Growing Hope...

Heath was a farmer in the halloween parade at westminster school. He carried his cow under his arm (he and nana had been more excited about trying to get a real pig, but no-fun mom made him stick to the puppet...). He had come up with multiple people he wanted to "be" earlier in the month--police officer, delivery agent, witch, UPS man to name a few. I, personally, was pretty thrilled with the Farmer choice because we had all the pieces already! Given the earlier parts of October that weren't so fabulous, we were also thrilled that he had the imagination and excited to WANT to be anything for Halloween...

15 minutes before our neighborhood parade, as we were watching the rain come down harder, he decided he wanted to be a librarian. we settled on a fireman since we had that costume in a raincoat! We celebrated Mason's birthday and then we all tromped down the road in the rain, joining our neighbors in a wet halloween...I found myself walking in the rain with my "pumpkin dog" (see below) and thinking about the last few years. We had our wonderful cousins from Ohio with us last year, as they were here to be with family and to see their beloved papa (my uncle robert) in the hospital at Duke. We had one blissful halloween celebrating Mason's birth and Heath's first halloween--only a few days before our world changed forever...

As we were hanging out in the quad off Franklin St. today with our friends, Meg, baby Naomi and Margaret, we realized that it was the 3rd anniversary of that very day. Nov. 6 was the day of the well-check when the pediatrician "heard something" and life as we had imagined suddenly took a pretty big curve. BUT, it didn't end. It just changed.

We shared a knowing glance and a quick tear and then laughed and enjoyed the really special little people who we have the honor to "parent."
It was extremely appropriate that we were there, only a short distance from the hospital where we spent the night on Nov. 6, 3 years ago. And we were running around. And Heath was wearing his pajamas...(long story).
Then we got in the car and headed to mom and strow's where we did a little more marveling in the hilarious little person Heath Tuttle has become. And, of course, we did a little dancing (we always have dance parties) and I snuggled a little longer at bedtime...

And as I was putting these halloween pics up, I realized that it was extremely appropriate that heath would be a farmer--because he is helping us all grow in so many ways. In all the ups and downs of this crazy journey, we can't help but grow--in love, knowledge, strength, sometimes weariness, frustration; sometimes appreciation for life, joy. mostly in hope--for the future.

don't get me wrong, there have been some downright exhausting days recently, with dealing with more meds, lots of poop/tummy stuff, leg pain (making a 3-year-old wear a brace...) and tons of follow-up appointments. BUT, there have been some magical moments in the midst.

and i am going to choose to let our hope grow out of those. and out of the joy of the two little people who have FINALLY gone to sleep (have I mentioned my love of daylight savings time?? :) upstairs.
So, yes, we're doing just fine. All of our follow-ups at Duke have gone well. We continue to do PT weekly and are working on figuring this leg thing out...We will update you as we have more to share.

Right now, we're going to keep on growing.

Here's wishing you the same.

carrie