Evan to Ferris: “You may weigh the same as me, but I’m still taller.”

Yup… At four months, Ferris weighs the same as 18 month old [preemie] Evan: 18 pounds! We knew it was just a matter of time.

Nate and I always argue over which of our names our babies will say first. Technically, he’s in the lead. I think all three of the boys said his name first (but my name more.)

I worked on Evan for quite some time and she actually said my name first, but continues to say his name more as he’s her favorite person in the whole wide world. She’s said “Ma” and “Da” for quite sometime and now even says “Mama” and “Dada.”

We’ve been waiting awhile to see what her next word would be… you know, the first real word. We know now.

For about six weeks, she’s been consistently saying “dista.” Sometimes it’s a question: “Dista?” Sometimes it’s an introduction: “Dista.” But it always means sister.

Evan is quite fond of her baby “dista” Ferris. She talks about her and to her and always refers to her as her “dista.” Maybe someday she’ll learn her name, too.

Tomorrow, Ferris will turn two months old. Here’s just another glimpse of all her cuteness. She’s certainly bigger than Evan was at this age.

While we were away last week, I took the kids to a small neighborhood playground a few times.

Since we’ve been visiting this same town twice a year for more than five years, I pretty much know my way around. I’m so thankful for this small, simple playground. It provides such a needed release for pent-up-in-a-hotel-room energy. From these photos, you’ll notice that my wacky kids are thankful for the tiny park, too.

So, Ferris may not have enjoyed it as much of the older kids… but she does look peaceful, doesn’t she? 

Maybe Evan got her name from Dale Evans? Happy trails to you…

Connor enjoyed “legal” climbing.

Brady enjoyed climbing … and sliding … and swinging.

Apparently, Andy just liked making goofy faces at his mommy.

Ever since we had Ferris, I have been meaning to take some photos of her and Evan together… mainly as a reference later to their size comparison.

Since Evan was a preemie, she’s still much smaller than her age. In fact, last week we met our friend’s seven month old baby and she is the same size as Evan! (I know people look at us and try to do the math when they see us with a newborn! It’s so funny.)

Anyway, I finally took some photos last week while we were in our hotel. The first one was one night after Evan had her bath and was snuggled into her PJs. Ferris is less than thrilled about Evan’s cuddling.

The next two are of the duo in matching outfits Nana bought for them. I tried to get Ferris’ face in the photo, but Evan wouldn’t cooperate.

Finally, I got them to hug… sort of. (Though Evan’s eyes look like she’s falling asleep, she’s not. I just caught her at a bad time.) 

Ferris is three weeks old today.

Those three weeks have certainly flown by. I’m sure it will continue at this pace because I’d swear Andy was just born four weeks ago.

Just wanted to give everyone another glimpse of our newest cutie. Here she is.

I’m afraid to admit this, but my husband has often encouraged our babies to burp after nursing by exclaiming, “Good rip!” when they belch exceptionally well. For the older boys of baby sisters, this proclamation has not gone unnoticed. Case in point:

Monday, Andy was holding Ferris just after she had nursed. She had a very full tummy and seemed to be very content in her biggest brother’s arms when it happened. She started spitting up and boy, did it come up! Volumes of spit-up at fountain-like angles came from her tiny mouth… All over her, and all over her biggest brother.

You should know that Andy has a sensitive gag reflex. I quickly scooped her up and told him to go change his shirt. (I was hoping that, by giving him a task, his mind would be occupied by something other than throwing up.)

It seemed to work. A few seconds later he came strolling out of his room in a clean shirt and said, “Mom, I think you forgot to rip her!”

Ferris had her first shopping trip last night.

The boys were all excited to take her to Meijer. For those of you outside of the Midwest, Meijer is my haven. It’s a wonderful grocery store and department store in one. (Think super-Wal-Mart, but maybe a bit nicer and in existence earlier.) I think it was one of the first of its kind. My husband likes to point out its convenience by stating that you can get prune juice, a plunger and air freshener all in one place! (Gross, I know…)

At any rate, we now pretty much have to get two carts to contain all the kids. We must be amusing to people watching as we try to assign seats, buckle little ones in and decide on a direction. We got more than a few smiles.

The funniest part, though, was that Ferris (of course) slept the entire time in her car seat atop the cart. Connor, who shared her cart, kept peeking under the blanket at her and telling her what department we were in (”Fair-wuss… we’re by da milk.”) but she slept…. unfazed at the gravity of the situation.

I wanted to wake her up and tell her that when I was a kid, we had to go to Kroger for broccoli, then to 3-D for baseball equipment, then to the local office supply store for binder clips and yet we were getting them all in one place!!

I let her sleep, though. I’m sure she didn’t care.

A while back I wrote about how I don’t like to shush people when our babies are sleeping. In a “large” family, it’s easier to teach the babies to sleep with all the noise.

Since we’ve brought Ferris home, I’ve tried to remain true to that theory. I even turn on noise during her nap time. The last week or so, when she’s asleep (which is most of the time,) I try to have the TV or something on. I don’t want her getting acclimated to just any old junky TV show, though, so I keep turning on the Food Network. It’s innocent TV, you know.

I told Nate the other day that I’m hoping all the shows will help her grow up loving to cook… then maybe she’ll want to relieve me of my kitchen duties. After all, if she’s grown up watching the Food Network, her dishes are bound to be better than my mediocre food.