F is for Flowers- #AZChallenge

Lately, Monkey, my little gardener, has been super into flowers. He needs them everywhere in the front yard and he has specific ones that he feels he wants. Sunflowers, bleeding hearts, snap dragons, strawberries, pansies, daisies, tulips, daffodils, marigolds. He's so specific about it too. He has a color theme picked out and everything. It's actually kind of exhausting. I love his enthusiasm about it, but he has so many rules about how to plant things and the specific way he wants things done it's overwhelming.

Yes, you read that correctly, he has rules about how we plant things. Things like, "don't plant flowers on the sidewalk, don't plant yellow and pink flowers together, and water every day, but only in the morning." Most of these things are fairly common sense. Other rules like his specific way of how dirt needs to go into pots is a bit obsessive.

I think we picked some good ones. I love the anemones that we picked and the Gerber Daisies are always gorgeous, and I like the snap dragons more that I thought I would. This year, we 're really trying to bring back the hummingbirds and ladybugs that we used to have all over the place when we first moved. We haven't seen them in a couple years and they were so pretty and relaxing to look at. I would love to see them again, so hoping that the seeds and flowers we planted will bring some back. Last year we had a ton of praying mantis' so that was cool and interesting, but not as pretty as the ladybugs. Here's our flower spread so far.

A is for Autism Awareness- #AZChallenge

Today is the beginning of Autism Awareness month, a cause that's been near and dear to my heart for the past 5.5 years. Monkey is autistic. He's a funny, quirky, goofy kid but I wouldn't change him for the world. He's come a long way in the world from where he used to be. He used to eat moss out of sidewalk cracks because it was a compulsion he couldn't control. He used to bang his head on the wall and pull his hair out in clumps. He wasn't potty trained until he was 4. He still only eats like 5 foods, and he didn't really walk or talk until he was almost 18 months old. Now he's in preschool and thriving. He's very smart once he learned to calm himself down and think. He's a great big brother to Moose too.

In honor of all the things that he's accomplished and made it through, April is always a big month for us, not only because it's Moose's birthday but because we like to celebrate his quirkiness and break down barriers of what autism is or isn't and ways that you can be supportive of it. One way to do that is to NOT support Autism Speaks. It's a dirty word in our house. They don't support acceptance, but will tell you how you can poison your child to "fix" them. If I were to "fix" Monkey, he wouldn't be the fun, quirky little boy I love.

To help celebrate autism awareness month, my little shop, Rose City Crafter, is offering 20% off all orders $20 or more. We've even made a special shirt just for the occasion. Who doesn't want one of these shirts?!

If you're looking to donate goods or funds this month, consider donating to a family that you know of that is directly affected by autism. You have no idea how much of a huge help it would be, or what a burden it would lift off someone's shoulders. Other charitable networks to consider are "To Autism With Love" which helps low income and single parents of autistic children provide birthdays, holidays, and other fun things that they wouldn't be able to do otherwise. They also have some pretty cool sensory items for sale as well. Any local ASAN chapter is also pretty great. They focus on improving lives of autistic individuals by helping with meetings, jobs, and even support groups to help those around them as well as the individual themselves. 

Well, that's all for tonight! Happy autism awareness month. I'm sure that you'll hear a lot more about it this month than you care to. But it's a pretty big deal, especially with so many kids being diagnosed now. And the one big factor that many seem to forget, these kids grow to be adults. Autism is not something caused by vaccines, or other issues, it is a neurological disorder that is partly genetic. 

Welcome, welcome!

Welcome to Monkey & Moose Co. I've started this blog because I needed a place to talk about the shenanigans my boys, Monkey and Moose get into, as well as my clothing brand, also named Monkey & Moose, as well as the rest of the goings on that affect our daily lives, small business ownership, and the fun things that we like to do that may not fit into my little store, like the kids crafts, and home projects, that are still fun and useful to someone.

A little about us. I'm the momma. I run a little Etsy shop called Rose City Crafter where I sell primarily children's items. I started my shop to help make an extra income after we found out that my oldest had Autism in 2012. Crafting was primarily a way to escape the sometimes difficult realities of living with high functioning autism, misdiagnosis, eating disorders, seizures, self harming (the boy-- not me) and sleep disorders and dysfunction. It's been a CRAZY roller coaster and we've finally reached a level of calm until we recently. This blog will largely be about my kids, crafting, fun DIYs and food -- since I used to be a professional baker. It will also be a place to share works in progress, vent about small business ownership, and vent about the craziness of life.

My shop is mostly children's and baby items that have been created from wants (of my own kids) and necessity from being a plus size momma. I have a subsidiary clothing line called Monkey & Moose Co. named after my boys (they design most of the things in my shop!) when I couldn't find anything for my Moose that I liked in stores.

Monkey is my oldest. He's 5 and in preschool right now. He hasn't quite figured out how to interact with the kids in his class but really wants to make friends. He has high functioning autism, seizures, sensory processing disorder, eating issues, severe anxiety boarding PTSD and a sleep disorder. He loves the beach, the zoo, gardening, Hot Wheels, Sesame Street, books, and jumping in puddles.

Moose is my mischievous 10 month old who walks, talks, bites, and loves to chase and antagonize his brother. He's soon to be a middle child, but doesn't seem to mind. Moose loves to eat everything, dogs,  Sesame Street, stuffed animals (mainly his mooses), banging all the Tupperware together, and going for walks.

Hubs is a property restorator and spends as much time taking apart our house as he does putting it together. He also does some really beautiful woodwork which he hopes to get back into soon.

So this is us, this is Monkey & Moose and  Rose City Crafter. Welcome and we hope to see you again soon!