Dr. Snow!

Here are a few pictures from graduation! Congratulations Jake! I am so proud of you. It takes an amazing person to work so hard and graduate from medical school. What a bumpy road of studying, taking test after test after test, enduring weeks of being apart on away rotations and trying to make it through. You truly have been a wonderful husband and father throughout all the challenges of med. school. I think however now that we have started residency I will miss the "nice schedule" of Jake being a student. Especially all the extra time he had off at the end of his fourth year. Residency has proved to be a busy time. At least we now have a paycheck:)
Jake's parents came out for graduation and we were grateful to have them there. Not only to support Jake but I know I wouldn't have heard a word of Jake's graduation without them. Madison was quite the challenge at graduation. It's hard for a 18 month old to sit through three hours of talking and clapping. Luckily there were quite a few other kids in the crowd so Madison wasn't the only one making noise and yelling out daddy.
This is a poem that Madison gave Jake for graduation. I got it from my friend Tracy. I am not sure if she wrote it or found it from someone else. I'll have to ask her. It's a really cute poem. I wrote it out in little kid hand writing with each letter a different color. Jake, we know you will be a wonderful Dr. congratulations, you made it!
When Daddy writes his name,
He always writes M.D.
That’s so people all will know
That he belongs to me.

So, M.D. means My Daddy,
or something just the same.
And that is why he always
Puts those letters on his name.

Some letters in his name are small
But those are big, you see.
He always makes them big like that
Because he’s proud of me.

D.C. Trip

Toward the end of May we drove down to D.C. for a family wedding. The drive was only about 7 hours (give or take a few stops with little ones). We had a ton of fun site seeing and spending time with family. It is amazing to visit the sites and learn more of the history of how our nation began.
In the picture where I am holding an angry Madison she was frustrated that I wouldn't let her walk down the very wet and slippery stairs of the Lincoln memorial. Seeing the monuments was not among Madison's favorite memories:) Both girls did extremely well site seeing considering
the fact that naps often are short or non-existent when you are on the go. Luckily Emerie was in the sleepy baby stage where sleeping anytime and anywhere isn't a problem.
One of my favorite places was the Natural History Museum and the National Botanical Gardens. Madison loved petting the giant bugs in the insect museum and she had a ton of fun playing in the water at the children's garden.
The wedding was beautiful and we were glad that we were able to be a part of it. Thanks Courtney and Christian for falling in love! It was great to spend time with the Pratt and Pena families!

Emily and Jaimie Visit Toledo!

The next few posts will go way back to catch up on some fun times a few months ago. A few weeks after Emerie was born two of my sisters came out to visit and help out. Having a spring baby was great because we were able to get out around Toledo and visit all of our fun places. The zoo, Wixy Bakery, Likity split, The 577 foundation, Walbridge park, Buddy and the Train Shop. So much fun and so many fun memories. It was so hard to see them go. Thanks Jaimie and Emily for all your help with the girls and for making us some yummy meals!

Updates to come!

We haven't dropped off the face of the planet:) It has been a busy month for the Snows! Happy, graduation from med. school, happy 3 year anniversary (which we remembered the day before because we were so busy packing boxes), happy closing on a new house, move from Toledo to Columbus, happy b-day Jake, happy Father's day, and trip to Utah for my sisters wedding. Jake is now back in Columbus working and I am spending a little bit more time in Utah with my family. We were very sad to leave Toledo and all our friends there. We loved where we lived and all of the fun things within a ten minute walk (the zoo, park, playgrounds, Maumee river, Wixey Bakery, Lickity Split, the Train Shop, River road and the fun concerts in the park. Everyday Madison says goodbye Cohen, goodbye Macy, Jack, Zach, Avery, Jenni, Steve...and many other friends from Toledo. We hope to go back and visit and we also hope to get some visitors at our new home:) Thanks to everyone who helped us out with the move, it all happened so fast. It will take some time to get caught up on the blog so don't forget about us:) I haven't met anyone at our new place in Columbus since we few out to Utah right after the move but I am sure we will come to love another new place as we get settled. Thanks Jake for tackling some of the boxes and painting while we are still away:)

Free Chocolate

With a newborn baby in the house I realize that this title could go many places, but it really is just a heads-up post about free-chocolate.

Tomorrow (Friday) Mars is giving out 500,000 free candy bars! Just go to www.realchocolate.com/ at 9:00 am and sign-up. They will send you a coupon in the mail that you can exchange for your choice of delectable Mars candy.

This is the real deal folks, the one we've all been waiting for.

I read about this promo on mymoneyblog.com , a great blog to follow if you're interested in personal finance, credit card perks, freebies and other fun.

Foot in mouth disease

Jake again.

I have a big foot, two actually...sometimes I have a big mouth too. From time to time one or more of my big feet end up right in my big mouth and I am forced to leave whatever room I may be in and sheepishly hide in a corner. One such instance happened last Sunday as Jenny and I were getting the girls ready for Mother's day church services. I believe the best way to relate this story is to borrow the dialogue approach used by EP and LP to share wit and humor. I will be js and Jenny will be JS... fair enough?

I had just finished feeding Madison her lunch and getting her dressed for church. Jen had just finished changing another one of Emerie's diapers and was in the bathroom finishing her make-up.

JS: What time is it hon?
js: 12:40, we've got a few minutes before we have to leave.
JS: Well, I'm almost done so... just make sure the girls are ready.
js: done.

Three to five minutes pass

JS (hurriedly emerging from the bathroom): Ok, let's go.
js: We've got a few more minutes if you want to finish your hair up here.

long awkward pause

JS: I already did my hair! What do you mean "finish"?
js: ummm, you already did it? uhhh... mmm... it's just that.... hmm, I just didn't realize you had already done it.
JS: You didn't realize that it wasn't done...what does it look like to you?

Should have stopped here and laid out lavish praise... didn't.

js (awkwardly): hmm, uhhh... well, I mean... it just doesn't look like.... well... I just didn't know it was done... I mean, it seems like you do, uhhh, something, uh, different... sometimes... ummm... don't you? But it looks great! I really like it.
JS (fortunately laughing at this point): I can't believe you would say that! Not done?
js: Happy Mother's Day?

The day ended up great and it was a fantastic Mother's day. I ended up taking my foot out of my mouth eventually and Jenny never got too mad, she just laughed at my awkwardness. I tried to redeem myself by providing a soothing foot-rub after church. All's well that end's well.

Comments from JS after reading the post:) I actually think I should be small js since Jake is physically bigger than I am, it's symbolic. Anyhow, Jake was very lucky that I decided to laugh instead of cry over his comment before church, you never know what will come out with those post-pregnancy hormones still out of whack! He was however justified in thinking my hair wasn't finished since I often do the thrown together up-do when I am getting in the shower and not washing my hair or just getting it out of my face. Luckily, I did get lots of compliments on my hair from the Young Women at church which made me feel much better. I really just need to get it cut so I can do something other than a pony tail which has been my hairstyle for the past few months:)

Emerie's Birth Story

We are so happy to have little Miss Emerie Belle Snow in our home! As you can see, we decided on the name but we are still figuring out what spelling we like the best:) She is such a sweet little baby and so far only cries when we change her diaper, or if she is getting hungry. Madison has actually been the emotional one lately and has had a rough adjustment. She has thrown numerous academy award winning tantrums and has yet to learn how to be gentle with her little sister. She has her sweet moments when she is interested in the baby as you can see in the picture however we still have a long ways to go.

Here are the details of Emerie's birth-day. Wednesday morning I woke up with awful contractions that sent pain throughout my back, hips and legs. My legs kept going numb and I could hardly walk. This pain came and went in varying degrees of intensity for about an hour. I was worried I wouldn't be able to walk to the car if we had to go to the hospital however a little bit after 9:00 the pain stopped. I had an ob appointment scheduled at 9:40 that day so we decided to go in and see how I was progressing. We packed our bags in the car just in case we ended up going to the hospital. We dropped Madison off at our friends house before going to the appointment. My doctor said I was in the process of labor and strongly suggested, since my pain was so intense, that we go to the hospital so I could be augmented/induced. I was hesitant since I wanted everything to happen on it's own but I am so glad we ended up going in. Emerie came out with the cord wrapped around her neck so it wouldn't have been good to wait any longer. We are so blessed she wasn't in any distress during labor and that she came out a perfectly healthy little girl.

Before going to the hospital we stopped to see Madison and drop off her overnight bag. It broke my heart to leave her and I cried knowing she would be so confused as to where we were. I knew she was in good hands, I am just a sensitive mom and very emotional when I am pregnant:) Thanks again Glen and Jill for watching Madison for us!

At the hospital they started the pitocin and after a few hours broke my water. I made sure they had the epidural coming right after the water broke. I had heard too many stories of people who didn't get the epidural until almost too late and I wasn't prepared to be in that kind of pain. The contractions were coming on stronger and I was very grateful to see the anesthesiologist walk in the room.

Unfortunately my epidural experience wasn't the greatest. Having had back surgery in the same area where they usually put the epidural makes things harder, evidently. With Madison's birth the epidural went great. This time around they gave me the shot and after they did the test dose of medication I started getting very tired and couldn't stop yawning. Soon after that my lips felt numb, I couldn't keep my eyes open and I was having a hard time breathing. Basically, my blood pressure had dropped and I was passing out. Jake remained very calm throughout the whole thing. They stopped the medicine, gave, me some oxygen and ephedra and soon I was coming to again. It was a very weird feeling. I had two of these passing out episodes so the Doc decided to let the epidural medication wear off completely and then place another one in a different site a few hours later. The epidural had apparently gone too deep, you can ask Jake for the medical details since it's a little over my head. They assured me this only happens to 1% of people who get an epidural. Despite the mishap I didn't want to deliver "natural" so I was at ground zero again in having painful contractions but dead set on waiting for a second epidural.

This time around it worked great and sometime after 10:00 that night I was ready to push. Fortunately Lost was over by then so Jake and I were able to see last weeks whole episode! I only had to push for about 10 minutes and we were able to welcome little Emerie into the world.
We are so blessed that things went well and so excited to have a new little baby in our home.

Tax Time

Jake writing here.

April 15 has always been a special day for me. In my parent's household this beloved of all days was a time to gather the kids together as close to midnight as was possible and drive as fast as possible to the Airport Post Office, the only office that stayed open 24 hours. Dad would then rush inside and make sure his hand-prepared, hand-calculated tax forms were stamped and post-marked before the impending IRS deadline. Afterward we would sometimes go out to get a doughnut or some other treat to celebrate another year of beating the IRS clock.

As I have grown up and formed a family of my own, this tradition is one that I have not chosen to adopt. In fact, Jenny and I are proud to say that we use TurboTax to file our returns in February using newfangled e-file. With the loss of this tradition, April 15 of the last few years has become a hum-drum day just like the 14th or 16th. Not any longer however!

Jenny and I are proud to announce the birth of our new baby girl,
born yesterday April 15 at 10:32 pm! She is 9 lb, 1 oz and 21.5 inches! Jenny did very well with the labor, and the delivery itself was pretty quick. We did get some help from our friend Pitocin to augment things a bit, but Jen was awesome, she really did everything herself. Mom and baby-girl are doing very well right now and Madison and I are hangin' out for the next few days. We have family members coming to stay with us in a week or so.

Not long after Jen delivered, I sat holding our new little angel and contemplating names.

We have talked about naming here Emery, Emrie or Gracie. The ring-ring of our phone interupted my thoughts and as I picked it up I was greeted by my mom. She of course was tickled pink to hear of the successful and healthy delivery and gave us her congratulations. She then asked where I thought she was. I thought it an odd question, so I answered, "I dunno". Her response brought back a flood of nostalgia and inspiration. She and dad were on the way to the airport post-office to drop off their taxes!

With the memory of the April 15ths of yesteryear fresh in my mind I looked down at our little girl and thought of a new name to consider... Iris! What other name could remind me of the tax-time memories of my past each time I consider the joy of my future! I'm not quite sure why Jenny didn't like the idea. How rich.

What do you all think?

We are overjoyed and excited with the growth of our family. Madison and I were with Jen and baby this morning and they are all very cute together. I am home now while Madison takes a good, long nap. Mom is at the hospital with baby recovering, otherwise I would never get away with a post like this! We are very grateful for the blessing of our own little family.

We want to give special thanks/props to the Lau Family who watched Madison all day and overnight. We couldn't have done this without your help!

Easter

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend! Saturday afternoon we did go to an Easter egg hunt in town where a helicopter dropped 20,000 eggs for the little ones. Luckily the areas were roped off according to age groups. There were a ton of people there and the parents were crazier than the kids. Probably because there was a 500 dollar gift certificate in one of the eggs. Jake ventured onto the grass with Madison and I stood back and took a few pictures. After she picked up a few eggs we escaped before things got too crowded.
Sunday morning Madison was very excited to wake up and find a cute little barking puppy in her Easter basket. She also loved all of the fun treats from her grandma's and she looked so cute in her Easter dress. Thanks mom for the fun surprises! We weren't sure if we would be to church or the hospital on Easter due to some strong contractions Saturday night. However here I am on a Tuesday afternoon still pregnant as ever! I think this little baby is pretty comfortable right now and she is taking her sweet time. Since Madison was five days early we thought for sure we would have had her by now. My official due date is for Thursday so we'll see what happens in the next few days.

The 577 Foundation

Last week on one of our warmer spring days Jake and I took Madison over to the 577 Foundation. It's a beautiful garden area by the river with lots of fun things for kids to do. Madison loves water and would have jumped in with the fish if we didn't hold on to her. She had fun feeding the fish and touching all the pretty plants. She only uprooted one and I quickly replanted it so hopefully not too much damage was done. There is a children's garden with mazes, tunnels, little bridges, and outdoor musical instruments that kept her very entertained. One of her favorite things unfortunately was sneaking rocks into her mouth. She put a pretty big one in her mouth that I knew she couldn't swallow so I let her try it out. I thought after tasting it she would be deterred from trying it again. However, she seemed to enjoy the taste of dirt and rocks or at least my reaction as she would put them up to her mouth and giggle as I would grab them out of her hand and say yucky! She is a curious and busy little girl!

Buddy and the Train Shop

Now that the weather has warmed up one of Madison's favorite activities is to walk down the street to visit Buddy at the train shop. Buddy is the very friendly dog that hangs out in this cute little shop on the weekdays. Madison gets so excited every time she sees him! She loves dogs and wants to play with all of the dogs we see. She even calls the squirrls at the park puppies (some of them are big enough to pass for a small puppy). The owner of this shop is a cute older lady who loves to visit with us when we come in. They have a lot of fun toys out for the kids to play with and Madison loves to push Thomas the train around. They have just started doing Thomas the train birthday parties for anyone that is interested, I think they have a big train for the kids to ride on in the party room.
In this row of shops there is also Wixey bakery and Lickity Split (which just opened for the summer season). Sometimes we go into the bakery and share a donut. As soon as we walk in to the bakery Madison says mmmm, which is followed by "some, some, some". We'll wait until it is a little warmer to introduce her to the twist cones at Lickity.
What a fun neighborhood we live in! Where else can you have the zoo, a fun park with a beautiful river view, toy shop, bakery, and ice cream shop all within a 10 minute walk. We will definitely miss it!

Nuggle!

Madison loves to snuggle. Anytime we are laying on the couch (which is a frequent activity for me these days) or on the floor or she she sees a pillow or her blankie she often will run up and say nuggle nuggle. Sometimes she will only lay there for a few seconds before she is wanting to tickle you, jump over or on you, but there are often some very cute moments where she will relax for a few minutes and read stories or sing songs. I love those moments, what a sweetheart!
Please remember to take note in the picture that Jake is reading a Parents magazine. He actually enjoys this activity and loves to get the latest tips on parenting. I think that is so adorable, what a cute husband! Madison loves to look through the magazines in search of babies, puppies, meows, and Elmo. Some of her favorite things.

Such a Girl!

Madison is such a girl! She loves jewelry. We discovered over Christmas vacation that she loves to put necklaces on and off and she will say pretty pretty when she is wearing them. Recently she has had a lot of fun taking her dresses out of her closet and then she will bring them to me and say on, on. As you can see this is a fun morning activity which explains why in many of the pictures the dresses are over her pajamas. She especially loves to take out different shoes from her closet and have me put them on. Of course they usually don't match so it looks really cute. She loves to put her Sunday shoes on and listen to herself tap across the floor. After she gets on the outfit, jewelry and hair accessories she wants she says woo, woo, and tries to whistle. It's amazing how fast kids catch on to the things you say. Madison is also a little dare devil. She loves to stand on chairs and climb up things. In the picture where she is emptying her drawers she decided it would be fun to climb inside. It she could she would scale the entire dresser. She has been pretty clever lately scooting little chairs over to the table or a place where she wants to reach something that is too high. I have to keep an extra eye one her now that she has figured out how to get into a whole new world of mischief:)

Fun Little Dresses!

These last two weeks I made two little dresses for Madison and one for our new little girl on the way. I am trying to complete as many projects as I can before my free time disappears for a little while with a new baby and getting ready to move to Columbus. The pattern I used for the dress is a fun one that my friend Emilee showed us before she left Toledo. She is a sewing inspiration! Hopefully I can continue to expand my sewing skills and try some new patterns one of these days. I am afraid of anything with zippers and buttons so this pattern is my comfort zone. One of the fun things is that the blue dress was made out of a pillow case and and red dress was free material being given away. It's so much fun to be creative and make new things.