Happy Birthday to our dear friend – and constant source of compassion and inspiration, Mayor John Erickson @johnericksonwh. Thank you for inspiring me to start @LovingWayFoundation. Thank you for showing up for – and STANDING UP FOR – our child abuse victims and our disabled community consistently. Thank you for changing my course after trauma and telling me, “You were one in a million and now you’re one in a trillion. You have to use your voice and be that light” – when every single part of my being wanted to take my son and move to a farm to make applesauce after he was a victim of violence as a newborn.☺️ Thank you for caring about people – and this world we live in – SO deeply. Thank you for fighting for the people who cannot fight for themselves. Thank you for being a fierce cheerleader to SO many people I could never even count. Please know that Waylon and I are YOUR cheerleaders and we can’t wait to see how you continue to lead, inspire, show compassion and effect change. You are just one of our very favorite people and one of the best people we know.🥰🌈 Thank you for being a @LovingWayFoundation board member…and thank you for being our friend.🩵🩷
Happy Birthday to our dear friend – and constant source of compassion and inspiration, Mayor John Erickson @johnericksonwh. Thank you for inspiring me to start @LovingWayFoundation. Thank you for showing up for – and STANDING UP FOR – our child abuse victims and our disabled community consistently. Thank you for changing my course after trauma and telling me, “You were one in a million and now you’re one in a trillion. You have to use your voice and be that light” – when every single part of my being wanted to take my son and move to a farm to make applesauce after he was a victim of violence as a newborn.☺️ Thank you for caring about people – and this world we live in – SO deeply. Thank you for fighting for the people who cannot fight for themselves. Thank you for being a fierce cheerleader to SO many people I could never even count. Please know that Waylon and I are YOUR cheerleaders and we can’t wait to see how you continue to lead, inspire, show compassion and effect change. You are just one of our very favorite people and one of the best people we know.🥰🌈 Thank you for being a @LovingWayFoundation board member…and thank you for being our friend.🩵🩷
Happy Birthday to our dear friend – and constant source of compassion and inspiration, Mayor John Erickson @johnericksonwh. Thank you for inspiring me to start @LovingWayFoundation. Thank you for showing up for – and STANDING UP FOR – our child abuse victims and our disabled community consistently. Thank you for changing my course after trauma and telling me, “You were one in a million and now you’re one in a trillion. You have to use your voice and be that light” – when every single part of my being wanted to take my son and move to a farm to make applesauce after he was a victim of violence as a newborn.☺️ Thank you for caring about people – and this world we live in – SO deeply. Thank you for fighting for the people who cannot fight for themselves. Thank you for being a fierce cheerleader to SO many people I could never even count. Please know that Waylon and I are YOUR cheerleaders and we can’t wait to see how you continue to lead, inspire, show compassion and effect change. You are just one of our very favorite people and one of the best people we know.🥰🌈 Thank you for being a @LovingWayFoundation board member…and thank you for being our friend.🩵🩷
So happy to be in Dallas for a few days of taping @NBCTexasToday, @LovingWayFoundation work and spending time with my mama.🩷 And feeling VERY grateful for our care team at home for Waylon while work takes me away – I love hearing all of their conversations and cuddles over the monitor when I’m gone.🥰 Tomorrow, I’ll be taping a tv segment for Texas Today here in Dallas, featuring adult-only destinations and adult-friendly travel experiences, including this gorgeous destination – @AzureSkyHotelPS – an adult-only boutique hotel with 14 guest rooms. Located in the heart of Palm Springs, the property was built in 1959 and has maintained its midcentury modern soul even after updating with modern comforts and luxuries. I can’t wait to get back! And I can’t wait to share all 6 of the fabulous properties with you all – I’ve gathered some good ones…and some of my favorites! 📷: @andrewcabral_photography Wearing: @trinaturk x @bedheadpajamas 📍: @azureskyhotelps
Yesterday was a gold star day for Waylon.⭐️ Our first time at an accessible playground for disabled kiddos like Waylon was a huge, HAPPY success! His face – and my wonky hat – here says it all.😂 We went to Aidan’s Place on Sepulveda and it was so fun – and honestly, emotional – to get to FULLY experience a playground for once. A glider that welcomes wheelchairs and strollers… Adaptive swings with harnesses that are large enough so I can hold Waylon & swing… A slide that has higher sides that is also big enough so adults can accompany a disabled child… A sailboat that welcomes strollers/wheelchairs… A sensory tunnel with CVI-friendly lights for blind kiddos like Way… And more. Playgrounds can be hard for us sometimes. Waylon hears the fun-loving voices of kids – which he LOVES. But… He can’t play with them – or even play like them. So what should be a happy place can be hard because it reminds us of his limitations caused by child abuse. But not this time. NOT THIS TIME. We glided… And slid… And swung… And squealed… And met new friends (cute girls, of course – heyyy, Lillian and Emmett 🥰)… And it was just a really, really great day for Waylon, Uncle Cheese @heychrisrichards and I. We can’t wait to go back – and we can’t wait to explore more accessible playgrounds and parks. Got a favorite one? Comment below and let me know. This is just the beginning for my little daredevil.🙌🏼
What does Waylon wish for, the “All About Me” homework assignment asked? The question gutted me. And the speed with which I answered it broke my heart wide open, leaving me in tears. It would be this: He would wish to be able to talk, play and communicate with his friends at school and his family & therapists at home. He would wish for that. He would also wish to be able to communicate his needs and wishes and pains and discomforts – because not being able to talk and express these when you need to be able to do so is almost as crippling as his disabilities and developmental delays caused by abusive head trauma. Look. I think overall Waylon is very, VERY happy. He is happier than any 4-year-old I’ve ever met before.🥰 And a lot of that – as therapists and those closest to us tell me – is because he is bathed in a constant love bubble by me and his amazing support system. This boy is loved BIG TIME. All the time. And has never heard anger – or faced fear – in his home since he was hurt. But there’s no getting past the fact that he can’t talk. That he can’t do what the other kids can do. And that he can’t express his needs. And for that? No grace… No holding back… No sugar coating…. I look forward to prison being a very cold place for the monster who made this his reality. And I pray that our justice system, upcoming life count criminal trial – and the prison that will cage him – show that monster the same mercy that he showed Waylon when he was a newborn: NONE. #JusticeForWaylon #LovingWayFoundation
What does Waylon wish for, the “All About Me” homework assignment asked? The question gutted me. And the speed with which I answered it broke my heart wide open, leaving me in tears. It would be this: He would wish to be able to talk, play and communicate with his friends at school and his family & therapists at home. He would wish for that. He would also wish to be able to communicate his needs and wishes and pains and discomforts – because not being able to talk and express these when you need to be able to do so is almost as crippling as his disabilities and developmental delays caused by abusive head trauma. Look. I think overall Waylon is very, VERY happy. He is happier than any 4-year-old I’ve ever met before.🥰 And a lot of that – as therapists and those closest to us tell me – is because he is bathed in a constant love bubble by me and his amazing support system. This boy is loved BIG TIME. All the time. And has never heard anger – or faced fear – in his home since he was hurt. But there’s no getting past the fact that he can’t talk. That he can’t do what the other kids can do. And that he can’t express his needs. And for that? No grace… No holding back… No sugar coating…. I look forward to prison being a very cold place for the monster who made this his reality. And I pray that our justice system, upcoming life count criminal trial – and the prison that will cage him – show that monster the same mercy that he showed Waylon when he was a newborn: NONE. #JusticeForWaylon #LovingWayFoundation
What does Waylon wish for, the “All About Me” homework assignment asked? The question gutted me. And the speed with which I answered it broke my heart wide open, leaving me in tears. It would be this: He would wish to be able to talk, play and communicate with his friends at school and his family & therapists at home. He would wish for that. He would also wish to be able to communicate his needs and wishes and pains and discomforts – because not being able to talk and express these when you need to be able to do so is almost as crippling as his disabilities and developmental delays caused by abusive head trauma. Look. I think overall Waylon is very, VERY happy. He is happier than any 4-year-old I’ve ever met before.🥰 And a lot of that – as therapists and those closest to us tell me – is because he is bathed in a constant love bubble by me and his amazing support system. This boy is loved BIG TIME. All the time. And has never heard anger – or faced fear – in his home since he was hurt. But there’s no getting past the fact that he can’t talk. That he can’t do what the other kids can do. And that he can’t express his needs. And for that? No grace… No holding back… No sugar coating…. I look forward to prison being a very cold place for the monster who made this his reality. And I pray that our justice system, upcoming life count criminal trial – and the prison that will cage him – show that monster the same mercy that he showed Waylon when he was a newborn: NONE. #JusticeForWaylon #LovingWayFoundation
Grief is a really strange bedfellow. It’s CRAZY how grief works.💔 Or… “how a blind, disabled preschooler’s homework assignment unleashed some raw grief today for his mom.”🩵💁🏻♀️🩷
Moments like these are what @LovingWayFoundation is all about.🩵🩷 After years of fighting for a 2-year-old abusive head trauma victim who was beaten by his stepmother… On the night before the sentencing of the abuser who so callously caused the brain damage and paralysis in this tiny child… We had the joy of telling the Child Abuse Prosecutor, @beth__elbc, who had fought SO hard for justice and WON… that we would be gifting the now 7-year-old victim and his family with their dream trip to Disneyland.🤗🎁 Thank you, Lisa, @academytravel & @thekingdominsider for making this possible. You are a real-life fairy godmother.✨ And, thank you, Orange County Child Abuse Prosecutor, Bethel Cope-Vega for ALWAYS fighting for our children and for consistently standing up against the monsters who hurt them. You are a true hero.🩵🩷 • Donate to @lovingwayfoundation by clicking on the link in our profile or visiting: www.LovingWayFoundation.org/Donate
This is what a Loving Way Stay looks like.🩵🩷🎉 Favorite new toys waiting on the kids’ beds… A fully stocked fridge with the family’s favorite snacks & treats… And curated special surprises scattered throughout the home/hotel to make them feel EXTRA welcomed. When we started @LovingWayFoundation, we knew that our Loving Way stays – soothing, healing respite getaways for victims of child abuse and families – would be a BIG part of it. But we didn’t know just HOW big they would be.🫶 Hosting our first stay at @PrettyInPinkPS in Palm Springs with the phenomenal Anderson family – and their tiny survivor, Levi (pictured here in the helmet) – showed us the power of what these trips can do. Their joy and excitement and relaxation and FUN (🎉!!) surpassed any and all expectations we had! Mostly because they’re just an inspiring survivor-warrior family…but also because their joy felt like ours.☺️ Then was the moment we welcomed them into the home – and it’s a shared feeling of utter joy I will always cherish.🥰 Waylon & I know it firsthand – that a vacation where victims are welcomed, taken care of and pampered – doesn’t only create core memories…but renews spirits that can feel broken, defeated, downtrodden, weak and weathered. My work in the travel and television space has allowed us the warmth and comfort of hosted trips just like that. So we wanted to pay it forward and give our fellow victims’ families that same level of comfort and warmth that we’ve experienced over these past few years. We now have a short waitlist for our Loving Way Stays and my heart couldn’t be more full that our foundation is finding those in need of them…but we need more support to get these families healing. Thank you @prettyinpinkps & @wanderluxe_vacationrentals for hosting our first Palm Springs #LovingWayStay. It’s one we will never, NEVER forget. Please donate what you can at www.LovingWayFoundation.org/Donate to help keep our Loving Way Stays and child abuse prevention going strong. And if you have a vacation home, hotel, resort, vacation destination that you’d like to talk us about for possible collaboration, or airline miles you’d like to donate, please reach out to me directly.
Thank you @GoodCarmaStudio – and our gorgeous hosts, @JessicaHall & @AngeliqueCabral – for hosting an EPIC back-to-school gifting & fun event…all while shining a light on @LovingWayFoundation and child abuse prevention and victim support. We are so grateful to y’all – and all of the brand partners and guests. Your events always feel like family reunions…and I just love that.🥰 If you’d like to donate or learn more about @LovingWayFoundation – or host an event to shine a light on our child abuse prevention and awareness mission which supports child abuse victims and our families, please visit @LovingWayFoundation / www.LovingWayFoundation.org. 🩵🩷 Special thanks to our generous brand partners: @WestlakeVillageInn @alohacollection @aloisiabeauty @arbourproducts @bellybandit @bright_littles @businessandpleasure_co @buzzbaricecream @cachotattoo @chicco.usa @dagnedover @bydash @daxhaircare @gimmeseaweed @godfreysocialpr @thegoodcrispcompany @helight @hiddenfoods.co @intelligentchange @jbskrub @koalaeco @lacroixwater @lalo @lfntbrand @lucydarlingshop @manlyhandz @mavengeneticsofficial @mommysbliss @moosetoys @mtmorgantaylor @yprgirl @babymoriofficial @olaplex @mypura @raine_calabasas @rindsnacks @scentco @schoolzonepublishing @soursopnutrition @stonzwear the.holidayjunkie @jenniferlovehewitt @2021_co @truheightvitamins @officialvitaheroes And thank you for my gorgeous outfit, @anntaylor @thealist.us 🩵 And my gorgeous bag, @jmclaughlin @lesleyr11 @wynojames 📷: @andrewcabral_photography #LovingWayFoundation #GoodCarmaStudio #BackToSchool
Hey, Texans! Tomorrow, set your DVRs – or tune in at 11:30 am CST – to @NBCTexasToday! 📺 I’ll be sharing some of my recent travels and bucket-list hotel & resort picks with “a little something special” featuring: @theritzcarltonfortlauderdale @villaroyale_palmsprings @hiltonloscabos @enchantment_resort This one was such a fun segment to – ahem – “research.” ☺️🍹 Photo 1: @theritzcarltonfortlauderdale wearing @houseofmbr 📷: @jessica_grose Photo 2: @villaroyale_palmsprings wearing @trinaturk set & @anntaylor shoes 📷: @andrewcabral_photography
Hey, Texans! Tomorrow, set your DVRs – or tune in at 11:30 am CST – to @NBCTexasToday! 📺 I’ll be sharing some of my recent travels and bucket-list hotel & resort picks with “a little something special” featuring: @theritzcarltonfortlauderdale @villaroyale_palmsprings @hiltonloscabos @enchantment_resort This one was such a fun segment to – ahem – “research.” ☺️🍹 Photo 1: @theritzcarltonfortlauderdale wearing @houseofmbr 📷: @jessica_grose Photo 2: @villaroyale_palmsprings wearing @trinaturk set & @anntaylor shoes 📷: @andrewcabral_photography
Drowning is the #1 cause of death for children ages 1-4 in the United States. Keeping our children safe is paramount in my life and in our @LovingWayFoundation mission. Through our involvement in the Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury community, we have come to know some amazing drowning survivors and their families. So when I learned about @coralsmartpool’s AI powered lifeguard for your swimming pool, I knew we had to help share the message – just in case it can help save even one life. I appeared on @ktlaweekendam to help share the messaging of MYLO – and how it protects our families – and further our Loving Way mission of protecting our children. 88% of child drownings occur with at least 1 adult present – we need extra eyes. I hope this helps just one family avoid a tragedy.🩵🩷 #LovingWayFoundation #CoralSmartPool
I started today with an overabundance of enthusiasm, positivity, optimism, spirit and cheer. Played our morning playlist and danced with my boy? ✅ Took donuts for the teachers? ✅ Printed Waylon’s “All About Waylon” info sheet and put them in sheet protectors to hand out to all staff. ✅ Waylon was gonna have the BEST day at school. I was determined he would.🤗 And I think he had a really good one. I do. But I can’t say the same. We arrived at school and after I’d greeted his teacher, I asked where Waylon’s 1-on-1 aide was. No one knew. An hour goes by. And there’s no sign of his aide that we’ve had with us since May. Within about 3 hours, I learn that his aide has been reassigned, a new aide assigned, the agency didn’t call to tell me and that new aide called out sick today. As I watched my son sitting alone in his wheelchair on the playground… while all the other kids played around him, making their joyful noise… My heart sank. This was my fear for him in school. To be sitting there alone. It was only for a bit. (His teacher and teaching assistants are GREAT🩵) but it was long enough for all sorts of PTSD, fears & futurescaping to monkey bar their way into my brain and heart. I found myself angry at the agency who provides the aides… I found myself angry at the new aide who called in sick too late to get us a timely substitute to care for my son… And, most of all, I found myself LIVID at the monster who irreversibly hurt my son and damaged 50-75% of his brain. We hosted 3 @lovingwayfoundation stays for families last week and I felt out-of-this-world joy all week long… But today savagely reminded me where our mission comes from: From a monster who unconscionably hurt a child and changed the trajectory of his life forever. Tonight, I read Waylon one of our favorite books – “You’re Here For A Reason” & found myself sobbing as I read the words, “You’re here for a reason, you certainly are. The world would be different without you, by far. Life works together, the good and the bad, the silly and awful, the happy & sad, to paint a big picture we can’t always see… a picture that needs you, most definitely.” It certainly does, sweet boy. It certainly does.🩵
With Waylon’s 2nd year of preschool starting tomorrow (and 1st full year), I wanted to share our “All About Waylon” info deck that we give to our teachers, aides, assistants, therapists and administrators on the first day. The whole mission of this little deck is to establish a skilled & compassionate team for Waylon at school – similar to our care team we have at home – and to prepare our team to not only know how to handle any medical situation that could arise but to give the school staff confidence and patience when working with Waylon. Because, let’s be honest, it can be intimidating, overwhelming and downright scary to work with a little boy with so many medical issues. I stayed up all night the night before his first day of school in May putting this together and I was exhausted when I woke up, but I felt so reassured that he WOULD be properly taken care of because we were arming them with all of the tools they would need. It made me breathe just a little easier – and we will take any easier breath we can get. If you’re a parent of a disabled kiddo, medically fragile kiddo and/or a kiddo with an IEP, do you do something like this? What have you found most helpful? (FYI, I found this specific template on @etsy) Happy back-to-school, everyone! 🚌✏️📓🖍️🏫 *lots of requests for the template – just comment SHOP below and I’ll happily send! Anything to make our lives easier!🩷
With Waylon’s 2nd year of preschool starting tomorrow (and 1st full year), I wanted to share our “All About Waylon” info deck that we give to our teachers, aides, assistants, therapists and administrators on the first day. The whole mission of this little deck is to establish a skilled & compassionate team for Waylon at school – similar to our care team we have at home – and to prepare our team to not only know how to handle any medical situation that could arise but to give the school staff confidence and patience when working with Waylon. Because, let’s be honest, it can be intimidating, overwhelming and downright scary to work with a little boy with so many medical issues. I stayed up all night the night before his first day of school in May putting this together and I was exhausted when I woke up, but I felt so reassured that he WOULD be properly taken care of because we were arming them with all of the tools they would need. It made me breathe just a little easier – and we will take any easier breath we can get. If you’re a parent of a disabled kiddo, medically fragile kiddo and/or a kiddo with an IEP, do you do something like this? What have you found most helpful? (FYI, I found this specific template on @etsy) Happy back-to-school, everyone! 🚌✏️📓🖍️🏫 *lots of requests for the template – just comment SHOP below and I’ll happily send! Anything to make our lives easier!🩷
We started @LovingWayFoundation just over 16 months ago – raising funds and awareness to be right here where we are today: Hosting 5 Loving Way Stay respite vacations across the country for child abuse victims, their families, caregivers and advocates. Right before our first Palm Springs family stay took flight on Tuesday, Waylon & I launched our blue & pink Loving Way heart floats into the pool at the home they’d be staying in – @prettyinpinkps, a @wanderluxe_vacationrentals property – and it really hit me that a dream had come true for us. A dream we never wanted… never asked for… and never knew to dream… But a dream that chose us and asked us to stand at the helm of its ship of love, awareness, education, justice, vigilance, advocacy, healing and…JOY! Just as we have found joy in the impossible, we have made it one of our missions to help others who have survived the unthinkable find THEIR joy. If you want to experience just a smidgeon of this joy we had the honor of witnessing this week, do yourself a favor and check out our stories or watch the highlights on my profile. Joy truly does abound – even in the face of horror & grief… Just as light shines in the darkness because faith sees best in the dark.🩵🩷 We have SO much joy to share.🫶 What a beautiful start this is! Thank you to everyone who made it possible💕: @prettyinpinkps @wanderluxe_vacationrentals @johnpatrickpalmsprings @jnorman310 @joycekiehl @visitgreaterps @palmspringsaerialtramway @palmspringssurfclub @kellygolightly
Waylon and I healed – and continue to heal – after the violent crimes committed against him, thanks to our joy, adventure, travel and love fests.🩵🩷 And we LOVE that through our nonprofit, @LovingWayFoundation, we are able to pay that joy & love forward. It’s a feeling like no other. This was us – the morning before our Loving Way victim’s family – arrived for their Palm Springs #LovingWayStay respite getaway yesterday. We were SO excited to welcome them!!!! (As if you can’t tell 🥹☺️) And now 24 hours later…. As I reflect upon the family’s arrival yesterday… The joy we witnessed & experienced far surpassed the joy we anticipated.💕 Thank you to everyone who has ever donated. You make a difference in the lives of so many…including ours. #LovingWayFoundation
We’re back in our favorite place – Palm Springs 🌴 – on a mission to bring joy into the lives of our @lovingwayfoundation families. This place has helped heal us – and continues to be our place of respite.🫶 Now, we pass along that respite & joy to other child abuse victims and their families, caregivers & advocates who have lived through the impossible like us. There is so much “happy” in our hearts.🩵🩷 #LovingWayStays #LovingWayFoundation #JusticeForWaylon
We’re back in our favorite place – Palm Springs 🌴 – on a mission to bring joy into the lives of our @lovingwayfoundation families. This place has helped heal us – and continues to be our place of respite.🫶 Now, we pass along that respite & joy to other child abuse victims and their families, caregivers & advocates who have lived through the impossible like us. There is so much “happy” in our hearts.🩵🩷 #LovingWayStays #LovingWayFoundation #JusticeForWaylon
We’re back in our favorite place – Palm Springs 🌴 – on a mission to bring joy into the lives of our @lovingwayfoundation families. This place has helped heal us – and continues to be our place of respite.🫶 Now, we pass along that respite & joy to other child abuse victims and their families, caregivers & advocates who have lived through the impossible like us. There is so much “happy” in our hearts.🩵🩷 #LovingWayStays #LovingWayFoundation #JusticeForWaylon
We’re back in our favorite place – Palm Springs 🌴 – on a mission to bring joy into the lives of our @lovingwayfoundation families. This place has helped heal us – and continues to be our place of respite.🫶 Now, we pass along that respite & joy to other child abuse victims and their families, caregivers & advocates who have lived through the impossible like us. There is so much “happy” in our hearts.🩵🩷 #LovingWayStays #LovingWayFoundation #JusticeForWaylon
