Silas Nathaniel

A very special addition to the blog: here's a video of Silas Nathaniel at one day old!

Announcing Silas Nathaniel Sneath

Hi there. This is Tim here writing on behalf of Louise, since she's in hospital right now.

We're proud to introduce Silas Nathaniel Sneath to you all. He arrived into the world today at 12:51pm Pacific / 8:51pm UK in Overlake Medical Center, Bellevue WA by Caesarian section. Weighing 10lb exactly, he's a chunky little fellow! Mum is doing very well, although she's understandably tired. Silas' sisters Naomi and Esther are delighted to have a baby brother to look after.

Silas is a Biblical name that has several meanings, depending on who you consult. The main derivation seems to be "third", which is most appropriate since he's our third child. It also is a derivative of an Arabic word for "asked for", which is also appropriate since he's a much welcome addition to our family. A third derivation means "man of the forest", which is also perfect a child born in this alpine area.

Some early photos can be found here; we'll update them over the next day or two as we expand our collection.
Thanks to many of you who have been thinking of us - we are grateful for your prayers and warm wishes.

Naomi's 4th Birthday Party

Hello! Welcome from a warm and sunny Issaquah this weekend! It has been beautiful here and we have enjoyed being in the sunshine when we have been able to!

I am thankful to say that the baby has behaved itself and has not yet come! I really wanted to be at Naomi's party yesterday and, whilst I wouldn't have minded the baby coming today, I wanted Naomi and the baby to have separate birthdays!

We had a busy end to the week on Thursday and Friday, but not really doing anything too exciting! We went food shopping on Thursday and in the afternoon Mum took the girls for a wet walk and a splash in the puddles whilst I did some more food shopping! On Friday, Naomi went to school and Esther went to music class and in the afternoon Mum took the girls to the park at the bottom of the hill for an hour or so! They had rather and eventful hour though, with Naomi coming home with a bruised nose and scuffed elbow and Esther coming home with a hole in her tights!!

Yesterday was Naomi's party in the afternoon. Mum had done a brilliant job of making the Princess cake on Friday night, which Naomi loved and we just had a bit of clearing up and last minute shopping to do on Saturday morning. Naomi and Tim chose the photos for the photo wall and then went to collect them whilst Esther, Mum and I also did a few last bits. After lunch the girls had a rest before getting ready in their new dresses that Mum had bought for them from Costco on Thursday! They both looked like true Princesses and very sweet!

The party was lovely! The children all behaved really well and I think that they all had a lovely time! Our two definitely did! We made princess crowns when the girls first arrived which was fun and then we played some games! The girls loved musical bumps and musical statues! We also played pass the parcel, pin the tail on the unicorn, hunt the pairs game, flapping fishes and lastly sang "the farmer's in the den" 5 times before tea!!

After tea, the girls played whilst we cleared up and opened Naomi's presents and then it was time for a quick look at the toys before bath time and bed time! The girls were tired by then! Unfortunately, Esther didn't sleep too well and will hopefully sleep better tonight! Naomi did OK though.

Today, Tim went to church for a bit to play the music for the children but was home after that. After he came home we went to Pine Lake Park with Mum as she hadn't seen it before and it was nice to be able to show her how pretty it is! We had a late lunch and a rest before Mum took the girls out to the little park in our neighbourhood for an hour or so! Unfortunately, because of the bad weather at Heathrow, Dad's plane was very late in; this meant that just Mum and I went to collect him, whilst Tim fed and bathed the girls. WE got home just in time for Dad to read the girls stories (nothing like being thrown in at the deep end!!) and the girls went to bed!

So that is all our news here! I won't be writing on Wednesday and will hopefully write again on Sunday! However, Tim will hopefully email you all with the news of the new arrival on Tuesday or Wednesday! The C - Section is booked for 12:00 noon our time but if this gets delayed, you might not hear before you go to bed!!

Looking forward to introducing you all to the newest Sneath .....

Still here...

Hi there! No baby news this end. Still very pregnant and finding it very difficult to move! However this time next week, hopefully the baby will be here!

Mum arrived safely on Monday and had to wait a little while for us to get to her - she was out in double quick timing! We managed to get to Gym class for Naomi only a few minutes late, which was great!

Yesterday Mum, the girls and I went clothes shopping after the doctors appointment and we did quite well. We managed to buy some things for Naomi to wear over the winter! Today, Naomi went to school and we did some party shopping and this afternoon, the girls did some painting and some play dough as well as playing.

Mum and I had a funny experience in Target today. We were looking at some vitamin tablets and as we took one of the bottles off the shelf, the plastic bar holding all the bottles on the shelf broke. This meant that the spring mechanism that is there to bring the next bottle forward was activated and all the bottles started to ping off the shelf towards us! Well, it was alright if Mum or I was holding the plastic bar but as soon as we let go, all of the bottles wanted to spring out! I called to the pharmacist who was very unconcerned about it and just said to let go. I don't think he realised what had happened! Letting go would have been dreadful! In the end, with much giggling, Mum and I removed all the bottles for the section that was affected and put them on the floor. Poor Esther in all this was sitting in the trolley watching us wondering what on earth had got into her mother and grandmother! Mum thought that I was going to go into Labour as a result of laughing! Some chance!

Tim on the other hand is taking a very relaxed approach to all of this!! He managed to get from work a pager for me to contact him should I need to. Well, it hasn't been too effective so far! Last week when we tried it out, he heard it go off but thought it was the microwave so ignored it and today he left it at home despite saying to me "I must remember the pager!". A few minutes later, after he had said goodbye to the girls,  as he was going downstairs, I said "Don't forget the pager" and he was very swift to say "How short do you think my short term memory is?" You can imagine my comment to Mum when I came downstairs about 10 mins later to find the pager still sitting on the side!!! He is also convinced that  the C section is on Wednesday not Tuesday so I shall be lucky if he turns up at all!!

Well, that is it for now!

Spa Day!

Hi there! Hope that this finds you all well! I am fine although finding it hard to bend in the middle! Not too long now though!Everyone else is also fine, although the girls were very tired this afternoon and a bit grumpy! They were in bed very early and so will hopefully be more cheerful tomorrow!

We have had a great weekend! Yesterday, Rosie, Vanessa, Ulrike and I went to a Spa in north Seattle for most of the day, which was great fun! We all had one treatment each - I had a maternity massage, which was very relaxing and made my legs feel much better! We were then able to sit and relax either together or read. We had taken our swimming costumes but there wasn't a swimming pool, only a rather large square bath that you were supposed to sit in naked. Understandably we declined to go in there!

The Daddies all took the children to Kelsey Creek Farm as there was some sort of Autumn festival going on and they had all had a brilliant time by the sound of things! They had been on a tractor, a bouncy castle and had seen a show all for free and then had gone for lunch! In the afternoon they went to Vanessa and James' house to play and we met them there. I was really pleased that it had worked so well for everyone as it meant that we had all had a special and fun day.

Today we went to church and then to Bellevue Square to do a bit of shopping as it was too wet to do much else! On Friday Tim was working from home as his car was in the garage. Esther and I went to her music class, whilst Naomi was at school and then we went shopping in the afternoon. I bought some pyjamas to take with me to hospital and packed up the suitcase to take with me, so we are ready to go now!

At lunch time on Friday I had to go for some monitoring of the baby for half an hour and so I was relieved that I could leave the girls with Tim. The baby's heart rate was fine and it has been kicking plenty over the last couple of days which is good! I see the Dr on Tuesday again as usual and then will have more monitoring on Friday too.

On Thursday we went to Woodinville to go to a Fire Station Tour which was brilliant! The girls really loved it and all the children were able to sit inside the fire truck and ambulance and then were able to use the hose to knock over a cone! They each received a pack and a hat, so all in all they were very happy! It was a good morning! In the afternoon we were at home but Vanessa and the children visited for a short time, which was good!

Mum arrives tomorrow and we are all very excited! She gets in early and so we shall pick her up soon after lunch and will hopefully get back in time for Ballet! This week, Mum and I will be busy doing some last minute sorting out, shopping and preparing for Naomi's party on Saturday! However, if the baby decides to come early then some of that will have to go by the wayside! I hope that the baby doesn't come too early on though as I want Mum to feel confident about driving and knowing where she is going! Let's hope it behaves!

We aren't planning on doing anything very exciting this week and so I probably will only write a short blog on Wednesday!

Bye for now!

Sunny October Days

Hi! Hope that you are well! I am fine and gradually counting off the days until the baby arrives! Mum arrives on Monday, which we are all really excited about and I shall feel relieved once she is here!

Tim is away this week, but comes back tomorrow night, so we only have one more day. WE have actually done very well as Tim has had a lunch break between 12:30 and 1:30 yesterday and today and so the girls and I have been able to meet him at the park for a picnic lunch, which has been great! It has meant that for all of us, it hasn't felt as long as it would otherwise have done. Esther was very excited when I told her that we were seeing Daddy for lunch today. "Again" she said, as her eyes lit up, which was sweet!

Naomi was funny though as she was asking Tim whether it was dark and if he had had his tea when we webcammed him on Monday night. She is so used to seeing Grandparents on the webcam that are in a different time zone, she thought that Tim was too. The fact that he was only 20 mins away was quite funny, but you could see her logic!

Esther was saying in the car the other day that her name was Esther Alice and so I asked her if she knew what her last name was. She didn't, so I said that her last name was Sneath. "No, Mummy,", she replied "Naomi Sneath" and so I explained that Esther and Mummy and Daddy were also called Sneath "No, mummy" she said again "Silly Billy mummy!" She was definitely not having any of it! It was very funny!

Yesterday we had an appointment with the Doctor in the morning and then met Tim for lunch. In the afternoon we met up with Vanessa, Ulrike and Rosie and the children at the park. Ulrike had picked up my plate that I had painted last week and it looks quite good, although the leaves look fatter than I was hoping! The colours are good though! Ulrike had painted a bowl with a spider inside a spiders web on the inside, which was also very good!

Vanessa, Ulrike and Rosie also gave us a present for the baby; they had an afternoon the other week where they had all put their hand prints or foot prints onto a white baby vest and so we now have a vest with the three mummy hand prints, another with the three girl hand prints and one with the boys foot prints! It is an excellent gift and really special as it is so unique! The girls and I love it!

Today, Esther and I went into Seattle for Mum's group and then collected Naomi and met Tim for lunch. This afternoon we went to the park with Amy and Elisabeth (Esther's friend). Although we had a lot of driving today, the day was quite restful as I didn't have to do anything apart from sit and chat at Mum's group or at the park really. Melinda came after work and bathed the children and then cleared up whilst I put my feet up, so I have been taking it easy this evening!

Tomorrow we are off to the Fire Station in the morning and then will be at home for the afternoon. Next week will be preparation time for either Naomi's party or for the baby and so we won't be participating in our usual activities much for a little while. That is partly why we have been busy this week, because I am conscious that we won't be in action for a few weeks now and wanted to see people before we went into hiding!

That is about it for now! Will write on Sunday, although anything I plan is tentative from now on!

A Baby shower.

Hello! How are you? Hope that you are all well! We are fine here and have had a busy weekend! It has been fun though and there are not too many more before the baby arrives!

It has been the Issaquah Salmon Days Festival this weekend which celebrates the return of the Salmon to spawn and die. We had a very busy day yesterday as we went to the parade with friends in the morning and finally got home about 4:30! The parade was very good - all the girls stood fascinated by it all for 90 minutes until it ended. Their favourite float was one with a large fiberglass whale that spurted out steam and that had (live!) mermaids sitting around it at the bottom! They also enjoyed the bands, Esther especially and the horses.

After the parade finished around 11:30 we walked up to Front street and ended up having a very nice lunch in the same restaurant as last year! They even managed to find a table to seat 12 of us!! After lunch we went to see the Salmon at the Hatchery and we could see them trying to leap up the ladder, which was interesting. Whilst there, Naomi and Fritzi were interviewed by the Issaquah press and I was very proud of Naomi! She answered very sensibly and told the lady she was 3 and 3/4 and told her that she had enjoyed the float with the whale and the mermaids the best! Fritzi told her that she was German, which was funny! I shall buy the Issaquah press when it comes out this week to see if we make it into the paper and to see whether the lady managed to get all the information accurately! We suspect not!! Her note taking seemed a bit erratic!

We didn't do much yesterday afternoon once we came home or in the evening much as we were all tired. It is a long way for the girls and Mummy to walk, but we all did very well!

Today we went to church this morning and then stayed on for a a couple of hours as some friends had put on a baby shower for us! It was lovely; we were really touched and felt loved and cared for! We received some lovely gifts for the baby and it was great to spend some time as families together.

This afternoon we went to the park, which was great and blew the cobwebs away! It was good for Tim to be able to spend some time with the children as he is at an intensive training course in Bellevue this week and won't be home again until after they have gone to bed on Thursday. Esther told him that "that's sad" when he said night night to her this evening! We will all miss him and he will miss us too! We are hoping we might be able to meet him for lunch one of the days, but we will have to wait and see!

The girls and I have quite a busy week this week to hopefully make the week pass more quickly! Last Thursday and Friday we didn't do too much in the afternoons at all, which was nice! We did manage to buy the children their Halloween costumes on Friday which was fun and a bargain! We found a second hand shop selling them; Esther is going to wear a Tigger costume and Naomi is wearing a proper ballerina costume; they are both delighted! The photos are on the website if you want to see them! I don't know how much it would cost to buy the ballet costume normally but we bought it for $10 which seemed good value to me and the Tigger one is half the price that is in the shops!

Naomi made me laugh the other day as she was concerned that I was going to lose my page in my book and so was looking for a "mark book" for me! Even though I have referred to it as a book mark, she is still calling it a mark book, which is very sweet!

Anyway, that is all for now, hoping to write on Wednesday as usual and praying that nothing happens this week! Mum arrives on Monday (16th) and after that the baby can do what it likes!!

Craft sessions.

Hello! How are you all? I hope that this finds you all well! We are fine here and have had a craft theme so far this week.

On Monday it was school and Gym class for the girls in the morning, followed by Dancing class in the afternoon for Naomi. Esther and I went shopping to Michael's, the craft store after Gym class where we bumped into Vanessa and the children! Esther and Maddie were very funny and kept on running to find each other, then giggling loudly! It really did slow up our shopping but eventually we bought what we needed.

In the evening, Vanessa and I went out to a ceramic painting place at Crossroads Mall, which was great fun! We met up for a bite to eat first of all and then went to do the painting. I painted a paint with Autumn leaves on it and hope that it turns out OK. I would have liked longer to do it but they shut at 9:00; the lady in the shop said that I could go back at any time and finish it off but I really can't see myself going back to finish it in the next 3 weeks before the baby arrives, so it needed to be completed on Monday! It is hard to tell how it is going to come out because the colours change so much in the kiln. It was fun though and good to be able to introduce Victoria and Fay - both English and new to here - to Ulrike and Vanessa.

yesterday it was the girls' turn to have a craft session. last Christmas, Ulrike, Vanessa and I had held one for our girls and it had been great fun and so we thought we would try again but this time doing some Autumnal crafts. In the end there were 5 girls and their brothers, Naomi, Esther, Fritzi, Caitlyn and Maddie. We each had brought a different craft to do and the girls had a wonderful time sitting at our dining room table making the things that we had brought. Vanessa decorated little pumpkins with them in glitter, Ulrike made little pinecone men, Rosie had some cut out wooden Halloween shapes to colour and decorate and I decorated paper bags with stickers and glitter glue with them. All in all it was a big hit and we hope to try and do it again next month - perhaps with either a Thanksgiving theme this time!

Everyone helped with the clearing up so we weren't left with too much mess and all in all it is a great way to entertain the girls on a wet and miserable afternoon. It also satiates, for a few days at least, all our girls desire to do "craft" at home!

Yesterday morning we had our usual waste-of-time trip to see the doctor about the baby! He measures my stomach and listens to the heart rate and sends me on my way for another week! At least I only have to see him twice more before he removes the babe!! We did go to the boat yesterday morning after seeing him, which was fun. Mind you, the shops all have their Christmas decorations in and so the girls spent a very long time admiring all the different displays on the way to the boat and back again! They were very tacky, needless to say!

Today, Esther and I didn't get to Seattle to Mum's group again as I was just too tired to go all that way in! Esther had woken up about 5 ish and I didn't get back to sleep again! Never mind! She and I went to Fred Myers to do a little bit of shopping but got totally confused when we came out the wrong exit and couldn't find the car. Esther was singing "our car, where are you", which was very funny! We found it eventually - I was fairly sure no-one would have taken it but I did have a minor panic! I was really having a non-observant day, which is not like me as later on we returned a battery operated pencil sharpener to the store and I failed to notice that the man helping me only had one arm. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem but I did feel rather bad when I asked him to put the battery lid on for me as I was struggling and then couldn't work out at first why he didn't use two hands! Oh dear!! At least Esther also didn't notice he only had one arm, she would have asked questions loudly!

Well, that is about it for now!

Doodah!

Hi! Hope that you are all well and have enjoyed your weekend We have had a busy but productive weekend, getting the baby stuff all ready, which has been good.

Melinda and Chad were very kind and generous people and came over and took the girls out yesterday to allow Tim and I to get the baby stuff ready. Basically I needed Tim to lift things for me, especially as a lot of it has lived on shelves or in boxes for the last 2 years and was not very accessible. After that I was able to wash it all (although I am still not quite there yet) and we are now in a position that the baby has a buggy, bath, car seat, swing and clothes all ready for its arrival.

I am relieved as at least I feel that if it does come earlier than expected then at least it has the basics. I was worried that we were going to be caught out, so I am glad that that hasn't happened. Tim had a very productive day mowing the lawn and clearing up the garden as well as sorting out the garage a bit and of course helping me!

The girls had a wonderfully busy day and arrived home in time for a quick tea, bath and bed as they were so shattered. They had gone to the little zoo just up the road from here and then onto Melinda and Chad's house for some lunch. After a rest they went to the KidsQuest museum as well as doing a few jobs with them! They had all clearly had  a great day, which was great and Tim and I were very very grateful to Melinda and Chad for letting us get on so well too!

We had supper with Melinda and Chad last night and we were talking about a person, whose name I had forgotten. I referred to them as "doodah", which entertained Melinda enormously! It is not a word that they use here it seems and Melinda thought it was very funny! Another Britishism!

Today, after church we had our friends Victoria and James and their children, Robert and Harriet, over for the afternoon. We had a great time, we went to the park and then just had a simple bread and jam tea. It was lovely to see them as they have now been here just over a week. Their children are older than ours and started school last week too. Victoria is going to join me for the Microsoft Mothers Night Out tomorrow night and we're all meeting up again on Saturday for the Salmon Days festival, which will be fun.

On Thursday, the girls and I had a wonderful morning at one of the local farms. We had a beautiful drive through the countryside to get there - even Naomi said how beautiful she thought it looked! Once we were there, we had a ride on a tractor trailer through the farm and the children were able to pick their own potatoes and carrots from the ground. Never again will they eat a fresher vegetable I think! We saw the cows and then, once off the trailer, fed the pigs the carrot tops and saw the chickens and some of the insects that they found on the farm. The girls and I really enjoyed ourselves and it was such good value for money too, much better than another farm that we have been to in the past.

Coming home, I asked the children which bit they had enjoyed the most; Esther said that she enjoyed feeding the pigs the best and Naomi had enjoyed the tractor ride the best. Naomi had also had a caterpillar on her hand for a while that the farmer had found and I was very impressed that she was very matter-of-fact about it!

In the afternoon we met up with Maddie and Alex in the park for a short while before coming home for tea. It was a lovely day all round.

Esther was very excited on Friday as she started her new music class. It is a new class run by a different teacher although the materials are still all made by the Kindermusik group, which is the same as last year. The class was quite fast paced, which Esther can cope with this year, but I was glad that we hadn't started there last year as it was a bit too swift for little ones. It was also much bigger in size, too, which is harder when they are smaller.

However, those things are only from a Mummy perspective; Esther loved it as much as before and it won't be too long before she is asking me everyday if it is her music class day!

In the afternoon we had a slow journey to Kirkland to find a great new park that is all set out as a castle, which all of our princesses enjoyed! We were there about an hour but then came home as Vanessa and I went out on Friday evening to have a foot massage in a very exclusive spa in Seattle. The spa was lovely but expensive and I was glad that we weren't paying for our foot massage! It had been a freebie from the hotel that Tim and I had stayed in, when Mum and Dad were here in June. The massage was swift - about 15 mins but you were then allowed to sit and chat and drink tea until you wished to leave. Vanessa and I were very relaxed and had a lovely evening out together, but unless we win the lottery, we won't be going back!

Well, that is it for now! Will write on Wednesday as usual.