Like Mother Like Daughter

Jake took this picture on mothers day and it looks like Madison decided to pull the same surprised face! I had a wonderful mothers day and woke up to a wonderful breakfast prepared by Jake and my favorite flowers with a note written by Madison and Jake. It was so cute! Later that night he made a wonderful waffle dinner. What a fun day. I love being a mom!
Madison is such a good baby and so adorable. She has her sad moments but overall she is so happy! I don't know how I ended up with such a good baby since I was a "motherkiller". I just cried all the time
and when they took me to the hospital to see what was wrong, and found nothing, they let me stay there overnight to give my mom a break. Sorry mom, I don't remember those days. Thanks for all your love and patience in taking care of me.

Dancing With the Stars

The Saturday before Mothers day Jake and I had a fun date night! One of Jake's medical school friends and his wife so kindly offered to watch Madison for us. We found out how kind and brave they were when we dropped Madison off and the wife said that the last time she had watched a baby was in high school. Luckily Madison is a pretty good baby so we did scare them away from any future plans in parenthood.
We got dressed up, went out to eat and then headed to our Church building where our ward had organized a couples dance. It was so cute and cheesy to see all the couples dancing to their favorite slow songs:) When Jake and I were dating we did a bit of country dancing and so we decided to pull out some old moves. Jake really wanted to do the move where I do a back flip off of his arm. I know, it sounds scary! Especially since we haven't tried it in so long. I have had a back surgery and a baby since the last time we tried that. Who knows what could happen? And Jake... well you may remember his recent back injury from a few weeks ago. Well, Jake finally convinced me it would be o.k. and he wouldn't drop me. I made him go with me outside to do a few practice runs before we tried in front of everyone. A friend reminded me that if anything were to go wrong we had lots of doctors and med. students at the dance who would be able to tend to our injuries. The practice runs went great and we were able to take the move onto the dance floor. It really is amazing that I can flip around like that since I am so tall! Jake, that just shows how strong you are:) Thanks Jake for the fun date night and for helping me be so brave! Dancing with you is so much fun. I had a few sore muscles the next day from laughing so hard and from pulling out so many old dance moves but it was totally worth it!

Surprise Trip To Utah

I am a little bit behind in some of my blog entries so I will try and catch up:) Last month I planned a surprise trip to Utah for the blessing of my new little nephew Tanner. My sister Becky and Jake's parents new I was coming however everyone else had a big surprise when I showed up at the birthday party of my niece Brooklynn. As I stood outside the door of my sister's home I called my niece to sing happy birthday over the phone as is our usual tradition, however this time I asked her to come to the door. When my family heard the message they were so confused and then excited and surprised to see me at the door. It was so fun! We had a great time catching up and spending time together. Madison also had a lot of fun spending time with Jake's family. His parents were so great to pick us up from the airport and help me out with the surprise. Here is the web album link with the pictures of the trip. http://picasaweb.google.com/jleonsnow/SurpriseTripTpUtah/photo?authkey=O3YW-C1faxg#5201826308426434850
Jake had to work at the hospital so I had another chance to practice flying on my own with a baby. I did it on the way home from SLC over Christmas but I still get a little nervous. Madison did great except on the decent into Denver which was very bumpy. She must have inherited my motion sickness, poor thing. Luckily I had a blanket over me and her at the time so the throw up mess was easy to clean up. It was funny because last time we made that bumpy decent in Denver I was pregnant and the one throwing up on the landing. Too bad Madison can't ask for the barf bag yet:) On the way home we did experience an extra four hour delay in one of our layovers which put us to arrive in Toledo at 3 in the morning. It seems like that is the tradition with my flights to Toledo. When Jake and I were dating there was always some delay that ended in Jake picking me up at the Detroit airport in the wee hours of the morning.

This picture is of Tanner and Madison. Tanner was born on Leap Year! So cute in their matching pj's!

Madison and Friends

Madison loves to be social and play with friends. She loves to sit in her little play seat and feel like one of the big kids. Jake wants me to say something funny right now however it's late and I just have a hard time joking about my baby (what if people think I am serious). What he wants me to say is... " Don't worry though, we do let her out of her seat once a day ;) " (the thought of that just makes me so sad) And now Jake doesn't want me to put that because it isn't funny anymore with the explanation. He is so frustrated (in a funny way). I think we can blame it on the Jazz. They lost tonight and that is why we are up late right now. It's hard living in the Eastern Time Zone with a sports fan:)

Great Minds Think Alike

You know you are following the latest fashions when you all end up with similar outfits at a baby shower:) How fun!
I must confess however that I changed into my matching shirt at the party since it was hosted at my home. We couldn't miss out on such a fun photo opportunity!
If you scroll up and down on the blog, our shirts look like they are flashing. Cool trick!:)

Two Sleeping Babes

I couldn't resist capturing this moment.

I Love Spring!

Jake, Madison and I have had a lot of fun enjoying the spring weather in Toledo. The trees are so beautiful and everything is so green. We are hoping that the hot humid part of summer doesn't come too fast:( In the above pictures we went to visit the 577 foundation in Toledo http://www.577foundation.org/. It is a beautiful historic home in Toledo filled with lots of fun gardens. We took Madison down a trail to the river in her stroller. As we headed down the trail we soon realized it is a snuggly and shoe trail instead of a stroller flip flop trail. We carried the stroller down most of the way since she was sleeping. Hopefully it wasn't too much of a bumpy ride.
Jake had fun doing a Madison and Jenny photo shoot. I think he did a great job! What an artistic eye. He had a lot of fun capturing my urge to go play on the playground on our latest walk around the park. It was a perfect time to release my youthful desires because there weren't any kids around. No lines at the slide! I had forgotten how much fun playgrounds can be! What fun:)

Eeyore

In an attempt to escape from a recent Eeyore slump in my life (see bottom of blog posts) I went through some photos and put together a slide show of some of the places that Jenny and I have been fortunate to visit. It brightened my day to remember so many good times. Check out the pics from such places as Rome, Cairo, Machu Pichu, Peru, Mexico, Mt. Rushmore, Havasupai, Palmyra, Niagara Falls, Guatemala, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Yellowstone, The Tetons, Vegas, Switzerland and the middle of the Caribbean Sea. Remembering such good times has been a boost to my mood, now I can confidently return to studying psychiatry. Hmmm, perhaps that is the source of my Eeyore mood. I better check my DSM-IV to see if I meet criteria.

Anyhow, we are hoping to take another little trip here during fourth year sometime. Any suggestions on places to see or activities to do?

(Jenny editing from Utah) Jake did forget to mention why he was having an Eeyore day. Madison and I are in Utah visiting family so he is very lonely:( And... to top it off, Jake had another injury the Friday after Madison and I left. He injured his back playing basketball and I haven't been able to take care of him. Thank you to our neighbors and friends who helped him out with meals. Jake is starting to feel better and is mobile now.
His back injury is a reoccurring injury that can be traced to his glory days in high school football. I think I will have to ban Jake from participation in sports for awhile.
Sweetie, we are having fun in Utah but we will be very excited to see you again on Thursday. Please try not to have any more injuries in the meantime.

I Finally Won!!!!

As you can see from the documented score over spring break I finally beat Jake at Scrabble! It took us a week to finish this game with our busy schedules but it was well worth it in the end. He is amazing at word games and always thinks of those words that aren't part of most peoples vocabulary. He did help me with a few moves on this game. Thanks for teaching me some cools tricks sweetie and letting me brag about my victory.

I have yet to beat him at Boggle. If anyone is good at this game he could use a challenge.

Just chillin'

Madison is growing up so fast. Jake called me over to the couch to catch her in this lounging position. So cute!

House Centipede

This is a really gross post I know, but hey, this is The Snow Report and that is what we do here. Poopy diapers, spiders, hand lacerations and now this! The picture doesn't even do it justice because you have to see one of these things move.

I think most bugs are YUCKY! In fact, just the other night I screamed like a banshee after seeing a spider. Thank goodness I disposed of it before Madison ate it:) My scream woke up both Madison and Jake... and made one of them cry. It really is amazing that many of my summers were spent working at camps in the great outdoors. You would think I would have made peace with bugs by now.

I had told some friends here that I would post some pictures of this bug so here is the story behind what you see. When Jake and I first moved to Toledo we had an encounter with this aweful monster of a bug. Jake was doing the dishes, it seems he does that a lot in our posts. All of a sudden I saw something the size of a mouse scurry past his feet. I of course screamed causing Jake to almost drop the glass he was washing. Because of the lightening speed of this creature, I couldn't find it and I was very worried at where it might have gone. Just as I had thoughts of finding it again in our bed the creature came running out from under the door. At that point we realized that it wasn't a mouse but the weirdest insect we had ever seen. With quite a bit of effort Jake was finally able to stomp on it. I was worried that I would find more of these bugs in the house. The next day I did some research to find out what kind of bug this was (what if it was dangerous?) I found out that this insect is called a house centipede and that they are actually "good bugs" that eat other pests like spiders and beatles. They can span out to about 4 inches in length and they are really fast. They are pretty much the cheetahs of the insect world. I really didn't care if it was a good bug or not, I wasn't about to welcome anything with this many legs into our home. A few days later we saw one more, but we have been free of house centipedes since then. You really don't have to worry about making a visit to the Snow home, we are relatively bug free:)

Today in Sunday School however, we had another encounter with the house centipede. Luckily Brother Sacks took care of it leaving only a big smear on the wall, which he later cleaned up. I thought we should have captured it for Leisy, our Science teacher in the ward who loves bugs. Sorry Leisy, I forgot to bring my bug catcher to church this Sunday:) This picture will have to do for now.

Man Cooking Group?

These pictures were taken at the wonderful Easter meal that Jake cooked for us. Jake loves to cook and he is very good at it as you can see. I was a little bit intimidated to cook for such an experienced chef when we first got married. Somehow, I had made it all the way through our dating having never really cooked for Jake. Being busy as a junior high teacher with a 45 minute commute, a packed social schedule and the entire last year of our dating as long distance are a few excuses I give. He was so brave to marry me before knowing if I could cook:)

Now that we are married, I have seemed to manage alright. I have picked up some skills from a cooking group I go to. This last Tuesday I wasn't able to make it to cooking group because I was very exhausted and having a stress moment. Jake, seeing that I was very tired offered to take Madison and run some errands for me so I could catch up on some sleep. This included a stop-off at the cooking group where I was supposed to pick up a dutch-oven I was borrowing for Young Women's. It was so thoughtful! I found out later that it was also his devious little plan to get in on the Relief Society's cooking group:) It turns out that he stayed for the entire event! Thanks to everyone who shared their yummy recipes with Jake and let him partake of all the free food samplings. Jake never turns down yummy free food. I am sure there would be a few other husbands out there that would love to start a cooking group! The first event could be sharing tips on grilling their favorite meats! I think it would be very fun to watch!

Thanks Jake for letting me get some much needed rest and I am glad you had a good time at cooking group:)

Spring Break at the zoo

We took Madison to the zoo today for the first time. She loved every dog-gone minute of it! She seemed to make a special bond with the young polar bears that were swimming around. Check it out in the video.

A Stitch in Time Saves Nine

Last Friday marked the end of a significant segment of my medical career, my third year surgery rotation officially ended! During three grueling months I slaved and struggled through long hours, difficult cases, demanding attendings and excessive time away from home. For three months I felt like Will Smith in the movie I am Legend, despite my efforts to maintain some normalcy in life there was always a zombie looming in the darkness waiting to attack and make me one of their own. I feel lucky to have escaped unscathed.
Jenny and I felt that such a successful feat as this deserved a little celebration so we ordered up a couple of Vito's, best in Toledo, pizzas and I went to pick up a couple of movies, Enchanted (Jenny's pick) and I am Legend (my pick). I must say that we really would like to have gone out on the town to celebrate but both Jenny and Madison were out of commission with a nasty cold.

We first watched Enchanted, which I loved, because the main character, Giselle, reminds me of my own little fairy-tale princess Jenny. Next up was I am Legend which I also loved because the zombies reminded me of the constant fear and danger that I had just survived during the previous three months.

Thanks to the proper upbringing that my mom and dad gave me, I am always more comfortable sleeping when I know that the day's dishes are washed and the kitchen clean... at least that is what I tell Jenny. In reality I am afraid of sleeping after watching a scary movie, they give me nightmares. Anyway, while Jen went off to brush her teeth, I went to the kitchen to wash what few dishes remained. Among them was a nice tall glass with window pane etching on it. It was the only glass of its kind remaining in our cupboard and comes from the set that I once used while living in Swan Park with Dusty during first year. As long as I can remember it had always had a little crack along the rim but perhaps for sentimental reasons we never thought to throw it out. It is hard to let go of my Swan Park memories.

As I stood at the sink thinking back on my triumph over the zombies of general surgery and comparing myself to Will Smith, I reached for that glass and started scrubbin' away. It was a tall glass, but wide brimmed, so I did as I often had before and pushed with my sponge to the very bottom to make sure it was fully clean. One twist with the sponge, then another and then one more twist of the wrist and then *#^&&#!! "JENNY", I yelled (quietly because the baby was sleeping). After my third time yelling her name she came into the kitchen to see what the fuss was about. She was shocked at the sight of so much blood and the gaping wedge of flesh that had been filleted from my hand. I told her that the zombies had come for one last attempt at my life. We would have to go to the ER... the UTMC ER!

Well, to make a long story short... oops, too late for that. Better stated, to put an end to this story, at around 1245 am we packed up the baby and headed out to the ER. To my, ehhm, surprise, the surgery intern in the ER that day was a guy that I had met and knew to be a excellent candidate for radiology... not surgery, nor even suturing... but for radiology he's top notch. Oh well, what was I to do. He went to work sewing up my hand and my mind went to work imagining if this was every going to work out. By about 215 we were done and ready to head back home... that is as soon as I put on my own wound dressing. The next morning, when I pulled back the gauze to see how we were lookin' I was not surprised to see that a little "tidying up" was needed. It was a fitting end to my surgery rotation. The surgery gods took one last swipe at me before allowing me to move on.