Adalyn turns 6!

On August 31st, my first born, Adalyn, turned 6 years old.  To celebrate we had a spa party with 15 of her girlfriends.  There is a spa close to our home that hosts spa parties and I thought it would be the perfect celebration for turning 6.  Given that I had just had a baby less than a month prior I did not want to have to put much work into giving her a party.  So bringing the food and then letting the staff at the spa take over was perfect.






First the girls changed into mini slippers and robes and enjoyed a brunch on the patio.  I decided a yogurt bar with baked goods and a couple egg casseroles would be perfect for the morning party.





 There was a coffee/tea bar and I put together a mimosa bar although the word mimosa, come to find out, is not universal and some of the other moms did not know what I was talking about.



The guests enjoyed the food and next up was the first spa treatment.

The girls split into 4 groups of 4 and rotated between the stations.  Adalyn started with a facial which was probably the cutest thing to watch.  The girls laid down and got a little face massage, lotions applied, a mask, and cucumbers for their eyes.




Once their face was refreshed and looking years younger, Adalyn and her group were able to get their hair done.  Most of the girls decided to get curls in their hair with sparkles.  Cupcakes and singing the "Happy Birthday" song to celebrate followed.





I decided to make cupcakes this year because it was going to be way easier than making a cake with Everly being a newborn.

The girls did not sit and eat long cause they had 3 more spa stations to visit.

Watching the girls sit for their pedicure just like us moms do was precious.  Except one color would not do for all their toes, most girls selected different colors for each toe and thankfully the spa was happy to fulfill their request.

A stop for multi-colored manicures was next and then Adalyn had her make-up done.




It was a fun morning to watch all these little girls get pampered.  Such a sweet way to celebrate Adalyn turning 6 with friends.  She also celebrated at school by bringing donuts for everyone.  Birthdays are a big deal and she had her hand in all the decisions which she talked about for months leading up to the big day.




Adalyn is growing up so quickly and it is a joy to see all the facets of her personality emerge.  She is tenderhearted, cares for others, observant and particular.  Adalyn loves animals, babies, spending time with friends, riding her bike, watching her favorite tv shows, swimming, dancing, eating sweets and being creative with arts and crafts.  Adalyn can entertain herself for hours playing with her dolls or anything really, she has an amazing imagination.  She often wants me to leave her alone and not watch or listen to her playing.



She is helpful with her siblings but also like to antagonize Grant.  Adalyn comes up with all sorts of make-up games and like to tell jokes/half-truths.   She will only wear what she wants to wear, same goes for doing her hair and she does not care if any of it matches.

 Adalyn receives high marks at school and looks forward to going everyday.  Luckily she gets to do ballet, monkeynastics, tennis, pottery, and a sports class at school.  Somehow she still has plenty of energy to burn when coming home and can't remember what she did in any of the activities.  Outside of school she enjoys her weekly swimming lessons and has a modern dance class twice a week.
Always fun to have a conversation with her, even though she tends to ask the same questions over and over.  Adalyn has a little South African accent and is enjoying her childhood here.  We are blessed to have such a well rounded little girl to call our own.  

Welcoming Everly to the world

It has been over 2 months since I last wrote a blog as I did not feel I had much to share.  Life in Africa is seems more normal the longer we are here too.  But with the birth of a baby there is plenty to share now.



On August 4th we welcomed Everly Faye Snyder into the world.  Everly after my grandmother Beverly and Faye is a family name on Mark's side. This third pregnancy was the hardest one for me with lots of pressure and random pain but so worth all of it when we saw her precious face.  You would think that if your body has carried two babies before it would get easier each time but I find that to be the opposite.  It really makes me appreciate how easy of a pregnancy I had with Adalyn, wish I knew that at the time with her.

We chose once again to not find out the gender of our baby until he/she was born.  I thought that after having one boy and one girl I would be able to compare the pregnancies and tell which gender baby #3 would be but I was stumped.  I had pregnancy symptoms similar to both Adalyn's and Grant's and then I had new symptoms I had never experienced before.  In the last few weeks I was thinking it was a girl, but I had been wrong before so my guesses really are not the most reliable.  Of all the wives tales you can do to guess the gender none of them have ever been correct with my kids 100% of the time.  The Chinese gender prediction chart has been right 100% of the time for me strangely.

At 38 weeks and 5 days my contractions started at 9:30pm.  I timed them for an hour and when they were coming 2 minutes apart and lasting almost 1 minute each I woke up Mark and told him we were going to have a baby tomorrow.  Mark responded, "how do you know?", to which I said, "cause I'm having contractions, it's not just a guess".  We got ready, left the kids with our helper and made our way to the hospital.  Thinking that this baby would come quick as Adalyn's was 14 hours start to finish and Grant's was 7, I thought this one would be about 4 hours.  Well, Everly must have liked it too much in the womb as she was not about to budge.

After 15 hours of sporadic contractions, lots of walking the halls of the hospital and no sleep, my body finally progressed to the point I could get an epidural.  Although I did not have any pain medications with Adalyn or Grant's births, I wanted to try an epidural this time and boy was I missing out before.  That magical little drug was delightful, though it was strange to not feel or move half of my body, the fact that I did not have to feel the entire contraction was a blessing.  Random side note: the cost for my epidural and the anesthesiologist' time was a whopping $290!!!!, not sure what they charge in America but I think I got a good deal.

I was a bit bummed when the epidural started wearing off in parts of my body but thankfully I was given another dose.  I told Mark that I did not get an epidural for it to not work, and not being able to move to help with the pain was not fun.  Luckily, after 19 hours start to finish Everly decided it was time to be born.  The nurse was shocked I was ready to push and almost fell down running out of the room to get the doctor.  A few pushes later Everly arrived and we were overjoyed.

It's like Grant has been doing this his whole life. 

she is in love and said, "I'm so glad God gave me a baby girl"

the wonderful Dr. Backer who delivered Everly

Weighing in at 7 lbs 11 ounces and 21.5 inches long, she weighed the least of my 3 kids and was 2nd in height.  One month old now she has gained 2 lbs 7 ounces and grew 1/2 an inch.  She is beginning to outgrow her newborn clothes which are all Adalyn's old clothes we had brought over from the US.  I love to see her in Adalyn's clothes as it brings back such sweet memories of Adalyn.  Plus since the two girls look almost identical it's like looking at my newborn Adalyn at times.

Adalyn and Grant love their sister.  I was not concerned about Adalyn who requested a girl so she was thrilled that her request was fulfilled.  But if this baby happened to be a boy, I knew she would be disappointed but come to love him just like she has Grant.  I was a bit more concerned with Grant but he has adjusted well to Everly joining the family.  Grant has always been a "mama's boy" so he naturally wants me to do everything for him and hold him often.  He is more used to Mark or others helping him now and does not appear jealous of Everly.  I love that I can actually hold Grant again and carry him since I don't have a belly in the way.

Since Everly has been born she has been out and about wherever we are going.  Trips to the mall, the hair salon, dance classes, swimming, doctor appointments, birthday parties, multiple outings to the park and walks around the neighborhood.  She is happy to sleep, eat, burp and smile all day long which makes it easier to adjust to life with 3 kids.  Maybe she is more easy going or maybe I know what I am doing this third time around.  I love to watch Adalyn and Grant love on Everly and I am thankful we were blessed with another healthy and precious baby.