Amber's First "Visit" to the Zoo

On Amber's 9th day of life the family took a trip to the zoo. Technically it was Amber's first visit to the zoo but I'm not sure it really counts since she slept the whole time. We picked up some food on the way and started off with a picnic up near the primate house. Kayla had a great time watching the random birdies fly around while we were eating. After food we saw the bird house, the penguins, bears, prairie dogs, Bucky Badger, giraffes, and of course the tiger. We also stopped at the carousel and playground which was definitely Kayla's favorite part. She was hesitant to ride the carousel at first but once it got going she loved it. I had to pry her away from the carousel after two rides. At the playground we enjoyed listening to some poor girl cry for about 10 minutes straight because her dad was forcing her to climb up to the very top slide, obviously because he wanted to do it.

Roller Queen

We recently bought Kayla her first pair of roller skates for her "big sister" gift. After getting her all decked out in her gear we took her outside to try them out. She had a lot of fun with them although at times she seemed more interested in picking dandelions. She even had the little neighbor boy picking some dandelions for her - until Daddy chased him away with a baseball bat ;) She fell a few times but just on her little butt so not too painful.

First Few Days at Home

Some more pictures of Amber's first few days of life. In the first picture we are not being bad parents and having her sleep on her stomach - she just likes to throw her hands up by her head when she is on her back and has a flexible neck. The kiss from Kayla was right after her first bath - Kayla was trying to calm her down.

Everything is going pretty well so far. Amber likes to sleep a lot - you forget how much the newborns sleep when you are used to a 2-year old with endless energy. Except for the first night home from the hospital, Amber has been letting her parents get some sleep at night so we are crossing our fingers that will continue. We had checkups on Wednesday and Friday and by the second one Amber had gained a bunch of weight so she was almost back to her birth weight.

Heading Home

Everything was checking out great at the hospital on Tuesday morning so they let us head home a day early. After getting the final OK for Mommy and Amber to go we packed up our stuff and got ready to show Amber her new home. It was nice to get home but because we left in a hurry on Sunday we came back to a bit of a mess to clean up. Grandma Ferris will be staying with us for a few days and then Grandma Czar will be coming out mid next week.

Kayla is a Big Sister

Kayla seems to be very excited about her little sister so far. When she first came to visit us in the hospital room she ran right up to Amber with a big smile on her face. Kayla is very interested in the new little person in her life. She gets concerned when baby cries and likes to sing songs to her when she is trying to sleep. She uses a bit too much volume but it is adorable nonetheless.

Hospital Visitors

Various visitors to the hospital during our stay (Mike's aunt Pam also visited but we forgot to take a picture - sorry!)

Aunt Tricia

Uncle Bob

Grandpa Ferris

Cousin Tiara

LeAnne

An Early Surprise!!!

Sunday April 18th started out like any recent weekend. Daddy got up with Kayla and let 38 weeks pregnant Mommy sleep in to get some much needed rest. After making some pancakes and playing a game with Kayla, Daddy though he heard Mommy say his name. Since she was only 2 weeks from her due date Daddy thought it would be best to go upstairs to make sure nothing was wrong. When he got upstairs Mommy said that her water broke.

Unfortunately we had been planning to pack up our bags that very day so we were pretty disorganized but at least we had put the infant car seat in the car the night before. We called Triage to let them know we were coming and then proceeded to quickly pack up our things to get ready to go. I must say Mommy was surprisingly calm. Daddy made some phone calls to grandparents - Grandma Ferris would be with us through the labor/delivery, Grandpa Ferris and LeAnne picked up Kayla at the hospital to watch her, and of course he had to call Grandma Czar in Ohio so they could cheer us on from afar. I think when Grandma Czar picked up the phone and heard her son-in-law's voice on the other end instead of her daughter's she knew it was time to have the baby.

Although Mommy's water broke she wasn't having any contractions and wasn't very far along when we made it to triage at the hospital so we knew it could be a long day. Mommy was a trooper though and hung with the slow process throughout the day. Finally around midnight things started to move a little quicker. By about 2 or 2:30 the contractions were getting pretty painful and Mommy was very close to being able to start pushing. Luckily after Mommy was finally able to push it only took 10 minutes for baby to come out, although I think it was the most painful 10 minutes of Mommy's life.

And that is the story of how at 3:39 AM on Monday April 19, 2010 little Amber Renee Ferris was welcomed into the world. She was 8 lbs 7 oz and 19.5 inches long at birth.

Easter

Easter began by heading over to Heritage Church where Kayla was baptised. We sat with Tricia and her kids and enjoyed trying to get all the kids to behave and not be too loud during the lengthy service. After church we headed over to grandma's for lunch and the big easter egg hunt outside. The kids enjoyed finding the eggs around the yard but of course had the most fun eating all the candy inside them.