Thanksgiving

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to you all! We hope yours was wonderful and peaceful. We enjoyed a small gathering with Uncle Jason being the cook! It was superb and we even had good football weather for a romp with some Dutilly cousins after RJ's new tradition of "Pie Noon" (just what is sounds like: pie at noon so that it can be enjoyed before we get too full from turkey). Great Gram was here for the fun and it was just a nice day. Grandma Baer came for the weekend and enjoyed spending time with Sharon.
RJ has had some good time off of work so it's been wonderful and Sharon has absolutely loved having him around. It'll be hard for both of us to have him go back...
Sharon is continuing to improve her eating/swallowing, which is a relief. She loves to eat and is actually getting a tiny belly!
We're starting to look into horseback riding as potential therapy for Sharon (called "Hippo Therapy"). It obviously wouldn't start for quite some time, but it's supposed to be really good for children with cerebral palsy as a way to show their brains what it feels like to walk (a horse's gait feels just like the movement of walking feels, so for children who need help learning to walk, it can do wonders). Of course I'm thrilled at the prospect of being around horses again, and am thankful that I spent so much time with them when i was younger and was able to learn so much about them and riding...Little did i know why that would come in handy! It's also pretty amazing that RJ and I live "in the country" where horses abound, AND one of the few certified horse-therapy schools in NC is located right in our tiny little town! Add to that, our PT wants to eventually start her own horse-therapy program and she lives right up the street from us...
I think horses will be in our future....
Well, it's a couple of years off, but it gives us something to think about that is fun...
In the meantime, we're working very hard with Sharon to get her through this plateau. We know that she'll get more mobile once she figures out that it's fun, but for now she's just content to play in one place. She definitely does much better when she is around her cousins and other young children so we're trying to be safely sociable as flu season starts...
love to you all
Jaye, RJ, and Sharon I.

ramblin' gal

This little girl is such a traveler! This past week RJ had to travel a lot for work so Sharon and I went with my parents to the beach. Pop-Pop was at a conference so Grandma hung out with us. We were at an oceanfront hotel so it was gorgeous! Sharon was unimpressed though. It was too windy for her taste. She did enjoy the very warm indoor pool though.
She seemed to turn a little corner with her eating as well and is handling foods better. I am hopeful that we won't have to go through any more testing...
I feel like we are at a bit of a plateau with her physical progress, but i know that this will happen at times. I think it feels like we aren't moving anywhere because we have so many huge milestones ahead of us. Knowing Sharon, she'll probably hang out in this comfort zone for awhile and then suddenly decide that she's ready to do more things and we'll be blown away...so, i'll just be patient and wait for my independent little girl to decide she's ready...
In the meantime, we have the holidays to look forward to! God Bless all the travelers out there!
love
Jaye, RJ, and Sharon I.

Looking at the pug in the window

Cousin Zac had a question for us all to ponder tonight: "what would happen if Sharon got any cuter?.....That would be hard."

some Fun Firsts

So, i think i can officially say that Sharon is sitting on her own now!!! She still topples, but she's able to hold herself up for quite a while and play. It's a HUGE accomplishment and one that she's done her own way...
Also, she says "MaMa!"!!!! I wasn't convinced that she knows what she is saying, but RJ and others have convinced me...it's definitely reserved for me :) I'd like to think that it was her first word, but i still think that "AAT" (cat) gets that honor...
She had the swallow study done but it was inconclusive since she didn't exactly cooperate with the medical folk. Can't say that i am surprised or that i blame her! They were rather a trio of ineptness and i finally picked her up off the table and told them the procedure was over ("Gasp" said the nurse, "What are you doing? Did the Doctor say you could do that??") Aunt Jax was there for moral support so Sharon had two rescuers... So, we'll work with the OT and basically just take our time with foods. I'm sure she'll figure it out eventually...
In the meantime, "MaMa" is loving her chattering companion!!!
God Bless
Jaye, RJ and Sharon I.

Happy Halloween!

So, here is the little lady bug! She was a bit underwhelmed by the whole event, but we all had fun anyway! She only made down one street before she decided it was too dark and cold to be outside when she could be inside being fed sugar by her aunt...
Then our little adventurer took on Manhatten! She LOVED it! She enjoyed the crowds and the noise although Times Square was a bit much for her. She really liked Central Park because she could look at trees. She was quite a hit and everywhere we went people talked to her and she was in her element. I got to visit with some college friends who live there so it was really nice...I got some great pix of her but only on my phone and that techonology is beyond me, so we'll just stick with Halloween...

Sharon has started to have some difficulty with her solid foods so we're going to have a swallow study done this week. At times i've wondered if there might be some damage from being intubated, etc, but who knows. I actually don't really think they'll find anything in the study. Our OT thinks it could possibly be sensory more than medical but wants to rule out anything medically wrong before going at it from a sensory standpoint. In the meantime, we're back to eating thin foods and she's doing just fine with that. This could also just be one more instance of Sharon telling us "I'm not ready on your time line, i'll be ready when i'm ready to be ready!"
Of course, with FOUR teeth now, you'd think she's ready for a burger!
Well, happy fall
love and bless
Jaye, RJ and Sharon I.