Just RK

I've debated this many times before. Using the blog kinda like I use instagram or twitter... Quick and to the point. Heaven knows I'd love to write a lot, but suffice it to say that is not gonna magically happen (consistently) ny time soon. So maybe this will be better than nothing? Maybe not. Maybe no one even does blogs anymore...  I've debated caving in for fb to... But haven't yet. Hard to make changes,  ya know. In the meantime... Test pic is me and my girl, as she sits with me in my "work space" aka recliner with laptop.

I’m still here. I’m not posting much. Well, here, that is.  I’ve been doing mini-updates and sharing bits of life on Twitter, because it’s just easier from my phone, and I rarely get to sit down and work on my computer. Even Blogger’s app is not all that pleasing to me. So if you think I’m AWOL, check the Twitter box down in the right margin here or just pop over to www.twitter.com/mom2braskakiki for a run down. Here’s a peek at what it looks like, maybe you missed some action… I’ve debated doing the simple update thing here, instead of feeling like I have to post weightier content…  thoughts?  Would that be better than no content? Or should I keep it to the “real” stuff (which is way rare)?

(ETA: I didn’t clarify initially… Android app is for phone obviously. And Live Writer is for PC. I shouldn’t have mashed up all the comments.  Blogger has made changes to the online version of their interface, and I’ve yet to hear anyone who thinks even slightly favorably about it.) I'm skeptical, I admit. But for kicks, I'll toss up a pic of my bugs at dance class this past Saturday. (ETA:  I didn’t like it. The pic was horrible in translation. Very poor. So there ya go.  And I’m changing the pic now…. using Windows Live Writer, of course!) And by the way, for all my buds that have been complaining about Blogger's new (online) interface, I agree... But I never use it, so life is good. Download Windows Live Writer and your editing and posting will suddenly make you smile again!! And I'm just a fan, not a paid endorser. But give me drag and drop photos with the simplest resizing, offline post compilation capabilities, and the easiest watermarking and ...

Hopefully by now most of you have realized that we have not vanished into vapor and that I have, in fact, just been unable to blog in the preferred regular-and-with-worthwhile-content manner.  But after being gone, missing so much that has been so bloggable (IF it were not that I have too thoroughly mixed the IRL and blog worlds), where does one begin again? Who knows. So I’ll just throw out some stuff that’s been rattling around or that has happened in snippet form. **Braska came in to my room this morning, and as she does often, paused at the light switch to flip it on. Only it’s already on with the light part of the ceiling fan turned off at the fan.  Because I’m not a big fan of SURPRISE! It’s time to get up! lighting.  She’s diligent, though, and she still attempts it every time.  And for the few times I forget to properly arrange things, wow. Good morning to me.  Doesn’t seem to bother her one single bit. **Last night we went to the Y after ...

First, thanks Cate for noticing my absence. When you tell everyone in your real-life world about your blog, you shouldn’t be surprised that there comes a day when it’s hard to blog about what’s happening in life and still keep things socially kosher.  Hmmmmm. Lesson learned. Things are ok, don’t worry. And none of you IRLs should be paranoid. Just a lot going on in my head… wonderings, musings, thinking, and pondering.  Stuff that needs to be hashed out.  But not here. When I get time to get back to documenting some of this crazy life that’s flying by, I’ll let ya know.

How could it possibly be October 31?  I feel like my current schedule is causing days to slip by without my even being aware. Not my favorite thing. Down Syndrome Awareness Month… and I didn’t hit the things I really wanted to talk about.  Does that mean I really didn’t want to badly enough?  Or does it just mean that I didn’t set aside the time I needed to, TV-free and post-bedtime, to formulate properly the thoughts into orderly paragraphs?  For those of you who haven’t been around since the beginning, here’s a few links back to old posts that might be of interest to catch you up on me, us, and life at our house.  The “first date” AKA crazy stalker guy from Montana, the proposal , finding out and telling family we were pregnant, ultrasounds and elevated risk , a day of labor , a special delivery . The favorite of many… the snip/tuck saga . Some hot topic posts… Prenatal testing , taking a stand (still missing it’s part 2) on a...

Last year Shutterfly sent out a great offer to many bloggers that brought the reward of free Christmas cards.  It made doing Christmas cards so easy and enjoyable, really.  I had gotten out of the habit of doing real cards at Christmas, but I really liked giving and receiving the cards last year.  Here was what we had for our cards last year… (Funny to me how the girls can look exactly the same, just with KiKi having longer hair…) So far these are some of my favorites for this year… From the Christmas card collection . From the Holiday Card collection . And the photo books … they are ALWAYS fun to do! This year, we got a similar offer (YAY!) and in addition to cards for me, they also allow me to give cards to YOU!  Three of you can win codes worth 25 free cards!!! That is worth commenting for, right?? So leave a comment on this post with your FAVORITE part of the holiday season. Is it parties? family traditions? presents? shopping? ...

Crazy Beautiful Love is hosting the Hoppin’ for 21 Blog Hop today. v So in my “free time” I’m gonna see if there are a few new cute kiddos to check out. (It’s so nice to see some of our good friends in the list already… Hi Vince ! Hi Kayla !!) Do I get double points for awareness today?  31 for 21 AND Blog Hop ? Oh!  And there IS a prize involved.  If you link up your blog to the Blog Hop, there’s goodies to be awarded! So go check it out ! If you’re hopping over from the Blog Hop, Howdy! Glad you came by!  I’m RK, mom to Braska (almost 5) and Kinlee (2 1/2), wife to M.  We’re in the St. Louis Metro area.  I’m into putting my kids in cute girlie clothes, bows, doing digiscrapping when I get a minute or two, Bears football, and currently a little Cardinals baseball.  I’d love to have you as a blog buddy, so leave me a comment and click on the “members” button on the right, and I’ll be sure to come check out your blog, too!

This is my post. My one for today. My daughter has Down syndrome. And it makes her pretty great, I say. There. I even managed to continue the official awareness of the month. Wow. Look at me go. Signed, One very “tuckered” mom, as my girls would say.

I have been avoiding posting, I think.  I didn’t really consciously think of it that way, but it’s probably true. Because really…how do I catch up with all I’ve missed in life lately? Don’t worry!  Nothing’s going wrong. There’s not any new horrible news.  We’re chugging right along, just really busy.  It’s just that the girls are at the stages where there’s a lot going on. I’d like to discuss so many things that they are experiencing, that I am experiencing with them, and there are many questions I’d love to ask of all the wisdom that is (or used to be?) out there in my lovely readers. I kind of fear that everyone’s moved on, and really, I don’t blame ya! So I hope to have the time and motivation soon to dig back into the past few months and talk about some things that have been happening around our house.  In the meantime, there are a few little things that I can think of now… gotta love a bullet list, right?  I always like ‘em, anyway, when YOU guy...

Playing with new ideas...hopefully it all comes together. Edited to add: More work to do, but I'm soooooo tired. Still bugs to work out, so bear with me. I know there are some issues with the header images loading properly.

(We’re still in the midst of the station break . But I must fulfill my duty to Shutterfly . They gave me free cards, after all.) There it is, your sneak peek at our Christmas cards.  For those of you privileged enough to receive one to actually hold in your hands and enjoy, you’ll see that there is also more of the cute and clever inside. Now don’t you wish you’d have joined us for the Happy Bloggy Holiday card exchange ?? Thanks, Shutterfly , for the great bloggers promotion!

I keep thinking I'll catch up. I keep thinking I'll somehow get time to sit down and write about some of the things I want to document or think about "outloud." But it's not happening. I'm not managing everything like I need to. So for now, we're gonna give Just RK a break. I am going to step away from my computer and the addiction that has apparently absorbed too much of my days. I'm not going to chuck my laptop or anything, but I have to get out of the "I must blog about that" mindset that is always in the front of my mind. I'm also going to clean out my Google Reader subscriptions. I'm going to have to make some tough choices there. I'll not be removing everyone, of course, and those of you who have become more than just a random blog somebody-out-there will not be lost, don't worry. But the choosing...That will be PAINFUL because I kind of have a thing about keeping up on everybody all the time. But it's not possible....

Do you do Christmas cards? How many do you send, if you do? Can I be on your list? Anyone interested in doing a Christmas card exchange? I’d be happy to organize a list of addresses to share. How fun would it be to get bunches of cards next month to have a physical piece of each of our blog buddies in our homes for the holidays?!? Spread the word…invite your friends. The more the Merry(er) Christmas! (You do NOT have to have a blog to participate.) Copy and paste the code below to post this button on your blog! <a href="http://justrk.blogspot.com/2010/11/christmas-card-exchange.html"><img src="http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x198/wish4rk/89c95877.jpg" /></a><br/>Grab this button by clicking the image above.<br/> Leave a comment on this post if you’d like to be included and CLICK HERE to send an email with your snail mail address! Leave your blog link here so we can see who is participating! *********** Can it actually BE that time...

Apparently everyone keels over after 31 for 21 and can't post another single solitary word! November 1 has to be the slowest blog day on the calendar, at least if you're in my Google Reader . I've been amazed all day at the peeks onto my iGoogle Homepage with my handy-dandy Google Reader widget (no, I am not getting compensation for this commercial) bringing no new posts from anyone. Sure, there have been one or two. But after getting hit with like 80 items in the Reader every time I checked, over 300 a day, it seemed sad today to have a lull. Not that I had time to really read, but still. It's comforting. I admit my addiction. For me the day was about " the trio ," safety and emissions inspection, need for 4 new tires, diapers x3, naps x3, and lunch x3. Throw in phone calls regarding an update on the recent IEP, scheduling the yearly review from the regional center, setting up an interview for a part-time job I haven't even been looking for but that fo...

Here we go! (If that’s all I said, would it count as day 1?) I’m not sure how I’ll work the schedule to get this done, but I want to do it. I want to work through out loud some of the things that have been bouncing around in my head.  I might get much less sleep this month, but oh well. And to all you fellow 31 for 21’ers… don’t forget the beauty of scheduled posts.  Throw up a few when you get time and it will cover you for a few days, posting one per day.  If you don’t know how, drop me a line.  Super easy! Take the time to click on the button to the right and visit the list of those participating.  There are some great blogs out there that I’ve never known existed, so many new friends to make! And if you’re visiting because you’re browsing the list or checking me out from Tricia’s link in her post, glad you stopped by.  I’d love to have you along for the ride, so click on the “Follow!” button to the right and you’ll be on our adventure with us!...

Grab This Button The super cool and adorably honest Tricia is hosting The 31 for 21 Blog Challenge to Raise Awareness for Down Syndrome. (31 days in October, in honor of Trisomy 21 aka Down syndrome...follow?) ~You do NOT have to have a kid with DS to participate. ~You do NOT have to talk about DS everyday.   The idea is just to blog every day in October, and for those of us who have lots of DS related things we *could* talk about, it’s a good chance to catch up!   Now where to find time to carve out to actually DO it…   If you're a blogger and you want to blog each day in October, click on the button above and go over to add your name to the list.  And grab the button code from the box on Tricia’s post.  That’s it!   Oh and all you Facebook’ers out there… feel free to do it that way if you’d like.  We’ll take all the positive awareness we can find, but this is really all about the blogs… for those of us who still p...

Do you ever feel like you consistent answer for “how have things been?” is always “Oh gosh, it’s been crazy lately!” ?  Because I feel like at some point this must not be considered “crazy” anymore, but instead, it is just the new normal.   This is the way it’s going to be.  Maybe if I accept it as ordinary, it won’t seem so exhausting.  That’s probably some active denial right there. We’re here. We’re surviving.  I’m tired, but breathing.  The girls are good, as good as toddlers are when they are…well…being classic toddlers.  There is the daily whining and the fits that come out of nowhere and seem completely unprovoked, but they’re healthy and generally happy, so I’ll keep moving forward.  I’ve managed to get into several new things that I didn’t plan on, and clearly didn’t say “NO!” to.  I’m a part of a community workgroup for the school district to figure out how to make recommendations on what things need to be cut to balance ...

Remember the cool deal I told you about for free business cards from Zazzle that I heard about on Hip2Save.com ? I got my order of blog cards today, and they are GREAT! (The top image is the back, bottom is the front. Click to make it bigger.) They’re not fancy, but just exactly what I wanted.  I’m using my newly-coined (at least in my mind) title… Toddlerologist.   (Toddler: Small, cute, but needy human.  Ologist: One who actively studies and attempts to understand the thing before –ologist.)  Simple and informative.  And a nice weighty card stock, not cheap stuff! Nifty, huh?

My awesome bud Jen has had a MARVELOUS idea that I’m unfortunately late getting in on with all the hospital happenings of late. Most of you know Sarah, a very cool young lady with Down syndrome, and Joyce, her lovely mother, from My Name is Sarah (formerly Class of 2008).   Joyce is opening a new fabric store and Sarah has been super excited and helping get it all ready. This is a dream of Joyce’s, having a fabric and quilt store and a place that can employ those with various disabilities.  This Monday, 8/9, is the grand opening, and it’s also Sarah’s 21st birthday!  So how awesome would it be to flood their mailbox with best wishes for store success and birthday wishes for Miss Sarah?!?  (By the way, you don’t HAVE to know them to participate.  How fun to congratulate someone on a special event just because they will appreciate it!!) PLEASE get a card in the mail to them asap.  I know it’s short notice.  They will be celebrating all week. If it ...