A great update from the Tuttles....
Hi Gran Sarah--
I am sitting at the kitchen table listening to Heath yell (he is still not quite talking yet, so it sounds like a mix of sounds and names) and run around, occasionally yelling myself, "Heath Tuttle, get out of the dog water!!!" (that seems to be his most fun new hobby--dog water splashing--yes, he is a regular child!!). I just downloaded a ton of pictures and realized that I hadn't written a blog update recently!
All of the Tuttles are doing very well. As you wrote after our visit to Burlington, they were so impressed with Heath's progress at his appointment a couple weeks ago, that we don't even have a heart cath date because they weren't very concerned about needing one immediately! YEAH! He is a busy, busy guy. You can tell he understand everything (read: turns around and smiles and walks away for a few minutes when i yell to get out of the dog water) but he is still not talking a ton. No one is concerned, but we are going to go ahead and do a little speech therapy to maybe help jump start the process. I am pretty sure that one day he is just going to look at me and say a complete sentence. He still only has 2 teeth, which is a little funny-looking for an 18-month-old, but not too much of a big deal. We are going to take him to a pediatric dentist to make sure all is well in the teeth department. BUT, if those are our two major issues, we'll take them!!!
He is hilarious. He is such an extrovert. When we go to Costco or another store, he just waves at strangers until they see him and wave back. It is amazing to see the smiles on their faces, and they don't even know what a miracle he really is...And he is a climber, like his Uncle Jamie was at his age, which makes for a little stress for whomever is supposed to be watching him. All in all, you would never know what he has been through if you didnt' see that little scar peeking out from under his shirt. That works for me.
We have had quite a busy summer for people who thought that they would be house-bound with an immune-suppressed child. I sent a bunch of pictures that capture what we've been up to so far. You can see him giving his Bop (Chris' wonderful 97-year-old grandfather in Black Mountain!) a high-five. We've been to Black Mountain a few times to see Chris' family and also several of our best friends and their children who were at Montreat for various reasons...We got to meet baby Sam Lamar for the first time. My college roommate, Page, and her kids were at her mom's house in Greensboro down from Connecticut, so we made the drive over to see them, which was a great day. We have enjoyed playing in our new yard with lots of friends. We were so sorry to have missed Mimi and Papa (Chris' parents) stint as the Grand Marshalls of the Montreat 4th of July Parade. We couldn't make it work to get there, but we were thrilled to have a wonderful visit from our great friends the Oedys! Yard projects have begun with a huge mountain of mulch (as you see in one picture) that was delivered by an enormous dump truck that made Ella Brooks' day. I was even able to serve as liturgist with Chris at Westminster on July 5--which was my first time back in worship leadership since October, and it was really nice.
Chris is in the middle of a DMin class with Barbara Brown Taylor at Columbia Seminary in Decatur. He is enjoying the class, and perhaps a little extra sleep, but I think he misses his crew at home! He came home this weekend to see us and got caught in my fury of car research & shopping (his car died the day before we moved to our new house in May), and after spending all day on Saturday looking, we purchased a "very cool" used Honda Odyssey. So, yes, my odyssey as an at-home mom continues with a vengence! :) We'll get to have a quick family trip this weekend, and then Ella Brooks and I are off to Nags Head to the Miller/Rhoads family beach trip, while Chris returns here with Heath and his mom comes to take care of him.
Speaking of the care of children, I am constantly reminded that it has truly taken a very large village to get us to the great place where we are right now. From my best buddy from high school, Wendy, coming for the moving weekend (can you imagine volunteering to come visit to MOVE someone??--she is awesome) to our wonderful families, I am so grateful I don't ever know how to say "thank you." Sarah Edgecombe (Chris' sister) stayed with us ALL last week and endured my nutty car shopping and gave me the courage to work on our children's sleep issues. My mom, strow, nana and uncle jamie (who is coming home from Haiti for a month TONIGHT!!!) are now taking a turn of helping us for this week. Chris' mom is coming next week to stay with Chris and Heath while EB and I take a little vacation...so many people make it possible for us to function. I tell you this, I also have a great new respect for single parents--I don't know how they do it on a day in, day out basis.
As i believe we wrote in another blog update, Heath and Olivia got to meet finally (she was his roommate in the PICU who we have talked so much about). There is a picture of that too and one with Ella Brooks and Whitney, one of the awesome physical therapists at Duke. Olivia was able to go home to western NC this past week and is doing well. Hooray! I ran into Chad Stewart, one of the wonderful cardiologists who cared for Heath during his hospitalization, the other day. In fact, Chad was the on-call fellow the day that Heath crashed and ended up on life support. It was so good to see him! We also saw Michelle, one of the ecmo techs who took care of Heath ALOT, at Target last week. Oh, we love our friends from Duke. it is amazing how much like family they feel...I guess they should after all they have done for us.
I am thinking about my Burlington youth who are at Montreat this week. I hope they are having a wonderful time. I love those folks!
Ok, i just realized that it is time for Ella Brooks to be AT school. Those of you who know me well, know that it is the same as usual (late--trying to do too many things!). Some things never change.
love to you all,
carrie
I am sitting at the kitchen table listening to Heath yell (he is still not quite talking yet, so it sounds like a mix of sounds and names) and run around, occasionally yelling myself, "Heath Tuttle, get out of the dog water!!!" (that seems to be his most fun new hobby--dog water splashing--yes, he is a regular child!!). I just downloaded a ton of pictures and realized that I hadn't written a blog update recently!
All of the Tuttles are doing very well. As you wrote after our visit to Burlington, they were so impressed with Heath's progress at his appointment a couple weeks ago, that we don't even have a heart cath date because they weren't very concerned about needing one immediately! YEAH! He is a busy, busy guy. You can tell he understand everything (read: turns around and smiles and walks away for a few minutes when i yell to get out of the dog water) but he is still not talking a ton. No one is concerned, but we are going to go ahead and do a little speech therapy to maybe help jump start the process. I am pretty sure that one day he is just going to look at me and say a complete sentence. He still only has 2 teeth, which is a little funny-looking for an 18-month-old, but not too much of a big deal. We are going to take him to a pediatric dentist to make sure all is well in the teeth department. BUT, if those are our two major issues, we'll take them!!!
He is hilarious. He is such an extrovert. When we go to Costco or another store, he just waves at strangers until they see him and wave back. It is amazing to see the smiles on their faces, and they don't even know what a miracle he really is...And he is a climber, like his Uncle Jamie was at his age, which makes for a little stress for whomever is supposed to be watching him. All in all, you would never know what he has been through if you didnt' see that little scar peeking out from under his shirt. That works for me.
We have had quite a busy summer for people who thought that they would be house-bound with an immune-suppressed child. I sent a bunch of pictures that capture what we've been up to so far. You can see him giving his Bop (Chris' wonderful 97-year-old grandfather in Black Mountain!) a high-five. We've been to Black Mountain a few times to see Chris' family and also several of our best friends and their children who were at Montreat for various reasons...We got to meet baby Sam Lamar for the first time. My college roommate, Page, and her kids were at her mom's house in Greensboro down from Connecticut, so we made the drive over to see them, which was a great day. We have enjoyed playing in our new yard with lots of friends. We were so sorry to have missed Mimi and Papa (Chris' parents) stint as the Grand Marshalls of the Montreat 4th of July Parade. We couldn't make it work to get there, but we were thrilled to have a wonderful visit from our great friends the Oedys! Yard projects have begun with a huge mountain of mulch (as you see in one picture) that was delivered by an enormous dump truck that made Ella Brooks' day. I was even able to serve as liturgist with Chris at Westminster on July 5--which was my first time back in worship leadership since October, and it was really nice.
Chris is in the middle of a DMin class with Barbara Brown Taylor at Columbia Seminary in Decatur. He is enjoying the class, and perhaps a little extra sleep, but I think he misses his crew at home! He came home this weekend to see us and got caught in my fury of car research & shopping (his car died the day before we moved to our new house in May), and after spending all day on Saturday looking, we purchased a "very cool" used Honda Odyssey. So, yes, my odyssey as an at-home mom continues with a vengence! :) We'll get to have a quick family trip this weekend, and then Ella Brooks and I are off to Nags Head to the Miller/Rhoads family beach trip, while Chris returns here with Heath and his mom comes to take care of him.
Speaking of the care of children, I am constantly reminded that it has truly taken a very large village to get us to the great place where we are right now. From my best buddy from high school, Wendy, coming for the moving weekend (can you imagine volunteering to come visit to MOVE someone??--she is awesome) to our wonderful families, I am so grateful I don't ever know how to say "thank you." Sarah Edgecombe (Chris' sister) stayed with us ALL last week and endured my nutty car shopping and gave me the courage to work on our children's sleep issues. My mom, strow, nana and uncle jamie (who is coming home from Haiti for a month TONIGHT!!!) are now taking a turn of helping us for this week. Chris' mom is coming next week to stay with Chris and Heath while EB and I take a little vacation...so many people make it possible for us to function. I tell you this, I also have a great new respect for single parents--I don't know how they do it on a day in, day out basis.
As i believe we wrote in another blog update, Heath and Olivia got to meet finally (she was his roommate in the PICU who we have talked so much about). There is a picture of that too and one with Ella Brooks and Whitney, one of the awesome physical therapists at Duke. Olivia was able to go home to western NC this past week and is doing well. Hooray! I ran into Chad Stewart, one of the wonderful cardiologists who cared for Heath during his hospitalization, the other day. In fact, Chad was the on-call fellow the day that Heath crashed and ended up on life support. It was so good to see him! We also saw Michelle, one of the ecmo techs who took care of Heath ALOT, at Target last week. Oh, we love our friends from Duke. it is amazing how much like family they feel...I guess they should after all they have done for us.
I am thinking about my Burlington youth who are at Montreat this week. I hope they are having a wonderful time. I love those folks!
Ok, i just realized that it is time for Ella Brooks to be AT school. Those of you who know me well, know that it is the same as usual (late--trying to do too many things!). Some things never change.
love to you all,
carrie
1 comment:
thank you, Sarah! You know which picture I like the most! And the FPC Burlington group is having a great time along with 1,300 other youth!
Post a Comment