Greetings from a beautiful and cool NC night. We've had some fun traveling adventures in the past couple of days and Sharon has proved that she can hang in there with her crazy parents.
We went to DC this past weekend to visit with my best friend and her husband and young daughter and had a ball. Sharon handled the metro, city driving, being lost, and driving all night like a pro.
Yesterday we took her to a chiropractor who specializes in allergens and our fears were confirmed: she does indeed have a significant dairy allergy. It will be a change of lifestyle for us, but she won't know anything else and we hope she doesn't miss out on too much fun (ice cream!) and that she will grow out of it to some degree over the next few years...This specialist was amazing though and was the answer to a prayer. I have been searching for alternative treatments for brain injury and cerbral palsy, to no avail. But this guy knows a practice in South Carolina that sounds like exactly what i've been looking for! It has really been amazing to me that so little is out there about treatment of brain injury for infants. Everyone says "do PT, do OT" etc, but i know there must be someone out there who actually thinks (like we do) that Sharon's brain can still be stimulated and helped along as it tries to "re-wire". So, we'll see what South Carolina has to offer if we can get an appt. with this practice....
In the meantime, Sharon is just adorable. She is making the cutest sounds and cracks herself up. She's gotten quite long and thin and is finally growing out of newborn clothes...
anyway, that's just a little update. God bless and love to all
Jaye, RJ, and Sharon I.

Whew..

Well, she had her MRI this morning. Definitely harder on her parents than her i think. She had to be sedated becuase of the level of testing they had to do. The MRI took almost an hour but she stayed asleep the whole time. When they woke her up she was smiling and flirting with all the staff before she promptly fell back asleep.
We won't know any results for a couple of weeks, but at least the testing part is over.
She is a tough cookie! The nurse couldn't believe how much she resisted swallowing the medication...she is quite opinionated about what she likes and doesn't like!

On another note, it looks like our girl is going to have food allergies...All these years i've blamed Martin (Jacqueline's husband) for the food allergies that the kids have, but now it looks like he may not be the culprit!! Sharon had a small lick of a "frosty" a couple of weeks ago and immediately broke out into hives. I won't repeat what i said at the time, but i have to say that i just can't believe she's going to have that to contend with along with everything else. We'll just be very careful about what she eats and time will tell what allergies she has. I just hope that she will successfully grow out of them like her cousins have....
Well, thank you for your support and prayers. I plan to get more pictures up here very soon and will give an update after we've met with the neurologist...
God Bless
Jaye, RJ, and Sharon I.

Update

Today Sharon got to meet her aunt Debbie and cousin Chris who came for a visit. It was so nice to show her off to more family!!!
This week we take her for an MRI at Brenner Children's Hospital. We are scheduled to then meet with their neurologist in two weeks to get the results. There are many things that the MRI will look for, but we are most concerned (at this point anyway) about the size of her head and praying that the MRI will just tell us that she inherited a small head...
Not looking forward to the MRI, but we know it's necessary and we know she'll do just fine.

We had her six month checkup this week (more shots...:( She's a little girl (only 13.2 lbs) but what hope does she have of being big with this set of parents????
Now it's time for a bath...Sharon just wanted to let you all know that she had fun meeting her aunt and cousin today...
Keep her in prayers this week please...
Jaye, RJ, and Sharon I.

Hello

Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by Katrina...so hard to comprehend...

We are doing well. We struggle with the frequent question "How's Sharon?"...she is happy, healthy, and a ball of fire who keeps us cracking up. But things do not come easy for her and it's hard to see how much she has to work to do things that babies should just "do". She does get frustrated but perseveres. I realized that we haven't really used any official terms on this page and figured that it's time to. Sharon has a form of cerebral palsy that is affecting her right side. She will always have this, it is not something that people "grow out of" or can be cured. Some people are very deeply affected by cerebral palsy and while others show very little outward signs. Sharon will probably fall somewhere in the middle with her physical abilities. She will take longer than most babies to sit, crawl, stand and walk and will need continued therapies to make all of those things happen. She will rely heavily on her left arm and hand to do most things in life but we will continue to work hard at getting that right hand to do as much as possible.
The cerebral palsy is a direct result of the brain injury that was sustained during birth. We won't know about other affects until she is much older and just continue to pray and thank God for how alert and clever she seems to be! She truly is a riot, with a distinct and strong personality, and definite opinions about what she likes.
So, it is difficult for us to answer the question "how's Sharon?". ....We want you all to know that she is happy and healthy, but also to know that life is not as simple for her as we wish it could be and that she still needs prayers. We haven't given up on what her brain can overcome!

On another note, we had a great time with her this Labor Day weekend in Blowing Rock NC. We rented a cabin and had a chance to relax. We got to check out some of the bouldering in the area and Sharon was a trooper! She loves being outside, especially looking up at trees. She enjoyed watching her daddy climb and her mama attempt to...(it's been awhile!). It was a great trip and we're so glad that she is so adaptable to all the trips we take her on!
Think that's all for now...
thanks for continuing to check in!
love and bless
Jaye, RJ, and Sharon I.