2010...2011

The other day I asked Derrik "Where do you think life will take us this time next year?"... His answer "Who knows"... Kind of exciting right? I often wonder what it's like to know that most likely we'd be living in the same house, same town, same jobs, and have the same group of friends in the following year. There are days I long to have that life, but most days I know i'd probably go stir crazy. I know a big part of me thrives off the inconsistency in our life. It keeps it fun, new, and fresh!

2010 was a year of surprises for sure. It was a year of growing for us, decisions, and growing our family. Obviously this pregnancy is my #1 memory of 2010. I could have possibly anticipated that happening in 2010, but wasn't entirely sure Derrik was on board. A close #2 in memories from 2010 (I wanted to say #1, but really is anything more important then your baby?) is Tommy John surgery #2. I remember on rare occcasion the "could you ever imagine having this surgery twice", "we'd never survive another 12 month rehab", or "living in Arizona another year would be awful" conversations. I never EVER imagined it would actually happen. I will NEVER forget the day Derrik called telling me he needed the surgery again. Definiately a stand out in my year, or the tears I felt building in my eyes as they cut into his arm almost a year after the first one. We've moved on from that though. It was a firm decision in the realization it was a good time to grow our family. We have made relationships we have out in Arizona stronger, we have learned to call it home, and learned that on rough days we just need the three of us to be happy in this big world.

I have also learned to embrace technology. This is the year I think I truly realized I have friendships all over this country with a select group of AMAZING girls! They are girls I know from high school, from when I raced BMX, from baseball, and even more recently during our time in Arizona. I might not be able to introduce them all to each other, have lunches with them, plan girls nights out as a group, or have play dates in big groups, but they are all so special to me. They are all part of a huge support system that keeps me going on a daily basis. I've learned hard to try to embrace this season of life, enjoy my time with them when I have it because it's precious, and to enjoy that technology lets me instantly see picture of their little ones at they are born at the hospital, see pictures of their new homes, or even be there for them when they are having a bad day. What a great invention technology is!! I'm not sure how i'd survive without it.... or these friends :)

As for 2011... I'm excited for you!!! I'm excited for the countdown to lots of friends starting to get ready for spring training in a little over a month, to have days at the pool with girlfriends, to cookouts with our friends, to snuggling littles ones that have been born the past couple months, to Ryder being the center of attention to those that love and follow him when they can't be with him throughout the whole year thanks to this blog. I'm excited for my growing belly and our little one on the way, and i'm excited for summer. I'm excited to see where this unpredictable life will take us. I'm excited to see if Derrik's arm will come back healthy and amazing. Will we head to be with a Reds minor league team by the end of the baseball season? Will he get back in AA before the seasons end? Will he make it further then that? Will fall ball/winter ball be a possibility for us? Will we still be with the Reds planning our spring training 2012 this time next year? Will baseball even be part of our lives this time next year? Will it be over? Will we be enjoying an "off season" or starting a new season in our lives without baseball? Will we have to actually decide for ourselves where we want to live full time? Just thinking about it gets me SOOO excited!!!!

For now though... I have one more day left with my dad here in Cape Cod before he leaves for Florida for some work, five more days with my hubby here, and in one week Ryder and I head back to Arizona. I am going to enjoy every second of it because who knows where life will take us in the months to come. I'm very excited about it though :)

In which I vent about a reality t.v. show...

No photos of Ryder in this post... if you read this blog to hear about him no sense in reading this one. If you're a baseball wife or watch reality t.v.... maybe you'll want to read :)

The reality t.v. show Kendra has seriously been on my nerves lately. For anyone who isn't quite sure what the show is she was one of Hugh Hefner's girlfriends on the show The Girls Next Door and since leaving has her own show called Kendra. She is married to Hank Baskett and has a little baby around a year old. Her husband Hank happens to be a football player in the NFL. When the show started he played for the Philadelphia Eagles and was traded to another team last season. At the start of this season he was picked up by the Philadelphia Eagles once again, but realeased not too soon after the start of the season. His agent got him a deal with the Vikings, and he is currently playing there.

For a while I felt like I could relate to her and felt bad. She was stuck constantly moving around with her husband, dealing with him being on the road, and never knowing just how long he would be with a team. A bad week could mean the end of his career. On the show it shows her embracing the lifestyle for a while and enjoying it, but finally hitting that point we all hit... we want a HOME. We want a place we can hang pictures on the wall, raise our kids in, keep steady friends that we see year round. I felt for her because even if they are on a higher scale in this sports world then we are we all have the same desires, wants, and needs.

That is until this season! Week after week it's listening to her crybaby about how she CAN'T move out to Minnesota with him, how she CAN'T not get back to work in L.A., how she CAN'T move around the country like this with a baby, how she CAN'T deal with the instability, how she CAN'T deal with being away from him either. It's annoying!!! I don't know what her husband makes, but i'd imagine that the NFL minimum is quite the hefty paycheck to us average folks. On top of that Kendra has her own reality t.v. show, modeling contracts, appearances, books, and is an ex-girlfriend of Hugh Hefner. They in no way what-so-ever "can't" do anything. I makes me crazy. I want to sit her down and tell her what it's really like to NOT be able to do something.

This week she made the final decision to move back to L.A. for the duration of the season with the baby while making visit to Hank in Minnesota. Her move didn't involve pinching pennies, driving cars across country, staying in crappy hotels, moving into a crappier apartment, living with another couple to make ends meet, staying at her parents while waiting to see if he's really going to stay with the team, or anything like that. Her "move" involved her opening the door for the movers who literally packed her boxers for her, walking into her escorted car, getting onto her private jet, and walking into her mansion in L.A. that her ASSISTANT flew out to days earlier to stock full of groceries, baby proof, get beds made... it's ridiculous! I'd like to show her what it's like to really have to tough it out. I remember first getting to our apartment in N.C. and sleeping on a bare mattress with my baby after driving all night waiting for Wal-Mart to open so we could get bedding and groceries.

I understand that no matter what pay scale or level anyones husband is at in this sports world it never gets easier. The moving, travel, time apart, and emotions are all the same, but the idea of NOT being able to do something is so different. Either of them could quit their jobs and still live such an amazing life and never worry about a thing. They do not HAVE to be apart right now, she doesn't HAVE to keep her baby away from her husband for a whole sports season, they don't HAVE to miss each other so much it hurts. It's just annoying. I wish someone could give her a HUGEEEE reality check!!!

Derrik and I have sworn that if we ever get to a point in Derrik's career that we aren't struggling ourselves that our first way of "giving back" will be to help support younger families in minor league baseball. We know the true meaning of NOT being able to be together and have somehow always managed to make it happen. It's our number one priority. We make sacrifices to make this happen and so do other couples we are friends with. I just wish some of us could sit down with Kendra and make her realize just how good she has it!

"me play hockey"

At least that's what Ryder's side of the story is. Ever since we took Ryder to the Hershey Bears game back at Thanksgiving he's been obsessed with hockey. We told him we were taking him ice skating today. We described it as kind of like hockey, and he took it from there. He is absolutely convinced he went and played hockey today and has told everyone all about it.

Getting ready to go

Watching Daddy take a warm-up lap
Finally on the ice

Loving it... he was kind of like jell-o out there

Trying to give Daddy's back a break and take a lap with Auntie Hailey

He was far off from actually skating on his own, but did great walking in the skates off the ice. He had a huge smile on his face whether he was holding daddy's hands on the ice, laying on the ice, or in Daddy's arm going really fast on the ice... he loved it! We could have a little hockey player on our hands one day.... if I decide I like the idea of sitting in a freezing cold building all the time!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Baby Landon Update: 22 Weeks

(Post nap pic... ecsude the ponytail and sweats)

How Far Along: 22 Weeks

Size of Baby: 11 inches and almost a pound

Food Size (According to my e-mail from BabyCenter.com): Spaghetti Squash

Total Weight Gain: About a week and a half until my weigh in back in Arizona... i'm sure i'll be hitting the gym once we're back in AZ... still loving living in denial at the moment :)

Maternity Clothes: My lower belly is getting cold... time to get back to AZ for some longer shirts!

Gender: It's a BOY! Landon Brennan Lutz

Movement: Lots of it... Derrik feels him all the time and both my sisters have. My mom however can not feel him! I think it's making her crazy. I even think I saw him from the outside the other day :)

Food Cravings: Still none... just glad the holidays are over! Geez.. eating way too much!!!

Labor Signs: no comment until third trimester or so

Sleep: Great... just been staying up too late with family because of the holidays.

How’s Ryder Handling It: Good.. he's seemed to go along with the "baby brother" thing a little more this week.

What is the same/different as the last time: The same... certain symptoms just keep coming and going

Symptoms: Hip pain still, but not as bad as last week

Best Moment This Week: Christmas with the family! AND... my sister both feeling Landon kick.

What I Am Looking Forward To: One last week with family.... and some other stuff... but it's changes for 2011 so we'll save that for later!

Forgot this stuff last week....

Ally and Danielle 21 Weeks with Ryder

Ally and Danielle 21 Weeks with Landon
And with the two goof balls...

Definitely a little more torpedo looking this time then basketball-ish and MUCH bigger I think. How do you tone up a preggo belly? lol... Also we were in Florida vactioning during the spring last time and in the middle of winter this time. Hopefully i'll have a tan belly soon with all the girls coming for spring training... look for me.. i'll be the whale at the pool with the crazy toddler :)

Christmas Smorgasbord

Man I love Christmas... The past couple of years my favorite parts have been watching Ryder enjoy it more and more each year as he's getting older and actually having my family under one roof. What I'm not a huge fan of is the millions of pictures I have afterward that I have to somehow compile into a meaningful blog post. We have LOTS of pictures... so lets get started. Unfortunately our Christmas morning with the three of us was on a different camera, and I forgot to put them in the right spot... so we'll start with Christmas morning, go back to Christmas Eve, and then move onto the rest of Christmas.... Sorry for the confusion!

Santa Came!!!

My boys getting ready to dig into the stocking
Loving the Mater plane

Looking for some more stuff

Some of the stocking goodies

Our Christmas 2010

Thanks for the Mickey Uncle Cole and Uncle Dalton

Thanks for my cool Mater Aunt Cindy and Uncle Dave

Lovin' his new guns

Opening some cars from Uncle Tommy... probably one of his favorite gifts

Thanks for the cool truck Me-Maw and Poppy

Santa came... AND brought Ryder his BIGGG Monster Truck!!!!

BACK TO CHRISTMAS EVE

Somehow the picture of Derrik, Ally, and Ryder making cookies just got deleted... too compliated to get it back in... these picture filled posts are hard to deal with. Just know they were such a great auntie and daddy making Santa cookies with Ryder :)

Making Santa Cookies

Talking on the can phones with Grammy

At the other end...

Brother-in-Laws... Love them both... Especially when they are both under one roof... not too many days in the course of a year that this happens

Mack cooking up his Italian dinner

Ready to eat! Yum!!!

Auntie Ally knows how to do this Christmas thing... she gave Ryder her present Christmas Eve and got so much more attention from Ryder

The Winter's and Lutz's... First full family picture ever maybe?

BACK TO CHRISTMAS MORNING - ON MACK AND GRAMMY'S SIDE

Uncle Ryan is always so thrilled to get up early.

They don't start til 8:30... I think he has it pretty good

The kids ready to see if Santa came!

Landon's new Boppy cover!

Hailey trying to show Ryder the blanket she made him....

He was too excited over the box

Auntie Hailey in her new hat we gave her

Yummy Mater popcorn tin... our new car holder! Love it!

What our family use to look like many years ago....

Most of the extended family later in the day

Uncle Ryan and Auntie Ally playing Headbandz

Mack and I playing Rack-O

Everyone checking out the big group of deer outside fighting

Ally, Brooke, and Adam

And that's it.... Christmas was amazing! Loving the family time here! Trying to soak it all up while it lasts. This stretch of time in Arizona when we get back could be long due to the whole giving birth and no travel thing coming up. Ryder has been SO great! He is loving all the attention, and I truly hardly ever see him. I seriously change his clothes, his diaper, and make him do things like nap. He tells me all the time "Mommy go away"... apparently i'm not as cool as these people that play video games, monster trucks, and feed him sugar all day :) Serious reality check coming his way soon.

Sledding

So my drive for blogging is at an all time low right now... I have a million Christmas pictures to upload, but didn't want to leave off the sledding pictures from last week. It was windy, rainy, snowy, wet, and cold. If it wasn't for the fact that I wanted to see the big smile on Ryder's face after going down the hill I totally wouldn't have gone. It was totally worth it though because he sooo loved it! He had a smile on his face the whole time. He would no sooner get to the bottom and look at his Daddy asking to go again. Luckily Auntie Ally was willing to do a couple trips because it was a steep hill to lug Ryder up!!! Please ignore the photo quality. I thought I pretty much broke my mom's camera when the knobs wouldn't turn and it started making crazy noises because it was so wet and cold.

Ryder and Daddy

Ready, Set, Go
At the bottom of the hill

He loves it!!!!

He wanted to touch the snow for himself and ditched the glove for a bit

Exhausted!!!

Going back up for another round

Family Photo :)

one with the Aunties

and the whole crew