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.

Museum

The last time Madison went to a museum she was only three months old. It was fun to take her to the Toledo Museum to see all the many beautiful paintings.

Funny Faces

Jake was really excited for me to put pigtails in Madison's hair. I thought it would bother her and that she would try to pull them out but she didn't even know they were there all day. It makes her look so grown up. She had fun pulling different faces for me while I was taking pictures. So much expression! Madison has a really cute voice and gets very excited about everything. Lately she loves to say wow-wee! She loves to do her surprised face when she hears daddy coming home up the stairs. Oh, I almost forgot, last week Madison chipped the corner of her front tooth. It was so sad, we were at the zoo's aquarium and she went running around the corner and when I got there she was crying and her lip was bleeding. I was so focused on looking to see if she needed stitches that I didn't even notice her tooth until later when we were home. I was more traumatized than she was and called the dentist immediately. They got her in for an appointment the next morning and said at this point there is nothing that can be done. She is still as cute as ever and it's not that noticeable but it made me so sad:( At least she didn't knock out the whole tooth!

Mommy's Little Helper!

Madison is growing up so fast and learning new things ever day. One of her favorite activities is to vacuum. She screams with glee whenever I get it out and is eager to "help". Lucky for me she has a vacuum of her own to help distract her from the big one.
Lately, we have discovered that Madison likes to be somewhat neat. She of course makes plenty of messes, but promptly wants it cleaned up. When we are eating, she will scoot everything on her tray to one corner and then push it off to the floor, unless we get there in time. When she sees a mess she will say, "messy, messy, messy". When she sees things on the floor that don't belong she picks them up and brings them to me. The other day at church she found a push pin and I was relieved that she brought it to me rather than trying to eat it.
She has also learned to help put things away. The other day I asked her to put her shoes in the closet. She looked at me for a bit then picked up her shoe, walked to the closet and put it on the shelf. The funny thing was when I asked her to put away the other shoe she tossed out the one she had just put in to make a spot for the second! Silly little girl.

Seven Years in Ohio

Well, the suspense is over, no more trying to divine the purposes of the magical NRMP Match computer. We now know that we have matched into on of the top pediatrics training programs in the country, Nationwide Children's Hospital, in Columbus, Ohio! It is an exciting opportunity to train at such a renowned place. US News ranks the program #15 in the nation, Child and Parent magazines rank it #4 and #6, respectively. For the next three years I will be learning from the best! Four years of medical school in Toledo followed by an additional three years of residency in Columbus leads to Seven Years in Ohio. Who'd of ever thought!

Jen and I were actually quite surprised with the match. We had ranked Primary Children's in Utah as our first choice and we thought that we had a really good chance at getting the job. Oh well!

For those unfamiliar, Columbus is the Capitol of our great state of Ohio. It is home to the Ohio State Buckeyes, the NHL's Bluejackets and MLS Crew. It is about 3 hours south from Toledo so moving won't be too difficult for us. Thanks to the dismal economy housing prices are very reasonable in Columbus. We may look to buy a house if the situation looks good. Columbus has a great airport, so we hope that many of you will come out for a visit. If you come during football season we'll join 106,000 other fans and watch OSU play in the Horseshoe!

More Painting Fun!

I finally took some time to do some more painting! The three pictures of the animals were for Madison's room. She loves them and makes the animal noises that match when she sees them. I am going to do three more to go underneath. The idea is not mine, they are from an artist named Yuko Lau. My friend Lindsay told me about her work, I think the animals are so fun! The painting underneath is for my sister. She wanted one similar to the flower painting I did a few months ago but with a different color scheme.

Cutie Baby!

Madison is obsessed with babies! Every time we see a baby she yells, baby, baby, and she wants to go over and say hi. In church, after sacrament meeting, Madison runs out the doors, down the hall, and into the nursery. Once there she finds one of the dolls and runs out of the room. She may not be old enough yet to attend nursery so I guess she makes up for it by taking out her favorite toys. It's a good thing she is getting a little sister soon! We'll see how much she still loves babies after having one at her house all the time:) It's so much fun to watch her rock her baby doll in her blanket and feed it her bottle. She is quite the little mother.
Madison has also been exploding with all sorts of words. She will try and say anything that she hears. Some of my favorite words that she says are: eyebrow, hospital, Madison, snow, happy, please and thank you. I love it when she wakes up in the morning or from naps and just talks to herself and the animals in her room. She is such a fun personality. She is also very determined. Often she will say hi, hi, hi, to someone until she gets a response. She also loves containers and works very hard at getting lids on and off of jars, Tupperware etc. We are having so much fun watching her learn and grow. What a cutie!