Uncle Jason steps up to the plate....

Okay, so here's a little background: Uncle Jason has always doted on and loved all of his nieces and nephews since they were born and is a favorite to all of them. BUT, he has refused adamantally to ever change a diaper, especially a poopie one. Zac is now 16 so this has gone on for many years! It's been the source of lots of laughs for all of us over the years ("Well, Jason could babysit, but only if someone is nearby to change the diapers" or "well, i guess Jason can babysit once they are potty trained" etc etc.) Well, he has been spending LOTS of time with Sharon in the past few weeks and has learned how to work her braces, make food for her, keep her happy, work her carseat, take her to therapies, etc etc. And lo and behold, drumroll...i got a phone call two days ago that UNCLE JASON CHANGED SHARON's POOPIE DIAPER!!!!! I guess now there is nothing he can't do....

party girl

So, Sharon had her first big birthday bash with her classmates and friends. We held it at one of those jump/bounce/moonwalk type places. She was pretty overwhelmed at first, and i think she couldn't figure out why her friends from school were there (like maybe she thinks they all just live in the classroom), but once RJ got her out there playing she had a ball and really enjoyed herself.
note: i stuck a picture in there with me in it since people have been asking to see pictures of me pregnant. there you go. :)
Oh, and Aunt Marj, the sliding picture will also show you dear little Mary Helen going up the steps for a turn!
Cousin Rose again outdid herself with a Mickey Mouse cake for the occasion and it was just so fun to see Sharon having so much fun! We're really trying to help her learn to socialize better with kids her age and so events like this are a necessity to take away some of her fear and timidness. We were so proud of her for keeping it together while everyone sang "Happy Birthday" and she was even able to blow out the candles! (those of you who see her frequently know that she usually cowers in times like that)...i think in the picture it looks like RJ is going to cut the cake with his shoe or maybe hit someone with it? but really he was just getting his shoes back on after the bouncing fun...and you can see Sharon's overwhelmed face, but a big step in the right direction that she held it together!
The next day she started her soccer league and had a ball then too (no pun intended). She is on the "Tigers" and RJ is coach so that will be fun for both of them! We'll get some pictures up when i get a chance to get some taken...
She has been getting to spend a lot of time with Uncle Jason recently and he is quickly becoming one of her very favorite people! Today they played soccer, used her swing, climbed on our rock wall...no wonder she loves him!

the big 4 year old!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHARON ISABELLA!!!
This was definitely her best birthday yet. I talked it up all week with her and her class celebrated with her on Wednesday to ease her into it. Rj and I carry on my family's tradition of "picking out of the bag" for birthdays (instead of wrapping presents, they all go unwrapped into a bag and the birthday boy/girl reaches in blindly to pick presents throughout the day). It's very fun and this is the first year that Sharon was able to really get into it. We would tell her "okay, it's time for the birthday bag" and she'd come as fast as she could to get to that bag! So fun! She loved her birthday dinner (pizza) and ice cream cake and was even excited to blow out the candles (in years past she has been too scared to deal with any of it!) She went to the science center today with her buddy Jack and got to pet some critters and see the monkeys that she loves (after a neurology appointment...guess it wouldn't be a complete day without at least one doctor appointment????)
Grandpa Baer came up from Florida so she has had a ball playing with him, barely letting him out of her sight for a minute!
The family came over the celebrate with cake and we got a nice group shot of that, along with a "picking out of the bag shot". I wasn't quick enough to get a good picture of her with the cake, but had to put one up since the cake was priceless. Rose, who is our resident cake girl, was ill today so Jason took charge and decorated the ice cream cake...if you can see, it actually says "Sharon" on there somewhere...

someday i'll have pictures again!!

My camera continues to be finicky...i'll get a new one someday!
In the meantime, i just noticed that my last post was about our "blizzard"....guess that was pretty much it for us. We've been enjoying 70-80 degree days recently and Sharon loves to be "out". Thankfully she hasn't figured out how to open the storm door or she'd be trying to go out all day long! She loves playing soccer with daddy, fetch with Dina, riding her Jeep, or going up to visit Namom and Pop-Pop (Dina likes to sneak up there for visits too....). We are due for colder weather for the next week, but this sure has been nice!
I promise i'll get pictures up for Sharon's birthday....

Hello All! Sorry it's been awhile! Sharon says hello to you all :) She's getting to be such a big girl, hard to believe that she is going to be 4 in just a few days....
she got to enjoy some snow this week, we got about 6 inches (a complete blizzard by NC standards!) Namon had her our tromping through the snow in her snow boots. Very fun, but she definitely doesn't like the cold...so we're ready for it to warm up!
We enrolled her in a brand new special needs soccer program for this spring. We can't wait! It won't start for a few weeks but when it does we'll post pictures. It's going to be very fun and will be something that Sharon does with her daddy and cousin Rose (who has signed on to be her "buddy" on the field).
I've had to do some comment-management here in an attempt to stop some strange ads etc that have been showing up. So, none of you will be able to post for a while, sorry!!!! (or at least, you shouldn't be able to post if i did it right....someone go ahead and try to post and let me know if it works or not:)

One more challenge handled with dignity

So, our girl continues to rise above hurdles. She was admitted to the EMU (Epilepsy Monitoring Unit) this week to see if we could get a handle on her seizures and see if the meds are working or not. She had 25 wire leads attached to her head, which were attached to a chord which plugged into the wall....for three days. Imagine being a toddler and being so confined. She was amazing of course. Every doctor and nurse who came into the room was greeted with a "hi!", high five, and a "Bye!" as they left the room. It was very hard for her to be so restrained, but she really managed it well. it was also very difficult (for both of us!) to sleep in bright lights (so that she could be seen throughout the night). We were videotaped the entire time. Luckily we had some great visitors!!!! Uncle Jason and Namon get kudos for coming multiple times to visit, and friends Jack, and Daniel and Kayla were wonderful surprises for Sharon to brighten up her time there!!
The EEGS will be reviewed and we won't get a final report for many weeks, but overall things are looking good. She seems to be doing well under the medication she is on now so that is a relief! This will be an ongoing journey throughout her life and we'll just do our part to try to stay on top of what she needs.
Yesterday when they "let her go" from all the wires she was just beaming and so happy! She walked around and was just so happy. And she and I slept like ROCKS in our home last night :)

pool girl

So we've now started private swimming lessons. As you may know, Sharon has been taking group swim lessons since she was a baby and has loved them. I had hoped she would be able to move out of the baby group but the next level up is for 2-4 year olds and requires that the kids be able to get in and out of the pool by themselves and sit by themselves during the lesson. Since that isn't an option for Sharon, i've enrolled her in private sessions. It's the same instructor we've always had and we really like him and he has a huge soft spot for Sharon. She had her first private last week and just beamed the entire time. I can't wait to see how she does over the next weeks...it's so nice to see her thoroughly enjoying herself during the session!
We'll be doing some intensive seizure monitoring later this week at the hospital and i'll give you updates on that later...