Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!

It is (finally) time to announce the winner of the little contest I held on the blog last week! But, first, I have to share all the numbers, cuz that’s how I roll. There were 243 page views to the post at the writing of this one. We had total of 35 votes; 14 for girl and 21 for boy. I converted the names from the winning BOY group into numbers and entered them in at random.org, and the computer generated winner is…

Ben Dyson!

Ben is a member of our LifeGroup (which his wife appointed him “the annoying one” yesterday), a guy I used to work with, a father of 2 boys, and an all-around great guy! Congrats, buddy! (I’ll be emailing you soon with your prize!)

Boy, THAT was fun!

Today was the day!  The day we FINALLY got to find out if we were having a SHOCKER or a SHOCKERETTE.  The sonogram scan was actually done over 2 weeks ago, but due to work schedules, start of class at OSU and start of school for our kiddos, we had to wait for a not quite as busy weekend.  Today FINALLY arrived, and we were finally able to live the excitement after all the anticipation.

First, I want to share with you a few pictures of the food and decorations that my AMAZING husband picked out and created!  I helped color the Hershey’s bars and dipped the pretzels, but the rest was all Britt.  He never ceases to amaze me:

And the CAKE!  Shout out to Sarah Jones Cakes! for the awesome design!

Here is the video of us cutting the cake:

It was BLUE!

We had 2 games for door prizes.  Instead of a traditional guest book, we had 2 baskets by the front door with slips of paper for the guests to sign in on.  If you were on Team Pink, you put your name in the pink basket; Team Blue in the blue basket.  After we revealed it was team blue, we picked a WINNER – ended up being one of my sweet sorority girls that came to the party!

Our other game was a name game.  We had narrowed our list a week or so ago to 3 girl names and 3 boy names, and Britt put those names on little tin buckets of the appropriate color.  Each guest could only pick one name from their team to “vote” for.  Once we revealed the gender, we read the 3 names on the buckets, told the crowd our choice, and pulled a name from that bucket.  My mom (!!!) won that prize!  I was very thrilled by that!  Good figuring us out, Mom!

The whole party was really a fun time.  Jake was SO thrilled (as you can see in the video) and he even talked to his brother Finn, by name, in my belly.  SO CUTE!  The party had just the right amount of people, food and games.  LOTS of leftovers, but we like it that way!  I am so glad to KNOW, and to be able to call my baby Boy by name!

Finn Ricker Weaver, I can’t WAIT to meet you!

(PS – I will post the winner of the blog contest in the morning…)

Getting tense around here

We are a mere 24 hours from finding out the fate of our family!  It’s been fun asking the kids what they think and for name suggestions and such.  It has been fun to hear their thoughts.  Emma is wavering back and forth  - has been for a few weeks; I think right now she is on team PINK.  Lara is solidly on Team Pink – her toes are even painted pink!  And sweet, sweet Jake.  He wants it to be a boy SO BAD!!!  He’s had a rough week.  Starting Pre-K in a new school, his nap is apparently non-existent at school, and he has regressed a bit in his overnight potty training (which he mastered 2 and a half years ago!), besides still climbing in to our bed a couple of times a night.

Due to all of those crazy circumstances, and the excitement over finding out what the baby is, he is a bit wound up about all of this.  So, right before lunch, Britt was asking him about his thoughts and feelings on the boy v. girl issue.  THIS is the video I captured:

So – is it worth a submission to AFV?  I could sure use the $10,000!

We are 9 hours away from the end of our contest from earlier in the week!  Right now, the vote stands at 8 on Team Pink and 13 on Team Blue.  There is still time to get your vote on!  Head over to the original post and check it out!

Do You Know What You’re Having?

Yes, actually. Yes,I do know. I am having a BABY! I think right now, others are more interested in the gender of the ever growing baby in my belly than I am. I have been too stressed out with multiple doctor’s appointments, dealing with pregnancy complications, and still trying to live the rest of my life. Don’t get me wrong, I am very excited to know, but it doesn’t change the fact that my focus is on having a successful pregnancy and a healthy baby to bring home sometime late December or early January. I was actually on Team Green (Don’t find out until the delivery room) until my husband (and my mom, to some extent) talked me out of it due to timing. All that to say, we will know SOON!

Short sidebar – we went to the specialist in Oklahoma City yesterday and got to see Baby again! (Still no crotch shot as requested BY US!) Baby is doing great. Still measuring a bit on the small side, but growing steadily. There was no mention of “the spot” so we are thinking that is gone now (God is SO GOOD!), and according to the Doctor, “Everything looks good!” It is still so amazing to see the heartbeat on that huge screen! Incredible! And, we don’t have to go back unless our doctor here wants another growth screen done at 30 weeks – I will find out about that next week.

On Sunday, the Dream Weavers will know if Baby is a “Shcoker” or a “Shockerette.” We are so ready to know, so we can answer the tiring age old question, “Do you know what you are having yet?” It will also be fun to start referring to the Baby by name (no – not yet), planning the “nursery” (north wall of my bedroom), and feeling more connected to him or her. And, we want to get YOU involved, too, so I am having a little contest here on my blog!

Do you have a guess? Are you Thinking Pink or are you on Team Blue? I want to know – and there is the possibility some swag in it for you if are right! So, post away my friends! Comment here on this post, and I will pick one winner from the right team (Team Pink or Team Blue) and award you with a $15 Amazon.com gift certificate! Here are the rules:

• · One guess per reader

• · You must “sign” your post somehow so you are identifiable. If you insist on posting as “anonymous,” you must use a name somewhere in the post so I know who you are

• · You must guess by commenting HERE ON THE BLOG under this post – guesses on Facebook or Twitter won’t count for the contest

• · All entries are due by 12 midnight CST on Saturday, August 27, 2011

• · The winner will be chosen from the pool of correct guesses by random.com

• · I will post the winner of the contest on Monday, August 29, 2011

• · This is a simple contest on a simple blog. If someone tries to make it too complicated, I will simply rescind the whole thing. PLAY NICE and have fun!

So, get to guessing! I can’t wait to see what you all think! And, I am excited to find out for myself on Sunday!

First Day of School

The rest of last week went by relatively smoothly.  I took Thursday off from work to hang out for the LAST day of summer with my kids.  We hung out doing very little in the morning – breakfast, a few chores, board games, puzzles, and of course fights – then we loaded up after lunch and went to see The Smurf movie.  Jake absolutely LOVED it!  The girls really enjoyed it to, but it was so fun to sit next to Jake and hear him exclaim in excitement as crazy things happened up on the big screen!  He was fascinated, and it made me feel like a kid again!  After Dad got off work, he surprised us with another little last day of summer treat – dinner at Eskimo Joe’s!  It was SUCH a nice day, and a great way to cap off summer as we start a new school year.  We got home from dinner, everyone showered, and they were all in bed by 7:40!  WOOT!

Friday was the first day of a new school year.  The girls started 4^th grade, and while Lara’s best friend is in her class again, Emma is in a classroom where she knows a lot of the kids, but is not very close to any of them.  Knowing her, that will change quickly.  And Little Jake Weaver is now in Pre-Kindergarten at the Big School with his sisters!  He is my worrier (I won’t even begin to describe the conversation we had about a smoke detector last night), and he was verklempt that he wouldn’t know anyone in his class.  He ended up with 2 other kids from his class at the day care, and another child from a different class at day care that he knows.  He is THRILLED!  And yes, he is a head taller that all his friends…  

 

The first day went really well.  We were AMAZED at how many parents were there for drop off the first day, and I guess pick up was just as bad.  My mom handled pick up for me, and 2 excited 4^th graders + an inexperienced 4 year old + a worrier of a Nana = CHAOS and a phone call to me! LOL!  But, it all worked out.  The first few days are always a mess, but the kinks work themselves out eventually.  Jake did ask about 10 times over the weekend about who was taking him to school each day and who was picking him up, and we have instructed his sisters to work extra hard to show him how things work, so we’ll see how today goes!

The rest of the weekend was uneventful.  I slept most of it away, while my amazing husband cleaned our house, did our laundry, took all 3 kids with him to Wal-Mart to buy our groceries, and basically took up all the slack this baby and I are dropping lately. I did make it to church on Sunday to serve the whole day as Host team Leader with Britt, and I managed to sit a lot of that time – but I did go in to the experience room all 3 times to hear Dana sing Gaga “Born This Way” (and now it is stuck in my head forever!).   It’s hard to “take it easy” with a full time a job, a full time husband, 3 full time kids, and a house to take care of.  Britt feels the brunt of this, and deserves HUGE props for just doing it and not making me feel bad about it at all.  Best. Husband. Ever.

So, here’s to a new week!  The kids go to school all 5 days this week – so about Thursday I expect someone to be crying in the morning.  I go to see the specialist in OKC tomorrow, but other than that there is NOTHING on the calendar this week!  AMAZING!  I want to encourage you to stay tuned to the blog this week!  We will find out if Baby is a “Shocker” or a “Shockerette” on Sunday, and I have a little contest I will be announcing later this week where YOU, my dear reader, can win a fun prize!  Be watching for details!

P.S.  Freakin’ nose bleeds!  UGH!

It's Shrinking

I was really hoping for a (relatively) normal week.  I am super busy this week, what with the girls’ last trip to see their dad, dentist appointments, meet your teacher, and the first day of school, but I was anticipating no additional drama.  Boy was I wrong!  Nothing too disturbing, and it was a Monday after all, but it did throw me into a panic for a couple of hours.

I am determined to document as much as I can about this pregnancy.  For two main reasons. First – I have a terrible memory, and this way I can look back and say “Oh yeah!  I was 16 weeks when such and such happened” or “It was around the 3^rd month when I started feeling this way.” And second, maybe someday baby Shocker will want to read about this time in his/her life.  I have a journal I kept when I was pregnant with the girls, and this blog encompasses Jake’s pregnancy as well.  So, I have 2 events to record today one minor, and another a little more major.  Plus I had a couple of people ask about baby updates over the weekend, so here we go.

We had a crazy busy weekend.  Saturday, I spent 5 hours in the heat at my sorority house helping volunteer at Bid Day.  I have 81 new sisters, but I also had sore feet, a tired back, and a growing baby to contend with.  Then, as a family, we went to a birthday (pool) party Saturday night.  Then, I tried to rest on Sunday, but I served at church, then we went out to lunch (I took a 3 hour nap), then to my grandmother’s for her birthday.  WHEW!  Tired.  All of this to say that also sometime over the weekend, my baby and my belly “popped out.”  I went to get dressed Monday morning, and I was putting on non-maternity  jeans I had worn mid-week last week and was able to still button, and they were TIGHT and I could not even pull the zipper up more than a half inch!  I donned my belly band and my T-shirt anyway, but it is time to find some maternity pants.  UGH.  My boss mentioned it when I got to work and my mom even noticed when she saw me last night.

But the real drama came on Monday afternoon.  For 2 hours midday, I volunteered at OSU to work a registration table at Welcome Week.  Basically, without going into gory details,  I had some minor baby issues earlier Monday morning, then after my volunteer shift, they got bad enough I believed they warranted a phone call to the nurse.  I called in about 2pm, and then tried to distract myself with work while waiting for a call back.  I finally got a call about 4, saying to come in NOW for an ultrasound.  Britt and I only had one car on campus, and I had not alerted him to my situation.  So, I called him saying, don’t ask questions, I am on my way to pick you up, we are going to the doctor’s office, and I will explain on the way.  Once I got to my car, I called my mom to have her pick up Jake from day care.  Once at the doctor’s office, we got to see Baby Shocker on that wonderful little grey and black screen!  Baby looks great, heart rate is good, fluid levels normal, growing well.  And lo and behold, “The Spot” (that has been causing us some worry and lots of watching) is SHRINKING!  Bold Prayer is WORKING!   The sonogram tech was almost giddy with this discovery.  And of course, so were Britt and I!  We went to our doctor’s office for a few minutes to discuss, but this all seems so good!  I was told to take it easy (again) – and no more weekends like last weekend!  I am to monitor what’s going on, and if it changes or gets worse to call the doctor.  I will see the specialist in OKC a week from today, and I see my doctor here the week after that, so I feel well monitored for the next 2 weeks.

Did you see that?  It’s SHRINKING!  While I am still a medical anomaly, I am so excited to see this problem resolving itself.  God is good – ALL THE TIME!

What does it mean to be BOLD?

This past weekend, Lifechurch.tv and Pastor Craig Groeschel shared the second message in a series called BOLD.  The first week was called Amazing Boldness  and we learned that Boldness is a behavior born out of belief.  That God gives ordinary people extraordinary boldness and that your boldness will amaze the world.  This all came at an amazing time in my life, as I was in the middle of the being the boldest I have ever been.  This blog is my expression of BOLD!  Sharing Christ through the circumstances of my life, and praying that my words have touched, helped, or inspired someone – ANYONE – to be more like Christ and put their faith in Him. Not too long after this sermon was preached, I had an acquaintance tweet me, THANKING me for being BOLD.  That was a little affirmation that what I am doing here is making a difference – at least for that one person.

Fast Forward to week two: Bold Prayers.  This week we learned that what you pray for reflects what you believe about God.  Do you pray small, self-focused prayers?  Or do you pray Big, BOLD (Sun Stand Still) world changing prayers?  Pray for BOLDNESS!  Pray for MIRACLES!  If you have been following this blog for any length of time, you know the last 120 days have been an utter roller coaster for me and my family.  The disbelief of my brother’s death (4 months ago yesterday, in fact) and the circumstances surrounding it.  The shock of finding out we were expecting our fourth child and the wondrous surprise that was.  The terror of discovering we might lose the baby – a gift that had been presented to us; one that we never knew we even wanted. And, the miracle of being saved that tragedy.  All God’s work.  All for his glory.  All so I could learn to pray BOLD prayers and bear witness to miracles.  So that I could share these words with you, show you that our God is greater than anything you are facing, and encourage you to be faithful, and to be BOLD.

So, I have been thinking about this BOLD thing a lot the past few days.  At life group last night (shout out some LOVE to my LTC friends!), we went over the Talk It Over questions from this week (as best we could with a dozen kids running around!) and I got to share a little bit more of my story and what it means to me to be BOLD.  And how my journey with Christ has changed over the past 4 months, and what it FEELS like to be on this side of a miracle.  I told them I won’t feel completely comfortable until it is January and I am holding a healthy baby in my arms, but I KNOW that day is coming!  I feel blessed to know so many are praying for us, humbled to know that this life growing inside of me is already changing lives, and loved by so SO many people.  What an amazing demonstration of God’s purpose for our lives!  I received an email from a dear friend earlier this week reflecting on being BOLD, the miracle we have all gotten to be a part of, and how God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things.  I want to share a portion of it with you:

I’m not just amazed by the journey you’ve already been on and the miracle that has taken place over the last 2 weeks.   I am so moved by you guys and the way you handled every step of the situation.  Believing and knowing that God would hear our prayers and remain faithful.  I look at both of your facebook pages and see the people that commented and joined you in prayer and I’m just blown away.  The number of people alone is incredible…Today I am moved by the impact that Shocker is making in so many of their lives before he/she is even here.  God is already using this baby to lead people to Christ and to witness His work and love in and through you.  This world better watch out for what is coming with the 6^th Dream Weaver!

 …I hope you see that through your trials, through your little Shocker, people can’t ignore the powerful move of God that has happened…

 

Be BOLD this week.  Pray for Boldness.  Seek ways to be bold in your everyday life.  Pray for miracles.  Watch God show off.

Pure Fear

Something happened in our house last night that will be hard to forget for a while. It is slightly embarrassing (for me) to tell this story, but it is so incredible, I feel like I have to share. I need to give you a little bit of background and some set-up so you can see why the events unfolded the way they did.

BACKGROUND:

We have a 2 year old miniature schnauzer named Einstein. He is outside in our fenced back yard most of the time during the day, but we usually let him inside the house sometime during the evening, then he sleeps in a crate in our dining room. He enjoys Emma, likes Lara and Jake, tolerates Britt, and LOVES me. Especially now that I am pregnant; he is always sitting at my feet or following me through the house.

Women have vivid dreams during pregnancy. I was reading about it the other day, and 2 things happen during pregnancies that cause this. Hormones are CrAzy, and experts think that’s what causes the dream to be so real, and so strange sometimes. Plus, pregnant women seem to remember their dreams more because they either don’t at all or don’t as often go into that deep sleep phase that humans have, that comes after the dream REM sleep phase. I’ve had some super real to me, and some super strange ones, too…

I am a Twi-hard. I have read the Stephanie Meyer Twilight series books through twice, almost done with the 3^rd time around. And I have seen the movies dozens of times. I was with a group of about 10 women age 35+ for a midnight showing when Eclipse came out, and I will be at one for Breaking Dawn part 1 as well. (My boss can tell you how many days/hours/minutes away this is, I just know it is in November…) BTW, I am Team Jacob. Real men don’t sparkle, and I like my men tall, HOT and feisty!

SCENARIO

I had gone to bed about 9:30. It was a LONG day yesterday (9 hours with sorority girls during recruitment spirit week – working hard to perfect everything for recruitment next week, and then swimming lessons with Jake, then out for a quick dinner, then birthday shopping for Dad with the 3 littles. OH! And growing a human inside me.). I ate too much for dinner, (which means I ate about 1/3 of what I used to), and I was feeling pretty miserable about it. The kids had all been in bed about half an hour, there was nothing on TV, and no reason to resist, so I went to bed, trusty Kindle in my hand, settled in to read a few pages of my current guilty pleasure: Breaking Dawn. (For those in the know, Bella had just woken up from being turned, had hunted, and was meeting Renesmee for the first time. She had just realized what was going on with Jacob when I put it down…) I was worn out from my day, and I feel asleep very quickly. One of the things I usually do before I go to bed, is crate the dog. If he is already inside, I just tell him to “go to bed” and he saunters over there and gets in the crate, and I close the door and hook the latches. If he is outside, Britt usually lets him in, Einstein finds me, I pet him a bit, then I tell him to “go to bed.” When I went to bed, the dog was still in the backyard.

WHAT HAPPENED

It was about 10:30pm. I had only been asleep 20-30 minutes, but I was fast asleep and dreaming. It was hot (as usual) in our room, and I was sweaty. (I know at 9:30 Britt had said it was still 104 outside.) These days, I like to sleep in a T-shirt and underwear, no sheets on top of me, curled up with my body pillow. All I know is, something fairly heavy and furry, with sharp claws, landed on top of me, and began prodding my bare legs with something wet, squishy, and cold. I sat straight up and let out a blood curdling scream (3 times, to be exact according to my husband), and the offensive thing jumped or fell from my bed. During the 3^rd (?) scream, I hear my husband’s soothing voice coming down the hallway saying “Hey! Hey!”

Um, yeah… so, pretty funny, right? It is now, but right then, it was TERRIFYING! Once Einstein left and Britt got his arms around me, I realized tears were streaming down my face, my throat was sore (that’s how loud I screamed), I tasted vomit in my mouth, and I had dug my fingernails into the palms of my hands. Jake came out of his room (right next to ours) and was standing bleary-eyed in the hall staring at me (my screams scared the crap out of him, and he ended up sleeping with us for a bit – who can blame him!). The dog was at the other end of our 17 foot hallway, sitting (and laying at times) on the tile entryway looking down the hall at us, but he came nowhere near me, until Britt put him in his crate for the night and came to bed. I am not sure what exactly I was dreaming about, but I am pretty sure it had to do with a forest (I remember trees), and due to the content of my late night reading, I am sure it was supernatural…) Took me over an hour to get comfortable and get back to sleep. NOT something I want to repeat anytime soon.

Someday, I’ll tell you about the only other time I remember screaming like that (I need to ask my mom what happened in my childhood to make me scream like that?!?). It involves a late night drive from Dallas to Stillwater, the I-35 bridge over the Red River, and a pedestrian. That time I again scared my husband out of his wits, but I truly believe the Holy Spirit spoke to me that night…. Sigh…. Some other time, then…

Anyway! It is TAX FREE weekend! We are soon off to buy dance shoes for the girls, attend mock recruitment at the sorority house, head to the outlet mall that just opened in Oklahoma City (maybe) to back to school shop for the girls, then dinner out for Dad’s birthday! And hopefully, have dreamless sleep tonight.