Walk Now For Autism Speaks Pictures

We had an amazing day at the autism walk. The weather was great it was nice and cool because it was supposed to rain but it held out until we were leaving. I am really glad we decided to walk this year and I look forward to doing it again next year. Our girl earned $175 to go towards Autism Speaks thank you if you helped make that possible.

I really wasn't sure what to expect so we were a little nervous but there was a lot to do. They had 7 bounce house and our girl made her way through each of them with Daddy while me and the little man checked out the resource fair. We tried sticking together but the kids didn't want to wait on each other to do things.

I had planned on getting more pictures but we were separated a lot and I was busy getting information about some of the services we weren't aware of.

Everyone there went out of their way to make sure our kids were having fun and everyone loved our girl's cape. :-)

There were Stormtroopers but the kids were freaked out so we skipped them this year. But our girl loved playing bean bag toss with Geoffrey the Giraffe.

Gardening

The kids and I are starting a garden this year. I am very excited to see how everything comes out. With an exception of my raspberry bush we are growing everything from seed. My goal is to provide non gmo produce for my family. This year I bought a few more hybrids than I would have liked because I would like to save seeds. Next year my goal is to plant all heirloom varieties and go completely organic. I am trying to stay as close to organic methods this year but with it being our first year who knows what we'll run into. we are getting started a bit late but I think ee'll still have good results.

My boy hasn't really shown interest yet but my girl is so excited. She has a hat she wears each time she waters her corn. It is precious! Today we had our first spouts pop up and she was amazed. I love that we have this to share together. ♥

I was very excited to find a corn hybrid that could be grown in containers. It was the first year it was released so Daddy J asked me to take and post pictures. :-) I didn't get one of my girl watering but will probably tomorrow.

I wasn't too crazy about ordering from Burpee because they do get some seeds from a division of Monsanto but they assured me they are all GMO free.

I Just Joined Smiley360

I Just Joined Smiley360

Autism Awareness Month and Why I Talk About My Daughter's Autism

April is Autism Awareness Month and today is World Autism Awareness Day. It is our first Autism Awareness Month since diagnosis and we are trying to do our part in raising awareness and most importantly acceptance. We are doing the Walk Now for Autism walk on the 20th, we wore blue today, I even made blue pancakes for a special treat for the kids.

Although it is our family's first journey through Autism Awareness Month, autism is not a new part of my life. As far back as I can remember it has affected my family as my younger brother is also autistic. He is on the more severe end of the spectrum so although I was familiar there was and is still so much for me to learn. I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I didn't even know it was a spectrum until about 3 years ago. I never knew there were other disorders that fell under the umbrella, all I knew was autism. I also was one who believed it was being over diagnosed even shortly after recieving a diagnosis for our daughter. It wasn't until I saw the hoops that must be gone through in order to get an evaluation and to be diagnosed that in my opinion make it very difficult to get a diagnosis for those who even need it. All the talk about over diagnosis is actually doing harm to the families who are seeking help and very important early intervention services. I am guilty of seeing someone with autism and thinking that it was a misdiagnosis because they didn't fit the stereotype that most people imagine when they picture what autism looks like. The truth is there is no "autism look", there are people with autism who make eye contact, socilize, and even get married and have children of their own. It embarrasses me to afmit that I was so ignorant but I feel I should share my stupidity because if a sibling of a person with autism thought these things, imagine what others who have never even encountered it must think!

Our daughter was diagnosed this previous November and it has truly been a blessing in my eyes. Prior to diagnoses we knew she had a speech delay and thought a lot of the behavioral problems were related to her lack of communication but as time went on things would get worse, and then so much better that we cancelled two evaluations before finally sucking it up and going. We had a lot of struggles in the parenting department because we were not sure if her behavior was her being "spoiled" or if there was something more. By the time we went for an evaluation we expected that she would be diagnosed most likely autism but we thought it could have been sensory processing disorder or another diagnosis all together. Still when the words came out of the doctor's mouth it hit me like a ton of bricks, I thought I was prepared but you are never truly prepared to hear something like that. I managed to hold back my tears until the car ride home and haven't cried again about it since. After it sunk in and we changed some of our parenting apporaches life became a lot easier and the meltdowns have reduced dramaticly. I read once that it is like being given a Ford manual for your Ferrari and that is so true. Once we let go of our expectations of how things should be or what other kids are doing we were able to relax and enjoy our daughter better because we learned to choose our battles and how to avoid certain situations. It has been a learning experience and there is still so much to learn. My outlook is that parenting is what you make of it and while it would be easy to be "poor me" it is more benifical to everyone to be accepting and to embrase her differences.

I talk about her diagnosis because I never want her to feel that it is something to be ashamed of or that it is something she should hide. It is a part of who she is and we think she is perfect. I talk about it because it helps me cope and stay positive. I talk about it because I want to make the world a better place to live in for my children. I talk about it because it is the only way things will change... I refuse to stick my head in the sand and wait for the world to change. I talk about it because so many other blogs and moms have helpped me and I hope that my experiences may help someone who feels alone as I do at times.

I have and I'm sure I will continue to recieve criticism for being so open about it. I've even been accused of bragging about it which comical to me because other than our parents and siblings we didn't say anything about it until Christmas. Even as I started to talk about it I recieved messages saying that they had no idea. I was scared to talk about it, but I am no longer afraid. If someone doesn't like what I have to say they don't have to listen. Advocating and working towards acceptance is important to me.

There is nothing wrong about talking about your child's special needs. I have seen so many other moms get attacked for it and it makes me mad. How is it any different than any other mom talking and posting about their children? It is a huge part of our life it affects every decision from where we go, what we do, and everything in between. There are times e

we have canceled plan just to avoid a meltdown. We don't always get to do the things we want... but the imoortant thing is that the kids are happy.

Easter

i forgot about the camera wire being mia and took all our pictures on the camera. I'll try to get them and many other pictures that have been held hostage posted soon.

The kids had a blast! Since we don't do "The Easter Bunny" we waited to do baskets until after breakfast. My boy was so excited, he ran to me happily screaming and couldn't even wait for us to put the basket down he started checking everything out right away. My girl was pretty excited too but was content waiting and going through her basket piece by piece. My boy eventually dumped her basket and started helping her go through everything.

This year we cut the candy except for a couple ring pops and 3 eggs with jellybeans and went for fun stuff. They each got a couple books, a couple art activities, little toys, stuffy toys, chalk, hair ties for my girl and trucks for my boy.

My girl has a trouble letting us brush and sometimes even touch her hair. We've been working with her but it is still a battle. Our hopes were the new hair accessories would make it a little more excited. She wants to use them but gets frustrated because we have to touch her hair. It's still a challenge but a very encouraging step in the right direction.

The excitement ended up being a bit much for them so we did the egg hunt yesterday and are finally dying eggs tomorrow. I guess it's not about when it happens, just that we are spending time together and having fun. It sometimes makes me a little annoyed that we can't do everything in one day but it is more enjoyable for all of us when they aren't melting down from being overwhelmed.

I hope everyone's Easter was wonderful. How did you celebrate?

Writing Companies for Coupons

Lately I have been trying to find ways to save money and I have started to clip coupons again. I have been matching sales to the weekly coupons but I have had amazing luck with contacting companies for coupons. So far I have contacted the companies that we regularly purchase from. All but one was a compliment. I had a bad batch of diapers. I have received 21 free product coupons and a gift card for $15 (for diapers but it is a regular visa gift card). I have also received many other high value coupons. I've heard mileage will vary but these are the companies I received free products from.

• Pantene - 1 Free - Any Pantene Product (any size. any type)
• Smart Balance - 1 Free Smart Balance Product
• Bertolli - 1 Free Jar of Sauce
• Folgers - Any 1 Folgers product
• Skinny Cow - 2 free ice creams
• Huggies - $15 to replace the diapers I purchased that were missing the velcro tabs on one side
• Ocean Spray - Any 1 free juice
• Hillshire Farms - 1 free bone in ham (up to $35!!!!) I told them how much I enjoyed their spiral cut ham. 
• Tide - 1 free up to 64 uses Any Size, Any Type
• Pictsweet - 2 free any product coupons
• Glade - 3 Free up to 5.50 coupons good on glade, pledge or Oust
• Almay - Free up to $5.00
• Welch's - Any 1 free 
• Soft Lips - Any 1 free
• Bagel Bites - Up to 10 oz free
• Aquafresh - They didn't send a free coupon but they did send me 2 samples of their new flavor of toothpaste to try along with a cents off coupon.
• Marie Callender - 1 Free + .50 off
• Swiss Miss - 1 Free + . 50 off
• Duncan Hines - 1 Free product
• Purex - Up to 48 uses free any type
• All - Up to 64 uses free. any type
• Pampers - 2 free up to $10 

I highly encourage you to give it a try! I will say please do not make false complaints, they will often send coupons just for telling them how much you enjoy their products. The companies use our feedback to see how their products are doing, if enough people complain about a product they may decide to change or cancel it. Good luck!