Just RK

But we still love her. **Sent from the land of Android via Verizon and my Incredible.

This morning we dropped Braska at school and I had planned on going home to attack what has become a disturbingly messy house. (Like for real bothering me, dirty, beyond just regular kind of messy. I don't like it one bit.) But Kinlee wanted to "go somewhere" as she often does. It was so gorgeous out, and sunny, 60, seemed wrong to be inside. So I said, "Yes, we can go play." We headed nearby to a favorite park with a great playground. Though she was bummed it was empty, and I was plain shocked that there was no one there, she had a great time running around, climbing, and swinging. She saw the bridge nearby that leads around to another part of the park, with ponds and gazebos and trails of flowers. So I said, "Yes, we can go on the bridge." And we walked for a while, she ran ahead, and we looked at geese and flowers and enjoyed the breeze. Kinlee wanted to go over by the waterfall, so we did. And she asked if she could climb down and "touch

We’ve known about World Down Syndrome Day for a few years, but this is the first time we made it a point to do something. To celebrate.  I just decided we were going to make it like Father’s Day or something… a holiday to be appreciative for DS, to tell others all about how it’s blessed our lives as a part of Braska’s influence. We did several great things…  but I’m more than exhausted.  I was up til 2:18 am this morning getting things done, and I really am feeling the need for sleep hit hard right now. I’ll just share this for now… if you happened to follow Julie and I at some point today, this was your view…   Hope you did some fun stuff… Cheers, WDSD. I think we’ll enjoy you much more from now on.

We’ve got some GREAT stuff planned for today.  That might be why I’m still up (and needing to get to bed soon!) at 1:40am.  But it’ll be worth it…  Tell someone about something great you know about Down syndrome today.  And if you, by chance, aren’t sure what to tell them, just share how great my sweet little button of a girl is!

Some late breaking news! From an email I sent just now…. I just thought I'd share that Braska's button came out tonight, and after some very quick discussions, nervous glances, and shrugs, along with a call to the nutritionist, we decided to leave it out.  Be done. Move on. Call it good and keep on walking.  And I'm a little anxious, I admit. More details over there at her place … Wow. *That* day really is here.

Does anyone else have just about NO luck getting the kids to look at the camera??  I’m not a fan of pictures with me in them, but I would like to have some with me and the girls, so I try to get them occasionally.  But this is the best one out of about 10 we took.  Is it just *that* hard to look at the camera and smile for like 3 seconds??  And it’s not like there was anything on the deck that they were looking at… just avoiding the camera, I think. 

I had a few questions after this post about how our special needs trust went.  So I’ll try to answer them before I forget any longer! (Remember, I’m not a legal ace. This is just my experience or opinion expressed.) How much did you have to pay the attorney to setup the special needs trust? Our whole process cost us $2300.*  The attorney we used, who we highly recommend if you’re anywhere near where we live, allowed us the option of paying over time if we had needed to do so.  The MetLife guys don’t bill at all. There’s no charge for their services.  If you choose to update life insurance or investments through them, then they get a small percentage from that company. *We chose to go the more expensive route.  This cost was for both wills, a family trust as well as a special needs trust.  And Braska’s trust is a “self-standing” trust, which requires a bit more legal setup.  It means that the trust exists right now, instead of becoming an entity upon the death of both parents

It’s become kind of a weird little thing… the members comments on my hair when I’m working.  I find it beyond strange that so many people even notice my hair on a given evening.   But they do. When I wear my hair down—which I do NOT like to do—it is like I dressed for prom or something.  Men, women, teens, little kids… they all have to stop to tell me how much they like when I wear my hair down.  Every time.  It just makes me shake my head. Here’s a snap at work that someone took one night that it was supposedly “smokin’.” But today, as I whipped up a 3-minute ‘do this morning that kind of slowly unraveled through the day, by the time I got to work at 5pm, it was nothing I thought was all that celebration-worthy, but the rush of the afternoon didn’t really allow for adjustments.  I was apparently wrong.  Adjustments were not needed. The hubs mentioned before I left home that he liked it, which is rare, so that was nice.  Then when I got to work, it started immediately.