FAMILY Vacation

We took the  very first Weaver vacation last week! We headed to the Oregon Coast to a tiny little town call Neskowin. It's not very well known- which was part of the appeal to us! It's white sandy beaches were almost desolate. It was just us most days, except at sunset when the dog walkers and love birds would make their way onto the beach for an evening stroll. 

I felt sick for most of our vacation, which was a MAJOR bummer. But, I had a great time regardless. If you're going to feel crumby, you mine-as-well have a beautiful  view of the ocean to stare at, right? 

I will leave you with photos... ENJOY! 

Maxwells way to wear sunglasses. :) 

Happy Boy! 

Proposal Rock

Keith and the boys

Me and my boys

Keith and Miles watching the waves

I don't usually have flattering pictures of me when I am pregnant... but this one isn't so bad. 

Getting hugs and snuggles from the littlest

We visited Tillimook Cheese Factory one of the days

Tillamook Cheese= YUM!

My crazy boys!

My little clan

Tillamook Forest Center

Keith and Miles were acting like "mean firefighters" 

Miles the firefighter!

Monkey see, monkey do

Sweet boys

Miles 5 years old! And sweeter then skittles.

Giving mom a pose. :) 

Maxwell loves his mama! 

Smiles from Mr. Max! 

My buddy! 

Maxwell Koen

Milesy Bug! My handsome man! 

Miles Timothy

My buddies

Maxwell and Miles

Maxwell and Miles

Oh... and we cut the boys hair... it was getting outta control! 

OH BABY! (And) My Baby turns 5!

A BIG congratulations to Jon and Brenda on the birth of their sweet baby boy Atlas Hamilton! And to Kati & Curtis who gave birth to their amazingly beautiful little girl Liviya! I remember so well the amazing feeling you have after giving birth to a child. The smell of a baby fresh out of the womb. Their wrinkly soft skin, and with my boys, their heads FULL of dark hair! I could breath in the new baby smell for ever and ever.

Seeing photos of little Atlas & Liviya gets me excited for our little bundle of joy. I have 7 months of waiting to do. I am thankful for those 7 months however. Mostly because I have a certain 2 year old who needs some MAJOR help with clinginess, sharing and how to properly use his vocal chords. (He is a screamer like no one I have ever encountered before!) He is very possessive of me, and his toys anything that he "thinks" should be his. The 7 months will go by fast, I am sure of it! And I have hope that my little dude will have better manners by the time the baby comes.

When we talk about the new baby Maxwell gets really excited and talks about giving the baby kisses and how he is going to love the baby. He is a very affectionate little guy, so I know that his new little brother or sister is going to be loved by him!

Today marks 10 weeks of pregnancy! Yay! I made it into the double digits baby! I have been dealing with some morning sickness, but it's still not as terrible as it was with the boys. I am so thankful to God that he is sustaining me as I go through this part of pregnancy! I know that he will continue to do so as I will  face different physical challenges as the pregnancy goes along. For now, I will take it a day at a time, and trust Jesus whether I feel terrible or awesome.

My sweet Miles, first  born son... beautiful one... turned 5 on Tuesday!!!! Keith and I officially feel old... now that we have a 5 year old. The best part is that Miles keeps saying things like:
 "I can jump higher now that I am 5!"
"I can run faster now that I am 5!"
"Mom! Can you see how big my hands are now that I am 5!?"
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this age. He is learning his independence. But yet relies on me for many things... like hugging him when he feels sad or hurt and praying for him when he's having a tough day. He is learning that he loves being affectionate- and gives me random hugs and kisses and tells me he loves me. He requests nightly back rubs from me as I sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "You Are My Sunshine" two times through. :) Some day he won't want me to do that anymore, so I am cherishing it as long as he lets me.

This is Miles' last year at home with me before he starts Kindergarten. I pray that it goes SLOW. But I know that it will go quickly and before we know it I will be sending him off to his first day of school! Until then I hope I take advantage of every day I have with him at home.

I'm 5! 

Wawho!!!!

Blowing out his birthday candles. 

Happy Birthday to my sweet first son. I love you more and more every single day! You are such a JOY to me. May your next year be filled with lots of fun, memory making, and learning and growing! (But not too fast on that growing part, ok buddy?)

Did I mention I have a bummed hip?

One of the things that I will be dealing with during this pregnancy, that I did not deal with during Miles & Maxwell's pregnancies is that I have a labral tear in my hip. Two surgeons and my sports medicine doctor recommended that I have surgery to repair it.

But instead... I'm having a baby! :)

I remember writing in my journal (before knowing I was pregnant, and before knowing for sure that I would need surgery) that if I'm gonna have surgery I want a baby at the end, not a bummed hip!

My surgeon has never watched someone go through being pregnant with this injury, so it will be interesting to see how this goes. I may need to have physical therapy as I get bigger and more and more pressure will be put on my hips. But we are taking it a day at a time!

I am doing my best to stay active and to work out through out this pregnancy. I was SO sick with the boys that the thought of even walking sent me to the bathroom. But if I can keep my legs and core strong then I am hoping to avoid physical therapy and dealing with any pain related to the weight gain and pressure on my hips.

I will say however that I am feeling rather gross and yucky at the moment. I called in for some zofran from my doctors and will get that picked up this evening. I am bummed that it has come to this. But I know that it will be for my best so that I can actually take care of the boys and my house.

God is so good- and has been so faithful to me. I love that I am pregnant right now and I have fallen in love with the little human inside of me. Nausea is such a small price to pay for the gift of having another baby. But I wouldn't mind if feeling sick went away either. :)

I will leave you with a few recent pictures of my stinky little boys. I sure do adore them.

My sweet almost 5 year old. 

Miles when we saw the Blue Angels perform! 

Captain Adorable. (Mr. Maxwell) 

This kid is so cute! I can't even handle it some days! He is very affectionate and gives me hugs and kisses and says "I dove oo" randomly, and frequently! He is also very loud and screams a lot. But were working on that. ;) 

Been Awhile

My sister is a blogger and she has inspired me to start up again! So, thank you Keli!

Lots of things have been happening in the Weaver house since I last wrote! The biggest news is that were expecting our 3rd child in April 2013!

After having Maxwell over 2 years ago, I was content and happy to be done with having babies. I am not a big fan of being pregnant, and the idea of taking care of 2 crazy boys on top of puking my guts out was not appealing to me. Plus, as much as I ADORE the baby stage (and I mean it, it's my favorite stage of all time) I was perfectly happy to live precariously through my friends who were having babies. Maxwell was officially out of the baby stage, and onto the toddler stage (which for me in the toughest so far.) So the prospect of having another one... well... it would just mess up the "good thing" we had going.

Then one day in February (YES, February) I have a crazy little thought run through my mind during our church's worship service. It went a little something like this "You're not done yet." I had the thought, dismissed it as soon as I thought it and didn't think about it again. The very next Sunday I have the same thought. And just like the Sunday before that, I dismissed it. Through out the course of the next two months or so I kept having this nagging feeling and thought that we were supposed to have another baby.

In April I wrote in my journal "Jesus, if you want us to have another baby, can you just make it happen on accident? That way I will KNOW that this is YOU and not just a crazy thought that I am having." And I felt like Jesus said straight away "Why can't you just obey me?" YIKES!!!! How is that for a response?

And yet, I continued to sit on it. I really wanted Jesus to tell Keith on his own. That would, for me, be the deciding factor. This wasn't a crazy idea that just so happens to pop into my mind every other day or so. It would confirm everything that I had been feeling. So my prayers changed from "Oh God, I don't wanna!!!!!" to "If this is you, make it clear by telling Keith too."

At the beginning of June, Keith & I were driving home from a church service and he turns to me and says "so, I had a funny thought..."

I may have passed out at this point.

I knew EXACTLY what he was going to say to me.

I knew then, and there, that it was Jesus.

And I knew that I was going to need a lot of grace to process through the idea of actually moving forward with having another baby.

Keith & I prayed through out June- the writing was on the wall. It was clear to us that we were to have a 3rd child.

And as I prayed and processed through it with Jesus and with a good friend, my fear shifted to excitement, my prayers changed from asking God if this was him, to asking him to help me through it.

I had a dream at some point in June that I was telling Keith how excited I was that I didn't have any morning sickness. I started praying that I wouldn't have any morning sickness and that He would give me what I needed to take care of the boys, take care of the house and still manage my life.

Today I am 7 1/2 weeks pregnant. Up until 1 week ago I had NO morning sickness at all. Since 6 1/2 weeks pregnant I have been feeling sick off and on. Primarily in the late afternoon until dinner and then again at night. But even that is "easy" compared to how I felt with the boys! I feel his grace all over me as I go through each day of this pregnancy.

The biggest difference I feel in this pregnancy that I didn't feel all the time with the boys is this AMAZING JOY! I think it's joy that Jesus is giving me as I am obeying him and doing what he wants, even though I don't know how everything is going to work out practically.

I was SO convinced that we were done that we got rid of all our baby stuff and I even gave all my maternity clothes away. I happen to be a big fan of shopping, so these things don't worry me very much at all. As a matter of fact, several friends have already given me maternity clothes to borrow! I know that this little one will be well provided for and cared for, as he/she is a child of God.

We also live in a 2 bedroom condo. So fitting a 3rd child in here is going to be a challenge. But I already have the wheels turning on how to make it work. In the mean time I am praying that Jesus would help us sell our condo before, or shortly after the baby is born, and we could move into a 3 bedroom house.

All this to say: God is GOOD! He is amazing! He is the provider and the care taker! He has created this child, who we will love and cherish and delight in! I already know that this baby is going to bring us immeasurable JOY, just as our first two babies have. Next year at this time we will have the sweetness of baby giggles and smiles surrounding our lives again- and for this I am excited and thankful. God knows what is best for us- and this child IS what's best for us. :)

All about me

Ahh... my life is sweeter and fuller then it has ever been. I do believe the only thing I would change about my life right now would be having my family closer to me. I have moments of feeling sorry, mostly for the boys, that they don't get to see their Grandparents, Uncles & Aunts & cousins over the holidays. Flying back to Pennsylvania will cost us a minimum of $1500 for 4 tickets, and that is IF we get a great deal. It makes it very tough to visit family when you're on a tight budget. Not only that, but Keith just doesn't have the time to take off work! We have discussed the possibility of the boys & I flying back to PA in the summers. But I don't want to attempt that on my own until the boys are older.

I am pretty sure Keith & I are done with having children. At least our own blood children! We have talked about adopting before. But we don't feel like that is something were supposed to do right now. Maybe somewhere down the road? I like to have things planned out, so not knowing what is next in regards to our family is tough! I REALLY don't want to be in my mid to late 30's with a newborn again. I would LOVE to be done with the newborn stage earlier then that. I know that what Jesus has for me is BETTER then what I have for myself. So I will continue to trust him with the size of our family. For the first time in a long time however, I am content with the boys we have and would be perfectly happy to remain a 4 person family.

Of course... I will NEVER tire of holding sweet little babies. The photo on the right is a photo taken last weekend at a friends baby shower. One of my other friends had just had a baby a couple weeks prior to that. The babies name is Samuel and I snatched him up as quickly as I could! I loved the little baby smell, and the little ticking of his heart. It amazes me every time to see a little one like this. God is so good! It is true when the bible says that children are a BLESSING from God. True, every day miracles.

I managed to achieve my goal for 2011. I wanted to run a 5K. I attempted to run a 5K in May. But I messed up my hip one week before the race and wasn't allowed to run it. I was very bummed. The next 5K I signed up for I was given permission to interval run it! I was excited to do that- and I really had no pressure to run it in a certain time, or to be speedy. Interval running is, what it is. :) This past weekend I was able to run the full 5K with out walking or stopping. It was cold. It was wet. It was miserable. BUT... I finished. I didn't walk. And I did it under 30 minutes. You see, the issue now is that I want to beat that time. :) Next 5K is in March which will likely be just as rainy, but possibly not as cold! In the mean time I am running on the treadmill until February. Then I will slowly get my legs back on the pavement. The treadmill is much easier on my hip, so on the "off" season I am going to run on the tready, and do my strength training at the gym. I am praying I can cut a couple minutes off my time! The hills typically get me... but I am going to incorporate hills this February. Hopefully that will help! I also have an 8K and 10K that I want to do in the summer of 2012. Maybe I will attempt a 1/2 marathon. But I'm not yet ready to commit to that madness. We'll see how I do with the 10K and take it from there.

I have also been working on some crafts lately. Thanks to pinterest I am finding loads of ideas of things that I can make! I am going to make my own Christmas cards this year and have been trying my hand at some hand stitching on paper to make my cards pop a bit more. It has been fun! I have been really enjoying making cards and want to continue making them! It's a fun way to show someone that I care.

This weekend I am going to head out to the craft stores and get the paper I need to make my Christmas cards and also to make an advent calendar for Miles. I have lots and lots of fun activities planned for us this year! Were making gingerbread houses for one of our family nights. Were going to make snow to hang in our windows & baking cookies & candy to give to friends! It's going to be so much fun to do this with him this year! I am also going to make a book of what we did with pictures. It will be called our "December" book with each day documented. I think it will be fun to look back on it and see what we did! Perhaps it will be a tradition to make a December book! We'll see!

I adore the holidays!

Busy Busy Busy

Hey ya'll. Yes, I know. It's been awhile! I have found myself to be very busy these days! Between preparing and teaching preschool, managing the house, and raising two little boys, I find very little time to sit down and blog. As a matter of fact, right now I should be organizing my pantry, followed by cleaning out my fridge, followed by cleaning my oven. (It's kitchen cleaning day, can you tell?) But my coffee is getting cold, and if I don't sit down and relax a bit, then I will have to warm it up in the microwave (which also needs to be cleaned) and I just don't think coffee tastes as great coming from the microwave. :) Seriously.

I don't even know when I last wrote to you all. But I know it's been awhile. So I will just update you on the latest and greatest.

Maxwell- Cute little thing... got into a fight with the windowsill... and the windowsill won:

Other then his black eye he has been cranky, teething and pooping up a storm. He is also very expressive and knows exactly what he wants, but doesn't have all the tools he needs yet to tell us! (Like... you know... that little thing called "words.") He signs some things and I am teaching him some more. But it's still tough! I will be happy when he starts talking so we have less whining going on in this house!

He is a sweetheart though. He will stop playing just to come over to me and give me a hug and kiss. And when he hurts himself he wants a kiss smack on his lips regardless of where he hurt himself. Seriously adorable. He melts my heart with his kisses, hugs and affection!

Miles- This child is becoming more and more of a little man every day! He learned just this morning how to make his bed! He gets himself dressed and is pretty self sufficient. It is great to see him learning all these new things. But is also tough on me to see him growing up right before my eyes! He is getting over a cold right now and has been kind of miserable. But hopefully were on the tale end of that! Recently we went to the Seattle Car Show and Miles has his eyes set on this yellow car. He was very excited to see it up close!

He also decided to give us the peace sign in front of several cars. :) It was awesome.

I guess I will end with this. I love my little mister. He brings me more joy then I can express in words. See????

And my sweet husband Keith. He is awesome. The best husband and best father to my boys. I love him more and more every day!!! I am so incredibly blessed by him. He is my sunshine.

Tomorrow... a post on what I have been up to. :)

It's been awhile!

Wow! Sorry, it has been awhile since I last wrote! I like to try and write at least once a week! But I see it has been a whole month since I last wrote! It's not for lack of content, that's for sure!

Since I last write to you the following things have happened:

The Ellen show started up again. She's hilarious.

Steve Jobs died. I almost shed a tear. But I managed to hold it together. Just made me so sad that he didn't beat cancer. Too many people battling and losing to this awful disease.

I learned how to make an infiniti scarf using old t-shirts that I had laying around the house.

We had a not so welcome house guest by the name of "that stupid mouse is making noise again at 1am." We think we caught the thing, or at least injured it enough that it doesn't want to come back. I like to think that the thing looked like this...

Maxwell started walking! And... he falls a lot. And not this little light fall either. The child either falls with a thump or face plants into the pavement. We've had our share of scrapes and bruises on this child over the past month. Check out his busted up lip!

And a cute one of him walking:

We went to a pumpking patch with some friends- that was a lot of fun! '

And Keith and Miles went on a boat ride!