SQUIRREL!

My ADD kicks in and I realize I haven’t gotten done anything I had planned on doing.  Hence, the blog has not been updated in almost 2 weeks.  And a LOT had has happened!   I just can’t seem to keep it all straight some days!  I have had it on my “To Do” list more than once, but, it just slips away…

Here we are, 2 weeks since Finn’s first birthday and the weekend of epic events, and I thought my season of busy would be over.  I was wrong.  While we are not knee deep in event planning like we were, this week we are knee deep in the sickies.  But, more on that later!  First, let’s get caught up on the past two weeks!

• ·         Finn: had a cold, went to the Dr – checked out fine (we still worry about those fragile lungs!).  2 days later, went back to the Dr for his 1 year well check.  He weighed in at 16 pounds 13 ounces and 28 inches tall.  Long and Lean!  He is right on track for between 9 and 12 months developmentally.  Got 6 injections – including the first half of his flu shot.  (I got my flu shot that morning as well!)  Our pediatrician recommended taking him off formula and starting whole milk – and a sippy cup.  2 weeks later we are all systems go on the milk, and about 50/50 on the cup.  Biggest stumbling block?  He refuses to HOLD the cup.  Or the bottle!  Silly baby!

• ·         Big Kids: Emma is in the middle of fall volleyball – practices and Saturday games keep us hopping!  Lara has her regular dance classes and Nutcracker rehearsals to keep her going, too.  Jake signed up to play Upward Basketball with Eagle Heights Baptist Church,  and we are looking forward to stating that soon.  All 3 kids got their first 9 week report cards and we had conferences with all of their teachers.  They are doing GREAT!  Emma and Lara are on the straight A Train, and Jake even got one of the highest grades for a Kindergartener in MUSIC!  Britt and I are rubbing off on him!  YAY!

• ·         Fall break for our school was last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  The girls spent part of that time with their Other Dad, and we got to take Jake and Finn to the OSU Homecoming Harvest carnival to play games and gather up candy.  NEWSFLASH: Jake Weaver is an ACE at carnival games! LOL!  He had the time of his life out there!

And speaking of Homecoming, “America’s Greatest Homecoming Celebration” was in Stillwater this past weekend!  We started by wearing orange every day last week, as it a tradition for Britt and I!  We enjoying seeing the Library Fountain run orange, the sign competition on Library Lawn, the Residence Halls lit up in orange on Thursday night, and of course, WalkAround on Friday night!  We took the 4 kids, and along with my parents walked the entire route – even stopped for pictures with Pistol Pete!  Finn is such a relaxed baby – he did great being carted around in the Baby Bjorn carrier.  We even stopped at the Alpha Delta Pi house for refreshments.  We tried to go early to get out of there early, since the Sea of Orange Parade was to start at 8:00am on Saturday!  We got up and out the door early for that one – and really enjoyed that, too.  But for us, the best part was snuggling in at home as a family with some pizza to watch the game in our cozy living room.  What a great day for our family to watch OSU beat the Iowa State Cyclones!  SUCH a better feeling than homecoming last year when things were so unsettled for our family!  And to top off a fun day - Britt loaded us all up after the game and we went to the pumpkin patch!  SO MUCH FUN!

Which bring me back to the sickies at my house.  3 of 4 kids have had SOMETHING to deal with the last couple of weeks.  Lara ended up in the ER in the middle of the night several days ago with her first ever full blown asthma attack!  Her rescue inhaler didn’t change a thing, so I took her in to get a breathing treatment.  The whole experience was less than stellar, but I won’t go into that here.  Her follow up with our pediatrician was today, and I now have a script for the nebulizer machine and the meds to administer breathing treatments at home should the need arise, and she has been authorized by her doctor and her school to self-carry her rescue inhaler at all times.  We may have to see an allergy/asthma specialist in the future.  Emma has been diagnosed with strep throat.  AGAIN.  2^nd time since school started – 2^nd time in 8 weeks.  Not even 2 full months!  UGH!  She has always been my “susceptible” one, but never has it enough (5 times in 12 months) to get her tonsils removed by the ENT here in town.  Not that I want her to be sick, but I would really love to get to that point so we can remove them!  And poor baby Finn.  He was getting over that cold, and then it just came back and knocked him down again.  He had a rough weekend, a bad night last night, and I took him with us to see the doctor today.  He has the baby equivalent of a sinus infection.  This is his 2^nd round of antibiotics in 2 months.  I really just need to get everyone well and to STAY well!  Our nurse said something about how she hadn’t seen Jake in quite a while, and I told her to bite her tongue!  She knocked on wood so we would not have him get sick soon, too!  LOL!

Halloween is quickly approaching!  The 3 big kids are set – accessories and all.  Emma and Lara are going to be the most beautiful police women you have ever seen, and Jake is a ninja.  Finn was to be an adorable baby convict, but his costume is on back order- with no release date set.  After I panicked (and cried – this is a big deal to me!) last week, I bought a convict costume that would fit Jake, and I think my friend Gabi is going to help me make something work – in case the other one never shows up!  Emma and Lara are bummed, too!  They were looking forward to carting around their little prisoner!  We’ll find a way to make it work, I’m sure!

And remember this super fun Gender Reveal Party we went to over the summer?  Well, Baby B made his appearace this weekend!  Braxton Wayne was born on Thursday, October 18, 2012 at 7:46pm weighing in at 7 pounds 11 ounces.  3 weeks early, but doing very well!  So happy for our friends Jenny and Brian!

I am happy to say that after today, this week is a slow one.  We need it!  Of course with Halloween in the middle of next week, it will be a doozie!  Happy Spooking!

Milk and Cookies

I MUSTACHE you a question!  

Would you like MILK with your COOKIES?

Watching a birthday slip past without a celebration is almost unforgivable!  And of course, the traditions of the 1^st birthday party run deep, so we had to make sure to mark this very special day with lots of fanfare and memories.  Finn will only be this age once.  We had a very memorable Milk and Cookies birthday party to mark the occasion.  It was a blast to put together, and even more fun to participate in.  So, sit back, and enjoy the pictures of our fabulous party!

Finn Ricker - Age ONE!

First off, let me share with you some of the party planning.  Britt and I both spent a lot of time on Pinterest and Etsy trying to find just the right details.  I even had Finn’s onesie special made just for the occasion!  I had the idea for the necktie, #1, and mustache, but I had to call upon a crafter I had ordered from before to make it happen.  Heather at Beach Bowtique made this one for me, and I am THRILLED at the way it turned out!  I got his leggings online at Etsy as well from Posh Pipsqueak.  The invitations (pictured above) were from Paper Clever, the milk bottle labels and table tent signs were from Baby Buns Designs, and the photo prop lips and mustaches as well as the high chair bunting banner were from The Party Penguin.  The party favor milk carton template is from Anders Ruff and while I am so happy with the way they turned out – THAT was a tedious process!  WHEW!  My mom deserves a SHOUT OUT for doing all the cutting.  I did all the folding and stuffing…  Britt was in charge of the milk bottles and straws, which he got from Jilly Bean Kids.  We just got a TJ Maxx in our town a few weeks ago, and we found the glass milk containers there.  And the cookies and cakes were from Food Pyramid! 

While we waited for the all the guests to finish arriving, we milled about and took TONS of fun photos using the lips and mustaches!  I think the older folks at the party thought I was nuts running around with these, but the kids and families all got a big kick out of it!  I know my kids had a BLAST with it!  (You will notice a lot of folks wearing their Finn’s Fans shirts from It’s a Preemie Thing at the party – that’s because we had our March of Dimes March for Babies earlier that day – where those shirts won a prize for best T-shirt design!)

Birthday Boy!

Emma

Jake

Lara

Mommy & Daddy (aka Betsey and Britt)

The Weavers

The Rickers

Silly Nana's!

After we were sure everyone was there, it was time to dig in to the milk and cookies!  We had candy, too.  Our favorite cookies – the fall leaves – were from Katy’s Pantry in Enid, and Finn’s grandparents brought them over with them for the day!  They are SO GOOD!  If you are ever in Enid, you HAVE to check them out!

Then, on to opening the presents.  Finn didn’t get into this activity too much.  He loved the cards that had pop-outs or played music, and his favorite thing to do was pull the brightly colored tissue paper out of the bags.  He got lots of great stuff – including diapers!  I have yet to have to buy a package of diapers for his entire life!  YAY!  From his dad and I, he got this GREAT little rocking chair from Toddle Rock.  Jake got a blue one for his 1^st birthday, so we had to carry on that tradition as well!

After all the present were opened and sufficiently ooh’d and ahh’d over, it was TIME.  Time to let the baby destroy his Smash Cake!  The cake was WAY MORE blue and orange that I thought it would be (I had wanted white icing with a little blue and orange – that got lost in the translation somewhere…), so Finn was stripped down to his diaper, set center stage, and commenced playing in his cake.  Very little actually made it to his mouth – he just started self-feeding a couple of weeks ago – be he sure had fun with the icing!

Afterwards, it was definitely bath time!  We hosed him down in the kitchen sink, put the bare minimum of clothing back on him, and let him rest for the remainder of the party.  It was a WONDERUFL event!  We are so thankful for all of our family and friends who came out to help make the day so special!  We ton TONS of pictures, and I can’t wait to show these to Finn some day when he will understand them better!

We had the party at my Sister-in-Love's house - the same place we had the gender reveal party last August.  A dear friend was at both events, and she still had a picture on her pohone from last year.  We made this little gem from that picture and one she took on saturday.  It's amazing to see how far we have come! (click on image to see it bigger)

Oh – the other thing we did on Saturday?  Finn’s one year portraits!  (Nothing like cramming it all in to a 10 hour day for a baby!)  Here are the sneak peeks of the AWESOME pumpkin patch themed photos taken by KassandraRitter.  SO PLEASED with the way they turned out!

So, here we are on the other side of a CRAZY year.  It has been quite a journey, and we are so blessed to have so many caring and loving people to share it with.  We are grateful for every meal, hour spent with the kids, plan assisted with, moment spent babysitting, piece of advice, helping hand and ESPECIALLY the prayers that have been shared with us over the past year.  It is simply astounding to think about all of the lives Sweet Baby Finn has touched in his short time here on this Earth.  We are so blessed to be chosen by God to be his parents, his sisters and his brother.  He is the final piece in the Six Dream Weavers puzzle, and he fits perfectly!

We Marched

It was cold, drizzly, and dreary.  All morning we prayed for the sun to make an appearance.  But, it didn't.  We dug out all the hats, scarves, and gloves we could find, loaded up the stroller, and the kids, and headed over to the pavilion at the lake for the March of Dimes March for Babies Stillwater.  We ate some hot dogs and cookies, drank some water, and then had our opening ceremony.  I even had a little speaking part in it!  Then, we walked.  The whole way.  All 6 of us, plus a few other Team Finn's Fans members.  It was cold.  But WE DID IT!  Even Jake (age 5) made it all the way around the 3.2 mile trail.  He did have a few less than stellar moments, but he MADE it! Because even he knows how hard babies fight to survive!

(We had everyone take off their coats and un-bundle for the pictures, but most of the time we were all covered up to stay warm! See how red Finn's nose is in the leading picture???)  it was COLD!!!!)

We KILLED our team goal, and turned in over $1650 as a team, earning us the award for most money raised by a family team.

We also entered the T-shirt contest sporting the awesome shirts done for us by It's a Preemie Thing - and we won!  SO PROUD of our team shirts!

Big Sister of a 1 pound miracle, Finn's Mommy, Big Brother of a 1 pound miracle, Finn's Daddy, Finn NICU Class of 2011, Finn's Aunt, Big Sister of a 1 pound miracle, Finn's Cousin

And here are a few other pictures of our cold, grey day.  So proud of our family and the passion they have for the March of Dimes. 

And now, we begin our reign as Ambassador Family!

First Birthday Letter

Dean Finn,

Well, my sweet boy.  We made it to a year.  I look back and at times I wasn’t sure we would ever get here in one piece.  But we did!  ALL of us!  It has truly taken a very strong family and the support of a village to get to his point.  I am so blessed to be your Mommy, and to be a part of this family.  I have no idea why God put this path before me, but I can honestly say I am so much a better person for it.  And your path is just starting!  I was just thinking this week about HOW MANY lives you have touched, and you haven’t even spoken your first word or walked your first step.  You are shining the light of Jesus, and you don’t even know you are doing it!

Happy FIRST Birthday, Little Man!  You are SUCH a complete joy to be around!  You smile so easily, and you charm everyone you encounter.  Your eyes are so expressive, and your numerous facial expressions keep us all guessing as to what is going on in that perfectly round head of yours!  You are sporting some pretty blonde hair right now!  There’s not a lot of it, but it is a color and texture I didn’t expect!  You have 5 teeth, and I keep thinking that sixth one will break through any day!  2 on bottom and 3 on top – the middle two and the one next to it on the left.  You bit your own arm about a week ago, and the mark left on your forearm was definitely yours – there were 5 little indentations!  You can crawl like greased lightning, and you pull up to stand CONSTANTLY.  You like to climb over people who are playing on the floor with you, and your favorite toys are the blue hand clapper noise maker you acquired at Alpha Delta Pi Bid Day back in August, a toy cell phone that has a mirror on it – although I think the orange webbing that attached it to a ring is really your favorite part – and the blue triangle shaped chewy tube.  Oh, and Stella.  You love pulling her ears, yanking her tail, and sticking your hands in her mouth.  And lucky for you, she is so gentle and just lets you!  

You are eating more and more table food every day!  You really like chicken, and cheese and BREAD!  My kind of kid!  You never did take to pureed baby food.  I have a nice stash to pass down to the next baby in line…  You have been waking up in the middle of the night more these past couple of weeks.  I remember reading where that happens around 9-10 months, so  guess you are there.  Daddy and I sure would appreciate you getting back into sleeping all night, though.  Some nights, you just need a cuddle and a back pat, others, you need food and a play date! LOL!  Silly Monkey!  Our biggest obstacle right now is your SEVERE separation anxiety and stranger danger!  WOW!  You have QUITE a set of lungs on you (which we are very happy about)!  Church is a complete scream-fest for you, and we learned last weekend at Daddy’s High School reunion, you don’t do well with the Weaver grandparents, either.  So, for right now, you don’t like for anyone to care for you except Mommy, Daddy, Nana and (occasionally) Grandpa.  You sure are lucky to have them so close!  So are Daddy and I or we would never get a free minute!

Finn, you are just too cute for words.  And have such a laid back, precious temperament.  You are perfectly content to sit and play with your toys without outside intervention, and you are easily fascinated by anything with lights.  If you are crying, you have a pretty significant physical need that is not being met – even if it’s just a hug!  We are so proud of the wonderful little boy you are becoming.  You have come SO FAR!  And you just keep amazing us with your discoveries and your sweet disposition.  You are getting pretty close to standing alone – I’ve even seen you let go a few times.  Daddy and I have a bet going about whether or not you will be walking by Christmas!  Daddy says yes – by Thanksgiving even – but I am on the more conservative side and say it will be after the first of the New Year.  Either way, we know we are in for a chase when it happens!  You love to be all over the place making mayhem!  The dog bowl for water and Nana’s potted plants don’t stand a chance against you!

Daddy and I have worked really hard to plan a fun “Milk & Cookies” 1^st birthday party for you.  We have some special gifts for you, too.  We can’t wait to share this celebration with you, and to let you dig into your first birthday cake.  Your brother Jake and your sisters Emma and Lara are so delighted to have you for a little brother!  They always want to show you off, and they even argue about who gets to play with you next.  You are such a lucky little guy to be surrounded by such marvelous people that care so much for you.  But, I think your Dad and I are the luckiest parents on Earth!  We love you more than you can every possibly understand, and we are just so proud of you and how far you have come.  We are blessed to be on this journey with you, and we can’t wait to see what God has in store for such a special baby!

Happy 1^st Birthday, Finn.

I love you,

Momma