Braska Bear

Our friends Mr. Cory and Miss Mary came to visit last weekend. They moved away right after I got to come home from the hospital when I was a tiny baby. First they moved to Oregon, but now they live in Wisconsin. Mommy and Daddy were very excited for them to come see us! They came to our house at bedtime on Thursday night and went home at lunchtime on Easter Sunday. We had alot of fun doing all kinds of things while they were here. On Friday, we played a game Mr. Cory brought. I didn't understand it one bit. But I know there were something called zombies. Mr. Cory likes zombies alot, so we weren't surprised he had a game like this. I sat with Mommy and with Miss Mary some. Neither one of them seemed to be having alot of fun. This must be a boys game. I thought the cards were fun to chew on, though. On Friday, I also did a new trick...I picked up a ball with both my hands. I even licked it! Mommy was so surprised, because usually I don't like to try to pick things up that are...

I'm really getting behind on my stories! Mommy and I have been so busy, and now we're in Columbia, Missouri, for a quick visit and getting ready to head back through St. Louis and home today. I just gotta catch up soon! Til I get a chance to do that, here's a couple shots from last Sunday night when I was practicing standing with a new playtable that Miss Robin brought me. Mommy puts the stretchy wrap around my belly so I don't mess up my second belly button when I scoot up and down on the table. It's kind of fun to stand up and play!!

Today is Easter Sunday! We had a really good day, and I'll have to show you more pictures later when we it's not almost bedtime. We have a whole bunch of pictures from today!!! And we had a very fun weekend with Mr. Cory and Miss Mary who came to visit us from Wisconsin. I'll show about our weekend later too. Right now, look at how big I've grown since last year! This is me on Easter last year. This is me today, all smiley this morning. Look, Grandma C, I got to wear it for 2 years!! Yup, it's the same dress as last year!! I can still fit in it! Mommy thought this was funny, so we wore this one again since it still fit, and we saved the one Auntie Rachel got me for Easter to wear later in the summer when I'm bigger. And the little size tag on this says 3-6 months. Most little girls don't wear that size when they are 16 months old! Mommy thought that was pretty funny too. I'm kind of little, I guess! This was me and Mommy last Easter. And this...

That's my new favorite math problem. Mommy says I have some more to learn about math. My math problem is because today is 3/21/08, and for me, it's about T21, which is what some people call Down syndrome, and 16 because I'm 16 months old today!! So we'll have to do a big party for both! If I'm the only kid with an extra chromosome that you know, make sure to click on some of my friends' links over to the right under "Blog Friends" and say hello to them today!

This is a wonderful video posted by Kari at Chanelle and Tristan . My wish for my daughter is that she finds this kind of friendship. I'm sure that's the wish of all parents, regardless of the chromosome count of their child. But for me, it's a deep and pervasive hope, one that I will do my best to make possible. For Braska doesn't have siblings, and she may not, so her friends at church and school will be vitally important. I moved alot, never went to the same school for more than 3 years, about the same for churches too. So I never knew that "friends for years and years" thing growing up, and I don't want that instability for her. How I'll make that happen? Who knows...life happens. But I'm going to make it a goal and a high priority to be an important part of our family's decisions. Andrew is a super cool guy who is so very fortunate to have these friends. Even if your kids don't have extra chromosomes, I'd encourage you to...

Monday morning Miss Judy came to see me. She had a couple of new toys to play with. One of them I remember from a long time ago, but it was alot more fun now. It was like a big circle blanket with colors on it and we made it go up and down, up and down. I thought it was LOTS of fun. Mommy said she would get me one for me to have for myself and my friends. We'll have so much fun! After Miss Judy left, we got dressed really quick and went to Sophie's house for playgroup. She was all dressed in green for the holiday for a guy named Patrick. (Mommy says it's not Almost-Uncle Patrick, though.) She's always looking so cute! We played with some of her great toys while the mommies had goodies and talked about stuff. Miss Jen had lots of things that Mommy said were yummy, but I didn't want to eat anything. Sophie's big brother Alexander even let me play with his really neat train! I got to see it go around and around. I even turned myself around to keep seeing...

Wow, I've been so busy, and there have been so many people all around me! Usually it's just me and Mommy and Daddy and Belle. But these last days I've had lots of people to play with me. Mommy says they're all going home tomorrow, so I will have to get used to playing by myself again. On Friday, since we were still in St. Louis, Mommy and me went with Grandma C so the big girls could get their hair fixed. They both had these silly shiny things in their hair, and I sat with Grandma C for a while just seeing how funny she looked with those things. Then we finally came home, even though we didn't get my new glasses pieces to fix them because it would be a few more days. And we were ready to come home. Saturday morning I went to playday at the big college, but I'll tell you about that later, maybe tomorrow, because I have other stuff I wanna tell you about my family that came to visit. In the afternoon on Saturday, Grammy and Papa, Auntie Joy, Auntie Julia, and Uncl...

Today went pretty well. Mommy and I went to see Dr. R, and he said I looked good and my button does too. I got to talk to some nice people in the waiting room. I like to sit up big in my stroller and say hello to people. The nurse put me on the silly scale, and I've gotten a little bigger. 17 lbs 2.8 oz and 27.5 inches. Tonight we went out to dinner with Grandma C, Grandpa J, and Uncle Ethon. It was a fun time at a place kind of like El Toro, but I didn't eat anything because it wasn't the same. I did talk to Uncle Ethon and tried to show him what I wanted him to order. And I played with Grandpa J too, standing up big and sitting down again.

It's been a big week for me. Lots going on and some of it not so fun. I'm feeling better now, so I'll tell you about it. Sunday night Mommy and I came to Grandma and Grandpa's house to stay so that we could get my glasses fixed and stuff. Monday morning Grandma C gave me a bath, and we played and splashed. Then she got me all lotioned up by the fire where it was toasty warm. Then I played some with my toys, but it was hard because my glasses kept falling off. There's a picture to show you how they're broken. And there's one to show you how Mommy tried to make the broken part soft so I could use them a little. But they just felt funny on my nose because they didn't fit right. We did go out for a little bit and shopped for some stuff for me. Grandma C got me some new socks that I needed and some sleeping outfits. It was fun to go shopping. When we got home, me and Grandma C went for a walk too, because it wasn't too cold outside. Tuesda...