Braska Bear

Braska reporting : I’ve been telling Mommy when we look at my page that it was “Baby Braska” in that picture that was at the top. So she finally found another picture to use. It’s not a new picture either, because I was only 5 when we did those pictures, but it looks more like me and KiKi now.  And since my little sister is usually around for my stories and the things I tell about, I decided we could make the name of my page Braska Bear & Company.  That means the other people around who like to hang out with me.  So now I can talk about my family or my friends whenever I want to include them in my stories. Next month I’m gonna be 7, and Mommy’s going to do new pictures of us soon. So maybe I’ll use one of those and even pick some new colors for my page. My favorite color is black these days. Or blue. Kinlee says that’s not a good favorite color, but she’s not the boss of my favorite color!  I’m still the big sister, even if she is taller than me!

I suppose maybe it’s not my month, but it’s the month when we get to talk a whole lot about some of what makes me “extra special” as Mommy says. It’s Down syndrome awareness month!  Are you aware? My friend Georgia ’s mommy does this really neat thing for our month (It’s Georgia’s month, too, ya know.)  You can read about it if you click on the cool little button right down there.  Like under this.  See it?  Grab This Button Mommy helped Miss Tricia get the button ready, and everyone has it on their blogs so other people can know about our month!  Isn’t that great? So I’m gonna put things up every day, as much as I can, and most of it will be pictures with little stories.  Because even though I am “extra special,”  I do regular stuff every day that somebody might want to see. It’s gonna be a great month!

I’m working hard on my computer because I’ve got so much to tell you about.  So many pictures and stories and even some movies.  I’m gonna try to get them all ready this week!

Are you excited?  I am!  It’s time to show you what I’m going to give away to some of you—my best bloggy buddies! There are four things I love a whole bunch.  And they all start with my favorite letter— B for Braska!  So we’re going to share some of my favorite things with my favorite people.  Sometimes I get things that I like all messy because I use them a lot. But don’t worry, these aren’t things I got dirty or messy.  They are all brand new, just for you! The first B is Bows!  I learned when I was a very tiny baby that it is not EVER ok to go anywhere at all without a bow. Sometimes I even wear two of them!  If Mommy doesn’t remember, I tell her it’s time for my bow before we get done getting dressed.  She trained me up good. (KiKi even tells Mommy she needs bows too.  I taught her about it.) Mommy and I picked out some really cute colors from some ribbons that we found, and I even helped put them together.  So we have ...

We’re getting things ready to tell you about the fun things we’re gonna give to our friends!  (Did you miss it?!?  Go here! ) There’s gonna be 4 groups of things, kind of, I mean…. I don’t know.  Mommy will be back in a while to tell you more.  She just said I could give you this… (it’s about one of the surprises!) Everything is something that will remind you of me if you win!  But it’s not my picture or something easy like that. So you’ll have to check back in a while to see what it is!

I’ve heard people talk about a fa-shun stayt-munt .  Mommy told me how to spell it right so you would know what I mean…fashion statement.  Have you heard about this?  I’m not sure, but I think it’s when you put on pretty clothes and then tell someone something.  And I have something to tell you!! So here’s the pretty clothes… these were our Sunday pictures from yesterday.  Daddy took them while Mommy was getting ready for church. Me and KiKi were playing and we didn’t stand still to do good Sunday pictures.  But Daddy sneaked in some good ones. And now, here’s what I’ve got to tell you….. To celebrate my new pretty blog that we worked really hard on, me and Mommy are going to be giving some fun things away to somebody who likes to read our stories!  Do you like to get stuff for just reading my stories? And here’s how you can get stuff… You’re going to like it!  And there’s more than one thing!  1. Leave a comment on THIS POST TOD...

We're almost done, but we have some other stuff to do. So we'll finish soon. But you can come peek at our new blog look if you want! Hope you like it!! What's your favorite part??

We're going to be doing some work. Things might look silly for a bit... but new stuff soon!

Testing 1 2 3...mms blogging experiment.

I’ve spent far too much time lately on blog designs, learning html code for adding fonts (and downloading TONS of fonts) to various parts of the blogs, changing the html code to create various three column formats, and adding post dividers.  Some of these fun new things can be seen at here at Braska’s blog , and the layout changes can be seen at Dashlyn’s blog .  I’m working on several makeovers for other friends, and I’ll link to them when they’re done. It’s really becoming addictive to marry my digiscrapping obsession with learning the html and css coding.  I could do this for hours a day, and occasionally do if I have a chance, but I’m neglecting other things.  Everything in moderation…  but wow, it’s so fun to see things take shape, and to make the blogs feel like they’re different instead of the cookie cutter Blogger thing.  Not that it’s bad to be basic, but I like to be unique.

Since it’s all about telling people about what Down syndrome is this month, me and Mommy worked on a new fancy look for my blog.  Come look at it if you are using a cool little Reader like we do.  Whatta ya think?  I told Mommy I think it’s pretty before she even asked me!  She was excited! Mommy was playing with her fun program that makes all the pretty stuff tonight and this is how we got started… Mommy always calls me Little Beauty.  So she was trying to make me a cute shirt.  You want one too?? (Mommy note: I made several of these with different words, so if there’s one you’d like let me know.  And I’ve debated throwing some up like on CafePress or something… think anyone would want a hat or shirt or other item with that on it??)

It’s October! It’s the month before my birthday. It’s Mommy’s birthday month.  And it’s good weather too! But you know what’s big about October in our house?? That’s right!  It’s time for 31 for 21 again!  It’s Down syndrome awareness month.  I’m not sure what that really means since I know about my DS every single day, not just one silly month, but we’re going to help other people know about it and how it’s not scary or anything. Mommy’s got some more stuff about this on her page, but what it means for me is that I’m going to try to put some kind of story up every day to show you what I’m doing and what I’m learning.  It might just be a picture or two.  It might be a whole big long story if I do something fun.  OR it might be just a quick little bit about what I did that day.  (Some days are just normal and boring, you know!) Is there anything you wanna know about me?  If you want me to talk about something or ta...

I'm aware that the readers of our blogs are not all on the same level of geekhood or tech ability, so we've got something new to share to make keeping up with our blogs simple.I talk about Google Reader alot. It keeps me from having to check blogs when there haven't been any posts. I receive notification of new posts on blogs I choose to watch. I like it, I use it, and I don't quite know why everyone doesn't. But for those of you who don't have alot of blogs to watch or just choose not to go the Reader route, there's a new option for you on our family blogs ( RK's , Kinlee's , and Braska's). In the margin, you'll see a box that has "Enter your email address" in it. This allows you to receive blog posts in your email so that you don't have to keep coming to check the blog when it's not being updated every day...something I still aim to return to soon. Just enter your email in there and that's it. When there's a new p...

I'm working on getting lots of fun stories ready about stuff I've been doing.  So there's gonna be so much for you to read and lots of pictures to look at.  Make sure you don't miss them! Oh, and don't forget to check in on Mommy , Daddy , and Kinlee too. I've been helping Kinlee , and she's been putting up some pictures of us over on her page.  So go see me over there, too! We're all working on doing stories every day if we can!  And thank you for coming to read my stories and see my pictures.  It makes me feel very happy!

Mommy and I have been working on a new look for my stories page today. And it's one of my favorites ever! I love the bright colors and there's even a bee! I like to say, "Bee!!!" Doesn't it just make you ready for sunshine and flowers?? (The layout uses elements from the Think Spring kit from Scraps by Andrea . Thanks!)

Last weekend we went on a little trip. We went to see our friends who used to live where we used to live, but now none of us live there anymore. We had a good time, and I played with the boys pretty good. When I was a tiny baby, I used to get scared sometimes with other kids, but this time I just played with them and it was fun! Saturday morning we woke up and played after breakfast. Mr. Matt played songs, and I liked that ALOT. Connor played on his drums too, and Lucas just ran all over. He likes to go and go! Mr. Matt played lots of songs for me even when Connor got tired of playing drums, and I really liked his songs. They have alot of neat things in their backyard, so we went out to play some. There was a swing that looked like a car, and it was lots of fun! Here's some movie of me riding the car swing. Then I sat on Daddy and we got in the big-kid swing. We tried out this thing they call a slide too. I had never tried that before!! It was pretty fast! But Daddy didn't...

I've not been feeling very good lately. I've been grouchy and don't want Mommy to put me down, especially for sleeping time. I've got 5 teeth coming in at one time, so that's alot! Since I've not been smiling for pictures, I'll just tell you that you can go here and here to read other stories and see pictures of me from the last couple days. I'll be back soon, I hope.

First... BIG NEWS if you like BabyLegs ... See Mommy's blog for a fun game! Lately I've been playing with more toys and getting myself around by rolling on the floor and then sitting up where I want to play. The other day, I rolled over to play with this one, and when I sat up, I was right on top of it! Mommy says if I practice new ways to play with toys, I'll find out that it's more fun. This is one way that we've been practicing. I like to look in my toy box and bang on my big green ball. Mommy has to help me get up there to reach it, but I'm getting better at staying up there. Miss Robin has been working with me on crawling. She's trying to show me how to move around even faster than rolling! It takes ALOT of work, but I'm trying to practice so I can be good at it.

Today marks one year from when Braska started telling her "stories" through this blog. She was just shy of 3 months old and preparing for open-heart surgery the next week. In an attempt to keep the grandparents happy with plenty of updates on how she felt that day and what fun things she was learning from her baby bouncy seat, she decided to share a story each day, along with a few pictures here and there. Braska has come a long way...a very long way. She has gone from a quiet, very calm baby whose heart was working hard to keep her awake for longer than a few hours at a time to a little almost-toddler who has decided that she wants to try things (not eating, of course), go places, and interact with us in ways I honestly didn't think we'd experience for much longer than it has been. She has now worked about 11 months with developmental therapy and occupational therapy and about 6 months with speech/feeding therapy. She's mastered rolling, finally conquered sitting...

It's amazing to me how I just *happen* to run across blogs that cause a shift in my perspective. And trust me, I could use alot of shifting. I would like to share one such blog with you. Adopting William is a blog about adopting William. Simple enough. But this is not your "normal" adoption, if there is such a thing. This is an act by a family to love a child that many would think has little value, sadly enough. The example that Jen and her family have been to me in the steadiness of their resolve and the faith in doing the right thing has really touched me. Please take the time to read their story. It's not all that long, but it is one full of love and sacrifice and a true testament to trusting God, no matter what. Leave Jen a message of encouragement, as we know how much comments brighten our days and help us not feel alone. God bless you, Jen and family. We're praying for William and a homecoming very soon!