Desmond

I can't believe that Desmond is already 7 months old. I know it sounds cliché, but it's absolutely true: it seems like just yesterday that he was born. He really has been a wonderful baby. A good eater and usually a good sleeper. He puts up with Hobbes trading toys with him. All in all, he is a joy to have around. He's mastered sitting up and is always reaching for things. I've found that if he can see an object he won't give up until he reaches it. I often hold him while I'm doing work at the computer and he quickly loses interest in his "baby" toys and grabs my pens, post-it notes or other odds and ends. He must have sophisticated taste that childish baby toys don't keep his interest.

He is almost ready to crawl. He'll be on all fours and just rock back and forth for minutes. So my little baby will be mobile any day now. He'll also have teeth pretty soon. I have a bitter-sweet feeling about this. I feel like every new milestone takes my little baby farther away. I guess with Hobbes every milestone was so exciting because it was the first smile, the first tooth, the first step, etc. It was all new and exciting. But now I know that with each new skill it means eventually little Desmond will be more and more independent like his brother Hobbes. I'm sure this is just one of the banes of parenthood. I'll just enjoy everyday while I have it.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Desmond.

August 2010

Brendan's sister, Christina, came home for a break in between school semesters. We had fun visiting with her and Hobbes made sure she got her fill of playing cars and trains.


We also visited my parents in Tillamook. Hobbes had fun playing with Tillamook Logs that my Dad created out of old cheese crates from the factory.


I also took advantage of some time way from work to do a little photo shoot with Desmond. I find it harder to take pictures of Desmond than it was with Hobbes. So here are some pictures of cute 6 month old Desmond:

After 75 pictures you would look like this too:

But he cheered up right way once Mommy picked him up.

July 2010

To celebrate Independence day we went to Gary and Debbie's property on Mt. Hood. Hobbes was really excited to go "camping" for the first time. I say "camping" in quotation marks because although we did sleep in a tent there was a mobile home 10 feet away where Gary, Debbie and Ross were staying. All our meals were cooked on a fire though so it was pretty much like camping for real. With 4 in our family now we've outgrown our tent. Brendan slept outside. What a man. He looked so cold in the morning when we got up.


Brendan and Desmond enjoying an evening fire. I don't know what it is about fire, but it is just mesmerizing. I've heard it described as nature's TV. I think that is a fitting description. I can just stare at it for hours.

Poor Desmond, since he is the cutest of the bunch, the smoke kept following him of course.

Desmond and Mommy on a hike through the woods.

Grandpa Gary teaching Hobbes how to throw a rock far enough so it will land in the reservoir.

Hobbes had a blast. Here he is jumping and throwing sticks and dried pine needles in the air.

Here he is building a house of sticks. I believe he called it Eeyore's house after the Winnie the Pooh character. (Can you tell what movies and books we have at home?)

Despite getting burned by a sparkler last year, Hobbes wasn't afraid to play with them this year. He had even more fun watching Daddy set up the fireworks that looked like tanks. Brendan had them aiming at each other so they appeared to be attacking each other. Once the evening light had faded we watched as people around the reservoir set off bigger fireworks. Desmond and I watched the whole show from inside the car. The fireworks were too noisy for him.

June 2010

In June we celebrated Hobbes' 3rd birthday. I can't believe how fast he is growing up. Here he is blowing out his candles.

This cake was sooooo delicious even though it looks pretty hideous. While we were visiting with family in Idaho, Valerie made a yummy cake for us, so I tried to duplicate it an home. It tasted amazing but wasn't the prettiest thing to look at.

Here is a picture of what Val's cake looked like. Yum...my mouth starts watering just looking at it.

Desmond started eating rice cereal in June too. Here is a picture of his first sampling of it. He wasn't too sure of it. Most of it ended up on his bib.

"Waaaa, Mom why are you making me eat this stuff?"

May 2010

The highlight of May was visiting Marianne's family in Moscow, Idaho for the Memorial Day holiday. It was a mini family reunion. Those in attendance included Dad, Mom, Marianne and family, Joanna, Valerie, Liz and me and my kids. We had so much fun!

Hobbes absolutely LOVED all the cousins, aunts and toys he had to play with. Here is a fort we made out of foam alphabet letters.


Eliza and Hobbes check out the inside:

Oh no...there's a hole in my roof, dear Eliza, dear Eliza.

Now it looks like Whack-a-mole!

Here's Hobbes looking a little confused outside. But he's still a cutie!

Dad and Wesley built a fire so we could roast hot dogs and marshmallows one evening. Hobbes picked up some long sticks to help roast.

Here's Valerie showing Ammon, April and Eliza how to properly roast a hot dog.

April really enjoyed her marshmallow. She was sticky all over the place. Such a sweet little girl.

Liz poses for a photo with Mom and Desmond as she finishes up her supper.

Valerie got to meet Desmond for the first time during this visit.

Here's Joanna and Desmond. Every time I look at Desmond I see a little bit of Joanna in him. Maybe it's his eyes, but you can tell they are related.

All the sisters present misbehaving. We really wished Kim and Jonathan could have been there with us too.

Hobbes loved playing with Ammon. Ammon was so kind and pulled Hobbes in the wagon, let Hobbes follow him all around, jumped on the trampoline with him and just played with him.

The neighbors had a horse that we enjoyed watching.

All in all we had a great time and can't wait to visit again!

April 2010

I think my middle name should be Procrastination. It's sure been quite a while since I updated my blog. I guess my everyday life just takes up most of my freetime. There seems to always be a load of laundry to be folded, a load of dishes to be put away, a diaper to change, a little boy who needs a hug or a stack of work to be done. So it's easy to see why the blog gets put on the back burner. Unfortunatley, this is the closest thing to a journal I've had for quite some time so I do want to keep it updated so I can look back and remember what our cute family was doing in the past.

April was filled with visits to Tillamook and lots of growing on Desmond's part. Here are some pictures to enjoy.

Here is 2 month old baby Desmond:

Mommy and her boys:

Daddy and baby Desmond:

Desmond is tolerant of a few minutes of tummy-time but it is definitely not his favorite activity.

Grandma Snyder and her eleventh grandchild:

Here is the growing wall of Snyder Grandchildren:

Desmond loves to sit up in his little chair.