Happy Thanksgiving

So thankful for the many blessings God has given us... two of which are shown in the pics below!  I'm abundantly grateful for all the people we will get to see this holiday weekend!  And I'm eagerly anticipating the arrival of another blessing next week, my new neice!  

Better get out of bed to finish what we started yesterday!  Graham Cracker, Gracie, and I got a head start on Wednesday, but we still have a lot to do. 

Fall Highlights!

Several fun and important things happened this fall, and I don't want to miss them in our 2013 Family Yearbook!  The first of which is a big, big deal for Little Gracie... or shall I say, Big Gracie?!  

We had just gotten home from our vacation to Osage Beach and Steph was watching the kids while I worked.  Every day when I came to pick up Gracie, Steph said, "Nerned!  You have got to potty train your kid!  She's ready!"  She continued to inform me that ever since Kia potty trained, Gracie begs to use the potty chair, too.  She takes her diaper off, sits on the potty, and sometimes potties or poops.  She explained that she would come downstairs to find a bottomless Gracie because she'd ditched her own diaper.  

I resisted for several reasons.  First of all, I thought she was too young and not ready physically.  Second, I knew that once we began the process of potty training, there was no turning back.  So diapers seemed much easier than accidents all the time.  Lastly, I was feeling super icky and tired from pregnancy, and the last thing I wanted to do was potty train my toddler.  But, after pondering it for a while and looking everywhere for scientific proof that she wasn't ready, Gracie approached me about it herself that weekend.  She said that she wanted to give her diapers to Natalie and she wanted to go on the big toilet.  I realized at that point that she was ready.  Additionally, for the previous 2 weeks, she would tell me she needed to go potty, and I would tell her to go in her diaper (I know, Mother of the Year, right here!)  So we did it!  We went shopping for panties, (princess and My Little Pony) bought a new cup, and grape Kool-aid.  We bought Pull-ups, carpet cleaner, and stickers.  We also borrowed Kia's lady bug potty chair.  

It was a painless transition for Gracie, probably because she was so motivated!  We made a sticker chart and wore panties during all awake times.  It took her the first day to realize that she couldn't just let her potty out when she wanted to.  But by day two, she was holding her bladder until she had enough potty to go a bit in the chair.  By the third day she had earned enough stickers to go to Chuck E. Cheese for her Potty Party, but Momma was too nervous to take her out in public just yet, so we waited until Saturday.  The biggest surprise to me was that she poop trained at the same time.  I decided we'd just do potty first, but Gracie knew what to do, so beginning on day one, she pooped in the potty, too.  Which I feel the need to add that a poopy diaper is so much better than a turd in a potty chair.  Disgusting to think about, I know.  But dumping a potty chair of poop is seriously repulsive.  Maybe it was because I was pregnant, but ewwww!

But now we've been potty trained for a couple of months and she's had less than a handful of accidents since day one.  We've been so proud of her!  I really cannot believe how easy this transition was for her!  She still wears Pull-ups at sleep times, but she goes on the big toilet now... such a big girl!

At her Potty Party!
So, so happy!

Enjoying a horsey ride with Graham Cracker's help!

We also made our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch in late October.  We lucked out with a nice fall day, not too chilly and not to hot.  It was perfect!  Gracie had more fun this year because she was able to do more.  I enjoyed watching her explore.

Gracie had one memorable take-away from her trip to the Pumpkin Patch.  We were sitting at the picnic tables enjoying our pumpkin donuts (yum!) when she commented, "Something stinks!"  It's hilarious, by the way, when Gracie thinks something stinks.  It's the way she wrinkles her nose, I think.  Anyway, we looked around and saw that there were goats in a fenced in area right behind us.  I told her that the goats were the smell.  She didn't believe me, so we went closer and she realized that I was right.  So now, anytime she hears people talk about goats, she giggles hysterically and yells, "P. U."  We can get to laughing pretty hard when we sing Hush Little Baby... there's a line about a billy goat when we shout P. U.  But it's not so good when the Pastor at church reads a Bible passage about sheep and goats and your toddler says, "Goats?!  P. U."  Well, it actually was kind of funny!

Learning to climb with Uncle John's help!

Riding the tractors.

Rocking with Kia while we waited for the train.

The cousins!

Of course we trick-or-treated this Halloween.  And as you can guess, Gracie had an amazing time.  Candy, candy, candy!  She wanted to be Abby Cadabby this year.  I put her costume together.  It was a blue leotard, purple wings, a diy tutu and pompoms, tights, a wand, and some Chuck Taylors.  She looked adorable, as you can tell!

Her magic words were,
'Lumpkin!  Sumpkin!
Diddle, diddle pumpkin!'

Gracie and Great-Grandma Jean

We joined our friends the Willis' for trick-or-treating and as you can see, all the kids looked awesome!  Such a fun tradition!

Good News... again!

Things have been busy in the Weaver house lately!  And I'm kind of upset at myself for missing many blogging opportunities over the past 6 weeks or so, but I'm cutting myself some slack because I have a good excuse!

We've been hesitant to share, but we're feeling pretty confident now that we've heard the heartbeat.  Yes, you guessed it!  I'm pregnant!  Ryan and I are excited (and a little nervous, too).  Big sister, Gracie is really excited, as well.  Although she has made it clear that she only wants a little sister.  I think it's mostly because she doesn't know that boy babies exist.  She has only been exposed to girl babies... only a few little boys here and there.  I'm not worried though.  I know that she will LOVE any baby!  If you've seen her around Natalie, you know how much she adores babies.

The main reason we were hesitant to share too early was because of our miscarriage in mid-July.  I was only 6 weeks along at the time, but it made me worry this time around.  We both trust God's wisdom with that pregnancy, that little one, and continue to trust Him with this pregnancy, this little one.  Since I'm 14 weeks along now, the "danger zone" is behind us and we're thinking positively for the future.

The first trimester of this pregnancy was different than Gracie's.  I was super-duper-double-tired this time around.  Which may or may not have been the case with Gracie.  I don't think it was quite as bad with her, but it's tough to compare pregnancy without kids to pregnancy with a toddler.  I also experienced some yucky-icky-sick feelings.  I wouldn't call it nausea and I never threw up... just slow digestion and an unsettled belly all day, every day for about 6 weeks.  It passed right at 12 weeks for me and I definitely did a 'happy jig' to celebrate!

We went for the 12 week appointment a few weeks ago.  The baby's heartbeat was 165, which is exactly what Gracie's was at her 12 week appointment.  Everything else looked good (there's not much to check when the baby is so small).  We also met with the finance girl, and she told us how much we'd be paying to have this baby.  Let's just say that the recent change in Ryan's insurance (due to Obamacare) has not resulted in any benefit for the Weaver family.  This one will likely cost 5 times as much as Gracie did.  Lovely.  I hope the hospital doesn't mind if we have to pay $100 per month until this one graduates high school!

I'm due on May 22, which is currently the last day of school.  Some people call that great planning.  I, on the other hand, think it's about 6 weeks later than I would prefer!  Either way, the kids will be almost 3 years apart, which should be perfect.  As with Gracie's first summer, I'm sure our lake season will be affected, but Little Weaver #2 will surely experience camping at a very young age, too!  This time Ryan and I are planning to find out the gender, which will be a new experience for us.  The main motivation to know is to help prepare big sister for her new sibling.  I'm actually really excited to find out what we're having.  No major guesses yet.  Some days I'm sure it's a boy, but yesterday I would have placed money on girl.  So who knows!  We will know at the end of December.  I can't wait!

If it crosses your mind to add us to your prayers, please pray for health for the baby, an easy transition for Gracie, and peace of mind for Mommy and Daddy.  Oh yeah, and if you have an extra second... pray that the baby is  a really good sleeper!  Just kidding.  But, really.