Walk Now For Autism Speaks 2014

I know I haven't been a fantastic blogger as of late, but we had some major issues with Squish's educational plan and things got pretty bad for a few months. Long story short, mainstreaming didn't work as planned - and he is back in special education classes. We'll revisit the mainstreaming issue next year. I am going to be blogging again. Promise!

Look at that smile! My kiddo is back, baby!

I missed it for those months he was mainstreamed.

It was smaller, more stiff and we could just tell he was unhappy.

As most of you know, April is Autism Awareness month - and people usually wear blue or change their porch lights to blue ones to show support. Well, we are doing the Walk Now For Autism Speaks this year!It falls on Saturday April 26th & I'm excited, and so is Squish! This is the first year that he has wanted to participate - he said he wants to go walk and see all his friends! We're raising Autism Awareness and donating to Autism Speaks. This is the 10th year that the walk will be here at the Pasadena Rose Bowl, so if you're nearby ... come join us! We'd love to meet you.

It's funny how simple the dictionary can make things seem, huh? There is SO much more to it. I feel like this is some vague definition that new parents might get from a non-specialist ... and still look at each other and make the "whaaaaaa" face. To be honest, Autism is much more complicated than this, actually.

If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask. Or Google. Be informed, and be proactive. I"m also willing to share any experiences I have with stuff, if you'd like to read about anything specific, comment with it & I'll be sure to reply!

Back to the walk?

If you're interested in walking, you can find that information here.

If you'd like to support Squish and donate on his behalf, please visit here.

More Than Just An IG Giveaway

     For those of you who don't know, Delilah is 2, with the heart of a diva ... stuck with a mommy who sucks at all things fashion. Okay, I'm not a total failure, she gets her nails painted & her hair gets pinned back/up... sometimes. That's pretty much as far as I can go.

    Her therapists have mentioned that the rare skirt (I make them, then pair them with bike shorts & a tee, 80s style baby!) help her with her mobility, and aren't restrictive like her pants or jean shorts can be. So, I guess I realized that I can deal with her preferred fashion choices for that purpose. But I totally needed help ... because let's face it: I wear jeans and hoodies all day long. If I wear a bra that's not meant for sports, something big is going down. I can barely color coordinate, to be perfectly honest. So with a medical reason to change her wardrobe ... and no clue how to start, I did what any mom on social media would do ...

Friday's Feelings #1

So, in the spirit of Wordless Wednesday? & wanting to be the oddball weirdo who makes up her own craziness? I give you Friday's Feelings:

Which search-engine image best represents your day?

Would you care to tell us why?

Well. Okay. This morning was kicked off with Squish in a really bad mood. We're struggling with his mainstream education, and the problem really lies in his behaviors at school. Today, I was in the office before school, restraining him with one hand, cradling coffee in the other and managing to protect passers-by from the flails and bumps coming from my 5 year old with Herculean strength. Once I managed to get to a position to put my coffee down safely, Squish broke free. I sprang the whole step back towards him and in one fell swoop, grounded his chair, his backpack and his body into a hold. He wasn't happy. He struggled, I struggled. A substitute passed by us and smiled that therapeutic smile. She said something about me doing the right thing and to stick with it. It made me feel a little less isolated in that busy crowded office. It wasn't a pity smile. It was a therapeutic one. Thank you, sweet substitute. You helped more than you know.

This is just something I am trying.

What do you think? Should I keep Friday's Feelings?

Seeking inspiration ... or straight-up thievery?

Something has been bugging me for quite a while now. I am really curious as to what you guys think, as readers of a blog (and maybe even writers). These opinions in this blog are totally and completely mine, and you are more than welcome to leave your opinions and thoughts in the comments. However, I want to bring something to light:

Have you ever been going through your blogroll & thought

"Gee, this looks really familiar ..."

You have, right? Okay, that's expected. With all the really cool link-ups and swaps (none of which I can ever fully commit to because I'm a such a sporadic blogger) that are out there now, it's inevitable to see a common thread of stuff in some of your favorite bloggers - especially if they are friendly with each other! We bloggers have a certain vein of similarity and amazingly like qualities that tend to grow into long-lasting cyber friendships, and may or may not end up in meeting face to face and becoming even closer. We rely on each other for inspiration, for help and for support but ...

... where exactly do we draw the line & start calling foul on Blogger Faux Paus?!

I think once a "blogger" feels entitled enough to go relentlessly seek out & stalk other blogs in an attempt to ride their internet coattails and/or "harvest" them ... it's crossing a serious line. If your best friend in the real world followed you around and bought everything you did, talked the way you did, peeped in your windows to see what you were doing everyday ... you'd get pretty sick of it. It'd come off creepy and sick and in a really weird way, demented. You'd think she'd want to ... I don't know, boil your bunny or something right? Right. So why is it okay in BloggerLand? Look at the following examples and tell me what YOU would do. I mean, I know how I'd react as Blog A ... but what about you guys? Am I imagining this kind of stuff?

Dabuyu Shoes Blog A vs. Blog B

Uber Mom Wipebox Blog A vs. Blog B

Brian the Pekingese Blog A vs. Blog B

My Little Pony Equestria Girls Blog A vs. Blog B

Huggable Melodies Blog A vs. Blog B

Piggy Paint Blog A vs. Blog B

Chronicle Books Blog A  vs. Blog B

Skights Blog A vs. Blog B

Hip Hop 50s Shop Blog A vs. Blog B

Baby's Journey Blog A vs. Blog B

Surprises From the North Pole Blog A vs. Blog B

Okiedog Blog A vs. Blog B

Guys. There are soo many more. Go look for yourselves. I just chose some that I thought were super similar. I guess you can say these are the top ones. Let's not even look at the common ground in both blog media kits and overall attempts at similarity. At what number do we stop chalking this kind of stuff up to simple odds and two bloggers being like-minded friends ... and call it what it is? This is way past inspiration. It's thievery!

Am I going crazy?

How many of you out there have 11+ product reviews in common with a fellow blogger?

(& if you do, are the other persons reviews posted a month or two later than yours?)

If you're a blogger, please let me know how you feel on this.

I'm asking. I really super want to understand this.

I mean .. I understand the motivation, but not the action!

Why is something like this okay in blogging, but not in real life?

Editorial 2/9/14: The Blog B in question has posted a blog regarding the questions I have posed to you all. Apparently, she feels bullied. I simply stated facts. She is a very young blogger and new to the world of social media. It was not my intention to "bully" her, and I'm sorry she feels this way ... but the truth isn't blurred by feelings. Pulling the bully card was, in my opinion, a cheap and misguided attempt to deflect blame. It's like when your kid steals a cookie, blames the neighbor kid & acts hurt that you thought it was him. Same concept! Until this blogger reaches out to me directly, my opinion (and apparently your opinion) stands. I'm sorry she is involved in this mess, but it is by her own actions - and I just happened to be the one who brought them to light. I opened a can of worms.

Blog A doesn't deserve the backlash this has created, and neither do other individuals who have just called the motives of Blog B into question. Those individuals all run great blogs, with a great professional aura. They have realized that this is exactly what they don't need cluttering their blogs. I, on the otherhand, blog for me - and sporadically host reviews. ;)

I wish Blog B all the best in her life, and even her blog ... but I hope that as she grows as a blogger and person, she learns that she is setting the moral example for her child. Stealing is not okay. Whether it be in real life, or safe behind a screen. I was willing to chalk this all up to her not knowing any better and being a young-gun in the blogging world, but she remains unapologetic and unwilling to change. So, this post? Stays.

The Season of Giving + Giveaway

Would any of you be interested in giving to a family in need?

Read on!

Regression

     As most of you know, one of my son's happens to have Autism. I've never been that mom who sits in a corner and cries "why me?" every 20 seconds. I don't make excuses for his diagnosis or feel I have to explain anything to that crotchety old person giving me the 'back-in-my-day-we-were-better-parents-and-maybe-we-beat-children-who-acted-like-him" face. I'd like to think that I took his diagnosis, and everything that it entails, in stride. I am opinionated, pushy and a determined advocate. I hug him when he lets me and I kick his butt (verbally) when he needs it. I try to help other parents who are dealing with the same issues - and I am always here to lend an ear when they need it. There are moms I lean on for support, and for some of you - I might be that support. So, I want to share a not-so-fantastic insight ... and let you take away whatever lesson you need to:

Bright Star Kids (Review & Giveaway)

If you read ONE post on my entire blog, let it be this one!

Bright Star Kids is a company located out in New South Wales, Australia, famous for name labels, clothing, wall stickers and schoolbags (& accessories). You'd think that a company of this size with all these different types of products, a beautiful website and great prices ... would have less than great customer service right? Negative. Bright Star Kids' customer service goes about 10,000 steps beyond being great - and goes right into the fantastically magnificent zone! I'm not even joking ... I won't deal with companies after I have a customer service issue. I'd be willing to bet a lot of you are like that too, right? Well, no worries with Bright Star Kids in Australia ... they're simply amazing.

My review is on the personalized labels, which I decided to personalize for Mrs. Campa: a wonderfully brilliant teacher who takes each K-2nd grader with Autism in our entire school district into her classroom with this magical skill, a giant smile on her face and a crazy amount of love in her heart. Needless to say, Mrs Campa's organizational skills are super important to the coordinated chaos that is her day ... and Bright Star Kids was totally willing to help this saint of a woman label all her cool supplies! I'm telling you ... Bright Star Kids is FANTASTIC!

Scarlett

     My husband and I have been having a hard time with our van. It totally became of those "if it's not one thing, it's another" type of deals. Transmission, air conditioning, brakes, tires - the whole 9. With my husband struggling and unable to do the repairs alone because of his injury, kids who needed a reliable vehicle to get to therapies and me starting school/work - we swallowed our pride & reached out to my parents for help. This was ... probably mid-June.

     I don't know exactly how the background deals worked, but Sunday night - my mom calls and asks if I had a minute to talk. Apparently, my Grandma had just been gifted a great van, and she was looking to give her 1998 Ford Explorer to one of the grand-kids. Luckily for me, all my cousins are amazing self-sufficient individuals and had no need for it! Well, fast forward to Tuesday morning, and I am in a AAA office in Orange County with my Grandma and mom, filing out papers and getting insurance quotes!

[  M e e t  S C A R L E T T  ]

Ain't she sexy? *giggle*

3-Day Student Survival Kits

     Now that my kids are back in school, we got the dreaded notice about sending a Zip-Loc bag full of emergency supplies that will last for three days in the event of a serious emergency and/or lockdown. Great, just what we all wanna shop for right? It's not a hard thing to do, but I decided to show you guys my packs. Each school asks for different things, but I like to cover my bases ... and pump up their bags in case there actually IS an emergency!

     The goal is to put in a bunch of healthy-ish snacks with a fair amount of protein, vitamins, and yes, a bit of sugar. As you shop, the main thing is to check for the things that will keep all school-year. The soonest any of these things expire is May 30, 2014 and my kids are released for summer May 23 2014. It works! Please try to remember to avoid peanuts - because a kid with an allergic reaction to peanuts in the middle of a catastrophe would suck, really bad. This is Squish's kit: 

First Day of School 2013

     You heard right! It's already time for back-to-school in my neck of the woods (erm, neck of the city?) this year. Yeah, August 7th to May 23rd is our school year. All the cool school stuff goes on sale in September, you know, when all the other kids are getting back into school ... but we managed to scrape stuff together for the year. Yes, that means we had major help from Grandparents haha.

     Javi is a junior. Antonio is a 1st grader. Squish is a kindergartener. Lala ... well, Lala gets to be woken up, fed, dressed and toted all over town hearing how adorable she is 1000x before 8am every morning. It works out for everyone.

Kindergarten, done.

May 21st was Antonio's last day of Kindergarten! He's on summer break until August 8th of 2013 ... and couldn't be more impatient to get back. Sigh ... My little dude is growing up fast!

I saw a fellow blogger, Janette post her son's preschool-grad information here, and I thought it was an amazing little questionairre for the kiddos as they graduated each year. Fantastic idea! Well, I kept her questions ... and giggled as my little man answered.

My Baba Yaga Died Today

     Today, I went to meet another mom at the park for a playdate. Yeah, shuttup. I don't do this. Like, ever. I don't have "typical" kids, so playdates with kids outside of family are a giant pain in the ass. Let me explain.

     I have three kids. One (A) is really cautious/awkward and doesn't like climbing too high. The second (M) is fearless and will take off into the street without a peep. The third, D just hangs - and throws sand on herself. I'm that mom ... the one who looks like hell, running in circles and packing everyone up 30 minutes into the park? Yeah, I'm her.