mealtimes

Mealtimes can get kinda silly here at the Snyder house. Especially when one of your kids is sitting ON the table.


I finally got Kate laughing on video. The best of it is right at the beginning of the clip...The rest is of her giving half-hearted chuckles, but cute nonetheless (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgxdjTuvkl0)

Fantastic Four

March is a big month! Lots of birthdays for friends and family. This year, we decided to throw yet another bash for the fantastic four! We had our shindig at Make a Mess...a kids fun center where they can literally mess the place up. We rented the entire place for two hours. There's a huge ball pit, climbing apparatus with slide, a "swamp" area, toddler area, huge inflatable obstacle course, and a few arcade type games. They also have a concessions stand where they serve pizza, hotdogs, chicken bites and other junk food. Since so many of us have children we thought it would be a great place to gather around--the kids are happy, and the adults get to visit with one another! I think it was an overall success despite the unusual venue!

If only it were as easy as putting on a hat!

Today at Lamb2Lamb (the children's program at my mom's group, Mom2Mom) the children made crowns that illustrate the lesson they've been learning this month: obedience. His crown says "I will obey." I think his face illustrates how he REALLY feels...

One year later

It has been a year since Ethan's accident. For the past couple of weeks, I've been thinking about where we were one year ago. I don't know why. There were moments where I would just stop whatever I was doing, find myself lost remembering the events of that week, and start crying. This is what his arm looks like today. You can't tell from the picture, but the worst of his scarring is the one nearest his armpit. It's like a round nodule, and if you touched it, you would feel how hard that flesh is. To see "before" pictures from a year ago click here.

The rest of his scars have healed really well, though you can still see some discoloration of the skin, especially on the outside of is upper arm. His chest also has some discoloration but it is hardly noticeable.

It has been a long time since I revisited those trying events. I'm thankful to God that He pulled us through, that He blessed us with countless people who prayed for us, helped us in tangible ways. They were truly an outpouring of God's love and mercy. To read about it, click here: March 2008

5 months--Kate Goes Green

For her 5 month birthday I switched Kate to cloth diapers. Several friends have asked me why, and I am by no means an environmental activist! Having both the kids in diapers just highlighted the gross monthly expense of diapers. I was also really turned off by how much trash we had each week. An acquaintance of mine had told me she used cloth diapers, but I was surprised to find how uber modern these things were. These aren't the cloth diapers your grandma used! Luckily, there is a store in town that sells them and offers a lot of support to find the right products for you, so I went and checked it out. I bought a small sampling of chinese prefolds, a diaper cover, and one of the best selling modern cloth diapers out there--bum genius cloth diapers--and I fell in love! So, Ethan will remain in disposables for the next few months till he's potty trained, while Kate will stay in cloth diapers for her "diaper doo doo" career. Here she is sporting a bummis super brite diaper cover over her chinese prefold. For naptimes and bed times I use happy heinys one size diapers. These happy heinys will adjust to fit even Ethan, but David is dead set against putting him in them!

Kate continues to grow very well, though not up--out! She's pretty chubby, and we like her that way. Just recently during her daily babbles she said "dada", which made David say to me "Kate loves me more!" She may very well show a preference for daddy. He can just look at her and she starts to smile and coo. I usually have to work a bit harder! She really is a daddy's girl!

indoor activities

With the weather being as cold as it is, and with the kids being as sick as they are, we've had to entertain ourselves in the most unusual ways. Like seeing how high you can throw your socks...

And having your 4 month old jump on the bed with your 2 and a half year old. Well, it makes for fun blog material, doesn't it? Here's the youtube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClfOpi7HBeg)

Kate really loves to do whatever her big brother is doing. Do you hear her squeal and giggle? She will also often follow him with her eyes all over the living room from her swing or bouncy seat. I have a feeling she will be quite an annoyance to Ethan when they're older!