Stitchless + Updates

“Adversity rewrites the stories of our lives, changes the cast of characters, and alters what we expected would happen. Yet the stories go on and someday behind the scenes we’ll find the true importance of their twists and turns.” ~Unknown

Yesterday Chance turned six weeks old. My little man has been through a lot but has showed a great deal of strength in his short life. He spent nearly 3 weeks in the hospital and underwent 4 surgeries to treat his spina bifida. We’ve spent the last 3 weeks thankful to be home, continuing to care for his wound from his back closure surgery, and going to a handful more medical appointments. Today was another big turning point for us as we got to take Chance to have his stitches removed from his back. Yes, this means his back is officially closed. Here’s Chance this afternoon with his scar that’ll always remain a special part of our little man.

When we took Chance to the doctor to have his stitches removed everyone got to see his scar. We were told how great it looked and were reassured that in comparison to other many babies with spina bifida that Chance lucked out with a beautiful scar. It’s a reminder that the opening in his back could have been so much larger or more complex. Though we still wished we didn’t have spina bifida to worry about at all, we feel a little blessed that thus far he has had minimal problems in comparison to how bad things could be. Yes, I was definitely quite happy to have his stitches out. I have spent the last 3 weeks going through a routine of cleaning his back thoroughly with betadine and bandaging it twice a day, many of the days the first week or so I was left worrying whether or not his wound would ever heal. Hope was willing to take a few photos of Chance & I to help remember today.

For those who care to see photos of his back healing since birth I posted the photos in flickr.

Yes, I can try to pretend Chance is still a newborn…but he’s not. He’s just over six weeks old and I’ve come to accept that this little guy is going to grow no matter how much I wished for him to stay little. Today he weighed in at just over 9 pounds. That’s nearly 3 pounds more than he weighed at birth! He’s a strong little guy, which should come as no surprise. Thanks to his spina bifida he’s had tons of “tummy time” and it seems to be how he’s most content. I was taking photos two days ago and just adored how much he wanted to lift his head and look around.

Jaylen was more than willing to take a photo with his baby brother. Now I’ve just got to teach Chance to look at the camera too.

I’m pretty sure it won’t be long before they’re best buds.

Though Chance still sleeps quite a bit, he’s begun to stay awake for longer periods. I’m not quite sure how many “sleepy” baby photos I’ll get to take that’ll help me remember him being my itty bitty baby boy because he does startle a lot easier these days and has gradually fussed and fought me more this past week as I’ve tried to take more of his photos. I suppose I’ll just have to do my best to embrace the moments that happen with him on their own. Something tells me these moments will be equally as awesome and memorable…like this one.

I think it’s quite amazing how you can just look into a baby’s eyes and get a sense of their personality.

It won’t be long and I’ll be back to teaching and the umpteen other things I am known to take on. I’m quite surprised that I haven’t had more people asking me, “how are you going to do it all with 3 kids?” since Chance was born. I imagine that question will arise a lot in the months and years to come (as it has after having both Hope & Jaylen). I am definitely still wondering the same thing…wondering how the months and years ahead will unfold. Rather than stressing “how” I’ll do it all…I’ve come to learn to take things one day at a time. I will tell you this…the one thing I have learned in six weeks of having three children is that our family has become stronger, closer, and has made it this far with lots of teamwork. Since being home I have truly come to admire the collaboration of our family. I recall before we had Jaylen not knowing how in the world I’d juggle two children, let alone three. But somehow we figured it out…and I’m sure we’ll do the same now that we have three children. As much as I am known to try to do everything, I’ve been thankful to have tons of help from Jason, Hope and even Jaylen. Hope has amazed us in the last six weeks with how much she has stepped up to help. She’s a great big sister and often times begs to help more. Now that she’s back in school since spring break she returns home anxious to spend time with Chance. Two days ago Chance began to fuss and only wanted to be held while I was in the midst of doing a few things and she jumped up and said she’d hold him. I went out to check on them and he was sleeping in her arms. Definitely a priceless moment I won’t forget.

Yes, there was a time when Hope was little and I wished for the kids to be closer in age. Now I’m so thankful that there is the age difference because I adore seeing this bond Hope has with her little brother. I suppose it’s another reason to be thankful for unanswered prayers…or perhaps I should say prayers that weren’t answered for years.

A FEW MORE  UPDATES
As much as I know you all enjoy hearing the updates about Chance since he was born, something tells me you all are just as (if not more) eager to hear about some other things for a change. I received a call from the city of Orlando regarding my historic Orlando photos I took last summer. I don’t recall if I ever shared the news but in the fall they had selected one of my photos to be featured in their 2011 historic preservation calendar. It was a honor to be selected as a part of the calendar so to receive another call today caught me by surprise. I was informed that a group reviewed calendar photos from 2005 to present and selected what they felt were the best photos among all the calendars and my photo featured was chosen as one of the photos that they wanted to have featured in the upcoming Snap! photography festival. Needless to say I’m a bit stoked to hear the news knowing how many amazing photographers are a part of the event. Okay, so it’s not newborn, portrait or family photography like most of you following my photography are use to seeing, but the historic Orlando photos are definitely something I am glad I took time to be a part of knowing my photo has helped document a bit of Orlando’s history. Here’s the photo that was chosen:

I am sure many of you at Valencia are wondering when you’ll see me back on campus. Because I taught my normal course load in an astoundingly short 8 week semester I won’t formally return to the classroom until the summer semester begins. But yes, I WILL absolutely be back to teaching as of the summer. As much as I’ve enjoyed this time off with my family I am definitely anxious to return knowing that it’ll help life begin to seem a bit more like “normal”. In the weeks ahead before the summer semester begins you all will begin to see me back on campus. Most of my time will likely be spent helping transition some of our hybrid and online courses from webct to blackboard.

I’ve also had a handful of people asking me when I’m returning to photography so I might as well address it publicly because something tells me I have many of you out there silently wondering if and when I’ll be available. Though I know we have a lot of uncertainties with Chance only six weeks old, I’ve been reassured thus far that there are no additional concerns for us to completely stop life to care for him. Right now we’ve been told time and time again that we should do our best to care for him just as we would any baby. I’ve had about half a dozen newborns “tentative” prior to Chance’s birth that I intend to photograph between now and the summer and a few more inquiries in my inbox that I hope to respond to soon. So yes, you’ll gradually see me doing much more photography besides photos of my uber cute kiddos. And if what they say about adversity is true…there will be some super awesome new photography ahead.