choo choo!

Caden turned 19 weeks old on Monday December 3rd, and the boys were particularly silly. Zane really likes to make trains, so while we were hanging out in the kitchen with Caden in his bouncy seat one day, Zane decided to make sure Caden was on board too and built the train out from Caden's seat (at one point I had a seat too!) :) I was also playing with their maraca, and Caden thought it was hilarious.



One morning that week when we were heading out to school, there was a cherry picker truck in the parking lot behind the house because they are switching out all of the street lights to led bulbs... Thank goodness they were quick to move on to the next light, or I may not have ever gotten Zane in the car! The really crazy part is that the guy changing the bulbs rode in the bucket while they drove to each street light! ("What's that boy doing??? Is he vrooming?!?")

That week I was packing a lot and talking to Zane about the move and new house to try to get him ready since he doesn't have the best track record when it came to handling change... We packed up his many stuffed animals in a box - the giant box from our double stroller that we finally decided to get! Zane proceeded to talk about his animals in a box for the rest of the week, so we got to have the same conversation several times about putting the things we like in boxes (and keeping them in there!) so that they would go with us to the new house when the movers came.

He also was cracking me up whenever I had scissors out for tape because he was calling them "cutters" for a few weeks (he still calls them that). He also calls knives that sometimes too, unless he wants to spread something, and then he calls it a "spreader."

On Saturday our new washer and dryer were being delivered, so we took Molly with us to check out her new yard. Zane was trying to explain the yard to her :)



Zane was also thoroughly impressed with the delivery truck and the "boys" carrying the washer and dryer up the stairs with their special backpack style straps. Caden slept through most of it. :)

new house!

Monday November 26th was a big day around here. Not only was it Cyber Monday, but we closed on our new house, Caden turned 18 weeks old, and he had his 4 month check up. Caden measured in at 25.5" long (61%) and 16 lbs 6.5 oz (65%). That's the same length Zane was at 4 months and 1 lb heavier.

His pediatrician was happy with how he was doing, but she noticed some fluid in one of his ears and it looked irritated. She wrote a prescription for some antibiotics with instructions to fill it if he started showing symptoms of an ear infection. I was hoping we wouldn't have to, but a few days later Caden started his first round of amoxicillin. Boo :( He did end up feeling better though!

We closed on the house, but we didn't get the keys right away because the builder was taking care of some modifications for us. That meant we had a few visits to the new house in the evenings to check on the progress. Zane was very excited to go to the new house a bunch, and he even told his friends at school about his new house.

I was in full packing mode, which means few pictures...

thanksgiving

The week of Thanksgiving, Caden turned 17 weeks old. That meant I was starting back to work, and Caden was starting daycare for real. It was convenient that it was a short holiday week to ease us all into our new routine. I'm back at work at 70% time (about a 4 day week stretched over 5 days), so that means I'm doing drop off and pick up, and we will all hopefully be home in time for dinner (or at least bedtime almost always! It was Q4 after all).


The boys did good in the morning, but it still feels like a small miracle every time the 3 of us are all packed up, dressed, and strapped into the car! :) I even had some back up the first couple of mornings... yay for 3 boys!

My birthday landed on Thanksgiving Eve this year, and it was fairly eventful... we signed all of our loan paperwork for our new house so that the closing could take place the following Monday (it was a family affair with both Caden and Zane there too)! What a way to celebrate. We did go to dinner afterward, and we had dessert, but much to Zane's dismay, we celebrated a birthday without cupcakes.


We celebrated Thanksgiving with Caden's good friend Cooper, and his mom and dad of course! We had a great time, and it was a good excuse for a baking project with Zane - a pumpkin pie. He loves to bake!


We even got some great family pictures, which was exciting because we have very few pictures of the four of us. Thanks, Rob!!


The day after Thanksgiving, I took a few of my own pictures. The boys had their first Christmas card photo shoot. It was an adventure trying to get a good picture of the two of them! We each were a little frustrated at times, but no one got squashed and there were no tears. There were even a couple of cute pictures in the midst of a bunch of really awkward ones. :)





Later in the day, Caden had to strike a pose yet again... he turned 4 months old that day! He was pretty active, and I caught a roll on camera.











Then he turned 180 degrees on his tummy:


Later that weekend, we were out furniture shopping and trying to take advantage of the sales. Zane was excited about this prop 'puter (aka, computer).

16 weeks

Things have been a little extra busy around here, so it's time to play catch up! On November 12th, Caden turned 16 weeks old. During that week, Caden spent time in the baby room without me! He started out with a couple hours on Monday and built up to 6 hours on Friday. Here's a picture of him getting ready for school on the first day:




Caden did just fine, and I kept myself busy with fun things like going to the dentist and getting the washing machine repaired (maybe not so fun things...) while he was there!




That same week, Zane had his class picture at school. He moved into the 3s room at the beginning of the month, so he got to take his picture with most of his good friends. Here he was getting ready that morning... his daddy claims he looked like a farmer:




Zane was excited about his move to the big kid class, but he was definitely missing his old teacher and having a tough time with more kids in class even though it is the same ratio. Then one day he caught me off guard when we were driving home and he asked, "why did you go left mama?" I had no idea he knew left and right! He is one of the big kids!




Caden continued working on holding toys.




And being cute and snuggly during my last week of maternity leave. He clearly knows how to work a hat: