Year in Review 2008

Christmas Morning

Here is a recap of Christmas morning. Well, I should say Christmas DAY. It took all day for Ethan to open his gifts! And it's not because of the number of gifts. It's because he was so happy to play with each and every one of them!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning at the Snyders! It's been a full morning with presents for the kids. And we're not even done yet! Ethan saw the presents this morning but wasn't very curious about them. First he watched Curious George, then he ate breakfast. By that time, I had to feed Kate, then get everybody ready for Christmas Day mass at the Catholic church my parents attend while here. By 11:45 am we were back home and ready to open up the gifts. But once he found what he really wanted, he didn't want to open any more gifts! After lunch we managed to get him to open a few more, but not all of them! Right now, Ethan is taking his afternoon nap and hopefully we'll finish the last round of presents.

It's easy to lose sight of the real meaning of Christmas. Just last night, I fell victim to this. Preparing a special dinner, taking care of a baby, and making sure family members are comfortable is a lot of work! I wasn't able to get as much preparation done as I had hoped, and so come 4pm I was spent, stressed, and a little mad to be quite honest! My chocolate trifle wasn't done, dinner wasn't started, and plans for Christmas Eve services had to be cancelled because of a fussy baby. I was able to sneak away for 15 minutes and decompress, when I realized I was having a Martha and Mary moment. You know the story, right? It can be found in the gospel of Luke, Chapter 10, verses 38-42:

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

Oh, how I am Martha! There's nothing wrong with what she was doing. After all, opening your home to people is a good thing. But it started to get in the way of what was truly important--the gift that God gave to us through His Son. I pray next year, I will remember the lesson Jesus taught Martha.

Speaking of lessons...last night, David read the story of Christmas one more time to Ethan. As I was down the hallway, I heard him asking Ethan to choose one gift to give to the baby Jesus. He chose this little truck. Perhaps this will be the start of one of many Christmas traditions in our home. Though this truck isn't the most precious of posessions to Ethan, perhaps it will remind us that God gave us His most precious "gift": His son.

Kate consulted her stylist...

...and came up with this. Not too bad, eh? We'll do something with that hair yet!

giggles

Kate laughed for me for the first time today! She was sitting in her swing, and I was making the usual silly faces and sing-songy phrases to her. I then leaned in close with another silly face and she giggled. She giggled and giggled for Ethan and Daddy to hear, too. Oh! It was so wonderful! Ever since this morning I've been trying to get it on video but haven't been successful thus far. I'll keep trying :)

A Christmas Video from Ethan and Kate

Double...no, Triple the Fun

The week is now over, but it has been quite the challenge! If you thought our tv watching habits were bad, they're definitely worse. Ethan came down with a really bad cold, and David was recovering from knee surgery. And with the cold winter weather and a newborn who sleeps round the clock, nobody was goin' nowhere!

We did a pretty good job of keeping Ethan away from Kate, but our efforts proved to be in vain. She officially has her first cold at two months of age. Just a few nights ago I noticed her breathing funny, heard the congestion in her nose, and she wasn't nursing very well. As such, we let her sleep in her carseat to help with the drainage. The doctor gave me some symptoms to watch for (which would indicate something more serious than a cold), and thought sleeping in the carseat would be the way to go.


I'm afraid it has become her new bed! She actually sleeps REALLY well in it, and her sleeping patterns have remained more or less the same. She naps consistently, and is still sleeping for 5 to 6 hour stretches at night.

She is so amazing...she's the happiest sick baby I've ever met!

Kate's Baby Dedication

This past Sunday we gathered with some other families at our church to dedicate our children to the Lord. It was a time of prayer in which we publicly declared our promise to raise Kate in the knowledge of Jesus (Ethan's baby dedication was nearly two years ago). There were lots of families there with their guests. We almost filled the entire length of the stage! Here we are with our pastor, Mike.

This was a great reminder of the primary responsibility we have as Christian parents: to raise our kids to know and love Christ. If we can do just that one thing, we would have been successful in God's eyes. When I think of this, I am instantly overwhelmed. I look down at this baby in my arms, think of the potential of who this beautiful human being is, and then I realize that God has entrusted a soul to me. Not just a human, a SOUL. And with this comes eternal implications. Then I say to myself, "Why, God, did you allow me this opportunity?! Do you really know what you're doing?!"

It's a tremendous gift I don't deserve. I am honored, thrilled, and already sorry for the mistakes I'm going to make. Dear Lord, I need you! I'm not ready for this journey...

Two Months

Kate had her two-month appointment yesterday, and she was the heaviest baby that day! Well, it was an 11am appt, so perhaps the doctor's comment was premature, ha ha ha. Despite my concerns about breastfeeding, she weighed in at 13 lbs, and measured 22 inches long. That puts her in the 90th percentile for weight, and only the 50th percentile for height.

David is concerned about our little chunker! The doctor is perfectly pleased with her weight gain and says she's doing great.

Ethan really wanted to get in the picture, so here are both of them together in the morning pj's. And as you can see, I STILL can't get Kate's hair to do anything other than stand up!

Kate has already begun to interact more with us. She coos and smiles in response to our coos and smiles, and she is slowly settling into a more regular schedule. She's also sleeping better. Often times she will sleep a straight five-hour stretch at night, and then do another four hour stretch.

Christmas has begun

Two days ago we finally got our little tree up! Our little tree decorating "party" came with a viewing of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on TV, which really added to the holiday cheer.

This is the first Christmas that Ethan is interested in the tree, decorations and presents! It will be fun to see his reaction Christmas morning...

Thanksgiving Weekend

The weekend brought some nice fun for all the Snyders. We showed our out-of-towners the Peoria riverfront, and had lunch at a local pizza place.

The highlight of the weekend was probably our first snowfall! Sunday morning was quite a surprise, and a delight for Gayle and Joanna who were visiting from Texas. After church we quickly got dressed to go sledding.

But that wasn't enough snow for Joanna. After lunch she and her mom went out into the backyard to see if they could shovel enough snow to build an igloo.

I think it turned out fairly well! Big enough for Joanna to crawl into at least!

And the first snowfall would not be complete without a little snowball fight!!!

A special thank you goes out to Joanna without whom this weekend would not have been as fun for Ethan. Thanks for being his special bud and for giving him lots of playtime!

Vicky's First Thanksgiving Meal was...

...not quite what she thought it would be!

Well, that's what you get when you "guestimate" the cooking time when the Reynolds Oven Cooking Bag doesn't have your size turkey on their cooking chart. Boy, that turkey cooked WAY faster than I planned, so I overcooked it. Oh well. Nothing a some turkey gravy couldn't fix!

What else was on the menu? Onion and chive mashed potatoes, homemade stuffing, a greenbean dish, and cranberry relish. All homemade! For dessert I made pumpkin pie and apple crisp.

And as usual, I have pictures of the food and not the guests, ha ha ha! David's eldest sister and her husband joined us (Donna and Greg). Then later that evening one of his other sisters, Gayle, came along with her youngest (of five!), Joanna. They literally hopped on a plane from Dallas right after their own family Thanksgiving celebration.

All the family in town made for a great Thanksgiving!

Ask This Old House---Snyder Style

With David off this week, he decided to tackle some home improvement projects he had long been meaning to finish. Like the back of this closet we recently had installed over the summer. With the scrap drywall and some elbow grease, David finished covering the unsightly wooden beams. Trouble is, we still have some unsightly-ness to look at! This video is an ode to one of our favorite shows, which has certainly inspired my aspiring handyman husband :)

Festival of Trees

What was intended as a merry precursor to the holiday season turned out to be much like pulling teeth! As some of you may recall, ever since Halloween Ethan has exhibited fears of all sorts of things. The latest in his scare craze? Snowmen and mice. There weren't any mice at the local Festival of Trees, but there were snowmen, big and small. We did a shortcut straight to the kids section in hopes of warming Ethan up to the holiday season. Unfortunately, Ethan didn't want to do much of anything, not even take a ride on a kiddie train! Here's a little video summary of our outing...

By the end of the morning, at least he was happy and we were able to finally walk around the decorated trees without Ethan whining and wanting to be carried! And nothing makes a kid's day like having a happy meal at the golden arches!

Flutterby dreams swing

Thank you, Marla and Rob, for lending us your swing! As you can see, it has quite the effect on Kate :)

*yawn*...'night 'night!

Growin' up

Now that I'm caring for a newborn, Ethan looks bigger and bigger each day. He's like a little man.

A few moments of peace

With Kate napping and Ethan sitting in one place, I can breathe a little...



He's even happy :)

Kate's Do

Kate was born with a good deal of hair. Trouble is, I can't seem to tame it...

There are some big differences between the two siblings. Kate is VERY gassy, toots a lot, and spits up even more. You should see her laundry bin! As such, she requires lots of soothing and holding. That equals to lots of work for mommy and daddy.

One month old

Fall photos

It's been hard enjoying the fall festivities this year with me being really pregnant or taking care of a newborn. But we finally did get to go out last weekend for a scenic drive (well, as scenic as central Illinois can get).

Last year we had gone on a drive and happened upon this pumpkin farm out near Chilicothe. Situated between the Peoria river and the "bluffs" of that river valley, it proved to be a very scenic location. This year we wanted to find it again. And we did!

It was a little late in the season, and the pumpkin patch was mostly brown and dead with several pumpkins. But there was enough to keep Ethan occupied like hopping on this tractor.

Ode to the Grandmas

A whole month has passed since Kate's birth, and surprisingly I've had some time to reflect on how far we've come, thanks to the help of Grandma Cuesta and Grandma Snyder. My mom came in to town for two weeks prior to Kate's birth (we all thought she was going to be born really early). She was a big help playing with Ethan and watching him while I rested or did last minute preparations for the baby. He loved to rough house her, unfortunately, and mom was a big sport in wrestling with him! We're also grateful for her watching him while David and I had a few date nights :)

We're just really glad that Kate came before Grandma left! They had two whole days together...

Grandma Snyder came four days after Kate was born. She did a lot of work watching Ethan for two weeks while I recuperated from the delivery and worked on breastfeeding Kate. She also insisted on doing chores during Ethan's naptime! We are really grateful for her keeping the house in order :)

In fact, she put us all to shame! Despite her age, she can outdo me any day. In addition to the long walks with Ethan in the morning, she would do the regular chores and even some yardwork!

Ethan had a great four weeks with his two grandmas. I'm afraid he's been quite spoiled with all the attention! We can't wait for them to visit us again :)

Kate's first few weeks

Ethan's Car Dealership

Ethan's favorite pastime is arranging his cars in a straight line. They have to be JUST right, or else he gets mad!

"When I get a shot at Satan, I'm taking him out..."

This is what my husband said to me this afternoon after having taken a short walk around the block with Ethan. On their way, they passed a house decorated for Halloween. According to David, when Ethan saw the fake bones on the lawn he stopped in his tracks. He made a face, backed away, and said, "scared".


"We've ruined our child," was the thought David and I had as he recounted this little episode to me. "He's scared of bones and flickering lights."


Two nights ago, a friend invited all of us for a little family outing to the local "Haunted Trail". Every year around the time of Halloween, a portion of the paved trail that goes through our town becomes bedecked with all things ghoulish and ghastly to celebrate the holiday. This particular night was touted as the "non-scary" night meant for kids. Our friend was careful to check on this, and David and I thought this would be fun for Ethan, especially since he hadn't seen his friends in a while. At the end of the trail were to be treats and hot chocolate for all, followed by a hayride back to the parking lot. What could be more harmless?




Off we went. It was the first time for all of us (three families in all). The line was long, as was the wait, but we finally reached the entrance. A young college student dressed as Dracula greeted us and gave us some general directions for walking the trail. His costume and painted face, which did strike a scary bone in me, probably should have been indication to turn around and forgo the trail, which turned out to be more intense than we thought.

Ethan hated it. No, I should say he was rather terrified. We walked the whole trail, Ethan clutching onto Daddy for dear life. He didn't scream or whine, but it was dark, so I didn't notice his face until we got well into the trail. He looked perturbed, eyes wide, and still. I then heard his scared whimperings. I told him to shut his eyes as we passed the monsters, the smoking cauldrons, the flickering fake fires. To their credit, the monsters were not trying to scare us (they are instructed NOT to). Instead, they said happy hellos. But the imagery was enough to scare our dear Ethan.

I sound melodramatic, don't I?

His two friends, who are about the same age, showed no fear. In fact, one of them walked beside his mommy completely unperturbed. The other, who was also being held by his daddy, didn't seem to be scared, though I was so caught up with Ethan that I may not have noticed. We finished the trail in the drizzle that started to come down, had some watered down hot chocolate, and hopped on the hayride truck. Ethan had never seemed so happy to get back to the van ("White car!" he calls it).

Ethan could not sleep in his room the entire night. He whimpered and cried until 10 o'clock. No amount of encouragement from Mommy or Daddy could comfort him. I finally asked him if he wanted to sleep with us, and he quietly said "uh huh". We've never had our son in bed with us, and we thought we would make this one exception. Five minutes later, he fell sound asleep. Luckily, the next night he did sleep in his room without too much fuss. But when Daddy tried to put a space heater in his room, Ethan said "No want," and he picked it up and put it outside his room. The space heater had a flickering light, not unlike some of the ones we saw on the trail that night.

I don't know anything about the psychology of fear. But my question is this: Do we learn to fear, or are we innately afraid of certain things?

No one taught Ethan to fear ghosts or witches; he doesn't even know what they are. And not one of us acted scared as we walked the trail. As far as we were concerned, we could have been strolling down the trail to admire the fall foliage (though it was dark). So why was Ethan scared? David likes to think that Ethan is blessed with heightened spiritual awareness and discernment and is therefore completely turned off by all things unholy. Maybe so; we'll never really know. To some extent, I believe there is indeed a God-given instinct in all of us that allows us to distinguish between the light and the darkness. Maybe Ethan is more responsive to this instinct than others.

It breaks my heart to see Ethan afraid. No one wants to instill fear in their kids. Gosh, have we really ruined him? Are these dark images forever imprinted in his young mind? I remember my dad used to drive me through a certain part of Central Park in the evening, where the trees were tall and you could barely see the sky. My dad would say, "Gargoyles!" and he would do that "ooooohhh, mwahahaha" type thing. "See the gargoyles?" he would say. "They're gonna getcha!" As a four year-old it got me every time-- I would lean in close and shriek in fear. I don't ever remember really believing in gargoyles, but perhaps the thought of what a creature like that would be was enough to plant the seeds of fear. Even fear of something that didn't exist. I have to admit, I never forgot those drives through Central Park, or those images of the dark trees above.

Well, David still wants to "take Satan out" for scaring our son, but I have to ask myself, "Should we as Christians be spiritually sensitive for our children?" Obviously, good Christian parents and children can enjoy the haunted trail without any negatives (and our friends are examples of this). But Ethan was obviously scared, and as the children's song says, "Be careful little eyes what you see."

We love visitors

Last Friday Kate had some more out of town visitors! My friends Liz and Heather came from Chicago to meet her in the flesh, and mommy definitely welcomed the time spent catching up with her good friends. It's not everyday that people elect to drive down to the country, ha ha ha! To my left are Liz with her daughter, Lauren, and Heather.

We spent the late morning opening gifts, staring at Kate, and watching Liz's daughter and Ethan fight and play. We then ordered in some pizza for all. David came home for lunch, and as we all sat around the table we were amazed to see Lauren's enthusiasm at eating corn on the cobb (her mommy had packed her lunch). "WOW," I thought to myself. Four days later, I handed Ethan a half cobb myself, and it looks like he picked up on Lauren's skills. He, too, ate it like a pro.

Here is some footage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbiimISBwNI) from the visit, thanks to Liz, whose camera was ready to go at a moment's notice! As Lauren says "hi, Kate" watch for Kate's little smile...

My favorite son

Since Kate's arrival it's been hard spending quality time with Ethan. The day we came home from the hospital Ethan came down with a bad cold (and so did Daddy for that matter). This made things worse. "Ethan, here's your new sister, Kate. Don't touch her!" That went over really well! Not only did he have to stay away, he couldn't stay near me, either. A whole week has passed without our kisses and cuddles, and I was beginning to feel it. That in combination with the pool of hormones we call "baby blues", I found myself in tears late one night, crying over the days when it was just "us three", or "just Ethan and me." I was a basket case.

Then two days ago I got the chance to reconnect with my favorite son. Kate's eating and nap time fell just at the right time. I still had some energy that afternoon, and so I told grandma that Ethan and I were going to play in the backyard while she could take a break. David has taught Ethan how to turn on and off the garden hose, so now he can fill up his watering can all by himself (and not run up the water bill!). I hadn't seen him do this yet, and as I watched him turn on the hose, fill the watering can, and turn off the hose, it was like looking at a full-fledged little boy. He's just a toddler, almost a preschooler, but he seemed so much older, like so much time had passed. Look at this video and see for yourself.



Having Kate has made me love my son even more.

40 Weeks to the date

Here she is, folks! Kathryn Elise Snyder, born October 2nd, at 4:05 in the morning. 7lbs 4oz, 20 inches long.

After waiting and waiting and waiting I began to feel contractions Tuesday night after dinner. They were very mild, just like menstrual cramps. The next day, they continued at fairly regular intervals (about 20-30 minutes). Some were rather intense, to the point where I had to stop what I was doing. I called my midwife and told her what I'd been feeling, and she said that I was in early labor which could last a few hours or a few days. She then told me to call her back when they were 5 minutes apart. That evening they got to be 15-10 minutes apart, and they were feeling pretty intense. But when I wasn't having them, I felt pretty ok. We had dinner that night, watched a movie, put Ethan to bed and went to sleep. By this point, they were hurting, but still only 10 minutes apart!

At about 1 o'clock (after two or three hours of trying to sleep), I was stirred out of my dozing state by a really painful, long contraction that seemed to last forever. I quickly remembered and used my breathing techniques to get through it. When it was done, I started shaking uncontrollably. "Ok, " I thought. "I don't care if these are still 10 minutes apart, we're going to the hosptial!". I woke up David, told my parents (who were already staying with us), and off we went.

Once we got settled into our room, the nurse checked me for dilatation. She checked for much longer than usual. I said, "Do you need a second opinion?" She replied, "You know, I think I do." Another nurse came in, and then they both confirmed that I was just about fully dilated. WOW. They couldn't believe how calm I was, and that the contractions never got to 5 minutes. I couldn't believe it either. My midwife finally arrived, and she couldn't believe it either. All we had to do was break my water, and then push. And so we did.

It was an amazing experience. One that I anticipated, feared, and eventually surrendered to God. My desire for a natural childbirth was so great that I switched doctors and almost changed our insurance coverage. But in the end, I had to wonder why I desired this so much, and whether or not this is something that was right for me. My first childbirth experience was rather traumatic, and the recovery was long, so I didn't want to repeat that. It sounds weird, but I have to say that I desired this natural childbirth in the same way that I desired my college education at the University of Chicago: I wanted to challenge myself, say that I got through it, and that I accomplished one of the personal goals in my life. I don't have too many personal goals or dreams, but this was definitely one of them. Call me weird...

This is Laura, the midwife who delivered Kate. She is one of two midwives at my doctor's office.