My turn

Thanks to modern technology, and my parents, I'm able to blog from my vacation ( I mean hospital room). My parents brought their laptop and St. Luke's Hospital is nice enough to provide the Wi-Fi.
As I sit here looking at Olivia, and have allowed the last 26 hrs to set in, I'm still shocked, amazed, and in awe. It's a girl... Something I never thought would be uttered to me within seconds of giving birth. I fully expected an Oliver! But, gosh, now that I have Olivia, it's just sureal. She's so different than the 3 boys, but so much like all of them!!!!
For instance, she has Cooper's dark thick hair, and only wieghs 2 oz more than he did at birth.
She has Nelsons love for cuddling. So much so, we have to get her almost naked and really angry before she'll even think about eating. As for how she's like Maddox... She has his temper and strong willed-ness. She waited and waited to come, and then took the next 1.5 hrs screaming about being here. Really, I'm not kidding 90 minutes of screaming!!!!
I've been able to spend a lot of time with just her. Travis has been amazing with trying to keep the boys in a routine. He even got the older 2 fed, dressed, and off to school without a hitch this morning.

IT'S A GIRL !!!!!

I know!! I couldn't believe it either. I thought Ferris genes could only make boys! I'm not sure if it was God answering the prayers of her older brother Cooper, or maybe God giving Sheri and I the desires of our heart, but lo and behold, it's a girl. And to top it off, she looks like her momma, with a full head of hair.

Welcome to the world Olivia Lynn Ferris! Born 08/19/08 at 11:40am CT, weighing in at 6 lbs 11 oz and measuring 19 inches long.





Olivia and Mommy, looking good after having to deliver au-naturale; without any meds. She took a while preping to come, but once she decided to make her debut, 7cm to 10cm and -2 station to +2 (pushing) station in 15 minutes, there was no time.



Olivia and Daddy in his new U.S. National Soccer Team jersey his awesome wife bought to celebrate 9 years of marrige on Thursday.



Maddox practicing rocking his baby. Maybe tomorrow you can rock your sister. After we work on not poking her in the eye.

Shout out to Sheila and all my other peeps.

Maddox preparing for his new role, big brother.

In preperation for the new baby, everyone is adding to their responsibilities. Maddox has taken it upon himself to help with the garbage.



He has also appointed himself official swinger.

First Day of School.

Public Service Announcement...

No we have not had the baby.
We don't know when we are having the baby.
The sex of the baby is still a secret to us.
Yes, we will make an announcement when Baby O decides to come, we won't keep the baby hidden in our back pockets forever.

Something is seriously wrong with these pictures...

Lately I've been trying to lie down in the afternoon and rest when Maddox is sleeping. The older 2 boys are really good about playing quietly and giving me that little bit of time. Yesterday it just didn't happen. When Maddox woke up, I had to get up. I went to get something and then come back to my room to make the bed. Instead I found him in the bed! The child has figured out how to turn the TV on in our room, climb on our bed, and arrange the pillows to make himself comfortable. Apparently, he's also figured out how to get his snack from the kitchen table to the middle of my bed too.
Same goes for Toby, he sees a pile of pillows and blankets and can burry himself quicker than anything!

Another one bites the dust.

I'm losing my sons, but I'm gaining superheroes! Nelson has one prized posession... His capes (yes plural, there are currently 3). Maddox got a hold of one of them and had Cooper put it on him. He refused to look at the camera, but was very willing to strut his stuff in the cape!!!!!

Deal of the century and sure fire quiet!

The boys and I ran out this morning to grab a few things before going back to being hermits in the house. Thanks to a heat index of 110 we are getting good at staying in the AC. While at Walmart we cruised the clearance isle. I found fleece throws that were $20 on sale for $1.50! Yep, you read that correctly!!!! I grabbed one for each of the older boys and headed to the check out. While checking out the checker asked where the 3rd blanket was. I told her I didn't grab one, Maddox is too young to know who Batman is. She told me for that price it didn't matter, he needed one like his big brothers. She was right. I went back to get it. I was glad I did, I was going to get the other one for my nephew, but in the 10 minutes since I grabbed the first two, only one was left. Now they are sititing on them watching The Bee Movie (rented from the Red Box, my other summer saviour). When a movie is on, there is silence! The magic of the TV is amazing, and I am forever grateful for it.

Updates

Saturday we did go to the park and play in the fountains, we never thought to take the camera. Boy am I kicking myself now!! Maddox loved it, he got so brave at the end and ran through the big ones drenching himself. The older 2 didn't even seem to mind having the water splashing them in the face.
Sunday night Travis and I got away for the first time in months! It was amazing. The church gave us a gift card to The Melting Pot, and provided babysitters (thanks again, Chris and Rebekah). We had a 3 hr dinner that just adult time. We loved every minute of it! The best part was the Snickers fondue for desert. YUMMO!!!!!
Sunday night/Monday morning I ended up with the flu. Travis was home all day yesterday taking care of the boys and I spent literally the entire day in bed! Thankfully, I'm doing much better this morning, the baby is fine (had a doctor's appointment yesterday) and I'm attempting to get the boys de-programed from all the Daddy time they had.

Our "spacious" bedroom.

So it continues...

We have been putting off re-arranging our bedroom for some time. It was a final task on my "before the baby" list. We finally tackled it last night. I love it! It looks HUGE!!! (Those that have been to our house know it can only look huge because there is nothing huge about anything in our house.) We ended up putting the second TV in there, it was in the "library" which recieved a transormation 2 weeks ago into Baby O's room. I'm still not sure how I feel about a TV in the bedroom, according to Oprah, it's bad. But according to me, there is a lot bad about Oprah. Everything seems to be falling into place for the baby. Travis and I worked all night and I'm washing curtains, swags, throws, and decrative pillows all day today. The nesting is really setting in, for the first time.
All I have to do is move the bassinet into our room and then I can sit back and wait for the baby.

For those wondering...

This was taken about a week ago. I have 6 more weeks until my due date. I'm really hoping to be finished being pregnant in about 4 weeks.

At least he's moved on from the undies.

Cooper is embrasing this new organization we are trying to instill in the boys. He's constantly looking for ways to neaten things up, make things more organized, and help around the house. Just this morning he offered to empty my drawers and help me fold my underwear... Yeah, I'm never going to be that desperate for something to do.

When I went to check on the boys before breakfast I assumed I would find Cooper in the chair watching TV (his favorite morning place and activity) Maddox right next to him, and Nelson just content playing with whichever superhero he rediscovered hiding in his bed. Boy was I wrong. Nelson and Maddox were in the chair watching TV and Cooper was MIA. I went into their room to get a diaper for Mad-Man and clothes out for all of them. That's when I found Cooper. He was in the drawer under their bunkbeds organizing his and Nelson's shoes! Apparently he wanted to do it last night after church and Travis talked him into going to bed and saving that adventure for this morning. The child spent 30 minutes 30 MINUTES finding the best way to organize their shoes. He then "taught" Nelson where to put his shoes and how to organize them. I think I'm going to chanel this newfound love for organizing into their toy area! Maybe we can create some order there before we have to add baby stuff to it.

Oh no! He's gotten to them!!!!!!

I was shocked when I went to put Cooper and Nelson's underwear and socks away. I found their top drawers organized more than Fort Knox. In the past, the top drawer has always been a hodge podge of socks, undies, and jammies. I went to toss a handful of undies in and Cooper freaked out!! I asked what was wrong. He said daddy taught them how to fold and stack their undies last night before bed. I had to now start folding their undies and putting them neatly into the drawer. He then proceeded to show me how to properly fold.
Moms out there, am I the only one that just tosses undies into the drawer? My mom, I know you are secretly cheering at the boys new-found organization. I'm sure you are a minority. For the record, I don't fold my undies and Sheila doesn't either (much to my mom's dismay. That woman folds her undies and organizes them in shoe boxes, I will be sure to take pictures the next time I'm up there visiting. Sorry mom, had to out you.)

The new dressers

Here are the new dressers! I'm amazed at how much bigger the room looks. I love that they match and that the boys are excited about them. Let's hope the excitement lasts and they take care of them and keep the clothes neatly folded in them. All that's left to do is get Maddox a sports ball rug for in front of his dresser and for Travis to make a second hanging rod in the closet that they can reach.

Let's play a game...

GOOD IDEA, BAD IDEA!
Good idea, embrace the fact that the baby is coming and make room for baby O.
Bad idea, make room in one day.

Good idea, buy the 3 boys matching "big boy" dressers (read: not mismatched yours and mine frome when we were younger than Cooper and Nelson).
Bad idea, wait until minutes before you leave to empty the van. (there is not telling what you will find under the seats!

Good idea, go through the three old dressers getting rid of what is stained, worn out, or outgrown before transfering the clothes into the new dresser.
Bad idea, allow your husband to see the boxes for Once Upon a Child, Goodwill, and the garbage. (He will take it as permission to go through them and make the final decision on what stays and goes, making this process take too long and leaving you with CRAP you don't want.)

Good idea, using the extra energy spurts you get at the end of pregnancy to rearrange 2 rooms and feel accomplished.
Bad idea, working for 7 hrs straight and then realizing if you don't sit down you might fall down seriously injuring yourself and baby O.

waiting for the parade

We went to the Ballwin Days parade for the first time a couple weeks ago. We are attempting to have more "active" family time rather than just all be in the house together or in the same room together. Cooper loved seeing some of his friends from school that he hadn't seen in over a month (he's our little social butterfly). Nelson loved being able to lay his beloved "batman animal cape" out and lay on the grass. Maddox just loved the lure of Manchester Road. He kept trying to go into it or point to it. They got TONS of candy, we got tons of election info and we all had a great time.

Recent irrational thoughts...

I have had 2 major irrational thoughts in under 2 weeks. I know what's causing them, however I can't stop them. I am suffering from severe sleep depervation (thanks Maddox for willingly going to bed at night, now you just have to work on staying in there and staying quiet past 4 AM) and severe pregnancy hormones. This is the first pregnancy that the hormones have been really noticable to me. I'm sure if you ask Travis they were very present with the 3 boys as well, I just never reall noticed them.

Thought #1: I'm going to cause Maddox to have autism. Yep, I truly think this, ponder it, and allow it to keep me up at night. The older 2 boys recieved the MMR shot at 15-18 months, had a fever for 2 days and then were perfectly fine. Maddox is now 21 months old and I have been avoiding making the doctor's appointment convinced that once he has the shot he's going to go to the corner, rock back and forth, and have autism. I know, CRAZY!!!!! Thankfully, Nelson has to have a Kindergarten physical and when I called to make the appointment for that the nurse pulled the other charts and automatically made an appointment for Maddox. She also talked me off the autism ledge.
Thought #2: Maddox is going to have Lyme Disease. Again, I had myself completely convinced of this about 2 hours ago. I was changing his diaper after breakfast and noticed a tick on his chest. I couldn't see the head, the area around the tick was red and I couldn't get it to come off of him. I called Travis absolutely freeking out!! My stomach was churning and I was talking myself out of throwing up. Travis stayed very calm, told me to pack up tweezers, peroxide, and Maddox and come out to see him after bringing Cooper to school. On my way out there I called my sister, mom and sister-in-law. Sheila and my mom laughed with me (or at me) because I also admitted to them that while talking to them I was crying I was so upset that Maddox was going to have Lyme Disease. Melissa (the doctor) informed me she'd never had to remove a tick from anyone in her years of general practice or time at the urgent care clinic... GREAT, I'm on my own... We get to Travis, he calmly takes Maddox out of his carseat, lays him on his lap, removes the tick, puts the peroxide on it, kisses him and puts him back in the carseat. All of that took place in under a minute.
The good news, I averted Lyme Disease today!!!! The head wasn't burried completely, Maddox is now napping comfortably (I'm sure he was just as comfortable with the tick in his chest). Now I just have to survive the MMR next week...

4th of July weekend

We decided to change it up this year. Instead of the traditioinal red, white, and blue we went with camo to honor the relatives we (by we I mean Traivs) has serving in the armed forces; two cousins who served in the Army, a brother in the Army National Guard, a cousin now state-side after finishing a 2nd tour in Guam for the Air Force, and another cousin who is currently in basic training for the Air Force.

(Kimberly recognize the skirt? It's from the backyard camp out days.)


Sparkler fun! These were really cool, they had colored flames, then the sparkle part.






Who needs fancy-shamnsy fireworks displays? Not the Ferris family! We make our own fun.