Ever buy something online and wonder exactly WHO you are buying from?
My name is Micky and I am 36. I married my high school sweetheart and we have been together since we were 16. I live in NC and have 3 children. I have worked with kids, both typical, and special needs in the schools since I was 18. I have been a volunteer and a substitute teacher. Since I had my youngest, I have stayed home to care for, and work with her.
I attended college for 3 years, majoring in elementary education and biology I did not graduate after having my son, but I am very thankful for the things I learned while there. Those 2 subjects that I studied for those 3 years, gave me a solid foundation for caring for my kids. After several classes on human biology, human physiology, and genetics I better understand their physical disabilities, the how's and why's of their conditions, and all that genetic mumbojumbo that with my husband goes in one ear and out the other. LOL. The early education and elementary education classes helped me better know how to educate my kids and help them learn. I work with my daughter everyday and I previously removed my son from public school and homeschooled him
for 2 years until I felt he was ready to actually be in a school
setting, he is now in 6th grade and loves being there!!
My oldest daughter grown and married. My 2 younger children both have special needs and are the reason I now have this website (as well as my other site Children With Special Needs) My son, Jake, is 13. My youngest daughter, Kaitlyn, is 3. They both have cerebral palsy, seizures, mental retardation, microcephaly, are nonverbal, and are technically "undiagnosed". They both carry a mutation on the gene responsible for Rett Syndrome, but it is an "unknown" mutation and the doctors don't know what it means. They do not present with typical Rett characteristics.
My grandma gave me her sewing machine when I was in my early 20's and I taught myself to sew. I sewed a little here and there for my oldest, just for fun. But when my son started to outgrow his bibs, that's when I started sewing more "adapted" type things. I now sew for him and my little one and opened this store because I knew that there were so many others out there just like me... what do you do when your kid outgrows the toddler bib?? A towel? An institutional looking bib? The choices were just disappointing. Even some of the ones specially made ones I found selling on ebay were just so... blah. I wanted my kids in something fun, and a fashionable (well, as fashionable as a bib can be! LOL) Something they (and I) actually liked.
From there, I have expanded a little to include the other things in my store, but my love remains in my bibs. As I am sewing, I feel like I am doing something good and I am thinking of the child who will be receiving them.
I sew for the love of sewing and my love for children with special needs. I hope that I am helping other parents, like myself, who just want to find the items that their children NEED, that look good and aren't ridiculously expensive. I try to keep my prices as low as possible. It's not my desire to run a "big business" or become "wealthy" off of special needs families. I'm a mom who sews in what little spare time she has.
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this! And thank you for your interest in my products!
Micky Ashley
