Hey everyone! It has been a while! We have been a LITTLE busy over here… Busy welcoming our sweet new addition to the family, Shiloh Grace Heasley! I’ve also gone to write this blog several times, but I either have MAJOR mom brain and literally can’t think of words…or I get interrupted by a baby crying. Both girls are content right now, so I’m going to try and whip this one out real quick! Ha! I want to try and update y’all on 3 things in this post. 1. Shiloh 2. Hattie’s Wheelchair 3. Minivan… yes…I said Minivan

SHILOH

We are so in love with our sweet new baby girl! I was induced on September 4th, and Shiloh was born September 5th at 3:53pm. Pretty long labor, but not near as long as labor was with Hattie! We had a few scares during delivery, but overall everything went pretty smoothly. Shiloh is healthy, sweet, alert, and already so strong...and strong willed!

Seeing Hattie with her baby sister for the first time melted my heart. A lot of people are asking us if Hattie knows that Shiloh is her little sister. The answer is... we aren’t sure. I think she definitely knows that Shiloh is here to stay though! Hattie loves looking at Shiloh while they’re on the floor together, and for some reason she thinks it’s hilarious when Shiloh cries. I’m not going to lie, going from 1 to 2 is not easy. We are working off of minimal sleep, and lots and lots of coffee over here! But we are loving every minute of it. Watching our 2 girls together, is seriously the most amazing thing in the world. Not only do I think Shiloh is going to help Hattie SO much with her development, I also think Hattie will teach Shiloh a lot as well. Hattie & Shiloh… the sweetest little duo. I can’t wait to see them grow up together!

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HATTIE’S WHEELCHAIR

This was a hard pill for me to swallow. It came time to discuss Hattie going to pre school next fall. Since she isn’t walking…in order to send her to school she needs to be in some sort of stroller or wheelchair. Between David and I, and Hattie’s therapists, we decided that a wheelchair was going to give Hattie the support she needs while she’s at school. We are by no means limiting her to this wheelchair. I DO BELIEVE that she will walk some day. It might be next year; it might be another 5-10 years. But I do believe that she will walk. But until then, she will be rolling around in her Barbie Jeep inspired pink and white tiny cute little wheelchair. After some tears…okay lots of tears… and accepting the fact that I will have a daughter in a wheelchair, I began to think of the positives. Hattie can now go into the “2 year old class” at our church nursery. Right now, we send Hattie with the babies so she doesn’t get trampled by the other crazy toddlers. But, after we get her wheelchair, she will be able to go in with her peers and be on the same level as them! I know Hattie will think that’s super cool. I’m hoping that Hattie’s wheelchair will help other kids feel more comfortable approaching her, and make her look like more of a toddler instead of a baby in a stroller. (We get A LOT of “aww look at that little baby!” comments when Hattie is in her stroller.) She is NOT A BABY.. she’s 2 and a half. Okay, she’s still MY baby… but I’m the only one that’s allowed to call her that. Hah! Hattie’s wheelchair was custom made just for her, so with that, it takes a lot of time to get approved/made/shipped etc. We are hoping to get it in the next couple of months or so!

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MINIVAN

That brings me into my next update…the Minivan...yes. Minivan. After having the conversation about Hattie’s wheelchair I began to realize that my small Audi Q5 probably wouldn’t be able to fit a wheelchair in the back. That’s when David and I began discussing a new car. We originally thought maybe just a larger SUV would work, but after lots of research and conversations with my other special needs mamas… I realized that a large SUV is also not very practical for a kiddo with a wheelchair. Why? They are high off the ground. I would have to lift this 40 pound wheelchair up high off the ground, and into the trunk of my car every day. We also took into consideration that Hattie won’t be a tiny 2-year-old forever, and we would have to lift HER into our car as well! Then the minivan got brought up. If you know David and I, you know that we have said that we will never be the minivan family. Well, never say never folks. After asking around on my different special needs groups about what kind of vehicles every one drove… it was an overall group consensus of MINIVAN. That’s when I began to jump on the minivan train. David was like “WHAT!?” no way are we ever buying a minivan. But as we continued to research, and test drive, he too jumped on the minivan train. Soooo… the Heasleys are now a minivan family. And y’all, I have to say… I AM OBSESSED WITH MY MINIVAN! It’s all black… David likes to say “it’s all murdered out”… So it looks a little cooler than your average minivan, I think? Her name is Pepper Van, and she is just perfect for our family.

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Thank you for reading! We are so excited to continue this journey as a family of 4 :). Love y’all!

-Abby & David