Autism Awareness Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Autism Awareness Blog Hop! We are so glad you are joining us!!

Today, on the 4th Annual World Autism Awareness Day, we are joining prominent buildings across North America and the world — including the Empire State Building in New York City and the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada — who will turn their lights blue to raise awareness for autism and to commemorate World Autism Awareness Day. Light it up Blue is aiming to light the world blue all throughout April — city by city, town by town — by taking action to raise autism awareness in our communities. So help us, LIGHT it up BLUE this month!

You should have come here from Michelle at Chele Mom , if not feel free to start at the beginning of the hop here.

As most of you know, my two oldest sons are on complete ends of the spectrum. My oldest son Jacob, has Asperger’s. He can talk and communicate, but he still has a hard time understanding and putting thoughts together. Every day he is making progress though! My youngest son, Bradley, is on the low functioning end. He rarely has eye contact, doesn’t speak and is still in diapers. He is the sweetest little boy you will ever meet though. He has this sort of innocence to him. If there is one thing that I am thankful for is the fact that he doesn’t know all the bad that is out there! He loves to smile and he LOVES music, which is how he communicates. He can bust out with Kelly Clarkson and Katy Perry! I don’t think anyone is ever prepared to hear the diagnosis, but believe me, it’s been a blessing. I have learned NOT to take anything for granted. Every small word, eye contact is just music to my ears. Jacob can now chat your ear off, but I never let it bother me because there was a time in his life that I just prayed that he would say ONE WORD! Now he’s been blessed with a whole vocabulary and I know that God will do the same for Brad!

For my first project I decided to make an 8x8 layout of my two boys. I used the puzzle pieces from Cursive 101 and spelled out the word AUTISM from the Storybook cart. I chose to use pics of my boys at the park playing to make a point. They look NORMAL but you just never know when a child could be affected. So before you judge the parent for a temper tantrum the child might be throwing, etc, just think of what COULD possibly be wrong. What might look like a temper tantrum to you, is most likely SENSORY OVERLOAD on my son.

And for my second project that I chose to make, I decided to use my Disney Classics cart and cut out one of Jacob’s favorite characters, Pinocchio. I used Pink Cricut’s NOBODY NOSE ME LIKE YOU because I felt this type of card is perfect for a child affected by this. As a parent, I feel like I’m the only one who truly knows my child and that includes what therapies I believe they should be doing, etc. This would be perfect to give to someone who might need encouragement and to show that they know what is best for their own child.

GIVEAWAY! For my own giveaway, I am giving a set of brand new Peachy Keen Stamps- WIDE EYED KIDS SET assortment! All you have to do is A)be a follower and B)leave me a comment on this post! You'll absolutely LOVE this set! I have my own and I can't wait to show case it, it's fabulous!!

That’s it! THANK YOU SO MUCH for joining us today! I hope I didn’t sound too preachy, it’s just that this is such an important topic in my life and I’m very passionate about it! If you have any questions, please let me know! I am by no ways a doctor, but I have had plenty of hours of testing and therapy appointments to at least give you references in case you are facing this in your own life. And remember, autism is NOT the end of the world. Some of the most genius people in history had some form of autism. Who knows, maybe one day one of the children on this hop will help find a cure for an incurable disease! Next up- Marianne over at paperorfabric.blogspot.com (I'm SO sorry...for some reason my links aren't working!) She does some fabulous jewelry and has a great blog! :)