It's Better to Be Kind.

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not so Social Rick! Going a little crazy, can you tell?!

Posted on by Rick Garcia

What’s up everybody?! How’s everyone doing? I hope you are doing well and helping slow down this vicious virus. It’s been 35 days since the Garcia’s have practiced social distancing and in quarantine. It’s also 35 days with no sports! It’s been hard, strange, bizarre, surreal, crazy, you get the point. Meg has only been out twice and I have been out maybe 4-5 times getting groceries and picking up sanitizer. I hope this will all pass in time and we can get back to normal in about a year and back to some sense of normalcy in a few months. It sucks! All of it sucks but I try to think of all the positives and taking it day by day. Today is my favorite day mentality.

Those who know me, know I am an extrovert and love to get together and have a good time and make memories. Nothing is better than watching/coaching your kid and his buddies and team compete and then go out after to a restaurant with a patio enjoying the amazing Austin climate. Even the heat, I like the heat! Bring the heat…especially now! Adults order cold pops while the kids play and run around for hours. We laugh, we dance, we recap the game, we talk about the next game, we plan vacations, we shoot the shit! We don’t stop there, we then take it back to the hood for an after party usually at our house or a buddies house to keep the good times rolling. Man, I miss that a lot, not going to lie. I also take the kiddos pictures and party pictures and take them to the gram and the Book. Between that and facilitating and enjoying being a party starter, a lot of my friends here in Austin call me social Rick. Boomerang y’all!

A big reason why we moved down to Austin is to have the kiddos be outside make a ton of friends and make great memories. The weather is so nice here that I hate being inside, so I always want to be outside hanging out with friends and letting the kids run wild. Well, we can’t do that anymore and who knows when we will be able to do that. It might not be the same for a long time and I have to get used to that. I have to adapt to this lifestyle for now. We ALL know people that loss their jobs, businesses on pause, people who have gotten sick…etc…You are in my daily prayers! Olivia is a high risk target. I’m also a bit of a worry wart. You combine the two and my anxiety has been through the roof. I hate feeling like this, the last time my anxiety was close to this when when the girls were born extreme preemies and it brings back horrible feelings and anxiety that I buried deep inside my core. Anxiety is no joke and it peaked everyday for approximately 9 months.

So how have I been dealing with being not so social Rick?! Great question. Meh just okay and knowing it can always be worse helps, making today my favorite day helps, nice weather helps and a company that has been super understanding and supportive helps a lot. I recently took a 4 day weekend to have a mental health long weekend over Easter as I needed a break from checking slack and being on zoom non stop since we transitioned to working from home. That, plus Meg’s busy work schedule and also trying to homeschool and watch Olivia who has special needs has been extremely difficult. It can get as bad where my son and I are just arguing with each other, out of character for both of us. I’ve been getting mad at him for little things and I realized its just the anxiety and stress that’s taking over. Have you recently noticed your kiddos acting out a bit? Is it just us?! I hope not lol.

I have been doing the following which has helped me deal with the stress and getting closer to my kiddos.

  • Teaching Spanish! Ricky can now count to 60! This video shows him counting to 50. I love exposing him to my first language and discussing Diversity and Inclusion! They might not look like it but they have 50% Mexican blood in those veins! Professor Garcia con mis estudiantes!
  • Practicing Baseball and Basketball with little man! Quick and effective practices. Quality over quantity.
  • Reading! Just finished this book. Loved it! Great tips to be a better Dad and Coach.
  • Having team zoom calls and virtual practices. I miss my kiddos. I am hoping we can get out there at some point and lead these boys this summer. Great kids, talented!
  • Social Distancing drinks with neighbors.
  • Playing in Backyarda Vallarta, Mexico 🙂
  • Watching Ozark, Netflix, Sonic, Trolls, Trolls, Trolls, Sonic, Trolls and playing COD with internet buddies 🙂
  • Jogging while listening to hip hop, rap and EDM! Gotta get it right, get it tight. At least offset the snacks. Am I rite?
  • Taking funny pictures of our Bulldog, the many faces of Ryno!
  • Emailing the local paper and getting Ricky and his team in the local paper! Came at a time, I think we all needed a feel good story.
  • Learning sign language and teaching our kids what we learn.
  • Ordering Lou Malnatis and Portillos! Some of our favorite food from Chicago!
  • Not going to lie, having a few cold pops, good whiskey has helped take the edge off. It’s 5 o’clock… JK if I hear one more person say that… Haha!
  • Making you tube videos, please like and subscribe to ricky bear tv haha.

What are you doing to keep your sanity?! Stay safe, stay healthy and let’s be kind and think of others. I hope to see you all sooner rather than later.

P.S. Meg gave me a haircut today, it was ok until I saw this…smdh!

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Happy Easter!

Posted on by Rick Garcia

Good morning all! Buenos Dias! What a glorious day, the Lord is Risen! Even if you are not into that sort of thing, Happy Easter from my family to yours! We hope you have a joyous and blessed day with your family wherever you may be! A buddy of mine had a great quote this morning in regards to even if you don’t celebrate Easter and the Lord’s resurrection. He said “but everyday is a day to celebrate these days”! Facts, big facts! Everyday is a good day.

I am currently sitting in my patio, its 75 degrees with a breeze and I’m having a cup of coffee with a mimosa on the side :)Don’t believe me? Check out my gram, haha. Meg and I have a great brunch spread in the works, pics to come on our instagram page. We are finding the good in today and it is not that hard on a day like today. Albeit, I wish I was able to attend mass in person followed by going to one of our favorite places for brunch with friends and family, I know that isn’t possible right now so I choose not to dwell over it. Instead, I find the silver lining and we will make the best of today. We are in this together, we are all making sacrifices especially the essential workers and our amazing health care professionals on the front lines of this battle. God Bless our essential workers and our healthcare staff, you are in my daily prayers! These sacrifices are not easy, so it is ok to not always be ok. I’m not always ok, trust me! However, these sacrifices are for the greater good, they are for my girls and for one another. Jesus also made a sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice, giving his life so that we can all have eternal life, pretty powerful.

Our easter Sunday started with the Easter bunny bringing some gifts and goodies to our kiddos. They then had an easter egg hunt which you can see on our instagram page below. Gracie cracks me up, as they were opening their easter baskets, I can see her looking around getting a head start mentally on where the eggs were, lol. That’s my Gracie Girl!

After some Easter Bunny fun, we got ready for the real reason of Easter and that is to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection! We streamed the live feed from our Catholic Church. It was a little odd but we got in our Sunday best and prayed and participated in today’s Holy mass. It was actually beautiful, the songs were great, readings were on point, we could hear our backyard birds singing as rays on sunshine illuminated our family room. Together, from our homes, we celebrated. My take away from the homily is that we will ALL RISE like our Lord did today and most of us will come out better Catholics, better Christians and better People on the other side. Amen! God Bless you and your families and once again we hope you have a great day, Happy Easter!

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How Are You Doing? Me, I’m a Hot Mess.

Posted on by Rick Garcia

I didn’t get to post as much as I would’ve liked to for the month of March in honor of CP Awareness and I feel pretty bummed about that. However, I am sure things will come up through out the rest of the year that I can still share awareness about CP and living with disabilities in general. So I won’t beat myself up too much about it. Instead today I figured I would catch y’all up on what the Garcia Family has been up to while under quarantine. Going on day 21 today!

First before I get into my update I would like to start by saying that today I got some very sad news, one of my mentors and bosses while growing up passed away from Covid19. He was the head veterinarian and owner of an animal hospital, back in a Chicagoland suburb, that I worked at all through high school and college. He is the first person I knew personally to have passed from this awful virus and I am heartbroken for his family and the Niles Animal Hospital community. From what I understand is that he got ill and passed all within one week, that is terrifying to me. I truly do hope that more people start taking this more seriously and just stay home, peoples lives depend on it.

Actually that brings up something that I witnessed today. As I mentioned earlier today marks day 21 of being quarantined and in that time neither the kids or myself have been in a car ride out of the neighborhood. Rick has been out to pick up groceries but that’s about it. This afternoon we had an curbside grocery order to pick up in a neighboring town so we decided to pack the kids up and take them for a ride to get out of the house and hood, if even for about 30 min and only to stay in the car. I envisioned that since Austin is under strict lockdown orders that the roads would basically be clear. Nope! They were just as busy as any other day, where were all these people going? I don’t understand, not all these people were going to an ‘essential store’ or going to work. Maybe they too were just getting out for a ride, I hope that was the case.

Moving on! Let’s see what else have we been up to. Oh yah, homeschooling and working from home (both Rick and I). It’s been so much fun and I love every second of it… just kidding! I think the hardest part is seeing how kids are handling everything, because Ricky Bear has been much more emotional and whiny than usual. It took Rick and I a while to realize that this is how he is handling the stress and all the changes in our lives at the moment. It’s not easy, but I have been overly understanding of the kids behavior lately and am trying to be here to comfort them rather than reprimand them. I do loose my cool every so often as I am not perfect, but then once I regain my cool I try and explain to the kids that mommy is stressed and sad and that I am sorry for yelling. I hope they understand one day and at least they know mommy isn’t perfect.

With that said, I was also planning on being very strict about school time and having a particular schedule to follow from 8-3 each day. Well that plan is out the window and I am ok with it! I am not a teacher, and there is a reason I never became a teacher. Instead what is working better for everyone in our house is that I typically set the kids up with a few things to work on throughout the day. If they start to fight it or argue or cry, we move on to something else. There is no need for them to be stressed and upset, because then that just adds more friction to the house that we don’t need. Rick and I have also added new items to their curriculum like Spanish lessons with dad and Sign Language classes with mom. Other ways the kids are staying busy and still learning (without knowing it) is that I have Ricky Bear read to Grace. This week he has been reading Matilda and White Fang to Grace, this has been keeping the two of them busy for a couple hours a day. HUGE win for mom {high five}! It’s certainly not easy, but we are starting to find a new groove that is working ok for our family. I hope everyone else has fallen into their new groove too, if not yet then soon.

Oh and can we just touch base on the fact of how much food these kids have been eating the past 21 days! Seriously it’s like snacks on snacks on snacks. Don’t get me wrong, I am also doing my part of gaining the (Covid)19lbs for sure, but shoot these kids and their food. However, the kids just found the stash of Halloween candy I had hidden yesterday and today I didn’t get as many snack requests 🤔I’m actually just gonna pretend like I don’t know, the lack of requests today was pretty nice.

Olivia update: She has been enjoying getting to sleep in, playing more with brother and sister, and absolutely loving the swing time she is getting in our backyard. I believe that Olivia has been signing Mommy and Good Night to me each night, I will need to get this on video to prove it! Knowing how much she loves car rides, we may need to take more family car rides just to get out for a bit.

Gracie update: She thinks school (aka homeschool) is boring! She can now sing her ABCs but is still learning letter recognition at her own pace. She loves when Ricky Bear reads to her and she is now sleeping in her own bed (for the most part). Gracie is also super creative. For example yesterday she told me I was a french fry, daddy was a hamburger 😂, she was a chicken nugget, Olivia was sweet n sour sauce and Ricky Bear was the toy. I think she is missing McDonalds, a lot!

Ricky Bear update: He has been uber emotional and I feel so bad for him as I know his little heart just doesn’t understand what is going on. I am very proud of him for his reading skills and writing skills he has been working on. He is also practicing one of one with dad each day and it is great quality time for the both of them.

My update: I am trying to focus my energy on work as I feel like I am pretty good under pressure and with coming up with good ideas. I also think it has been a good outlet for me to be able to focus my time on and escape the reality of my ‘new’ life, which more resembles Groundhog Day. I may look like I have my sh*t together, but on the inside I am hot a mess. I know I am on the brink of breaking though because the other day I watched that video from John Krasinski and his new series ‘Some Good News’ (if you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend it) and I started to get teary eyed. I knew then that I am an emotional ticking time bomb and it will be coming soon. Sorry Rick! On a positive note, I think Rick finally understands why I always have a glass a wine in my hand when he gets home from work! For now though I will continue to be strong for my family, keep them healthy and safe, keep the house clean and continue to focus on work as it helps keep me grounded.

Hope everyone stays safe, healthy and distant! Also, please keep the Sakas Family in your thoughts and prayers.

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Be Strong: Stay Positive

Posted on by Meghan Garcia

Going on day 11 of being completely quarantined. The kids and myself have only left our house to go on a walk or play in our backyard, Rick has only left to go to the store twice to get essentials. There have been many times throughout the past few days that I, myself, have felt like breaking down and I know my kids have been feeling the stress as well. Unfortunately, there is so much that is out of our control besides doing our part and be committed to social distancing. One thing that I will be better at and do my best to promote, especially in my house, is positivity.

I have been thinking a lot over the past 11 days, especially since I have had extra time with no sports or extracurricular activities to part take in. Here are some positives that I have identified and would like to point out :

  1. We, as a family, are spending some much needed quality, uninterrupted, time together.
  2. My family has been eating a home cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.
  3. We are spending less money on non-essentials or outside activities, which will impact our savings in a positive way.
  4. My children have been the most creative I have seen them in a long while; creating videos, playing new games and creating beautiful artwork for me to display all throughout the house.
  5. Rick has been able to focus and practice baseball and basketball one on one with Ricky Bear. Normally, he has to teach and coach about 10 other boys so it is nice to see him play with just Ricky (and Grace too).
  6. We are all able to have more time to learn sign language as a family.
  7. While it has been an adjustment for Rick and I to both work from home, I am grateful that we both have jobs and that they are able to be done remotely.
  8. I am also grateful to have this extra time with Rick, having him home more has been a blessing and I know the kids enjoy spending more time with him too.
  9. My house has never been cleaner!
  10. Getting a bunch of house projects done.
  11. I am saving on laundry, since we are mostly wearing pajamas all day😬
  12. We have a roof over our heads and my pantry and cabinets are stocked with all that we need to survive.
  13. I have amazing friends who have continued to be there for each other through all of this – NONE OF US are in this alone.
  14. Most importantly, my family is safe and healthy and staying free of illness.

Yes there are a lot of negatives that we can all dwell on, but right now I am choosing to focus on the positives. Hope you all can too!

Since March is still CP Awareness month and I am very dedicated to sharing as much as I can about the disability, I want try and tie back our current situation as best I can. Having CP has been described as feeling trapped in your body and not being able to do what you really want all of the time. Sounds a little familiar right? Difference is that we will overcome our current situation, unlike Olivia who will live her whole life with CP. Which is why we have to Be Strong and Stay Positive, always! Even with all that is going on in the world, Rick still thought of me and brought home my favorite flower, Orchids, during his last grocery outing 🥰

Green is the color CP Awareness!

We can’t live in the past and wonder what could have been, what happened and who’s to blame. None of this will help or change Olivia’s disabilities, nor will it help end this Pandemic. However, we can do our best to work with Olivia and help her through therapy to overcome obstacles just as we can all do our best to work together to help stop the spread of this awful virus.

Even when I laid in the hospital bed not knowing whether the girls would make it or not, my family helped me stay positive. From that point on, I knew the only way to get through the tough times were to stay positive and focus on the future to keep moving forward. So that is what I am going to choose to do right now, even when it feels impossible and hard to think positive thoughts, that’s when I know I need them the most. I encourage everyone to think hard about all they are thankful for, and try to turn their negative energy into positive energy. Remember to stay strong for your family, and let’s make positivity be ‘contagious’!

Remember Smiles are contagious too!
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StayCation Day 2: Daddy is a Luchador!

Posted on by Rick Garcia

Hola, hello friends and fam! Happy…Thursday, I almost forgot what day it was. As most Americans around the nation, we cancelled Spring Break plans but I decided to keep my time off and recharge, reflect and spend some quality time with my kiddos while Meghan gets work done. Because this is Ricky’s planned spring break, we are actually not doing many academic activities outside of 30 min of daily reading. We want him to be a kid and tap into his creativity and imagination during this time of social distancing. We had a great day yesterday, here is everything I did to keep a sense of normalcy.

The day started with sleeping in…it is my staycation! Shout out to Meggy who let me sleep in! I think I got up at 9:30 and it was glorious. To be honest the kids also slept in, otherwise, Meg would have gotten my butt up, book it! Upon waking up, I went into the living room and said good morning to my kiddos and gave them a kiss as they were chowing down on some breakfast. I went over to Olivia’s chair and signed good morning, more to come on this as we are going to take this time to accelerate learning sign. I had my morning fuel (coffee) watched a little Get Up! and then went upstairs to my home office area to check in on work. After ~30 minutes of work and checking in, I set up my new Turtle Beach Wireless headphones and played a quick session of Call of Duty. Yes, I am a gamer and love playing games. Like everything else, I find the balance to not over play in lieu of family time. Quick story on my headphones, I finally spent some extra money and got wireless as my last pair (not wireless) were destroyed. About 2 months ago, I had a brand new nice pair or TB headphones but after 3 days, I noticed they were not working. After a closer examination, I noticed one of my cats, probably Rizzo, chewed them up! $60 down the toilet thanks to Rizzo chewing it up like its cat nip. We have 4 cats by the way, 3 too many if you ask me but don’t tell Meg or Gracie that :). Anyways, Meg blamed me for not getting wireless to begin with so I went ahead and splurged a bit on brand new wireless headphones…they are money by the way.

After a quick gaming session, Ricky Bear like many kids loves watching “YouTubers” and he said he wanted to create a video for his Ricky Bear Tv station and I said perfect but you need to help come up with a script! He was confused by what that entailed. I then talked to the kiddos today about the importance of content and processes! As a producer in game development, nothing is more critical than fresh content and a process to get to the final content! I said the script and brainstorming phase is part of the process. I told them, in this world more than ever, content is king! It’s king in my world and in their world. People want instant satisfaction and they want fresh, brand new content and experiences. Yesterday, Ricky and Gracie fresh off watching Nacho Libre and with my screen writing skills came up with a script and we made some creative content! We created something together!

Here is the video! Enjoy! We are coming for that short film Oscar! More content to come. Ricky said show your kiddos and like and subscribe 🤷🏻‍♂️ More #CreativeContent to come! 🎥 

I present; Daddy is a Luchador! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cxUlUbOTXE

After feeling like Ron Howard, we had a late lunch as a family. After lunch, Coach Rick time and we went outside and played some sports! Ricky got 50 shots up as he continues to practice with a heavier ball and 10 foot rims. Super proud of his work ethic and ability to make shots. His form is great. As I told him, I’d rather see airballs and misses BUT shooting properly and not jeopardizing his shooting form. His strength will come and mixed with his shooting mechanics, he’ll be a great shooter like his pops, ok, yes a better shooter than me. Then, we went to the backyard to work on some baseball drills. Yesterday was fielding day, so we worked on his throwing and fielding mechanics. We did some pop ups and worked on his footwork to track the balls. Then, we transitioned to middle infield drills with an emphasis on 2 bagger or second base. We talked about the importance of getting the lead runner, turning two is a bonus, footwork around the bag, becoming a first baseman in case of bad throws, and then glove to hand transfer for a quick turn. We even went over SS and how to swipe second base with his right foot, he thought that was a cool move and I was really impressed with him actually being able to do it after just seeing it for the first time. I used to totally whiff on the bag but most umps can’t see your foot and they assume you touch it and call the runner out, little trick of the trade;) I also found some time to practice with Gracie girl! We went over the defense ready position and worked on some grounders and throws! As a coach, I miss being out there with my team and coaches. Our season is currently delayed but I may start some virtual practices. If you need help with drills, hit me up!

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Later gram! Always working and getting better! 🐻⚾️

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After practice, I went on a run with Cubby our 100lb dog. Right before my run, I noticed a guy waiting on the corner. Turns out he’s my neighbor but we never met. He introduced himself and he went to shake hands and I was like ughh no sorry and he understood but I was surprised he even went for it. Anyways, I went on a run to blow some stress and enjoy the nice spring weather. I then took a shower, definitely later than usual but I did my daily prayer. Yes, my go to praying spot is the shower, which makes sense if you think about it. It’s private and a great place to reflect. After a quick shower, we had a nice dinner with the fam. Meg made my favorite, chicken parm! After dinner, we started watching Despicable Me 3. Once the movie was over, I played COD with the Sheriff of Noyes, not the real sherriff, inside joke here ha and some neighborhood dudes as the kids were getting ready for bed. I told my buddies, I only have an hour as Meg and I were planning on a night cap and a movie. The Sheriff was also watching a movie with his wife.

Around 9:15 we sat down, we both grabbed some bourbon and we watched Knives Out! We both really enjoyed it, great cast, great twist at the end, and an entertaining thriller/comedy. Finally, after a full day, a great day we went night night around midnight. We hope you are having a great spring break so far given the circumstances. Let’s keep praying, helping and looking out for each other. Don’t just use social distancing as a buzz word but actually do it. I hope this blogs provides some knowledge on CP, deafness and also entertainment during these weird times. Stay safe, stay healthy and May God Bless our healthcare workers!

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Gracie’s Coming Home, Tell The World I’m Coming Home! 3/17/2015!

Posted on by Rick Garcia

Happy Tuesday everybody! I hope you are all doing well and doing your best to keep your social distancing. The quicker we all do our part the quicker we all rage. I’ll leave it at that as I’m not going to let what’s going on in the world impact today!

Today and every 3/17 we celebrate Gracie girl coming home after ~4 months in the NICU. She came home 1 day before her original due date of 3/18. Think about that, she was supposed to be born on 3/18/2015 but was almost 4 months old when she came home, crazy, a miracle baby. It was a bitter sweet day back in 2015! After 107 days in the NICU, one of our prayers were answered and we were able to bring home one of our baby girls, Gracie. She has some Irish in her so may the luck of the Irish be with her on St.Patricks day and forever. However, it was a bitter sweet day, since we didn’t get to leave with Olivia and the girls were separated for the first time in their life. Talk about mixed emotions, I get teary eyed just thinking about it. On one hand we got to take home Gracie but on the other hand we were leaving Olivia behind. That was tough, we were almost complete. When we got home, we made sure Gracie was situated and introduced her to Bossman our family pitty. After a few hours of loving on Gracie, Meggy went back to the NICU that night to spend time with Olivia, tough!

I still remember that morning of pickup like it was yesterday. We didn’t believe it until we actually got her in the car as we were told a handful of times leading up to that day that today is the day, only to be told sorry she had a bad day or something came up and she can’t go home with us. Talk about gut punches and pure disappointment. I remember we were cautiously optimistic she would come home that day. It was a chilly, overcast day but it was such a beautiful day as one of our girls was coming HOME! We even laid out her outfit the night before, which I’m sure Meg went back and forth to make sure her girl looked good!

We had Gracie girls outfit ready to go! We had it all covered as we dreamed of this day and it was finally happening!

You can imagine the pure joy we felt when they said it is really happening, let’s get ready to discharge her! We didn’t taker her home right away as we wanted to spend some time with Olivia as well and then we went over all the paper work and what she was coming home with. She came home with some medicine, a feeding tube and she needed to see the audiologist again soon but we are blessed and grateful to have one of our nuggets home as we patiently waited for our family and household to be complete. These are some pics of the pickup.

That’s why Meghan and I love St Patrick’s Day, it’s a day we celebrate Gracie. Here are some pics of my Gracie girl! She is full of life! She is like daddy and is always looking for the party and planning the next one even during the current fiesta! Gracie, I fell in love with you at first sight, you were the cutest lil peanut I have ever seen. I was soooo scared for you but look at you now, you are going to pre-k, you are playing soccer, playing t-ball, making new friends, running, laughing, smiling, and just living! You bring so much joy, love and your personality fits just right in with all of us and our crazy and goofy home. Gracie you are so smart, so funny, so silly, so athletic, so beautiful, so perfect! Every day is a great day and I love how you wake up every day with a huge smile and I then thank God for that moment I have with you every morning. We love you more than you’ll ever know and we are so proud of how far you have come. Love you Gracie girl!

I challenge whoever reads this to never give up hope, we can all do our part to get through what is going on in the world. It will get better, keep the faith, be a good person and good things will happen. This helped us 5 years ago and I hope it helps you today. Be a good neighbor, I had a buddy yesterday text me and he said hey I’m going to the store do you need anything? I said, actually I do. He got me some stuff I needed and I really appreciated it. He knows about Olivia and how concerned we are and how serious we are taking social distancing, it was such a nice gesture. Even better, I sent him money and he said “I’m not taking your money, bro!” How about that? I won’t forget that and that is a good example of helping each other out during these weird times. Check on your friends and family, grab your kids, give them a hug, laugh, cry and enjoy today! May God Bless you and your family.

Cheers,

Rick

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Why I’m Taking the Coronavirus Seriously!

Posted on by Meghan Garcia

For anyone who knows me I normally do not stress easy or have major anxiety over things. I save all of that for Rick, cause if you know Rick then you know he stresses over everything, EVERYTHING. However, with what is going on in the world around us I am very scared and I am absolutely taking all proper precautions seriously. I have one important reason to stress though, Olivia!

Not going to lie, I am actually starting to have some PTSD over everything that is happening, as we already had to keep our girls quarantined and safe after we brought them home from the hospital. I lived in constant fear of keeping them healthy and free of illness because something as little as the common cold could send them back to the hospital. After everything they went through in the NICU, I couldn’t fathom them having to go back to the hospital. Now here we are over 5 years later, and I am scared to death of Olivia contracting the Coronavirus. Something that if she did get, could be a very-very dangerous situation.

I know that many people believe that only the elderly are susceptible to more serious cases, but so are those who have compromised immune systems. So for those who are not taking this current situation seriously or think it doesn’t apply to you, please remember those around you who are at risk and danger of becoming very ill. Olivia has chronic lung disease as result of being born an extreme preemie at only 24 weeks and 4 days. Part of her breathing or respiratory issues could also be a result of her having Cerebral Palsy (CP). Most likely it is a combination of both.

As promised in my previous post, let me spread some more awareness about CP! I think I should actually take a step back and give everyone a clear definition of what CP is. In short, Cerebral means having to do with the brain and Palsy means weakness or problems with using the muscles. This means there is a disconnect between what your brain sends to your muscles. CP is caused by abnormal brain development or damage to the developing brain. The symptoms of CP can range greatly from person to person, there is no such thing as a cookie cutter person with CP. Those with more severe CP may need to use special equipment to be able to walk, or might not be able to walk at all. Whereas, a person with mild CP may walk a little awkwardly, but might not need any special equipment. CP does not get worse over time, but with therapy could get better. In a nutshell, those with CP suffer from stiff muscles, uncontrollable movements and poor balance.

The next important thing to understand about CP is that most people with CP exhibit secondary issues like, deafness, blindness, intellectual disabilities, skin issues and even respiratory issues. So let’s look at respiratory issues because CP can directly impact breathing due to abnormalities in the muscles. Children with CP are more susceptible to respiratory complications like frequent upper respiratory infections, aspiration and even pneumonia. Hence, why I am overly concerned about Olivia contracting the Coronavirus as one can hopefully understand.

With all of this and all kidding aside, I truly hope everyone decides to take proper precautions to stay healthy and keep those most vulnerable in mind. Trust me when I say no one will be more bummed about ‘social lockdown’ than the Garcia Family, especially Gracie, my social butterfly!

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All About Olivia

Posted on by Rick Garcia

by Ricky Bear

She is a one of a-kind sister. She is the specialist sister and she’s only 5 years old. Her smile is the best. She is so special she cant walk or talk or hear🥺. Her walker helps her walk. And her magic ears help her hear. She can climb stuff like her crib and the stair stuff railings. Olivia doesn’t use her walker that much any more she use’s a wheelchair. She comes to all of my sport games and I enjoy having her there. I wish she could hear or talk or walk.

I wish other people could understand Olivia. My friends treat Olivia very nice and I wish everyone would. I am her big brother and I would protect her if she is in danger or if somebody’s very mean to her. I love playing with her and I love that she’s my sister.

Photo Credit by Ricky Bear Garcia – Smile Explosion
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CP Strong!

Posted on by Meghan Garcia

For those who don’t know, March is Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month and it is a time to celebrate and educate! I know that it might sound weird to celebrate a disability right? But the reality is for those of us who live and breath the disability on daily basis, we see progress in our loved ones or ourselves and being able to educate others is definitely reason to celebrate.

Throughout the whole month of March, all of my posts will be about CP in one way or another. I hope by doing this I can spread awareness but also find ways to celebrate! So for today, I wanted to talk about how important it is to share and talk about different disabilities with your young children. The more we talk about them and educate our young children, the more accepting they will grow up to be as well as accommodating.

For example, yesterday while at my Gracie’s and Ricky’s softball/ baseball practices, a little girl who had been playing with Grace and her friends took notice of Olivia and started asking me questions. Mind you this is a very common thing that I have become used to. And I love it! I love that children ask me questions about her and they should. They usually ask me questions like, “why can’t she walk?”, or “can she talk?”, or “why can’t she hear?” or “why does she have that walker?”. All very valid and perfectly fine questions to ask me. I do my best to always sit down and explain in the most simplest way I can (depending on the age) to help answer their questions honestly.

There have been times that I actually had a parent come up and say, “Omg, I am so sorry!” and pull their child away. I get it, it’s more taboo right to ask up front what is wrong with someone? However, I find it as a learning opportunity and I highly encourage any parent of a non-disabled child to ask questions and let the parents or child explain. Because honestly, after I tell the children why she cannot hear or why she cannot walk, they sit and play with her. They engage her, and don’t treat her any different. Guess what happens next after that?! They meet another person in a wheel chair or with hearing aids and they don’t stare or make comments, they may go up and talk to them or they will do nothing because they understand and it’s not ‘strange’ or ‘different’ to them anymore.

One of my best friends here in Austin recently told me how blessed she was to have Olivia in her family’s life. She said not only did she love her but she loved how humbling her own children became after meeting Olivia. They protect her, talk to her, check in on her, help her and most importantly try to include her. I am so happy that Olivia was able to make such an impact in some kids lives, and I know that because of her they will grow up to respect those who may need a little extra help.

So please, please, please do not discourage your young children to ask questions about disabilities! It will greatly help all of us parents with disabled children as they grown up, to live in a less judgmental world. Well at least one can hope:)

Olivia’s Hot ‘Pink’ Wheels!

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Ash Wednesday

Posted on by Rick Garcia

As I mentioned in a previous post, faith is a big part of me and my family. Both Meghan and I are Catholic and are raising our children to be Catholic as well. Being Catholic in Austin is pretty uncommon, we only have a few friends that are Catholic, which is very different for us. In a few months, Ricky will have his First Communion, which we are all excited for him. That will be a big day.

Today is Ash Wednesday. For those who don’t know, Ash Wednesday is the start of the lenten season in the Catholic Church. Lent lasts 40 days up until Easter Sunday which is the day Jesus rises from the dead. It is a time to reflect, acknowledge our mortality, repent, and help others in need. We all just got home from receiving our Ashes just like millions of Catholics around the world. I am very proud of my children for not going kicking and screaming and for behaving themselves at Mass. Why Ashes? Like many symbols that represent lent (fish fry, color purple, reconciliation) ashes represents repentance. Getting ashes on Ash Wednesday is just a part of being Catholic. Many go to the actual masses but many just pop in to their local Church and get ashes on their lunch break, coffee break etc.. I remember getting Ashes during my workday in a random downtown Church in Chicago because I knew I wouldn’t be able to get home in time and make the evening service. I have vivid memories of getting ashes twice as a kid! Once during school and at night with my parents and now I go get them with my family which is pretty special.

On Ash Wednesday and every Friday during Lent we don’t eat meat. Most think that is weird and ask why no meat? Well, it’s just a small sacrifice to symbolize the ultimate sacrifice of when Jesus died on the cross for our salvation. You are also supposed to give up something you enjoy for 40 days. This year Meg will be giving up pop and I will be giving up cereal which I love. On top of that we plan on giving back to our community and help others in need throughout Lenten season.

I challenge all of our followers whether you are Catholic or not to take this time to reflect and over the next 40 days to pay it forward, be kind, and perform some random acts of kindness.

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