Home Sweet Home To Me!

It is no secret that our family loves the Tennessee Volunteers and that we consider East Tennessee our second home.

At the beginning of September, we were asked if Beads of Courage could use one of Tucker's 4 year pictures in their campaign to encourage people to carry Beads when they compete. Of course we said yes and, after doing a little research, I decided that I would try to get the University of Tennessee to participate in the program.

I had a tremendous amount of luck in this effort and the UT athletic department was very interested in learning more and possibly having some players carry Beads of Courage.

Tennessee Team Beads of Courage

Fast forward to November, where Tucker was invited by Beads of Courage and the Vols football team to attend the last home game of the season as a representative of Beads of Courage. We didn't hesitate to pack our bags and head to Knoxville.

We arrived at Neyland Stadium after lunch on November 23rd for the game against Vanderbilt, the last home game of the year, senior day. We checked out some of the tailgate parties and Tucker danced to the music. About an hour and a half before kickoff, we made our way down to the stadium for the Vol Walk. We waited and watched as the coaches, players, cheerleaders, and band paraded past us ALL of them wearing Beads of Courage. Tucker got to "high-5" some of the players and coaches as they passed.

Tucker at the Vol Walk

After the Vol Walk, we were escorted through the player's tunnel and onto the field for pre-game warmups. We got to hang out on the sidelines while the players got ready for the game. There was music blaring and Tucker had a great time. He had a dance-off with Smokey, the Vols' mascot, and got to meet a few of the players. Michael Palardy, the kicker, came over and talked to Tucker for a few minutes during warmups. He knew Tucker by name and was awesome with him. Michael is definitely a favorite of ours from now on.
       

Tucker & Michael Palardy

Tucker telling Michael his age

We took a ton of pictures and made memories that will last a lifetime, doing something that not many people get to do. After warmups, we made our way to our seats to watch the game. It was a 7pm game and it was cold in Tennessee. By halftime, Tucker was very cold so we decided to watch the rest of the game from the hotel room. He was asleep before we left the parking garage. 

It was an amazing day for Tucker and for us. I don't think there is any doubt that Tucker is a Tennessee fan now and he sings "Rocky Top" almost daily.

The next day we traveled south to Whitwell, TN to see some of Dena's family. It was great to catch up with them and for Tucker to get to see where his Papa grew up.

It was a fast trip that covered a lot of miles, but it was worth every minute of it. We left Texas on Thursday afternoon and were back at home by Monday night.

We are very excited to know that every single Bead that was carried that night will give enCouragement to a child fighting CHD or cancer. Tucker's story helped make it happen and he continues to get to bless others.

Tucker meeting Smokey

Tucker & "The Real" Smokey

We are eternally grateful to Ashely from Beads of Courage and Antone Davis and the University of Tennessee Athletic Department for making it all possible. 

"Rocky Top will always be home sweet home to me!"

~Trent

Hamilton Family Vacation 2012

The Hamiltons, (Pops, Granny, Greg, Amelia, Trent, Dena, Maddie, Tucker, Beckett, & Finn) that is, took our annual family vacation this past week. We rented a lake house in Granbury, Texas and it was a great time! 

Granny & Pops with the grandkids!

We, mostly, just hung out around the lake house, which was literally steps from the water, but we did venture out for a few fun things.

Beckett is ready for the PGA tour!

On Thursday, we drove to Glen Rose to visit Dinosaur World and Dinosaur Valley State Park. At Dinosaur World, Maddie and Tucker got to dig for fossils and see "life-sized" replicas of about 30 different types of dinosaurs. They thoroughly enjoyed it! Tucker would run up to a dinosaur and growl at it, then he would run away saying, "Scary! He gonna eat me, daddy! Save me!" I don't think that he was really scared, he was just being dramatic and playing games because he would run up and growl at the next one on the walk. Next we went into Dinosaur Valley State Park to look for real dinosaur tracks in the Paluxy River. The water was too high to see the tracks, but Tucker and Beckett got to splash in the river and have some fun.

Tucker, in the mouth of a T-Rex

Maddie & Tucker, future paleontologists

Does he look scared to you?

Beckett & Tuck, enjoying the Paluxy river

 On Friday, we visited the Granbury city beach, which is awesome! The city sectioned off a portion of the lake from boat and fishing traffic. They also trucked in enough sand from South Padre Island to make a true beach and go out about 50 yards into the lake. It was the nicest lake beach that I have ever been to. The kids spent the day splashing, throwing sand, building sand castles, and "swimming". I think that Beckett had the most fun of all, splashing and swimming the entire time.

Granbury city beach

Beckett, the little fish!

Tucker, enjoying the water

We also spent some time attempting to catch fish. The lake house had a boat dock and a sun-deck above it. The dock was perfect for fishing and we saw lots of fish. After a day and a half of losing tons of bait, I realized that our hooks were too large. After a quick change of hooks, we started catching some fish. Maddie caught a perch, as did I, and Tucker caught a small catfish. They were so excited to catch the fish, but didn't want to touch them.

The view of Lake Granbury from the dock

Maddie, fishing woman

The sun deck

Tucker's whopper!

It was a short and simple trip, but we all had fun and were able to spend some quality time together!

Beckett giving Finn kisses

Oh, and yes, Finn was there too, but he pretty much slept the whole time!

See! I told you Finn was there!

~Trent

Baby Finn!

Finn's 1st minutes

Finley Thomas was born this morning at 2:44am. He weighed in at 8lbs 8oz and was 20.5" long. He is doing very well and eating like a champ. Dena is also doing really well. She is up and moving around, I'm very proud of her!

Finn's 1st morning

Finley in the afternoon

Tucker got to meet his little brother today and he seemed to like him, although I'm sure things will change when this weird baby comes to Tucker's home. 

We will probably get to go home sometime tomorrow, but I will update if something changes. In the meantime, we are at Medical City Hospital in Dallas.

Yes, Tuck, that is your little brother!

Giving sweet kisses

Tucker is holding his brother for the 1st time

 I have included some of the best pictures from today, enjoy!

newborn Tucker vs. newborn Finley, do they look alike?

 ~Trent

Almost FINN-ished!

This past Sunday, Dena passed the 37 week mark in her pregnancy. Finn is almost ready to make his appearance. In fact, we thought he was going to come two weeks ago.

In case you didn't hear, Thursday, April 26th during our monthly grocery trip, Dena started having regular contractions. We called the doctor and she wanted us to come in to the hospital. They checked her out and found that she was dilated to 1cm and having real contractions, so they kept us there for a while for observation. After about 3 hours, she hadn't progressed any further and the contractions had slowed, so they sent us home.

Since then, she has had some more contractions, but nothing regular, and she hadn't really progressed much more. Yesterday, during the weekly OB check-up, they wanted to take another look at the baby with ultrasound just to get a better idea of his size. It was not a surprise to us to find out that he is going to be a big boy. At 37.5 weeks, he weighs between 8lbs 10 oz and 8lbs 14 oz. At his point in a pregnancy, a baby will gain about .5lbs per week, so if he goes until the due date, he will be at or over 10lbs. 

Dena's doctor discussed the option of an elective c-section, but we don't really like that idea unless it is an emergency. She also made sure we knew that she couldn't induce labor until 39 weeks, which is on May 20th. When they checked her, she is now dilated to between 2-3cm, which is good progress. The baby still hasn't dropped, but she expected Dena to be "favorable" by sometime next week.

All that being said, it seems like Finn is about finished up and ready to make his appearance. He has huge checks, big, wide feet, and seems like he is going to be another clone of me. Oh Joy! Dena and I are both ready for him to arrive and I actually think Tucker is warming to the idea too.

Dena is going to continue working until he gets here, secretly hoping that some kid will send her into labor. 

We would appreciate your prayers for continued health for Dena and Finn. Also, for a quick, safe delivery when he decides to come.

I will update if something changes.

~Trent

An Exhausting Success

Hard work is...well...hard, but it generally pays off in the end!

I am happy to report that the Whole Hearts Foundation fundraiser event in Dallas, this past Sunday, was a great success!

 

After months of planning, meeting, recruiting helpers, inviting guests, and changing plans, the event went off without a hitch. 

We arrived at Medical City Children's Hospital at 10am on Sunday morning to set up and get everything ready for the guests. By 11:30, most of the stuff was ready to go, Dena just needed to put the finishing touches on everything, as she is so good at doing! Matt and his manger, Jenn, and two band mates, Chris and Mark, arrived to tour the hospital and Congenital Heart Surgery Unit. The tour was  very good and I was excited to get to hear and see a few things that I didn't know about at the hospital.

At 12:30, the tour was over and it was time for Matt to do a sound check for his acoustic performance. I knew that people would be there for the event because we had about 125 RSVP's, but the few minutes before it was supposed to start were still tense due to doubt. By 1:15pm we probably had over 100 people there to support us. At 1:30 I had to work up the nerve to step up to the mic and welcome everyone. It is so weird that I don't have a problem standing in front of a class of kids, but if you ask me to speak to a room full of adults, I get so nervous! 

Me giving my welcome

After I welcomed everyone, Devin Bruton, who is a hospital administrator, spoke a little about Medical City and then introduced Dr. Mendeloff (Tucker's surgeon). Dr. Mendeloff spoke for about 10 minutes and it was great. He shared about the past and future of treating CHDs and about the hospital's program. Finally, the moment that most were waiting for, Matt performed a few songs, including "All of Me".

Dr. Mendeloff speaking

Matt singing "All of Me"

Matt & Chris performing "The Redeemer"

It was so awesome to see everyone's reaction to the Whole Hearts mission and our plans. The support of the families and people there was surprising, to say the least. We were honored that Matt's band mates and manager took their time to join us. I was blessed to have some family and old friends who came to support us. Also, we had a few businesses that I had invited who came. 

The great crowd!

So proud of the group!

Honestly, it was probably one of the most involved, pressure-laden project that I have ever undertaken. However, it was totally worth all of the time and energy that was spent on planning, setting up, and putting it on.

I had a tremendous amount of help and support along the way. The event absolutely wouldn't have happened without my friends and "teammates" from Whole Hearts: Andrea, Matt, Brett, & Julie! Also, I had a ton of help from the people at Medical City Children's Hospital, particularly Devin Bruton, Amy Carlisle, and Jennifer Abrams. My brother, Greg, and his DJ partner, Dan, donated their services for the cause too, and that was a great help! Most importantly, Dena put up with all of the time that I spent planning and working on stuff. She also helped me make decorations, set up, and tear down. And the biggest job of all was single-handedly wrangling Tucker while I was busy at the event.

Greg & Dan with Matt

We ended the day by going to the Winter Jam concert at the American Airlines Center, where Matt's band, Sanctus Real, was performing with other groups. We had great seats and got to hear some wonderful Christian music. Tucker had a blast! By the time we made it home we were all exhausted. Tucker actually gave a little scare on the way home by having some sort of panic-attack or bad nightmare. Luckily, he seemed to be fine the next day. We aren't really sure what happened, but he hasn't had any more of those, so I guess he is alright.

I hope that you might consider making a donation to Whole Hearts to help us support families dealing with CHD. It is really simple to donate, just click this link: Whole Hearts Donation. The link is totally secure and 100% of the money will go to help families.

Thanks for listening and please share our blog is possible!

~Trent

Spring Break

We had a great Spring Break!

YOU are invited!

Before I get into all of our family stuff, I want to share an opportunity that is coming up. I have been planning the first Whole Hearts Foundation event for Dallas for months. The time has finally arrived to put all of that planning into action. Our Whole Hearts "social" and fundraiser is this coming Sunday at 1pm at Medical City Children's Hospital. It will be a reception in the atrium of the hospital and it will feature an acoustic performance by Matt Hammitt (Bowen's dad). He and his wife, Sarah, founded Whole Hearts and they will be sharing their vision for the foundation. All money raised at the event will go to support a special project at Medical City and heart families in Dallas. You all are invited to join us at the event, just RSVP to info@wholehearts.org to let us know you are coming. I have attached a copy of the invitation so you can see it. 

Tucker knows his ABC's

So, for Spring Break we took a short trip to Oklahoma City. We took Tucker to the zoo, which he loved, we went to Bricktown, and we visited the Oklahoma City bombing memorial and museum. It was a great little trip and we had a lot of fun and made some memories. You can read a little more about it on Tucker's caringbridge site here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tuckerhamilton

Mommy, Tucker, and Daddy at "Pops" on Route 66

Can you tell he is ready to go to the zoo???

Tucker and his "pride"!

Tucker & Mommy having lunch at Leo's BBQ in OKC

The other big event for Spring Break was to get Finn's nursery ready. If you didn't know, the nursery was our guest room. It was painted the color of a Tiffany jewelry box and VERY feminine. This would not do for our new little man. We picked out some crib bedding after we found out it was a boy and it is red, white, and blue. The idea was to save the red and white stripes that were in the middle of the room and paint the Tiffany's blue to match the bedding.

I started priming the walls on Wednesday night and then moved on to the paint on Thursday. The top half of the room is light blue, almost like denim, and the bottom half is navy blue. I finished up on Friday afternoon, with some help from my mom and dad. There was only one mishap, a puddle of spilled navy blue paint in the middle of the beige, carpeted floor. After trying numerous things to clean the stain, I gave up and decided to up the stain with beige paint. It doesn't look great, but I think it will be okay until I can find someone who can patch the piece of carpet. See the before and after pictures below.

Before - "Tiffany's" room            After - Finn's room

It was a great Spring Break, not too busy, but not boring. Now comes the countdown to the end of school and the arrival of Finn. We are ready for the new little guy to get here and join our family.

Thanks, as always, for visiting and sharing our family journey with us.

God Bless,

~Trent

A NNN-EEE-WWW Car!

We are the proud owners of a 2012 Kia Sorento!

Since finding out that we were having another baby, Dena and I have been discussing the fact that we would probably need a new car, something bigger. I started looking at options for a small to medium-sized SUV. There are lots of options for SUVs, but we either didn't like most them or they were too expensive.

Now, if you know anything about me, you might know that I am a researcher. I research most major purchases that we make to ensure that we are getting the best product and the best deal. I enjoy reading about the product, learning the features, reading expert reviews, etc. I was hesitant, at first, to even bother looking at the Kia, because, well, it was a KIA! But I did start reading about them and found out that they had come a long way in the last few years, a lot like Hyundai has. I was surprised to find out that Kia and Hyundai are the same parent company, like Chevy and GMC

Through my research, I found out that the Sorento is a IIHS Top Safety Pick, it gets great gas mileage, it has an optional 3rd row seat, and it has some of the best options and features in it's class. Even better than all of this, it was WAY cheaper than the other cars we were looking at. Basically, we could get a brand new Kia for the same price that we could get a medium mileage version of the other cars.

After many hours researching the best prices and the options that we wanted, I was able to negotiate a VERY fair price with a salesman at Huffines Kia in McKinney. After searching all over Texas and Oklahoma, the dealership was finally able to locate a car that matched what we were looking for. Monday night we went to the dealership to sign all of the paperwork and to trade-in Dena's Malibu. Our car hadn't arrived from Oklahoma yet, but they gave us a loaner to take home for the night.

Dena picked up our (really it's hers) new car yesterday and we couldn't be happier! I highly recommend researching your next car purchase on a site like www.edmunds.com. I also recommend doing all of your price negotiations via email. Email negotiations allow you to state just the facts and to not deal with the high-pressure sales tactics of most dealerships.

Our new family-sized car!

 Now we just have to find a place to get a read DVD system installed...I guess I need to do some more research!