Life with the Snyders

Monday, January 11, 2010

TORN

Coming up with the words to write this blog has been really difficult for me as we say good-bye to 2009.

So I was trying to think of the best word to describe 2009. As I look back at the year that is behind us now I am torn with emotions of both good and bad. You would think that I would be glad to say good-bye to 2009 but sadly I am not. It was the best year and the worst year of my life. It was a year filled with the highest highs in giving birth to my babies and the lowest lows in having to say good-bye to my sweet angel Kapri. We have had such joy in watching Landon grow and develop. He is amazing and still continues to lift me up when I feel like I’m dying inside. I am sad to say good-bye to 2009 as that is the only year in which Kapri was here on earth with us.

As time passes by I often find myself lost in thought of what would it be like if Kapri were here now. Would she be as strong as Landon…as vocal or active? Would she want me to hold her and rock her to sleep? What foods would she like? Would she be rolling over and grabbing everything? I miss her with every ounce of my being and I am sad that Landon will never know his twin sister.

We want to thank all of our family and friends who loved and supported us over the last year. We could not have done it without you. So it is with sadness that we say good-bye to 2009 and close that chapter of the book. We are looking forward to 2010 and hope that it will be a year filled with only great memories.

We had a busy month of December.

In our journey with Kapri we were introduced to the Chez Family. We did not get a chance to meet face to face until this last month. Terra Chez invited me out to spend time with her and the other Heart Moms in her group. They were all amazing and I was so touched by their kindness. They gave me a beautiful heart necklace with Kapri's name on it and it says "Always in my heart". It was really touching to meet all of them...they are an amazing group of women who have been brought together through the worst circumstances. I am so sad it took me loosing Kapri to meet them.

My heart has been heavy for the Chez's as they have been in the hospital with their new baby Abigail as she undergoes her second open heart surgery. They are wonderful people and I pray for their family to have strength for all that they have been through and are going through at this time.

Dinner with the heart moms.

My Girlfriend Lisa from Texas also sent me a beautiful necklace with Landon and Kapri's name on it...thank you so much for this wonderful gift that I will cherish always.

Landon has been growing like a weed. He has 2 teeth now so we have been calling him 2fers.

He is getting ready to crawl any day now so it's the calm before the storm.
He can pull himself up and stand using stationary items.

Landon was getting too big for the sink so he started taking baths in the tub using rubber ducky (thanks Kristin and Baby Ella for the ducky). He loves taking baths in his new tub.

We went to Mira's Birthday party

We saw Santa in the Park... and took pictures. It seems that the pictures are missing. Just imagine Landon crying and Santa was big and Jolly in a red suit.

We had the family over for Christmas Eve dinner and we let Landon open a few gifts from the family.

The Cousins Chad, Tyler and Landon

I think this was the first baby that Chad has ever held.

He saw the gifts and wanted to eat the strings

It was Landon's first Christmas so we bought him lots of toys.

Daddy and son hanging out watching TV

He had fun with the Snyder's on Christmas day but after a long day he was just too tired so he took a cat nap on mommy (this was my Christmas present)

Eric, Landon and Grandma Snyder

We went to Uncle Andy's for dinner one night. This is Eric, Landon, Kurt and Reo.

Uncle Andy took us up to Ventura for the night. We had a great time going out to dinner with the family.

Grandma and Grandpa Snyder

Eric's Family and Nana's mom from Japan.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

He has chubby cheeks and chunky thighs (I love it).

Landon is doing great and growing like a champ. I took him to the Dr.'s office last week and he weighs in at 16 lbs now. He has chubby cheeks and chunky thighs (I love it). He cut his first tooth this week.

We had a bit of a scare when we decided to give him the H1N1 shot. He ended up having a reaction to the shot with a rash on his face and swollen lips and tongue. Not wanting to take any chances we took him to the hospital. They gave him Benadryl and we had to watch him closely over the next few days. He is fine now but we have to figure out what caused it. He may have an issue with eggs so we are getting him tested to see if that is what caused the reaction.

One day when I was feeding him on the floor he grabbed the bottle with his hands and feet...I told Eric look I think we found the missing link...

He had his first Halloween. We dressed him up as a Giraffe and walked him around in the stroller with the dog. He looked like a stuffed animal sitting in the stroller.

We started Landon on oatmeal in November. We have since given him carrots and butternut squash and he likes them. This weekend we will give him his first taste of apples...yum!

We look a short trip to Big Bear. The weather was perfect not too cold. We woke up to snow on the first morning but it melted off by lunchtime.

The place we stayed at was wonderful. It was right on the water and boulders in Boulder Bay.

It was our first real trip where we brought Xena with us. She had such a great time and wasted no time settling into mountain life. She really enjoyed climbing the rocks around the house...I think she thought she was a mountain goat.

On the subject of Xena she has been a bit out of sorts since we brought Landon home. She has not even wanted to acknowledge him in hopes he might leave one day. Well on the trip she finally gave in and once she started to lick him she wouldn't stop.

YEA!!! Finally the dog made friends with Landon...though Landon isn't too fond of her licking him. Now Landon laughs and screams every time he sees her.

So they had this bear in the room we put Landon in. It was in the corner sitting on the back of a chair nestled in behind the door. One night I was feeding him (Landon not the bear) and I had the light off in the room with only a little bit of light coming from the hall. Eric was standing in the doorway talking to me and Xena was right behind him when out of the corner of my eye I saw something large moving toward Eric. After a second I realized what it was but Eric just saw something big coming his way so he yelled (though he says he didn't...I know what I heard) and ran down the hall while Xena wasted no time and lead the way for him. So with all the commotion and yelling poor Landon started to scream as well. It was the funniest thing...this bear took down the whole family in one swoop.

Landon has started to sit up all on his own and play with his toys.

We spent Thanksgiving with Eric's family.

His cousin Reo kept making him Laugh

Here he is hamming it up for the cameras.

We have been having the best time with him. He is such a blessing and everyday that we wake up we can't believe how wonderful it is to be his parents.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Boring old mommy stuff...

So we are settling into being just a mommy and daddy. Life has been anything but boring over the last few months. Landon has been a handful to say the least. He has issues with crying and seems to be in pain. We took him to the Doctors last week and they think he has acid reflux and have put him on Tagament which seems to be helping.

He has started to laugh which is wonderful and grab things with both hands (watch out Xena he has his sights set on your fur)

He has been sleeping through the nights which is a blessing though he has started to wake up this week in the middle of the night looking for a bottle so I'm guessing he is going through a growing spurt. He weighs in at 13 1/2 pounds and is growing everyday. To make matters even more fun he started teething a month ago so on top of our acid issues we have our fist in our mouth and are slobbering on everything (St. Bernard dogs have nothing on Landon who is a drooling fool).

We try to do tummy time but doesn't care too much for it.

We haven't goon too many places over the summer but we did take him to his first soccer game LA Galaxy vs. AC Milan. Halfway through the game the noise level picked up and we realized that it was not our best plan we had ever come up with as it was really loud and we ended up standing at the top of the bleachers where the noise level was not so loud...lesson learned on that one. But it was fun to see AC Milan, David Beckham and Landon Donavan play...go Landon!

We went to a family reunion over the summer at Pat and Teri's house. Landon didn't have any interest in the booze...

but one of the girls sure caught his eye...he gave her his flirty look...little does he know she was his cousin.

His cousin Reo holding him for the first time.

We went for a walk to the beach and had to put on Jackets...Yes we have Xena in the stroller too...she is old and cant walk that far anymore.

So you might wonder what Landon is doing in his off time...
Well he turns into his alter ego Super Baby and helps keep mommy from getting bored by making her do things to entertain him.

Here he is pre flight

Soaring through the sky's looking for trouble

Here he is trying to take on a bee but forgot his magic cape so the bee won...

Boy vs. Bee

You can't be a super hero without your trusty side kick Super Lazy Dog