Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!  It was wild, crazy, overwhelming (to some of us), fun, and blessed.  I didn't take too many pictures because I was too busy chasing you-know-who, but I do have a few that capture the essence of the day.  We started by going to church Christmas Eve (no pictures, but Caden looked adorable in his red Christmas puppy sweater.  You'll just have to trust me!)  and then setting out cookies and milk for Santa.
 

Please try to ignore my gigantic pregnant belly hanging out in this picture!

The next morning Caden was excited to see if Santa had eaten his cookies and to see if he had gotten the drum set he had asked for. 

He wasn't disappointed!

It only took him a few minutes to remember that all big musicians wear sunglasses

Add in the "pan-yo" he got from Team Pouliot and the guitar he got from Gram and he has his very own band!

Santa also left some Excedrin in Mom and Dad's stockings!

We spent the rest of the day (seriously!) opening presents and eating.  Caden was a little overwhelmed at first and didn't know quite what to do with all of those presents

But after a little "coaching"

Seriously, who wouldn't be encouraged by that excited face?!?

he jumped in full force

As he was ripping off the paper he would excitedly yell, "What iiiis it?"  His favorite part of the day was playing with all of his new toys.  He had to have them opened right away so he could play with them.

Apparently Caden wasn't the only boy on the good list around here

After a (short) nap, more opening, more playing, and more eating, we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.  Since he wasn't here, Caden volunteered to blow out the candle on his cake.  What a guy!

And yes, we stayed in our jammies all day.  It's a requirement around here!  It was a day full of wonderful memories with our family, but none of us could help but think about what it will be like next year - with TWO boys to play with! 

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas with those you love!

It's Only 9:45am?

 Yesterday we got a lot of snow.  I mean a LOT.  A good 12 inches out there.  So, all of our plans for the day were canceled.  Instead we

• played trains
• had a time out (after throwing the trains)
• shoveled the driveway and deck (Ok, that was just JZ)
• ate breakfast
• watched Chuggington
• finger painted

• had a bath (see above) and got dressed
• ate a snack
• emptied the dishwasher
• destroyed every room in the house

I was feeling pretty accomplished until I looked at the clock and realized it was only 9:45am.  Yikes!  That's when I knew it was going to be a VERY long day!

Wow, What a Week!

Last week was CRAZY busy!  I didn't take too many pics, so I'm going to try to smoosh it all into one big post.

It all started Tuesday with our MOPS brunch.  The moms were treated to serenading from our littles.  The four year olds sang a song, then the three year olds sang, and last the two year olds came out to perform.  It was Caden's first live performance!  The kids were supposed to fold their hands and recite a prayer.  Some of the kids folded their hands (not CP) but I'm pretty sure none of them said a word.  They were darling, however. 

CP is on the leftish side in a green shirt and brown pants, looking at the camera.  His girlfriends Ayden and Sophie are in there too.  Ayden is in the red plaid shirt next to Caden and Sophie is in a matching plaid shirt on the right side.

Here is a video of the entertainment



Cute, right?

That night we went to Zoo Lights at the Denver Zoo.  At first Caden wasn't too thrilled about bundling up, but after a little chat and removing the missing hat that was stuck in his coat sleeve causing a little discomfort, we loaded him into the wagon and walked around the zoo. 


He had an AWESOME time.  He kept exclaiming, "Bootiful lights everywhere!"  Although most of the animals were put up for the night, we were able to see an anteater (weird choice, I know)

and lots of "light animals"

He really thought those animals were alive and he would growl and roar at all of them. If he didn't know the name of an animal he would ask, "Who dat guy?"  It was pretty chilly, so we only lasted about an hour, but it was a fantastic family outing. 

I was supposed to work Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, but ended up only working Wednesday and Friday because of a little baby scare Wednesday night.  Just before going to bed Wednesday night I started spotting a little.  I didn't have any pain or cramping, but it was enough to scare me and call the on-call midwife at the hospital.  She didn't think I needed to be seen that evening, but recommended I stay off my feet Thursday and go into the office to be seen.  I woke up Thursday morning feeling fine and decided I would just go to school - it was the last week of school before break, I didn't have any lesson plans ready, blah, blah, blah.  So I got in the shower and in the middle of washing my hair thought, "What am I doing?"  If anything were to happen to the baby I'd never forgive myself.  I could still feel Asher dancing up a storm, so I knew he was ok, but the doctor was more concerned about pre-term labor than miscarriage at this point.  So, I called my fabulous teammates, wrote up some quick lesson plans, made a doctor's appointment, and then went back to bed for a little bit. :)  I was able to get into the doctor Thursday morning and the midwife checked me out and said I was fine.  She listened to Asher and said, "That's a happy boy in there!"  She said that no one really knows why spotting sometimes happens (when there isn't an issue), but her best guess is that the pressure of the baby (I'm carrying him really low) combined with me twisting, bending, lifting, etc. caused a blood vessel on my cervix to break.  It's not a problem, it just happens sometimes.  My cervix looks good and is holding up nicely thank-you-very-much.  Whew!  I have never been so relieved to hear that I'm just fine in my entire life!  Just another reason to be thankful for a healthy pregnancy. 

So, I ended up only having to work two days (yeah!), but after a school party it sure felt like three!  Throw in a weekend full of a birthday party, a new big boy bed,

a Christmas parade in downtown Golden

a caroling party, church, and a family Christmas celebration with the Zahrte side of the family, I was ready for Monday to roll around so I could finally relax. PLUS, GaGa and Papa arrived Monday morning so all is now right in the world.

Now we're ready to slow down and enjoy this Christmas week.  It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Big Boy Bed

We've had a lot of changes around here this week.  JZ and I have been talking about when to put Caden into his big boy bed.  He's not crawling out of his crib - yet - but he's really close.  Plus, we need that crib in a few months, and we don't want him to think that we ripped his bed away from him and gave it to his brother.  So, after much thought, we decided Christmas break would be a good transition time.  We, of course, were a little apprehensive about this big change.  His crib was one of the last pieces of "babyness" that we have left.  Honestly, I have really struggled with this. I almost lost it at the furniture store and while washing his new sheets.  I just can't believe how big my baby is getting!  But, I knew it was time.  So, last week we bit the bullet and purchased Caden a new bedroom set and mattress. The mattress was picked up a day before the rest of the bedroom set, so we moved the crib out and put the mattress on the floor.  We had talked a lot about his big boy bed and he was super excited about the trucks on his sheets.  When it was time for bed he snuggled right in under the covers with all of his favorite toys.

He did great that night!  We did have to go up once about 20 min. after he went to bed and remind him to stay in bed, but other than that he stayed and slept all night long!

The next day the rest of his bedroom set was delivered.  He got a new bed, dresser, bookcase, and night stand.  His room is *kind of*  fabulous and we all love it!

I was able to find some bedding that was very close to the colors that were already in Caden's room.  JZ just had to change the color of one stripe from orange to navy blue.  We still have a few things to do (curtains, wall hanging, name decal), but it's already looking wonderfully and Caden is *kind of* in love with his big boy bed.  He wants to show everyone that comes over his BBB.

He's doing so well staying in it all night, or else he's REALLY quiet and we don't hear him. Either way is fine with us! He was already used to his "night-night" clock that turns green at 7:15am (the time that we determined that we could function enough to supervise him), so he's great at staying put until it turns green and then he either calls for us or starts playing (quietly and safely) in his room. 

It's officially bye-bye babyhood and hello toddler hood.

WAAAAAAH!!

Baby Pool

When we were expecting Caden we set up a baby pool where people could guess the date, time, weight, and length of our little one.  GaGa was the big winner (although she only won bragging rights, no actual prize was given!) last time, and we've decided to put together another poll for Asher.  I'm sure GaGa would love to have double bragging rights, but if you'd like a chance to upset the previous winner, click on the link below or over on the right hand side and give it your best guess. 

Good luck!

The Nativity According to Caden

 The traditional telling of the nativity story just wasn't going to cut it for Caden.   

Apparently, Jesus' parents were a lamb and a wiseman.  And the third wiseman?

Well, he ended up in a present.  Go figure!

A Sing-Along

As we all know, Caden P is a musical prodigy.  Well ok, maybe prodigy isn't the best word, but he does love music.  His current favorite activity is to drum and sing along.  Here are a few that we hear frequently...

This one is "Jesus Loves Me" with a little nap break in the middle.

This one is the old favorite, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" with an encore performance of "Jesus Loves Me." 

At the end he bops himself on the head with his drum stick and then says that he, "Need ice.  For my head."

Whew, disaster averted.  Notice that he got himself TWO bags of ice.  That must have been a serious owie!

So whaddaya think?  Prodigy?

Christmas Card Pics

A month or so ago we had our sweet friend, Courtney take our Christmas Card pictures for us. I'm always amazed that she's able to get anything considering how squirmy *one* of us is. Here are my favorites from that day!

Merry Christmas from Team Zahrte!

Baby Updates

1.  24 Weeks, yahoo!

Yesterday I went for my 24 week doctor's appointment.  Hip, hip hooray, everything looks a-ok!  Little man is growing perfectly and his heart rate was in the 150s.  I've been able to feel him moving a lot lately. This one likes to have dance parties at 4am - just like his brother did. 



2.  He (almost) has a room!

JZ has been working REALLY hard on the new nursery.  We have decided on a vintage airplane theme and we found the most awesome bedding at Pottery Barn Kids.

Isn't it so cute???

JZ painted the room brown and navy and put a chair rail in the middle.  It has been a multi-step process that has been slowed down slightly by the cold weather (can't stain when it's below freezing!).

He also put in a new ceiling fan

It's possible that the reason JZ has been able to make so much progress on the room is that he has had some SUPER help.  When I told Caden that Daddy was upstairs working on the room, he HAD to help.  So he dragged up his tool set so he could help Daddy.

In case you're wondering, he's wearing glasses because Daddy was wearing safety glasses and he needed some too.

When JZ started painting he closed the door so CP couldn't get in and "help."  No problem, Caden found a way to be helpful - he laid outside the closed door and talked to Daddy.  He also brought him towers, books, and drumsticks, and put them outside the door. How thoughtful and helpful!

Stay tuned for finished pictures soon!

3.  He has a name!

Yep, it's true!  In case you haven't heard, #2 has a name.  Well, we're 99.5% sure that we have a name.  We're sure enough to personalize things - that's pretty sure!  Unless something really weird happens and he happens to come out a she, he will be henceforth known as Asher Robert Zahrte. 

What, you've never heard of the name Asher before?  Well, let me fill you in on how we came up with it.  Asher is actually an old testament name.  Asher was the 8th son of Jacob and the leader of the tribe of Asher.  We first heard the name from our friends, the Pouliots.  Noah Pouliot has a darling little friend named Asher.  He is this sweet, blond haired little guy that actually looks like he could be a part of our family.  Mostly, we just thought his name sounded cool.  Then we looked up the meaning and found that it means happy and blessed.  We loved that!  We were looking for a name that meant calm, mellow, and loves to sleep, but we couldn't find anything.  Happy and blessed was the closest we could come!  If you haven't met an Asher yet, you soon will (besides ours!).  According to Nameberry, Asher is the top trending name of 2011.  Wow, who knew we were on the cutting edge?!? 

Robert comes from JZ's late grandpa, Donald Robert Sachse.  We can't think of a better way to honor this wonderful man than by naming his 9th great-grandchild after him.  Robert means "bright fame," so we've got a happy, blessed, bright star on our hands. 

We can't wait to meet you baby Asher, March can't come soon enough!!