The Lutz Family

When One Door Closes another Door Opens

2012-02-09T20:41:00.003-05:00

*** I wrote this out and pasted it in here so sorry it's formatted weird :) If you are here to see pictures of the kids i'll have some up soon!***
I’m not going to lie. The last five months since Derrik’s
release have not been easy. I debated whether to write about how we felt and
dealt with it for a while now, and wasn’t sure if it was meant for public eyes.
This blog is our family journal though. I look back at past posts all the time
and smile at how far we have come. Although we are far from recovering
post-release, we have come such a long way! I think every minor league player
and there family have to think “what if we got released?”, “what’s our Plan
B?”, or “What would life be like without baseball?” We always discussed it, and
tried to keep an open mind, especially when Derrik went under the knife for
Tommy John #2. I guess we just never thought it would come so soon. We knew he
might not ever come back after the surgeries, but we definitely always thought
he’d be given a fair chance. And I truly believe the chance he was given was
NOT fair by any means!! A month and a half after rehab for two years is not
sufficient, especially since Derrik was playing very decent and felt great last
summer. Unfortunately no matter how many times I run everything that happened
that day through my head the outcome isn’t going to change. Derrik was released
and from that day forward nothing having to do with the Cincinnati Reds had
anything to do with us. It was a weird feeling. I questioned whether to take
our Reds blanket off the couch and burn it, whether I should put the Reds
ornament we have on our Christmas tree this year, and whether or not I should
remove myself from the baseball wives groups that are blowing up my Facebook
page with girls excited to be heading to spring training in the coming weeks.
It all hurts because so much of our lives were baseball and the Reds ever since
I’ve known Derrik. I can say we still proudly cuddle under the Reds blanket
every night, the ornament was still hanging on our tree, and I just simply made
it so all those pesky notifications don’t come to me on Facebook, but I can’t
bring myself to delete myself from those groups because a part of me still
longs to belong to them. Not to mention we still wear their clothes as well. I
mean we honestly have fifty pairs of Reds gym shorts and probably twice as many
shirts. We’d have to walk around in the nude at home if we boycotted their
clothes! I actually have a Sarasota Reds shirt on as I type this. My feeling is
that when I think of the Reds I shouldn’t think of some business man who had to
make a decision to cut Derrik as a business transaction. I instead look at is
as an amazing time period in our lives. One we will always look back on with a
ton of great memories. We traveled to so many amazing places, met some of our
best friends, had both of our babies while away from home because of baseball,
and spent our first few years of marriage on the road traveling. I wouldn’t
have had it any other way, but that door is closed for us now.

Our goal when
Derrik was released was to just get him back home to us, get settled, find him
a job that paid our bills for the time being, and take a deep breath. Then
after that we would evaluate things. And evaluate we did. Over and over and
over again! We have gone back and forth on so many things this off season (I
should probably stop referring to our lives in terms of baseball seasons at
some point?), and luckily have managed to stay on the same page for the most
part through it all. There were some not so great days, and I’m sure we have
plenty more to come. The bottom line for us though is we love each other, and
to always do what is best for our family and the boys. We have tried to look at the positives in our
lives as well. We do have two amazingly sweet boys that can put a smile on our
face even when the world might feel like it is crumbling down at points. With
all the negative things in this thing we call life going on around us, we were
enjoying the smaller things in life. Ryder started school this year, played on
his first t-ball team, has so many friends at school and through my friends,
got to enjoy the holidays with family around, and is now doing amazing on his
basketball team. Landon changes every single day, and is the sweetest little
baby in the world. When we look back on this time in our lives a few years from
now that is what we will truly remember.

So where does that leave us now? Well the phone is not
ringing when it comes to baseball. We had said if the opportunity presented
itself with baseball that Derrik would give it one last shot and give it all he
had. Unfortunately though, it looks as though that opportunity isn’t going to
present itself to him. I think it silently is breaking both mine and Derrik’s
hearts, and we do discuss it, but we are also really excited about some new
opportunities we have coming our way.

So without further ado, what have we been up to? We got
our own place! Yes, we moved over the weekend. Nothing spectacular, but we are
SO excited to have our own home. It’s a three bedroom condo in Fort Myers.
Living with my parents has been great, and we would have never made it without
their generosity to put us up for the past five months (seven with the boys and
me). It is so nice to see my family every single day, to have their help around
the house, to share laundry chores, and never have to cook haha, but we felt it
was time for us to get our own place. It makes my parents and sisters sad, and
me as well, but I think it will be good for all of us. I look forward to
actually living in the same town as my family, but not having to share a
bathroom with them. We weighed our
options over and over and over again with this decision. It will make things
tight for us financially, but there are some positives as well. Landon
desperately needed his own room, it cuts down on some driving for us, and it’ll
be good for us to live as our own family of four. Hailey was telling me how
this made her sad the other morning. I told her that this is the normal way
families do things. We aren’t supposed to live on the other side of the country
or across the hall, and she told me, “but Sissy our family isn’t normal!” Of
course that broke my heart, but little does she know one of my reasons to move
out is so she begs me for the boys to spend the night so I can have a night to
myself!! They watch the boys all the time, and I am so grateful for this, but
if I do get a night out I still have to wake up in the morning with them. This
way the girls have to get up with them! It’s my plan behind this all! We got
the keys last Wednesday, moved all the big furniture on Friday, and I have been
doing my best to get unpacked all week. I’d say we are 90% settled. We still
have a few things at my parents, a few of those leftover boxes you sort of just
wish would disappear to unpack, and need to hang the pictures and TV’s. The
boys have adjusted amazing! They both have slept great in their rooms, and have
even been sleeping later than normal.

What’s next? Oh yeah, I got a job! Not only did I get a
job, but I am beyond thrilled about it!! We had discussed our options as far as
me working. It is hard to find a job that I would actually make money after
putting the boys in daycare so we had pretty much decided against it for a
while. Of course this leaves Derrik working around 70 hours a week and
exhausted. I’ve offered to find a night time job, and he can stay home with the
boys. Luckily he would rather work, and I of course would rather be watching
after my little guys. Derrik had been pushing me to try to do some photography
on the side with friends and family, or maybe a Craigslist ad offering
photography services for cheap, but I just wasn’t confident enough in what I
know. I was on Craigslist the other day and saw a photography company is
looking for an amateur that they can train. I put together a cover letter, a
resume, and a photography slide show with some of my shots of the boys, and
submitted it. I wasn’t expecting anything out of it, but, to my surprise, was
asked to go in for an interview after just a day. I mean really? Was it that
simple? I looked for one day? If you don’t believe in divine intervention I’m
pretty sure you should! I went to the interview, and went to a wedding with the
owner that Saturday to follow her around to see what she does. I even got to
shoot quite a bit throughout the night! The owner, Krista, told me that my
pictures came out great. She had told me she would work on the composition of
the pictures first and how to get a great shot. To my surprise, she had nothing
at all to correct me on, and now we will start working on how to get the camera
to do what I want it to do. What a dream come true! I have tried to self-teach
myself the camera quite a few times and usually quit ten minutes in because I
get so confused and frustrated. Last night I went and observed an engagement
session, and I have quite a few more things over the next week. I am beyond
excited about this opportunity. Not only are the hours simple and I’ll be
contributing a little financially to the family, but I am looking forward to
doing it! How fun to go to weddings all the time and takes pictures!! There are
quite a few different levels I can progress to with significant pay raises as
each level. I am truly hoping this opportunity works out because doing
photography has been a dream of mine for quite some time. After my first night
and five hours of non-stop taking pictures Krista asked me if I was exhausted.
I told her, “No way! I feel like I just got a night out!”

As for Derrik, he is doing well. He wraps up his
basketball officiating season Friday night doing the boys district finals game.
He officiated 90+ games this high school basketball season! He had his first
baseball game last night. He hates doing baseball, and I wish basketball season
could just keep going. He’d much rather be on the pitching mound then behind
the plate making the calls at baseball games. It is what it is though. Luckily
he absolutely loves doing football and basketball. He stills works at the golf
course as well, but that job is boring to talk about. As for Derrik’s future,
we talk about it a lot. It was a big focus for us for the last couple of
months, but we realized finding a career instead of just a job takes some time
which lead us to this decision for us to move and for me to pursue work. We
have been actively pursuing the idea of Derrik enrolling into a police academy,
and have serious talks about him trying to advance his officiating career to
the college level. I haven’t not mentioned it on the blog for any reason other
than the fact that our thought process on all of this seems to change almost
daily. What I tell you one day could be the complete opposite the next day. We
are trying to stay open minded with it all, and try not to get too frustrated
or our hopes up to high on one single thing. I promise when anything does happen
though it’ll be on here!

For now it feels really amazing to be settled, to have
unpacked boxes I haven’t seen in three years, and to know all of our stuff in
in one place while being used. I feel normal… it’s good. We’ll see how long it
takes for us to get antsy and need some change. For now though it’s just good!

Big Boy Seats

2012-01-31T15:36:00.004-05:00

I've been contemplating getting Landon a big boy car seat for a while now. Ryder was in one around seven months. He cried all the time in the car though. Landon was really content in his baby carrier so I was just never fully motivated to go buy him a new car seat. While looking at car seats recently it dawned on me that Ryder is now big enough for a Stage 3 car seat. I didn't see why I would buy Landon a new car seat if Ryder would be outgrowing his soon anyhow. Friday night the boys and I went on a date to get a new carseat for Ryder, and Saturday was the big morning when we tested out the new seats!!!

My big boys were SO happy!

He doesn't seem to mind the hand-me-downs quite yet
I wonder if it'll always stay this way?

He was beyond proud to be in this big boy seat!

Can you believe he doesn't need the harness anymore and can use a seat belt?!
It's been a few days now and it is still so weird to me to look in my rearview mirror and see both of my boys sweet faces.

And the photos...

2012-01-29T13:54:00.011-05:00

Happy 9 Months Big Boy

These photos are getting hard because he goes from that perfect position on the bed by the pillows to here in a split second... I caught him before he fell :)

Landon Brennan is 9 Months Old

2012-01-24T21:25:00.004-05:00

Landon Brennan-

You were one busy boy this month. Every day it’s something new with you. You go somewhere new, pull up on something new, and get your crawl up just a little higher every single day. It is so exciting! I remember this age with your brother being so exciting as well, and am so glad we are getting to experience it once again with you. Of course your brother adds a whole me element to this experience. He’s your number one fan with your new milestones. He's always there to cheer you on, clap for you, and tell you “Good Job Bubby”, but he’s also quick to knock you back down… literally. He likes to play with your toys together, but isn’t really a fan of you playing with his. We are working on it. He goes to time out every time he hurts you, and is always very
sorry he does it. He's quick to apologize and promises he won't do it again. He still does it the next day, but we are working on it :)

One thing has stayed the same as last month... you're sick. Not the same sick from last month. We did get, I think, like two weeks of healthiness out of you. You have been super cranky for two days, and came down with some nasty cold symptoms last night. I took you to have your ears checked today. The doctor said you are good right now, but that our ear looked swollen and pussy. He said when ears look like that about 50% of them turn into ear infections and with your history it's not looking like things will work in our favor. I guess we will wait and see. Anyhow... that is why this is a pictureless post. You just aren't in the mood for smiling. We'll get those pictures soon though buddy :)

Let's get down to business:

Sizes:

Size 4 diapers are still doing quite well for you

Your jammies are all 18 months

I just pulled out Ryder's old 12 month shorts and they fit you great

18 month t-shirt and polos

18 month onesies

and 18 month one piece outfits... but they are getting snug

Food:

The doctor told me you looked orange today, and I told him I had heard that from quite a few people lately. I asked if it was something I should worry about. He told me it could be in the long run, and suggested we lay off the carrots, sweet potatoes, and squash. Considering the only other veggies sold in baby food are green beans and peas, and you hate them.. I'm not sure what my other options are. The doctor said to just stick to fuits. I thought the suggestion was weird, and plan on talking to our pediatrician about it more at your check-up.

You are doing great with food. Sometimes you deny baby food and want big people food and sometimes it's the other way around. You still love any pastas. This month you've taken a liking to chicken nuggets, blueberries, strawberries, and bananas.

Sleep:

Grrrrrr.... Ok so while you were healthy you were taking amazing naps. Usually i'd wake you up after an hour in the morning, and you will nap for around one-two hours with your brother in the afternoon. If I know we won't be home for naps in the afternoon I just let you continue sleeping in the morning and you take your long nap then.

As for night time, you will sleep through the night 3,4, or even 5 nights in a row, and then scream for hours some nights. I have let you "cry it out", but it's so frustrating. Daddy has spent quite a few nights on the couch because of this. We are SO ready for you to have your own room. Until this point we could leave the doors open, watch tv, have conversations and you never woke up. Now we tip-toe into the room with complete silence, and you wake up if we even roll over. I remember Ryder being awful at this age too, and from recent exchanges of stories with friends who have babies your age it appears this might just be normal. Let's get past this ok?!

Other Fun Stuff:

Your crawl is getting high. I watched you take a few little crawling steps up high, but then you drop down and resort to your army crawl. Re-reading Ryder's nine month post he was doing the exact same thing and took off crawling in his tenth month. Looks like you will be folling suit. You also officially can get from crawling to sitting up on your own. You were doing this before sometimes, but it's 100% now and happens all the time.

You are pulling up on stuff all around the house. You can stand up in your crib now too. I think this might have something to do with the sleep issue. You like to doze off while standing and then hit your head when you fall down. It's so pitiful, but unfortunately you don't like to let me soothe you back to sleep so my only option is to let you work it out on your own.

In addition to DaDa you now say Mama... Thanks sweet heart :) Just in the last few days we've noticed you repeating "All done". It comes out like "ahhh da". Grammy discovered this and it's so cute to listen to you repeat.

You are working on perfecting your clapping and waving bye-bye. We get a decent response from it, but not 100% yet.

You love cartoons. You particularly like the intro songs and ending songs on them all, but can sometimes get sucked into a whole episode. Ryder never watched tv at this age because I think I was too selfish to turn cartoons on. It's funny to watch you do whatever you can to see the tv when you hear your favorite cartoons voices.

You took your first poop in the tub this month... Just thought that was worth documenting :) Bubby really appreciate that one!

You LOVE to see yourself in the mirror! Especially before and after bath.

This month has been really fun with you. Between finally getting corresponding nap times with your brother, watching you discover so many new things, and you two really playing together now our days have become so much more enjoyable.

Promise to get your pictures up soon too!

We love you big boy!! :)

Hoops Game #1

2012-01-23T16:19:00.015-05:00

Saturday morning we had our first basketball game. We walked into the gym and it was so packed and loud!! Ryder of course turned super shy, and I got a little nervous to see how he was going to do with so many people around. First we had to go see Coach Matt and get his jersey. I asked him if he wanted jersey 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, or 10. He prouldy chose six... also happened to be the last number his daddy wore playing baseball :) We said hi to our friends. We had our whole crew show up, and add on Connor and Cole's family and we had quiet the cheering crowd! The boys did so great in their game. Basically the team who has the ball gets ready at one end of the court, dribbles (to the best of their ability) down to the end of the court, and then they attempt to get a shot. Sometimes they would just do one shot, sometimes someone else would try, and sometimes someone from the other team would even take a shot for us. It was super cute.

Ryder taking a practice shot before the game started... yea it went in :)

He kept his hand on this little girls butt during the whole pre-game pep talk

Ryder going down the court for the first play of the game
On the bench for a few minutes during the 2nd period
and getting a dribbling lesson from Daddy

Figuring out their play to start the third period

Go Red Team

Just look at this picture...

Ryder has his hands up for defense while clearly watching the kid making a shot behind him.

There is a kid on the yellow team also playing defense for us.
You've got to love 3-4 year old basketball!

Daddy gettting Ryder's shoes tied up for the fourth period

Looking at Daddy making sure he's getting his dribbling right

Making his shot! :)

Getting ready to run down the court with his buddy Connor

(for anyone that doesn't remember... Connor is our buddy we met through the internet. His Daddy played baseball, we were from the same home town, and I contacted his Mommy, Miss Megan, because we had so much in common. It is SOO fun to be able to watch these two become friends now. It's like online dating.. just for friends :)!!)

"Why do I have to sit here and listen to these girl talk? I'd rather be playing basketball."

Great first game Red Team!!

And the best part, according to the kids, snack time!

Ryder and Cameron all sweaty after their game

It's been such a great season so far... excited about the rest of it!

Off to get my screaming kid out of the exersaucer and get ready for basketball practice :)

Happy Monday!

Lost and Found

2012-01-21T14:25:00.028-05:00

Well aparently I had a ton of pictures on my camera.. I hadn't realize quite how much I had been picking my camera up at home lately and hadn't bothered to put them on the blog....

It could have something to do with the fact that my baby hangs out in places like this now

Anyhow... onto a completley random post of random pictures of my boys hanging out at home...

Look at my big guy smiling like a nice boy for the camera

The boys being silly during a night swim last week

This sweetie pie has a secret to share...

Just shy of 3 1/2 he is officially swimming on his own!

Some sweet book reading time between two brothers last week

He quickly moved onto painting a picture

While this guy snuck onto the patio and found a coconut laying around

He then discover Grammy and Mack's door step into their room...

Ryder called me back over to show me his masterpiece

We then quickly realize bubby might make it up the tiny step into the room

Half way there...

Our little coach trying to get his bubby up the step

And he made it!

Ryder has taking a liking to his Ninetendo DS he had gotten Christmas of '10

He had played a little here or there since then, but never really grasped it.

Clearly he's got it down now considering we see a lot of these 1st places on the screen these days...

Playing in the tub

We take walks around the neighborhood later in the afternoon quite often. There is a playground, some swings, and a basketball hoop a little ways from the house. We typically play basketball down there, but yesterday we had no basketball on us. Ryder asked to play on the playground so I told him just a few minutes because I knew Landon would get antsy. Once we got there I figured i'd let Landon try the playground out. He is climbing onto and off of everything and anything these days so we went for it.

Making his way through the tunnel

He did it!

Checking up bubby down below

Bubby trying to help Landon get up the steps

Lovin' the tongue and all that drool

He was pretty excited when he realized he could pull up on these bars!!

Can we come back soon please?!?!

Now that Landon can do that park we will probably be walking down there every single day to blow that last hour before dinner, bath, and bed... what a great break!

Someone Started School

2012-01-21T14:17:00.003-05:00

Sophia had been going to gymnastics on Tuesdays and Thursdays when Ryder was at school. This lead to me being super bored most days because they were busy, and I was looking for a lunch partner. Amanda wanted Sophia in school, but didn't want to quit gymnastics. After some planning we rearranged the kids schedules so they could go to school together. They now go Tuesdays and Fridays. Tuesday was their first day and she did SO great! Ryder got sad as usual, but i'm pretty sure it's just his personality. Sophia ran in there and never looked back. I am once again so thankful we get to watch them grow up together. We also picked up the applications to get them enrolled in Pre-K 4 next year!! Ryder will be required to be in school five 1/2 days next year. Our babies are growing up!

Ryder and Sophia's first day of school together 1/17/12

My boys playing in the car after we dropped their Aunties off at school and were waiting for Noah's Nursery to open

St. Andrews Festival

2012-01-14T19:40:00.015-05:00

We didn't really have anything going on today, and Derrik was working. My parents were heading to the St. Andrews Festival with the girls and their friends so we tagged along. It was chilly out for Florida and the absolute perfect day for a fair!

Ryder watching the girls go on the "big kid" rides. He is so close to 36", but just not quite there yet

Watching Auntie Hailey and Emily up on the swings

He's got his tickets and is excited he's tall enough for one of the big kids rides!
Such a big boy on the big kid rides

My bubby and I

I'm sure at 25 and 27 I should probably stop calling him that :)

Going on the big slides with Uncle Ryan

He doesn't think the fair is quite so cool from his stroller

Uncle Ryan was a little caught off guard how fast the slides are on these crazy carnival rides

I got a good laugh at how far Ryan's feet hung off this rides...

especially with the cowboy boots

My little guy and I are on merry-go-round

Love his cheesy smile :)

These things were crazy..

Kind of like litle four wheelers with no brake

Grammy and Ryder on the Crazy Bus

"I really don't see what's so cool about this place?!"

Ryder and Auntie Ally trying to win some prizes...

We went home empty handed

Great day with the family :)

Hoops Season is Underway

2012-01-09T21:30:00.012-05:00

Hoops season is FINALLY underway!! Ryder has been waiting for this forever! I got him some new basketball shoes last week, and he has literally worn them everywhere. I think he appreciated those more then any of his Christmas presents. He even loves the basketball socks to go with it. We had our basketball meeting on Saturday. We found out that we are the Red Team. Ryder's friend Cameron is on our team, and a HUGE bonus is our coach, Coach Matt, is Cameron's dad!! Even better is that Ryder's friend Connor is on the team. Connor turned three in November and could officially play basketball with us :) One of my lifelong friends, Rachael, also signed her little boy Cole up as well. So we are lucky to have Cameron, Connor, and Cole playing with us! It should be such a fun season. Tonight was our first practice. We have another practice next Monday and then our first game next Saturday.

Starting practice with a little basketball tutorial...

This is a basketball and this is the hoop...

They like to keep it basic with the 3-4 year olds :)

Getting ready to practice their dribbling skills

Getting the ball from Coach Matt to take his shot
Not the best action shot ever.
You can only do so much with an iPhone camera.

Ryder and Cameron are so excited to be on the same team again!

We are so excited we will get to see Connor twice a week!

This guy is SO excited hoops season is under way!

Coach Matt giving his team a little pep talk

GO TEAM RED!!!

And... look what this little guy figured out tonight!

Big trouble right there... grrr

Haircuts for my boys..

2012-01-08T15:22:00.009-05:00

Yesterday was the day we finally went and got the boys haircuts. I was about to head out with the boys myself, but my mom and the girls called saying they were on their way home and wanted to go with us. Luckily they went because my mom was able to snap some pictures to document the event. I got Ryder all set up in his chair. He was such a big boy sitting all by himself while I dealt with Landon. Ryder is generally great about getting his haircut, but you just never know with a three year old. I had told him before he needed to be a really big boy to show Landon how it's done. I had no clue how Landon would be. He freaks out over strangers once in a while. He did great though. The lady gave him a comb to play with which pretty much classified her as a friend right away :)

He was such a wiggle worm, but the lady said she would rather him be doing that then crying. Not a single tear from my little boy, and he looks so handsome!

We didn't get anything too drastic done. They did take a ton of hair off though. We just trimmed the top in an effort to save some of the mowhawk and trimmed the back and sides up so that mullett hanging over the ears look was gone.

My Big Boy

Seriously... he never gives a normal face anymore!

A side view of the little guys haircut

We make some cute kids huh?! :)

It's Time...

2012-01-07T15:52:00.005-05:00

FOR

HAIRCUT

Wayyyy too many "is it a boy or girl?" comments lately
And.... Look who found the stairs today.

How I Like Him Best...

2012-01-07T08:31:00.000-05:00

Everyone always thinks babies are so cute in nice new outfits...

or fresh out of the bath when they smell so yummy...

BUT

one of my favorite time with my little babe...

when I think I could die from his cuteness

or just squeeze him to death

is when he is stripped down from a long day

his diaper is totally not on right

he's all crusty from dinner,

but has a full belly

and is happy as can be.

I usually recline his high chair

He relaxes, pulls his little legs up, and just giggles until his little hearts content.

That's how I like him best :)

Best Friends

2012-01-06T17:23:00.002-05:00

Landon 8 months and Dyson 7 months

These two keep us awfully busy on play dates these days!

And we both think they don't use their pacifiers much during the day, yet they both have their pacifiers in their months haha

Temple

2012-01-04T15:25:00.004-05:00

It is chilly down here in the Sunshine State... or maybe even just COLD! I know it's even colder then all you northern folk, but it was down in the 30s this morning which is super cold for us who expect warm weather 365 days a year. Anyhow... It was a great opportunity to bust out the boys Temple gear they were sent for Christmas. Derrik's cousin Taylor is a freshman there, and the boys are proudly representing their cousin today. Of course the whole "Ryder sit next to your brother", "closer to your brother", "sit up straight", "don't squish bubby's face", "don't cover the logo of the sweatshirts", "try to get bubby to smile", and so on and so forth wasn't all going to happen at the same time for a perfect picture.... so here are a few out takes of what I did get.

We hope everyone is staying warm!!

Big week for our family and a potential new career path for Derrik...

Keep him in your thoughts and prayers this week as he takes a few big steps towards it :)

Landon Brennan - 8 Months

2012-01-02T13:31:00.011-05:00

I knew i'd get on here to do this 8 month post... even if he is already a third of the way into his ninth month. Oh well... it is what it is I guess :)

Landon, this month might have possibly been sicker then the last. After going to the doctors in the beginning over November and them telling me you were just fine, I tried to battle through your sickness. On December 1st we had your flu booster shot, and I asked them to just check you out. You were diagnosed with an ear infection and put on antibiotics, and also put antibiotics for your nasty cough. We went back two weeks later and got a clean bill of health. You were sleeping through the night again, and you were healthy! Just a few days later we had two horrible nights of no sleep, and I just knew you had an ear infection. I called the doctors on the 21st, and you were again diagnosed with another ear infection. They gave you amoxicillian once again for ten days. On the ninth day, December 29th, you were doing no better so I took you back in. The doctor described your ear as "still buldging" and switch your antibiotics to something stronger. We are now about four days into the new antibiotics, and I am praying that this is going to work! We have been going through this since about the beginning of November, and I am not sure how much longer I can take these sleepless nights. The worst part is until I know you are healthy I can't imagine letting you "cry it out". I'm praying for a clean bill of health for real when we go for our re-check in two and a half weeks.

Sizes:

You have stayed pretty steady this last month. We haven't really purchased anything new. I think we had too much focus on getting all those fun new toys for Christmas :) I'm sure you'll have a growth spurt real soon. I'm kind of excited because we have lots of fun clothes of your brothers to get out once you grow just a little.

Food:

You are fine this month when it comes to food. I think your awful cold last month had to do with your lack of eating. You eat all the baby foods except peas and green beans. You love yogurt, baby puffs, and yogurt melts as well. We give you table food whenever we think it is something that is ok for you. You usually accept it just fine :)

Sleep:

I think I pretty much summed this up in the beginning, but yeah... it's awful. I am hoping once we are healthy we will all get back to our wonderful nights of sleep.

Your naps are ok. This week they have been pretty nonexistent, but I really think it's all related to your ears. When you are deciding it's a good day to nap you nap about an hour-hour and a half in the morning and about thirty minutes to an hour in the afternoon.

Some Other Fun Stuff:

On the go... You aren't crawling yet, but I got an e-mail today saying that the army crawl is sometimes all babies want to do. Your army crawl is soo funny, and gets you where you want to go fast! We have had to buy a baby gate for the upstaris, and can't let you be on your own if you are on the floors now. If your brother wants to play with toys we have to keep you away from the area or have him play with his toys on the couch. You guys play great with the baby toys. Ryder sometimes gets so excited when you are playing with a toy that he rips it right out of your hands ot "show you". We are working on explaining to him that he needs to show you without taking it away because it makes you sad :) i'm sure we will be working on this for a longggg time!

Communication... Da-da is still your only word, and you say it all the time. If we talk to you you like clap your lips together like you are talking back to us. I never remember Ryder doing this, and it's so funny. You have also started the beginnign stages of clapping. You do it on your own, and get your hands going really fast when we do it. We have not gotten you to do it prompted quite yet though.

Ryder is still your world. We all have to work to get laughs out of you, and Ryder can seriously just look at your and you are hysterical!!! You guys have the best time together and it's so sweet.

You are still a toothless wonder. You are beyond ticklish! Sometimes we tickle you without even meaning too. You have the funniest laugh... like the ones you see people watching YouTube videos of. We all love it and laugh just as hard with you :) I am sad to say that, for the most part, your mohawk is a think of the past. Your hair has gotten too long and lays flat now. I am hoping to get to the barber this week for your brother and think you might be getting into a chair yourself for a little trim. I'm thinking it might bring the mohawk back!

Landon, this month has been exhausting and tested my mommy skills on more then one occasion. I am hoping that January is a healthier month for you. We love you even when you do keep us up all night :)

The past couple weeks in pictures....

2012-01-01T08:49:00.001-05:00

I had a bunch of random pictures on my phone. I figured i'd share a few

Ryder and I in front of the Christmas tree at church...

it was so gorgeous

Hailey had her 12th birthday party at Glamour Shots. I remember doing this with my best friend Amanda at about her age. You go in and get your hair and make-up done, and then you have a mini photo shoot. It is a fun way to let the girls get pictures done their way and showing their own personality without the opinion of mom :)

Ryder watching "all his girlfriends" doing one of their poses for their group shot.

I probably wasn't supposed to do this, but here are pictures of the real picture of the final group shot

And Hailey's final shot... I love it!

Like I said these pictures are random...

Here is a shot of the necklace my parents got me for my birthday....

I think i'll be wearing it every day :)

Random shot of the little guy on Christmas Eve

2/3 of my boys.... pretty sure the other one wasn't too far away, but just refused to be photographed as usual

I'll have to get some better pictures, but here is Landon in his new ball pit.

Remember these pretty ladies? Turbo and Hannah. They went to live at Aunt Cindy and Uncle Dave's just about a year ago, and we get pictures every so often. We miss them so much, but made such a good decision sending them there :)

Super Landon...

This is what Grammy and Auntie Ally do when they have the baby while Daddy and Mommy run a couple errands.

Like father, like son right here...

Notice the hand placement haha

Random shots at the neighborhood park

That's all folks :)

I hope everyone had a very happy new year! I know I should have made a recap post of pictures throughout the year and talked some inspirtational talk about how 2012 is going to be great, but to be honest I was just focusing on sleep the past couple days. I'll get into the details of Landon in his 8 month post which is STILL coming, but it's been very sleepless to say the least. Our whole family was in bed before midnight except Ryder. He has made it to midnight the last two years! He is SO into music and loves watching the New Years shows with Ally. 2011 was the year our youngest was born and in the future will be remember as that, but for now I am glad so see that year get behind us. We have lots of opportunities presenting themselves to us in 2012, and are glad we will be able to have you all along for the journey with us as they unfold in our lives and are documented on this blog. I can't wait to see where we will be on New Years day 2013!

My Blued Eyed Baby

2011-12-30T17:48:00.009-05:00

I couldn't pick just one... This boy cracks me up!

Hoping to get an 8 month post up soon... Just have to put the little guy in a onesie and stick his sticker on. For some reason it just never seems to happen :)

Christmas 2011

2011-12-28T20:44:00.027-05:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas with friends and family. This Christmas was different for us. It was Derrik's and my first Christmas not on Cape Cod as a married couple, Derrik's first in Florida, and the first for me since as far back as I can remember that I wasn't leaving Christmas day for a BMX race, to go skiing, visiting Derrik, or having a ton of family over. I have to admit I was a little nervous at the idea of opening presents and then having nothing to do for the rest of the day, BUT rest assured I stayed plenty busy. Christmas is like running a marathon for a mom. Getting the boys ready for bed on a regular night is a job in itself, but adding on trying to make sure everything was ready for Christmas, cookies for Santa, getting it all set up, doing stockings, and then not sleeping due to anxiety.. I was exhausted before it even started! I had nightmares all night that Ryder woke up and opened all the presents, that I wouldn't see his face when he first saw Santa came, and many more. Needless to say I slept terrible! Christmas day we did our gifts and then went down to my parent's tree for their gifts. After that we spent all day opening boxes and putting toys together.

Cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for his reindeer

Santa came!!!

Our Christmas Cards...

We had a REALLY poor showing early in the month, but it finally picked up.
Santa blocked Ryder's door so he couldn't peek at the gifts
(I saw this idea on Pinterest and loved it! I didn't want Ryder to see our tree when he walked to our room in the morning. We told him to call us and we'd come to him. It backfired when he had to pee in the middle of the night and was totally freaked out!!!)

Our stockings

Ryder with all his stocking stuff

Derrik took charge of the camera during stockings and was so proud of this picture...

It's pretty goofy... and cute :)

This is the best picture I got of Ryder's face when he saw the tree and all the presents. He was so excited he kind of ran ahead of me.

Landon checking out the tree

Checking to see that Santa ate his cookies. Ryder finished the leftovers.

This is the only picture I have opening presents. I guess I decided to be in the moment and enjoy it. Ryder did great opening all of his presents. He asked to open a few toys, but we kept explaining we had to open all the presents first and it went just fine. He let out a loud squeal when he opened his jet from the Cars 2 movie, and screamed at the top of his lungs when he opened the oil rig from the Cars 2 movie. Exactly the response this Momma wanted to hear :)

We had to finish opening our presents because the peanut gallery was watching waiting to go open their presents downstairs

(they will all yell at me for posting this picture!)

Not the best picture of our family, but I guess it'll have to do :)

Ryder loved Landon's toy he got from Mimi and Papa

My boys started to get a little tired while opening presents with the family downstairs

And once Landon went down for a nap Chloe was glad to fill that spot

And some of the boys presents...

Ryder's stocking

Ryder's Cars 2 stuff

For Cars 2 folks... he got the oil rig, the spy jet, and as he likes to call it the mean boy and the nice boat. This stuff has really broadened his horizons when it comes to playing with cars.

His Thomas the Train track he asked for. No clue why since he doesn't watch the show or have any, but Santa had to bring what he asked for. Derrik had a rough morning trying to get this thing together :)

He also got the Matchbox Wall Tracks.... any of you mom's of boys out there wondering if this toy was worth it.... totally!!! He loves it and it was so easy to put together.

Landon's stocking stuff

All of his new toys

His new ball pit. It has since been put together and both of the boys love it. Landon loves to sit in it while Ryder puts the balls in the top to go down the race track.

And... the present that matters the most....

My family spending great quality time together

Playing Rack-O

The smirk on his face is because he knew I was taking his picture, and he also knows he sleeps every holiday away because he is "sooo tired"... being 25 and partying all the time is rough :)

Merry Christmas!

Cape Cod family.... We missed our Christmas afternoon with you!

PA family... we miss you all terribly

Thank you to everyone who sent gifts for the boys. They love all of them, and we were sure to tell them just who sent those gifts with lots of love :)

Some catch up before a Christmas post...

2011-12-28T19:26:00.027-05:00

And i'm back... Sorry for the hiatus. Christmas time gets a little crazy for us. My birthday is the 15th, Hailey's is the 22nd, and with Christmas just three days later things go non-stop for us. So... before I do the Christmas post I figured i'd get up some more pre-Christmas stuff.

GINGER BREAD HOUSES

We have attempted home made ginger bread houses a few times with the girls. We used gram crackers and frosting, and just never had much success. I wanted to let Ryder try one this year, but knew he'd only be able to do candy so I went out on a limb and bought one of the tacky premade ones. I must say i'm totally sold! I think the "frosting" in those kids is pretty much just glue, and it was so easy! We will be sticking with those in the years to come. Ryder loved it!!

Landon watching on
(Nini.. I think he has some growing to do into his Temple onesie)

Ally helped with the frosting

Ryder did all the candy

The finished productCHRISTMAS COOKIES

I love Christmas in Florida. I love everything about Florida, but I will admit making cookies down here wasn't the same. It's a tradition we started after moving up to Cape Cod, and it always happened to snow the day we made them. It also wasn't the same without my aunt there. We always put on our Santa hats and drove into Larry's to deliver them. Luckily we didn't have to do that this year, because the cookies ended up not being edible haha.

AUNTIE HAILEY'S BIRTHDAY

I don't have much to show as far as pictures for this, but rest assured it mine as well have been Ryder's birthday. As he put it "ALL of his girlfriends were spending the night at his house". He was in heaven!! These girls were up until 5 AM. Now I remember those days quite well with my friends, but I had a baby up with an ear infection that night and did NOT think it was cool. Needless to say when Ryder asked to see the girls at 7:30 am I did not stop him from going in their room :)

THE BEACH

Amanda and I decided to take the kids to the beach last Friday. It was so gorgeous. We sat right next to the pier so the sun wasn't on the babies at all. We stayed for about two hours, and the kids were great the whole time. We then put our stuff in the car and ate some Dairy Queen to top off our great day. It was so fun we are heading back again this Friday :)

Dyson did that sand taste yummy?

I'm thinking they are totally going to be best friends

Snack time at the beach

This picture might not actually be cute, but Ryder had Sophia laughing so hard. It was just adorable. The two of them are so cute together.

Hoping to work on a Christmas post and an 8 month post, but Landon is on his 2nd ear infection this month. We are a week into antibiotics, and I don't think they are working. He's miserable when he lays down to sleep :( Hopefully i'll get them up soon!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T20:06:00.003-05:00

We want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas

Love Always,

The Lutz Family

Santa Claus Visit

2011-12-16T10:31:00.018-05:00

I was so excited we could go visit the Bass Pro Shops Santa in Fort Myers this year. Last year all my friends kept posting pictures of their visit to the Winter Wonder Land they put on there, and I was jealous!! It just looked so much better then the typical mall Santa. It definitely lived up to my expectations. They transform a whole section of their store into such a magical place. While you wait in line (which we waited 45 minutes because we had to go at night), they have tons of crafts and games going on for the kids to keep them busy. They also had popcorn and fudge on sale, but we managed to escape that. They boys really enjoyed their snow display they had out...

Ryder about to make it snow

There we go
Landon checking the stuff out

I think he likes it :)

Bubby made it snow on him!

What a great way to keep kids happy while waiting for Santa!

Finally it was our turn to go see Santa! Ryder had been scared the last two years and needed LOTS of coaxing, but he seemed pretty confident this year. We kept telling him he was going to have to introduce Landon to Santa because they hadn't met yet. You have to walk down a big red carpet to get to Santa in his chair, and Ryder grabbed my hand, then Daddy's, then ran behind the stroller with Auntie Ally, and then ended up in my arms by the time we hit the chair. I had both boys in my arms, and I whispered to Ryder asking him if he wanted to sit on Santa's lap. I was expecting a no and for him to grasp me even hard, but instead he whispered back, "Yes, Mommy" and into his lap he went. I then expected Landon to cry because he's had some stranger anxiety, but he happily went right into Santa's lap!!

Ryder was SO excited, and I would described Landon as being in awe of the old guy :)

Taking their picture for the camera

And his eyes are right back on Old Saint Nick....

Look at how cute Ryder's face is!

He just wouldn't stop starring at him!

Melts my heart :)

Ryder asked Santa for a Thomas the Train track. He had been telling me that was what he was going to ask for for a month now. Mind you he never watches the show and has none of the stuff. He has just seen a commercial over and over again. The day we were going he changed his mind and said he wanted this white match box car from the Cars 2 movie. Due to a recent purchase I was quick to remind him he wanted the Thomas the Train track :)

And the official shot

The next day Landon and I were at the mall getting some Christmas shopping done while Ryder was at school. Santa had no line and was just kind of hanging out. I stopped for a second so Landon could see Santa again. He came up to us and asked me if he could hold him. The photographer was busy taking pictures of a family in Santa's chair because the little girl wanted nothing to do with Santa being around. Santa snuck around this tree and told me to snap a picture with my phone really quick while they weren't looking :) What a sweet guy! I know Landon looks less then excited in all of these pictures with Santa, but honestly it was because it was hard to get him to look at us and not Santa. He was so enthralled with him. I love it :)

Papi's Visit

2011-12-15T15:49:00.021-05:00

This past weekend we got a long overdue visit from Papi. It had been over a year since we had seen him in Pennsylvania and needless to say my boys were very excited to see him! Derrik was working when he arrived Friday morning so the boys and I went to get him.

My boys waiting for Papi walk out of the terminal

So happy he's finally here!!!

That night Derrik had to officiate some basketball games so we tagged along at the end of them so Ronnie could see Derrik in action, and we all went to dinner together after.

Hanging out in the stands

Saturday morning was our last t-ball game. I am so sad our season is over. Ryder came such a long way, but we have basketball season right around the corner after the holidays!

Ryder trying to get his bubby to look for a picture

throwing a ball to home

going to catch a ball

Go Team Orange! Great Season boys!!!

The Four Boys :)

Landon didn't take long to warm up to his Papi at all :)

Pooped out after his game as usual.

Nini thank you so much for his snowman toy! Both boys loveee it!

After naps after t-ball we all spent some time in the pool

He's pretty into his tongue lately

So my family are Dolphins fans and Derrik's family are Eagles fans.

They played each other this weekend and here Ryder is telling Papi the Dolphins were going to win

Butt Head not wanting his picture taken

The four guys again

Playing some basketball Sunday afternoon

Landon watching everyone play basketball....

Check out that hair once again

Papi-

Thanks for a great visit! We hope it's not too long until we see you again. The boys miss you so much already!!!

O' Christmas Tree

2011-12-14T12:49:00.020-05:00

A Christmas tree?!?! That sounds like fun!! Let's get it up!!!

The hard working elves taking a quick break to let Mommy take a picture

I know this is slightly blurry, but I still had to share

Ryder was such an amazing helper this year. He hung every single ball. Such a change from two years ago when he just threw them all and broke them. I love the Christmas spirit inside him :)

Brutus was watching over us as we got the tree up :)

Attempt at a family photo with our tree

Attempt #2

We're all ready for you Santa!

(I realized Landon's stocking was reversed of ours when we hung them, and we have since ordered and hung his matching one.)

I've done a dated ornament every year our family has changed

2006: Our first Christmas together - we were engaged two months later

2008 - Ryder joined our family

2010 - I had a little baby in my belly waiting to make his arrival

2011 - What we think will be our last updated ornament with the addition of Landon :)

We have a ton of photo ornaments on our tree, and my goal is to one day have it be all custom/handmade ornaments.

Ryder and I worked on that this week with these additions

(we are still working on one of Landon's)

And Ryder's first Christmas project at school.... I love it!

Lots more holiday updates to come!

2011 Family Photos

2011-12-14T12:02:00.015-05:00

Moving, Mustaches, Medals, and an Elf

2011-12-04T14:13:00.008-05:00

MOVING:

Yeah... our little guy is moving... on the go... army crawling... whatever you want to call it. He is getting where he wants to go, and it's getting faster by the day. He's starting to get his legs underneath him, getting his belly more off the ground, and his arms higher up every time he gets the chacne to crawl. My prediction is that by Christmas we will have to be 100% baby proofed in this house!!

It was this night we decided that moving my childhood dog's ashes off the shelf might be a good idea.

This picture has nothing to do with the post title, but I love watching my boys be nice to each other.

MUSTACHES

My boys and I at dinner Friday night. We were out with a couple of my sisters friends. They were full of it and bought fake mustaches out of the coin machine...

What do you think? Does it make him look older? :)

MEDALS

Ryder got his medal for t-ball yesterday. This is the best picture he would give me so I guess it'll have to do. The last game is next Saturday. Ryder has really progressed this season in understanding the game, but even more so in learning to play with friends and listen to people other then us (some days). We've truly enjoyed every Saturday morning out at the t-ball field and will miss it. Basketball starts in January!!

THE ELF

Have you heard of The Elf of the Shelf? For anyone that hasn't, a quick overview. The Elf on a Shelf is a book (and movie now) that tells the story of an elf that comes every Thanksgiving. Once he is given a name he gains his magic. Every night he flies to the North Pole to tell Santa if you are being naughty or nice. He then comes back in the morning before the kids wake up in a new place every morning. No one is allowed to touch him or he'll lose his magic. Ryder named his elf Brutus last year after one of our favorite monster trucks. This is our first year really participating, and Ryder loves it! He can't wait to find where Brutus landed from his trip to the North Pole the night before. Some people get really creative with notes and fun things the elf messed up before. I'm thinking we might save that for another year since we have lots of Elf on the Shelf years ahead of us :)

Brutus's resting spot yesterday

We are in full Christmas mode around these parts... the house is decorated, Christmas t-shirt and pj's being worn quite often, outside lights are up, trees are going up tonight, advent calendars are made and hung, almost all presents are bought, and my Christmas cards get here tomorrow for me to mail out! I loveee this time of year!!!

My Sick Babies

2011-12-01T02:31:00.000-05:00

I hate when my boys are sick. It makes me so sad... except one thing... they are much more cuddly then usual... here is some evidence of life the past month around our house...

We hadn't used a swing in months! We sold ours, but thankfully my mom still had here's. It's been my savior this week!!

Things are starting to look up around here...

Just in time for the Christmas holiday to start!!

Someone is VERY excited for Christmas... can you guess who?!

Some iPhone shots

2011-11-30T14:45:00.007-05:00

We got out Ryder's play table for Landon a couple weeks ago. Landon loves all the noises and lights on this thing! He only likes to play standing up like this for a little while and then prefers it on the floor so he can really pound on it.

I love this "thanks mom for this cool toy" look on his face!
Landon is such a little goober when he sees i'm taking his picture!
He just loves the attention!

This is how Landon likes to spend most of his time these days... or scooting across the floor

Ryder is really big into all things Christmas right now.. I use to have to force him to put these hats on and now he does it willingly and asks me to take his picture.

I know this hat is kind of "worn" looking, but it's a family hat. I believe my mom's grandpa's

Ryder put all his cars on Mack's decoration boat.

He told us the cars were going to a race far away on the big boat.

How Landon was sleeping this afternoon...

Looks cozy huh?!

Wordless Wednesday - 7 Months

2011-11-30T14:18:00.007-05:00

Showin' off that mohawk for you!

Landon Brennan is 7 months old!

2011-11-28T20:45:00.007-05:00

I may not have taken my baby's 7 month pictures yet even though it is a whole six days after his 7 month birthday, BUT I did happen to snap this picture coincidentally on his 7 month birthday. Due to his sick status it'll have to do until he feels better... which is hopefully tomorrow... wishful thinking!
Landon Brennan -

You have been one sick kiddo this whole entire month. You recovered slightly mid-month, but are making up for it now. I am not even sure if I can recall how it all went down, but I think you came down with a cough/cold right after you turned six months. We had sleepless nights, elevated crib mattress, and a not so happy baby. At some point you slowly progressed towards better just as your brother's cough started to pick up. Your cough never fully went away, Ryder was really sick, Daddy battled achy teeth which resulted in having his wisdom teeth pulled, Ryder ended up feverish for two days straight, and literally just as I thought he was recovering (he's still coughing up a storm) you went right down hill. You've had a rough two days. You cough so hard you throw up. I just put you to bed after a warm bath, Vick's vapo-rub, and all your buggers wipes the best I could. About ten minutes later (after silence) I heard a loud cry and you threw up everywhere. PLEASEEEEEEE let's get better baby!!!!

We did manage to squeeze in some fun and growing up amongst it all though :)

Sizes:

Size 3 Diapers

18 Month One Piece Outfits

6-9 Months Jeans and Shorts

12-18 Month Shirts

18 Month Jammies

Food:

In two words: A BATTLE

I am PRAYING you aren't like you Auntie Hailey or cousin Jeff. Both of these family members eat very few foods. My cousin Jeff didn't outgrow it until college, and I feel as if Hailey never will! They literally ate like five foods. I honestly think it is because of all this sickness, but you gag at anything I put in your mouth. I am trying my hardest to figure it out. I've tried the stage three meals, veggies from our family dinners, regular yogurt, applesauce, and many others. You almost always accept yogurt and the rest are all hit or miss. I have noticed you do tend to like it cold out of the fridge. That kind of frustrates me because Ryder was never given food cold or heated up. We were on the go to much with baseball with him so I knew he couldn't have food that way. Looks like your making the calls though :)

You have tried lots of real food this month. Your favorite though is mac 'n cheese... Just like Daddy and Ryder!

Sleep:

Ahh... remember those 3-4 months straight you slept all-night-long?! Do you?!? Could you try that again? You aren't horrible, but it's not great either. You always stay in bed, but with all this sickness some nights I feel like I am constantly up helping you get back to sleep. I know we will get back there, but i've had some pretty sleepy days this month... especially with Ryder being sick too.

You have figured out your nap though. You've given up that three hour morning nap, and now keep it to about an hour and a half. In return though you also take an afternoon nap of about an hour and a half. I like it this way much more!

Other Fun Stuff This Month:

Your getting on the go sweetie! No actual crawling on all fours, but if you want something you can get there. You use your arms in an army crawl fashion and push with your toes. It's really cute :)

You play sitting with a bucket of toys multiple times a day. Ryder really loves to get down and play with you when you do this. We have buckets upstairs and downstairs. While you do this I usually can get things done which is nice.

You have started to babble some. The most we've heard out of this is da-da (more like da da da da da da da), but it's the beginning of it all. I wonder if you'll talk quicker then Ryder did since he was such a late talker (he makes up for it now!)

You've developed a little stranger anxiety. If a face you don't know comes up to you it's about a 50/50 chance you'll break down in tears. Let's those close to you feel loved that you light up when you see our faces!! I am predicting a Santa picture this year with a very excited smiling three year old and a screaming seven month old... we'll see how good my predictions are soon.

Do I need to mention that hair again? I get SOO many comments on it. It just keeps getting fuller and taller.... keep it comin'.... we love it!

Landon,

We can't wait to celebrate the holiday season with you. I know the wrapping paper and boxes will be your favorite present this year, and we'll gladly take advantage haha... I can't wait to take you to see Santa, see your face stare in amazement at Christmas lights, and dress you in your cute Christmas jammies every night :) It's my favorite time of year buddy, and we can't wait to share it with you. Get healthy!!!

We love you!!

Random Saturday Post

2011-11-19T09:31:00.001-05:00

Landon is officially all over the place. Baby gates to be purchased soon. Derrik had his wisdom teeth pulled yesterday. He seems to be feeling much better. Ryder woke up with another cold this morning... love winter... insert sarcasm. He's a trooper though, and we're on our way to his t-ball game. Derrik has a low key week for work. We plan on enjoying having him around, and might even make our way to the circus this week. We are bummed we aren't in Pennsylvania this week. It'll be Ryder's first Thanksgiving not in Pennsylvania. We miss everyone terribly and hope we can find a way to get up there sooner rather then later. On a happy note though, Derrik got selected to be on the All-Star officiating crew for football. He gets honored at a banquet on the 5th and the game is the 7th. We are so proud of him :)

Happy Saturday!

Lately

2011-11-14T15:08:00.016-05:00

Ahhh... What happened to me? I guess I just forgot I had a blog. I'm back though. With lots of grainy iPhone pictures. I swear sometimes my phone takes great pictures and other times they are awful, and I'm so mad I didn't just use my good camera.

Anyhow... Back to the weekend before last.... We started our Saturday morning the same way we have been for quite a while now at the t-ball field. They had team pictures, and Ryder got his picture taken for his very own baseball card just like Daddy! He can not wait for these to come in.. grandparents... they will be in your Christmas cards... be excited :)

Later that night I had a hot date with my husband. One of my best friends birthdays was the day before so we had arranged for a group of us to go out on a local casino boat. You go out for like six hours, have dinner, and gamble. I'm proud to say I think we broke even for once! We tend to donate our money when we do stuff like this :)
Meanwhile, Ryder had been BEGGING to go see Footloose in the theatre. Thanks to living with his two teenage aunts he has a love for music. Not kiddie music mind you... think LMFAO, Selena Gomez (his favorite), Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, and so on! Anyhow... He knows most of the words to the Footloose song. Once he found out there was a movie to it he would not stop asking to go. It worked out perfectly for Derrik and I to drop them off on our way to the boat so they got to go. We pulled up to the movie theatre drop off spot, and Ryder said, "Thanks guy. See you later." Really?!?! When did he get so grown up! Not to mention we woke him up from a nap in time to go to the movies, and I was already dressed up. When I first saw him I asked him if he was excited to go see Footloose, and he looked at him with a huge smile and said, "Mom, you look pretty!". He knows how to make a momma feel good :)

Sidenote before I forget... I had gotten Ryder a pair of Converse last week. I asked him if he wanted to wear his new shoes and told him they were on the pool table. He brought them over and said, "Mom, these shoes are like Justin Bieber's". We continued to talk about his new shoes while I finished getting him dressed. I asked him if he wanted his hoodie on then or when we were leaving the house. He told me he wanted it on then, and proceeded to say, "Mom, Justin Bieber wears hoodies like this. I look just like Justin Bieber". The boys cracks me up these days!

The next pictures is just showing off the mohawk the little guy has been sporting these days. You would not believe the amount of comments I get on this hair... love it!

And some more of the cutie pie

We got our annual family pictures done for our Christmas card on Friday. I haven't seen them yet, but I have a feeling i'm going to love them!!! The boys cooperated great so hopefully we have some keepers. I bribed my older boys (Derrik included) that if they were good we could go to the dog track after. They were good boys so we went. Ryder loved it!! In the middle of the night that night he woke up having a bad dream. I tucked him back in and was leaving the room. He called me back in, and in his sleepy state of mind said, "Mom, I wanted the number one dog to win"..... clearly it was still on his mind all night!

Landon is slowly but surely getting to be all over the place. In the picture down below he started by his basket of toys and somehow wiggles his way elsewhere. He is a month or so ahead of Ryder on this one. I don't remember Ryder doing this until around 7-8 months. Luckily we were moving all around with spring training and baseball season when Ryder was this age so I can remember what house we were living in to remember the age things happened :)

This is the little guy boycotting nap the other day.... I think he was saying help get me out of here!

And... it's almost time to lower the crib... so sad :(

We have been spending lots of time at the basketball hoop at the park in our neighborhood. Ryder is pretty decent for three years old. Basketball season starts in January, and we can't wait! It cracks me up that there is a playground and swings right next to this, yet he never asks to play on it and just wants to shoot hoops.

Enjoying whatever toys his brother brought along for the walk to keep him entertained.

Landon had his six month check up today. As usual... we have a big boy. He was 29 1/2 inches and 20lb 6oz. He was in the 90th percentile for his weight and off the charts for his height. He is getting SO heavy to carry in his baby carseat. Santa might be bringing a big boy one! Landon loves the doctors just so he can play in the paper they put on the table :)

We met up with Amanda and the kids today and had our plans fall through. We decided to go to the mall with the four kids, got what we needed to accomplished, and they weren't that bad! That'll never happen again. Granted we were only there about thirty minutes and bribed them :) In Macy's they had a spot to write letters to Santa....

Ryder's wish list for Santa is a million miles long this year.. the boy wants everything! I think any toy we see now he says "Mommy, I should get that for Christmas".... We're working on it buddy, but not sure those tacky Yo Gabba Gabba shoes in the shoe store in the mall are going to make it under the tree :)

Everything else is going well. The boys are good. Ryder is doing amazing in school and t-ball. No more tears, and he loves them both. Derrik quit his valet job because he was just insanely busy. He is just getting into basketball season for officiating, and keeping busy enough. We like some time with him too :) We are trying to enjoy our time right now, but getting very antsy on what's to come... I wish I had a crystal ball to see into the future sometimes!! I feel like we are always waiting for what's next. Is this just life? Is life full of what's next until it's over? Lots of long talks, patience, and prayer on what's to come around here... for now though we just take it day to day watching our little guys grow up!

Oh man...

2011-11-04T22:59:00.001-04:00

We've got a troublemaker on our hands these days...

but who can stay mad at this sweet face?!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Lucky me....

2011-11-04T16:04:00.001-04:00

99% of Landon's sleep time is spent in his crib, car seat, or stroller, but every once in a while we break the rules :)

and I consider it an amazing day when this little guy wakes up and curls up to me too!!

One lucky Momma right here :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wordless Wednesday - From the Tub

2011-11-02T19:38:00.001-04:00

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Trick-or-Treating

2011-11-01T10:32:00.001-04:00

Our weather cleared up for a perfect night of trick-or-treating last night. Ryder drove me nuts all day asking to go, and was so excited when it was finally time. He did his trick-or-treating with Auntie Hailey and Soso. We stayed in our neighborhood, and it did not disappoint! The streets were absolutely packed with kids!! Ryder was very good with saying trick-or-treat and then followed up with a Happy Halloween or thank you. He made it pretty much the whole 1.1 mile circle, and then helped hand out some candy when we got back home. Landon enjoyed the view from his stroller about half way until he crashed for the night. It was a great Halloween :) Now on to the next holidays! Ryder is already asking how long until Christmas... Ahhh!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T09:42:00.002-04:00

Halloween Party 2011

2011-10-30T10:42:00.036-04:00

It's Party Time!!!

My sisters had a bunch of their middle school friends over for a Halloween party last night.

I know a certain 3 year old who had the time of his life!
Posing for Mommy before the party

My little Woody's

(for those not familiar Woody is the cowboy from the Disney Toy Story movies)

I love my little cowboys

Posing with their Aunties

My boys best friends came over to play too!

Mickey and Woody were more intersted in each other then looking at the camera.

Here are a few of the shots we did get though...

Woody and Belle getting help making Mummy hotdogs with Auntie Ally

Only our little babies pose with us these days

My littliest Woody... I could just eat him up!

Our besties :)

With my two boys :)

Ryder with his Mummy wrapping team

Woody and Belle's turn to get wrapped like mummies

True Love right here :)

Breaking free

Watching another game together

Judging the bobbing for apples contest

Some of the girls doing the donut on the string contest

Ryder blowing the whistle to start the game

He seriously just loves all these girls and the attention they give him

Caught him in the act stealing a cupcake..

He even peels the wrapper himself these days!

What's a little more sugar going to hurt?!

Time for the gummy worm contest. There were lots of gummy worms in a tin with whipped cream on top. You had to keep your hands behind your back and see who can eat all of theirs first....

He just loved getting to play with the big girls all night. He says his favorite part was the bobbing for apples and the donuts on a string, but I think it was the dance party they had at the end. I'll try to get a video up later! It's so cute!!

We are very excited for Trick-or-Treating tomorrow!!

Mater Pumpkin

2011-10-30T10:11:00.001-04:00

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Pumpkin Carving 2011

2011-10-30T10:10:00.005-04:00

My Oldest Baby

2011-10-29T08:56:00.001-04:00

I usually like to stick to talking about my two little guys, but it's fun to talk about the oldest love of my life sometimes too!!

Derrik has been doing such an amazing job officiating for football this season. He got involved with a really great group down in Collier County who has opened up a lot of opportunities to him. Typically you have to put in your time to move up in the system. Usually you need at least three years experience to even be asked to do some varsity games. Derrik has been doing the varsity games every Friday in his second year, has been asked to white hat (be the lead official on the field) freshman and JV games the last two weeks, and due to tons of rain last night was asked to white hat a varsity football game this morning!! I am so proud of him for finding something he loves and am so thankful these people have given him the opportunity to advance as fast as he has. Maybe his dream can come true, and he can start working his way up the college ranks soon.

Football season ends soon which means basketball season is coming. He's already assigned to 56 games during the months of November and December! I guess we won't be seeing much of him!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Crazy Hair

2011-10-27T14:56:00.001-04:00

Just a quick picture of Hailey's hair I did for a Halloween party last night. Lotsssss of hairspray!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Mr. Ryder

2011-10-27T08:43:00.001-04:00

Oh Ryder Lee... You are a crazy little boy! I thought you didn't need monthly updates anymore at this age, but boy you are always throwing me for a loop how fast you're changing!

These pictures are a perfect reason why your little brother's face is plastered all over this blog right now, and yours doesn't make an appearance quite as often :)

You are finally liking this school thing! I knew if I just kept up with it you would adjust just fine. I know it's great for you. You come home learning new things every single day, and you love Miss Kristen, Miss Evelyn, and a cute girl in your class you've named Little Ally. I'm so glad you love school now even if you did break my heart the first two months.

Your teachers tell me you are the most outgoing during praise and worship at school. I just love that :) I just hope your don't break out your moves to the Your Sexy as You Know It song because they are so not Christian school appropriate!

You told me the other day that you learn about Jesus at school. I said that's great Ryder who is he. You responded back, "He's the guy in the blue shirt on the t.v." Clearly we have a long way to go in this department!

You learned about fire safety last week in school. This weekend Mack yelled at the t.v. that one of the Dolphins coaches needed to be fired. You said back, "No Mack they just need to stop, drop, and roll." You crack me up big guy!

T-Ball is still a work in progress, but we are making great strides. You still think Daddy is part of the team (we knew he'd get picked up again!), but I truly believe you'll be out there on your own by the end of the season. You are warming up to Coach Victor and have a cute friendship going with a little boy named Cameron. I'm not sure if I've blogged about it yet, but his family is from the Cincinnati area, and they always have Reds gear on as well. We later found out his mom graduated from GW where Derrik went to college... small world!

In the end I think you just don't like new people. Once you warm up to people you are very outgoing. Mommy and Daddy need to remember that and just have patience with you.

You are doing so great with swimming! I think you can do it 100% on your own, but I'd prefer not to find out if you can't so we leave the floaty on while your playing alone with supervision. When we are in the pool with you though you can swim the whole length of the pool, jump in and get out on your own, and can swim to the bottom to get things off the bottom of the pool without any floaty.

You change every day. We love you so much big boy!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Landon Brennan is 6 Months Old!

2011-10-26T14:58:00.000-04:00

10/25/11 - Once again... another monthly post typed out and lost... the internet in this house is going to be the end of me... or this blog! Grrr... My attempt to re-type begins...

10/26/11 - I started typing yesterday and had the saddest crankiest baby. He went to sleep in my arms which he typically refuses to do. I don't know whether to write it off as teething or many just a belly ache, but he was SAD! Hopefully I get to hit the post button today :)

Onto the regularly scheduled post!

Landon Brennan... six months! Wow!!! Please please please don't stop being my baby in the next six months. PLEASE don't grow up! I loveeee having a baby in my life. Daddy and I only want two little boys in our life so we need you to stay tiny f-o-r-e-v-e-r!!

With that being said let's talk about all the growing up you did this last month. You are getting to be so much fun. I feel like you are really becoming a member of the family. You really are startign to interact with us, and show such a great personality. You are still my easy child, and I so hope you stay that way! It's not a competition with your brother :)

Sizes:
size three diaper

9-12 month onesies

12-18 month one piece outfits

12 month jammies

12 month t-shirts

6-9 month shorts and jeans
Food:

Stage 2 solids

5 1/2 oz and 6 oz bottles

5 1/2 is the max I can put into your tiny 4 oz bottles. We do this because you can hold it on your own and don't really always finished your 6 oz ones anyhow

You have yet to refuse any of the stage two foods, and eat the ones that have the green veggies mixed in. Maybe that don't taste as bad that way :)

You have a bottle when you wake up, fruit and cereal, nap, bottle, fruit/veggie for lunch, bottle, nap, bottle, veggie and cereal, bottle, bed

I gave you mashed potatoes this month, and you did ok. I think anything pureed like that you will do fine with, but aren't ready for anything with consistency to it. We tried letting you use one of those teething cookies, but you just threw it. I know these foods are right around the corner for us though!

Sleep:

It's not as perfect as i've reported so often in the previous months, but still something most moms would rave about. You wake up some nights once or twice a night and need your pacifier to go back to sleep. I blame this on two things. The first would be your Daddy's late nights getting home from work, his 5 am alarm clock, and Ryder's screaming through the baby monitor on his rough nights. The second would be all that rolling around you do now. You're all over the place and seem to be waking yourself up. You sleep on both sides, your back, and your belly. You don't seem to prefer any position. I guess it is wherever you just doze off.

You generally wake between 7 and 8. You don't need to be picked up right away and usually stay in there very content for around an hour. You take your first nap around 10ish, but I can't figure you out after that. You go to bed at 7:30 pretty easy every night, but between noon-ish until seven is hard to find a nap that is working for us. You tend to crash a little after five which makes me have to wake you up so you'll be in bed on time. Usually i'll come up with a reason to leave the house so you'll go to sleep in the car.

The Other Fun Stuff:

Rolling: You don't roll like some babies and make it all the way across the room, but you do your fair share of it. You instantly roll anytime I want to change your clothes and diaper that's for sure.

Big Boy Toys: The high chairs out to eat, the sitting up bath seat, and riding in the front of the cart while shopping all on your own, and the swing at the park. We don't do any of these full time yet, but you do like all of them. We have to do the big boy bath seat when we are taking long fun baths because you pull yourself off the baby one, but I still use that one when we are goign for a quick bath because it's easier. I also don't use high chairs while out full time yet because you are much easier to feed when reclined in your car seat. I have a feeling we will be using all of these full time come next month.

Bubby: That is your new name according to Ryder, and I think a lot of us call you that now too. I love it! My brother was always bubby to me and still is. The relationship between you two now is amazing!! Ryder truly just ignored you and could care less the first 4-5ish months. Now he looks for you, asks about you, protects you, and does anything he can to make you laugh. Honestly he's the only one who who almost always get a good belly laugh out of you. When you are cranky he is the only one who can really make you happy.

We had to put you in the middle of the back seat last week when Sophia was in the car with us, and you have yet to get moved back. You and Ryder love being right next to each other in the car. I think you have your best moments together in that back seat. You guys are so great together. I truly get why people love having more then one kid now. You two are our world :)

Things you love to do: You love to grab peoples faces/hair and go in wide mouthed for kisses. It is pretty much unavoidable and a very wet process! You also loveee the wipes bag. Reading Ryder's six month post he did both of these things then too. Your favorite places to be are still you high chair with lots of toys to throw around and your exersaucer. You are still pretty calm in the exersaucer as far as rocking it and stuff. I'm beginning to think that maybe you are just a mellow baby... i'll take it!

Your hair: It's amazing! You have the most perfect baby hair. I get comments on it from people every time we are out. It makes the most pefect little baby mowhawk. It's funny because your big brother happens to be sporting one right now too. I hope it stays this way for a while because it's the perfect little accessory for your outfits since we can't do bows because your a boy and all :) I put some gel in it the other day for fun and it was very adorable!

Landon... You in general are very easy, very happy, and bring a smile to our face every day. I love having a baby in our family, but also love watching you grow. Here's to many more milestones and mini-birthdays :)

Wordless Wednesday - Brothers

2011-10-26T00:17:00.000-04:00

Black and White

2011-10-25T02:51:00.000-04:00

He just melts my heart...

2011-10-23T21:19:00.009-04:00

I'm tired... Ryder has a cold and slept like a newborn last night... except my newborns usually sleep all night... so he slept like a bad newborn... up every thirty minutes... I keep saying i'm going to bed, but yet keep editing photos to try to get Landon's six month post up. Plus our internet is working at the moment and it's been in and out lately. Sooo.... I'm just going to post these scrumptious pictures of our six month old boy. I'll have the fully written post tomorrow :) if the internet is working... and if Ryder sleeps... too many if's not to share these sweet pictures right now!

1/2

2011-10-23T20:53:00.001-04:00

Happy 6 Months to my blue eyed, fuzzy haired, drool bucket baby boy!

We'll be back tomorrow with a big post :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-21T17:11:00.010-04:00

The pumpkin patch... AKA the church parking lot... such a fun time! I hope you could hear my sarcasm in that sentence. If you didn't then know there was A LOT of it! I build it up to be way more fun then it is every-single-year... considering we have lived in Arizona the last two Halloween's and Florida this year you can pretty much be guaranteed it'll be hot. Of course it's a "cool" day here in Florida so I thought we might catch a nice breeze and enjoy ourselves, but of course it felt like about 100 while we were picking our pumpkins out. Add in a cranky husband who is working 65+ hours a week, a toddler who is cranky just because it's a hobby of his, and an almost 6 month old who can sit now, but is more interested in playing with the stuff on the ground then looking up at the camera, and you have some pretty lousy models!!! Of course I put the boys in coordinating outfits, myself in one that matched as well, and brought Derrik a change of clothes "just in case" everyone wanted to attempt that perfect family photo. HAHA I live in a dream world. I snapped what I could, but I sure wish my boys understood my love of pumpkins, cute boys, and photography... there is no appreciation though so I had to snap what I could as fast as I could, and I didn't come away with much :(

Landon trying to get some of the grass

My boys going to get a wagon for our pumpkins we picked

(like Derrik's work clothes... nice)

Love him...

Gosh he's so cute... ok he still models pretty decent :)

Pulling bubby in the wagon

The best picture this guy was willing to give me

AND.... My amazing picture of my two boys... HAHA

I asked Ryder to put his arm around his brother. Clearly he doesn't understand what looks nice in pictures. And I LOVEEEE the big green mini van in the background. That is because when we were getting ready to load into the car I realized we were finally in the shade and attempted one last attempt with a "Ryder if you take a nice picture with your brother i'll take you for ice cream".... FAIL... And of course I still had to go get ice cream because he did try.

Thanks boys for an amazing day at the pumpkin patch :)

I love them... even if they don't share the same love for pictures as I do

Enjoying Fall

2011-10-20T16:56:00.001-04:00

It is gorgeous out today! We paid for it with two days of non stop rain waiting for this cold front, but it was worth it!! It is the perfect temperature out today! I texted Amanda pretty much begging her to ignore her kids schedule and spend the day with us. I met her at the mall for lunch and took Sophia to surprise Ryder at school while Amanda got her oil changed. We all meet back up at a local park. It was such a great afternoon together once again....

The kids in the car on the way. I was impressed three car seats fit in my back seat.

Loving the fresh air!

Racing down the slides

Walking by themselves on the boardwalk because they are big kids

Looking for alligators

He was loving the breeze!!

Jumping off the table for entertainment while Soso went to the potty. Pretty sure it was acceptable because of how dirty the table was... Check it out in the picture above.

Walking on the tracks

Best friends

Mommy-hood at its finest :)

And this is what's going on while I blog in the car in the driveway :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-19T13:34:00.001-04:00

Ok... Adding a few words... Landon was placed really close to Ryder's toy truck after dinner last night when we pushed him away from the table, and we caught him trying so hard to get his big brother's truck. We're going to start seeing some fighting soon!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Pumpkin Painting, Sippy Cups, and The Exersaucer

2011-10-17T09:28:00.009-04:00

Ryder has been overly excited about pumpkins being out. I knew we weren't going to be getting our official pumpkins anytime soon so I let him get one at the grocery store a couple weeks ago. Last week he was bored out of his mind so I let him paint his pumpkin. We now have a half black pumpkin from all the mixed paints!

Our pediatrician recommended some water for Landon. I never gave any to Ryder, but figured i'd put some in a sippy cup and let Landon start figuring out how these things work. I don't think any water actually went in his mouth, but he had fun playing with the cup.

And... some more just because he's cute. Landon spends lots of time in his exersaucer just like his big brother use to.

Hunsader Farms

2011-10-16T21:25:00.032-04:00

Fall makes my heart happy... Pumpkin pictures make my heart happy... Time with my family makes my heart happy... Time with my friends and their little ones make my heart happy... Lots of pictures of cute little kids makes my heart happy... I got all of that today... It was a good day :)

Ryder and Sophia checking out the goats with Auntie Ally

These two are getting bigger and cuter every day
Auntie Hailey and two of her best friends Emily and Mady

Ryder driving on the train

Attempting the short corn maze... you can't get lost in this one!

Words can't express my love for this dark haired-blue eyed little guy

Miss Amanda and Dyson

Our Crew

I can't resist taking pictures of sleeping babies

He loved getting to ride a pony!

We were waiting in line for face painting, and Ryder just walked up and starting hugging Sophia. I love watching their friendship grow over the years.

Really.... I just can't resist

And... yeah he's shirtless... it was HOT!

Love her smile getting her face painted

Ryder was dozing off getting his face done

Seeing his aweome face paiting for the first time

My handsome guy

Getting so big and so much fun these days :)

Oh how times have changed since we were friends way back to our pre-teen days... I've never been more thankful for our friendship.

Amanda is always there to remind me i'm not the only one going through things with the kids :)

He sat here for a good ten minutes trying to eat the pumpkins and hay

Baby Dyson

Miss Soso

The best my boys were willing to offer...

We will try again at the local one with Daddy :)

My sisters and their pumpkins

And... it's time to call it a day...

Happy Fall Y'all.... Many more fall photos to come over the next couple weeks.

I love this time of year with my babies :)

Our Week

2011-10-15T18:57:00.001-04:00

Our Internet has been down all week. I do have a few snapshots on my camera so I guess we will get back to those when our internet is back up. For now iPhone pictures will have to do :)

We had our first full week of two cars, Ryder in school, and Derrik working full time! I didn't know what to do with myself. Luckily Landon has boycotted more then one nap a day so he kept me busy!

Yesterday we met up with Miss Megan and Connor at Lakes Park. They had all there Halloween stuff set up so we had to check it out.

Ryder and Connor ghosts

Pirate Ryder

Clearly something was more interesting then taking a picture!

I was SO shocked Ryder was willing to ride the train with Miss Megan since Landon wasn't allowed on so I had to stay back. He doesn't leave our sides lately so it was nice to see him branch out :) he must really like Miss Megan!

I think we need a double stroller! Ryder got tired on the walk back and sat in the basket below the stroller. We had been meaning to pick up Miss Meredith's double stroller forever now and made it happen yesterday afternoon.

She also gave us this float which Landon loves. Like that Mohawk?!

We are enjoying an extremely breezy, non-humid, overcast day here in Florida....Happy Saturday!

We are off to the pumpkin patch tomorrow! I'll be sure to get those pictures up this week. Pumpkin patch pictures are a favorite of mine every year. We are trying a place an hour and a half away to try to avoid the church parking lots they sell pumpkins in around here. I hope it's cool out so we can pretend we are up north enjoying fall :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Game Day

2011-10-08T15:10:00.016-04:00

Today was definitely a success! Ryder spent all morning telling us he didn't want to go to t-ball. We headed out a little early so we could get him comfortable on the field and practice with him a little about running the bases. We knew the more comfortable he was out there the better the chance we had of him playing. Slowly but surely the rest of the team and coaches arrived, and Ryder got shyer and shyer. The coaches were great and tried to talk to him, but he was glued to Derrik. We assured Ryder that Daddy would stay with him every step of the way today. Within time hopefully he will go out there on his own, but it's just not happening right now. I know lots of parents have different opinions on that, but i'd much rather him be out there playing with Derrik by his side then sitting on the sidelines not participating like another kid on the team.

Ryder got more and more comfortbale as the game went on, he let Derrik start to back away a little, warmed up to the coaches, and even told Derrik "we are making friends Daddy". He had the biggest smile on his face the whole time! I hate that he gets nervous and anxious around unfamiliar people... totally from my side of the family. I was the same way growing up. We'll just learn to deal with it :)

Lots of pictures.... I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Sittign with his teammates waiting for his at bat

His first at bat... Love his facial expression

I love watching all the kids running after each ball.

Got one!

Waiting to run home... so excited

I just love this of the two of them. They were waiting after his at bat for the rest of the team to bat.

By his third at bat he let the coach put the ball on the tee. The coach was so great letting Ryder warm up to him. Ryder was really upset after he hit the coach on Monday with the bat.

He told us he was "really fast"

Little brother was totally into the game... lol

Todays game was a lot of fun, and I loved watching Derrik and Ryder get to go out there and do it together. Hopefully their team t-shirts are in for next weeks game... go Team Orange. We'll be out there every Monday for practice and Saturday for games until the first week in December. I'm sure there will be lots more pictures :)

The Last Two Weeks

2011-10-07T21:55:00.028-04:00

What a whirlwind two weeks we have just had! I guess i'll start at the beginning. The cruise was amazing!! It honestly feels like it was an eternity ago already. I had a hard time leaving the boys at first. Not that I was worried at all about them being with my mom, but just the idea of leaving them "just because". I had only left Ryder before (except when he was five months) for Derrik's surgeries and moves. I kind of felt guilty just ditching them like that. It took about one night to get over it, and I truly enjoyed four uninterrupted days with Derrik. It was such an amazing time together! We didn't take too many pictures, but I found a few.

The day we left sending Ryder a picture to say bye

Ahhh.. Just what this Mommy and Daddy needed!
In Freeport, Bahamas
a lot of the pictures are just close ups of us because we had to take our own picture.

Love the local island drinks

Heading to NCL's private island
I wouldn't mind spending every Wednesday floating here :)

The Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas

We were here on our anniversary 9/29

We won $100 play 9 and 29 on roulette within like three spins of each other in their casino

Our ship the Norwegian Sky

A night out on our anniversary

Happy 4 years to us

Lovedddd getting home to this sweetie pie!

Ryder and Soso at the Noah's Arc performance at the church Ryder goes to school at.

They were so cute in their pink together.

He thinks eating with his foot up is the only way to go these days

ahh... love him

Practicing in the cool weather Sunday morning

Daddy teaching Ryder how to put his glove on

At his first practice... Doesn't he look like such a little baseball player?!

Making a play throwing it to home

Daddy teaching Ryder how to stand while waiting for the ball to get hit.

Ryder was telling Daddy how he's going to get the ball when it's high in the sky

Getting ready for his first at-bat

Daddy giving him a pep talk....

Unfortunately Ryder swung a little too quick during his at-bat, and hit the coach before he could get out of the way. This resulted in tears and boycotting the rest of practice. Tomorrow is his first game, and I am very anxious to see if Ryder will be a player or spectator during it!

Funny story... I had told Ryder when he wouldn't go back out to practice that we were going to have to return all of his baseball stuff to the store. Once we had gotten to the car after practice we tried to forget missing half the practice and really focus on the positive. We had told him what a great job he did, and talked about how excited we were for his game on Saturday. We thought we were back on track with this baseball thing until we pulled into our neighborhood, and Ryder says, "Mommy we forgot to go to the store". I said, "Ryder Grammy is cooking dinner we don't need to go to the store." He responded, "No Mommy, we have to go return my baseball stuff remember?".... This child really gives me a run for my money!

Our last battle in this "getting settled" phase of our life was getting Derrik a car since we had sold his BMW before we left Arizona instead of shipping it out here. We have gone back and forth on so many options over the last month and finally made our final decision today. We made an amazing 2 for 1 deal. We traded in the SUV and got these two beauties for less then the SUV was each month! Buying cars always makes me nervous whether it's the right decision, but we really like these cars. We ended up with the same car in two different colors because the deal was amazing, and well... we both liked it!

And last, but not least. While we were waiting on Daddy to sign his life away on the cars today this little guy officially joined the "roller" group. He still doesn't roll from his belly to back, but started rolling from his back to belly over and over and over again today. Not sure if i'm a fan, but I guess I can't keep him little forever.

Pray the rain stays away for Ryder's t-ball game tomorrow, and that he plays!!!

Have a great weekend :)

What's Going On...

2011-09-24T19:37:00.003-04:00

Well i've been questioned a lot about where we are at in life these days. Life is "settled" right now. We have all our stuff in one place, Ryder's enrolled in school, t-ball starts soon, we get to eat dinner together, we have friends and family around... it feels good!!

The last month of job searching was rough! I knew the job market was bad, I know you hear about unemployment in the news every single day, but I was not prepared for the fact that there were NO jobs! I thought there just weren't good jobs. I didn't realize you couldn't get a job A-N-Y-W-H-E-R-E!!! We have finally had quite a few things come together it seems all at once. Derrik is officiating at the freshman, junior varsity, and varsity level football teams down in Collier county (for those out of Florida... we live in Lee county and Collier is just south of us). They have some kind of crazy drama going on right now between two groups. Luckily for us it meant there was a need for officials and that's how he ended up down there. Derrik LOVES it and is doing great. I love when he comes home excited about a job. He also just found out yesterday he got a full time job working at a golf course he worked at back in 2006 when we were dating. This is such a blessing because it's early mornings until early afternoons which still allows him to do officiating. Before we heard about that job he also had got hired doing valet at a local casino. They want him late nights (after officiating) Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. I don't think that one is 100% official yet, but sounded like it would be soon. He is also taking on a project selling for my dad in his spare time. We are beyond thankful that he has found jobs for us to get by right now while we still try to look at the big picture of what we are doing. We have been talking lots about what we are looking for in the long run and are very open to quite a few options right now. We'll keep some that part private for now though :)

The boys are great. As I said in Landon's post he is happy as can be and growing perfectly. We love him to pieces. Ryder is doing amazing in school. He is learning so much. He comes home every day counting better, singing the days of the week and the months of the year. He says a different prayer at meals sometimes which they must say at school. He is also starting to color pretty well inside the lines. The other day he asked me if we could see the "LMNOP song"... too funny! He's doing great on his ABC's now. They do a different letter every week at school. He tells us stories about school which sometimes I think are so fake, but i'll find out later are true. He talks about Ally (my sisters name), Chloe (our dogs name), and Bella (my parent's dog's name), and go figure there is an Ally, Chloe, and Bella in his class! He even pointed Bella and Chloe out to us at Chuck E Cheese the other day. He refers to Ally at school as "Little Ally".

We have really struggled lately with separation anxiety with Ryder. I was questioning whether to pull him out of school since he is still so young, but his teacher and some friends really encouraged that we should keep him in. They say that he settles down pretty quick and is fine in school. The only time he gets upset is when he's on the play ground. Apparently he is the most popular kid on the play ground. His teacher said he has at least one to two kids coming up to say hi to him when they are out there. He gets upset when they leave. Ryder might be the most popular boy in the Fort Myers Christian School middle school.... the girls are gaga over him. He's even got a few girlfriends in the elementary school too haha. We've told the girls to make sure they don't say hi anymore unless he sees them first. A friend made a good point the other day. In the last five months Ryder has gotten a new brother, had his dad leave for two and a half months, moved across the country into a new home, and started school. I guess a little separation anxiety is to be expected. We love him and will work through it :)

And the last thing we have going on around here... Derrik and I leave Monday morning for a four day cruise for our four year anniversary! He surprised me with it, and I could not be more excited. Seems odd to go with no jobs, but we haven't had a chance for a vacation in two and a half years because of Derrik's rehabs. We can not wait to go relax, not worry about jobs, moving, baseball, or even kids... although we will miss them terribly! For the next four days we will just relax, and be ready to start on our new adventures of jobs when we get back :) Happy Anniversary to us!!!

Here we go again...

2011-09-24T09:55:00.008-04:00

You didn't think baseball would completely leave our lives did you? HA! It's time for baseball to be about someone else in our family for a little while. We had our first t-ball meeting this week, practices the next two weeks, and his first game October 8th. Derrik was kind of against t-ball and it's lack of "real game" I guess is a good way to put it. I just wanted Ryder involved in something to get around kids and be a part of a team. In the fall it was either t-ball or soccer. We are really excited for basketball come January though!!

Here are some pictures of the boys practicing yesterday....

Landon Brennan - 5 Months Old

2011-09-23T17:58:00.019-04:00

*** Sorry for the post a day late... I had this all written out and our internet went down, and I lost it all. So fun typing it up twice... UGH!**

Five months buddy! Can I keep you right at this age forever? You are PERFECT! I know what's to come. I know you are about to start moving all over the place, that childproofing is right around the corner, and all of that fun stuff. PLEASE just stay a baby for a long time because this is flying by, and i'm enjoying it wayyyyy too much for it to be over soon.

I just re-read your four month post, and you still like attention. You aren't needing to be held as much because you are finally "playing" in some sense. You now focus on toys and grab at them with ease. You have quite a few favorites, and I try to introduce new ones every couple of days to keep you happy. When you do want attention though you have developed this new high pitch scream. It is too funny because you do it when we put you in your car seat, stroller, and whenever you are over something. It is not a cry at all and totally on purpose. You kind of sound like a little girl with the squeal :) Your favorite place to be is the high chair with toys and your exersaucer. You sit straight up in the high chair now and have started to swivel with ease in the exersaucer. You don't really bounce in it too much yet. I'm sure you will because Ryder use to rock that thing!

Sizes:

You are in the size 3 diapers. Your clothes I feel like I can never keep up on. I finally think to myself you are set for clothes for a little while, but that "little while" only really lasts like two weeks before you start growing out of something else. As you can see in these pictures clearly we need to get some bigger onesies. We don't wear them much because it's SO hot here. You are outgrowing a lot of your shirts. Thanks to Grammy we have plenty of jammies. She is sweet enough to bring home about a pair a week. Your shorts are six months, shirts 6-9, one piece outfits anywhere from 6-12, and jammies 12 months fit best. You do wear some bigger sizes in a few things but simply because they are around from your big brother.

Food:

You are still on six ounce bottles. You have one first thing in the morning, after your morning nap, before your afternoon nap, after your afternoon nap, and before bed. We are pretty consistent with the solidas now that you have a bigger interest in the last two-ish weeks. In the mornings you have a fruit and some baby rice and in the evening you have a vegetable and some baby rice. I think you have tried all of the step one baby foods. You love them all except the green veggies. You seem to kind of accept green beans but won't even think about the peas. Of course now I tend to not give them to you because it's annoying to fight you on them. We have a pretty good supply of the step one foods so we will move up to the step two once we run out.

Sleep:

You are definitely an expert in this category! We generally give you your last bottle around 7:00 and have you in bed at about 7:30. We don't ever hear from you before 8:00, but lately it's more like 9:00-9:30 especially on mornings you stay home with Daddy while I take Ryder to school. You only woke up once during the night this month for a bottle, and it was while you had a cold. PLEASE have a talk with your big brother about your sleep habits. He could use some advice!!

Some Other Things:

You finally rolled over this month. I would not call you an officially roller though. You rolled over twice in one day around the middle of the month and once another day. I'm not sure three rolls classifies you are a roller buddy :) I looked at Ryder's stats, and he rolled for the first time the day he turned five months so at least you are ahead of him. Friends who have babies your age say their little ones are rolling all over the place. I guess you just aren't interested. I'm pretty content with you staying in one place because I know it'll only last for so long so i'm soaking it in.

You wouldn't cooperate at all sitting for pictures today, but you are getting pretty decent at it. Sometimes you hold yourself up a little better and other times you look like a pancake laying on your legs. I think we might get some super cute six month photos next month with my big guy sitting :) I don't look forward to some stages, but sitting is my favorite!

You recognize your name now. I love when someone comes into the room and calls your name. You look around searching for where the noise is coming from and get the biggest grin as soon as you find them.

You and your big brother are becoming friends fast. You like to lay on the floor with him and watch him play. Just last night for the first time you belly laughed. You did it because he was being silly in the bath tub with you. I'm pretty sure it made my heart smile :) You two are going to be the best of friends, and i'm going to enjoy every second of it.

A failed attempt at sitting pictures...

Two of your favorite things to do in life:

1. Stand up

2. Chew on your fingers. You gag yourself multiple times a day doing this.

My favorite thing this month was watchign the two of you fall head of heels in love with each other. You loved each other before we left Arizona, but this is at a whole new level. Watchign you two this month has been the best :)

See you in a month for the big 1/2 year post. Crazy huh?!

Change of Plans

2011-09-22T08:38:00.001-04:00

It seems as if Wednesdays are meant to be spent with Miss Amanda, Soso, and Dyson at the Little Dipper pool. We got there yesterday at ten, our usual meeting time, and the guy told us it was closed. What?! They can't be closed because we've already gotten our kids in their swim suits, their hopes up, coolers packed with a million snacks, and I've already gotten myself excited about my kids playing with friends and having some time to catch up with one of my best friends. BUT it was closed!

Plan B... The splash pad! It felt like a fail at first because Ryder refused to go play. He's having a little bit of separation anxiety these days. In the end though they had such a great time. We brought a big bag of monster trucks which were the hit of the splash pad. About ten kids were playing with them. We put the babies in their Bumbo seats in front of a little fountain. They were so cute how excited their little faces got when they saw it. I know they won't be sitting in these seats for too long. We are enjoying our immobile days very much while they still last... because this time we know what's coming!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Florida's Fall

2011-09-20T20:59:00.001-04:00

Just as everyone else is starting to realize it's already getting cold up north a little too soon we are realizing we are going to be in for an amazing fall and winter down south. Our evenings are starting to get really nice out, and we've already enjoyed a couple evening like this....

I love being a Florida Girl :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wordless Wednesday: LOVE me some baby feet!

2011-09-20T09:07:00.001-04:00

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

We Have a Sitter

2011-09-19T20:38:00.006-04:00

We are a long way off from being a full blown sitter, but we are definitely in the beginning stages with Landon. Today he was sitting for about 30-60 seconds on his own. You can see him wanting to pull himself up into the sitting position now, and i'm sure we aren't too far off from fully sitting all the time. If my memory serves me right, Ryder was sitting completely on his own playing around six months. Here are some photos of our little guy practicing his sitting skills outside today...

It's Happening....

2011-09-19T16:31:00.001-04:00

The boys are starting to take notice in each other! It might be in the top five of my favorite things parenting these two little guys. As i've said before Ryder has taken little notice in Landon over the last four months, but ever since Landon has started becoming more expressive and interacting Ryder has been much more attentive. I've even caught a few pictures of them beginning to play with each other. I'm wondering if this is going to stay fun only until Landon can start grabbing whatever toys he wants :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Check-Ups and a Prayer Request

2011-09-18T19:14:00.001-04:00

This week the boys both went for their check-ups. Ryder went for his three year old check-up and Landon went for his four month check-up. It all came full circle for our new pediatrician when I told her we came to her because I went to her as a kid. She said we made her feel old haha.

Ryder was really excited to go for him after so many appointments for Mommy and Landon over the last year. He was also excited Landon got to do everything with him.

Ryder weighed in at 35.5 pounds, was in the 90th percentile for height, and the 80th for his weight. The doctor was very pleased he was potty trained and in school. She said we are doing a great job on everything and highly recommended some swim lessons for this Florida boy. We will see if we get around to them. His Auntie Hailey seems to be doing a fine job on her own.

Baby Landon had a great check-up as well. He weighed in at 17.15 pounds and was in the 80th percentile for both height and weight. We got the go ahead to move him onto stage 2 foods, the baby meats (gross... never did these with Ryder), and baby yogurt. He was hitting all his milestones and a healthy little guy just like his brother.

Both boys got shots. Ryder just got the flu shot, and Landon got his vaccines he was due for. He has to wait until six months for his flu shot.

After our appointment we headed to the Little Dipper pool to hang out with Sophia and Dyson.

This is as fun as these guys play dates get these days. I'm sure they will be a handful soon though!

This week I was reminded that you can't always walk your kids into their check-ups and walk out an hour later with a clean bill of health. It is something I think many of us take for granted. I am asking for our friends and family to please take some time out of your day to say a prayer for some of our baseball family who lost their little girl in the seventh month of pregnancy due to complications. We love you guys and are praying for you!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Squeaky Clean

2011-09-11T19:06:00.001-04:00

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Go Eagles

2011-09-11T13:43:00.007-04:00

As with the last three years.... These pictures are hard to come by. This year the games had already started when Ryder got home from breakfast with his grandparents, and he was way more interested in getting in the pool with his friends. Derrik wanted to get back to the games, and of course Landon was totally ready for a nap. We snapped a few. You know that computer program they always advertise on t.v. where you can pick and chose the face from different pictures to make a perfect picture.... I need that!

You'll know where to find us on Sundays :)

To the inside....

2011-09-10T17:08:00.001-04:00

My family has a new favorite boating spot. Our little spot on the Florida water with no real name. We just refer to it at the "inside spot" opposed to the other spot on the outside of the island which leads into the big scary Gulf of Mexico. Ryder loves it and plays in the water the whole time we are there. Whenever we go there though I always wish Derrik was there. It's always like something is missing. He of course didn't want to go today because he'd much rather stay home and watch college football, but I'm pretty sure he's glad he made the trip.... and I could finally relax now that my whole family is in one spot enjoying stuff like this together... my heart is finally happy :)

Our boys on the ride out

Ryder was off in the water the second we got there so we settled for a family picture of three

Such a fish... Could swim all day!

This little guy was such a champ! He doesn't love the boat yet, but tolerates it well. He did great today and even enjoyed a little snooze.

My boy checking out the water.... He was not sinking with his life vest and tube!

And our view for the day....

And I love technology..... As my boys snooze on the way home, I edited my pictures and posted a blog from my phone :)

Be ready for my boys annual start of football season pictures in their jerseys tomorrow.... plus one this year! Daddy's got his hands full!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

a little bit of nothing

2011-09-08T17:06:00.001-04:00

Can you believe I hardly have any pictures with Derrik finally being home?! Me either! I struggled to find some on my phone, but found a couple that would do. I will get a post up soon with a little update with where we are at with life... I feel like we are finally moving forward. Slow and steady.... baby steps :)

Landon just hanging out the other morning

Love this one with Landon's foot just resting on Ryder's face while watching cartoons :)

Still a long ways from doing this on his own, but he's been getting those hands up there a lot lately!

Ryder got this Nintendo DS for Christmas, but has suddenly started loving it. I see lots of fights over putting the video games down in my future!

How cute are these guys?!

We hope all our PA family is safe and dry in all this crazy rain!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Turning Three - The Party

2011-09-06T17:40:00.026-04:00

What an amazing party Ryder had for his 3rd birthday. I've never been a big believer in doing birthday parties at places because the kids never seem to get quality time with their friends so the traditional pool party is always the option for us until Ryder can decide otherwise. However he did get to pick the theme this year. We went to the party store and walked down the aisle with all the different themes. He was excited over the Cars but we've done that, he really liked the pirate stuff, Mickey is always close to his heart, but the Backy's (Backyardigan's in Ryder language) Ryder LOVEDDDDD!! There was pretty much no talking him out of it when he saw it. The Backyardigan's is a really cute cartoon with five friends that transform their backyard into imaginary stories each episode. I wasn't crazy over it because it seemed kind of babyish and not the boy theme everyone would expect, but my mom assured me there were plenty of years in the future for cute pirate parties and that he would only be three once. So Backy's it was!

We put Ryder down for an early nap that day and woke him up a little before everyone would be arriving. He woke up SO excited for his birthday party :)

Look at that 3 year old face... I just love him!

The Backyardigans cake

Auntie Hailey, Sophia, and Courtney enjoying a snack at the party

Ryder's much older friend Dakota who turned 3 the month before :)

Baby Landon loving all the attention

Tristan

An attempt at a group shot...

First: we had 18 kids! OMG

Second: well over half are girls... he'll have no problems getting a girlfriend down the road!

Love the smile when everyone is singing to him

He loves all the attention

Blowing out he candles

Auntie Ally and Riley

Megan and Connor

Love Ryder, Finley, and Sophia inspecting the icing to know were to start

Oh Jack and those blue eyes....

Yummmm

Love you and your messy eating ways Soso

Ryder and Connor... two of a kind right here :)

Dakota stayed for an after party... He's always wanting to come over and play at Kevin Winter's house, and clearly Ryder enjoys his company!

Rough playing on the couch....

Playing one of Ryder's new games

Thank you SOOO incredibly much to everyone who came to Ryder's party. It's always nice to feel so much love from friends and family after we have been away for so long :)

Turning Three - The Birthday

2011-09-03T20:47:00.024-04:00

Sorry for the delay of birthday festivities on the blog. We have been enjoying having Derrik home, getting readjusted, and figuring out life. We still don't have it figured out, but I figured I had some time to blog :)

Ryder had an amazing 3rd birthday. I get way more excited for his birthday now-a-days then I do my own. It is so much fun watching him get so excited.

We started the morning off with some balloons and birthday donuts.

Any excuse to sing happy birthday we take advantage of because he loves it!

Taking his link off of his countdown to Daddy chain.

Little did we know just how soon he would be home :(

I tried to get a shot of the boys together before we headed out for some birthday festivities...

At least they were both looking

Love that smile!

Grammy and I took Ryder back to the little dipper pool for his birthday.

He loves this place!!!

Sophia, Dyson, and Miss Amanda came to hang out with the birthday boy too!

This was the best I could get though

Then it was back home to celebrate...

Check out all these birthday presents!!

Thanks to everyone who sent gifts :) he really appreciated it

(Thank you cards will be on their way as soon as all this job searching is over)

I loveeee when Mimi walks through the door and relieves me from baby duty :)

The birthday cupcakes Ryder and I made together earlier in the day

First sight of his lit candles and everyone singing

Checking out the big candles!!

Clapping to happy birthday

He made us sing this too him multiple times!!

He opened presents like a pro!!

Ryder had an amazing birthday! Luckily he had lots of presents to distract him from mommy's tears when she got the text that Daddy had been released moments after we finished opening. I love his innocence at this age that he can come give me a kiss and say "it's ok Mommy" and then continue to play. I hope birthdays always stay this fun for him! Lots more pictures from the party coming soon!

He's Home

2011-08-29T08:23:00.001-04:00

and that's all that matters right now :)

He's on his way home...

2011-08-26T15:21:00.003-04:00

Dear Friends and Family,

Please don't be upset if you are our closer friends and family and are just hearing this info for the first time on our blog. I am trying to avoid answering the same questions over and over because honesty I don't have them all right now. Last night just as we were finishing up birthday festivities for Ryder I got a text from Derrik - "I was released". In real world terms, instead of baseball terms, he got fired. As I just said above we still don't have all of the answers. We are dumbfounded that after Derrik came off of two long and draining years of rehab that they would just simply give up on him after two shorts months with no real signs it was coming. He is still trying to make some phone calls and get some answers, but honesty we could never get any that will really give Derrik or I peace with what has happened.

Derrik has already taken a fight from California into Phoenix early this morning to pick up our car that was still sitting at the Reds complex out in Goodyear. He didn't sleep well last night as expected, was up at 4:30 AM to catch a flight, and now has a long 36 hour drive ahead of him. I can not wait for him to walk through the door and give him a long well deserved hug.

Where does this leave us? The realm of opportunities are endless. In regards to baseball, technically Derrik is now a free agent. This means he can talk with any team he wants and negotiate any deal he wants. A dream come true for a minor leaguer except he is only two months off of back-to-back Tommy John surgeries. If baseball is the route to go he has a long uphill battle to fight. It has been done many times before, but is something Derrik needs to decide if he wants to do. There are currenty ten games left in the minor league season so there is about a 99% chance he is shutting things down for the season. This leaves a long off season to ponder what Derrik and our family really want to do. I am behind him and his decisions 100%.

When Derrik gets home he will hopefully gets some officiating jobs like he was doing in Arizona and look for some other part time work for the time being. We are still trying to wrap our minds around everything and see what plays out with some stuff in the baseball world, but in the mean time we will probably explore some other opportunities in life as well for work.

I truly believe that Derrik's and my heart are both still very into baseball. If the right opportunity presents itsef that is probably the route we will go, but we are also trying to keep our heads on straight and realize this could be the end of the road for us. I'm am sure we have many long talks ahead of us and have no doubt that we will find what works best for us. For now though I just want my husband home, I want to see him hug our little boys, and just have someone to cuddle with again. I never thought seeing him walk through the door would be so bitter sweet.

Happy 3rd Birthday Little Man

2011-08-25T00:01:00.000-04:00

Ryder Lee… My little man… You are three years old today. I can remember the day you were born like it was yesterday. It was one of the most amazing days of my life. It is probably tied for number one with the birth of your little brother this year. Where do I even begin talking about you? I think if I had to sum you up in one word it would be extreme. You do everything all the way from loving family to throwing tantrums. Nothing is half way with you little man. Your biggest accomplishments this year started right after your second birthday getting rid of your pacifier, going to a big boy bed not too long after that, becoming a big brother back in April, potty training in the month of July (hallelujah… 100% potty trained!), and then just last week starting school. I think that makes you completely a big boy now huh? Life with you is non stop every single waking second (and ones that shouldn’t be awake) of every single day. There are days I seriously feel so drained, but wouldn’t give up my job for anything. You sleep t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e these days! Soooo terrible!!! You use to go through phases like a week at a time every couple months when you’d wake up, but this has been going on ever since we got to Florida. I am at a loss at what to do, but I hope you grow out of it soon. Your brother sleeps 12+ hours a night, and I’m up with you. News flash buddy… it’s not supposed to work like that! You still go to sleep just fine and take good naps though. We just have to get you to sleep ALL night. I swear it has to do with your crazy imagination. You are always in your old world coming up with all sorts of crazy stories. I love that you have such a vivid imagination, but just wish you could turn it off at night. You are terrified of monsters. I don’t know where this came from, but you do not believe us that monsters don’t live at Grammy and Mack’s house. You still love all things with wheels just like a year ago. You love cars from the Cars movie, monster trucks, or dump trucks. You have a new obsession with pop music thanks to your Aunties. You have a love for sports that hopefully Daddy can help you explore this off season. I can tell you just want someone to play them with you, but Mommy is bad at sports and it is simply too hot out. You love cartoons. Your favorites are The Backyardigans, UmiZoomi, Bubble Guppies, and Chuggington. You are also learning to swim. You are getting close and absolutely love that water. You adjust well to change when it comes to moves and your new little brother. I have to admit that I was terrified of you becoming a big brother. I didn’t think you would handle it well at all. You have gone above and beyond any expectations I ever thought I could have. You never show any jealousy towards him and honestly don’t pay much attention to him at all. I can’t wait to see what happens once he can get into your toys!
Daddy and I love you so much. Watching your Daddy love you makes my heart overflow with love. It honestly rips his heart out that he has been away from you for the past two months with baseball, but he is doing it to hopefully give you an amazing future down the road. He loves you more then you will ever know, and the same goes for me. I’m praying the Terrible 3’s aren’t really worse then the Terrible 2’s like everyone says because I don’t know how we will make it with that strong will of yours, but as long as you still have your other sweet side I’m sure we will all survive to see birthday number four! Thanks for letting me be your Mommy. There is nothing better in the world. I hope we have an amazing fourth year sweetie with lots of fun adventures!

I Love You Ryder Lee

Newborn

6 Months Old 1 Year Old

2 Years Old

3 Years Old

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-24T17:24:00.001-04:00

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A Comparison

2011-08-23T21:37:00.010-04:00

I figured it was time for a comparison of the boys once again

My Opinion:

Ryder is more of Derrik.

Landon is more of me.

The boys have the same face and expression.

They have very difference shaped heads.

Ryder is more round.

Landon is more oval.

Ryder is our blonde baby.

Landon is our dark haired baby.

Love them both so so much :)