• Food - Parenting - special needs

    What is Unique? #Kindermom and a $250 Visa Contest

    June 9, 2013 - By 

    My girls with their martial arts hero Frank Trejo My kids are fierce. There are other words to describe them for sure. And some days they push me to my limits like any other kids on the planet, but my girls are my heart. Walking around outside my body. In that devastatingly painful way that children do. My girls are hope and pride, memories, passion, love and strength, faith. My girls are smart and kind and caring and loving and compassionate and strong. They stand up for others and have a strong sense of advocacy and a voice. My girls…

  • FASD - parenting - special needs

    Sari Therapy Riding #wordlesswednesday #ldnont

    May 22, 2013 - By 

    A girl and her horses. She loves them all and could not live without Sari therapy riding. In 2010, I went to a workshop in Alberta that stressed how mental health and disability, and brain injury such as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, was not currently done well through traditional therapy and cognitive behavioural approaches. I already intuitively new that but it was nice to have confirmation of it from the experts. I learned at that conference that many people were having success with animal assisted therapies and therapy riding too. So I started looking into it when I got back…

  • family - special needs

    Medicare Part D Costs #Walgreens Prescription Savings #ad

    May 20, 2013 - By 

    (This is one of two sponsored posts for Walgreens. Thanks to Walgreens for trusting thriftymommastips to tell the story of caregiving and Medicare Part D. I was compensated. My opinion is all my own.)   Nobody wants to be on medication. And yet, here’s the rub. Pretty much every person I have ever met or cared for, within my family and extended family, has needed the help of a prescription to fix, or maintain health. Sometimes medicine is vital to your health. Sometimes it is crucial that you become your own advocate. Health care is one of those domains where…

  • Health - parenting - special needs

    Camp Memories #MuskokaWoods2013

    May 4, 2013 - By 

    Summer Camp is Awesome from Muskoka Woods on Vimeo. When I was a child I was shy to the point of being extremely socially awkward. I loved school, but was your classic tightly wound overachiever. My mom was a teacher and had summers off so there was never really a great need for us to be signed up for activities all summer long. We were beach babies, my brother and I, and we went to cottages every summer of our lives. We still do. But, one year, my Mom, a single parent and grade two teacher on a very limited…

  • family - FASD - Parenting - special needs

    My #WordlessWednesday and a Linky #specialneeds

    April 10, 2013 - By 

    I am posting this because it is Wordless Wednesday and it’s past the time in Ontario where we should be doing this right. Supporting children with a disability is not a suggestion or an extra-curricular, or an add on for systems. It is the job. Period. Full stop. If you have cancer and you go to doctor, do they say to you sorry my friend we don’t do that. And yet consistently in Ontario where we receive this diagnosis we have no follow up, no support or help. Very often we do not even have schools that support our children’s…

  • family travel - Giveaways - Health - parenting - special needs

    The Ultimate Blog Party #UBP13

    April 8, 2013 - By 

    This is the second year I have taken part in this great event hosted by 5MinutesforMom.com. It’s a fun annual event and a great way to get to meet a few new bloggers, expand your circle and build some connections. So what’s involved, you ask? Well over $20,000 in prizes and a massive group of bloggers who write about various topics: from review bloggers to niche bloggers that focus on special needs. There are Dad bloggers and Mom bloggers and even some parents in waiting bloggers. So, for those taking part in the party who are new to this blog…

  • Health - Parenting - special needs

    If This Child Were Blind #specialneeds

    April 4, 2013 - By 

    Photo from Today’s Parent, this was an article I wrote for them that was published in 2008. This is Ainsley. Some of you know her well. Others have never met her and that’s okay. You just need to know she has multiple disabilities, aka special needs. That’s the sad fact of prenatal alcohol and poly-substance exposure. It hurts your brain, in fact it can often cause brain damage when you are in utero. (before you are born). I have seen children with FASD, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, whose brains are essentially mapped with holes in places where another child would…

  • Giveaways - Health - special needs

    La Roche-Posay Itch Free Day Drawing Contest #100families

    March 25, 2013 - By 

    My daughter Ainsley doesn’t have eczema, but she does have extremely sensitive skin. That’s part and parcel for a child living with sensory processing disorder. She is easily irritated by many things and synthetic fabrics make her even itchier. Her skin is extremely dry also, so we use cream often.  When Ainsley was little we experimented with many cosmetic options and lotions. But lotions that are overly greasy or scented also irritated her. It took us months and a whole lot of trial and error to figure out what worked. Lipikar Baume AP is one product that is gentle enough…

  • special needs

    Learning Toys Canada and A Favourite Family Game

    March 18, 2013 - By 

    Source: learningtoys.ca viaPaula on Pinterest Thinkfun is a brand we stumbled upon several years ago oddly while doing a psychology study at the University of Western Ontario. My oldest daughter and I took part in a study on child personality that followed her for a couple of years. It was a paid opportunity and so we took the money and threw it right into her RESP. Part of the study was with me in the room and the researchers observed how we solved problems together. A game called Thinkfun Rush Hour sat on the table and we were to solve…

  • family - Health - special needs - Travel

    Five Ways to Save Money on Summer Camp #MuskokaWoods

    March 13, 2013 - By 

    Dear Mom: Remember last month when I reminded you all about how we needed to book my summer camps now! Well, I am really hoping you did that Mom. I want to get into the same overnight summer camp I did last year with my BFF. It was the most fun event of my entire summer. Oh I enjoyed Canada’s Wonderland too, but nothing will ever top staying up late, crafting all week long, singing songs and making my own dolls and then swimming in a lake and sleeping on bunks away from home. My counsellors were incredible. In fact,…