On the 21st of November Leigh and Brooks went to the hospital and spent the night with little Everett. That was a practice event to make sure the parents could handle the little guy when he came home.

And come home he did! The next morning on the 22nd Everett Lee Whittington came home to Richardson Texas.

We were all extremely surprised but the baby was doing so well and the parents passed their test, so that the hospital staff gave him his "liberty pass" and he arrived home at about 2pm on the 22nd. His due date was still to be about the 22nd of December so still a month to go before that.

On November 3rd at 8pm we were settling down with a glass of wine by the fire when the phone rang. It was Brooks saying, "We've just arrived at the hospital and Leigh might have a baby and we'd like to have you guys here." Dallas is about 200 miles from our place, so we threw a few things in the suitcase, threw the dog in the car, called wonderful brother Richard to feed the cat, and by 8:30 were on the road.

At 10 that night, while we were enroute, Brooks called and said, you guys are now grandparents! Everett Lee Whittington was born at 9:51 on November 3rd by CS. He was a tiny 4 pounds and 9 ounces and about six weeks early ... and what a surprise for all!

We arrived at the Medical City Hospital in Dallas at about midnight and were able to see both Brooks and Leigh. By the next day we were all able to see Everett and he was doing really well.





He was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the technology and care is awesome. He was doing extremely well right from the start with lungs, eyes, and heart all doing what they should. He's being monitored, but he is doing what he needs to all on his own. Cool.

Here's a comparison of Leigh's hand to the little guy's head. It was amazing that we were all able to get in and touch the little dude in his first 24 hours.

Within a couple of days the staff was able to take little Everett and let him bond with Mom in a period called "Roo Time" after kangaroo parenting methods.

And then Dad was able to get some personal time with the new boy. Big man little man and really neat! Oh, let's see, who has more hair, eh?

Leigh was able to come home on the 5th and was back at work, but unfortunately the little guy will take some more monitoring before he comes home. As of now the staff still is saying that it will be about three more weeks for him to come home. He is fed and changed every three hours and Leigh is doing that. Fortunately the hospital is about 10 minutes from home and directly on the way to work so that schedule will have to work for a while.

Oh yeah, 4 weeks in intensive care ... about $1,000,000; unfortunately because of our poor health care system it will still cost the kids about $20,000.

Everett's new room when he comes home.

October 28th is always special as it is Dad's birthday. Especially this year as he was a young 94 years old. We went out to Cenare's Italian Restaurant which is a special place for all of us and then came back to our house for cake and ice cream for the birthday boy. Oh yeah, and a little champagne for all.

Pop is doing great and I guess we need to start serious planning for the 100th, eh!

On October 16th we went to the Temple/Salado area to attend the wedding of Katie Hueter, twin to Kellie, whose wedding we attended last year. Here you can see Katie and Grant with Kellie in the background. Beautiful setting right on the Salado Creek with a perfect Texas Fall afternoon.

Katie looking especially radiant.

I'll have to get the meaning of the cake topping, 'cause I have no idea.

John Neely trying to figure which of the Shiner Bock beers is better.

Harvey Hueter with the first dance at the reception with his daughter.

And Pat and John cuttin' the rug ... er, stone in this case.

This was a really neat night at the Tenroc Ranch in central Texas and we were super happy to be part of Katie and Grant's future.