Just RK

It's weird to not be able to touch my little poonchin. She had a pretty good day yesterday going to work with Daddy, then going to Miss Karen's for some playtime with Maddy and Grace. Then Grammy came to town and picked her up. Last night she played with Daddy and Grammy and had a good old time. I was in bed all but a few hours yesterday, and most of that was not enjoyable awake time. I just SO don't want her to get this, or anyone for that matter. Well, ok, so there are particular few that it wouldn't be so sad to hear they had become afflicted for a few days. Anyway, it's bizarre to sit and watch everyone else do stuff while I can hardly lift the ice chips to my lips. I sit in the recliner while she's across the room playing and tell Mom when she yanks her glasses off. They come to ask me how much food to give her and when she's due for nap. I say hello to Braska from a safe distance but she's too giggly in her jumpy chair to miss me right now. But ...

Sorry for the blog pause. I've been in St. Louis for a few days with Braska for appointments. Check out her blog if you are interested in details on that good news. I got back yesterday afternoon, then we had a farewell party for some good friends who are moving. I wasn't feeling well, so we came home early, and I went straight to bed. All night I was miserable. I'll spare you the details, but it wasn't fun. This morning it got worse, and it became very clear that I wasn't going to be able to care for Braska today without her getting exposed to the ickiness. M can't take off anymore right now, so it's time to call in the reinforcements. At almost 7 am, I called my mother and said, "I'm sick." She's been wanting to get to spend some time with Braska, as we haven't seen them since Thanksgiving, I think. And she's very good about handling pretty much anything when needed. I asked if she could come, and she said she'd tal...

The three of us trudged out in the snow and across town today for Stay N Play. We were the first ones there (a new goal of mine to NOT be late to things) so we got to chat and such with the students and the supervisor before things got under way. They really are very willing to do whatever we would need or like for Braska to be a part of things, and I appreciate that. The topic today was communication, like how does your child communicate with you. (Here's Braska's version of the day , complete with video and pictures.We started with our Hello Song, then they explained that there would be toys around the room to play with, most of which the child would need help with. There were containers that needed opened and such things, so they were looking for what ways the kids used to communicate that they wanted a toy, that they needed help with it, or that they did not want it any longer. Mary-Kelsey, our student contact, led the group today, and she obviously knows ASL pretty well. S...

The Random Questions process ~Choose one or all of the questions to answer. ~Either respond with a comment to this post with your answer or put up a post on your own blog for a full response. ~Don't forget to include any funny or interesting story to illustrate your answer in action. ~Be sure to leave a comment on this post to let us know where to find your post so we can come check it out! Our theme today is internet/email use and habits. I would think we can all relate to this one, as if you are reading this, you probably know a little about how to use the internet. And if you're like most people, you rely heavily on your email. So join us! 1. What was the year and the circumstance of your first internet experience? 2. Do you leave your computer on and your email up all day long to be sure to catch any communication right away or do you check in only occasionally? 3. In this email age, do you still look forward to getting the mail (the kind the mailman delivers) or do you go ...

Val, AKA Rylie's Mom , honored me by bestowing the Kind Blogger Award on me. Back in October, I found her blog about her three beauties, including Rylie, an adorable 5-year-old with that extra something special. I put a shout out to her on the blog to pass the word. Here's what she said....."I would like to pass on this award to RK over at Just RK . When I had just started my blog back in October, she introduced me on her blog which brought me readers. I was so excited and I thought it was so kind of her. So, RK you deserve this award. You are definitely a Kind Blogger." Thanks Val!!! I feel loved!!! :o) _______________________________________________ Now to the sweet part. Last night, I needed something sweet. I've been eating alot of vegetables lately...and that's WAY not normal for me. I mean, I like veggies, but I rarely have them at the house, as they go bad very quickly. But lately I've been in to yellow squash and zucchini with some onion, all saute...

What a great response for our first round of Random Questions!!! All your responses were so interesting to me, and those of you that posted....hilarious! Isn't it funny we can have so much to say about something that every one does as a normal thing?!? Here's why these questions were fresh on my mind yesterday... I went to the store, no kid in tow since the husband was off for President's Day (gotta love banks). I realized about half way through that I had varied from my norm, and it kind of scared me a little. I had just tossed a few things in here and there. I actually stopped in the middle of an aisle and had to just process for a moment. Then I corrected the situation and went on. My typical shopping pattern is to arrange the items so they all fit on the bottom of the cart nicely, at least until it's full. I put the cereal boxes together, next to the mac n'cheese boxes, next to the pasta boxes, in height order. Then I have a little area for the cans, al...

I've been thinking of things here and there, and I just thought I'd throw them all out and see what happens. I made up the picture just so if you want to do a post we can pass it on. It would be fun to see how different and how similar we are! So many of us are mired in deep issues in regular everyday life that it sounds appealing to talk about the little things sometimes. And hey...there's no wrong answer! You can't fail this test! If you don't have a blog or don't want to post about it, you can answer in the comments section. If you put up a post, let me know so we can all check it out. I'd love to see if I'm the wacky one that I think I am or if I'm in other wacky company. Answer all the questions or just pick one or two. Maybe you've got a funny story to relate about one of the topics or you've witnessed someone even wackier! Here's the first round of questions... 1. When grocery shopping, do you arrange your items in the shoppi...

It's almost 2pm, my husband is napping after his regularly scheduled very late night (early morning) due to that super exciting Friday Night Magic . He got home about 12 hours ago, and so far this morning he's moved more than he does on a typical Saturday and Sunday combined. Braska's asleep too, after a big morning, and I relieved her of her bouncy chair just BEFORE she fell asleep this time...even though I love the alternative option . So I thought this is my chance to sit down and actually do what I thought would be the norm for the blog...just sharing thoughts. This morning we went to the Stay N Play Playgroup hosted by the University of Illinois Early Childhood Development Lab. Braska was chosen to participate in this group, and I was glad to have the chance for her to interact with other kids and with students who would learn from her too. I thought that there would be some other kids with developmental delays, maybe even DS, but that wasn't the case. She was the ...

Ok, here's the next batch of "things about me" per the tag from Mrs. Wibbs. I know you've all been waiting with bated breath . 1. I love Mexican food. But then again you know that if you read Braska's blog . Enchiladas, chicken fajitas, guacamole, GOOD salsa....I never get tired of it. Long live El Toro!! 2. If I have the choice between emailing someone and calling them, I'll almost always email. But my problem is that I assume that everyone is on their computers 18 hours a day like I am. And I don't understand why I don't have a response in 15 minutes! 3. I am not a fan of shopping....not for groceries or for clothes. I used to enjoy both somewhat, but now it is a hassle. I put off trips to the store for food way too often. And clothes....grrrr. That's all I have to say about that. 4. It is not unusual for me to go 3 or 4 days without leaving the house or even getting dressed. I'm great at getting out of the shower and just putting on the nex...

This morning I got up and went to grab our Valentine's Day cards from Braska and me for M. They were in my office. When I walked in there, I found a present and card with my name on it. M was in the shower, so I took the gift and the card back to the bedroom with our cards and waited til he got out of the shower. When he came out of the bathroom all ready for work, he opened his cards and I started on the present and card. (Very good card, by the way.) It is a book of Braska's first year. Not a scrapbook with pictures on it. It's a professionally printed actual book. And it's not like it's just printed blog entries, it is completely customized and original. It took me completely by surprise. I gushed and cried all the way through, all 22 pages. That he took the time to compile all this, choosing the pictures, writing the captions, and having it printed in such a magnificent manner.... I'm still so darn impressed. Here's the front and back. (Remember, you can...

Mrs. Wibbs tagged me for a meme to share 7 things about me. I gotta say I like these, even when we've already done them before. It's fun to come up with more stuff we haven't already spilled. But for now, I'll refer back to an old post because I'm in the middle of catching up with my house and work-work.....but I'll do a new list this week later!! Really I will! Here's one that was back in the day, posted on Braska's site. Some of you have asked about some of these things in particular, so I thought I'd just re-use this one. (It was my first announcement of this blog too!) ________________________________________________ A while back, (sorry!) Jennifer at Pinwheels tagged me with this meme, and I am just plain honored! Jennifer is a great writer with some great kids. If you haven't looked over her blog, take the chance to do it. Here's how it works: 1. Let others know who tagged you. 2. Players start with 8 random facts about themselves. ...

I've been awarded a very nice award from a couple of my faithful readers and blog friends, Shannon at Gabi's World and Christina at Kwisteena's Kwaziness . Thanks so much, you guys!! It always bring such a giggle to me when I see my name on someone elses post! It's like being picked with the cool kids!!! Love it! _______________________________________________ This gives me a chance to talk about something that I've been meaning to blog about for a while. Blogging about blogging...seems funny. I have learned so darn much from all you DS blogger-moms (and the dads too). Reading about and watching how you go about normal daily things as well as how you deal with the things we deal with like therapies, doctor visits, EI and IFSP meetings, and the underlying frustration that can creep up on us...it's priceless. I often tell new moms that I am blessed to interact with that if they do one thing, check out the blogs. It's the BEST picture of how life is really goi...

If you're in a state that's voting in a primary today, go vote. If you don't know who you'd choose, take a few minutes and check out a comparison sheet. Just Google "presidential candidate comparison" and see what you think. Do I have an opinion? Sure...if you want to know you can give me a call or email. I'm not gonna endorse via blog. (Here's a hint...it's not a she.) I'd hate to influence someone inappropriately with my overwhelming charm and wisdom. I hadn't been into this campaign til the last month or so. I caught a speech by a candidate that made me so mad that that person might even slightly have a chance to be the president that I had to check out the field. So I've been Little Miss Political News lately...the TVs stuck on channel 60 (locals can identify it), and the husband is rolling his eyes. But hey, it's important. I'm an adult. Time to know what's happening to our country. Go vote! Edited to Add: I did actual...

I had two days to work, and I sure as heck did. But all that time, and I really only got one room done! It was my office, though, and it was SO overpiled and trashed. So I feel good that it's done and I hope I can keep better track of my filing and organizing so that 2-years-behind thing never happens again. Some pics... if you've been around long, you know I am a fan of the before-and-after pics. Here's what it looked like when I started. I'm so shocked that I'm even posting these....it's horrendous! BTW...these were taken on my phone, M and Braska had taken off with the camera by the time I remembered I needed a "before." They're not the best quality pics. And at it's current stage... no, my walls aren't peach, but the light in there makes things look yellowish. There is still plenty to do, things from the other two rooms that used to be the office pre-kid that need to be moved in here. Final filing order, and of course, taxes! But at le...

Tomorrow the husband and daughter will be heading to St. Louis without me to visit Grandma C a bit and clear out of here for a couple days. This is to allow me to dive in to two uninterrupted days of tearing up and re-organizing this house, starting with my office. We'll see how it goes. I'm excited for the chance to dive in for a big ole' block of time. I enjoy this kind of thing, but I get so darn frustrated that I only get to do little bits and it always ends up worse when I'm done. So I appreciate the chance to give it a try. Maybe I'll take before and after pics. Let's just say, I am about 19 months behind in filing, and I'm usually super detailed about filing. Tonight I was packing the bag for them, and I'm trying to make it very clear what my intentions are for Braska's stuff without packing notes with each item. But when it comes to dressing for church, there's no taking chances. So I made a little bundle of things, including her onesie, ...