!


The winner was Shalain S. 


She won the tutu for her grand daughter and this is what she had to say

"I would love to win for my grandaughter. Just found out she will be with us on Halloween and she has to be the cutest thing this town has seen. I would like to try something creative with the tutu and make her a pumpkin. 

I am so excited to have won this tutu. My daughter is a young single mother with no support and wasn't able to get a halloween costume this year for my granddaughter. This tutu helps out so much not only because she gets to dress up, but she will be so darn cute. I am going to try to get creative and make her a pumpkin. Money is always tight since we have four daughters and a granddaughter now and it really helps having something I can work with to make her the cutest thing around. Thank you so much Project Head Start. You have made my 6 month old grandbabys first Halloween" 

A smile well deserved.

Unfortunately we will not be presenting you of the little princess who will be receiving these goodies because I (Kayla) would like to keep her & her families names confidential.

We normally do not involve our personal friends or family in our give aways. This will be the oldest mother we have helped out and one of my exceptions being the circumstances. Recently her brother & dear friend of mine and many others local to me was in a near fatal car accident just a couple days after her baby girls 1st birthday. Everything got taken for a spin and her 1st birthday party was canceled as well as tons of constant stress. As of right now we do not know if he will make it or not, but is fighting as hard as he can. We have all the hope in the world that he will pull through. This is our birthday present to his niece, hopefully it brought a small smile to her & her mama's face.

Keep your chins up Pascirello family! You are in ours and everyone's prayers.

Princess received:

PLEASE CONTINUE TO VOTE IN OUR OCT GIVE AWAY POLL!

October Contestants

You can vote on the sidebar on the right hand side ---> please PLEASE everyone be respectful and if this doesnt work I will take it down. 


BreAnna S: " Before having our baby, we both worked full time. Our son was born with a club foot, though, and while medical bills started to pile up from the castings and surgery, there was just no way I could return to work. I was afraid to send him to someone I didn't know in fear of they would loose patience with him screaming all the time when his brace was on and ultimately, the cost of childcare is so expensive, I would be working to basically pay for the childcare itself. In the end, I quit my job and my husband has been working even harder for us to make ends meet. That being said, we are just thrilled that we have a healthy baby boy and that the problems we encountered with his foot were fixable. "


Krysti M: "7 years ago (I was 14) I got pregnant with twin boys. I went into premature labor and delivered them at 22 weeks. They passed away after they were born and after that I started sneaking out, going to parties etc. and just generally acting out, I was in and out of juvi, and foster homes and I was finally able to go home in January of 2004 when I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. After two surgeries the cervical cancer was gone but the Drs told me between that, endometriosis and pcod I would probably never have a baby, and if I did get pregnant it would be hard to make it full term. Then in September 2005 I started dating (again) my high school sweetheart Brandon. I got pregnant in January of 2006 (I was 17- delivered when I was 18). we battled preterm labor the whole pregnancy but with the help of a couple medications we were able to make it to 38 weeks. We spent a lot of time in the hospital for the 3 months following my sons birth in the hospital. He had feeding problems, and seizures, and at one point he quit breathing and turned blue.  When he quit breathing my husband and I decided life was to short to drag things out and we needed to seize the day. So a couple days later we got our marriage license and scheduled everything to be married 3 weeks later (on the one year anniversary of the day we found out we were pregnant with Jacob). About a week after we got married my Dr told me if we wanted more children we should start trying for them because I was going to need a hysterectomy at a fairly young age with my problems. So we agreed to start trying in March. However on Valentines Day we found out i was pregnant (my date of conception was our wedding night =) ). " 


Shannon E: My husband and I have
fallen on some hard times as he recently lost his job.  I am a full time college
student working on my bachelor’s degree in Psychology through the University of
Phoenix.  We recently were granted custody of my step son, Conner, who is 3.  He
has been in foster care since December of 2009 due to his mother’s boyfriend
breaking both of his legs and then the mother not taking him to the doctor for
over 2 weeks.  We are having a hard time making ends meet at the moment, but
thanks to a loving family support network we are able to keep the boys in the
necessary things.  Neither boy is potty trained yet, and due to the abuse he
suffered it may be another year before Conner is able to begin toilet training
with any success.