Autism Awareness Month - Respite Care for Families

Autism Awareness Month, Day 9

Today, I want to talk about something that is an issue in almost every marriage, and that's the demands of being a parent of a special needs child. 

Marriages are tough in the best of circumstances, but consider the demands of trying to work, go to IEP meetings, deal with letters from the school about your child's behavior, meltdowns, cleaning up bits of string because your child has decided he's now going to slowly unravel every pair of socks he owns......

The one thing that parents need is down-time.  And it's usually the thing that gets overlooked or sacrificed the most.  After all, who is going to care for your child? You can't leave them with someone who is unaccustomed to dealing with aggressive outbursts and meltdowns. You don't want to ask your friends to deal with it.

The thing parents need most is respite care.  To have someone come for a few hours once or twice a month, to let you and your spouse get out of the house, have some quiet time, not have to deal with tantrums and fusses, to spend some time alone.

In a recent article at disabilityscoop.com, they talked about the need for respite care and how having that care available can lead to higher marital quality of life.   You can read more of the article here -
http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2013/04/08/respite-care-autism-parents/17659/

Remember the Autism Awareness Party is still going on!

Place orders via that link - http://www.lillarose.biz/parties/1745. Right now, this party has no hostess :) For every purchase of a "something blue" item, you will receive one ticket for the Mystery Host Raffle at the end of the party. The more "something blue" purchases, the more chances to win being Mystery Host.

Today's "something blue" is sort of cheating, but oh well. :)  It's the Princess Tiara Aurora Borealis!

Autism Awareness Month

Hair Made Beautiful is working a autism  awareness campaign.  The first National Autism Awareness Month was declared by the Autism Society in April 1970.  World Autism Awareness Day is April 2, 2013.

In 1990 the autism rate was 1 in 10,000 school age children.  After an updated report released from the CDC, the number is now 1 in 54 students. 

Autism awareness is something I am very passionate about.  I have twin sons who are on different ends of spectrum.  I spend a majority of my time battling with school systems, medical companies, and taking care of my boys.

I've seen the stares directed at me by mothers of "neurotypical" children when my children whine, climb under chairs, and yip.  I've felt the judgement.  With the numbers of autistic children rising, I want to educate people on autism.

Here's some very basic information on Autism from Autism Speaks.

Throughout the month of April, I will be holding a Lilla Rose Party at my Facebook site.  This will be a mystery hostess party, where anyone can win the hostess rewards at the end of the party.  How do you become eligible for the Mystery Hostess?  You get 1 ticket for each Blue Item you purchase during the party.  

To show you the blue items and keep spreading information about Autism Awareness, every day during the party, I will be posting a picture of an item from Lilla Rose that has blue in it and qualifies for tickets to be the mystery hostess.  I will also be posting information about Autism and attempting to increase Autism Awareness.

Important Info to help you during the campaign:

• My FaceBook Page - http://www.facebook.com/JenniferIrvingLillaRose
• The Lilla Rose Autism Awareness Party Link - http://www.lillarose.biz/parties/1745

How you can help?  

• Forward to everyone you know!  Encourage them to participate!  
• If you're a blogger and want to take part, please email me so you and your readers can take part as well.!

March Flexi Of the Month

Calling all March babies, Irish lovers, Flexi-Lovers!  Lilla Rose just released the March Flexi of the Month!  

This flexi is available in sizes Mini-XL!  Absolutely stunning!  This flexi is available during the month of March only, starting at 12:00am PDT on March 1st!  

To order this flexi, and any flexis that are always available, please visit - http://www.lillarose.biz/JenniferIrving

The little things we do to torture our hair

Our hair problems are not strictly from bad styling, instruments that are too hot, or products that strip our hair instead of helping it, there are so many things that can affect your hair's health.

One such example is something I'm very guilty of: pulling our hair back in ponytails.  When we put our hair up in elastic, we tend to make it too tight to keep our hair in place.

What does that do to our hair?

1. The tension created by pulling our hair back like this causes hair damage.  It makes your hair shed faster. Notice all the hair that comes out with the elastics?  
2. Pulling our hair back like this also can lead to a receding hairline, which for women that's not good!
3. The tension from pulling your hair back also causes scalp fatigue and headaches.  I never knew why my head would hurt so much at the end of the day.
4. Tightening our ponytails by dividing our hair in two and pulling each in an opposite direction causes breakage too.

But we must pull our hair back!  We'll go nuts with it in our faces all day!!  What are our options?

If you insist on elastic, I'd recommend the ouch-less plastic ponytail holders.  They don't do as much damage as ones with metal in the middle to hold the two sides together.  The metal just slices through your hair!

My biggest recommendation is to use Lilla Rose Flexi-Clips.  The Clips allow you to a multitude of hair styles, and can accommodate baby fine hair to long thick hair.  I've worn clips all day, they haven't fell out once, and it's so comfortable you forget you have it in.

The clip comes in 7 sizes, and I'll help you figure out what size is right for you.  Just shoot me an email and we can work together.