James

I took a few pictures of James this morning.

There are more pictures at flickr

Christmas

The kids made a killing this year. I really didn't think that they had all that much until I saw it under the tree.

Pam was thrilled that Santa ate all the cookies she left.

The three older kids unwrapping their gifts. There was a sea of paper and boxes by the time they were done. Actually, we are still under a sea of boxes.

Merry Christmas

The Snyder kids want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Anthony is having a very hard time going to bed. I have chased him back to his room many times already. I will post pictures of the destruction tomorrow. I will be surprised if the tree stays standing after Anthony and Pam get to it.

(click on the picture to see more)

pictures

Here is James all dressed and ready to come home.

Anthony enjoying the snow.

You can click on the pictures to take you to flickr to see more.

James is Home

Friday was an event filled day. When Mary called the NICU to check on James in the morning she got a scare as the nurse told her that they didn't have a James Snyder in the NICU. Luckily the nurse who had been caring for him overheard this and quickly corrected her that he had been transferred to the ISCU (Infant Special Care Unit). This was one step closer to home. Mary called the nurse in the ISCU, but she had just been informed that James was her patient and had no vitals to report other than saying that if he was moved there he must be doing better and that the doctor was supposed to make rounds within the hour. I wanted more info (being a numbers guy) and asked Mary to get more info by lunch. School was cancelled, so she was busy with the other 3 and did not get a chance to call before I called home at lunch time, so she called them while I finished my lunch and they said we could bring him home. His respiration rate was still a litlle high, but we were supposed to get a decent winter storm over the weekend and they determined he would be better off at home. I cut out of work early to go with them to get James and on the way home got in a fender bender. My front bumper was ripped off and the other car had some minor damage. Thankfully nobody was hurt. A King County Sheriff's officer pulled up behind us and helped us clear the road. Since we were in Snohomish county, she told us to exchange info and fill out some form she gave us and be on our way, but his insurance company told him to get a police report. This ended up being costly for him since he had 2 kids in the car that were not in car seats. One of them was 2 weeks old. I finally got home and we went into the city and got James. Anthony informed the nurse that the baby goes in the car seat as soon as we got there, but we told him that James needed to get dressed warm first (and be discharged). The kids are fighting (politely) over who gets to hold him next. I had to avoid him all weekend since I have been sick. Mary is sick now but, being that she is his primary food source, she can't avoid him. All this and we still have almost none of the Christmas shopping done.

Day 3

I did not make it down to see James today. There was going to be a big snow storm and I thought it wise to stay off the roads. The snow hasn't really come yet.

I called the NICU a couple of times today and I do have some news. James was taken off oxygen and antibiotics. His feedings also went up to 10cc of formula. So he is doing really well. His respiratory rate is still around 78 and they want that down between 40 and 60. Hopefully that will come down soon and he will then be able to have a bottle. Because once those two things happen he should be able to come home.

The kids had a snow day and stayed home so I had fun with them watching TV and playing video games. I am hoping to make it down to see James tomorrow if the weather is good. So maybe I'll have a few more pictures tomorrow.

Day 2

James was happier today. He is no longer under the oxygen hood. This means he can finally suck his thumb. When we got down to the hospital we were able to hold him so that made Jaime and I feel a lot better.

It also made big brother very happy. He did get a bit depressed when he realised that he couldn't hold James but he took it well.
The other big news is that James was able to eat for the first time since arriving at Swedish. James now has a tube going through his nose and down to his stomach. Jaime was able to give him his first feeding there, a tiny 2cc of formula.

This is good progress for the little guy. We are still waiting on test results but they should be in tomorrow. So hopefully, we will know a little bit more soon.

To try and keep things normal for the older two, we took Pam to gymnastics and Aaron to basketball tonight.

If you want to see more pictures click on one and it will take you to flickr.

James was born

James entered the world on 14 Dec at 1:13. He weighed in at 9lbs. 8ozs. and is 22in. long.

I came home from the hospital yesterday morning and at the same time James was transferred to Swedish Medical Center's NICU. James is doing fine. He is just having a little trouble with breathing. The doctors are fairly sure that he has a little fluid in his lungs from when he was born that is causing him to have a bit of trouble. They are sure he is fine and should be released in a few days. The doctors just want him to be watched carefully while his body does its thing and gets the fluid absorbed.

Jaime and I took the kids up to see James last night. James is on oxygen and they are slowly bringing the levels down so he should be off the hood and on to the tube in his nose today. Other than that they have him on IV fluids and antibiotics. The antibiotics are for just in case he is sick. They are still running a bunch of tests to rule things out.

Just to recap...James is doing fine they just want to watch him to be sure he stays fine. And I am tired but home.

Food and Santa

Really what could be better?

Aaron had a practice game for Basketball that morning along with Basketball pictures. So Aaron was not able to stay long for the Santa Breakfast last Sat. He helped set up the craft stuff for the little ones. Aaron had planned to help out more but he did enough to finish earning his Religious Square knot for Cub Scouts. He was also able to eat a little food before he had to leave to get his picture taken. What fun that was for Jaime and I.

Pam, Anthony, EJ and Caroline stayed with me and made candy cane reindeer. Yeah. Did I mention we brought 2 extra kids with us? They were really well behaved for me so it wasn't that big of a deal.

Anthony was a smart cookie. He noticed a lot of adults on the stage and he lined up with a few older kids. He is a smart one that boy. He was one of the first ten kids to see Santa. I heard him ask for a Diego something. Knowing Anthony it was probably all Go Diego Go toys.

Pam waited in line for a while because she was busy playing. She was very excited and asked for the Dora the Explorer game for the Wii.

Aaron's game went OK. they lost but it doesn't count on their record. And still no baby. But James will be here no later than this Sunday. My doctor is having me induced Sunday. So hopefully I'll feel up to posting a few pictures of the little guy by Monday.

trains

As everyone who knows Anthony would know, he loves trains. Everyday I find him playing with his Thomas the Train wooden trains. So it shouldn't have surprised me that one of his first drawing that I can tell what it is that he drew is of a train.


He even drew the trains tender. I am not sure when he drew this exactly. I found it last night when I was cleaning the living room.

Not much else is going on here.

We had a nice Thanksgiving. Lots of food and lots of sleepy days watching TV with the kids.

Pam is 7....

in case you didn't know. She is telling everyone that. Her brothers are a bit annoyed.

Pam had a Princess Party for her 7th birthday. The girls dressed up as princesses and had a fun time chasing Pam's brothers. Pam had a great time playing with her friends. They used my glass punch bowl and had fruit for a little snack.

A week or so ago Jaime and I went to a church activity. It was a "cruise". We had a lot of fun. We did a dance class. Swing dancing probably wasn't the smartest thing I did that night but it was a lot of fun. So was shuffle board, Jaime was very happy about that. We had a great time out just the two of us. We both know that here soon it will be a bit tough to get out. Below is our "cruise" photo that was taken when we got there.


Wow. My belly has really gotten big. Oh well, a healthy baby is worth the big belly.

As always, click on a picture to see more.

Portland

We took the kids to Portland yesterday. I wanted to go to the Portland Comic Book Show and Jaime wanted to go to Buffalo Wild Wings(Portland is the only one near us). The kids behaved pretty well for us considering it was a long day in the van for them. Tony came with us so we split the kids up to make it easier on everyone. Jaime and Aaron walked around the show together. Pam helped her Uncle Tony and Anthony and I got to hang out. I was able to get a few comics I was looking for and a few sketches done. One sketch was of Anthony. He asked for Spiderman. So Micah Baker drew Anthony as Spiderman.




Anthony loves his "Spiderman". So of course, Aaron saw this sketch and he wanted one done of him. So we went back to Micah and Aaron asked to be drawn as the Joker from Batman.




The drawing is very good. It kinda freaks me out a bit. Anyway, I thought I'd better track Pam down because she would probably get mad if I didn't get one of her too. She asked to be drawn as Supergirl.

We all fun fun until it came time to find parking in downtown Portland. I hate trying to find parking. There never is any. I had hoped things would go better once we got to Buffalo Wings Wings but our server was not very good. Thank god the food was good.

Some catch up pictures....

I was going through my camera and I found some pictures of the kids from September. We went to the Zoo, the first day of school and Pam losing a tooth. There are also some pictures from July of Aaron and Jaime's trip to Cedar Point.

Click on a picture to take you to more.

Halloween

We had a fun time for Halloween. We carved the pumpkins on Thursday after Pam got back from gymnastics. Aaron and Pam's friend Caroline was over . She was helping Anthony and Pam scoop out their pumpkins. Aaron did all the work on his pumpkin by himself.



Anthony loved his silly pumpkin.

On Friday we went to the church for Trunk-or Treat. The kids got a ton of candy. I sat in the van and handed out candy. The kids had a great time and I had some yummy apple cider.

Aaron went as a skull Ninja, Caroline was a dead bride, Pam was a Skele-rocker girl and Anthony was a tiny ninja.

To see more pictures click on a picture.

School Pictures

Aaron and Pam came home with pictures today. They were both excited to show me how they turned out.

They are both looking so grown up. When did that happen?

I should probably get my camera out today and take a picture or two of Anthony. He is still here. I promise.

The kids are busy

Pam was so excited to get the team pictures taken the other day. She is working really hard in gymnastics. I can't wait to see how she does at her first competition in February. Here is a picture of her. If you click on it you can see the other two pictures.

The rest of us are doing good. I have been so tired lately that napping is now my favorite activity.

Hi All

The posts should happen a bit closer now. The kids and I are settled into a routine.

All three kids are having fun and keeping me busy. Aaron Started playing the trumpet in band this year. And Pam is still working really hard on her gymnastics. She starts competing this January. Anthony is doing great. He has been a great helper. He enjoys getting things ready for the baby.

Here are two new pictures of James. It doesn't seem possible that I only have 10 weeks till the due date. Time has been flying.

We are still here.

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. We have been running all over the place this summer. We have spent a lot of time in Portland, OR. And the kids have kept me going all over town.

We are very happy to be heading out to go camping this weekend. I think we all need a little break. I'll take my camera and try to get a few pictures.

Let's see Jaime switched jobs earlier this month. He is much happier and only about 5 miles from the house instead of 20 some miles from home.

Aaron is growing his hair out and skateboarding a lot.

Pam is doing an amazing job with gymnastics. Being on the team has been great for her. She can't wait till school starts. She is in 1st grade now. And she tells anyone who will listen that.

Anthony is doing great. his speech is coming along great. His favorite thing to talk about lately is baby James.

And Baby and I are doing well. I'm just tired. We are rearranging the house a bit to give Aaron his own room and have Anthony and the baby share a room. Other than that nothing is really going on here. I am going for another Ultrasound on Sept 2. Hopefully I'll have a few more pictures of James to post.

Hey, It's a ....

BOY!!

The little guy was full of energy and gave us a great view. So, we now have three boys and one princess. I mean girl. This little guy is being called James Barry right now. We are pretty sure that will be his name.

Busy, Busy and Busy

We are all over the place still.

I finally have a minute to post some more photos of the kids. If you click on the picture it should take you to flickr to see more.

It's been a while

I know that I have not posted as much as I'd like. I have been very busy now that school is over. The kids are all over the place these days.

Pam made the Team. She now has gymnastics 2 times a week for 2hours each time. She is loving the "workouts". Already I see a lot of improvement in what she can do. Aaron is now a Webelos Scout. This is keeping him very busy. And Anthony still says he's the baby.

The boys have a father/son campout this weekend. Anthony is thrilled. He got his own "brand New" sleeping bag.

I had a doctor appointment today. The baby and I are doing great. I lost 6lbs. since my last visit a month ago. We are scheduled to have an ultrasound on the 18th of July. We will let you know what is up. Other than that we are just taking time to play with the kids. I'll try to post more often but no guarantees.

It"s Alive

The nurse couldn't find the heartbeat at my appointment so we walked down the hall to do an ultrasound. The Baby was hiding as low as it could be. When the nurse found it, the baby was sucking it's thumb. The pictures are a bit blurry but the little one is only 12 weeks 3days. The due date was confirmed for December 8th. I was told I have a healthy active baby.

We are alive

I know it has been awhile since I last posted. I have been all over the place.

First off, Jaime and I are announcing the pending arrival of another little Snyder. I am due Dec 8. I am still looking for a doctor so no ultrasound pictures yet.

Pam had tryouts for the Gymnastics team this past Friday. We will let you know as soon as we get the letter in the mail.

I am trying to upload some video from Pam's Gymnastics Show that was a couple of weeks ago. So hopefully I'll have something up before too long.

For those who have not gone to the flickr account recently I've upload a few pictures for Scouts (both Cub and Daisy) and from Emerald City Comic-Con.

Aaron was very happy to meet Jeff Parker. Jeff was very nice and took time to really talk to Aaron. Aaron was thrilled. Click on the picture to see more.

Miss Fashion Diva

A friend of mine dropped off a couple of dresses and skirts for Pam (her daughter is a couple of years older and outgrew them). So of course Pam had to try on the pink skirt which happened to match the shirt she was wearing.

Anthony is wanting to be a baby. He found a baby doll pacifier and was crawling around with it in his mouth.

Click the picture to see more.

It's Snow!!!!

A few days ago it was warm and sunny. Today we have snow. You just gotta love the Northwest.

The kids are thrilled. They have been playing in the snow (or as Anthony says no) all morning. Pam has made a snow TV. Aaron has made chairs for them to sit on and Anthony just runs around.

Click on the picture to see more.

What a weekend...

We have been very busy around here. Pam lost her first tooth this past week. And Pam had a gymnastics lesson on Sat. Getting up and out the door by 8:30am is a little tough.

After her lesson we decided to go to Denny's. Pam just loves the pancakes.

It was a beautiful day. So once we got home, we loaded up the stroller and took a walk to the park. We also went to the Lynnwood Pool for the open swim. All the kids had a great time.

Yesterday, we drove down to Portland. I really wanted to go to the Portland Comic Book Show. We had a good time and bought some neat toys.

Seattle Aquarium

I went to the aquarium this morning with a few friends. We took the bus down and went to Pikes place as well. We all had a lot of fun.

Click on the picture to see more.

Just another day..

Here are a few pictures taken today. Anthony was having fun running in circles wearing his "Diego" vest. This is his favorite past time these days.

Go ahead and click on it to see more.