Finn Turns SEVEN!

S E V E N!!!!!

How in the world did our tiny little miracle boy turn seven?  I'm still not sure how, but happened.  October 5th.  He became a seven year old little boy!  He is so smart and funny.  He tells the best stories, has amazing handwriting, and knows so many things about so many things.  He is a great friend and a joy to be around.  He is so happy to have a piano in his house and cannot wait to start lessons soon.

So, this milestone birthday fell on a Friday.  Therefor, it was morning as usual for the Weaver clan!  We were up and around early to get Finn to school and Momma to work on time.  Dad was set to come to school later and bring the cupcakes for his class.  Of course, we have to have the obligatory picture sesh before loading up and heading to school!  We captures quite a range of Finn emotions and faces in these...

Finn is S E V E N!

Tough Guy?

Cool guy?

Funny guy?

Back Seat Shenanigans on the way to Westwoood

And because he loves "his" new piano, I have to include the little assignment from school that shocked and surprised us all!  Top is his "assignment" and bottom is an actual photo of the piano in our house from this week.

CLICK TO ENLARGE
Something important to him:
"My peano is wut I care abaeut. it need it tund. i make my oen sogs"

Actual Piano in our Home

After a fun Friday at school celebrating his birthday in his class with all of his friends, it was time for Little Brother Duty as we loaded up and headed to Choctaw for a Pioneer Football game.  At halftime, Finn went with one of the 6th grade boys to play, and he fell in the grass.  But it wasn't just grass.  It was goat head stickers/grass stickers/burrs whatever you choose to call them.  HUNDREDS of them!  I was sitting in the stands alone as Britt and Jake had gone for a walk.  Here comes a hero mom friend carrying my son quite awkwardly because he is COVERED in these painful pokey things.  The boy he was with had come running to me to tell me, but my tribe beat him to it!  When she handed him over to me, she had about 20 stuck to her dress!  And there as no good way to hold him - he was literally COVERED int hem! Needless to say, it took 3 adults, 2 6th graders, and a student trainer about 15 minutes to pick over 100 of these buggers out of Finn's everything.  They were in his hair, his ears, his booty.  Covered his shoes and socks.  The pic shows the ones we laid on the bench - the other 2/3 are in that coke can.  And the aftermath.  Finn's stress response is sleep.  He slept though the 2nd half of a LOUD game, and all the way home...  Sad way to end his birthday!

Poor Little Dude!

Lara's Instagram Photo Shout Out to her Baby Brother:

Emma's Instagram shout out to her little brother:

Saturday morning the time had FINALLY COME for Finn's birthday party extravaganza at the Youth Fitness Zone!  He had invited a few friends, and some teens and tweens came along for the fun.  Poor Finn was pretty scratched up from his adventure the night before, but it did not deter him from having a great time!

Happy 7th Birthday Finn!

PARTY PEOPLE!

Lego Play for DAYS!

 We BLINKED and he’s SEVEN!!

Happy Birthday to our miracle ... Finicky, Feisty, Fun-Loving ... FINN!!!

Hits so close to home

Team Finn’s Fans grew by two feet today.  Unexpectedly.  And it makes my resolve to be a part of this amazing organization even stronger.  There’s a sweet baby girl 70 miles from her HOME getting settled into her temporary NICU home this evening.  She probably won’t be able to attend the March of Dimes Stillwater March for Babies this year, but we will.  And this year, we March not only for Finn, but for sweet little Lucy, too.

Let me tell you about them.  Momma is one of my dearest friends.  We share so many things in common.  We can finish each other sentences, talk without even speaking, laugh at nothing and know why, and pick up a conversation 2 days later without missing a beat. She is part of the Stillwater March for Babies Committee, and since she knew she would have a newborn at the time of the walk, she and her family joined Team Finn’s Fans to help us meet our fundraising goals! Her older daughter is almost 2, and Finn loves her.  In fact, this was our Transformation Tuesday picture today:

Baby Girl #2 was due the 2^nd week of September.  Scheduled C-section for September 8.  Until last week.  Thursday her doctor said she had high blood pressure and sent her to the local hospital.  Friday, due to pre-eclampsia, they transferred her by ambulance to the same hospital I had Finn at.  Yesterday they told her it was a waiting game.  This morning they told her it was BABY DAY!  What a ride!  Lucy was born at 4:07 this afternoon weighing 3 pounds 8 oz and 15.5 inches long. 

And it’s not fair.  NO ONE should have to go through the fear and questions they are going through right now – and what we did 3 years ago.  It’s scary.  It’s tough.  It’s life threatening.  It’s just not fair.  That’s why March of Dimes is so important to me and my family.  We want to see premature birth eradicated.  Figure out why it happens; figure out how to treat it; figure out how to prevent it.  Save the Mommas.  SAVE THE BABIES!

While she has a long row to hoe, Baby Lucy should do alright.  Girls fare better than boys in the NICU.  She has great support.  All the research from the last 76 years of March of Dimes are on her side.  She’s a fighter!  And she is LOVED.

Here’s how you can help Baby Lucy and other babies like her:

• Buy a Team Finn’s Fans T-shirt
• Join Team Finn’s Fans and raise money for the March of Dimes
• Donate to our team and help us meet our goal

We want all families to be blessed with big, full-term, healthy, take-me-home babies!  Don’t you? Join us!

Finn's Fans 2014 Team Shirt Information

Hello Finn's Fans!  

It is THAT TIME of year again!  Time to get geared up for the March of Dimes Stillwater March for Babies, and get our team outfitted in the cutest Team Finn's Fan shirts!  Put it on your calendar - September 20th at Theta Pond on the BEAUTIFUL Oklahoma State University campus!  We're a little further along in the process this year than we have been in the past...  2 year ago, we needed help getting a team name, and last year we had you all vote on the color combos.  This year?  Well, time is of the essence!  So, colors have been picked.  Design has been finalized.  All that's left is for you to get on board and order your shirts!

About our T-shirt:

We went with a blue and orange theme this year.  And threw in a bit of our beloved Oklahoma! Blue for the blue Oklahoma skies, and baby boys.  And orange of course for everything happy, joyful, and COWBOY true!

Finn's Fans March for Babies 2014

BUT!  We can't take ALL the fun out of it for our AMAZING Finn's Fans!  Before I get to all the nitty gritty t-shirt details, I want to announce a CONTEST! There's always room for a little fun when Finn's involved! If you'll notice, we used lots of  "F-words" to describe Finn over the last (almost) 3 years on this shirt.  Come up with your BEST F-word (KEEP IT CLEAN!) to describe out little miracle man, share it here (or email, text, Facebook, etc), and one winner will be chosen for a FREE Finn's Fans 2014 t-shirt!  WOOT!

Here are ALL the details you need to know--

Shirts are $15 each or 2 for $25 (all proceeds go to Team Finn's Fans)

*add $2 for plus sizes (2x or larger)

Shirts come in Adult (unisex), Women's Cut and Youth sizes (size chart below)

How do I pay for my shirt? 

*You can Pay by cash/check in person to Britt or Betsey before 9/6/13
*You can pay by paypal to betsey.weaver@gmail.com before 9/6/13
*You can call Betsey with a credit card payment
     YOUR SHIRT WILL NOT BE ORDERED IF IT IS NOT PRE-PAID!

How Will I get my shirt?

*If you need shipping, please add $6.00 to your payment and provide me with shipping address information
*Local (Stillwater, OK) shirts will be distributed the week before the March
*If we don’t get it to you before the March, you can pick it up there – September 20, 9:00am, on the Oklahoma State University campus at Theta Pond!

I want to be involved! How do I join your team? 

*EXCELLENT question!  You can go to our Team Website at March of Dimes and sign up to be a Finn Fan!
*All the tools you need to get started are right there on the website
*Join us in our goal to raise $1,084.00 for the of March of Dimes - honoring Finn's 84 day NICU stay.

Can I donate to your efforts without buying a shirt?

Of course!  You can go directly to the Weaver's March for Babies Fundraising page and donate any amount directly to the team!  

This is a lot of great information, but I still have questions! Now What? 

*Feel free to comment here on the blog
*Email us at sixdreamweavers@gmail.com
*Call, text, Facebook, Tweet, Pin, Instagram or whatever! We will answer you! 



SIZE INFO - click for larger



Don't forget to add your "F Word!"

Special thanks to Fantoga for finalizing the design and being our printer!

If you read this far, you get to know about the BONUS CONTEST! Anyone who can correctly identify the significance of the orange cross AND the orange heart will win a March of Dimes Prize Pack!  (*Family not eligible for this one!)  Again, comment here or get your ideas to me anyway you choose!

Our busiest time of the year

For a lot of people, the time surrounding the winter holidays is the busiest time of their year.  But not for the Weavers!  It always seems to be around April and May – the last 6-8 weeks of the school year.  We always have 100 things going on each week, and it is just a crazy time!  So, here we are again!  In the middle of just plain CRAZY!  But, you know we love it.  And, this is a GREAT time for a shameless plug for the most AMAZING calendar app around, Cozi.  I just love it!  Color coded, can text each family member, even had to-do lists and meal planning options.  Seriously.  Try it.  You won 't be disappointed.  I promise.  LOVE. <3

Let’s get caught up on what’s keep us elbow deep in calendar appointments these days…  There’s always work for the hubs and I.  And of course, with our new ******** biz jumping off the ground, we are always telling people about that!  I’ve got Dream Weaver Prints keeping me going as well!  So, those are the fun ways we are keeping busy and helping people out. Not to mention March of Dimes!  We got to lobby for babies and mommies at the Capitol earlier this month, and it's time to start thinking Team Finn's Fans for this fall!  Doesn’t get much better than that!

The Twisters are hurling fast towards being 12 years old.  It just donned on me today that we are a mere THREE WEEKS from their twelfth birthday.  How in the world did that happen???  They are truly my joys.  So different, but both loads of fun, considerate, smart girls.  The have their own interests, friends and activities to keep them busy.  We are right in the middle of volleyball season for Emma.  She really loves it and has signed up for a camp this summer.  Lara has added a dance class for the rest of the year and is honing her skills.  We hope to find a fun dance something for her to do this summer as well.  They are both participating in a kids’ mud run this Saturday – that should be a mess of fun!

Emma and Lara - Easter 2014 (age 11)

Jake is LOVING his baseball season.  And frankly, so are we.  Our Pirates baseball team is just awesome.  GREAT group of parents and kids.  The kids all work really well together and are having so much fun.  We had team pics recently and we are just loving the way they turned out.  Thinking I need to commission the photographer for some kid pics later in the summer…  Anyway – baseball is LOVE.  Jake is completely smitten.  His 8U team is going to go out on the field with the Oklahoma State team for a game next month, and he may not sleep before then! LOL!  He is also doing the mud run this weekend; he is on a team of first grade boys and he can’t wait.  I am sure there will be LOTS of pictures from this event!



Jake #13 - schedule card

Pirate Baseball Family March 2014

And sweet Baby Finn…  When do I have to stop calling him that? LOL!  He is just amazing us!  3 word sentences!  Noun, verb, object.  WHAT????  I know, right?!?  So proud of him.  He is still super stubborn and remarkable finicky, but such a fighter.  And winning!  Since we started the appetite meds 7 weeks ago, things have REALLY changed for him!  So much has changed!  His pre-school teachers can’t get over how much more outgoing he is.  He eats.  AND EATS!  And eats some more.  At school and at home.  He talks so much more. He imteracts with others.  He SLEEPS!  He sleeps well and consistently.  We saw the Occupational Therapist 1 weeks after we started the meds.  He basically didn’t qualify for services.  If we had gone in a week earlier, he would have.  I promise.  THAT’S how much he has progressed!  We saw the ENT a coupole weeks ago.  His ears are still great (one tube in, one tube out), and he looked at his tonsils.  We were curious if they were enlarged – perhaps contributing to the eating issues.  He is also a mouth breather and snores a bit.  The ENT wants to watch him and see.  They were a bit large last month, but it was the peak of allergy season around here, too.  I am supposed to check for apnea while he’s sleeping, but I’m scared to go in there and watch him sleep – I don’t want to wake the beast! LOL!  And this week we saw the endocrinologist.  And stumped him.  Literally.  It was fun.  And priceless.  We told him all of Finn’s medical history, then went into the story of our last 2 months.  In 7 weeks, Finn has gained 2 pounds (that’s 10% when you’re that little!  I haven’t even LOST 10% yet!), and has grown 1.5 inches.  IN 7 WEEKS!  He is now on the chart for height – still below it for weight.  He talked to us about height genetics and probabilities, and said Finn should be around 6’4” as a fully grown adult – barring any complications.  (We told him we did a height predictor for Jake and got 6’8” – 6’11” and he was shocked again.)  We told him we weren’t worried about him being 6’4” we just wanted him to not have complications.  He agreed that we just want to make sure Finn is healthy.  We continued to talk about our options and concerns, and as we told the Doctor about the developmental improvements Finn had experienced, he was truly surprised.  Had never heard of the meds making those kinds of changes.  He was really stumped.  And he’s the EXPERT!  The Doctor was completely prepared to do blood tests and get Mr. Finn qualified for growth hormones.  But, after spending time with is, thoroughly examining our boy, and listening to our story, he decided to hold off.  He told us to come back in 6 months (around Finn’s 3^rd birthday – when we will see ALL of his specialists again) and we’ll see how he’s grown.  I am ready for Finn to blow his mind again in 6 months.  Will you pray for that with us?

Finn - March 2014 (under 22 lbs)

Finn April 2014 - 24 pounds!

That’s where we are today.  While typing this post, I have had text conversations with 5 people about various topics, shared ***** with 2 customers, made plans for the 7 year old who is out of school next Friday, talked to my husband on the phone, and corralled my 4 kids as well as some neighbors & friends that have been in and out of the house 100 times in an hour.  WHEW!  #momlife never ends!  And I wouldn’t change it for the world!

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!