10 months and going strong

Today, Finn Ricker Weaver is officially 10 months old.  I am not sure how much he weighs, but we would guess between 16 and 17 pounds.  And he is TALL!  He is like Jake was at this age, all arms and torso.  LONG and skinny!  And he is such a joy!  He smiles and giggles all the time.  We are so glad that he is doing so well, and we know we are blessed to have such a wonderful outcome!

Finn is siting up unassisted – has even made it from laying down to sitting up once, has 2 bottom teeth, just transferred over to his 9 month clothing this weekend, and as soon as we run out of size 2 diapers in the house we will break out the size 3’s.  I think he could stand to change over now, but I have to see those last 20 or so diapers not get used!  He can get up on his hands and knees, but doesn’t stay there long.  He has rocked back and forth a few times, so crawling is not too far off!  He can stand up when holding on to something, too.  He LOVES to laugh and laugh and laugh!  Just in the last day or so he has added that “ga” sound to his cooing, too.  He is really doing so well!  We don’t know how much he weighs exactly or how long he is, but based on his recent patterns, I would say he is about 16-17 pounds and at least 27” long.

This week we were presented with a precious gift for Finn, too.  A young lady named Payton is 11 years old and she and her cousins make quilts for sick kids in hospitals.  She saw the article about Finn in this summer’s OBI newsletter, and she chose to make his an OSU themed quilt.  The final product was delivered to us this week, and I snapped a picture of Finn enjoying it.

Here is the text of the letter Payton wrote to send with the quilt:

7/13/12
Dear Weaver Family,
I read about Finn's story in the OBI Pulse flyer. I decided that I wanted to make him a quilt.

My Memaw loves sewing and wanted to teach us grandkids how to quilt. It started as a one week a year during spring break and we called it Kuzin Kamp. Now it includes 20 of us all year long.

Last summer we decided to make blankets for sick children and most of them go to St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa. I was told that Finn's room was OSU so I hope he likes his quilt.

We have a Kuzin Kamp facebook page if you want to send us a picture of Finn and his blanket.

Sincerely,
Payton
11 yrs.

And I will leave you today with the infectious laugh of our 10 month old miracle.  God is GOOD!

Drumroll Please….

It is finally time to reveal the winning team name for our March of Dimes Stillwater March for Babies team!  I want to thank everyone for taking the time to vote, and for supporting our efforts in making sure no other families have to go through what we did. We want babies to be born healthy!

So, in a distant second, was the team name “Finn’s Dream Weavers.”  This was one of my favorites!  And the best write in vote goes to Fred with “The Finn McMissles!”  Good one!  But, the winner, and official Weaver Family team name is…

Finn’s Fans!

(#finnfan)

There were 6 official votes on the blog for this name, and using random.org, the winner of our free team T-shirt is my “Aunt” Brona!  I can’t wait to get our shirts in so I can share one with you out in Western Kansas!

Stay Tuned for the blog for more opportunities to help Finn’s Fans!

Name our March for Babies Team!

(For those of you new to our blog, see Finn’s Story here)

Hard to believe that tomorrow is the first day of August!  This summer has just flown by.  Which is good, and bad.  I am ready for school to start so the big kids can get back into a regular routine.  This summer has been nuts with their schedule changing every few days what with camp, trips, and play dates.  But, I am sad because my baby boy will be 10 months in a few days.  SO HARD to believe.

That means we have a little over 2 months to plan for 2 FABULOUS events!  The first is Finn’s 1^st birthday!  We have a theme picked out (thanks, again, Pinterest!), but no other details nailed down.  We also have an idea of our “big” gift to him, but there are still lots of plans to be made!  

But the other event is not just for Finn, but for ALL the families that have (or will have) premature babies.  It is the March of Dimes March for Babies.  The Stillwater March is on October 6 at Boomer Lake.  We are getting our team together, but first we need a NAME so we can sign our team up with the March of Dimes and set our fundraising goals!  Plus, we need a name so we can design our shirts!  We will be using “It’s a Preemie Thing” to print our shirts, and we have to have the name decided to get started on that planning as well.  They do a great job and the shirts are so cute!

This is where you come in!  We have listed below the “final contenders” for our team name.  Britt and I each came up with 5 names we liked, and this list is what we have.  (There aren’t 10 because there was some overlap on the choices!)

Finn’s Dream Weavers (since we call our family the Dream Weavers)

The Fighting FINNtastics (A take on the Fighting Temptations, and the word fantastic)

Finn’s Huckleberries (Huckleberry: to be just the right person for a given job)

 

Feet for Finn (It is a march, after all)

Finn’s Fans (this needs no more explanation)

Team Finn (a little GLEE reference…)

Finn’s Foot Soldiers (A nod to being Christian soldiers as well)

Finn’s Friends (*I’ll be there for you* – I know you are singing it in your head!)

Finn’s Fighters (Like an army)

Here’s how this is going to work.  In the comments section of this post, you can vote for UP TO TWO (2) NAMES for our team. VOTING ENDS AT 5:00PM CST ON FRIDAY AUGUST 3.  I will be keeping a tally of the votes in an excel spreadsheet (LOVE!).  Each person who votes for the winning name (one with the most votes) will be put into a drawing to win one of our team shirts.  In the event of a tie, the Dream Weaver Kids will make the final choice.  Please include contact information such as an email in your reply if you wish to be included in the drawing for the shirt.  If you are local and want to walk with our team, you will have a shirt to do so.  If you are not local, we will mail the shirt to you when they are ready!  So, get to commenting!  We are so grateful for you being with us every phase of this journey, and we want you to be involved in this step as well!

We will also post our fundraising information and goals once we get out team set up on the March of Dimes website this weekend.  If you would like a T-shirt (I will post pictures when the design is ready), you will be able to order one for $20.  Proceeds will be added to our team fundraising goal.  More info to come about that as well!  STAY TUNED!