Tomorrow I leave for my first Blissdom conference in Nashville, TN.  Wow, I can’t believe it’s here already.  Yes, I am still working on packing.  I am excited but I’ll admit I am also a big wimp and extremely attached to my hubby and kiddos. I am absolutely dreading the airport goodbye.  I’ve already lost it in front of hubby once and while he gave me a hug and reassured me I’d be okay and he and the kids would be okay, he did have to throw in there what a big wimp I am to make me laugh and it did One of the things I love most about him is his way of always making me laugh and smile.

I am not alone in my feelings I see as I read some posts online from other first time conference attendees who are having the same anxiety issues about going without their families.

Have you traveled to conferences without your family?  Were you the one in your room or the ladies room in tears?  If you happen to see me there just remind me, I’m not alone and it I’ll be okay.

And like I said earlier I am excited. I am so looking forward to the photography sessions, seeing my pal Jen from OneMomsWorld and meeting Malise from CarolinaMama for the first time in real life.  Plus there are a few other special needs moms that I really want to go up and introduce myself to. Ellen from LoveThatMax especially.  I love her writing. And the Opryland Hotel sounds absolutely amazing. I  promise I’ll take lots of photos and I’ll come back and share them with you.

Wow, just writing this has got me all anxious and ready to go. I can do this right? My babies will be okay without Mama bear for a few days.  Papa bear will take care of them well. I love you papa bear and my two baby bears.

© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

As I was cleaning out my desk drawers over the weekend, yes, it has been much too long since I cleaned out my file, what I found really took me back.  I came across a folder full of information we were given when Bug was first diagnosed with Autism.  I remember feeling so overwhelmed. There was so much information and this was but the tip of the iceberg.

The list of signs I missed. The indicators I should have caught but just didn’t see or maybe I just didn’t want to see them.  I kept reading the packet and as much as I didn’t want to see it, I couldn’t really deny it.  It wouldn’t have been fair to just close my eyes to it.  That wouldn’t help my son.  As much as I wanted to tell myself it wasn’t true, it was time to face the facts.  It answered so many questions and brought up many millions more. As scary as the possibility might be if you see these signs or someone suggests to you that you might want to get your child tested and as hard as it is not to getdefensive, take a close, honest look at what could be potential signs and find out.  It  may very well not be Autism but isn’t that beautiful child of yours worth the effort to find out? To even just inquire about with his/her pediatrician?  Of course he/she is.

These are just possible indicators.  I am not a doctor so don’t take these as facts just as what they are possible indicators that may be a red flag to you as a parent:

*Lack of speech or impaired speech
*Lack of eye contact
* Doesn’t respond when called by name
* Doesn’t like to cuddle
* Extreme distress for no discernible reason
* Spins objects
* Plays next to children not with them
* Has no imaginative play
* Echolalic speech (recites lines from t.v., etc)
* No fear of real danger
* Can’t carry on a conversation like peers his age

These were just a few of the things we noticed with Bug.

© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

I know Ive been missing from the blog for a little while but things have really gotten a bit hectic. My work at home has really picked up and I am so grateful for that but getting used to a much tighter work schedule is going to take a little while. Good thing is it keeps me busy and out of the kitchen pantry so I’m hoping it will help me get rid of some extra pounds I could stand to get rid of.  Now to just make sure I get up from my desk and get some extra movement in. This is where my little princess comes in.  She gets me moving by making get up and play Just Dance with her. Once you get comfortable dancing in front of others it’s actually kinda fun.

I’m going to try and get myself and my schedule in order so I can get my work in, my family time, the housework done, therapy and blogging, some exercise time in and a little me time which I’m hoping to spend taking photographs. That actually relaxes me.

Does it sound like I’m taking on too much or do you think I can do it?

I’ve got it easy compared to some moms who’ve got all their kids in extra curricular activities plus they work outside the home.  Hats of to them. I don’t think I could do it. I’m not even sure I can do this but I’m gonna try.

If you have any tips or suggestions that work for you I’d love to hear ‘em.

© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

So, I had to share this photo with you ’cause Princess asked me to.  She is so excited about her new shoes.  She is a shoe fanatic like mommy. And she loves to sparkle!Now you might be wondering how the title of this post has anything to do with these sparkly shoes so I’ll tell you.  You know how sometimes you see just the perfect pair of shoes but they are just so high priced you can’t bring yourself to buy them even if you want to.  Well that’s what happened to Princess over the weekend. She saw these shoes and wanted them so badly but at $44 daddy and I told her she could get them but they seemed a little pricey for cloth shoes (you know how easily a little girl can get those dirty).  So, she chose not to pick them up right there. Then she was sad and a little mopey after that.

Then yesterday for no apparent reason I looked online at the store we were at and I saw a circular that had the shoes she wanted and guess what?  Yes, Tuesday and Wednesday only (a 2 day sale) the exact same shoe was sale priced at $19.99!  I love a good deal!

Now this was a price I was sure she’d be okay with.  She’s a smart little cookie when it comes to money. She’s not much of an impulse buyer and I am so grateful.  So right after school we headed over to the store we had seen the shoes at and of course they only had one pair in her size according to the sales clerk but neither he nor I could locate them.   Uh-oh this wasn’t good especially since the clerk told me they were being discontinued.  She got mad at me cause they didn’t have her size and was in tears already.  “Mommy, fix this somehow”, I thought to myself. I didn’t want to get her hopes up and then watch them come crashing down.  So mommy did what any mommy would do.  I asked if any other locations had them and there was one more store with one pair of her size left and fortunately it was just down the road. Now to just get there in time and find them.

As you can see we did and she was thrilled.  She wore them this morning to school and just insisted I tell my “AMomBlog friends” about it. So yes, it was a little risky and a tad bit of work and hope to get her the shoes she wanted but she saved $24, we used the store cash so technically it didn’t cost us anything and the smile on her face this morning was priceless. So, all-in-all her patience paid off in savings.

© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

Are you confused when shopping for vitamins and supplements?  Not only are the shelves at your grocery store lined with what seems like hundreds of different vitamins and supplements but there are so many brands as well.  This is what my grocery store aisle looks like. It’s very overwhelming isn’t it? How do you figure out what your body needs?

I’ve always been curious myself as to what vitamins and supplements I need. I know I need something I just don’t know what for sure.  So I went over to NutritionPossible.com, created a free account and completed the assessment which was super quick and easy to get some answers and a direction in which to go.All I did was answer a few questions about my eating and lifestyle habits and it provided me with a nutrition plan with recommendations for the areas in my life that I am most interested in improving such as brain, eye, metabolism, etc.  and learning more about which included:

• suggested supplements, how much I’d need and their health benefit
• 78 suggested foods and how many servings and their benefits
• AND suggested activities to better health and the areas in which these activities will aid in my health goals.

I love the suggested activities. They are simple and easy to include into a 30 minute exercise routine and they will get me moving. It even provided me with challenges. Here’s one of them:

Want to get rid of the confusion of which supplements and why? Sign up for your free account at Nutrition Possible.com and complete the assessment.  Once you do you’ll also be able to download a great high dollar saving coupon for  Centrum® products.

WIN a $25 AMEX gift card

To enter the giveaway, take the assessment on NutritionPossible.com and come back here and share something you didn’t know you were lacking.

Giveaway ends: February 10th. Giveaway rules.

I am participating in a sponsored campaign hosted by One2One Network. I received incentives and am eligible for prizing. While all opinions stated are my own, I make no claims about NutritionPossible.com as a product or its effectiveness.

© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

I’m always on the lookout for autism related websites, organizations, groups, you name it.  Can never have too much information or support right? As I was looking over the site I hit upon their blog and their recent blog post titles caught my attention. They covered everything from clay to rewards including teaching your child to understand emotions, life skills – how to teach your child to wash his hands properly  (we are still working on that one), how to use picture cue cards to read and even what the best dog for your child with autism is.

They cover the different types of Autism (in case you are wondering what the differences are) including:

• Asperger Disorder
• Childhood Disintegrative Disorder
• Classic Autism
• Pervasive Developmental Disorder
• Retts Syndrome

As well as provide information on Attention Deficit Disorder, how Autism is diagnosed, what high functioning, mild and severe Autism are, motor and sensory disorders and sensory processing disorder (as many children with Autism also have these disorders).  So much information for all those questions you’ve got.

• What causes it?
• What are the facts?
• What do you do after you get a diagnosis of Autism?
• And so many more questions.

First and foremost you need to surround yourself with others who understand what you’re going through, who can relate to what you are feeling and can help you find and understand the answers to all your questions. A community of support for those of us raising and loving our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, cousins or friends with Autism and bringing Autism awareness to the world, that’s AutismUnited.org.  Find them on facebook and join them http://www.facebook.com/theautismunited

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post but as you know, bringing Autism awareness to the front is very important to me and my family as Autism is a part of our lives as well.

© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

Oh boy it’s the end of January the first month of the new year and I’ve done it already. I’ve gone and over-extended myself.  Why can’t I just say, no?  I know I should. I know I have a billion and one things to do already but when someone asks me for something or help to get something done I can never say no.

I drive myself nuts and I really wanted to make this the year I don’t over-extend myself and already I’ve blown that one.  Now, what do I do?  Do I just keep traveling down this all too familiar road? How do I get off it?

I find myself working really early in the morning and way too late at night. Which works great as I don’t have to work when the kids get home from school but boy that makes for one tired mommy.  And tired mommy is sometimes a cranky mommy and cranky mommy is no fun.

I’ve got my first Blissdom conference coming up in just a few short weeks and while yes, I’m stressing about what to wear, missing my hubby and kids like crazy, but to be honest with you, I am really looking forward to the break.  Not taking work with me or at least I’m hoping not to.  Just a couple of days for me to recharge.  How about you, do you over extend yourself?  How do you pull yourself out of it?  And how do you recharge if you can?

© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

FINDING NEMO returns to theatres for the first time in 3D September 14th, 2012!

Academy Award^®-winning Best Animated Feature “Finding Nemo” returns to the big screen for the first time ever in thrilling Disney Digital 3D™.    Rated G – which in this day and age is a rare but wonderful thing in my opinion. In this stunning underwater adventure, with memorable characters, humor and heartfelt emotion, “Finding Nemo” follows the comedic and momentous journey of an overly protective clownfish named Marlin (voice by Albert Brooks) and his son Nemo (voice by Alexander Gould)––who become separated in the Great Barrier Reef when Nemo is unexpectedly taken far from his ocean home and dumped into a fish tank in a dentist’s office. Buoyed by the companionship of Dory (voice by Ellen DeGeneres), a friendly-but-forgetful Pacific regal blue tang, Marlin embarks on a dangerous trek and finds himself the unlikely hero of an epic effort to rescue his son––who hatches a few daring plans of his own to return safely home.

Did you know:

• “Finding Nemo” won the 2003 Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature.
• The film won a Golden Globe® Award for Best Motion Picture–Musical or Comedy.
• At the time of its release, “Finding Nemo” was the highest grossing G-rated movie of all time.
• Ellen DeGeneres won an MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance.
• In 2008, The American Film Institute named “Finding Nemo” among the top 10 greatest animated films ever made.

Check out the official trailer.  I’m anxious to see how well they make use of the 3D effects on this movie!

© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.