Olympic Thumb Sucking

Hi all,

A good amount of stuff for this post as the number of appointments for Dustin seem to be increasing:

Pediatrician
- General health is fine; weighing in at 10lbs 11oz, 24 inches long (roughly 25th percentile but gaining); praise.

Hearing Test
- Lisa felt that Dustin was not hearing well (reacting well to voice, etc.) and so she arranged for a hearing test. The test was inconclusive - one measure of the exam was good and one one was not but could have been impacted by Dustin's cold. We will retest in 6-8 weeks; please pray for good hearing test results when we do this as poor hearing will impact DJ in many ways, including his ability to talk.

Physical Therapy
- Although we've referred to this in previous posts, Dustin actually started PT last week with a focus on development of neck and back muscles so he can progress to solid foods (sitting up and holding his head up)

Feeding Therapy
- This has started so Dustin can get used to the feel of spoons (no solid food yet) in his mouth

Developmental Therapy
- Lisa has not been happy with the therapist we've been using so please pray for wisdom to select new one; DT is distinct from PT in that DT is focus on "tasks" vs "muscles, etc."

Opthamologist
- Follow up appointment from Oct where it was found that Dustin had nystagmus and delayed visual development; please pray for progress here. Dustin's pediatrician actually has nystagmus so this can be overcome.

We are thankful for support from the state of North Carolina which provides free services and guidance through North Carolina Early Intervention Services and Children's Development Services Agencies.

Although this post could give one cause for concern, please know that Dustin is otherwise doing great and of course one of our greatest joys - with one other being Mr. Z (Zach). They are affectionately referred to in our household as Mr D. and Mr Z.

Dustin has been spending lots of time on his tummy these days - we put him down on his back and then he rolls over onto his tummy. Then he proceeds to grunt and groan as he works to hold his head up....no pain no gain. He also grunts and groans as he sucks his thumb - Olympic thumb sucking.

Zach had two snow days yesterday and today as we had 3 inches of snow and this of course paralyzes the city (it's a bit amusing compared to Boston and Chicago) - no school, lots of other stuff closed. Today Zach and Rob built a snow man in the backyard (picture soon). Recently Zach and Rob started indoor rock climbing together - good fun (again more pictures on this soon).

Thanks as always for your prayers and love - we really feel it.

DJ Heads to Boot Camp

Happy new year to all and we hope that you all had a blessed Christmas. We had a great time in FL (13hr one way drive - ouch!) with Lisa's family and Zach enjoyed seeing all of his cousins. Dustin enjoyed himself as well as he got lots of attention! Pictures link here.

Since we've been back, we've had two appointments for Dustin, one with the physical therapist and one to check progress with Dustin's eyes. The PT said that Dustin was in the 10th percentile (90 percent of kids his age are ahead of him) regarding head control. Head control is key so that he can swallow and intake food other than milk. The PT gave us a few new exercises for this so we are off to the baby army surplus store to get some fatigues for Dustin - we're off to boot camp. Seriously, we're not horribly concerned here but we certainly want DJ enjoy other foods as soon as possible (as he does we're sure!) - please pray.

The eye testing on the other hand went much better. Last time, Dustin did well on vertical tracking (follow something like a finger or object) which is harder but did poorly on horizontal tracking. This time, DJ did well on both - praise.

All else is well and we've settled back into a routine - Rob has started a new role at Oracle with a former boss that he likes alot and Lisa is glad to have gotten through all of the rush of Christmas (although she likes Christmas alot and still wants to listen to Christmas music - Rob vetoed this).

Thanks for all of your Christmas cards - it's always fun to see the pictures and to hear about the goings on.

Thanks again for your prayers and we love you all.