McGuire Family News

Happy St. Patty's!

2010-03-17T22:33:00.005-05:00

Being Irish and Scottish, we love St. Patrick's day. We ate Irish chili, Irish soda bread and Irish cream cake. Yummy! And those not wearing green, of course, face the wrath of Grant's little pinchers!

Things are going great here. We have made some wonderful new friends through church and Grant's school. Colt is growing and still chubby as ever. We love each and every little fat roll so much. He is still using the potty, although I'm not trying all that hard to train right now. Maybe when the weather gets warmer and he's wearing less clothes.

The boys love to play together. Grant will act goofy and make Colt laugh until he is out of breath. Grant does enjoy, though, when Colt goes down for a nap so he can get Momma's attention back.

I love getting to stay at home. It is what I feel I was made to do. We have so much fun around the house and things only get better once Daddy gets home. The boys are obviously drawn to their sweet Daddy.

Here is a video of Russell making Colt laugh and scream:

This one is of Grant trying "Warheads Extreme Sour" candy:

And here is Grant singing happy birthday to his Papa:

February post

2010-02-18T12:36:00.007-06:00

Happy February everyone! I wanted to post some videos of the boys. They are both growing like weeds and maturing so fast. Colt is able to do so much for a 4 month old and Grant is impressing us daily with his skills and interpretations of the world!

Grant loves to play WiiFit and Colt loves to watch him. Well, Colt loves to watch anything Grant is doing. And Grant is so helpful to me as I care for Colt.

As I've probably said before, it takes very little effort to make Colt smile and laugh, just like his big brother was as a baby. Here's more proof of that.

Colt is able to partially sit up on his own. He can sit as long as he's leaning forward a little, getting support from his fat belly. Also, there is a picture of a snowman my dad and Grant built. He had to have sticks for eyes, because we couldn't find anything to make eyes with.

Baby brother

2010-01-28T12:39:00.004-06:00

Colt is growing so much. He is able to interact so well with us now and he loves playing with his toys and his big brother!

He is also growing physically. I can't believe
how big he is growing. We are having to start feeding him cereal just to keep him full. He has been adjusting really well to eating with a spoon. At about his third feeding, he finally started opening his mouth when I would touch the spoon to his lips.

Colt got his first haircut the other day. He was born with a full head of hair, but started loosing it as many babies do. He just had some random long hairs hanging on amongst the new fuzz growing in. Plus he had a patch of hair on top that made for the perfect "comb over." None of this was really noticeable, but we like to keep our boys looking sharp.

You can tell by his face how much he loves the cold after getting out of the bath.

Painful hugs

2010-01-23T12:06:00.007-06:00

Here are a few videos of Russell and the kids. The first is Russell and Grant's new thing. They hug each other until it "hurts" which in turn makes both of them cry. I believe this was a ploy for Daddy to solicit hugs from Grant!

Here are just a couple of videos of Grant and Colt. Grant will grab Colt's hand sometimes and pretend that Colt is hitting him. I love the way he snuggles with Colt's hand toward the end of the video. The second video is Colt playing with his toys. He can finally touch the ground now in his bouncer and make himself bounce. He spends a lot of time each day in this bouncer playing with toys and watching Big Brother play.

Colt is 3 months old!

2010-01-10T17:11:00.011-06:00

I can't believe my second child is already 3 months old!

I love having two boys. They are so much fun. Colt is adjusting well to his life on earth so far. He eats VERY well and sleeps 10-11 hours each night. (Thank you Babywise!) He only cries when he has a painful burp or if he's trying to alert us to the fact that he's woken up from a nap. Otherwise he just fusses a little when it is time to eat or sleep. We don't know what to do with ourselves having such an easy baby!

It is so easy to make Colt smile and laugh. The video shows a time I was actually able to get the camera out quick enough. You'll notice that he tends to give himself the hiccups when he giggles.

He also likes to play with his toys. He is getting better and better at grabbing and spinning his toys. He knows how to make the lights and music go off on his bouncer. Here is a video of that.

Grant is so sweet and helpful with Colt. I was in the shower this morning and heard over the monitor that Colt woke from his nap crying. Next thing I knew he stopped and I heard Grant telling him, "It's okay Coltipoo." Then I heard Colt laughing hysterically. I don't know what they were doing, but I was glad to be able to finish my shower.

2010

2010-01-05T21:39:00.004-06:00

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you are having a great year so far. A lot has happened since our last post, but all of you already know thanks to Facebook.

We are now the proud parents of two sons! Colt is our newest addition and he is a lot of fun. He and his brother are constantly keeping us entertained. It is very easy to get him to smile and laugh, he loves grabbing and playing with toys and will quit whatever he is doing to focus on Grant when he enters the room. Grant is very sweet with Colt. The video shows a glimpse of that. (Sorry it is so dark) He is gentle and loving toward him. We couldn't be more proud of our boys.

Here are some pics of our boys:

Pics of our youngest boy

2009-06-18T15:05:00.004-05:00

Well here are the latest pics of Grant's younger brother. We can't believe how much they look alike!

It is going to be a different world with two boys around. We are so happy to have Grant potty trained before his brother gets here. He has actually started going to the bathroom by himself. We are having to teach him now to tell us when he has gone poop so one of us can wipe him. A couple of times recently we have walked into the bathroom and noticed that there is poop in the toilet but neither of us even knew he went. It's pretty funny. I guess a few skid marks in the undies won't hurt anything. We are beyond proud!

It's a boy!!!

2009-05-24T17:08:00.004-05:00

Well, this October we will be having another boy! The air in the sonogram room was filled with excitement when we (Momma, Daddy, Grant, Nana and Mamaw) heard the sonographer confidently say, "it's a boy" and saw on the big flat screen that he is. Grant was able to call his Grandpas and tell them himself that he is having a little brother.

Grant is ready for his little brother to be here. He keeps telling me to get him out of my tummy. When Grant gets excited and is squealing loud, the baby will often kick. He must be ready to meet his big brother as well.

Potty training complete....for the most part.

2009-04-17T18:10:00.007-05:00

We never thought it possible for Grant to be potty trained by 2 1/2, but somehow it has happened. We have to stay on him sometimes when he's really playing hard to prevent accidents. Otherwise, we finally feel comfortable enough to leave him in big boy underwear all day, even outside the house!

The pictures I posted above are a few weeks old. The one of him in the overalls is just a picture I thought was cute. There is no telling why we had to take his shirt off that day. The one of him covered in paint was the day I realized that we won't be playing with paint again until he is much older. Thank you Crayola for making so many products washable!

Things with this pregnancy are going fine. Grant says the baby is in his belly, has pretended to flush the baby down the toilet and loves to talk to the baby through momma's tummy along with daddy. My boys are so precious.

2009-03-26T21:45:00.003-05:00

Well, it took me over a month to post this video. Grant is singing to Momma "Happy Birthday". He has been so cute lately and his personality is developing more every day. He has a sweet heart, loves to help Momma or Daddy, loves to play outside and will comfort someone when they are sad. He can write the letter A and the number 3. (Momma and Grant may be the only ones who can tell what each looks like, though.) His vocabulary is expanding phenomenally, he speaks in complete sentences and tells us his future baby brother or sister is in his tummy.

That's right, we are pregnant again. We should be having another Alison or Russell Jr. in October, a couple of weeks before Grant's third birthday. Please pray for this one. It looks great so far. The baby is growing well and has a strong heartbeat. We've made it a lot further than last time, so we are confident.

Spaghetti slurper and bubble burster

2009-01-25T11:33:00.004-06:00

Spaghetti slurper and bubble burster are two of Grant's new jobs. After several tries he is now finally able to suck a spaghetti noodle into his mouth. We have never been more proud. The second video portrays how much he imitates people now, especially Papa.

Potty training is going well. Grant will go most days with dry underwear. He still can't tell us when he has to go, but he'll usually hold it for the next pee pee session. Poop is a different story. If we get him on the potty at just the right time, he will poop in it. Unfortunately, getting "just the right time" figured out is still in the works. He is now praising us when we use the potty and offers a piece of candy.

Our not so little boy

2009-01-14T16:39:00.006-06:00

I haven't posted in a while so here are a couple of videos. Grant is of course blowing us away with how much he learns everyday. He knows all of his colors, shapes, 1-10 (not in order, though), some of his ABCs, he says please and thank you all the time, he knows left and right, under, over, beside, next to, inside and many others. He almost always speaks in complete sentences (probably because he repeats EVERYTHING we say, good or bad) and loves to play with stickers ("pay stickers"), build, play outside, color, complete puzzles, sleep in his "big bed" (his crib has been empty for about a month now), stack things, hug and kiss loved ones and eat.
He has become so loving and sweet. He is a lot easier to control now. It used to be a nightmare going out in public with him, now it can be frustrating at times, but as long as he is not hungry or sleepy, he acts great. Sitting still continues to be a challenge for him unless he is playing with stickers, coloring or watching Tom and Jerry, Pink Panther, Curious George or Batman. (Thank you DVR for making these shows readily available!)

Here is a video of Grant discovering his gifts from Santa. (One of three sets thanks to grandparents!) He loves to stack up these bricks and run over them with his scooter.

And now the big news.....Grant is potty training!! We are about three days into it and he is doing good. He wears big boy underwear as long as he is awake and pees on the potty about 50% - 70% of the time. He pooped on the potty once on Thursday and I think it surprised him as much as it did us! It sure is a lot easier to clean up that way! I'm sure we have a long road ahead of us, but we've also had a good start. He likes using the potty better than I thought he would.

Here is a video of him explaining the digestion process.

Turkies!

2008-12-06T18:23:00.004-06:00

We had two resident turkies at our house today. This husband and wife couple would play in our front and backyard as well as on the roof all day long. We thought about getting the shotgun out and offer to bring the Christmas turkey in a few weeks, but decided against it. They are officially our friends now and we don't make a habit of shooting our friends.

Now here is a video of our favorite turkey. He was definitely the star of the show this Thanksgiving in Shattuck, Oklahoma.

Get your guns up!

2008-11-24T20:47:00.003-06:00

Well, Grant is a true Tech fan who will still get his guns up even after a far-from-perfect game Saturday. He will grab Daddy or Momma's hand and say "come on, my hold it two guns" if he wants one of us to go play with him. As you will see in the video, Grant wants the lights turned off for serious gunplay. At the end of the video I guess he realized the camera was on so he exclaimed, "cheese!" Our evenings here in the McGuire household are filled with fun and laughter...... oh and gunshots.

Long time no blog

2008-11-19T17:14:00.007-06:00

Hey guys! A lot has happened since I last posted. We are on a good road to healing and things are much brighter around here. Grant is amazing us with how fast he is learning. Russell was out of town for three days this last weekend and he said he could even notice a difference in how much Grant is learning. He can point out all of his colors (and does this ALL the time), count to ten and sing so many songs like Twinkle twinkle little star, ABC's (he skips around on the order of the letters, though), Itsy Bitsy spider etc. He almost always speaks in complete sentences even though it is not always obvious what he is saying. Communication with him is so so so much easier now. He throws his terrible two's tantrums often, but we do our best to stand strong and not give in when he is testing those limits.
We can't believe how fast Grant is growing up. His personality is apparent and so sweet. It is obvious that he has a kind heart. He loves to kiss hurts when others need it, give random hugs and blow kisses when saying goodbye. And his manners are the most impressive. He will usually say please and thank you on his own. When he doesn't I just ask "What do you say?" and he'll answer with the appropriate response. People tell us all the time that he is so smart for his age. Praise God for blessing us humans with the joy of raising children!

Here are a few videos to catch you up on the last couple of months:

Here is Grant in his Halloween costume. We had a nice tiger costume for him, but the weather was too warm so we grabbed our skeleton pajamas and face paint to improvise.

And finally, our Thanksgiving video. I knew when I saw this turkey at the store that Grant would love it and I guess he did. I don't know how many times we have heard that turkey sing his song.

Have a blessed day and thank you for all the prayers!

Love, Russell, Alison and Grant

Update and Big jumper

2008-09-22T21:22:00.003-05:00

Well, we had our sonogram this morning again and it looked bad. We are now waiting for the miscarriage to happen. But God has blessed us so much already. Having Grant around makes for little time to think about everything. Plus, he (as always) keeps us laughing. You'll see that in the video. The doctor says we can start trying again right away. I think we will, depending on how the actual miscarriage affects us. Thank you for the prayers. They were lovingly and perfectly answered by God even though the answer was not what we had thought we wanted.

Touchdown!

2008-09-21T21:37:00.003-05:00

Touchdown! Grant is already a football fan. I guess we never thought he would be anything other than a fan. The big question now is...Cowboys (Daddy's team), Vikings (Momma's team) or a wild card. Only time will tell.

On a more serious note. Last Monday we had a sonogram and the nurse had a little trouble finding the heartbeat. We will have another ultrasound tomorrow (Mon., 9/22) to see what the verdict is. Please pray. We're pretty scared right now, but we're learning a great lesson in trusting the Lord.

Fun in the sun and baby!

2008-08-20T16:47:00.004-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to see our favorite cousin Kennedy (and favorite aunt and uncles). Grant and Kiki (Kennedy) had so much fun together. They are old enough now to communicate well and play together (as well as fight together). In this video, Kiki is trying to examine Grant's "pull-up" or "diaper". It's pretty funny.

Not long after we got back from Dallas, we found out that Grant is going to have a little sibling. He says in the video that he wants a brother. But now when we ask him, he says he wants a brother and sister! Russell and I will gladly settle for one or the other, not both!

Grant teetee'd in the potty!

2008-08-06T21:03:00.004-05:00

I can't believe this just happened. I'm sure we still have a long road ahead of us but we are so excited! Grant has shown interest lately in sitting on the big potty, so I thought I would get one his size. He sat on it for the longest time pushing to get pee out. We were surprized that he knew exactly what he was supposed to do. After letting out his number one Momma went crazy and fed him a handful of sweets (a Grant-sized handful anyway). We can't wait for the day that we can stop paying for diapers. Well, I guess now we're on to number two! Thanks for sharing in our joy.

Grant Little

2008-07-17T19:45:00.005-05:00

Grant Little

I think Grant does a better job at using the Gazelle than that Tony Little guy. The video here proves it. Plus, Grant doesn't have the greasy long hair! As usual, Grant has been amazing us. He has started saying bless you when someone (or himself) sneezes, coughs, blows their nose, etc. He says please "pwsss" and thank you "day too" when prompted and often on his own. He is picking up on numerous words in our conversations like a couple of days ago when he said "recruit" (wrecoot). We are noticing that you only have to introduce him to something once and he's got it down. Kerma taught him what his bathtub turtle is called. A few day later he was taking a bath at their house and Kerma asks what the turtle is and he says "duhrdel". What impressed me was that he remembered after all that time and now when he sees any type of turtle (whether a cartoon or stuffed animal) he will call it by name. If I could only have had a brain that learned that fast when I was in nursing school!

Also, Grant is going to be starting school this fall. The place is called Little Tykes and they teach the basic learning material for kids using Bible stories. We were really impressed. It is also an open concept setup so all teachers are exposed to the manager and each other at all times. We've been spoiled by having a babysitter since Grant was little, but now it is time for him to utilize all this brain power in a school setting. The best part of the deal is the school is within walking distance of our house and set off of any major roads. Once we found this place we thought, "When God blesses, he blesses BIG!"

Talking on the Phone

2008-07-03T20:09:00.003-05:00

Grant LOVES to talk on the phone. He makes this loud laugh-like sound when he "talks". Also, in this video, he will tell you how old he is. We taught him tonight how to tell us "Grant" when asked "what's your name?" We couldn't be more proud of him.

He is also very strong (head-strong and muscle-strong). This is a bad combination. About thirty minutes after I shot this video I was cooking supper while Grant ran around the house. Suddenly I looked over at the highchair and Grant was sitting in it! There was nothing around for him to climb up on besides the chair itself. He got up in it a few more times after that and I saw that he just uses his arms like he's doing a pull-up to hoist himself up into the chair. He has also discovered that this maneuver is useful for reaching objects on the counter top. We never know when are lives are going to change yet again. After today our lives will never be the same. Our nerves will always be on edge for fear of seeing Grant plummet to the ground from heights we never thought he could reach. Please pray for his safety! :)

Huge lot of videos

2008-06-29T23:10:00.008-05:00

I sound like an ebay ad! But, really there are a lot of videos that have been collecting up over the past month.
Grant is still growing and maturing like crazy! He is able to speak several complete sentences, he can tell us what he wants and will repeat any word you say. In fact, the other day he pinched Russell using his nails and Russell instinctively said, "ouch, crap!", like many of us would in that situation. Well for the next five minutes Grant was walking around saying, "cap, cap, cap." Needless to say, Russ and I both learned a valuable lesson that day!

This first video is of Grant and Kennedy (Grant's cousin) playing in Mamaw and Papaw's (Kerma and Gene's) backyard. They had an amazing time playing together in Lubbock while their parents took a trip to Ruidoso.

This next one is Grant trying on Momma's shoes. He loves to put on our shoes, but can't get very far in them. He likes momma's shoes because they are lighter than daddy's. He steers clear of the sparkly ones, though.

This one is Grant at one of his calmest moments. He loves to "wing" whenever he gets a chance. We'll sing Bible songs while he is swinging. He is able to sing along to several favorites like "I've got the joy, joy, joy....." and "Arky arky".

I don't know if Grant is destined to be an artist or not, but he sure loves to climb up on the piano bench and work his magic (as seen in the video). We'll give him a couple more months practice before we send him to Guinness Book of World Records headquarters :)

This last one is Grant discovering one of the many uses for Daddy.

Muscles

2008-05-28T17:31:00.004-05:00

Okay, I had to post another video. I promise I'll lay off for a little bit. You'll see why, though, I had to post this one. I don't know where Grant learned to "show his muscles", but he strains so hard while "showing" them he turns about as red as a Dwight Shrute beet.

Thunder

2008-05-27T22:13:00.003-05:00

I know I tend to post videos in bunches. It just seems that I get a lot of videos all at once that I have to share and then decide to lay low for a while. Anyway, I am just a proud mom! It has been stormy here today and Grant learned all about thunder. Every time it thundered (which was a lot) he would say "tunda". We are trying to learn that thunderstorms are fun and pretty, not scary. Today he also learned the word meat and started using the less delightful term "don't". And to my surprise he looked at the TV and said "tun on mama" to which I said "no". (We have a limit on TV watching).
Well, here is the video of him saying thunder. It is only a few seconds long.

Busy

2008-05-27T10:08:00.003-05:00

For those of you who don't spend a lot of time around Grant, I wanted you to have a glimpse into our life. When he is awake, he NEVER STOPS MOVING. This sounds like an exaggeration, but it is not. The flip side is, he is wonderful about going to sleep when it is time (Thank you Babywise!). I thought this video was a great example of how he goes from one activity to another. He wants to learn about everything. You can teach him how to do something once and he'll perfect it on his own or he'll just teach himself in the first place without instruction. This, of course, can be disaterous at times, but we are emmensely proud of our little guy!