Help Raina Get The Home She Deserves

From Shelley's blog to help you understand why she is trying to raise money for Raina.

I am giving away my Blackberry Curve. It is in excellent condition....I've
had it less than 6 months and always carried it in it's case. It works with a
T-Mobile SIM card(and I'm sure it can be unlocked for other carriers). When we changed cell phone providers, I decided to downgrade to something cheaper. I sold my husband's identical phone on ebay in less than 5 minutes for $170. I decided to give mine away instead. So, here's the deal:

On July 27th, I will pick my Xander up out of his bed, kiss his chubby little cheek.....and thank the Lord for putting him in my arms one year ago. To honor that moment one year ago, I am auctioning off my Blackberry Curve with every penny of the money raised to go into the grant fund for Raina, who is waiting in Bulgaria. Raina, like Xander, has Down Syndrome and clubbed feet. She is destined to live her life confined to a crib unless a family takes a leap of faith and adopts her into their family. So, here's how this is going to work.

There is a Chip In widget over on the side of my blog (I also added it to the CornishAdoptionJourney sidebar). A $5 donation made through that account will enter your name in the drawing. You can enter as many times as you want....each entry requires $5. The auction will end on July 27th and Xander will draw the winner himself. Every penny of the money in the chip-in account will go to Raina.....and someone will get my Blackberry Curve. You can keep it, resell it yourself....whatever you want to do with it. My intention is to get some money in this little girl's grant fund. If you are reading this and you blog, PLEASE mention this on your blog. You can even put the widget on your blog too. You can get the code here (please do!!!).

Some of you that read this get hundreds of readers a day on your blog. My prayer is to raise at least $500 for Raina's grant. That's going to take 100 entries.
My husband thinks I'm crazy and I'm going to give my Blackberry away for like $20. Help me prove him wrong and raise some money for this little angel who's waiting on a mommy and daddy to call her own!!!!

Colds and Rash... still!

Well, we all have a cold. It started with Bailey, moved to Aubrey, and I now have a cold and I believe Keith is also starting to show signs of one. Bailey seems to want to hang on to hers, I believe she is worse than the rest of us. Also, prior to getting her button she was diagnosed with Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease, and it still hasn't improved much! After doing some research I found that the rash should only last 7-10 days, and I believe we're at day 14. Bailey has also been very fussy, and we just can't seem to keep her happy... unless we hold her! Hmm... spoiled already?!?

Aubrey has had a great weekend. She hasn't talked back nearly as much as she has these past few weeks. Her spitting is getting better, although she did spit on something last night that didn't make me very happy. last night we went to Backyard Adventures, which is a new place here in Lakeland that has the inflatable bounce houses, slides, obstacle courses and even a toddler area that had little toys for Bailey to enjoy. Also, it has a parents room with WIFI! No kids allowed. However, I don't think I'm ready to separate myself from Aubrey while she plays. I'm not sure I'll ever be ready to let her play like that unsupervised. She was so amazing. They have a huge slide that I never thought she'd go up. But after several attempts she went up the slide and slid down so fast that her dress flew up over her head and she tumbled several times once she hit the bottom. Then, she kept doing it over and over again.

For those that haven't been following Kennedy's story. She is out of the hospital and the surgery went well. Now, she's able to spend time with her ENTIRE family! Even daddy! They'll remain in Philadelphia for the remainder of the month.

Tricia

Infected Button.. and Button Questions

Bailey's button is infected. I think. It's red around the outside, maybe from the button to about a half inch out from the button. I know when she had her g-tube, it was infected on and off for several months, but I hate to think we're headed in the direction again. Also, for those families with experience, did you have issues with it disconnecting. It's coming undone from the button to the small connecting tube. I called Baycare and they're sending an adapter out tomorrow that will possibly correct the issues. I welcome any suggestions though!

Tricia

Happy Thirtysomething Birthday Keith!

Yesterday was Keith's birthday. Once again, the computer went down so I wasn't able to get this on yesterday for him. We had a nice evening with the children and Keith's mom and my parents. Aubrey helped granny bake a Birthday cake for him. Well I was planning to post a picture of Keith with the girls, but I can't find one. Hmph!

Tricia

Button and Florida DS Conference

We've had major computer issues, so this will be one of many updates I'll try to do over the next few days. I'm STILL trying to do a three year montage of Aubrey, but this 3 week computer issue is making everything impossible.

Bailey had her g-tube removed on Thursday and now has a button. I think it will eventually be great, but right now we're still on continuous feeds, so I'm not able to see the benefit yet. She was amazing. We stayed in the room with her while they prepped her and started to gas her. We gave our kisses and went to the waiting room long enough for Keith to make a few calls and for me to check my e-mail. Thanks to the hospital hotspot for allowing me the opportunity to catch up with my internet life. The doctor came to get us, gave us a few instructions and within thirty minutes we were out the door.

Oh, and for those in Florida. The Florida Down Syndrome Conference packets are available. Here's the link for the packet. http://dsacf.org/docs/Conference2008RegistrationFormPacketFINAL.pdf


More later.

Tricia