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.