40 Weeks

...and counting.

My mom is here waiting with us. She drove in from Fort Worth yesterday with a van full of baby things - a beautiful crib, bassinet, super comfy rocking chair, cute little outfits from Noah - all kinds of wonderfulness. We (well, she, mostly) spent the day cleaning and getting things put together. Then, all of us (mom, Levi, Belle, and myself) took a walk this evening to try and convince Lincoln to get things started. On this walk we found a trail that Levi nor I had ever been on before and decided to take it. Of course, why wouldn't we take a NEW ROUTE TO WHO-KNOWS-WHERE ON THE DAY WE'RE DUE? About the time I was getting uncomfortable enough to want to head back we realized that we had no idea where we were. Just as I started to become concerned that we may be delivering a baby ourselves, in the woods, the miracle of sat nav phones (paired with backtracking) got us to our house, where I promptly stopped having the 'contractions' I thought I was having on our walk. Apparently we have a little prankster on our hands (well, in my belly, as it stands). Wonder where he gets that from? :)

Thank you for all of the thoughts and prayers today. Hopefully we'll be posting again soon to introduce you to our son!

38 weeks!

Surprise Shower

Yesterday I had a late lunch with sweet Meredith - one of the girls in our young couples group at church. As I was leaving McAllister's to head back to work (around 1:35) I got a call from Levi. He asked about my day, what I was doing, and kept me occupied for the 3 minute drive back to my office. As I pulled in I saw a white Honda in the parking lot that looked suspiciously like Levi's...

"wait, where are you?"
"um, at home."
"oh, weird, there's a car in my office parking lot that looks just like yours. I thought you were trying to pull a fast one on me."
"Ha - well, have a great day."

We hung up as I walked in the side door at my office, where I ran into Tami - who informed me that there was a meeting going on in the conference room. "Oh?", I said, continuing to sit down. "Like, a team meeting that you're supposed to be in...". Ah - oops!

So, I obliviously follow Tami into the conference room to find it FULL of balloons, decorations, flowers, gifts, cake, punch, and my coworkers. And Levi (sneaky, sneaky). I was shocked. My coworkers had planned this whole, huge surprise shower, gotten everything in the door right past me, and included Levi without me having the slightest idea. Even when I 'thought' I saw Levi's car, and Tami basically had to spell it out for me that I was supposed to be in the conference room, I didn't put it together.

Not only was the surprise so thoughtful and fun, but my coworkers showered us with so many wonderful gifts that we are overwhelmed. The generosity of my company and the incredible people that I work with is such an amazing blessing - I hope they all know how truly appreciated they are!

I know that a lot of people had a part in making this shower such a treat for us, but an extra thank you to Krysten and Tami - you girls completely spoil me.

36 Weeks!

The Baby Space (and 35 Week Check-up)

While I probably should be doing far more important things to prepare for Lincoln's arrival (only 5 weeks left!), I've opted instead to spend the past few evenings recycling old canvases into new pieces for the wall designated baby in the music/baby room.

Here's another fuzzy phone-photo of the progress. Apparently I have a thing for birds...


The fellow on the right is actually an owl. He's not quite as frightening in person as he appears in this picture (hopefully).

Also, we had our 35 week appointment yesterday. Doctor says everything looks good and I got to hear our little one's perfect heartbeat again (142 beats per minute!). From now on my appointments will be every week. I can't believe how soon he's going to be here!

Happy Friday!

32 Weeks!

27 Weeks

Dr's Appointment - 27 Weeks

We had our 27th week doctor's appointment today. Between 25 & 28 weeks, they run a test to check for gestational diabetes, which means that before my appointment today I had to chug a syrupy sugar-drink that they sent home with me after my last appointment. They drew blood (to see how my body is processing the sugar) and I should have the results in a few days.

Levi and I got to hear Lincoln's heartbeat, which is always breathtaking, and the doctor says my tummy measurements are right on (so, apparently huge is exactly where I'm supposed to be). She also assured us that the discomfort I've been feeling around my ribs is normal - due to my ribcage expanding to accommodate my lovely new "barrel shape", and the shooting electrical-shock-like pains that I feel periodically are simply nerves that are disgruntled by this new said shape of mine.

Otherwise, everything looks good! We'll start having appointments every 2 weeks now that we're in our third trimester. Crazy, huh? I can't believe how quickly the first two have gone by. Thanks for your continued prayers!

Still no luck finding the camera, but we'll take one with the phone soon so you can see how much Lincoln and I (and Levi) have grown.

Lots of love!

Dr's Appointment - 23 Weeks

Lincoln was moving around so much today during our doctor's appointment that we picked up all kinds of crazy sounds on the Doppler. Even with the extra commotion we were able to hear his perfect heartbeat (such an incredible sound!). He's started moving so much that I can see my tummy move - mostly in the evenings - it's so much fun. I can't decipher which body part he's jabbing me with, but I can definitely tell that he's getting stronger and more coordinated. The doctor says everything looks good and that baby and I are doing well. I feel tremendously blessed to be enjoying such a wonderful pregnancy. Thank you all for your prayers!

xoxo

22 Weeks!

Pregnancy Milestones: Part Two

Yesterday a complete stranger cautiously (and very sweetly) asked me if I was having a baby. Which, I choose to believe, means that my belly has somewhat ceased it's seemingly neverending side-to-side expansion and is finally starting to grow outward. Or, maybe it was just the empire waist, looks-like-a-maternity-dress-on-anyone, cotton dress that I was wearing. Either way, here's to crossing over to the pregnant side of the "is she just getting chubby or is she pregnant?" line.

On the opposite end of the pregnancy milestone spectrum - actually, this is more a pregnancy confession- I didn't even make it to 9AM today before I had to apologize to a coworker for being short with him. Sorry about that, Andy. Although I swore I wouldn't, I'm totally blaming the hormones :).

Pregnancy Milestones (including the one where mom loses her mind)

I just experienced my first real craving coupled with my first (well, arguably my first) baby-brain moment.

For the past hour the only thing I wanted was a glass of chocolate milk (I know, why can't I crave broccoli or something?!). I mean, I REALLY wanted some chocolate milk - to the point where I couldn't think about anything else. I finally decided to leave work to pick some up - because truthfully, nothing was going to get done around here until I got my fix.

So, I drove to the nearest gas station. Carton in hand I made my way up to the register. The friendly cashier rang me up - I paid him, put the change in my wallet, and headed for the door, giddy about my purchase. It wasn't until I was almost out the door that I heard the cashier calling after me, 'um, ma'am - do you want your milk?'. Yeaaaah. Can you imagine how devastated I would have been if I had gotten all the way back to my office before I realized I didn't have my beloved chocolate milk?

From what I hear, this 'baby brain' only gets worse. Look out, world.

The Name Game

On Monday night I attended our couples bible study group solo (Levi is out of town for the Indianapolis/Philly/New York leg of his fall tour). After dinner, we formed our usual circle in the living room to continue our discussion of The Ragamuffin Gospel. Usually we just jump right into it, but this week Dave, our generous host and group leader, handed everyone a piece of paper and pen and said we had some 'business' to take care of before we got started. The business? Everyone was to write down a boy's name for me and Levi so that we would have some name considerations (that don't include Batman) for our little guy.

Here's a little background for you...
On Friday, Levi sent out an 'It's a boy!' announcement email to our group. These are the first few sentences:

"We found out yesterday - Young Squire Weaver is a boy! so, the only suspense left is the name (i'm really pulling for "Spartacus McBatman" but Heather keeps vetoing it. She'll be under anesthesia though, so.... heh.) ..."

Without further ado, here are the names we collected:
Russell Crowe
Mark Steven
Adam Zapple
Scott Avery Weaver (S.A.W)
Sundar (the last name of one of the couples in our group)
Reagan
Adam
Jackson Lee
Leave it to Cleaver Weaver
Asher Lowenstein
Isaac John
Ronin
Clayton Cash
Optimus Prime
Miles Baxter (the first and last name of one of the guys in our group)
Jacob Isaiah
Beaver Lever Weaver

Wow.

27 is going to be a good year.

Wow. Today has been absolutely incredible. It actually started yesterday... I got a call from my mom around lunchtime,

"Would you like some company for your doctor's appointment in the morning?"
"Really?"
"Really."
"Of course!!"

So, she hopped on a plane and flew to Nashville to stay with us for the next couple of days. A huge thank you to my wonderful mother-in-law Anna for calling my mom to suggest that she make the trip and for setting things in motion to make it happen (we wish you could be here too!). Also to Cindy and Keith, who so kindly provided a last minute flight to give me one of the best birthday gifts ever.

Yeah - it's my birthday. Which brings me to THE best birthday gift ever...

Baby Weaver is a healthy, beautiful, BOY!



What a perfect little miracle.

And all of that happened before 9:30am. A few hours after I got to work, a large group of my coworkers took me to lunch at Pie in the Sky (I could seriously eat pizza for every meal. it's the baby :)). Levi and my mom joined us for lunch and then came back to my office afterward for cookie cake and ice-cream (thank you, Krysen!).

When I got home, my mom and Levi created a birthday feast: filet, mashed potatoes, spinach, carrots. mmmm. Topped off with gooey cake (a name could not describe the majesty that is gooey cake). I have been spoiled.

We wrapped up the evening by watching the dvd of our sonogram. Oohing and aahing and marveling at this little boy that has/will change the rest of our lives.

Thank you all for sharing our excitement about this sweet little guy, and for all of your sincere and thoughtful birthday wishes. I am overwhelmed with pure joy today. Like God himself has wrapped me up in a bear hug, planted a big kiss on my forehead, and shared in a hearty, uncontrollable belly laugh.

Thank you for being part of it.

final poll results

17 weeks

Our tummies at 17 weeks. And, of course, Belle's crazy eyes.

Oh man. I am getting destroyed here.

Wow. I should start making some excuses here.

Here are the things I am already maintaining:

Myspace
Facebook
leviweaver.com/blog
twitter
youtube.com
garageband.com
ilike.com
and my personal journal(s).
(some i keep more updated than others, apparently.)

Whereas Heather is a self-described "Fiercely Independent" soul... I, apparently, need all the attention I can get. (ha!)

-so-

I'm a little behind here.

I should make it known that i am.... hmm... there's a word for this. For all this blogging, you'd think my vocabulary would be able to just light-bulb any word ever, but i'm still struggling for it.

Combine these words:
Excited, Terrified, Giddy, Overwhelmed, Skydiving, RollerCoaster, Stage Fright, Game-Winning Basket, and Wow.

There is probably a word for that.

Extergiwhelvincoastighme-winwow.

yep. that's me.

I should note that I have always felt this way about having kids, except for the good ones. I've always said "someday", when I really meant "HA!".

But the difference, I think, is that I am so in love with this girl that the prospect of a little half-Heather makes me think the future will be a very pleasant place.

So I'm still pretty freaked out about the whole thing, but the closer this kid gets to fruition, the more the good feelings are outweighing the fearful ones. I'm not ready yet, but something tells me that by March, I will be.

-Levi

Baby Weaver Poll

Two weeks from tomorrow we're hoping to find out if Baby Weaver is a boy or a girl. Until then, what's your guess? All (one) of you, Weaver blog readers... use the poll to the right to cast your vote.

Speaking of voting - if you haven't registered yet, go do it! The deadline is coming up. You'll be happy to know that despite the debacle, I have finally registered in Nashville.

Happy October.

maternal storage tissue

The 'what to expect when you're expecting' email that I receive daily recently had this tidbit of advice for dads-to-be:
Instead of using the word fat, refer to the extra pounds as maternal storage tissue.

Here's some better advice for you, dads...

JUST. DON'T.


*I should note that this is in no way directed towards you, Levi. You are a wonderful husband, who never makes me feel anything less than beautiful. Plus, I know you're too smart to need this kind of advice :).

Baby's First Bouquet

Thank you Auntie Hayley & Uncle Solomon!