Happy Birthday, Ethan!

March 31st marked Ethan's 3rd birthday! In lieu of a big "to do", we had a family celebration at home with pizza, cake, and presents, of course. Here is a video recap of our lunchtime celebration. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN1llkwUKIg

Ethan trying out his new t-ball set from Aunt Gayle and Uncle Randy...


The next day, his friend, Kayela came over while her mommy went to a doctor's appointment. They came with a little gift for Ethan--his very first game, Chutes and Ladders!

We had a small window of opportunity (a few hours of good weather) to set up Ethan's new sand and water table from Grandma and Grandpa Cuesta. He had lots of fun digging his new Percy train in the sand. Thanks for the train set, Grandma and Grandpa Snyder! It's a great addition to Ethan's collection!

Happy Birthday, Ethan! We love you so very much. Everyday with you is a blessing! You are growing so fast and we can't wait to see what this next year brings. You're our number one guy!

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!

My Funny Valentine

When David told me that he had a concert to play Valentine's Day weekend, I was really disappointed. So was he! Of course, we've made plans to celebrate on another day. No biggie.

Today, Friday the 13th, he left right after dinner to go to rehearsal like any other performance week. On his way out he said, "Oh, I've got some laundry in the drier. Do you mind getting that for me when you get the chance tonight?" "No problem!" I replied...

After putting the children to bed, I got another load of laundry to bring downstairs. Setting the basket down, I opened the doors to find this...



I started laughing...and I had to take a picture. What an unlikely place to find such a nice surprise. Isn't he great?

All you husbands out there, I give you permission to "use this one" on your lovely wives, ha ha ha! I think they would love it!

Kate Hears

She passed her hearing test today, so I guess there's nothing for me to worry about! Perhaps she's already practicing either disobedience or indifference by not turning to me when I call!

She has also discovered a new sound and practices it OFTEN. It's that raptor sound from Jurassic Park taken to a whole new level. It is also peppered with these high-pitched squeals, which just makes us laugh. So delightful to hear babies discover new sounds...

Four Months Old

At four months, Kate is 16 lbs, 12 oz, and 24.25 inches tall. This puts her in the 90th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height. David was QUITE disappointed with her stats, since he was hoping she would be a tall girl. He claims that boys don't date tall girls, and now that she's average height, "Boys are gonna want to date her!" Sheesh. Rest assured, David, that height has nothing to do with dates! I was quite petite and hardly dated growing up. But there are a slew of other reasons why the boys didn't like me, ha ha ha!

We also made an appointment with an audiologist. While it is clear that Kate does hear (and she passed her hearing test when she was first born), she doesn't seem to turn her head towards my voice when I speak. I've tested her several times as she lays in her crib, not seeing me. "kate..." I'll say. "Kate..." And she won't turn her head. The doctor recommended we double check her hearing just to make sure we're not missing something. "It's probably nothing,"" he said. But you never know. So, cross your fingers for next week's appt.

As you can see in this picture, she doesn't look very happy. It's probably because she got stuck with two needles for her immunizations! Last time, time she had 6 immunizations--5 of them injected, one of them swallowed in syrup form. They have since been able to combine 3 of them into one, so that little babies don't need to get stuck with FIVE needles (that was heart wrenching when she went through that two months ago).

She still sleeps. A lot. Just not through the night!

Kate's Playtime

Kate's playtime is rather limited! She can only stay awake for about an hour before she wants to take a nap again. By the time I feed her and change her diaper she has a half hour left to "exercise" on her play mat, or enjoy a ride in her swing.

Apparently, Ethan likes her play mat, too. He'll often lie down underneath the toybar and swat at a few things himself.

Here's the closest thing to a laugh I could get on video. Several weeks ago we heard her belly laugh for the first time, but we haven't heard it since. However, the little chuckles we hear now and then are enjoyable enough! I wonder what we can do to get that belly laugh going again...

Nearly four months have gone by, and I feel like I don't know this little girl just yet. She spends most of her day sleeping! Little by little I see bits of a personality coming out, though. For instance, tonight we decided to get burgers for dinner, so we went to the local Steak N Shake. To maximize the brief hour of her waketime, we decided to feed her at the restaurant. David and Ethan went inside to get a table and place our orders while I stayed in the car to nurse her. By the time she was done eating, our orders arrived. The minute I sat down to bite into a now cold hamburger, she began to get upset. This was a surprise to me, because we've taken her out to eat before. As I looked at her face she seemed bothered by the bright lights, the bustle of the restaurant and unfamiliar setting. Nobody likes an upset baby! Luckily, after some cuddles and bouncing on my knee she was content enough that we could finish our meal. We finished it quickly!

She was upset on the short car ride home, too. But the minute we returned home, placed her in her crib and turned on her familiar musical mobile, she began to coo contentedly. She really likes to be around the stuff and people she knows best (she doesn't like strangers much either). Perhaps she's a bit of a homebody like me. And perhaps she just likes to have a normal routine, just like her daddy.

Cabin Fever

We've had a lot of cold weather and snow here in the midwest. Combine that with a newborn that sleeps more than she's awake, and you have a lovely recipe for cabin fever! I've had to get creative about entertaining Ethan.

Am I a bad mom for sending my kid out in the snow while I sit inside sipping a cup of coffee?? Ha ha ha...

Sometimes I'll suit up and join him. It's the closest thing to skiing or snowboarding I'm gonna get for quite a while. As I hear my footsteps crunching in the snow, I imagine I'm on the slopes, gearing up for a day of skiing. Oh, it's a nice little fantasy, isn't it? Then I wake up and realize I'm the flatlands of Central Illinois...

A family photo shoot

We finally got to take some nice photos of the kids thanks to our friends Anthony and Carrie. Anthony has been working on his photography for a while now, and he agreed to take us on pro bono, ha ha ha! We'll have to start paying him soon since he takes wonderful pictures! Click here to see some more of our favorites from the session (or copy and paste the following link in your browser: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59468&l=36f9c&id=610621963 ).

Life has gotten a whole lot better...

...since we STOPPED potty training Ethan!

I should say, we've postponed the whole thing. The last week has been a nightmare, ending in what we feel like was a traumatic experience for Ethan who held his pee for so many hours that when he got to the toilet he couldn' relax. The poor kid eventually eliminated when he went to bed (he had a diaper on). Previous to this, we would put him on the toilet after snacks or meals, and he did pee successfully a few times. Other times he missed and made a mess! If he got anything on himself, he didn't like that one bit!

He understands the concept, but I don't think he has made the connection. Not only that, the big pressure we were putting on him made it worse. FYI to all those parents approaching potty training age: wait for your child's cue. Don't make him/her follow your schedule!

Because Ethan understands the concept, he still continues to ask us to empty his diaper contents into the toilet. He'll usually say something like "poo in the toilet" when he has a dirty diaper. So, it's not entirely hopeless. But that huge transition step into actually SITTING on the toilet and successfully using it might be several weeks (or months) away. I imagine that when he wants to use the toilet, he'll tell us. I hope it's sooner rather than later. He'll be turning three soon!

3 months old

Today is officially Kate's 3 month birthday! She has grown quite a bit in the past month. She is now fitting into her 3-6 month clothing, grasping objects, holding her head up better, and looking cuter everyday :)

It's hard to believe this much time has already passed. We're in the process of sleep training now. A month ago she slept 8 hours straight a few times, but has recently started waking up again. In those dark, quiet moments in the middle of the night I try to remember that this will not last forever. It's both an encouragement and a reminder about how precious these times are.

We're also potty training Ethan at the same time. But this is a whole OTHER blog entry to post :)

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 :)