Abby's new favorite thing to do

Interestingly, she did not like this swing at all when she was a baby!

Six things at six weeks

Grant is six weeks old today. Here is a list of six things that I want to remember about him.

1. Serious-I have no idea where he could have gotten this trait. Anyone have any idea?

2. Smirk-He is not quiet smiling yet but for now we settle for this adorable smirk.

3. Spit-up-I mean lots of spit-up. Lucky for you I did not provide a picture.

4. Soothie-Grant loves his pacifier. A new experience for us since none of the other kids would take one.

5. Squinty- He often opens his right eye wider than his left.

6. Smitten-In case it isn't obvious or I haven't mentioned it lately, I am so in love with this little boy. Thank you Lord for this blessing.

People always ask

Since people always ask who Grant looks like and right now sibling comparisons seem to be a popular blog topic, I'll let you be the judge and you can compare/contrast the Dallas siblings.

G-man:

Big Zach Attack:

C-bear:

Crabby Abby:

Swallowing Status

Yesterday Grant had a swallow test done at UMC. The speech pathologist (a former 9:30er) determined that he has a few issues. The liquid would bounce from his airway to his esophahus but was not aspirated (thankfully). This 'bouncing' is definitely not normal. The liquid should just go straight down his throat but doesn't because his swallowing is delayed. She also determined that he is a little uncoordinated when drinking. This behavior is more typical of a baby in the NICU, but not of a healthy, full-term infant. Lastly, she suspected that he does have reflux and recommended getting him tested. Her first plan was to have ECI (early childhood intervention) come to our house to do feeding therapy in order to catch him up to age appropriate feeding abilities. After discussing Grant with her supervisor, she called me this afternoon with a new recommendation. It seems her supervisor has had success with getting babies with a poor sucking mechanism (which he definitely has) to transition from bottle feeding to breastfeeding (I had expressed my desire to exclusively breastfeed and get rid of the bottles). So our plan is to go meet with her next week and see if she can help us. I'll let you know how it goes.

Ashley Grace Whitmire

Today is our niece/cousin's 9th birthday. She is a lovely young lady and and a great friend. Calyn adores her and asks to mail her pictures and go visit her ALL the time. We wish that we lived closer to her!

Happy Birthday Ashley. We love you!

We hope that you had a great day!

My Guys

The Dallas boys while watching the Tech game on TV this afternoon.

Compare it to the picture below of Tim and the twins at the Tech game last week.

What a difference 30 degrees makes!

Despite the frigid temperature, the twins enjoyed their first Texas Tech football game. A big thanks to Leah, Annerson, and Annerson's Gandy for giving us the tickets. The kids watched a little of the game but mostly enjoyed the other aspects of the game.

I look forward to a future filled with many more Tech games.

One Year

My mom went to be with Jesus one year ago today. I miss her a lot. I think about her a lot. Sometimes thoughts of her are jogged by the smallest things. For instance by the jeans worn by Abby just the other day.

My mom bought me countless pairs of Guess jeans in the 80's.

And several times a day when I look at this little guy:

I think about how she never got to hold him.

However, I am thankful that she is in heaven and that one day she will meet him. I would like to believe that she has already seen him but I think that she is too busy sitting at the feet of Jesus and rejoicing. And probably singing. She was a terrible singer, so now she probably sings all day.

Welcome to my crib

Hi again. Grant here. Today I am four weeks old. I started the day by sleeping from 12am til 7:45am. My parents sure were in a good mood when I woke up. I thought I'd give you a tour of my room. I don't sleep in this bed yet but I will soon.

My mom painted my name on these canvases.

We went for our first walk/bike ride as a family. My dad had the day off because it is Tech's Fall Break.

I fell asleep in the stroller but enjoyed the walk.

After our walk, I posed for my mom. She still thinks I am really cute.

What do you think?

Cold weather is here

Anyone want to help me wash cold weather clothes?

These are the clothes of the three older kids. Thanks to all my friends for hand me downs. Abby benefits from several of our generous friends and from her older sister. Here is her pile.