Movin On UP!!!!

Growing up is inevitable, and today marks yet another milestone for our BIG girl!!! Haley is being moved up a class at her preschool. Granted it is the one year old class, but she is moving up nonetheless. Her teachers have been debating the move for a while now. She is needing more intellectual stimulation and more structured activities and learning opportunities. The main reason they were waiting is because she was not mobile and they were afraid she would just be trampled on by the other mobile kids. They decided she was ready, they were just waiting on a spot to open up. Her first day in the big kids class will be Monday. A lot of the kids in the class she is moving to were in her class before they moved up so she will have some familiar faces. I am sad to know that she is moving from her current teachers. Ms Ann and Ms Violet are so good with her, but they are just right across the hallway, so they won't be far away.

Haley is getting better and better at walking. She is doing GREAT with her walker, she has learned to steer it and go pretty much anywhere she wants to go with it. I still keep the walking wings around her waist because I'm still scared that she will fall. I know she will fall eventually and will fall a lot, but she still doesn't have that protective reflex down pat and I still think if she goes down now she will go down hard.

Also, I can't remember if I posted about this before, but she is OFFICIALLY CRAWLING!!!!! Thinking back to January when this whole therapy thing started, I could have never imagined the day that she would be able to crawl. She has come along way and has worked so hard to get to this point!!!

And for those who are wondering what is going on with our insurance. We are in the process of the second appeal, and we are waiting for their response. I know what it will be, but I am hoping for a miracle. We were however able to qualify for 100% coverage through the state's early intervention program. We have been involved with them since the beginning, but their level of support is based solely on income minus medical expenses and childcare expenses. When we first started we did not qualify for any help, but because we have incurred so many medical expenses and I haven't been able to work full time since January we were able to get ourselves down to 100% coverage!! It is quite a relief, but we still have eat the costs of her therapy sessions dating from May until October. This is where the appeal is so important, we are hoping that insurance will come back and decide to pay for all of those visits.....so hope and pray that our appeal makes it to a sympathetic soul's desk (I'm not even sure if those exists in the insurance world HAHA). We are also waiting on Haley's walker to get here (which thankfully was covered by the early intervention program). The one she has now is a loaner from the state, her new one is much nicer.

Don't forget about the Joubert Syndrome 10x10 Fundraising Campaign. I am still brainstorming on several small projects and maybe one large event sometime next summer. But with the holidays coming, I know things like this aren't on the forefront of people's minds, I just wanted to remind people not to forget about it.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Almost Crawling

Grandma got a short video clip with her phone of Haley tonight almost crawling. She is so close!!!!

Another First.........

They seem to be coming more and more frequently lately. I think something is really starting to click with Haley. She is enjoying her increased movement and freedom. Today when she woke up from her nap, Grandma found her in her bed sitting up. Up until now, Haley has been unable to transition from one position to another. If you sit her down, she sits, if you lay her down, she lays. She has never been able to go from one position to another. So, much to our surprise, she was found sitting up playing in her bed without anyone helping her do so. Grandma left her that way for a little while because she was happy playing by herself, but when she went back to get her.....there she lay on her belly and was happy. And when she went back again....well you guessed it she was sitting up again. So it seems like its not a fluke thing, she really has figured out that she can control her own positioning. I can't wait to see her do it with my own eyes!!!

Also, against the advice of our PT, we went ahead and bought her a "toy" walker because we have hit a snag with insurance getting her real walker ordered (imagine that!!!!), and the loaner walker is kinda old and the wheels don't work right. She seemed to enjoy the one my mom and dad for her, and I feel like it helps her get a grasp of how she can make herself move without the help of others.....even if it is on wheels. So here is a short video of her running across their living room chasing the chihuahuas (if you look closely, she has their leash in her hand, I think she wanted to capture them). This was taken with a cell phone, so the quality is very bad, but you get the idea.

Starting to Get the Hang of This

Walker.....check!!! Bearing weight.....check!! Able to take steps......check!! Holding on to the walker for dear life.....check!! Forward locomotion.......check!!! All systems go for take off!!!! I literally had goose bumps when I saw this today. Everyday at the end of PT,Beverly (Haley's therapist) lets Haley use her walker and walk back to the waiting room to me. Well today, Haley came out first and Beverly was not holding onto the walker like usual. She was taking steps with the walker without any help at all. We usually have to help push the walker forward while she takes steps. Haley is getting the first taste of independent movement with her walker. Here is a little video clip of her walking today(mostly unassisted, she still needs help with steering and sometimes slides backwards). It is still very scary to let completely go of the walker and every little wobble makes us jump and reach towards her, but she is walking!!!!!!

Whats Been Goin On???

So, do you like the new blog???? I got bored with the old one and thought I would do some spring cleaning or sorts. A thousand apologies for not blogging recently though. We have been super busy in the Buchanan household. Just when I feel like we are getting into a routine, another appointment is added. Last week we increased Haley's PT to twice a week and she still has OT once a week. Add that to preschool once a week and she only has one day off right now. Probably mid-June we will add another day of preschool. She will get a taste of what the M-F grind is like at an early age huh??? PT wanted to step up the intensity to see if we could get her more mobile sooner. She has also started visual therapy through a state funded program called the Governor Morehead School. A teacher and therapist came out to the house last week and they will probably come once or twice a month to work on her tracking (side to side eye movements) and over all vision. Although they said her vision is great, she has problems moving her eyes in order to see things (oculomotor apraxia)

Haley is definitely getting stronger and stronger each week, she is doing so many new things. She is getting better about spending time on her tummy and is making more and more attempts to roll over on her own. She can pull herself up to stand when holding our hands. She is taking some steps while being held. Her tummy muscles are getting stronger and she is getting better at sitting up, and can sit up on her own from about a 45 degree angle. She has started putting some of the appropriate shapes into the appropriate holes in a shape sorter. If you ask where her belly is, she points to it. If she is holding her brush and you tell her to brush her hair she will do it. Same thing with her shoes, she will try to put her shoe on (well just lay it on her foot more or less, but she gets the basic idea). She is pointing like crazy at everything in sight. She is absolutely obsessed with putting her sippy cup into the cup holders on her high chair and in her car seat. It is so funny to watch. She seems to do something new everyday. One positive thing that has come out of Haley's developmental delay is that every new accomplishment is never taken for granted. We are just in awe of every little thing she does. It really makes you appreciate the small things.

We are planning to go to a Joubert Syndrome conference in Cincinnati in July. We are really excited to meet other families going through the same thing. I have already met some pretty amazing parents of children with JS online, I look forward to getting to meet them in person. There will be a lot of experts on JS at the conference, so I'm sure we will learn a lot and will hopefully better understand what Haley is going through and how to better help her.

Next month brings a lot of doctor appointments. We have the follow ups with the neurologist, Dr Nelson, and the opthamologist, Dr Saunders. She also has her 15 (can you believe it....15 months!!!) well visit at the beginning of the month.

I've gotten behind on picture taking and posting them lately, I promise to get some up soon. We are experimenting with new hair styles. I have still yet to cut this little girl's hair and it seems like it is always encrusted in a layer of snot or fruit of some sort. I have tried every hair clip or bow known to man kind, and every single one she manages to pull out and promptly stick in her mouth. I'm also trying pig-tails and pony tails. Needless to say she is getting very used to her hair being messed with. But she is really cute when her hair is up, so I will be sure to post some pictures of that.

Also, take a second to check out the new link on the right side of this page for the Children's Rare Disease Network. Although this is not specific to JS, I still wanted to post this site to help raise awareness to rare diseases in general. With such rare conditions as JS, it is often difficult for such a small group of people to get recognition, band together, and ultimately raise funds to help with research, education, and prevention. This group helps bring rare diseases, such as JS, together into one central place for one common goal. Thanks for looking!!!!

1 is the new 2

It must be all the rage, seems like all the little ones I know have caught on to a new trend. Moving on the "terrible twos" early must be the cool thing to do. Haley's little personality is becoming more and more defined here lately. She is sooooo sassy and temperamental lately!!!! Everything is a HUGE ordeal. She is very good at letting you know her likes and dislikes. I need to get a video of her showing us she doesn't want something. She waves her arms around furiously until the offending object is gone. She seems to get bored a little more easily and wants to have whatever I have (especially my food, keys, and cell phone) and if she doesn't get it, she is NOT a happy camper. So if you call my cell phone and she is screaming bloody murder....no, I'm not beating her, she just wants to hold the cell phone and I'm not letting her. And if you don't let her do what she wants to do, you better watch out, and you'll get a dirty look!!!!!

She is doing pretty well in "preschool". This week the play therapist (who knew you needed a therapist to play!) told me she did really well drawing with a bingo blottter and was holding and using a crayon appropriately for her age. She is also pleased with how well Haley is pointing at everything in sight. We are having a hard time getting her used to the schedule though. It is hard to work out a schedule that makes sense when we have so much going on with all of the other therapies.

Speaking of therapy, she is doing really well in OT and PT. She is taking steps while the therapist holds her arms. She steps better with her right leg than left leg. We are still a long way away from walking, but she is starting to get the concept. She is also getting better at transitioning from the sitting position to laying position, but still requires some help. This week a teacher from the Governor Morehead program will be coming to see us to see if Haley qualifies for visual therapy. This is a state funded program for visually impaired children. Although Haley sees just fine, she may need help compensating for the irregular eye movements (oculomotor apraxia). I think that is all the new stuff going on.

Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers. It has been a tough couple of weeks, but we are dealing with all of this pretty well.....most of the time. I found a neurologist in Charleston who is a Joubert expert of sorts. He discovered the "molar tooth" sign found on MRI with Joubert. I contacted him via email a few weeks ago and he asked for me to send a copy of Haley's MRI. I'm waiting to hear back from him now. I will keep you updated on any progress and news.

Here are some pictures of us having some fun in the sun this afternoon. She absolutely loved being in the pool even though it is still pretty chilly when you first get in. I hadn't planned on getting her in the pool, but she insisted......see what I mean, 1 is the new 2!!!!!


excuse the mess around the pool, its a constant work in progress!!!

Joubert Syndrome

I wanted to wait and post about Haley's MRI until after we talked with the neurologist today. Her MRI was Tuesday. She did really well considering that she had to be put completely asleep during the whole thing because she had to be perfectly still during the MRI which took over an hour. By the time we got home you wouldn't have even known that she had anything done. She is such a trooper.

We saw the neurologist today, and deep down I knew that there would be something wrong. We wouldn't get the unexplained cause for her ocoulomotor apraxia that I had hoped for. She has what is called Joubert Syndrome. Its complicated to explain, and I don't have the energy right now to write it all out. This is copied and pasted from the Joubert Syndrome Foundation website, there is a link to their website on the right side of this page:

Joubert syndrome refers to a disorder in which there is a specific abnormality in the part of the brain called the cerebellar vermis. There is a group of genetic conditions and syndromes that may share this cerebellar malformation, and they are known as Joubert syndrome and related disorders (JSRD). These conditions have some characteristics in common, but there is a spectrum of symptoms and abilities in affected individuals. For additional information regarding this family of conditions, please refer to the Joubert Syndrome Foundation & Related Cerebellar Disorders website at www.jsfrcd.org.

Individuals diagnosed with classic Joubert syndrome traditionally exhibit the following features:
-Underdevelopment (hypoplasia) or complete lack (aplasia/agenesis) of the cerebellar vermis, usually indicated by the “Molar Tooth” sign found on an axial view of a brain MRI scan.
•Developmental delays—variable severity.
•Difficulty coordinating voluntary muscle movements; uncoordinated movements (ataxia).
•Decreased muscle tone (hypotonia).
•Oculomotor apraxia (OMA), which is a specific eye movement abnormality in which it is difficult for children to track objects smoothly. Eyes may appear to jump, with jerky eye movements.
•Difficulty processing and reacting to information received through their five senses.

Explanation of features:
Individuals diagnosed with Joubert syndrome have an absence or underdevelopment of part of the brain called the cerebellar vermis which controls balance and coordination. The severity of the resulting ataxia (uncoordinated movements) varies from person to person.
Decreased muscle tone is common in children with Joubert syndrome. As a result of the poor muscle tone, developmental delay (usually in gross motor, fine motor and speech areas) is common. Some children have also been noted to have abnormal eye and tongue movements. Developmental delays are usually treated through physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and infant stimulation. Most children diagnosed with Joubert syndrome are able to achieve standard milestones, although often at a much later age.
Some individuals experience difficulties resulting from an inability to appropriately process information received through the five senses - hearing, seeing, tasting, touching, and smelling - as well as from their poor sense of balance and muscle movement. Some families have found that sensory integration therapy can help to minimize these sensory issues.
Overall health and growth are not known to be severely affected by this condition unless significant liver or kidney failure occurs.

Management and treatment:
Presently, there is no cure for Joubert syndrome. It is recommended that individuals with Joubert syndrome see the appropriate specialists necessary to help monitor their various clinical features. Suggested specialists include a nephrologist (kidney doctor), ophthalmologist (eye doctor), geneticist, and neurologist, as well as any others recommended by your doctor.
Screening for some of the complications associated with Joubert syndrome-related disorders, such as liver, eye, or kidney involvement that may become progressive over time, is recommended on an annual basis.

In plain English there is a bridge between the two halves of her brain that are either missing or underdeveloped and the two halves cannot communicate with each other. This explains her poor balance, not being able to walk or crawl, and her eye issues. The good thing is that this is not something that will get worse over time. She can only get better with time, not worse. As far as what she will eventually be able to do, we won't know for a very long time. We don't know for sure if that part of her brain is missing or just smaller than normal. The more that is there, the less severe this will be. For some reason, they couldn't see how much of the "bridge" was missing. More than likely if she is able to walk or talk in the future, it will happen at a much later age than normal. But the fact that she is making progress is a good sign that she could be a fully functional child. In the most severe cases, these kids can't even sit own their own, and she has been doing that since she was 7 months old, so that is a very good sign. The doctor also said that in very mild cases, some people are so "normal" that they may not even know they have it.

Right now we are involved in so many therapies it makes my head spin. She is getting all the medical care and therapy that she could possibly be getting thanks to our physical therapist being very proactive and getting us involved in a wonderful developmental program. She is getting PT and OT. This week she started a "preschool" which focuses on child development and the teachers are specially trained to deal with children with developmental delays. We are looking into getting her started in a visual therapy program also. So needless to say we are very busy and she is getting the best care possible.

Will and I are very optimistic that Haley will grow to be a "normal" child, we may just have to take a different route to get there. But what can you really say "normal" is? We have always known that Haley is a special little girl with or without our current issues. No matter what happens with her she is still our daughter and love her more than life itself, and she is still your granddaughter, neice, cousin, friend, god-daughter, etc. No diagnosis a doctor could give her can change that. She is still the same Haley that she was yesterday. There is no need to worry yourself to death, there is nothing we can do to change what is going on with her. All we can do is take one day at a time, go through with therapy, pray for the best, try to treat her like any other child and enjoy every minute we have with her.

Thank you for your prayers and please continue to keep us in your thoughts. If you have any specific quesitons please feel free to email me. I will try my best to answer them. I know this is confusing especially for those who don't have a medical background. It is sometimes hard for me to translate into laymen terms.

Look What I am Doing!!!

Oh my goodness!!!!

Yep, she is standing. She has been standing for several weeks now, but has gotten a lot better at holding on to things (like a table or the couch) for several minutes at a time without help. I'm always near by because she will fall and doesn't try catch herself yet. Just thought you all would like to see a picture of her finally standing. Yeah!!!!!

Small steps......sorry this is a long one!!!

Well, we had our opthamology and neurology appointments this week. We are all exhausted!!! It still amazes me how tolerant and patient Haley is with strangers. She was a perfect angel. Anyway, we went to the opthamologist (who came highly recommended because he is a neuro opthamologist) Tuesday. He did an eye exam, tested her vision (don't ask me how they test vison in a non-verbal baby!), dilated her eyes to look at the back of her eyes. He said her vision is fine, and her retina (the back of her eye), blood vessels, and nerves all looked good. He was able to give us the name of what the head shake, looking out of the corners of the eye thing is. It's called oculomotor apraxia (say that three times fast!). This is an easy to understand definition I found:

What is Ocular Motor Apraxia?

'Fast' eye movements are called saccades. We use saccade eye movements to quickly change the direction that our eyes are looking. This helps us look at something that has suddenly moved near to us. This is so the eyes can focus sharply on an object. The eyes can then give clear signals to the brain to make clear vision. It also helps us quickly move our eyes across a page of writing while reading. Saccades are important in many other visual tasks. Ocular Motor Apraxia is a condition where a child has a breakdown (failure) in starting (initiating) fast eye movements.

How is Ocular Motor Apraxia diagnosed and how does it affect the way a child sees?

Ocular Motor Apraxia is often diagnosed by doctors asking parents questions about their child. Children often 'thrust' their head from side to side to change the direction they are looking. 'Head Thrusts' are a typical movement that helps a child overcome their difficulty in moving their eyes quickly. Children may also blink to start a fast eye movement.

Now before you go and Google oculomotor apraxia, understand that this is not a diagnosis, just the name of a symptom. There is a lot of information out on the web, some of it is kinda scary. But do realize that you never know what information on the web is correct, and you cannot self diagnose yourself based on what you find on the web. So I don't want to be getting phone calls worried that she has this or that. We don't know until all of the testing is done. I'm not wasting my time researching this quite yet, because I don't have all the facts......I don't want you to waste your time either, its a dead end when you dont have all the pieces of the puzzle.

Wednesday we went to the neurologist, Dr Nelson at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte. I really liked this doctor, and so did Haley. He seemed to be pretty positive about Haley's future since she is making progress and she is so social and interactive. He didn't feel like there was anything urgent to worry about, and didn't think this was a degenerative nerve problem. He said that sometime they never find a cause to the oculomotor apraxia, that some kids are born with it and it usually goes away on its own. But this is also a symptom of other disorders, so we had a bunch of labs drawn, and are going to have an MRI done some time within the next week or two.

She, of course, did not like having her blood drawn. But she quickly forgot that it even happened within a few minutes. For the MRI we will have to go to the Children's Hospital at Presby and they will have to sedate her because you have to be completely still for 30 minutes or so. She won't be completely put to sleep, but an anestheiologist will be there with her.

So we really don't know much more than we did before we went to the doctors, except that her head and eye movements do have a name. I will keep you posted on any news that comes along, but I think for now it is just a wait and see game.

I also want to report on what progress she is making. She can come to a sitting and standing position while holding our hands. She can stand with her back on a wall for several minutes at a time, and will sometimes push her back and hips away from the wall (which means she is starting to balance while standing) She is also starting to catch her self a little bit when she looses her balance. These are pretty subtle and small changes, but she is making progress which makes us feel better.

More appointments

sorry its been awhile since ive posted, ive been busy running haley to therapy while trying to work during the week. its a little overwhelming. so we had our occupational therapy evaluation yesterday. for those that dont know what OT is (the name has never made since to me....what is her occupation??) they work with fine motor skills, coordination, sensory skills, age appropriate activities etc. the therapist said that her fine motor skills are pretty much on target for her age, but her coordination skills and mimicking skills are a little delayed. she thinks it may have something to do with her vision. she may be having a hard time seeing what she is doing and putting it all together. so now we see OT once a week as well as PT once a week. she enjoys OT much more than PT. OT is more like playing, PT is more like working out. i guess shes like me, she doesnt like to work out!!!

we also have some appointments in march to see a pediatric neurologist and pediatric opthamologist. hopefully that will give us some answers as to what is going on with haley. but the waiting is killing me. but its normal to have to wait a while to see these specialists, they are always booked way in advance. so there is not much we can do except work with PT and OT in the meantime.

i would post some pics, but i honestly havent had time to play with the camera. but i promise once i get some pics i will post them.

Week 2 of Physical Therapy

We had our second appointment with PT yesterday. It was not the greatest visit for Haley, she was a little out of sorts and I don't think she was really in the mood to work. We spent most of the visit trying to console her, she was not a happy camper. It is to be expected I guess, having her in a new environment, with a strange person and toys that aren't hers. She did meet one of her goals already, which is reassuring. She was able to consistently come to a sitting position while holding onto our fingers. It is strange that such simple things to us are such huge milestones in little ones. The PT wants to refer her to a pediatric neurologist because of some head "tics" that she has. She shakes her head back and forth for no apparent reason. Haley has done this "tic" for a long time and we have never thought much of it. It would come and go, but ever since the PT pointed it out to me last week, it really stands out to me now. Most people think that she is shaking her head "no" but now that I watch it closely, I really don't think that is what it is.

We also had a home visit from the child development service program this morning. We met with our service coordinator, who I believe is a child development specialist, and also a child psychologist. We just talked about what Haley does and how she handles certain situations. The psychologist did some developmental testing with her, seeing how she handled objects, how she looked at things, responded to certain situations, etc. It probably seemed a lot like playing to Haley. The psychologist said that Haley did have some overall developmental delays, that she is developmentally around 9 months. Its not a huge deficit, just at the low end of average. But she did explain to me that when dealing with someone so young, a few months behind can be pretty significant, and that is why early intervention is so important. They have so many services available. They want to refer her to occupational therapy to work on her coordination skills, and have a nurse come to evaluate her vision, and play therapy, possibly speech therapy. It is all very overwhelming right now, where will I find the time to fit it into my schedule?

I know some of you may think that this is all a little overboard, why does she need all this? I think they are trying to err on the side of caution since they are seeing some delay. They want to make sure and rule out some underlying condition. Hopefully, in the end, this was all overkill and not necessary, but I would rather go overboard that sit passively and watch her fall further behind. This is all pretty stressful for me. It is hard being a nurse and having some medical knowledge. Sometimes I wish I didn't know what I know, or have seen the things that I have seen. It would be nice to be "blissfully ignorant". When they start talking about neurologists and psychologist it sends me into a tailspin of "what if" scenarios. I analyze everything she does with a fine tooth comb....is that something, what did she just do? So, even if you don't agree with what we are doing, and all of the people we are having look at her, please don't judge or criticise us. We are doing what we feel is best, and if its overkill....so what???? what will it hurt in the long run? I'm not trying to be mean by saying that, I just don't need the extra stress of worrying about what other people think.

With that said, I will of course keep you posted on whats going on. I'm really going to try not to turn this blog into "Haley's Medical Progress Blog". I want to keep it a fun and happy place!!! Thanks you everyone for all of your support.

We love you guys!!!

Physical Therapy

I've been contemplating on whether to post about this or not. I finally decided that, yes, I need to talk about this. This is nothing to be ashamed of, and it does not mean that anything is "wrong" with Haley. Most of you probably know that Haley is a little on the "slow" end of development. We all kinda make light of it by saying "oh, she's just a little lazy" or "what a diva, she wants everything brought to her". In most cases, not crawling is fine, in fact some kids never do crawl, they go straight from sitting to walking. She doesn't crawl, scoot, roll, camando crawl, anything. She makes not attempts at mobility what so ever. The fact that she is totally immobile is the problem, it is not normal for a child to just sit and not attempt to move. She should be driving me absolutely insane moving around getting into things. I used to think of this as a blessing in disguise. She also doesn't stand. Whether it is on her own, or with support. Another problem.

I have been cautiously watching her for the past few months thinking she will develop at her own pace, that I can't force her to do anything. Both of which are true assumptions about child development. But my last straw came 2 weeks ago. She was sitting at this toy that her Uncle Matthew gave her for Christmas. Its one of those that is meant to grow with a child's developmental stages. You can sit and play with it, stand and play with the things on top, or cruise along the entire thing. Well, she was just sitting trying to reach the monkey that plays music and lights up (its her favorite part of the whole thing) and its about 3-4 inches out of her reach. She sat there sobbing, reaching, and rocking trying to figure out how to get to it, but she just couldn't. The frustration on her face was almost unbearable. It just broke my heart to see her struggling like that.

I talked with my friend Meredith who is a pediatric nurse practitioner and she was concerned about her, so I called and got an appointment with the pediatrician. He has always told me that she is a little on the slow end, but not to worry, it will all even out by the time she is 18 months old. I couldn't just sit and wait until she was 18 months old and see if it did in fact "even all out". I'm not blaming him at all for not showing concern earlier. He only sees her for 30 minutes at a time every three months. There is no way for him to get the whole picture of what she does on a day to day basis. He gave us a referral to a physical therapist and we went for the first time this morning.

She did really well today. She didn't mind at all letting a stranger hold her. She was just as sweet and friendly as she could be. The therapist kept commenting on how social she was. She did a full evaluation of her motor skills, and did find some problems that needed to be worked on. She will go over the results of her "report" next week, but said that she had some pretty significant delays in gross motor skills, her hip muscle tone, and some reflexes. She is also referring us to an occupational therapist to help with things like her hands grips and upper body strength. It sounds like this will be a slow process and will take some time. For this week we are to work on the very basics like rolling over and getting into a crawling stance. It just occured to me that part of the problem may be that I've been encouraging her to do more advanced things and she never mastered the basics. I have faith that she is and will be okay, she just needs a little extra help. And there is nothing wrong with asking for help when it is needed is there??!!

So, I will, as usual, keep you posted on Haley's progress.