Jacks dedication weekend

We had Jack dedicated to the Lord this Sunday in Winona Lake, it was really special because Grandpa got to do the dedication and we had lots of family there. We are so thankful that we live in a country where you can openly declare your belief in the Lord and your desire to raise you children to know HIM.

We had a nice lunch at the Boathouse and got to take some great walks since it has been warming up.
Here is Jack in his dedication outfit, its a little sweater vest from my favorite kids store and was the first outfit Jake and I bought when we found out we were having a baby. He is eating his hands his new favorite thing.


Here I think he looks like he's talking.

Family shot, you can tell who the focus of the picture is

On Saturday we got to go to Dayton for Allison's shower, she was my college roommate and it was great to see her and Kara and Abby, we had a great time catching up. All of us all grown up....crazy.

Here is Jack next to the moose, there is a picture of me at about this age next to the same moose :)

With Grandma and Grandpa

Great Grandma and Grandpa Snyder

What a great weekend at home. Thanks to all who helped make it special.

3 months old

Happy 3 month birthday baby Jack

Jack is really becoming a little person. So far we can tell he has a sweet disposition and is generally agreeable unless tired or hungry...kind of like his mommy. He is developing into a good sleeper and is still a champion eater. He is also becoming more independent,which is great and a little sad at the same time. Here is a picture of his great smile for kisses from daddy.




Bath time (if this isn't a jake face, i don't know what is)

Family shot from Jake's graduation

Jack's first overalls

Grandpa came to visit this past Monday and he and Jack had some quality time, here they are reading Dr. Seuss

3 month picture....he looks so big to me, and soooo much like jake

here he is showing off his newest skill, using both hands at once...one in the mouth, one with a toy

He is really fun to be with when he is awake, he is starting to take better naps and our days with the schedule are really going well. We have had some good firsts lately like..

the usage of both hands to grab things

our first big diaper blowouts

first laugh

first real sounds where he tries to imitate us

first time sleeping through the night (from 9pm to 5:30 am, it was amazing)

first mornings waking up without crying

standing on our laps

We are also excited for Jack's dedication this weekend, it should be a really special time and we are looking forward to it.

he is so much fun and we can't believe how fast he is growing. people tell you it goes fast, but WOW.

In other news. I passed my NP boards and i am officially nationally board certified now, which was great closure to my masters experience and helps me to feel confident looking for my first job in NC.

Jake graduated from the career course and we are staying here until April when jake goes to run the Boston marathon, it will be our first real family trip so that will be exciting.

Then around the 20th of April we will be moving down to Fort Bragg, NC. We are excited about the move, but sad that we will be so far from family again.

Hope you enjoyed the update and pics.

9 weeks

9 weeks old and growing soo fast, I can't believe it. My 14 lb 2 month old who is the love of my life (after his daddy of course)

Jack and his dog are buddies

Showing off his batting skills

church outfit, gotta love the mini chino pants

Baby Jack is growing so fast and is now very interactive in his awake time, it's the kind of play you can just sit and watch. You can see his little brain processing and learning. He is amazing :) at least we think so...enjoy, we especially love his little gurgle laugh. Our newest skill is holding a toy, we're not completely sure he knows what he is doing, but it makes him smile.

I put the video on facebook. Hope you enjoy.

8 weeks old

Baby Jack at 8 weeks old in his awesome baby gap outfit.

So we are now 8 weeks into this parenting thing and I must say it is the hardest thing I have ever done and loved the most. I have heard people say it's the hardest job you'll ever love and I think that is totally true. This week has been composed of attempting to get on a semi schedule. I am not a huge fan of a strict schedule for a baby because I just don't think it's practical, but after a night when Jack decided to wake up every 2 hours I figured I needed to try something new, so I went to the library to get all of the books I could on sleep training, and a couple of friends had suggested Babywise, so I got that one, The baby whisperer and teaching your child healthy sleep habits.

So this week we have been trying the babywise schedule thing, we eat, then have play/awake time and then nap time. The first few days did not go as mommy wanted, and mommy had a mini meltdown, but since Monday the schedule has really worked well. It makes for a happier baby in the evening which is nice for Jake and it has helped at night too.

So our normal day now looks like this

up around 7-8, eat, play then nap for about 45 minutes in his crib

up around 10, then eat, play, and either walk, errands, or nap in crib for about 1.5-2 hours

then around 1 eat, play, then walk/errands for another 1.5-2 hour nap

around 4 we eat, play, and then most of the time daddy gets home so daddy time and then nap in the swing while mommy makes dinner and works out.

then 7 eat, play, and try to stay awake/cat nap until bath time

then bedtime consists of bath, eat, and Baby Jack goes to bed.

So far this is actually working quite well. I am learning to know my little man, some days are happier than others and the crib napping doesn't always work well and with errands and walking napping is often taking place in his carrier, but we are figuring it out.

Overall we consider ourselves very blessed because Jack is such a happy little man. Very little upsets him. He goes down to sleep pretty well and even though I definitely think kids can cry it out at times he is not too much of a crier.

It is so hard to know what is best for a child, and in the end that is what you want, you want them to be loved, happy, and cared for.

It is so crazy to love another little person so much. The capacity to love that God gives you when you have a child is amazing. Well, I hope you enjoyed a look into the days of Hillary and Jack, I'm sure it will change soon, but for right now we are off to eat and play :)


I am terrible and can't figure out how to turn this picture, but this is his awesome rock star outfit with kangle hat at 7 weeks

Jack and daddy. or Jake and his little clone.

5 Weeks old

Merry Christmas from the Sweatlands
This is our picture from Christmas Eve. We were in Winona Lake and left baby Jack in the nursery for the first time, he did very well, so they told us. We had a great time in Winona Lake, we went to see Christmas lights, spent time with grandma and grandpa and met great grandparents, great aunts and cousins/2nd cousins. Baby Jack traveled very well and overall the traveling was really good, we were gone a total of 10 days and by the end we were ready to come home.


Touring the Christmas lights at Center Lake



Baby Jack's playtime mat.

So today Baby Jack is officially 5 weeks old, he is getting so much bigger and so advanced, when he was first home he loved to be cuddled really close and holding him tight would calm him, now he is getting much more independent. He likes his mat time, tummy time, just stretching and being free. He is starting to almost smile. I don't have any good pics of that, but it is cute, we'll try to get one this week.

One of his favorite things that he makes the best faces to is kisses here is Daddy giving kisses.



We had a very nice new years with Dave and Holly from down here and our friends Cory and Melonie and their son Jackson who came down for a couple of nights. We went to a turkey fry for the Rose Bowl at some nieghbors and then on Saturday we were able to meet Adam and Laura Bennett in Louisville for lunch, we hadn't seen each other in over a year, how fast time flies. Today baby Jack is 5 weeks old. We skipped church today because we are having our first episode with a really upset stomach, last night we experienced a new pitch of crying we think due to gas. So mommy is going to need to watch what she eats a little more closely now. But today we are all feeling better and getting ready to go to Bible study. Jessi, Carrie, and Kim, I will try to keep up a little better now that we have more mat and swing time and mommy can get to her computer. :)

Laura and me and Jack, who looks very big in this picture I think...

wow baby

Baby Jack's first trip to the grocery
I haven't blogged in a long time because we have had some very exciting events happen. Jackson Connor Sweatland was born 11-29-09 at 0240. He arrived at 8 lbs 5 oz 20.5 inches long. He was a week early. No one tells you that you can be in early labor for 2 weeks, but that is what happened with me. I was 4 cm dilated for 2 weeks, we kept walking and jumping but he was not interested in coming out until the 29th. I was in labor for 5.5 hours and did things naturally until 9 cm, I got a spinal at that point and my contractions essentially stopped so after an hour they came to give me a little pitocin to get the little guy out and his heart rate dropped to the 60's. So they told me to push him out now or I would get a C-section. So 10 minutes later he arrived with the help of a vacuum and my wonderful midwife. He gave us quite a scare, and once he was out he didn't cry right away, so I was very scared, but Daddy could see him and kept telling me he was moving. He pinked up right away and was completely perfect. Our first family shot is at the bottom of the page.
After the birth we spent 2 nights in the hospital, we were all very excited to come home. Jack is a good sleeper and has been sleeping about 4 hours at a time at night since he came home. We then started having a lot of visitors. My mom and dad, jake's mom and dad, scott and rob peters, my grandma and cousin, friends from post here. It was great to show off our little guy, and helped to prepare us for Christmas.

We feel so blessed to have our little boy here. He is such a joy. He is a very mellow baby and has been a real pleasure. I am so thankful for modern medicine without which our little guy may not have been doing so well. We are also thankful for our families and their excitement and enjoyment of little Jack.

One of the other things we are very thankful for is for the birth of our friends' Jessi and Mike Burns twins. They were born the 30th of November and we have had fun comparing and talking about our new experiences, one of my favorite things is looking at how little her babies look compared to Jack. especially in the godfather onesie picture. Jack was never able to wear newborn clothes and his 0-3 month outfits are getting snug. We are so glad little Nora and Holden are here.

Well my next blog will be with new Christmas pictures, we hope you all had a great new year.







Giant baby in godfather J outfit.




Our first family picture

34 weeks and counting

Pumpkins from the weekend with Kim and Jordan, see below for story.

So this blog will be an update on our lives. I am going to write a seperate blog about my two baby showers and will post some pics from those later.

This is our crib, all ready for baby Jack. We are getting really excited. The next two pictures were taken by Kelsi Rea, my best friend since the second grade who is now an excellent photographer, these are at 34 weeks.

So I have had many questions about why do people get maternity pictures taken? I would say for me, I really want to remember what I looked like at this time. Most pictures are not very flattering, but I want to have a picture documentation of the whole experience, and it's fun to get really good pictures taken after getting makeup and hair done (something that doesn't happen all that often for me because I am in my house alot). I did get a haircut prior to these pictures, short, like it used to be, much easier and mom like :)

What else has happened, we went home for my birthday weekend, and then we got our household goods and moving definitely pooped me out, being on my feet for all day bending and lifting made me super tired, but my husband was soo helpful and we made pretty short work of it (if you know us we both can't stand clutter so about 3 days of boxes was all we could tolerate). After the move I hosted a coffee for our Army wives group and it went really well. There are lots of very nice wives here and our social events have been alot of fun. We have made some new friends here and have had some of them over and been to their houses. Then we had a great visit from Kim and Jordan Howell where we went to see Dracula the play and carved pumpkins. (pic above). It was great to see them and I personally think the friends you make in the Army for life are the best part, no matter where you live you are connected to them. After that weekend I went home for the better part of a week to see my extended family and had a great time.

When we traveled home for my birthday weekend and after 2 weeks of car trouble decided it was time to get rid of our car, and we recently acquired a Santa Fe. It is very nice, much more spacious and AWD which was very important to daddy for this winter.

Jake's school is going well and it is a great time in the Army for us. I have managed to stay quite busy. My average week involves

Monday: walk usually and phone date with Jessi

Tuesday: Swim early and friend time or down time/grocery shopping

Wednesday: Walk usually and getting paperwork type of things done

Thursday: Bible study in the AM and swim in the afternoon

Friday: Walk and Jake usually gets off early so cleaning the house prior to the weekend and then getting ready for weekend fun

Being a housewife has been nice for me and I can't imagine working and getting ready for a baby and moving all at once...

So we feel very blessed, we have been going to on post chapel here and enjoying it, but we especially miss our Hawaii church family on Sundays.

Well it is Tuesday night and SYTYCD is on so I have to get going, but I hope this is a good update. I can't believe that I only have 6 more weeks of being pregnant.