October! You're here!

It's my favorite month!  My birthday, autumn colors, pumpkin flavored everything, Jack-o-lanterns, HALLOWEEN!  And, this weekend, miracle baby FINN WILL BE TWO YEARS OLD!  How in the world did that 2 years go by so very quickly?  Seems like yesterday we brought him home from the NICU!  And now he's a healthy, happy, walking, talking, CRAZY toddler!  We couldn't be more blessed!

The end of September here in Oklahoma was a HOT one, but the cool down has started and should stay it sounds like.  We took time this past weekend to thoroughly clean out both boys' closets.  Made them try on every pair of pants we owned!  Did this about 2 months ago, in preparation for the Fall Adorable Affordables consignment sale, but they have both grown since then!  It was time to do it again!  Needless to say, I have a GREAT start on next year's fall sale!  We also took out all the summer stuff that was too stained to keep, or too small to wear.  So, the Spring sale has a good starting point as well. 

We are also gearing up for my cousin's wedding in just a few weeks!  We are all looking through our closets trying to find wedding clothes to wear!  Emma and Lara have it easy - they are candle lighters in the ceremony, so they have dresses all set to go.  (Although, come to think of it, Emma's is still at the alterations shop...  I need to check on that!).  Finn's birthday is this weekend; I'm hoping he gets something suitable to wear as a gift.  Jake got a nice dress shirt at the consignment sale, and we bought him slacks this weekend.  He wants to wear a tie.  A neck tie.  A "REAL" one!  Gotta do some searching for that.  And I have a black dress.  That should work.  Britt has a few shirts to pick from - we will look FABULOUS! LOL!

Someone in my office today asked how the Weaver's were doing it up big for Halloween this year.  Sadly, I don't think we are.  The girls are past dressing up, and Jake doesn't want to "play my game" and dress in a theme with his baby brother, so I think we'll just wing it.  I don't want to spend a lot of money on it, either.  October is an expensive month around here!  In my dreams, I had Jake dressed as Sully and Finn as Mike from Monsters U.  Then, Emma and Lara were going to dress up as some of the sorority monsters from the movie as well.  Again, no one wants to play along. *sad face*

But, we can still have some Halloween fun!  Dream Weaver Prints is getting in on the deal, too!  Have you ever Boo'd someone?  Ever been boo'd?  Well, here's your chance!

 

Over in the Dream Weaver Prints ETSY shop, there is a new item!  All the information and templates you need to start a "Boo-ing" craze in your neighborhood!  Or, in your place of work!  Check it out. and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

DAY 26! 26 Days of March of Dimes

WE MADE IT!

Today was Walk Day!  26 posts in 26 days! SO happy we made it!

So, Let me recap for you.  It started raining about 6:30 this morning.  Registration for our walk was set for 9:00am; the walk was to begin at 10:00am.  It rained. And the wind blew.  And it rained.  And it rained harder.  Then it rained.  And it RAINED.  And the wind blew.  And it rained some more.  It was still raining at 11:30 am when we left.  It was a lot of rain.  (Got it?)

So, we had to scramble late last night for a rain location since we knew the rain was in the forecast.  SO THANKFUL that worked out.  Even though we were super bummed we had to forgo the walk, and simply do the "program" part of it indoors.  Somewhat surprisingly, we had a GREAT turn out!  And it was a lot of fun!  I'll let the pictures say the rest.  I'm tired.  And ready for bed...

Emma & Lara showing off our banner before we head out

Wet. Wet. Wet.

Lisa and Britt ditched their shoes and socks for the parking lot lake

This was a common site by every door

Super AWESOME Super AMAZING cupcakes from the BRAND NEW Bella Maria bakery!

Recognition Beads and color chart

Team Finn's Fans & Roman's Empire banners

My VERY special and thoughtful gift from my Sister-In-Love!  (those are my 4 kids' birthstones!)  And, those are rain spots on my T-shirt.  'Cause it was raining.

Me and My Miracle! (Sporting my parent and committee member beads!)

Back of Finn's Shirt: Team Finn's Fans- 26 Weeks, 84 Days in the NICU, 860 Grams, OUR ADVENTURE

Back of Team shirt: "As soon as I saw you I knew an Adventure was going to happen." Winnie the Pooh

Pistol Pete is a Finn's Fan!

Did I mention it was raining?  Jake, Lara and Emma loved it.

Presentation time!

Team Finn's Fans!  Grandpa, Nana the Wonder Sitter, Me, Finn, Britt, Lara, Emma, Jake and Aunt Paula

It was really a good time.  Team Finn's Fans won awards for the most money raised over-all, the most money raised by a family team, and 2nd runner up for T-shirt design.  The Six Dream Weavers also received a nice plaque for being 2013 Ambassador family, and Britt & Betsey each got recognized with small gift for being on the MFB Committee for this year.

We want to thank all of YOU for helping us reach our goal!  As of bank day on Thursday, we had raised just under $2600 dollars.  Based on feedback we received from the Adorable Affordables sale, the March of Dimes cut outs are selling like HOT CAKES!  I bet we reach $3,000 before we are done!  SO EXCITING!  The babies love you for loving them!  See ya next year!

Day 25: 26 Days of March of Dimes

Volunteers

2012

More than 7 million people get involved in our largest fundraiser each year. March for Babies® raises awareness and $108 million to fund lifesaving research and community programs. 

1973

The first March of Dimes walkathons took place in 1970, setting the stage for the growth of WalkAmerica®, which became March for Babies in 2008.

1963

Even the youngest volunteers understand the importance of helping others. Today, thousands of young people, from elementary school to college, help the March of Dimes, often inspiring a lifetime of volunteering.

1950

As polio epidemics grew more widespread, volunteers went door to door to collect dimes so researchers working in labs could develop a successful vaccine. The campaign was known as Mothers March®.

Source:  http://www.marchofdimes.com/mission/mission-75.aspx#

Team Finn's Fans had "BANK DAY" yesterday.  We turned in all the cash and checks we had collected, and reconciled the on-line donations.  Our goal was $2575.00.  At yesterday's event, we turned in $2,579.00!  And still counting!  We are so blessed that Adorable Affordables is not only a corporate sponsor for the March tomorrow, they are also graciously selling March for Babies "cut outs" at the registers during the sale this week.  here is a picture of the "Wall of Babies" from friday morning!

 

Thank you all SO VERY MUCH for supporting Team Finn's Fans and most importantly, March of Dimes and the mission they have for healthy moms and babies!  My dream is that SOMEDAY, no baby will have to be born prematurely!

 

 

Day 17: 26 Days of March of Dimes

Team Finn's Fans UPDATE

Sweet Baby Finn!  We have come SUCH a long way, little man!  I am so proud of you and your amazing accomplishments!  Such a fighter!

So, how are things going on Team Finn's Fans, you ask?  I would say very, VERY well!  So well, that we UPPED OUR GOAL!  We surpassed our original goal of $1,575.00 almost a week ago - with 2 weeks left until the March.  That means, we were too low, of course!  So, we raised our goal by $1,000 to $2,575.00!  Yes, we did!  Here's how that looks today:

So, we have raised 71% of our "new goal!  We would love to PASS that goal, too!  CLICK HERE to go to our team page and make a donation to Team Finn's Fans!

As for what else is going on with our team - we still have a few events happing as we lead up to Bank Day next Thursday, and the march a week from Saturday!

Tonight we are hosting a "thirty-one gifts" party!  They have the CUTEST stuff!  And now Oklahoma State University is one of the NCAA school logos that they can add to certain items!  The on-line sale is open to everyone!  CLICK HERE to shop on-line, where 20% of your purchase goes to Finn's Fans!

Also, we still have purple collection buckets out collecting coins (and bills!) for this amazing cause!  I have one in my office, and there is one at the Alpha Delta Pi house as well!  Such an easy way to support Finn's Fans - empty your pocket change and lighten your load!

In addition to that, we are selling "cut outs" at the Adorable Affordables area wide consignment sale next week!  They are one of our Gold Sponsors for the March this year, and Lori Beth (owner) has graciously agreed to sell these for $1 each, and we will post them all over the building to show how you support the March of Dimes!  Come out and see us at the sale!

As our campaign season winds down, we are so grateful for all your support, and so thankful for all your donations.  Thank you for helping us Save the Babies!

What’s in a Name?

Finn and family update first!  Finn did AWESOME after his ear tubes!  We can really tell a difference in what he can hear, and he is trying SO HARD to walk!  He has gotten 2 new teeth this week - brings us up to 8.  But there is no rhyme or reason to the ones coming in now.  They are not symmetric nor in order, so I bet he gets more in the next few weeks.  He had his first evaluation at Hearts for Hearing in Oklahoma City yesterday, and scored in the range for normal for the tests they performed.  We go back in six weeks to do it again once the tubes are “settled” in more.  After a pretty calm weekend of typical activities, we had a bit of a crazy Monday and Tuesday!  OSU campus closed at 12:30 Monday and all day Tuesday due to a “blizzard” – that turned out to be nothing more than a cold rain and about 2 inches of wet snow!  Free time off!  The kids got Tuesday out of school, too, but we had the appointment in OKC, so it was basically a wash.  They went to Nana’s and played in the snow water and mud at her house while we went with Finn.  Tuesday afternoon I put them to work tagging clothes and items for the Adorable Affordables consignment sale!

Earlier today, I was chatting online with a new friend (who made this AMAZING shirt for me!) and I asked her about how she chose her son’s name.  She, in turn, asked me about Finn’s name.  I’m not sure I have ever really told the “long” (I’ll try to keep it short) version of how we came to decide on his AWESOME name, so I thought I should write about it.  And if I am doing his, I can’t leave the BIG Dream Weaver kids out!  It’s kind of heady to think that I am (at least partially) responsible for saddling 4 humans with the monikers they will use for the rest of their lives.  I hope I served them well in this task…

Finn Ricker Weaver: (en utero name: Shocker.  Because we were SHOCKED!) Fourth child.  LAST child.  The story of how we came to decide on his name is not really all that glamorous or exciting.  We had decided along the way early in the pregnancy that we were pretty sure we wanted a 4 letter name for this (genderless at this point) baby.  Emma and Lara were 4 letters, we called Jacob by his 4 letter nickname of Jake, so it stood to reason – 4^th kid, 4 letters.  So, we printed lists off the internet.  Off name databases. Grabbed baby name books off store shelves.  Pulled names from our own minds.  And at MANY lunch dates, we read our lists to each other and marked off HUNDREDS of names as no-go’s.  The girl names that finally remained were Holley (with the “ey” like my name; courtesy of the 4 year old who has just seen Cars 2 and loved Holley Shiftwell), Stella (ending in “a” like Emma and Lara), and Kate (family name on my husband’s side – 4 letters).  Needless to say, we didn’t even need these!  The boy names were Nathan (Nate), Barrett (Rett) and Finn.  All from name books or websites.  The afore mentioned 4 year old was particularly attached to the name Finn.  Again, Cars 2 – Finn McMissle.  Plus, Britt and I are fans of the FOX TV show Glee, and Finn Hudson was a main character, so the name was “known” a bit and not completely off the wall.  (You can see the names in a game from our Gender Reveal Party post!)  The other kids’ names were so traditional; we didn’t want to veer too far off that path.  As for his middle name, we wanted to honor my older brother Brian who had passed in April of 2011.  We didn’t feel comfortable using the name Brian, so we chose to use our last name, Ricker, as Finn’s middle name.  I am so glad we decided to do this.  Makes his name truly unique, and it completely suits him!  Finn Ricker Weaver – Smiley and serious, tough and tenacious!

Here’s a video of 4 year old Jake the night before the gender reveal party – praying for a boy named Finn McMissle, or if it had to be a girl, at least name it Holley Shiftwell!

Jacob Alan Weaver:  (en utero name: Bullet.  Because we are die hard OSU Cowboy fans and that’s our football game day mascot’s name! And a fetus is small. Like a bullet…) I dug deep into the archives to find a post about Jake’s name.  I’ve been in the blogging/journaling business a long time…  Sadly, the post I found wasn’t very exciting!  But, I do know how we chose his name!  We knew from very early on – before we had time to really discuss names, even – that our baby was a boy.  This was Britt’s first child, and as such I gladly left the major part of the naming decision up to him.  He wanted to leave his legacy with a good, strong name.  We talked and decided we wanted to name him Jacob after Britt’s dad.  Since he wasn’t a “junior” we decided to go with a different middle name from his grandfather.  So, we chose Alan, which is Britt’s middle name.  I remember we bought a frame for the ultrasound picture that definitely showed our baby’s gender to give to Britt’s parents, and we wrote “Jacob Alan” on the frame.  His parents – especially his Dad – were elated!  Such a neat memory we get to share with our Jake some day! Jacob Alan Weaver: mischievous and silly, class clown and big tease!

Emma Marie and Lara Elizabeth Horinek:  (en utero names: Jenna and Barbara.  Because I was in Texas, the Senior George Bush was president, and those were the “First” twins!) I had to dig WAAAAAAAAAAAAY back to find any documentation on these names!  I typed my journal on a computer, but it was not online anywhere.  I had printed the entries as I went along, and they are in a binder.  And yes, I knew where the binder was!  Once we knew the babies were both girls, the girls’ father and I decided we would each name one baby.  Seems fair, right?  But, we each had veto power if we thought the chosen name was hideous.  Luckily, that was never an issue.  We had also decided we didn’t want to do the matchy-matchy thing (like Haylee  and Kaylee) or even the same first sound thing (like Madison and Mackenzie).  We did decide to do 4 letters, and end in the same sound.  They were twins after all!  We couldn’t disappoint the people who wanted  ”twin-y” names!  He chose the name Emma Marie.  Emma after a distant grandmother, and Marie was the middle name of his paternal grandmother (who actually died in a tragic car crash on Thanksgiving Day the November I was pregnant!).  I chose Lara Elizabeth.  That was the name my mother had originally chosen for me.  But my brother insisted upon calling me Betsey.  But I always knew I wanted to name my daughter that!  Lara is after my Dad (Larry) and his favorite song from Dr. Zhivago “Lara’s Theme”  and then I stuck with Elizabeth since Betsey is a derivative of Elizabeth. Plus, that way they both girls ended up with "traditional" names.  I also liked the fact that there were no “obvious” nicknames for either name.  I wanted them to be called what we named them.  Their “Twister” nickname came about when they were about 6 months old and a sorority sister of mine told me a story about her brother being in Kindergarten and coming home and telling the family about the “Twisters” in his class.  They later deciphered that he mean “twin sisters!”  And we still call my girls the Twisters 10 years later! Emma Marie: strong and determined, creative and passionate.  Lara Elizabeth: goofy and fun, smart and loving.

So, what’s in a name?  How did you choose the names for your children, or how did your parents choose your name?  Good feelings or bad feelings about it? I think these stories can be fascinating!

Snow Day

Since I last wrote, a few things have happened with the Weavers that are worth mentioning.  Today was a snow day – among other things – so I’ve had plenty of quality (tormenting) time with my kids.  And, I was lucky enough to have Nana the Wonder Sitter all day as well.  The pesky snow day was late coming, and plans were already in place when school was called off, so we just moved forward with the original plan.  But more on that later.  First, some updates…

Finn has been home for a week now.  He came home 100% healthy, over the RSV, pneumonia, and whatever else he had, and back to normal.  This was a blessing and a curse.  Dad and I came home 100% exhausted.  It was hard to keep up with him and the Big Dream Weaver kids those first few days!  Last Thursday Finn had a follow up with his pediatrician which went perfectly well, then an appointment with the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor that afternoon.   Our pediatrician is working to schedule us an appointment with a pediatric pulmonologist for follow up, and the ENT scheduled Finn for ear tubes a week later (today).  Never a dull moment with him these days!

Friday was a SUPER EXCITING day!  If you’re a follower of the Six Dream Weavers, you know we have been touting BALTO week at Edmond North High School for several weeks.  Their benefactor this year is the March of Dimes NICU Family Support Specialist program.  Last Friday was the final assembly.  The one where everyone gets all emotional and thanks everyone for everything.  But, the best part?  They calculate and announce the final fundraising number!  Their goal for this year was $225,000.00.  We were pretty sure they would exceed that – this is an AMAZING group of kids – but we didn’t know by how much until the end of the 2 hour assembly.  When they raised the balloons to reveal the final number, the roar of the crowd was deafening, and the tears from the March of Dimes section of the stands were freely flowing.  My Instagram (BestWeave) from the moment:

And the final photo with the amount raised:

We are so excited to see how this money is used in the near future to grow the NICU Family Support Program from just one hospital in Oklahoma (Mercy) to at least one more in OKC and possibly Tulsa as well.  Having one at our hospital made a WORLD of difference in our NICU experience compared to many of our friends who had very different experiences at other hospitals.  THANK YOU, BALTO for choosing babies!

After a busy weekend of running the Bigs to birthday parties, basketball games, dance workshops, and church events, we were glad to get back to a routine on Monday.  Sort of.  The kids had the day out of school for President’s day, so Nana the Wonder Sitter was on quadruple duty while Dad and I went to work.  We really felt like we were starting to get back to normal and back into our routine at that point – even though we were still super tired as parents.  We were blessed by friends and neighbors with food for a few days, which kept us OUT of Wal-Mart for groceries and allowed us time to get the house (laundry, clutter, mail piles) in order without having to worry too much about food.  We are so grateful to have such wonderful people in our lives who love Finn as much as we do!

Of course, as we get back to normal, there is another little obstacle for us to overcome!  Finn was scheduled to have tubes put in his ears at 6:00 this morning.  Which isn’t really that big of a deal.  Except that we were having a thunder sleet storm over night and early this morning.  Ain’t NOBODY got time for that!  It was crazy.  And when we left our house shortly after 5:30 am to go across town to the Surgery Center, the roads were pretty bad – and getting worse!  Of course the process at the surgery center was a bit of a hurry up and wait game.  We were called back right at 6:00, but Finn wasn’t taken back for his procedure until 7:06.  During that time, we were obsessively checking local news channel websites and the Public School website for news of school cancellation.  EVERY town around us was called off; we just knew we would be too.  But, in the meantime, the plan was for Nana to come to our house at 7:00 to get the big kids up and off to the bus stop.  So when the School Board finally announced school closings at 6:50 am, my dad was already driving my mom to the other side of town to my house with chains on his tires to drop her off.  We could have avoided that whole scenario if school had been called off earlier!  The kids would have been fine by themselves until we got home.  *sigh* So, Finn was back in my arms by 7:21.  He did great!  Woke up a bit cranky, but overall did very, very well.  After a really great experience at Stillwater Surgery Center, we got home right at 8:00 am, and Dad went off to work, and I stayed home with the kids – and Nana!  It made for a pretty easy day with the extra help.  We weren’t sure how Finn would react, so it was nice to have extra hands to keep everyone clean, dry, entertained, and happy!  Finn did throw up once about 45 minutes after we got home, but he never ran a fever, had not had any more pain meds, and ate well the rest of the day.  They told us he would nap extra-long, too, but they have not met this child!  He was too worried he might be missing something his siblings were doing to sleep!

We really hope this procedure is a turning point for Finn.  We are looking forward to hearing words and seeing him take his first steps.  He has a hearing test scheduled for next week in Oklahoma City, but we’re thinking the tubes will have done the trick and that the hearing test will come back completely positive!  In the meantime, I hope my big kids get to go to school tomorrow, and I am looking forward to a calm weekend – it’s time to start tagging clothes for the Adorable Affordables sale!

Monday Musings

My to do list is a bit more manageable this morning.  I got some things done this weekend (one of my deadlines passed), and Britt and I worked together on some of Finn's 1st Birthday party details.  I feel better about our progress for all of our events, but we still have a LONG way to go!

I have a bout 1/3 of my items tagged for the Adorable Affordables sale - but I have all the tags printed!  Until, of course, I find those 5 last minute items I stowed away somewhere and forgot about... I have to get cracking on hanging the clothes and pinning the tags on.

I just made my first "mock-up" for the party favors for Finn's party.  Things I learned...

• While paper is easier to fold than card stock, these will work much better with card stock
• cut precisely!
• I need a scoring tool!
• there is a fold missing on the template.  It won't work with out it.

Here is your sneak peak:

And you may have seem my Instagram (BetsWeave) earlier last week with this sneak peek that Finn will be revealing that day:

And, the March for Babies shirts are ordered!  I simply CANNOT wait to see them in person!  I think It's a Preemie Thing is printing them this week!  EEP!

And one last thing, Mr. Finn is in the running for the Gerber Generation Photo Serch 2012 in the "sitter" category!  Click on his badge to log into facebook, "Like" the Gerber page, and vote for him to win!

Back in the Saddle again!

Well, a LOT has changed since my last blog entry 12 days ago!  The biggest news is, I am BACK!  Back at work, back at OSU, back to burning the candle at both ends.  I interviewed for this new job at the end of spring break, and was offered the position on the spot! What a day that was!  And while it is bittersweet on SO many levels to be working again, it feels good to be contributing financially as well as being among people taller than 2 feet.  I started a new job with the College of Education today, and it was exactly as I expected!  A bit overwhelming, a lot awkward, and fun to meet a lot of new people - all at the same time!  This position is "new" in the sense that they have had some moving around happening, and they are combining/splitting responsibilities, and I am the first person to have this specific role.  So, there are still a lot of questions to be answered and bugs to be worked out - and a lot of that won't happen until later this summer when the new full time Dean takes over.  So, for now, I am content to learn the ropes, find the bathrooms, and meet the people.  I know how to do all the tasks I will be assigned (although I am a bit rusty - haven't worked for over 8 months!), it's just a matter of getting to know the people and who does what to be able to help me.  Everyone is super nice and very friendly - as is the custom at Oklahoma State!  I hope to settle in quickly and not be "the new person" for long!

I sure missed my little man today!  This is the first time I have ever been away from him for this long.  Drop off was actually pretty good.  I teared up a bit as we drove off, but I was doing well.  Until mid-morning when our babysitter for today texted me a picture of Mr. Finn:

She just wanted me to know he was HAPPY!

I cried like a baby for 10 minutes after this came through on my phone!  Missed him SO much!


In other Finn news, he got his 3rd Synagis injection for RSV prevention last week (he'll get one more at the end of April and then we'll be done for this year) and the home health nurse weighed him in at 12 pounds 1.5 ounces!  Way to GROW, Finn! The new formula seems to be working out.  He has also pooped on his own a few times in the past week, so everything seems to be falling into place, there, too.  We did get a small setback when his appointment with the pediatric surgeon got pushed back an entire week.  While we are frustrated with that, it's better than having no appointment at all!

This past week, T-ball practice (2x a week) started for Jake, Volleyball practice (2x a week) started for Emma, dance is still going strong for Lara, and I worked my "second job" at the twice yearly Adorable Affordables consignment sale.  I also have so much fun doing that!  It is HARD WORK, but I am glad I get to do it.  It's high quality girl time,plus I get to shop for new (used) clothes for all my kids.  What could be better?!?  I was specifically looking for a few things for Finn "gear" wise and struck out, so I will have to spend some of my earnings on things for him, but that's why I do it!  So, between that as well as finding day care for Finn, shuffling the kids to all their activities, buying a new work wardrobe, parenting 4 kids, and being a wife, time has been a precious commodity.  And if we make it through this crazy week without dropping the ball somewhere along the way, it will be a miracle!  Thankful for my trusty Cozi Calendar that texts me when I have things I need to do, and a FABULOUS husband to help make it all go smoothly.  Plus, our very flexible babysitters, Nana and Grandpa!

Here's to a new chapter in our lives!  This is a crazy time for us, but we are looking forward to ironing out the wrinkles and making it all work.  Did I mention we are moving, too?  Oh yeah, and that....  We start settling into a new home on May 1...  The kids will go to a new school next year and everything.  We really are upsetting the apple cart around here!