Braska Bear

That's what my friend Connor calls me. I'll tell you about him in a minute. First we took Belle to see Miss Wilma. She's all pretty again. Then I had a little gym time. Mommy kept asking me how I was moving around. I don't know! I just do it. While I was playing in my gym, Belle kept bringing me her toy. She likes to set it on my tummy and then she just looks at me. I don't know what she thinks I'm going to do with it. Mommy says that someday I'll be able to throw it for her and she'll bring it back to me. I think Belle is tired of waiting. We did a little time on my tummy today, too. I like it when we do that. Mommy got all excited when I looked up at her for a second. It's kind of fun to get to look around. Mommy says that soon there will be a nice lady, Miss Robin, who will be coming every week to help me learn that stuff better and get stronger. Then Mommy put me in these funny shorts. Miss Robin gave them to her to help me. I'm not sure ho...

First I got a little too excited when Mommy told me what we were doing... Then I calmed down so you could read the message.

It was so nice today to go to our church and see our friends again. Mommy and I have been gone so many weeks that I thought people might forget us! I was so glad to be back that I behaved real good and let both Mommy and Pop stay in the big room for the whole time. After lunch, Mommy and I went back to the church for a party for Miss Bev and Mr. Jim. They have been married for 50 years. That seems like a very long time to me. Mommy says they are the ones who first got Mommy and Pop to meeting friends at church a few years back, so they're real special to us. I don't have a picture of Mr. Jim, but here's one from a few years ago of Miss Bev. It was a nice party, and we got to talk to lots of friends and eat cake... well, I didn't get cake, but Mommy said it was good. When we got home from the party, we packed up and walked over to Mr. Bip's house where Pop was playing his card game. It's kind of a long walk, and it was pretty warm, but we had fun. Belle went with...

There was alot to get done today, that's for sure. Mommy was busy with work-work, cleaning the house, and getting my closet all ready with stuff that fits me for summer. Pop helped out with some laundry too. I napped some and played some while they worked. Then this afternoon Mommy and I went to the park to get some exercise and fresh air. It was really nice outside, sunny and kind of windy, but it felt good. Even with all the stuff to see, I was most interested in my favorite picture, it's on the inside of my car seat and has red and yellow in it. Mommy always says it's silly that I like it so much instead of other toys and stuff to see. Here's me with a big heavy ball. And here's me in the middle of one of the art things. Don't miss my note about my Great Granny F below... that's really the most important part of my day.

My Grammy Jan just told us that Great-Granny F died this afternoon. She is my Papa Beagle's mom. She has been in the hospital and nursing home for a little while, like since around when I had my surgery at the end of February. Great-Papa F went to a nursing home then, too. Granny had taken care of Papa for as long as she could. Mommy had just talked to me this morning about going down this week to visit her, so I'm sad that I won't get to see her. But Mommy says she's very happy now, because she finally gets to see Jesus, and she's been looking forward to that for many years. I got to meet Granny only once, when I was just a little baby, back around Christmas. She held me and talked to me for quite a while, even though she was scared to hold me at first. I'm so glad we got to see her then. You will be missed, Granny. Welcome to Heaven.

Mommy told me this morning that today was an important day to get ready for an important week. She said we had alot to do, starting with getting the kitchen together. So after breakfast, I took a little nap to get rested up for the day. I snoozed a while in Mommy's big comfy chair. Then we got dressed and headed out to the store. We were there kind of a long time, I thought. I played with my hands, smiled at some people who said hi to me, and talked to Mommy some while she was shopping. I got a little tired of sitting in my seat after a while, so I had to tell Mommy to hold me for a bit. I'm glad she got the message. We got home with alot of food, and I was so tired, I just took another little nap while Mommy unloaded stuff. She doesn't really need my help anyway. Tonight I had more green beans, a little applesauce, and my regular food too. I should be making those numbers on the silly scale go way up by next time I go see Miss Laurie. It's about time for me to go to be...

Mommy said I was good today. I think I'm good every day, but apparently I was especially good today. I didn't really complain today because I had plenty of toys and things to keep me busy. I smiled at Mommy a lot, and she always likes that. There was one time when she wanted to take a nap, but I just wanted her to hold me so I could sleep. Maybe next time I'll let her nap too. Today I also had applesauce again, which I haven't had in a few weeks. Tonight I got to try a new thing. Green Beans. And I like them alot. Mommy kept saying she was surprised at how fast I was eating them, but I thought they were pretty yummy. There's not alot of other things to say about my day today. Some days are just not that exciting, I guess, but it was still a good day.

I woke up this morning earlier than Mommy wanted me to, I think. She came in my room and talked to me all nice and quiet while she was being sneaky and giving me the belly pat. That always makes me relax and sleepy, so I went right back to sleep. But I thought I wanted to get up! Wow...She's good! She was much happier about an hour later when I got up again. It is always nice to be home after we've been away, and I just enjoyed my chair this morning while Mommy worked on stuff. I was having good fun with Mr. Panda Rattle. He tells funny stories. After lunch, we went to see Miss Laurie and Miss Amiee at Dr. Y's office. You guessed it...time for that silly scale again. It all happened so fast that we didn't even take a picture, but the good news is that I gained a little more weight! The numbers today were 11 lbs 0.5 oz, and Mommy was very pleased. Tonight I hung out with my Pop for a while so Mommy could take a nap. She was much better after she got up later. We all watc...

Great-grandpa D passed away a few weeks ago. Today all our family got together to remember him and talk about fun things we used to do with him. I only met him once, but it was fun to hear all about the neat things that everyone used to do. I got to meet alot of people in my family for the first time. I have alot of cousins! Actually, they're Mommy's cousins, but that makes them mine too, I think. It was nice to see some of my Aunties and Uncles, and Papa Beagle and Grammy Jan, too. Cousin Melissa talked to me about taking the bottle, and she tried to help me with it, but I just didn't really want to take it. She also gave me some clothes too, which is very nice. After we packed up our stuff from Grandma C's house, we started to go home. Mommy and Pop decided to go a different way, and we ended up stopping to see Miss Julie, Mr. Justin, Macie, and Morgan. Macie and Morgan played around and made us laugh, and Mr. Justin was trying to teach me how to get to my tummy when...

This morning I got up early, and after Mommy and I played a little bit, she took me out to see Uncle Gordon, who was already awake. I played with him, and even took a little nap with him, while Mommy tried to get a little sleep. (Last night he tried to give me some pizza... I forgot to mention it, but it was sticky.) Then everyone went to do stuff. Uncle Gordon and Uncle Ethon went to play some cards, Grandma C and Aunt Kelly went to do some super shopping, and Grandpa John went to work for a while. Mommy, Pop, and I went to the mall and walked around some. Mommy said that's a big deal, since Pop doesn't like to do that kind of shopping at all. So thanks for going, Pop. It was fun riding around with you while Mommy shopped, and it made Mommy happy to have you along with us. We didn't get anything at the mall, but that's ok. When we got home, everyone else got home soon too. I spent some time with my favorite toys...yep, it's the hands! They're so interesting! Mo...

Before I got ready for church, I hung out with Aunt Kelly. She said she was scared of babies, but I don't think I'm scary at all. So we just chatted for a bit and she didn't seem scared to me at all. I had fun, Aunt Kelly! Then we went to church at Grandpa John's church. He has a thing every week when he has all the kids come up to the front. Then he tells them a story just for them. Someday I'll be big enough to run down there with all the other kids! During church, I was really having fun. It's a secret why I was so happy... I'm not telling. But I showed Pop alot of smiles for sure. After church, Mommy and I went with Auntie April, Miss Karen, Aunt Kelly, and Grandma C to eat lunch. Everyone said they ate too much, so it must have been good. Pop went with the rest of the boys to play golf. He took lots of pictures while the rest of the boys played. They were gone a really long time, but I don't know why. They didn't seem to be doing that much excit...

It's back to St. Louis today, but thank goodness it's not for me! We came down to Grandma C's house so we could see Uncle Gordon and Aunt Kelly. I haven't ever met them til today. Uncle Gordon is Grandma C's brother, and they came to visit from South Carolina. Grandma C got back from her Montana trip today too so there were lots of travel stories to tell. That must be why all the guys in the family stayed outside. Uncle Gordon made dinner, and it had a funny name...kabobs. Isn't fun to say? Kabobs! The whole gang was there, Uncle Levi, Auntie April, and Uncle Ethon, too. I thought Uncle Ethon was pretty funny. I think Aunt Kelly might have thought he was, too. But my hands are almost always more interesting than anything else. Tomorrow's gonna be a busy day, and I'll tell you all about it!

This was a busy day, and I'm tired, so I'll do another one of those quick-info kind of stories for you. ~~This morning I had a bath, and I actually thought it was fun. Mommy said that's good. ~~I went to work with Pop for a while today while Mommy went to a doctor's appointment. Mr. Scott walked around with me some, and I think that's nice. Pop didn't take any pictures because he didn't know the camera was in the bag. Guess that means I'll just have to go back again!! It was fun! ~~After Mommy picked me up from Pop's office, we went to Dr. Y's office and Miss Laurie put me on the silly scale one more time. Mommy wasn't as pleased with the numbers today, but she said it was ok. ~~Mommy and I went to a place where the people did something to Mommy's car. But I slept most of the time, so I don't remember much. ~~We did a bank run, where we take money from one bank to another bank. Mommy says it's a good plan, but from what I understa...

Mommy, Pop, and I had dinner tonight with Mr. Matt, Miss Nico, and Connor. He said hi to me alot, and he can say my name, which I think is cool. I had a bit of an accident with some things that Mommy says aren't polite to talk about over dinner, so since this is about dinner, I'll just say I had to change clothes at the restaurant. Well, actually, I just took them off, and Mommy didn't realize until then that she didn't have any more clothes for me in my bag. Miss Janet just happened to be at the restaurant too, and she helped Mommy clean me up. I got really mad because I didn't like being messy and then naked. Mommy wrapped me up in a blanket and we went back to the table. Miss Janet has a little girl named Cede, and she's bigger than me, but not by too much. So Miss Janet was nice and let me borrow an outfit of Cede's, so then I wasn't naked, but I was still mad. I felt funny, but I didn't know why really. Mommy said I was just super tired. Pop and...

Robin, the OT, was here today to do an initial eval on Nebraska. Overall, she said she was pleased with her progress considering her surgery at 3 months and recent illness. She did well with several of the little test elements, and there were deficits in several, which we expected. Her head/neck strength will be a primary goal and point of beginning for therapy in the next few weeks, on a weekly basis. She did give us some things to focus on when just doing normal stuff at home, to help her in between visits from the therapists. So very soon we'll be seeing Judy, the developmental therapist, Robin, the occupational therapist (which I think is kind of funny in title, as Braska isn't all that into an occupation at this point), and Luann, the speech therapist/feeding specialist.

Miss Robin came to my house today. She had toys and stuff and played with me some. She also made me do weird things that I didn't like, but she said I did a good job. It was kind of like a test and I think I got a pretty good grade. Mommy will probably tell you more, since I was pretty busy playing and didn't listen very well. I'll show you some pictures of what we did. Here's me with Miss Robin. She asked me to hold onto this rattle while I was sitting up. I don't really sit up so well, but I held on good to the rattle. Then she put me in my gym and had me hold onto the rattle with one hand then the other. Then she put me on my tummy. It was ok with me, I like it. I don't know if I did what I was supposed to, but I had a good time.

I played with my music gym this morning so Mommy could work on some things. I really had fun, and then Mommy caught me snoozing. It's tiring to have lots of fun! That silly scale that Miss Laurie always puts me on at Dr. Y's finally gave me a good grade today. I don't like that thing at all. It's hard, and I'm naked, so it's not very comfortable. But at least it means I'm getting a little bit bigger. And that's what everyone seems to want. Can you see the numbers? (pssssst...if you can't, did you know that you can click on the picture and it will get bigger for you to see better?) Mommy took a close-up of me so you could see how much the marks on me from where Dr. F fixed me are going away. She says I'm lookin' good! Miss Amiee and Miss Laurie check to see how I'm doing every day, and they've helped Mommy out alot. They even gave Mommy a nice card when we were there. Mommy said that was really nice and that I should learn to be nice f...