Just RK

Can I make a request of all you bloggers out there?  I’m trying to do a little personal research, and here’s what I’d love your help with… Take a little video of you chatting with your child, toddler to teen or beyond.  This goes for all kids, but especially kids with DS.  Just regular stuff, like how their day was, what’s for dinner, tell about their favorite TV show, what do they like about the siblings… anything.  Just get them talking.  If you have younger kids, just starting to talk, even mimic words would be helpful.  Even if it’s only understandable to you at this point!  Then post them and let me know that you’ve done so.  Please?  Thanks so much!!

It’s been a very quiet week here.  The girls have been at my parent’s house since Sunday, and I’ve spent 98% of the week lying in bed and/or sleeping, trying to rest this illness away on strict orders of my husband.  I got more than bored a few times, but I tried to comply. Today I went back to the doctor, and he confirmed my suspicion that my illness (yep, that fun h1n1) of last week morphed into a sinus infection and that’s what’s hanging on and causing me trouble these last several days, in addition to the residual cough from the flu.   Antibiotics were started and--placebo effect or not--I’m feeling better this evening.  Unfortunately, it’s way past my bedtime but I’m suddenly unable to sleep, so I’m blogging a tad before returning to bed to try again.  Probably all that snoozing this week… rest overload. (huh?) My birthday came and went, and as they tend to do by this stage, I suppose, it made not much difference in the days around it.  My s...

In all my time resting the last couple days, I did get a chance to do a new fall background for my blog. For those of you interested in that kind of thing, come check it out. I'm happy to share, change the header to your blog name if you'd like to use it as well. Just drop me a line... Happy Fall, Y'all!

So far this whole post-about-DS-thing is not quite working out.  Partly because I haven’t felt well for going on 11 days now, and partly because I just haven’t been able to formulate well what I want to say.  Oh well, I can keep trying. If it’s November before I get it together, so be it.  The girls are at my mom’s this week, after I have just not been able to kick this remaining little pesky part of the sickness, or a different sickness, who really knows…  I’m down to a nagging cough and sore throat, but I’m still having trouble with energy as well.  The thought was that the girls would go visit Grammy so I could get a couple days of uninterrupted rest and really kick this thing. I keep thinking that everyday will be the last day. That FINALLY tomorrow will be my day of feeling good again… but not yet.  Hopefully tomorrow is the day… If you have magical tips of great ideas, do share.

I came across this recently, and thought it was interesting… DownSyndromeFootprint.org Check it out and share your thoughts. I’m curious.

From an email I got today… --------------------------- Let me get this straight... We're going to pass a health care plan written by a committee looking for compromises, passed by a Congress that exempts themselves from it , signed by a president who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that's deeply in debt. What could possibly go wrong? ----------------------

In 59 minutes, as tradition holds, even though the official entry time isn’t til later in the day, I’ll no longer be the nice, round, trendy age of 35.  I don’t know why it’s trendy, but TV characters aren’t ever 36, they’re always 35. But I digress… I’m a romantic at heart, always believing that my fairytale will begin, glitter and all.  I always wish for some big magical event, some wonderful sunshiney day full of good things, smiley people, and lovely flowers lining every step I take.  Well, not really.  But something like that, maybe.  When, in actuality, birthdays aren’t a big deal around here, and that’s ok.  I hope someday we’re financially sound enough to do fun, lavish kinds of things just because it’s a birthday, but for now, we say “Happy Birthday” to the celebrating individual about 50 times throughout the day, and that suffices.  In all fairness, we are doing something really fun next weekend that is supposed to be representing my birt...

I did a new background for Braska’s blog last night, with her help, of course.  She is getting better about choosing between two options, so she likes to help.  And she must have liked what she chose because while I was working, as the elements were coming together on the layout, she said, “Oooh, pretty!”  It’s so fun to listen to her just come up with things like that. Anyway, if anyone is interested, I would be glad to share the background (with your own little one’s pic instead of Braska’s of course) if you want to use it for this month or whatever.  The header is separate and can say anything or nothing at all.  Just puttin’ it out there in case… And the “Down syndrome is… Beauty” image over there will be making it’s debut on a couple items, shirts etc, soon… if you’re interested in that.  I’ll put it in here too.

I apparently jumped the gun yesterday when I thought I was doing some better.  Last night the sore, swollen throat was back, and I had a very achy (head and body) night.  This morning, I felt like I was starting all over again….I’m so sick and tired of being sick and tired. M stayed home again, still not 100%, and it was clear I wasn’t going to be able to take care of the girls, so he took a shift while I went back to bed.  I slept a couple of hours, but I’m still very uncomfortable.  Let’s hope the girls take naps at the same time, so I can sneak in more rest. As far as Braska and Kinlee and illnesses… they seem to be really tough and well-protected naturally.  I’m sure they are more nutritionally sound than either of their parents.  With Braska on Pediasure for all her nutrition, she gets a perfect balance of all her required elements, and it seems to help keep her very healthy.  Even though “they” say that kids with DS tend to be sick more often...

Man, this kicks over and over again, let me tell you. I thought I was feeling much better yesterday afternoon, then had another rough night, though not AS bad as Sunday. Today I've been up and down. Went to Bible Study this morning, because I really enjoy it, but was wiped out when I got home. This afternoon I've felt very dizzy again, as I did during the night, and just plain worn out. Hope this gets out of here soon. M's still in pretty bad shape too. On the DS awareness note, since that's the whole idea of the 31 for 21... I'm going to try to get more Walk in the Park pics up on Braska's page today. In case you're interested... Wishing you all a healthy day...

Late last night I started in with really strong shaking chills and they continued for about 4 hours through the night.  Along with the sore throat the day before, the headache, body soreness and aches, and a bit of nausea too… this was not a fun night.  About 4 am, M started in on the same path.  This is no normal 24-hour flu…at least it’s more miserable than any I’ve had. Ever.  It came on SO fast and SO hard.  Really horrible. We went to the doctor this morning, which is saying alot…we’re not good patients and we rarely go, even when we should.  But we just couldn’t take a chance with the girls around.  Calls were made this morning and arrangements began to get the girls out of here asap.  It was handy that my youngest sister Julia was here overnight since my mom had watched the girls on Sunday for us and was returning on Monday for another reason.  Julia decided just to stay with us instead of making the trips home and back again.  ...

Yeah, that’s what it seemed like.  There were more purple jerseys and hats and Viking costumes than any combination of blue and gold and white.  It was sad for the Rams. I can’t imagine how it would be to look around your home stadium and see more fans of the opponent than your own. Ouch.  I kept watching the cheerleaders and wondering how they could keep being all perky and bouncy when there wasn’t a soul in the place paying attention to them.  Or cheering at all. BUT… The afternoon was so fun!  I had a great time taking it all in, goofing off, watching the Viking fans…all.around.us.  I thought it was really fun!  Can I say fun again?  It was a very fun way to spend a Bears-free afternoon during football season.  M and I dreamt of the days when we will be so wonderfully financially stable that we can go see the Bears anytime, wherever they play, with great 50-yard-line tickets.  Know this, though… we kept our Bears fanship on the d...

We are headed to the Edward Jones Dome today to watch the StL Rams and the Minnesota Vikings. Our very wonderful friend Cindy gave us tickets and we picked this particular game so we could see Brett Favre in person slinging that pigskin around! (And it was nice that this is the Bears bye week anyway, so we're not missing their game...that would be unacceptable, you know.) My sister and her husband, Rachel and Patrick, are coming along (though they're not Rams fans either...Go Patriots! For you, P!) and we're excited about some good seats and seeing some good football. At least on one side of the ball. Unfortunately, the Rams will likely lose miserably, but we'll cheer them today because Minnesota will go up over the Bears 2 games if (when) they win today. So that's the plan. On the off chance something crazy happened, I just wanted to this be out there to mark my predictions. Bob's your uncle.

Good news everyone!! The computer is back up and I'm so glad! Rachel Coleman's birthday is today, and I know most of today is over, but if you hurry yourself over to the Signing Time Store , you can get some seriously good deals...35% off! Check out Braska's blog for more info and a video from Rachel herself. I just snagged some flashcards and a couple board books. Good stuff!

I'm out of commission...just when I need to be posting like crazy. Computer issues, power cord, actually. So be patient, and read some of the other blogs for a while. Thanks to my dearest husband for sacrificing 4 minutes of precious computer time to allow me to share this info. And let me tell you, it doesn't come without a high price...interrupting his computer time. He only gets like, gosh, 18 hours of it a day. It's tough.

Names are a funny thing.  I mean, in a way, names are as common as anything can be.  Everyone has one, sometimes two or three, and there are alot of them that are used quite frequently.  Some are unique, but it seems like that takes alot of work these days…people are getting more and more creative with names. In our family, names are a big deal.  My husband’s name, though I generally refer to him as M in writing and sometimes in person, is Muncher. Yes, that’s his name. He’ll be happy to show you his driver’s license if you don’t believe him.  I have two daughters, Nebraska Larae and Kinlee Carene.  Not the most common names ever, we’re aware.  Usually they are known as Braska and KiKi.  In blog land, I’m known as RK, and many people in my face-to-face life call me that as well.  My name is Randa (pronounced ran-duh, not ron-duh) Kay, usually used with a hyphen—Randa-Kay—because I’m not a fan of Randa by itself. (Long story, not one that th...

Today was the annual Walk in the Park for the DSAGSL . We had a great team for what little effort we put into it. (We’ll do better next time! It was kind of thrown together on our part.)  Most of the family was there with us, and we really appreciate them coming out on a windy, chilly day! We’ve got a bunch more pics, so that’ll come soon.  Our buddies from C-U also came down for it, so check out Jen’s post at ReJenerationS to see pics from their perspective.

Ok, people…football fans far and wide.  It’s time to cheer your team!  So many of us are loving this time of year with football season in full force! (Go Bears!!!) My friend Missy has come up with a GREAT idea, and you’ll hear more about that soon.  But in the meantime, I need to see pics of your cuties in their NFL wear. Obviously, Bears-wear is the best, but we’ll accept anything. Ha!  We’re going to put this together and see if we can get some sports-related awareness going! Email pics of your little ones with DS (with their siblings if you like!) in their football cheering stuff to braskasmom at gmail dot com.  And stay tuned to see what fun stuff comes.  And PASS THE WORD!!!    Post on your blog for others to follow… it’s all about DS awareness, and it doesn’t hurt to get to cheer on your favorite team in the meantime! (And if you have football-fan friends who don’t have blogs, let them know too!) If you’re more of an NCAA fan, then sen...

I can’t even tell you how unprepared I am for October and fall and my birthday and Halloween (which means great holidays follow) and cooler temperatures, etc.  But one great thing about this month is Tricia’s brainchild , 31 for 21. (Let me just admit, I always call it 31 for T21 even though that’s not it’s name.  If I goof, I’m sorry…just letting you know now.) (Here’s a list of other bloggers participating, if you need some good reading material!) If you’ve been around for this before, you know the drill… it’s in honor of October being Down syndrome awareness month.  We bloggers far and wide opt to commit (with fingers crossed) to blog each day in October (31 days) for DS (Trisomy 21), though not all posts have to be all about DS, of course.  It’s awareness, people…getting the word out there that this is not some kind of horrible, sad, cheerless life we lead when DS enters the picture.  Not sure yet which direction I’ll go with this line of posts ...