We’re on our own now!

See everyone, I knew we would be lucky to get a new post up every week!

Evan looking cute in the play tent

Jack still loves his new baby brother

Now that Meme is back in Augusta,  we are officially outnumbered! Luckily we do have a lot of helpers. Two previous students– Elaine Ely and Hannah Ellis both help out with babysitting and we have several UGA students along with Amy Coenen who are on Jack’s therapy team. MANY THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP!

The first couple of weeks at home have been challenging. Actually, mostly challenging with some issues with Jack. Evan has been great and Chase has been such a good baby–sleeping good and eating good and just very laid back. Jack has had an up and down week, mostly because we have been trying some diet modifications which has annoyed him. We finally decided to revert back to what we were doing before and today has been a much more peaceful day. Diet stuff has always been a big challenge around here since both Jack and Evan have various special diets. With Jack, we have been experimenting to see if any certain food was causing some of his hyperness lately. Always such a challenge–balancing diet, new supplements, therapy and then there is the part where we are just trying to be a family. Life with a special needs child is never simple.

We have had several friends over this week to see the baby. Our good friends, the Lamsons came by and brought presents for all three boys. Jack was a little up and down with this visit but he did greet them nicely which used to be a problem. It was great to catch up with Nina and Kacina. They are dear friends. We spent a lot of time just chatting (something Nina and I are both good at–we have had a lot of practice over the years!) and I filled them in on some of the new developments with Jack. They are terrifc listeners!

Jack with Holly

On Sunday, Holly and Rachel Wolfe came over and luckily all three boys were in a good mood. They brought bubbles (great idea Holly another reason why you were Teacher of the Year back when you used to teach Kindergarten!) and we had a lot of fun playing bubbles with the boys. Evan kept doing the sign for more and saying “moh” “moh” (which is more). Jack was just laughing and running all over the house having a ball with the bubbles. Then we sat on the floor and played with Play Doh for awhile. It was great to see Jack interacting with friends.

Later, we were blessed with an amazing dinner brought over by the Hodgson and Wolfe families. Lori, Shannon & Megan stopped by with Holly Wolfe and delivered a fabulous pork roast, broccoli casserole, bread and apple pie w/ice cream (our favorite dessert). They also were so sweet to bring presents for all the boys. Evan especially loved all the visitors who wanted to play with him. Thanks again Hodgson family!

Shane’s parents have also helped a ton with bringing meals over as well (not to mention some emergency babysitting!) Right now, it’s enough to keep up with the cooking for Jack and Evan, let alone cooking for ourselves!

Jack on his new bike with Daddy

This morning (Thursday), Shane took Jack on a bike ride. We had the bike out in the basement and Jack asked to ride it outside, so we did. This is a bike that Jack has never taken out before (he used to ride the little red bike we used for the Cat in the Hat in Seussical), so it was great that he was flexible enough to try something new. Also good for Daddy because it has a nice set up for an adult to push from the back when you start having to go up hill! Shane said Jack did a great job, of course, he talked mostly about all the air conditioners he saw on the trip around the neighborhood, but when one of our neighbors stopped their car and asked Jack a couple questions, he answered, which is big for Jack. In the past, the same situation has happened and Jack has just yelled. This time he was able to say hi, and then he said he was fine when Ms. Priscilla asked how he was, and then she said, “Jack, how’s your new little brother?” And Jack said, “He’s so cute.” Jack also wore a hat–with NO PROBLEM–this is a huge step for Jack since he usually hates hats of any kind. Lately we are really starting to see Jack being more flexible and even asking to play with his brother, another big WOW! We are really encouraged to see him taking these steps. Now if we could just get him to get a haircut…

That’s all for now. We’re hanging in there!

At home with the boys

So tonight at 10:4o pm, I pulled the laptop out in bed and said, “Terra we have to do a blog for today. We have to try to do one every day.” To which Terra said (obviously worn out from the day), “We’ll be lucky to do one every week.” Yes, things are busier around this house these days!

Aunt Lisa with Baby Chase

Thank God right now we have Terra’s mom and Terra’s sister helping us out. Lisa leaves tomorrow as she has to go back to work and her family of 4 (what she can’t just move in?). She  and Terra’s mom (who’s staying for the week thankfully) have done a ton of cooking and cleaning and folding and they have even gone through all the boy clothes in the house and tried to make sense of it all. 4-5 T to Jack, 2T to Evan, everything else in bins for Baby Chase to wear someday. Today they were working through a table full of little socks trying to sort. I joked that it looked like they were playing cards, but I guess it was more like the “match game”.

We are excited to say that we are noticing Jack and Evan playing together better these days, which is really cool They were even playing in the same Thomas the train blow up toy last night. Lots of fun. They would climb in & Daddy would pretend they were going down a waterfall and dump them out. Evan caught on quick and always abandoned ship before the “dumping part,” but was always the first one to dive back in the boat for another ride. Jack loved it all, especially the tipping of the ship.

 Both are still interested in the “new addition.”  Jack spent a while looking at Chase from all angles in his bassinet. He was so focused on Chase at one point that he bonked his head on the side of the bed. Then he said, “Daddy, can we move Chase?” And he did move Chase & the bassinet 180 degrees so it was better for him. At one point today when Mommy went to feed the baby, Jack asked “Where’s Chase?”  Also Jack is inserting the name Chase into some of his “big brother” books instead of the generic “baby”.

Evan continues to point and smile at his little brother. He also took it upon himself to gently push Chase in his swing today.

So far so good. It’s not so bad being up some in the middle of the night when you have relatives helping so you can catch up on sleep in the morning. Amen for that!

Party of Five

Today we brought baby Chase home…yes it’s now officially a Party of Five! We stopped by and took a few photos with Shane’s friend Paul as we left the hospital, It was quite the coincidence that we were there having a baby at the same time! He had a little girl named Cora just one day after us. On our way out, we put Chase next to little Cora and took some photos. It was fun being down the hall from them. Shane kept his sanity by watching basketball in the lobby with Paul at night. It was good “daddy bonding time”.

When we brought Chase into the house for the first time, both boys were very cute. They both seemed excited and were pointing at Chase and bouncing around excitedly. Jack said some cute things like “he’s so tiny” and he kept pointing at him and smiling.

It was Evan, though, that really took an interest in baby Chase. Evan was just totally smitten with the little guy. He was pointing at him and even tried to climb in the carrier with Chase! It was great to see Evan take such an interest in baby C. He was patting him and pointing to his little nose-it was just adorable. His eyes were just lit up with excitement…I think the two of them are going to be pretty tight. I’m really happy Evan is going to have a playmate so close in age. Often times, I feel bad for him because I know he wants Jack to play with him and Jack doesn’t always reciprocate.

We are glad to be home. My mom and sister are here for the week  to help and we are looking forward to being back in our own bed and getting some more rest.

I am moving slow still. It’s going to take some time to feel like me again. I’m glad that the bulk of the year is behind me so I can focus on the baby and Jack’s new home program. We have had such a great year already–with another win at competition and a successful run of Grease under our belt, it’s been quite an eventful year! Thanks to all of our company family, OYSP staff and friends for everything this year. We really couldn’t have gotten here without all of you!

Now that he’s finally here and we really are a family of five, we know we are going to have our hands full over here but we are really happy and feel blessed Chase made it here safe and sound.

So far, he has been a really easy baby. He is a sweet boy. He does spit up quite a bit so nursing has to go really slow with lots of breaks for little burps.

It is a full-time job right now, but I am loving every minute of being with my newest boyfriend. 4 boys and little ‘ol me…I am so outnumbered over here!

Day # 3 from Mommy

So this one is from mommy. I actually have no idea what I’m doing since Shane isn’t here, but I thought I would give it a try!

I’m actually up today, sitting in a chair instead of a bed– woo-hoo! I’m still pretty sore and I don’t think I’ll be whipping out any double pirrouettes anytime soon, but I’m moving around much more today so I’m glad for that.

Baby Chase is incredible. I really can’t get over him. I think I could stare at him for hours. It’s been that way with all three boys. You spend 10 months waiting for them to get here and the minute they do, you just fall in love with them.

After having Jack and Evan, I just couldn’t imagine what this one would be like. What would he look like? How would we possibly find room in our hearts for another little boy? And now that he’s here it like “oh yeah, of course that’s what you look like” and “of course I love you to pieces”.

The boys came yesterday. It started rough but ended fairly well.

Jack just gets overwhelmed sometimes when he goes to new places. I think it’s a combination of a “new environment” plus the fact that hospitals and doctors remind Jack of all the times he’s spent having various treatments. I think he was uncertain if something was going to happen to him even though we tried to explain to him that he was just here to see Mommy and Daddy. Of course, once Jack got upset Evan decided he should be upset too.

Once we got out some snacks, the boys settled down. It’s amazing what a couple of rice cakes can do! Jack definitely noticed baby Chase –even on his own. He’s probably thinking “oh great, another little one to add chaos to my world”. Those of you who know Jack, know that he likes things a certain way (as most kids with Autism do) and Evan tends to disrupt things for Jack. There have been some fun moments recently with Jack and Evan though where the two of them have been playing little games of chase and laughing with each other. I love those moments more than anything in the world.

I’m looking forward to more of those moments with all THREE boys!

By the end of the visit, Jack gave the baby a pat on the head and a little kiss and he said “I’m all done with the hospital” I could go on for hours about Jack and Evan…but that’s for another day. Back to baby Chase and resting up. Shane is back and now it’s time to put up some new pictures!

Day 2 in Paradise

Terra and I always feel like this time in the hospital is like paradise. It seems likes the outside world comes to a complete halt. And when everything slows down like this you can soak in every minute with this new little person who one day is in Terra’s stomach and the next day is out and right in front of our eyes. Still God’s greatest miracle, right?

We’re all just trying to rest up a bunch in anticipation for the first few days at home . As many of you know, it’s so nice being able to send little Chase to the nursery for care in the middle of the night and then they just wheel him back to our room every time he needs a feeding. He’s really doing great and Terra is recovering so well. With Evan’s delivery and our hospital stay still in recent memory (it was only 20 months ago!), we’ve really been aware of how much better Terra is doing post-surgery this time around. Dr. Melissa Halbach (both her daughters take at OYP/OYSP… Brynn was just in Grease in January) did an incredible job. Dr. Halbach missed our first two deliveries with Jack and Evan because she was pregnant and delivering at the same time, but bless her, she came back from her vacation in the mountains this week just to deliver little Chase.

The main thing is that Terra’s hardly had any post-surgery bleeding, which was a big issue last time. Also, the way they adminstered the drugs this time around was so much better for her — more of a time release which kept Terra much more coherent throughout the day yesterday. With Evan, Terra said she was groggy and out of it the first day after surgery and hardly remembered much from Day 1… even me sending out the email to everyone saying his name is Evan Michael Hannon

Yesterday we had my parents and Terra’s parents in the hospital with us and today my parents are back with my grandmother, Mary Alice Hannon. So, today, Chase got to meet his great grandmother! G.G., as we call her, keeps saying how “beautiful” Chase is. And when she was told that boys can’t be called beautiful, they’re “handsome”, she replied, “That’s fine…. but he sure is pretty.”

Chase got to meet his other great grandparent later in the day as Grandpa Bob & Clementi stopped by to see the new addition. They were so excited to see little Chase and Grandpa Bob took a turn holding him. Captain Bob, an avid sailor, says he can’t wait to get the three boys out on the water one day.

Jack and Evan will be coming later this afternoon, so we’ll see how that goes!

Thanks to all for the nice comments after the last post. It’s been so much fun for Terra and I to read here in the hospital. This blog thing is pretty cool!

Chase Davis Hannon is born

Praise the Lord! The baby is here & healthy and Mom is doing well. Things couldn’t have gone better today with everything associated with the delivery. I don’t know about Terra but I was definitely nervous in the minutes beforehand waiting outside the operating room, but felt a calm remembering a Bible verse I came across this morning. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  I just kept focusing on that verse and then it was into the O.R.!

Baby Chase was born at 10:40 this morning and weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces. 10 being a theme today since today is 3.10.10 and we are staying in room 31-10. Apgards were 9-10.

And of course, as all parents feel about their own, he’s a perfect 10. We love him.

We settled on the name Chase just the other day. We felt like it was a unique name, but of course – as many of you know — we do know one Chase, Chase Brantley…. someone who, like our new baby Chase, is the 3rd boy in his family. We think the world of Chase Brantley and have known his family for the longest time, so we thought it would be cool little connection. 

Jack and Evan are at home with family and caregivers and we hear they are happy. They will probably come tomorrow or the next day once Terra has recovered a little more from the surgery.

Terra’s parents were here for the big day and Terra’s mom and sister will be back this weekend once we get home from the hospital.

My parents were here too. All four were so excited to see the newest grandchild!

Showing some love for Jack

OK, here’s a picture of Jack from last Christmas! He’s getting a new baby brother today!

A picture of Evan

Still getting used to this whole blogging thing but just figured out how to upload a picture. So here’s a picture of little Evan at our studio recently. Evan is going to become a big brother today!

Baby Boy No. 3 today!

We are awaiting the birth of our third son. Terra and I are at St. Mary’s Hospital. Terra is resting comfortably and so far so good! More to come!