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Sara and Stephen's Blog
Almost a Year and Half
Catching up just didn't seem like the right words to use in the title. Sadly, it has been almost a year and a half since we last updated the blog. I can't say that I don't know how that happened, but frankly life with our two boys is the reason why. Obviously, a lot has happened in that time frame. So I'll give the shortened catch up month-by-month and hopefully we won't let another year and a half go by before we update the blog again. And as always, Stephen is the writer, not me - so bare with me on the lengthy catch up and I'll get Stephen to write about the 2014 holidays. Oh and you can always find the pictures in our photo albums. So if you haven't been looking there, go catch up on what those two crazy little boys look like (hint, very similar to each other)! July 2013Christopher went to the beach for the first time (yes, at 2.5 he finally was taken to Galveston beach) Sadly, that is all I can really remember from JulyCelebrated Halloween as a monkey (Andrew) and Woody/Buzz (Christopher). Christopher had both costumes and dressed as Woody to go on his first real trick-or-treating Andrew starts pulling up on things to walk! December February The boys had the privilege to go strawberry picking for the first time (and definitely not the last). I think Christopher ate off of almost every one of the strawberries he picked :) Andrew also tried to eat every one he picked as well. And we did some more strawberry picking Stephen and I also spoke at LCP's career day on our respective jobs. Easter happened in April, I think, so the boys enjoyed their egg hunts (over and over again) :) We spent time in the pool again (this time at Derek and Andrea's and of course our back yard one) Oh the boys moved up in classrooms at school! Andrew is now a "Duck" and Christopher is a "Navigator" And on the same day that the boys moved up at school, I started a new job! I went back to MRI Technologies. Another quiet month, but we decided to sign Christopher up for tee ball and he starts games! He loves to play and is really good :) He is also a fast runner! October Finally to this month :) Christopher had more games on Wednesdays and Sundays Christopher went to his first La Tech football game (and several after that!). Stephen took Christopher to the "Red Out" game and they both had a blast. Andrew and I stayed at home. I took Christopher back in a couple weeks later to celebrate Grayson's first birthday! Poor Andrew stayed home with Daddy. And then we had trick-or-treating again! We had a minion (Andrew) and Iron Man (Christopher). November Stephen, Christopher, Jonathan, and Emma made a last minute trip to the La Tech homecoming game and camped at Lincoln Park Christopher had his last tee ball game! Can't wait for spring. The rest of November and December have a lot of fun activities planned and we can't wait to see how the boys grow :) |
Hammer Time
There are moments that I really enjoy with my sons. Sure, there are those little moments when you laugh or smirk at one of them. Sometimes you even have to hide that smirk when you're interrupted trying to get your message across. Like when trying to get Christopher to bed and he laughs and shouts, "I tooted! Ewww!" Or when - after watching the same movie several times over the weekend - he looks at Sara and says, "Mommy, I want to watch Aladdin again, puhlease!" Then there are those moments when you really get to spend some time with your child that make you really appreciate your role as a parent. This weekend I got to spend some one-on-one time with Christopher that I really enjoyed. I had to run to Lowe's to pick up some things, so he travelled along. Andrew was fighting off pink eye, so we were both ready to get out of the house. After picking up what we needed, we stopped by the tools aisle and found something pretty exciting. We picked up some Christopher-sized tools and tool belt. He even carried the hammer and screwdrivers to the checkout and then out to the car in his own bag. We also picked up a small pirate ship kit for Christopher's first wood-working project. After unwrapping his goggles, he knew exactly what to do with them. Showing off his new gear His hammering skills were quite impressive for a 2-year-old that has never used a hammer before. Yes, after seeing him hammer one nail, I was comfortable having my hand close. Admiring his handiwork Adding a coat of paint The finished product! He was so proud of his boat that he told Sara and me all about it every time he walked past it this weekend. I'm looking forward to more trips to Lowe's and Home Depot with my little boys and can't wait to share more little projects. |
Goodbye, Friend
Nearly seven years ago, a little black and tan dachshund entered our lives. Astro and I were as close as any dog and his human could be. Don’t believe me? Read this: You’ve got a friend in me – Part I. He was a fighter. He was strong-willed. Even after a back accident that left him paralyzed two years ago (Read Part II), he was truly the best companion I could have. We had our struggles adjusting to caring for a paralyzed dog. From expressing his bladder several times a
day to putting him in and out of his cart to go outside and play. We cleaned up lots of dog poop and lots of
dog pee, but we were happy to have him with us.
It never seemed like a struggle when he was always acting like his usual
self. His sweet personality always had a way
of shining through his disability. About six months after his accident, we fought our first battle with self-mutilation. Astro had chewed deep holes in both sides of both rear legs, which is common for dogs with no feeling in the limbs. I was incredibly disgusted and felt just awful for him. Many vet trips, ointment applications, and bandaging sessions later, the wounds healed. Every now and then, we needed to re-wrap his rear paws to keep more sores from occurring. All in all, though, we had no more issues for some time. A few weeks ago, I came home to find Astro had mutilated his tail. It wasn’t terrible – a little piece missing on the tip but otherwise just some spots where he had chewed some hair and skin off. The vet and I weren’t too concerned and expected it to heal without issue. After all, we had been through this type of situation before. His tail seemed to be healing, but we knew he was not messing with it. I was on the night shift for the week, so there was someone home with him most of the time. After getting back to normal working hours, I returned home on Monday afternoon to find Astro barking at his usual pace and waiting on me to get him out of his crate. I was in shock with what I saw when I went to pick him up. There was blood, and there was no tail. Somehow he managed to completely mutilate his tail, and it was gone. In a crazy hurry we headed to the vet. The vet offered surgery to close up the wound, which was the only option even discussed the day of the tail disappearance. Nothing would happen until the next day, so Sara and I picked up the boys and headed home for the evening. I was so stressed I couldn’t eat. We proceeded with our normal night-time routine, but it just wasn’t the same. Then without any warning to my wife, I broke down. I knew it was time to tell him goodbye. It wasn’t until last week when we stopped to realize the changes we made to our home, our daily routines, and our lives. Would we have ever changed any of our decisions in the past two years when it came to caring for him? Absolutely not! But things had changed. Astro had not been acting like himself for months. We just couldn’t see it until we stopped to think. His quality of life would never be the same as it was just 12 hours ago or even a month prior. We quickly made our decision and starting coming to terms with it. To be honest, the decision was easy. It was clearly the right thing to do. The difficult part was accepting it. He won’t be there to guard the doorways for us. He won’t be there to lick the water off our legs when we get out of the shower. He won’t bark like a nut when the doorbell rings or run out the door every time it opens. He won’t be there to howl in excitement when he’s waiting on you to fill his dinner bowl or whine at us when he is lying in bed and wants to be covered with his blanket. I didn’t sleep at all Monday night. I somehow managed to make it to work the next morning in attempt to maintain some normalcy. I called the vet’s office as soon as they opened and waited nervously until the doctor called me back. Her mood was upbeat; she was confident the tail surgery would be successful. I used the last bit of strength I could find and gave her our decision. We would later go to the office to meet a very excited but drowsy Astro. We spent our time telling him goodbye. He licked away our tears and snuggled into us and fell asleep. This dog was a tough. He was always stubborn and always strong. This was true up to his last moments of life. It took the vet team two and a half doses of the initial sedative to get him to sleep. After holding him a while longer and shedding more tears, we said our final goodbyes. We then started to find something we hadn’t seen before. We started finding some peace. He was in peace now, and we knew it. Our lives would start getting a little easier. It was easier on us and much easier on him. Within just a couple days we were adjusting to life without Astro. There were tough times, but we knew he is ready to cross the rainbow bridge and was in a better place. Christopher still asks about him from time to time. Luna is sometimes a nervous wreck around the house. Sara and I will start up a conversation about him from seemingly out of nowhere, just reminiscing the good times and the fun memories. We're all adjusting to life without Astro. We are fortunate that our families have been nothing but supportive through this, so we owe them all some thanks. We have some awesome friends who have not only been comforting but have even taken extra steps to help us through the difficult time.
Zenters' Houston "Astro" May 20, 2007 - June 11, 2013 |
Catching Up
A lot has happened in the 6 months since we posted! I cannot believe we have let 6 months go by without a single post. Here is our summary: December - ChristmasHere are a few pictures. There are many more of our Christmas fun in this album. April also brought my 30th birthday. We celebrated at Chuy's (of course!) and it was extra special having both my boys with us! May - Going Back to Work There are LOTS of springtime pictures in this album! Whew! Six months of catching up went by quick. We are only half way through the month of June, but here what we have so far. First some good news: Andrew has started sleeping through the night. I don't mean the 6 hours you would consider through the night; I mean he sleeps from 8pm to 4/6am! He averages 10 hours a night now! Yay! Now, if we could only get Christopher to sleep like that... |
We're ready, Santa!
Christmas is upon us. And just like every year, it's the excitement leading up to it that makes the season so much fun for our family. The lights went up on the house just after Thanksgiving, and the tree followed close behind. Christopher is beyond excited about all the lights and decorations we pass by. When driving through the neighborhood, he shouts, "Oh, wow!.. Lights." He loves to stare at our tree and tell us what is on each ornament. The ones that play music always get him dancing around.
This year I gave up on putting lights in our trees and just stuck with the ones on the house. For the past few years the squirrels have chewed through several strands of lights, and I just got tired of the constant battle through the month of December. You won this round, squirrels. This left our front yard somewhat bare, which is not an accurate reflection of the Zenters' holiday spirit. So I went to work in the garage, producing a resemblance of our favorite cartoon dog (and high school mascot). After planning and drawing, sawing, sanding and painting, a 6.5-feet tall Flying Ace emerged. He's complete with his Santa hat and scarf and has his house decorated with lights. It turned out really cool. Here's a night shot...
Christopher also thinks Snoopy is cool and insists on taking a picture with him... every day.
![]() Sara snapped this one a few days ago. It's my favorite so far.
Of course to really get into the Christmas season, we have watched Christmas Vacation multiple times already. We also took Christopher to see Santa Claus. We headed down to the Dickinson Festival of Lights a few weeks ago. Christopher was bursting with excitement looking at all the lights (especially the ones shaped as a train). We made our way towards Santa's sleigh and waited for about 20 minutes. Mommy walked him over to the sleigh, and our trip to see Santa was essentially complete at that moment. On the plus side, we got a fun picture out of it.
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What’s in a Name?
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – William Shakespeare
“Romeo and Juliet” is by far one of my favorite plays by William Shakespeare. So what does this have to do with anything? Well, we have finally decided on a name for Peanut #2. It was a very tough decision and a very long process. Once we learned it was a boy, I threw out my favorite name, Jonathan, since we didn’t use it last time. I even thought about a middle name, David – David is Stephen’s dad’s name and Stephen’s middle name. A very logical choice. But Stephen had other ideas.
Christopher’s middle name is Allen – my paternal grandmother’s maiden name. Stephen suggested we use his paternal grandmother’s maiden name, Craft. It sounded great to me. But since we are going with Craft, which starts with a C… Why not pick an “A” name and switch Christopher’s initials – CAZ to ACZ? This is when the discussion got good. I had not thought of an “A” name. I was so determined to name our second son “Jonathan,” I didn’t care what other names were out there.
There was only one thing to do, rely on the Internet for some help. As I sat there reading “A” names out to Stephen, it seemed he only had one response “No.” That was until we came upon the name “Apollo.” Yes, “Apollo,” as in the third US manned spaceflight program. So not a good idea with a space nut of a husband. He seemed to really love the idea of Apollo Craft ;-) Can you just imagine the poor nicknames for our son? At this point, I could tell Stephen didn’t really want to discuss names if he was wanting to name our son “Apollo.”
For the next few weeks, one of my friends and I had nicknamed #2 “Spacey AC” since Stephen was so set on “Apollo.” After enough people started asking if we had a name, Stephen decided to post on Facebook that we were naming our child Apollo. Once I finally saw it and posted this wasn’t true, it was funny to see the amount of people that actually believed him! There was some truth to his post though, we had finally agreed on a name. Andrew Craft Zenter will be here in late March!
Christopher can say the name, “Andrew,” so cutely. Christopher knows Baby Andrew is in my belly too, and he will sweetly give kisses. He clearly doesn’t grasp the concept of what is happening , but we are trying to get him used to the idea of a baby with his new cousin, Emily, and our friends’ baby, Lorelai.
Christopher is doing great! Here are the latest details of our sprouting 20-month old: · He is getting even more teeth and getting even taller. He is now well over half my height (I know, not saying much). · He is doing better at being able to stay out later, whici is more convenient for Mom and Dad. · We are definitely hitting the “Terrible Twos.” He is wanting to show and prove he is independent. The most trouble we have is at restaurants dealing with him not wanting to sit still – nothing you wouldn’t expect out of a 20-month old! · He’s a talker and a singer. For a while he refused to put two words together, but now he is trying to speak in full sentences. “Astro pooped,” is one favorite of his favorite phrases, and the he loves to tell us about the, “Opecus” that lives in the ocean. His singing habits come honestly from his father. · And then there’s Elmo. Whenever he sees Elmo in a book or on TV, he flips. “Elmo. Elmo. Elmo. ELMO!” |
Oh Boy!
Back in late October we went in for our anatomy ultrasound. Our original appointment wasn’t until Nov 6th, but we were able to get it moved up a week. Keeping the change quiet allowed us to surpise the family a little later.
Stephen ended up getting food poisoning (or some kind of a stomach bug) that day. Along with that, we kept Christopher home due to a fever from teething. So there I was stuck at home with a sick husband and a child that is running around like crazy, supposedly “sick.” When the time to leave for the appointment rolled around, Stephen decided he could handle going (not like he really had a choice), so I piled everyone in the car and headed to drop Christopher off at day care. We got to the doctor’s office, and Stephen waited in the car until I was called back. After almost an hour and a half of waiting and close to no battery left on my phone, time came to see if Peanut #2 is a boy or girl! Well, we are happy to announce that we are having another little boy! (Yes I know, I am way behind on blog posts since this news hit Facebook in early November. Since we were the only ones that had our news in hand at the time, we decided to surprise the family when we went in to Shreveport for a friend’s wedding. We tried to get both sets of grandparents out to dinner at the same time, but that just never seems to work out! We were able to tell one set at dinner and the other set after dinner. The fun part was that we wrote”It’s a Boy!” across my stomach with a blue marker (Luckily I haven’t gained too much weight, so it wasn’t too bad to show them!). A few weeks before I had an apparent allergic reaction to something on my forehead. So we used that as the excuse to ask the family to, “Look at my belly!” J They were pleasantly surprised, and everyone was excited (like we didn’t expect that already) that we are having a baby boy.
We can’t wait to meet our little boy in March! |
Rumor Has It...
Let's catch up on some Christopher news. Christopher is now 18 months old. He is 33.5" tall and 22.5 pounds; so tall and lean as he always has been! He is now over half my height. We haven't had an ear infection (knock on wood) since his tubes were installed back in April! And Christopher is really starting to talk more. We are hearing more pronounced words coming from him daily. He always surprises us with what he knows and how smart he is. He is now in the early twos class (the Duck room) and has been the happiest we have seen him! The first week he moved up, we noticed Christopher coming home in a much better mood. He apparently has been ready to move up and was happy with the change. He really is growing up too fast! We can't wait to see what the holiday season has in store for us this year, especially since Christopher likes to test the limits and see what he can get away with. Yes; we have already hit terrible twos! Luckily we have learned what sets Chrsitopher off. When we go out, we try to avoid those triggers and we tend to have a pretty happy camper. One of those triggers is trying to get Chrisotpher to sit in a high chair at a restaurant. We no longer try and just let him sit in a chair like we do. At school he now has a table and chair his size that he sits at for meals and snacks, so he wants nothing different when we go out to eat. Before he moved up to the Ducks room, Christopher was still a Doodlebug. One of his teachers, Ms. Lisa, was telling us the requirements to move up to become a Duck - the kids have to sit at a table, be able to feed themselves, and know four signs. Ms. Lisa was asked the Duck teachers to see if Christopher needed to accomplish anything else. When they said he only needed to know four signs, she was proud to say that he knows all 50 signs that they had in the room. Come to find out, she had even asked the front desk for another book of signs so Christopher wouldn't get bored. So apparently our child knows about 60 signs. Stephen and I will occasionally have to go look up what a sign means to understand what Christopher is trying to tell us. I will say that I am grateful for the schools teaching young children sign language. We avoid a lot of frustration because Christopher can communicate with us before he can clearly talk. So getting down to the rumor... Along with our first camping trip as a family last week, we also shared some pretty exciting news with the rest of our families and are happy to share it with you all. ![]() Did you look closely at Christopher's shirt? Did you look at the LA Tech red and blue writing? That's right! Number 2 is on the way! Baby #2 is due March 30th (Yep; another March baby). We are very excited and are trying to get Christopher used to the idea of another baby around. So far he knows the baby is in my tummy and he loves giving my tummy kisses. Although, he obviously doesn't grasp the concept yet. So be on the lookout for new blogs updating you on the progress of Peanut #2, and of course the updates on Christopher! ~Sara |
Christopher Goes Camping
To close out the end of the warm summer, we took Christopher on his first camping trip. We spent a day in Shreveport visiting Sara's side of the family. Christopher enjoyed seeing Gran, Pop and his cousin Cadence. He found Gran's garden bee entertaining and enjoyed a little time on the swing, even if it was raining. On Friday afternoon we headed out on our camping trip. The location - Garland Scout Ranch in Stonewall, Louisiana - Daddy's old stompin' grounds. I was so proud to not only share the camping experience with my little boy but even more proud to share it at a place where I learned so much myself and spent so much time through the years. As soon as we got out of the car, Christopher took off through the grass and squealed with excitement. Christopher ran around all weekend and seemed to love every moment. From picking up sticks to trying to run into the lake, the kid was asolutely fearless. He kept us busy all weekend but surprised us at how much he loved bugs. He found a katydid and picked it right up and laughed at it... until it clenched its little prickly legs into Christopher's finger. Christopher really loved spending lots of time with Zennie and Pop at the ranch. They laughed and played and enjoyed swimming and jumping in the pool. As expected, Zenter family camping trips always seem to have their interesting moments. As soon as we got settled in on Friday evening, the electricity went out. I know, electricity is not exactly a camping essential. However, the temperature was in the 90's with humidity levels to match. When you're spending the weekend with little kids in small cabins, you need it. It was restored several hours later, which meant we enjoyed Christopher's company for a few hours past his bedtime. Sara also found out that our cabin was infested with fire ants, when I woke on Saturday morning with bites up my neck and back. They had invaded our sheets while we slept, which meant we had to make a move to a different spot. Fortunately, Christopher was spared the ants and enjoyed his first time fishing... a whole two minutes of it. He also took his first ride around the lake in a row boat powered by Daddy. We toted our bikes out to camp, and Christopher was able to finally get to ride in his new iBert seat. I was nervous taking him out for a ride, but he would scream "Weeee!" while we rode down the hill. We had a great time and hope to make this a Zenter family tradition. Thanks to Zennie, Pop, Uncle Thomas, Uncle Eric, Aunt Julie, and Benjamin for making our weekend exciting. Next time, we'll be in tents! Unfortunately, I really dropped the ball on getting a lot of pictures of our weekend. We were having too much fun. I did get a few more in this album and was able to snap one of our moon rise on Saturday night. |
A Fun Weekend With Zennie and Pop
Last week Uncle Thomas came down to spend a few days in Houston. He split the time between Eric and Julie's house and our house. We enjoyed hanging out and even made it to an Astros game on Tuesday. Christopher really enjoyed spending time with his Uncle T and even recognizes him as "Uncle." We're still working on the "Thomas" part. Zennie and Pop came down Friday night, and Christopher was very excited to see them on Saturday morning when he woke up. It had been a month and a half since we visited in Shreveport, but Christopher picked up right where he left off then. He loves to give Zennie lots of kisses, with a loud "Mmmmah!" He laughed all weekend long with Pop. Hearing him get so tickled playing with Pop made us all laugh with him. Before heading out for the day, they enjoyed a walk down the block. I was impressed he walked away from Mommy for a whole five minutes. Of course he did take his monkeys along. We all enjoyed some great Lebanese food in southwest Houston at Mary'z (seriously the best hummus ever - even better than mine). Then Christopher serenaded us all the way home. Recently, he has been singing his little heart out. In the car, playing in the living room, or while dancing with his fridge farm in the kitchen - he enjoys singing all the time. While we cannot always understand what he is singing, his favorite is still Itsy-Bitsy Spider complete with hand motions, of course. Now if we could only figure out where he learned to walk around singing all the time... |