Jamberry Nails Giveaway Officially Open!

**Jamberry Nails GIVEAWAY OFFICIALLY OPEN!!!** 


WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED Saturday, Oct. 19th @ 10am central. If you do not check back Saturday, a new winner will be picked.

For more information head over to my FB Page @ https://www.facebook.com/AutismJourney

It Could've Been Us - An Outpouring of Love For Those That Have Been Lost

Yes! Only a week later and finally done! as I kicked the last empty moving box into the garage. Glanced at the clock, it was 11pm. If I hurried I might be able to take a shower, wash off the stench of unpacking and still be able to catch a few hours of sleep before the kids woke up for school. I quickly hopped in and out and did one last check around the house to make sure the doors were locked and baby gates were positioned before climbing in bed next to my husband. Finally... I thought, as I drifted off. The bright red numbers staring back at me, 11:30.

The beating on the front door jolted me out of my sleep. Heart racing, I glanced at the clock, 1am. Dressed in the first thing we could find, we fumbled our way to the front door to find a Police Officer waiting for us.

"Can we help you Officer?" my husband asked, half conscious.

"Do you have a son?" asked the Officer.

Why was he asking about our son? My heart began to pick up pace as I turned around to glance around the living room. Everything looked in order, nothing out of place. Just before returning my gaze to the Officer, something caught my eye, a cracked door. Bolting my way through the living room and hurdling over the baby gate like an Olympic track star I threw open the door to my sons room.

"David! David! Where is he?! He's gone! Phoenix is gone!" I screamed as I yanked back the blankets from his bed.

Struggling to catch my breath and control my thoughts from depicting horrible scenarios, I felt the hot tears rush down my face as I threw open the door to the bathroom, "Phoenix?!?!" My daughters room, "Phoenix?!?!" I screamed once more, hoping to hear his little voice say something, anything. I stumbled back to the living room, my legs feeling heavier with each step. I forced the words out of my mouth again "He's gone." My husband not yet having grasped what was going on...

"Ma'am can you tell me what your son looks like?"

The room spinning as I tried to answer, "He has Autism. My son has Autism, we just moved here. He's only 3 and a 1/2. There's a creek near by. He doesn't know anyone, Red hair. Red hair, blue eyes. Here..." as I ripped a photo from my purse and shoved it into the Officers chest. I could hear the rain beating off his uniform as he looked at the photo.

"Sounds about right" he said, as he turned around and made a gesture to his Police Car.

Before I could push him out of the way to get a clear look, I heard a familiar voice, "Mommy!" Running up from behind the Officer was Phoenix, pj's soaked and barefoot.

"I played on the slide! My pj's are wet, I need new pj's. I need new pj's! They're wet, they're wet. I'm wet, mom."

I yanked him into the house and squeezed him tighter than I had ever squeezed him in his life. I closed my eyes and breathed in his smell of sweat and rain.

"How did you know, how did you know to come here?" I asked the two Officers, as I wiped my cheeks.

"Your house was the only one on the street with the door open. When we got him in the car, we knew something wasn't right. My nephew has Autism. Sorry Ma'am, I'm Officer Smith." as he reached out and extended his hand.

"Smith?" I asked as I stared blankly at his hand.

"Yes. Officer Joseph Smith."

I knew Heavenly Father had been watching over my son that night.

* * *

Autism is something real and very much alive in our society. 49% of children with Autism attempt to elope from a safe environment, a rate nearly 4 times higher than their unaffected siblings. See link from Child Mind Institute. At some point, 49% of Autism families will experience the reality of their child wandering off. It's *NOT* a lack of parental supervision. In our case we had dead bolts locked, child locks on the door knobs and baby gates up. My Son made it past all of these things and did so while everyone in the house was sleeping. For a week my son had been asking me to go to the park that was 4 houses down from our house. I kept telling him that we would go later, when we were done unpacking. 

Fortunately for us, a woman was driving by the park at 1 am. She barely caught a glimpse of my son in the dark playing on the slide in the rain. She immediately pulled over, grabbed my son and pulled him into her mini van and called the Police. There aren't many days that I haven't thought of this incident that took place 3 years ago (he's almost 6 now [2014]). There are people out there that would have you believe that these incidences you hear of are due to a lack of good parenting. I share this with you to tell you that it's not case. These kiddos/adults sometimes have the desire to leave their environment, it becomes a sudden urge for them. Some might say "All children have that desire." The difference here is that YOUR children will grow out of it, ours wont. Now we have deadbolts on the tops of all of our doors and alarms on all of the doors and windows. We keep them on all day and night.

Instead of casting premature judgements, ask yourself what you can do to help. With the skyrocketing Autism rates, everyone knows someone with Autism. Keep your eyes peeled for un attended children, be aware of your pools. If you have a neighbor with a child that has Autism, ask them if there is anything you should be aware of. And for the love of all that is good, start showing these families some support.

My heart goes out to these families. The Autism community is here to support you. ~Ashlie

GIVEAWAY!!!!!!

**VONDA MINOR!!! You are the awesome WINNER!!!**

***GIVEAWAY CLOSED***

 ***If winner does not contact me via email (aplaceformakingstuff@gmail.com) by Monday, April 22nd, A NEW WINNER WILL BE PICKED!***

TO ENTER: Leave comment with your name and tell me who it's for! Don't be embarrassed to say it's for yourself! Ha ha ha!

Pick ONE lego flash drive of your choice. (Batman, Buzz Lightyear, Darth Vader, Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Spongebob Squarepants, Storm Trooper, Woody)

Store and share photos, videos, documents and music on a portable, easy to carry flash drive featuring these awesome characters!!!

Card Capacity: 4 GB

Compatible with Windows 7, 8, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS 10+ and Linux; Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port required for high speed transfer.

USB dust cap included with flash drive.

Giveaway Sponsored By: http://www.etsy.com/shop/NandoKommando

7 Things You Don't Know to Ask For When Transitioning Your Child To Middle School

7 Things You Don't Know To Ask For When Transitioning Your Child To Middle School

When There's Love At Home

I get so many emails from parents that are contemplating having more children.They write with their concerns and questions, in the end wanting to know what my perspective is on the subject. Keep in mind that you may have a different perspective than I do. That's ok, as long as you remember that this is my perspective.

I guess I'll start by saying that none of our kids have been planned. A few months prior to getting pregnant I would always have a experience or some sort of nudge letting us know that we were about to have a baby. My husband and I never sat down and said "Ok, let's start trying for a baby!" It always felt prompted.

We have 3 kiddos ages 4, 3 and 1. We found out that our 4 and 3 year old had Autism when I was 1/2 way through my 3rd pregnancy. I can't begin to tell you how I felt at that moment. I layed in bed for what felt like forever but was the course of 3 days, and cried. I felt so guilty that I was pregnant. I knew the brunt of this would fall on me. With my husbands work and school schedule, I knew I would be the one at the meetings, involved in their therapies and handling their behaviors. I worried what if the baby I was carrying was Autistic too? What if he wasn't and here I was bringing him into this "Autistic Sibling" life? What if he grew up resenting me? What if?...What if?...What if? Those were the only questions that seemed to circulate round my mind. I was severely depressed at this time, I was cursed with mentally unstable in-laws from the underworld that we had just slapped with Restraining Orders and then the news of my two toddlers. My husband was doing his best to encourage me. He would frequently tell me that if anyone could do this, it was him and I. Because we had love at home. Still, it wasn't enough to get me out of bed.

That following weekend, I had quite the experience that snapped me out of the funk I was in. As my husband and I sat there with heavy hearts over the heart warming experience we had had, we knew a way would be provided for us that we could effectively take care of our family and the needs that would arise. I never understood how some would say that Autism tore their marriage apart. For my husband and I it did the very opposite. We were already close but it made us that much closer. We know our kids need both of us. So with that all said, how do we feel about having more kids???

For my husband and I, we have a good solid marriage. I'm also a stay at home mom, which works for us because we have no family to help or babysit. We do our date nights when our kiddos go to bed or are at school and even then we still have our 1 year old with us. This all works for us. At this point we understand our kids that have Autism, we know how to calm them, for the most part. I feel like I have my household under control. We have next to no debt, we know how to budge and I still feel like my sanity is in tact. So for us, we say YES to having more kids BUT only after you evaluate your own situation. Can you handle more? Is your sanity in tact? Do you have the time to spend with them? Is the relationship you're in solid?

Why I Think Having More Kids Benefits Kids On The Spectrum

First I should say that my son has moderate Autism and my Daughter has Severe. I have seen with my own kids that having more kids pushes my Spectrum kiddos out of their "Autism" bubble. For example, my daughter is perfectly content being on her own. Prefers it actually. Having a very mobile and social 1 year old doesn't allow for that. He's always in her face, accidentally sitting on her with his fat bum, sneaks her snacks, slobbers on her, you name it. Sometimes she'll yell and flap but it only lasts for a few seconds. Today I watched my 1 year old wobble over to my 4 year old (who is also on the Spectrum), grab his hand and start sucking/gnawing on his finger. My 4 year old started laughing. Not the typical response for a kid on the Spectrum, right? However, after months of this, he has gotten used to it.

If you keep your kiddos in a box you made for them, they aren't going to grow and develop their weaknesses into strengths. When we first brought our 1 year old home, my daughter screamed every time he cried (she's sensitive to noise). Now she brings him his bottle. Also not the typical response for a child on the Severe end of the Spectrum, right? She learned how to cope. Her and my 4 year old also enjoy wrestling! It's my belief that it's the best thing you can do for their Autism, is to have more children. It teaches them so many wonderful things. One of the biggest ones we have seen is how to cope when unpredictable situations arise.

So in a nutshell, this is my take on having more children. You can be expecting more children from There's Tulips In Holland! Sooner than you might think, too ;)

Jazz Up Your PEC's Book!

My almost 3 year old daughter was just introduced to the PEC's program. She has taken it and ran with it! We have reached the point of making her a mini PEC's book that she can take out with her and use at pre school. I spent so many hours trying to find cute ideas for her book and didn't find any. I should mention that my daughter is VERY girly. I figured if she had to carry this book with her everywhere that I wanted it to be super cute. So this was what I resorted to!

Materials:

The materials are simple. Walmart has sheets of duct tape, that's right, duct tape! Located in their craft section. It comes in different designs. I used 2 sheets (1 and a 1/2 really) of duct tape priced at $1.88 a sheet. Ribbon from Hobby lobby. The fat roll that my daughter got a hold of ;) was $2 dollars and the small roll was $1. I like to get my ribbon from hobby lobby because they always have 1/2 off and have a huge selection. The MINI 3 ring binder was bought on Amazon for $5. The velcro you can find in the sewing notions aisle at walmart. I also used matches to burn the ends of the ribbon to keep them from fraying.
Directions:
It's pretty self explanatory. Put strips of velcro on the front of the binder so that your kiddo can stick their photo on the front. Glue down the fat ribbon inside the binder so it doesn't slip off when your kiddo is holding this.

Now for the inside pages I am going to go to a craft store and get cute card stock paper and laminate it. I just picked up a Hot and Cold Laminator from Costco for $20! So everyone watch out!!!

Coupon Code for ID Safety Cuff!!

Ok guys are you ready for this?? The wonderful Katie from TheOwlandTheFirefly (she makes the ID safety cuffs listed in my previous blog post) she gave me a FREE SHIPPING code for you! So now you really have no reason not to get one ;) Coupon Code is: autismspuzzle It's my blog address. So head on over!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/102517629/kids-id-safety-bracelet-childrens