The Adventures of a Yarnaholic Mommy: Some updates on life, a new business venture, and an auction for a great cause!

Hello everyone! Lots of new things have been going on since I last talked to you all. I still have my little crochet business, Kristin's Kreations as well as my Etsy shop. I've been neglecting it just a bit, though, because at the moment I have been the only parent in the household. My husband enlisted in the North Carolina Army National Guard last August and left for basic training/AIT back in January. The kids and I have missed him so much but we are extremely proud of him...we can't wait until his June graduation!

As many of you know I have five children. My youngest will be four in July. When he was 18 months old I noticed that he wasn't saying as many words and wasn't putting together the little 2-3 word phrases that most kids do by that age. After talking to my husband and several friends about it, I just chalked it up to "he's a boy and will talk when he's ready". Then my little Bentley turned two and was saying even fewer words. I guess I was in denial that anything may be wrong when my husband and I would say "Einstein didn't talk until he was four". It was a little bit after Bentley's third birthday that I found out our school system offered evaluations for their early intervention program. We were finally able to get my little guy tested and observed and just last month we received the diagnosis of him being mild-to-moderately autistic. For the last year I sort of guessed that this was what was going on after reading up on autism, so when we got the Dx, I was not completely devastated. I did get a little upset at initially hearing the words "Bentley has autism", but I was actually relieved that we now had a reason why he wasn't speaking. No matter how much I've read to him and talked to him, I was starting to doubt my abilities as a parent when it comes to teaching my child basic things. I know that autism isn't the worst thing that my son could have and I am facing this as a new adventure in life. I am glad that we now have a plan and have our son on the right track to be able to learn to speak and understand simple things that he was having a difficult time with . He will be in preschool 3 hours each day with speech therapy 3 days a week.

And now for my next announcement...in addition to my crochet business, I have decided to try selling Jamberry! You know I love nail polish and I have even tried the Jamberry nail wraps before and loved them. Just visit THIS LINK if you are interested in purchasing some nail wraps of your own. Don't know what Jamberry is? Here's a brief explanation: Jamberry wraps are basically stickers for your nails. There are tons of designs and they last! No matter how expensive of a nail polish I apply to my nails, with a great base coat and top coat, my polish will chip within 3-4 days. Jamberry is designed to last 2-3 weeks on fingernails and 3-4 weeks on toes. The best part is that they are highly cost efficient. With each sheet you can do 2 manicures and 2 pedicures and they are only $15.00/sheet, with the always great deal of BUY 3 sheets and get the 4th sheet FREE! Here is my most recent "Jamicure" as they call them in the Jamberry world.

Those are the super cute Autism Awareness Wraps from Jamberry. I love how committed to charity Jamberry is. For each sheet of Autism wraps that Jamberry sells, they will donate $2.00 to the Autism Society of America! There are so many great designs that I'm sure you will find something you love. A great idea is to get together with 3 of your friends, each of you pick a sheet and since you get the 4th sheet free, it will come out to $11.25/sheet for each of you. Interested in earning some great Jamberry rewards? Why not host a party? Follow this LINK to find out how you can host your own Jamberry party and earn gifts like the ones shown in the picture below!

If you think you would love to start earning money with Jamberry, then follow this link to sign up! For only $99.00 you get everything you need to start making money with your own hours!

Here's another one of my Jamberry manicures using the wrap Serve It Up over some purple nail polish. I rocked this look at my daughter's last volleyball tournament. They have so many other sports and hobbies, too!

And for my final announcment...my friend over at Rapped with Luv will be hosting her 3rd annual Autism Awareness Auction. The auction will be held from April 19-29, 2015. Please visit this link to find out how to submit any items you would love to donate. I have always participated but this year the cause is even nearer and dearer to my heart. The money raised this year will be going to Nature's Edge Therapy Center, a non-profit therapy center providing treatment patients with mental and physical disabilities. PLEASE PLEASE consider donating if you are a vendor!!