new life in the tuttle house...

 I realized a while back that i had managed to not ever mention on this blog that we were expecting a baby.  That might have made it even more real--and somehow i don't think we fully had allowed ourselves to realize that WE WERE HAVING A BABY until he was almost here...

Wilson Tate Tuttle was born on March 21.  He was pretty big---8.8 lbs-- especially considering that we had had many ultrasounds partially because they thought he was going to be small.   The fella is surprising us from the beginning (also, we didn't know if he was a boy or a girl until he arrived, which was a fun surprise).  He came out hollering, but he hasn't done much of that since.  We're hoping that this very chilled out personality continues.  he just takes the chaos and the noise and craziness of our household in stride.  I guess he heard it all while he was in the womb.

 His big brother and sister are enjoying him. At first we were worried about how Heath would handle having to share his mom (he spends ALOT of time with me). But, other than having a pretty tough time seeing me in the hospital bed (he knows a thing or two about what happens in that place, you know), he has been pretty ok.  He even took the picture of the Wilson basketball you see below.  EB has been fabulous, of course, and she loves sitting Wilson on her lap and playing with him.  Neither is thrilled with poop or spit up, but really, if we're honest, who is?? :)
No doubt there will be some harder moments--we have no illusions of clear skies--but we are thrilled at    the way our family of 4 has become a family of 5.
We didn't get here lightly.  It took us years to make the decision to add to our family.  After all of the struggles we have faced with Heath's health, we sought medical advice, counseling--you name it--before deciding to have another child.

I talk about HOPE often in this blog.  Some might say it is my "preacher trump card."  Somehow, once we knew that it was not much more possible to have another heart issue than you would have with any pregnancy (but once you have been part of that 3-5% it feels much bigger, let me tell you!), we saw it as our own act of hope in the world full of things that don't always make any of us feel very hopeful.  We wanted to be able to say that even in the midst of some pretty hard stuff (that doesn't go away, even though Heath is doing extremely well), we were able to keep on living.  We wanted Heath to know, as he grew up, that what happened to his beautiful little body was only part of our collective family story--not the whole of it.  

So, we'll keep on hoping and dreaming here in the chaos of the Tuttle house. and I hope that you'll do the same.  well, that doesn't mean to go have a baby, but figure out what helps you live out your hopes and dreams...
and I will update more soon.
blessings to all.