A Giveaway for Maya's Birthday!

Today was Maya's birthday party!  On Wednesday she'll be 4 years old.  She had a great time at the party and was totally exhausted by the time everyone left.  More party pictures will come some other day, but check out this cute one (she's got an animal cracker in her mouth):

She's just so adorable, I can't stand it.

Check out her birthday shirt!  It's a little blurry in that picture, but it says her name, has a big 4, and (of course) an alligator.  She loves it.

I found the shirt on Etsy, and once I received it (and thought the quality was great) I emailed the shop owner, Jill,  to see if she was interested in giving away a discount to one lucky blog reader.  She happily agreed to give away 50% off any one personalized shirt in her store, lil sha-bebe. 

Fine print: I paid full price for Maya's shirt.  I am not getting anything in return for this giveaway.  I just liked her shirt and thought it was worth a shot to ask about getting a discount to give away to one of you folks.

I took 2 closer-up pictures, but I took them after the party, so ignore the spots:

Jill's store has over 200 shirts listed---I can basically guarantee that if you spend some time browsing over there you'll see something adorable, either for your child or to give as a gift to some other lucky little one.

Here are the details:

Prize: 50% off any one personalized shirt from this Etsy store. 

Giveaway Details: Entries start tonight and will end Thursday at 3pm (NYC time).  Winning comment number will be chosen using random.org, and if I don't hear from the winner after 24 hours I will pick a new winner.

Entry Details:

• You enter this giveaway by commenting on this blog post (not on the blog's Facebook page).
• You can enter up to 6 times, and each entry must be a separate entry.  If you put them all in one entry, it's only going to count once.
• It's generally best (but not necessary) if your entries include your email address.  If they don't, I won't be able to contact you if you win, and if you miss your 24-hour winner window you'll be out of luck. (So if your email address isn't there, be sure to check the blog on Thursday night, 5/31!)

How to Enter:
1. Leave a comment on this post.  (Any comment will do)
2. Like us on Facebook, and leave a comment that says "I like you on Facebook!" (if you already like us on Facebook just leave a comment saying so.)
3. Follow us on Twitter and leave a comment that says "I follow you on Twitter!" (if you already follow us on Twitter just leave a comment saying so.)
4. Go check out Jill's etsy store and leave a comment letting me know which shirt catches your eye.
5. Share the link to this blog post on Facebook and leave a comment letting me know that you did.
6. Tweet the link to this blog post and leave a comment letting me know that you did.

 
Good luck!

News in brief & new giveaway winner

-Maya loves school.  LOVES.  I picked her up yesterday (and will every Weds, to go to after school feeding/speech therapy) and got to see her so excited, running around and pointing to show off the classroom, hugging her teachers, etc.  It's too cute.  The teacher even asked her "Where's Adam?" and she toddled over to bulletin board with the kids' pictures and pointed to the right kid!  (She doesn't know everyone, but she's learning.)

-Maya does not love the bus.  I don't think she hates it, but she doesn't love it.  On the FB page (which you should like) and Twitter (where you should follow) I've mentioned that there have been some tears (yesterday from Maya and then me, today just from Maya).  Today was a better ride, though, with less crying, and the bus people seem nice.  We're hoping that it will get easier.

-Maya's made some great art (pictures in my Twitter feed) and so did I!  The teacher sent home a leaf to decorate with some family pictures.  Maya was a fan :)

-Parker is not having a good week.  He spends a lot of time moping in his crate.  But also, he gets to run in the baseball field on some mornings (I couldn't take him with Maya, because the field isn't fenced in---I worried that he would bolt after something and I would be stuck with the jogging stroller).  He loves the running, but doesn't like the quiet apartment.

-We have a new giveaway winner!  The previous winner never claimed the Leapfrog DVD, so we have a new winner, care of random.org:  Comment #22!!

"Queen Amy said...

I know my letters and my daughters know their letters, but I love coming here and I would really like to win your giveaway and give it away to one of the children I work with who hasn't learned their letters. That sentence had a lot of letters!

August 22, 2011 11:05 PM "

 

Congratulations, Amy!   Email me to claim your prize!

A girl and her dog (and last day for the giveaway!)

How about a little Maya-Parker love on this gorgeous Monday afternoon?

One of the sweetest things about returning from our vacation 2 wks ago was the reuniting of Maya and Parker (who had spent the week at my in-laws).  Maya spends a lot of time petting him, hugging him, and giving him kisses . . . and he spends a lot of time being very patient :)  He seeks her out, too---bumping her with his nose, bringing her his toys, etc.  Getting her a dog was possibly the best thing we've done for her :)

Check out the video (taken from my phone---sorry for the quality) from this morning.  You'll want the volume on to hear all of her giggles, which escalate when he decides to throw in some little barks.  2 notes:  1.  Although you can see his mouth opened a little at times, know that he's extrememly gentle with his nose/mouth/teeth  2.  Maya's hugs are not usually quite so vigorous. 



How sweet is it that he wrestles out of her hug just to turn and lick her nose?!


Today is your last chance to enter the Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD giveaway!   Winner will be picked & posted tomorrow evening----you can enter up to 5 times, go check it out!


Also, next week I'm taking Maya to see the geneticist to have a new test done.  I've got some thoughts on that, but no time to sort through them just yet.  We're too busy enjoying the last throes of summer (and some beautiful post-hurricane weather) to get too serious at the moment.  Summer fun now, deep thoughts later.

Maya picked this ****giveaway*****

In the past I've talked about Maya's love for letters and how amazed I've been as she seems to be learning them through osmosis.  This is due partially to her natural interest in letters (she's always been interested in the writing on T-shirts, bags, etc) and partially to one really great video:

When I saw Maya starting to recognize letters, I asked for alphabet exposure ideas from one of my message boards, and several of the moms replied "Teaching letters?  All I did was put on Leapfrog Letter Factory and my kids magically learned them."   So I picked up the video, put it on, and a few short days later Maya was already copying the letter sounds (check her out in this video).

Amazing!  And since she's nonverbal, really amazing.

She can't say "A" (like the long A sound in plate), but she can say "ah"   . . . and quickly I could show her an A and say "What letter is that?" and she would say "Ah!".  I would never have thought to teach her to tell me the letters with their sounds, but it worked.  Suddenly she was able to tell us how much she was understanding.  (Similarly, she can say "ba" and "da" but not B or D.)  I couldn't believe how interested she was in the video, or how quickly she starting picking up the new information.  I'm a big fan. 

So when Maya grabbed the video off of the store shelf the other day (she recognized the box, sneaky girl) and I saw that it was on sale, I decided to get one for a giveaway :)

This video is my favorite.

You guys are going to love it!

(FYI: I am not affiliated with Leapfrog in any way.  I'm not receiving any sort of compensation from the Leapfrog folks.  Maya just loves this video, and I've been impressed with how much it has taught her, so I thought I'd pay it forward.)

Here's how to enter the giveaway:  Pay attention, because you can enter up to 5 times! 

 

1. Leave a comment on this post. Any comment will do . . "Hey, I want to win!" "Giveaways rule" "Maya is awesome", etc :)

 

2. Like our page on Facebook ("Uncommon Sense Blog") if you don't already. Then, leave a comment here that says "I'm a Facebook follower!" (If you're already a Facebook follower, you can leave this comment too, of course.)

 

3.  Follow us on Twitter!  (This is new! See the twitter feed on the top right corner of the blog?)  Our Twitter name is "UncommonBlogger". Then, leave a comment here that says "I'm following you on Twitter!" 

 

4. Share the link to the giveaway on Facebook. Then, leave a comment here that says "I shared the giveaway on FB!"

 

5. Retweet the link to the giveaway on Twitter (once you follow me on Twitter, you can just retweet my giveaway post).  Then, leave a comment here that says "I retweeted the giveaway!"

 

Remember to leave a separate comment for each entry!

 

Winner will be chosen the evening of Tuesday, August 30th.  The latest that an entry will be accepted is 5pm (EST) on Tues, 8/30, via random number generator.  The winner will be announced the same evening and have 2 days to contact me before I pick a different winner. 

Blech. And a bonus giveaway entry.

Maya is sick.  I'm sick, too, but that doesn't seem to matter much.  She's little, and her fever is higher than mine, so she gets all of the pampering.  This morning I awoke to hearing her scream from the crib (which was terrifying) and when I ran in and took her temperature it was 104.8.  Yikes, dude.  Scary stuff.  It seems to be just a virus, and hopefully tomorrow will be much better.

For the past two days, there has been a lot of this:

And a very few bundled-up outings, too:

At the dog run, in between fevers.

Lucky for her, she's been very stylish throughout this illness because the other day I gave her her very first little manicure:

They're blue---blue is her favorite color, she picked it out at CVS

2 days left for the giveaway!  I already laid out the 4 different ways to enter, but I thought of a 5th!  You can leave an extra comment on the original giveaway post if you share the giveaway link ( http://niederfamily.blogspot.com/2011/04/giveaway.html)  on FB  (or if you email it to someone, that way the non-FB folks can get a bonus one too).

A girl and her dog

Two cute Maya & Parker moments from the past week:

Maya's eating has been bad again.  Combine poor eating skills with the terrible two's (or 3's) and we've had some projectile food recently.  And when you have projectiles, you sometimes have casualties:

Is Maya evilly rubbing her hands together?

 Direct hit!  There's a meatball chunk right next to Parker's body (and some ketchup on him, although you can't see it) . . . and another meatball chunk about a foot away.

I'm not allowed to eat it, so I might as well go back to sleep.

And a day or two later . . . 

Mommy, this is my doggie!

Parker, I have to tell you a secret.

Ok, now you tell me a secret!

A kiss for my buddy.

And a snuggle, too.

Did you see our big giveaway?!  Enter, enter, enter!  You can have up to 4 entries.  Even if you're not a parent of a child with special needs, you may know someone (a parent, a teacher, a therapist, etc) who would love to receive a thoughtful gift.  (If you don't feel comfortable entering on their behalf, send along the link!)

Any other questions for me?  I've gotten several and will likely be writing the post later this week.

A Giveaway!

A while back a friend of mine pointed me towards an online store that she thought I'd like, and she was spot on.  Check out my new shirt:

Seriously, how long will it take me to remember that mirrors make words go backwards? 

There you go.

Look at me!  I'm a Super Advocate!  Considering that I came across this shirt when I was neck deep in insurance battling, it seemed all too perfect for me.  Then I thought about IEP stuff, research projects, scheduling battles, rude receptionists, etc etc.  I am a super advocate . . .  and I bet that a lot of you readers are, too :) 

So I ordered myself that shirt, thought about you guys, and decided to get in touch with the shop owner, Colleen Tomko.  I told her that I knew a group of people (that's you guys) who I thought would love her designs, and asked whether she would be interested in doing a giveaway, and then she jumped on board.  Little did I know that she would send me not 1, but 2 great prizes! 

First things first, just so you know: I'm not getting anything out of this.  I paid full price for my shirt, I didn't get any kickbacks, and I don't know Colleen.  I just thought that a lot of you would dig her designs, and also, giveaways are really fun. 

Now that that's clear, check out the store:  Her store, The Parent Side, is pretty darn cool.  The designs are clever, humorous, colorful, and catchy.  I bet you'll see something that makes you smile.

Here are the giveaways!:

A mug featuring the A Super Advocate design. First off, who doesn't need a mug?  Second, while you drink your coffee/tea/water/whatever, you will recognize your awesome advocating self and smile. 

A beautiful large framed print of her "Celebrate Diversity" design.  (Specs here).  I asked for a mug, Colleen sent this too---how generous is that :)  Let me say, this is really nice---it's a great design, vibrant and colorful, and beautifully framed.  You could hang it at home, or in your office, or it would make an amazing gift to a school or therapy center (and you would be their new favorite client, I think.)

Here they both are together:

So now that you totally want this awesome stuff . . .    here's how to enter the giveaway.  Pay attention, because you can enter up to 4 times! 

1.  Leave a comment on this post.  Any comment will do  . . "Hey, I want to win!"  "Giveaways rule" "Maya is awesome", etc :)

2.  Go to The Parent Side and check out Colleen's different designs (there's a list on the left titled "Browse Designs").  Then, leave a comment here telling me which design is your favorite.

3.  Like our page on Facebook ("Uncommon Sense Blog") if you don't already.  Then, leave a comment here that says "I'm a Facebook follower!"  (If you're already a Facebook follower, you can leave this comment too, of course.)

4.  Like The Parent Side on Facebook ("The Parent Side").  Then, leave a comment here that says "I'm following The Parent Side on Facebook!"

*Remember to leave a separate comment for each entry!  

Giveaway winners will be announced next Friday, May 6th, after 5pm EST.  First number pulled will get to choose their prize, and the second winner will get the remaining prize.  If the second winner declines the remaining prize, I will pull a third number, etc.

And whether you win or lose, do check out the store.  She has a lot of fun stuff :)