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.

One Month Old

Sweet Desmond you are now a month old. Time has passed by so quickly. I'm amazed at how fast you are growing and changing. You are my little angel! I'm so blessed to have you as my second son. Thank you for being such a good eater and sleeper (even when your brother is being noisy). You are starting to develop your own unique look now. It looks like you too will have your grandfathers' eyes like your brother. Beautiful, brilliant, bright blue eyes! I just hope that your hair stays dark like me and your father's. You are smiling and cooing more everyday and are very well mannered.

You're very patient with your older brother and I thank you for letting him stroke your hair and play with your hands and feet. He sure loves you a lot and enjoys having you around. He loves you so much that he has even given you one of his cars. It is bright yellow and he calls it the "baby car." Just now you were fussing a little and he brought it in to you so you could hold it.

Thanks again for being a wonderful baby. We are so lucky and blessed to have you in our family!

Baby Desmond

Yeah! The baby is finally here. We are so glad he wasn't too late and I didn't have to be induced. So here is the run down of our Wednesday, February 3rd.

• 5:00 am - Brendan wakes up and prepares for work and school.
• 5:30 am - Brendan heads out the door and wakes me up to say "I love you, goodbye" and "lock the door after me."
• 5:35 am - Jessica gets out of bed and locks the door and climbs back into bed.
• 8:27 am - Jessica is awakened by lower abdominal pain. 'Could this be a contraction?' she wonders.
• 8:32 am - 2nd contraction.
• 8:36 am - 3rd contraction...you get the picture. Contractions continue consistently every 3 - 6 minutes apart.
• 9:00 am - Jessica calls her Mom in Tillamook saying "I think the baby is really coming!" Mom quickly packs up and heads over to Portland to watch Hobbes (11/2 hour drive).
• 9:04 am - Hobbes wakes up, Jessica gets him feed, clothed, starts some laundry and has more contractions.
• 9:17 am - Jessica texts Brendan that he should probably ask work for the afternoon off and he should probably skip classes today.
• 9:30 am - Brendan gets home from school and helps Jessica finish packing up a bag for Hobbes, wash dishes and do laundry.
• 9:45 am - Jessica takes a warm bath that slows the contractions down for 10 minutes but then they start up again.
• 10:15 am - Jessica and Brendan start to panic, what if Mom doesn't get here in time. They try to reach Brendan's sister to see if she can watch Hobbes. They text Brendan's Mom to let her know the baby is coming, she's super excited because she's going to be in the birthing room with them.
• 10:57 am - Jessica finally calls the maternal clinic and they say she should probably get to the hospital in the next hour.
• 11:00 am - Jessica's Mom arrives and gets settled in with Hobbes.
• 11:28 am - Jessica and Brendan leave for the hospital. The ride was pretty uncomfortable for Jessica but thankfully it was only a 2 mile drive.
• 11:32 am - Brendan helps Jessica walk in between contractions every minute or two. Someone gets them a wheelchair and they are pointed towards the Labor and Delivery area.
• 11:34 am - (it's no fun having contractions in an elevator full of people)
• 11:44 am - A nurse escorts us to our room and Jessica gets dressed.
• 12:00 pm - Nurse comes back in to check how dilated Jessica is. She's flabbergasted that she is already to a 7. She says, "I better go and call Mary (the midwife)" and quickly leaves the room.
• 12:10 pm - Brendan's hand is getting pretty sore by now with Jessica squeezing it hard with every contraction.
• 12:15 pm - Midwife Mary arrives and Jessica informs her she really wants to start pushing.
• 12:20 pm - Mary says Jessica is dilated to a 10 and breaks her bag of waters.
• 12:21 - 12:40 pm - Push, push, push.
• 12:41 pm - Desmond Locke Toliver is born!
• 1:20 pm - Brendan's Mom arrives. Sorry Debbie, we really wish you could have been there. Maybe our next child won't come so fast.

So the times may be slightly off but you get the idea that everything happened really quickly. This was a drastic change from our experience at Hobbes' birth. I was 2 weeks late so they induced me and it took a couple of days of induction before things got going. We were exhausted and drained after days of being in the hospital. So having a labor that lasted a little over 4 hours from the first contraction to the end was a nice change. There wasn't any time for pain medication which was nice since I've wanted to have a natural birth, but with Hobbes I was so exhausted and things were progressing so slowly that I gave in and got an epidural. Desmond came fast and although the pain was intense it was nice knowing how fast things were progressing so I could see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel and knew I would just have to endure it a little longer before I got to hold my sweet angel in my arms and have the pain disappear.

We didn't have a name picked out for Desmond yet when he was born. We had a list of names that we agreed. Life was just so busy. Brendan had to get back to work the day after Desmond was born and he had a midterm that day as well that his teacher wouldn't move back for him. So a few hours before it was time to check out we had to finally decide on a name. Desmond Locke Toliver was the winner.

The next day I realized that everyone was going to think we named him after the 2 Lost characters, oops. We do like the show but that is not the reason for his name. Brendan and I just both like the name Desmond and Brendan likes to name our children after philosophers. Hobbes' name came from Thomas Hobbes as well as the comic character Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes. I'm just glad I talked Brendan out of Tocqueville or Rousseau as a middle name.

Here are some pictures of our beautiful baby boy!

Biggest Loser

I can't help but brag a little about my husband. I hope this doesn't embarrass him too much. My family started a Biggest Loser type weight loss competition in October I believe. The goal was obviously to lose weight. You were awarded points for losing weight and exercising and we had occasional weekly challenges that gave you additional points. You would get negative points for gaining weight and for eating sweets. You also had to pay a monetary penalty for each sweet you had beyond a weekly free one.

We've done this competition several times. The first time was while Brendan and I were dating. It really helped me get in shape and lose my freshman 15 I was still hanging on to after college. We did it again shortly after we were married. We both participated but neither of us really were committed to it so we didn't do well.

Mom, Dad, Marianne, Joanna, Valerie, Liz, Brendan and I were competing this round. I was on a modified version since I'm pregnant. So my goal was to gain weight, but not more than I was supposed to during my pregnancy. I mainly wanted to participate to support Brendan and to be motivated to exercise regularly and to not eat sweets.

Brendan was the overall winner of the competition! He lost around 40 pounds in 3 months! He was really good about sticking to a diet and going to the gym regularly.

WAY TO GO SWEETIE! I'M PROUD OF YOU FOR BEING THE BIGGEST LOSER!

The family is thinking about starting the competition up again so I'm sure we'll be signing up again. We've both still got awhile to go before we reach our goal weights but we are excited to be more healthy, happy, and have more energy to chase after Hobbes.

Christmas

Christmas time was really fun with a 2 1/2 year old. He was able to appreciate everything so much more than last year. He really liked hearing and singing Christmas songs with Brendan and I. He loved the Christmas tree and decorations. He loved the presents and he loved reading books about baby Jesus. What a special time of year. I can tell it is going to be fun seeing Christmas through our children's eyes as they grow up.

Here is Hobbes at our Ward Christmas party with Santa. I'm so proud that both this year and last year he wasn't scared of Santa, even though other children his age are. When I was showing Hobbes these pictures he said it was "Hobbes and Jesus" not Hobbes and Santa. I guess he already knows that Jesus is the true reason for Christmas.

We spent Christmas Eve with Brendan's Dad, Shayne, and his sister, brother and half-brother (Christina, Ross and Grayson). We ate a delicious prime rib prepared by Brendan. Then we played the longest game of Uno I have ever played. I think we were playing for over 2 hours. At least we were all having fun while we were playing!

When bedtime came Hobbes wore his Christmas pajamas from Grandpa and Grandma Nash and then he had a tickling/wrestling match with Daddy. Here's a cute picture of them. We read a more age appropriate version of the Christmas story and then Hobbes was off to bed.

Here is Hobbes searching through his stocking on Christmas morning.

Here are the Mega Blocks that "Santa" brought Hobbes. Brendan did an amazing job of setting them up so he had a tall giraffe and some other kind of creature waiting to greet him on Christmas morning.

Here are two of his favorite presents by far: a race car and Thomas the Train.

After Christmas morning at our house we headed over to Grandpa and Grandma Nash's house. We had a fun day of visiting with family. I think Hobbes liked being the oldest cousin. He would boss the other kids around and delegate which toys they could play with, it any. We're working on helping him share more. Obviously, we still have much work to do.

Here are some pictures we tried to take of all 3 of the grandchildren on this side of the family. It's pretty hard to keep such small children still for even 30 seconds.

We spent Christmas with my family in Tillamook the week after Christmas. I forgot to take my camera so I don't have any pictures. Marianne was there with all her kids along with Joanna, Valerie and Liz. Hobbes really liked having older children there to chase him and play with. He really became attached to Marianne and Wesley's only son, Ammon. Hobbes just loved watching his every move and following him around. I'm glad our second child will be a boy, Hobbes is really going to enjoy having a younger brother to teach and play with.

Thanksgiving in Tillamook

This year we spent our first Thanksgiving ever in Tillamook. Brendan usually had to work in the past but he was able to get a few days off. He couldn't join us for the whole time because he still had to work one of the days, but it was fun to have him there with the family when it was possible. Joanna, Valerie and Liz drove down from Utah as well as my Aunt Dorothy and Uncle John as well as 6 of their children (along with 2 spouses, 2 children and a boyfriend). It was fun to have so much company. Unfortunately, I didn't snap any pictures of the actual feast or family all together. But here are a few pictures that map out some of the adventures we had.

When my parents first moved to Tillamook, my Dad enjoyed driving around on the logging trails in the hills above their home. He found this great lookout spot that he calls "The Top of the World". From the Top of the World you can see all of the Tillamook Valley and the bay. We usually take a trip up there when we are visiting. I remember the family taking Brendan up there when we were dating. It's a pretty awesome sight.

Here are Mom and Dad at the Top of the World with the valley, bay and Pacific Ocean behind them.


Here are Liz and Hobbes. I love that Hobbes is clinging onto Liz so tightly. They weren't close to the end at all.

One of the many beautiful views from the Top of the World.

After everyone left to head back to Utah Brendan and I began our search for the perfect Christmas tree. Dad and Mom have a Christmas tree farm they started several years ago. This was our first official Christmas tree. For the first few years of marriage we didn't worry about it since we didn't have space for a tree and we always spent Christmas at our families' houses. But last year we wanted to have one for Hobbes. We ended up wrapping Christmas lights around an indoor palm tree that our landlord left. It was nice to have a tree but it wasn't a real one.

So thanks to Mom and Dad for generously letting us have one of their trees. Here was the lucky winner. Dad said he needed to be thinned out anyways because he was blocking other trees around him.

Hobbes had fun running through the trees.

Here is the freshly cut tree.

We are really glad we had the tree this year. It was nice to have the smell in the house and to decorate it. We made a couple of popcorn garlands to hang on it. I caught Hobbes eating them a couple of days later. So we took them off and just stuck with our ornaments. This experience taught me that I need to water the tree a lot more than I thought as well. The tree lasted a few weeks but then dried up and the needles would fall off. So we'll try again next year and see if we had keep it alive and brilliantly green until Christmas Day!

Utah

Brendan, Hobbes and I went to Utah with my Mom and Dad to drop Liz of at BYU. We had a lot of fun. I got to show Brendan some of the BYU campus, we ate at Café Río and he met lots of my extended family that he hadn't met before.

Here he is in the Bean Museum learning about the bear necessities from the experts. On second thought, maybe these 3 bears aren't experts since they were caught and stuffed.

I saw this hippo head and thought, "what would my sister Valerie do?" Hence the silly pose.

While in Utah we were privileged to be with Valerie as she went through the Temple for the first time to receive her endowment. It was a very special experience and we're glad we were there to share in the Spirit with her.

I love this picture. We stayed at my cousins house during the trip and one morning I woke up to find Mom and Dad huddled around the TV playing Wheel of Fortune. It was so funny. I'm glad I got a picture of it before they realized I was there.

Sorry to all my Utah friends reading this. It was a very short trip and we didn't have any spare time to visit. I did think of you though and wished we could have visited you.