Conversations with Caden

Lately, we've been able to have some real conversations with Caden P.  Some real, funny, two year old conversations.  And, since this is like my diary and the place where I write all of the "Caden-isms" that happen, I'm going to give you a verbatim transcript of a few of my favorites from the last few weeks.

Caden: 'dat noise, Mama?
Me: That's your humidifier
C:  See smoke.  Need fire truck.

Me:  Cade, please be gentle with Mommy's tummy.  There's a baby in there.
Caden:  Baby in Mama show-der
M:  No, there's no baby in Mommy's shoulder.  Where's our baby?
C: In Mama tummy. Open, open (while pulling up my shirt and then poking me really hard in the belly button) Come out!

I went to get Caden out of bed one morning just after getting out of the shower.  I had curly wet hair, and was wearing my bathrobe that he has seen hundreds of times.
M:  Good morning, Caden!
C:  Pre-ee dress, Mama. (Melt my heart!)

One night before going to bed -
M:  Night-night Cade.  Give Mommy a hug and kiss.
C:  Sa-wee, Mama.  Hug.  Kiss.
This one took me a minute to figure out.  I realized that's what he says when he's getting out of time out - he says, "Sorry, Mama" and gives me a hug and kiss.  I guess when I asked for a hug and kiss it was just automatic to say sorry too.  Think he's been spending some time in time out lately?!?

And, just because I can't stand a post without pictures, here's cute Cadster sporting his CSU ram jersey on the day of the CSU vs. CU game.

Fallin' for Fall

Even though it's not officially fall, it's beginning to look and feel like it around here.  At Team Zahrte's house, fall means...

The Broncos Monday Night opener (JZ says he does not want to talk about it!)

It also means one last car wash

Caden has been coveting all Cozy Coupe cars for months now.  I'm too cheap to buy him a new one, but we found this one at a nearby consignment sale.  It was in great shape, it just needed a little bath!



And unfortunately, thanks to fall (and the start of day care), it also means the first sicky of the season.  CP has been running a fever off and on for a few days and has boatloads of "boogies."  Poor guy.  As I type this (at 10:30am) he is taking a morning nap, which he hasn't done in over a year. At least we're getting some snuggling in - you know, in between the crying and the snot.

Happy (almost) Fall!

A Post in Which Caden Shares Our Good News

  In case you haven't hard our big news, Caden is going to be a...

What does this shirt say?

That's right, a REALLY big brother!

You got it, Team Zahrte will be expanding in late March, 2012!

Back in July I started to feel...different.  Not too different though, I seemed to remember feeling that sick and exhausted one other time in my life.  So I took a pregnancy test the day before our 9th anniversary, and shock of all shocks it came back positive!  I waited 24 painfully long hours to tell JZ.  It was so hard, but I really wanted my announcement to be perfect.  On our anniversary we went out to dinner and I gave him a gift I had made.  Every year I add one more page into a scrapbook that has all the reasons that I love him.  This year I got to add a very special page.  When he opened up his book, this is what he found...

He immediately started hugging me and crying.  I think everyone in the Chart House knew what was going on!  It was a perfect and special moment.  Significantly better than the inconclusive moment we had the first time!

So here we are, 12 weeks in.  I've been to my OB several times now and have even had two ultrasounds.  Here's what our little peanut looked like at 7 weeks

It's so amazing that we were able to see the heart, brain, arm and leg buds, and spinal cord - all at an inch and a half long!  We just went for our 12 week appointment and were able to hear the heartbeat (162BPM!) for the first time.  That has to be the best sound in the whole world!

As for me, I've been feeling...bad.  I don't know how else to say it.  This pregnancy is been very different than the last one.  I'm so unbelievably tired and have been feeling pretty nauseous.  Luckily, my nausea seems to be subsiding and I'm *hoping* that I'll be getting some energy back soon.  I can hope, right?!?

I've been documenting this baby's growth the same way I tracked Caden's growth the first year of his life - through belly stickers!

I'm not quite in maternity clothes, but it won't be too much longer!

We're so excited to be expecting Baby #2!  After having such a hard time conceiving Caden, we really did not expect this one to be so easy.  This is how it works for other people!  Regardless, what we do know for sure is that we are head over heels in love with this little one, that we are constantly praying for a healthy baby (regardless of the gender), and that March 25th can't get here soon enough.  That, and that this guy is going to be a super big brother! 

Yahoo for #2!!

Caden's Castle

This afternoon we received a big box on our front porch.  After months and months of going round and round with Radio Flyer we finally have a working wagon!  Our old wagon rolled fine, but the handle wouldn't stay up like it was supposed to.  Not a huge issue unless you are at the zoo and you take up double the space because the handle is laying on the ground.  Not an issue anymore, our wagon is now home and perfect!

And this guy couldn't be happier about it!

So...Papa rescued the big box before I got it out to the recycle bin and he and Caden crawled in and out, in and out

Then Papa had the brilliant idea of turning the box into a castle - complete with a turret!  We also got out the markers and let Caden and Papa decorate the castle.  I bet you can't tell who drew which part!

The finished product



In case you can't tell what this says, that would be a circle, triangle, and square, a P for Papa, M for Mommy, G for GaGa, D for Daddy, and C for Caden.  The rest is just "abstract"

 The King loves his castle!

Brought To You By The Letter T

This week at Miss Amber's house was focused on the letter T. Today he came home with some super fantastic T items.

They fingerpainted T-shirts

And I can only guess that they must have held a letter T, because when I told him I wanted to take his picture he insisted on going to get a letter off the wall in his playroom and hold it for our photo shoot.

I realize he's actually holding a D, but give him a break. There's no T in READ!

He also got to play t-ball
and glued t pictures on a big letter TThis is our first official "school" art project. It already has a prominent place on the wall :)

He also loved the magnet centerI'm not sure if this had anything to do with the letter T, but I thought it was cute!

So there you have it. This Team Zahrte post was brought to you by the letters T and C and the number 2!

It's Getting a Little Noisy!

I have mentioned several times about how much Caden loves to drum. We currently have "custody" of a drum set for about a week while it is in transit to someone else's house. We set it up in the basement so Caden could play (headphones a requirement!).

As you can see, he was disappointed with his new toy.

Ok, maybe not. But it's definitely getting a little noisy around here. I think it might get even noisier when we pack them up and they go to their new home if-you-know-what-I-mean.