Braska Bear

We have had a pretty silly week at our house. Mommy says I've been pretty silly, talking all the time and playing all over the house. She keeps having to come find me when I go hide in my room or in the bathroom. It's a fun game. Mommy's had alot of silly paper stuff to do to for our new house and for our old house. We have been running all over to send things and sign things and pay people. On Friday, we went to Daddy's work building so a nice lady could help us with some papers. We met alot of very nice people there. I hadn't ever gone to Daddy's work before, so it was nice to say hi to everyone. He works with alot of very friendly people. While we were there, we went to see Auntie Skye since she works in that building too. It's a really big building!! I helped Auntie Skye with some of her work so that she could take a little break. I love papers, so I'm always glad to help with them. This weekend we stayed home most of the time. It was reall...

Yesterday I picked up my new feet things that are called Sure Steps. They have pretty flowers on them!! I'm still practicing wearing them for just little bits, but I think they're gonna make standing up much easier! Here's the sides. They're good and tight to hold me just right. And they go right in my shoes! Then I feel ready to go! Miss Lori is coming so I'll show her and we can work on standing in my new steps!

Shelley at Embracing Life as Household 6 is doing a cool giveaway with the proceeds going to Raina, one of the precious kids at Reece's Rainbow (my fave organization). If you make a little donation, you get entered in the drawing for her Blackberry Curve . I don't need the phone, but I'm always up for a donation to any of the RR kids! So my money's in the pot! Hop over there and chip in a few bucks!! Here's the deal... if you go donate, and you let me know about it (send me an email if you wanna be private about it), I'll MATCH your donation up to $20 per person. I can't make it clear enough how important this outreach is to kids who truly NEED our help. If you've never checked out their site and those kids, please at least go see what the organization is all about.

All the nice ladies who come work with me on stuff are fun. And they always do some fun stuff. But sometimes it's hard work, too. I try to do my best, but I get tired sometimes. But today I'm gonna show you some of the fun stuff we've been doing lately! Miss C came on Wednesday and we had a good time playing while I was having some yummy yogurt. I've been taking more bites from her, and some from Mommy too. It's kind of messy, but Mommy's trying to get used to that. Here's a movie from when Miss C was here last time. Then Miss Lori came to help me get stronger. I showed her how I was climbing and everything, and she was so happy! Then we did some practice standing on a rocking board and up from my new feeding chair. I love my chair alot, so I don't mind when we get to use it for practicing. (Mommy note: Some of these therapy videos may seem like there's alot of nothing, but for those of us in this world of therapies and milestones that we work so har...

I have a new very favorite thing. Climbing!!! I get up on the couch and go all around. And it is so much fun!! (Mommy note: Have you every seen such a delightful little face?!? That's pure joy, people!) I can get up on the first part, then I keep going! I wish there were more places to go! Then I can go the other way too! (Mommy note: Don't mind the wet spots on the couch. She started climbing before the 30-minute waiting period after breakfast was over.) Here's a little movie of my climbing so you can see how hard I work to get up there! Wait til Miss Lori sees how good I'm doing!! Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com When I'm done climbing for a while, I'm ready for a nap!

On Sunday Mommy was feeding me my vanilla milk when she looked and saw that I was sitting in a big puddle of milk in my chair! She put me down and Daddy looked to see what was wrong. The milk was coming right out of my second button where it's supposed to go in. After they checked it out, Mommy decided it was time to put in a new button, so Daddy got the stuff and the new one, and he made it so it was ready to pull out easy. Then just like that... Daddy took it out! There was just my belly left with a little hole! Mommy held my hands while Daddy was working on me, and he put the new button back in. I've had the same button since I first got it last year, so this was the first time we changed it. But it was really easy and it didn't even hurt. When Daddy got it back in, he put water in the little balloon in my tummy so that the button stays where it's supposed to be. Look, all done. New button! And I never even got sad face. Just talked to Mommy while Daddy ...

Last week I learned some new fun things and went to some new places. First I went to see Mommy's new doctor for the tummy baby, Dr. N. She was really nice. I had fun in my wheels while they did their talking. Miss Lori came to help me practice getting stronger. I tried to do some standing up, and she tricked me into playing so I forgot I was standing! She also wants me to practice climbing up on the couch, but Mommy didn't think I would want to do it or be strong enough yet. But after she left, later in the day, look what Mommy caught me doing! Mommy was SO surprised, and now I'm doing it all the time! I just didn't know it was so much fun! The only problem is that after I play, I get really tired. Mommy went looking for me and found me in the hallway like this. I fell asleep right on the floor!! We also went to another new place, well, lots of them. We looked at lots of new houses last week to see if we wanted to buy one, and we found one we liked! We are gonna get to ...

At Miss Cindy's on July 4th, we had a good time. Here's a little movie about some new stuff I'm learning, and it's fun! Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Uncle Levi got married on Saturday, so we went back to Miss Cindy's since she was so nice to let them use her house and pretty yard. There was alot of stuff I didn't understand, but it was nice to dress up and be with the family again. Here's Uncle Levi and Daddy waiting for things to start. Daddy was called the Best Man. I thought he was just Best Daddy for me! I took a little nap on Uncle Ethon while we sat around waiting. It rained a little, so we had to wait for that to stop so we could go outside to the chairs and stuff. Then after stuff was dried off, we went out to get ready. Here's Uncle Levi and my new Auntie Janice. Grandpa J is back there because he talked for the wedding. Daddy's holding the flower girl basket because she gave it to him. That was funny. Everyone went by and got hugs and stuff and said congrats alot. I'm not even sure what that is, but it's a happy thing I guess. This is Auntie Janice with her little girl Shaylin. She...

We had a pretty fun weekend when it was 4th of July time. Daddy's Uncle Jerry and Aunt Nadine came from Iowa to visit Grandpa J and Grandma C. We all went to Miss Cindy's to play games and have some GREAT yummy food that she made. I tried a few things, but Mommy and Daddy said there was a bunch of good eats! I played by the pool while the big people talked and were silly. It was a little bit chilly, so I didn't get in the pool this time. But we did sit and kick for a little while. That's Miss Cindy, Grandma C, Daddy, and me. The boys played games in the yard, and I sat on a blanket with the girls and talked to Aunt Nadine. There was lots of pretty lights in the air on our drive back to our house. Then there was lots of loud noises that went very late after we got home. This is fireworks, I guess. We didn't get to really see alot of them very well, but we saw a few. On Saturday, we did some work around the house, then we went to Miss Cheryl's graduation p...

Last week I got to meet all my new therapist friends with First Steps. Monday Miss C came. She's an OT and she's going to help me learn to eat better. I ate a little bit of beans from the Mexican place that we had left over, and I tried to take a little bit of water from my nosey cup . After Miss C left, Mommy let me play in some gooey stuff, and it wasn't so bad. Usually I don't like to have that stuff on me, but it was ok this time. I even got a little in my mouth, but not much. On Tuesday, we went early in the morning to see a guy who measured my feet in a whole bunch of ways for my new Sure Steps to help me stand and walk. While we waited and Mommy wrote on some papers, I played in the chair. Tuesday after lunch, Miss Jocelyn came to see me. She's an ST and she's going to help me learn words and say words. She brought bubbles for us to play with, and I wanted to do them myself. On Wednesday we went to see Miss Stephanie again. She helps me learn to eat too...

Last weekend we went back home to Champaign to see some friends. And we saw a bunch of them! We had alot of quick visits to say hello, but we didn't get to see everyone. We stayed with Mr. Tom and Miss Beth on Saturday night. Dottie and Jake live there too, and we played with them some. They had lots of fun toys for me, and they even gave me some fun ones to take home!! Thanks Miss Beth! On Saturday I went to see lots of people with Mommy while Daddy stayed at Mr. Tom's house. We saw Miss Jen, Mr. Adam, and Kabe . Then we met Miss Janet at the mall for a little bit while we got Daddy's ring fixed to fit him better. Then we had lunch with Mr. Brent and Miss Laura before we went to Maddy and Grace's house. Mr. Randy and Miss Karen were there too. I took a little nap and Mommy just rested while her belly was icky. It was nice to see Maddy and Grace again. Then we went back to Mr. Tom's house for dinner and playtime with Dottie and Jake before bed. On Sunday, we...