Looking Back at Year 1...Day 2 :)

One of my main goals at Little Orso is to share things that other "larger" shopping blogs may not share.  Such as family run businesses, charities, and businesses with a purpose.

Today I want to look back to two great businesses that were both started for a reason.

The first is Arizona Sunshine Girls, we first shared this company back in July.  Click here to read all about them.

At the time I was only featuring items for boys on Little Orso.  However my friend Emalee asked me if we could share her sister's store.  Her store had adorable things for little girls, but more importantly she started the store to raise money for her upcoming lung transplant.  How could I say no? But in all honesty sharing her store ended up being good for me too.  I got a ton of emails thanking me for sharing items for little girls. 

It was that day that I realized that by only sharing boy items, I was doing the exact thing that had driven me to start my blog in the first place. (leaving someone out).  From that day on I decided to change the intentions of Little Orso, from only items for boys to items for everyone.  (I still do share a little bit more for boys though, because it is still hard to find items for them.)

I am happy to report that Sarah, the owner of Arizona Sunshine Girls, is currently feeling good and her store is doing great.



Another favorite store is Angel Baby Pins... first featured here.  Angel Baby Pins was started by a friend of mine named Kandis.  She lost her son Isaiah, three years ago this month.  Since then she has done so much for the baby loss community.  From donating memory boxes, to offering support to those around her.  She is just a genuinely good person.

Sadly Kandis has had some trouble with infertility, and started this store as a way to help with IVF funds.    Her pins have become a favorite in the baby loss community, and with anyone looking for a way to raise money or bring awareness to a cause.    Her pins are amazing, and even more beautiful in person.  I recently wore mine to an infant loss walk.  It made me so happy to look down at it, that I decided I wanted to take it everywhere with me. So I pinned it to the interior of my car.  My angel now sits above me as I drive. <3

Businesses like this typically get overlooked in mainstream America, but hopefully we will have the ability to keep sharing items like this with you.

Looking Back at Year 1...

As I mentioned before, we will spend this week looking back at some of our most popular posts and features.  Since today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Day, I figured I would start by looking at some of the great organizations that we featured this year.  Then share some exciting deals from companies that offer items for all of us that have been touched by loss
 ...and end the day with a really exciting item that any parent that has lost a child would be thrilled to win.

Usually giving gifts feels better than receiving them.  I have so much more fun shopping for the holidays, than I do opening my gifts.  I typically buy people something special, for celebrating my birthday with me.  I figured why should my Little Orso birthday be any different.  So I reached out to the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Organizations that we covered, and asked them what they wanted for our birthday.  They do so many amazing things, and offer so much comfort to so many. I wanted to help them for once. 

So here is a recap of some of our favorites, and ways that you can help them keep giving and helping.  Please share with anyone that you think may be able to help. 

*Tiny Heartbeats- this is an organizations that loans dopplers (the instrument used to listen to fetal heartbeats) out to parents that have suffered a previous loss.  To read more about Tiny Heartbeats, and how you can get a doppler sent out to you, click here!!  Tiny Heartbeats is looking for used dopplers, doppler gel, or financial donations.

*A Little Thunder- They supply local (Kansas) hospitals with amazing comfort boxes.  As fellow loss parents, they know how hard it is to leave the hospital with empty arms.  They wanted to make sure that other families had something to help them.  To read more about them click here.  They are actually holding an online auction today to raise money, please head over to their Facebook Page to join in.

*OC Walk To Remember-  This organization is special to our family.  They are the ones that hold our local walk, and they provide the memory boxes and cameras to local hospitals.  Without them, we would not have anything to remember our daughter with.  Our pictures and memory box are all because of them.  I can't even emphasize how important these items are to us.  They may be a local (Orange County, California) organization, but they make an impact beyond our area.  They often donate to national infant loss organizations, and offer support to everyone.  Their fundraising for the year ends today.  Please click here to help them!!

*Robby's Rabbits-  They provide stuffed bunnies for families that have lost a child.  The bunnies can help fill our empty arms. They give you something to hug, when you miss your child the most. To read more about them click here.  They are asking for stuffed bunnies (and other animals), and money to help with shipping.

* Barrett's Blankets- Provides hand knit blankets for families, so they have a baby blanket to remember their child with.  They are handmade, so that you can feel the love when you wrap them around yourself.  To learn more about them click here.  They need donations of yarn, supplies, money, and shipping supplies. Also contact them about knitting or crocheting blankets for them.

*Calvin's Hats-  No head is too small, when it comes to Calvin's Hats.  They provide families with hats for their babies.  These little hats give you a huge amount of love and healing.  To read about their hats click here.  They could use donations to help keep them knitting.

*Miscarriage Blankets and More-  They started as a way to give people that suffered a miscarriage a way to remember their child.  Typically they do not get anything physical to hold on to.  They offer handmade little blankets (according to the size of your baby), and other items.  To read more about them click here.  They also run Kaitlin's Angels, which provides memory boxes to hospitals.  Both organizations could use donations and supplies.

*Solace Foundation- They help connect you with the best form of support for your particular loss.  They also provide comfort packages to local hospitals.  To read more about them, click here.  They need small teddy bears, butterflies, angel keepsakes, hand made shawls, and money.



These are just a handful of the great Pregnancy and Infant Loss Organizations that we have featured and worked with this year.  To see the complete list of resources click here. (if you would like to have your organization added to our directory please email me)  It is our up to date Infant Loss Directory.  I started it as a way to help families that have suffered this horrible loss.  When I first lost my daughter, I searched everywhere for support or anything that could bring me comfort.  My hope is that this directory will help others find the support right away. 

The event that brings you into this community is horrible and tragic, but the community is fabulous and so filled with love.

Stay tuned for some special offers and a Giveaway...

1st Birthday Celebration!! Day 1 :)

Yay our birthday week is finally here!!  I can't believe that Little Orso has been around for a year. 

Getting back into fashion and retail has been a dream of mine for a while. However at this time in my life it is not practical for me to work out of the home, so I toyed with ideas of things that could give me a "taste" of the retail world.  I thought about doing a blog for a few years, although at that time it was going to be women's accessories blog.  I have such a passion for women's accessories!!  I kept putting it off, until I had my son. 

I could not handle that all of the kids blogs that I was reading, only featured items for little girls.  What makes people think that moms of boys don't like to shop??  We like cute accessories, and outfits too!!  Being irritated was the thing that finally gave me the push to start my blog (that and years of Daddy Orso saying "you know you really should start a blog!")  We started as a blog that would cover items for little boys, but have evolved into so much more.  We now have a Little Orso Council that help us with reviews, guest bloggers that share their passions, cleaning tips, Giveaways....and so much more!! However our main goal will be to always include boys!!

Thank you for making this 1st year so fabulous!!  Our dream for the next year is to make Little Orso more exciting, and incorporate more items that will make your life easier and more exciting!!  The main way that we can do this is by getting suggestions from you.  Please email, message, call, write, sing...anything that you would like to see us cover.

...and with that let the celebrating begin!!!

All this week, we will do 3 posts during the day. 

*The first will be a recap of some of our most popular features and posts.

*The second will share exclusive deals, that some of our favorite companies have shared with just us.  (get ready to start your holiday shopping!!

*The third will be filled with Giveaways!!  We have some fabulous items to give away this week, so don't miss a day.  The giveaways will be one day only events!!

We will be posting some of those giveaways in a bit, but here is one from us to get things started!!!

If we were to have an Orso Birthday Cake, the wish that we would make blowing out our candles, would be to double the amount of friends that we have at Little Orso.  So our week long Giveaway Event is this...

The person that sends the most new friends to our Facebook page, will win a special gift basket from us.  It will be filled with items for you, and your kids!!

To enter all that you need to do is share our Facebook page with all of your friends and family.  Have them either put "your name" sent me on our wall.  Or you can send me a message on Friday (by 7pm pst) with all of the friends that you have sent over.  They must "like" our page to be counted.  The contest ends Friday (10/19) at 7pm pst, and a winner will be announced by 9pm pst that day.

Start sharing and good luck:)