M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

On Friday at about 4:15 Derrik and I realized we had no obligations to anybody or anything until Sunday morning when Derrik had to show up for rehab. We weren't quite sure what to do with ourselves, but knew we needed to do something. By 4:30 we were in the car rushing to the Vet in the Publix plaza down the road to board Chloe for the week. We ran back to the apartment, packed, and were on the road to Disney World by 5:15!!! We stopped on the way there and had some amazing Cracker Barrel. We got to Disney around 8ish, checked into our amazing hotel (Derrik booked it while I packed), and walked to Downtown Disney (right across the street from our hotel) for some fun! Nothing is better then having a go-with-the-flow baby when we decide to do stuff like this. Even though we didn't even get to Orlando until after his bedtime he was still so happy hanging out with mommy and daddy!

Ryder on Daddy's shoulder trying to watch the show going on.

I believe it was a yo-yo champion

Ryder loved the T-Rex restaurant/gift shop.

He was in awe of all the dinosaurs!

The next morning we were up at about 7:15. We took showers, packed up our stuff, and drove the car across the street to Downtown Disney to park it there for the day. We got breakfast at Micky D's there and got to play with a couple things that we couldn't the night before due to the crazy crowds.

Ryder with the Lego pups

Ryder and Buzz Lightyear... he just loves this kind of stuff!
Ryder and Da-Da waiting to catch the bus to the Magic Kingdom
I have some cute boys huh?

We made it!!! Ryder and his daddy in front of the castle!

Mommy and Ryder in front of the castle

Our first ride was the tea-cups. Just watching them in line made me sick, and Derrik was thinking the same thing. I told him as long as we didn't turn the wheel inside the tea cup we'd be just fine. We'll once on Derrik realized when he turned the wheel that Ryder absolutely loved it!!! So he kept spinning! Luckily we got over our nauciousness pretty quick and didn't have any lingering affects.

Loving the tea-cups

After the tea-cups we headed over to toon-town and walked through Mickey's house. Ryder didn't think too much of this since he doesn't really know who Mickey is yet. We realized after walking through Mickey's house that you can do a meet-and-greet with Mickey. We walked into a room and were told it was a twenty minute wait. Only twenty minutes? We got this! We were unprepared for twenty minutes in a line with no stroller with our crazy 11 1/2 month old. I was about ready to call it quits when it went through my head that Ryder didn't even care because he doesn't even know who Mickey is. We stuck it out anyhow and I am sooo glad because when Ryder saw Mickey his eyes lit up! He lovedddd him... and Minnie!

Trying to convice Ryder he can NOT crawl on the nasty floor in line!

Ryder's 1st time meeting Mickey and Minnie

Could have stayed and played ALL day!

Not too long after his meet-n-greet with Mickey Mouse Ryder pooped out on us! It was a little after his regular nap time at this point so we went and fast-passed the Winnie the Pooh ride and got a freebie fast pass for Mickey's Philhar-Magic. While we waited for our fast-pass times to approach, we let the little man get a power nap while his mommy and daddy went and found a quiet air-conditioned place to grab some lunch and escape the August Florida heat.

We ended up waking Ryder up about forty-five minutes into his nap to go watch the Mickey's Philhar-Magic. This is a 3-D show where you sit in seats and watch the show. I had taken Ryder into it when we went back in January, and he didn't have a problem. Looks like he might have developed a little more sense to his surroundings because he did not like when the water sprayed on him and had two quick melt downs. Nothing too traumatic, but was definitely his least favorite of the day.

Ryder opted to chew his glasses instead of wear them... ugh the germs!

We then used our next fast-pass to get on the Winnie-the-Pooh ride which you just sit in a cart and they take you through the story. He did great on this ride and liked looking around at everything going on. We then headed over to, Mommy's favorite, It's a Small World! I wasn't sure what he would think, but really seemed to love it as much as I do.

Ryder's face when he first sees the entrance to It's a Small World

We then had to find a good spot so we could watch the parade. I was pretty sure Ryder would like the parade because he loves seeing all the characters. We had about thirty minutes to blow before the parade started so I went and got Ryder a hotdog for lunch since he missed out when we ate. After I bought the most ridiculously priced hotdog in the world ($5.95!), Ryder decided that he didn't want that for lunch today! I literally should have given him a five dollar bill to throw on the ground. Oh Well.... he loved his Mickey ice cream daddy went and bought him!

His cute Mickey ice cream

Ryder also realized in this picture one of his puff snacks was still stuck to his hand from earlier.

During the parade Ryder decided to blow out his diaper. I'm sure the crowd around him thoroughly enjoyed the aroma, but I refused to leave to change it after we had waited for so long. Luckily the baby care center was close by so we got to strip Ryder down and cool him off during his diaper change. Once we thought we had helped him re-group for a fun second half of the day... he pooped out on us!!!

Out Cold

This pictures makes my day! It has been months since I have had Ryder fall asleep and let me hold him. This goes to show how exhausted he was. We took him out of the stroller, onto the Peter Pan ride, and put him back in his stroller and he never woke up! We tried so hard to wake him up for the ride, but he refused! He is obviously not a Peter Pan fan. We then walked over to the Buzz-Lightyear ride and Ryder loved it. He sat on my lap as I absolutely crushed his daddy! You have two controls to shoot at targets, and I couldn't have been more proud to have beat Derrik! We went on this ride years back when we first started dating and I beat him then too. I dont beat Derrik at ANYTHING! It wasn't mentioned, but I know he planned on gaining the title of Buzz Lighyear champ! I am still rubbing it in that he didn't beat me once again :)

Picture of the picture taken while we were on the ride.

You can see Ryder's little head on my lap if you look real close.

Playing in the gift shop after the ride

Why am I in jail guys?!

My sweet boys :)

After Buzz Lighyear we headed to another part of the park and went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and did the Jungle Safari. Ryder once again loved both rides.

Meeting Captain Hook

We had such a great day together! It was such an amazing time seeing out little man have some much fun! I hope you enjoyed the pictures and wish you all could have been there to see his eyes light up when he got to meet Mickey Mouse!

My one last request to Derrik at the end of the day.... a family picture! Didn't come out the best... but we had to get one :)

The Lutz Family

What We've Got So Far...

So Ryder and I sat down and had a serious talk about how I'd really appreciate it if he could walk before his first birthday. About two weeks ago I thought it was completely a lost cause because he was making no attempt what-so-ever! Since then we are taking very baby steps towards real baby steps! (I guess you can't use "baby steps" to describe a baby actually taking steps because it might get you excited that it's actually happening.... when it's not!) So anyhow... Ryder scales furniture with no problem, pushes his push cart (more like running), practically runs when we help him with two hands, and is walking pretty decent when we offer him one hand for support. I know the key to walking on his own means standing on his own first. This has been a hard task because...well... he's an 11 1/2 month old that has an attention span of like a half a second. Derrik and I have noticed he is letting go of the furniture when he's not thinking of it when he is playing with toys or reachin for something. This tells us we know he can do it! Every day we practice very hard at working on it. He is now standing long enough to get it on video. I know your going to watch this video and think "that's it?", but it a lot more then last week. Last week he would stand for like a second... yesterday on tape we got three seconds out of him! And in the video I posted we got about the same. I know he can do this by his birthday! I feel like it's the same steps we went through with sitting. He went from wobbling for a split second to sitting for minutes within a few weeks. So LOTS of hard work will be going into this... and hopefully we'll have a walking boy for the big day!

Stuck?

I really wish I would have opted for the video camera instead of the camera for this one because the loud shrieking might add some effect! Derrik and I were both busy doing stuff, and all of a sudden we heard Ryder crying. Not just kind of crying, but that i'm in trouble crying! He has all of a sudden started playing with the dog cage and this time was throwing two baseballs in there. He usually only goes in to his hips and can get out fine. He went in too far this time and was literally stuck!!! If the top of the cage didn't open i'm not sure how I would have gotten him out!!! I know I probably shouldn't have gotten the camera first, but I knew he wasn't actually hurting and thought this was WAY too funny!!! After many tears he got over his traumatic experience.

Grasshopper vs. Cat vs. Baby

The other day I was once again sitting here doing work and noticed the window sill was quite busy. Usually whenever Ryder heads that direction the cats will run away and let Ryder claim his territory. Well the other day the cats were holding their ground, and I couldn't understand why. They hate when Ryder beats on them so why weren't they running away.... The grasshopper! There was a grasshopper moving around on the screen outside the window which the cats thought looked very yummy! The two of them guarded the grasshopper all morning. In this video is Turbo taking her turn... or maybe I should call it her beating!

Ryder's Favorite Things

Ryder's favorite thing to have or do seem to never stop changing since in the past 11 1/2 months he's gone from newborn to crazy baby! Now though it is funny the things we realize we might not be able to make it a day without... and they aren't always what you'd expect!

Favorite Thing #1 - Clapping: This boy LOVES to clap! He will literally clap for anything. Make an excited voice... he claps. Tell him he's a good boy... he claps. Eats a piece of food I give him... he claps. Yup he is VERY proud of himself and everyone around him and loves to get them a round of applause! I realize he was quite obsessed with this during his breakfast routine in the morning. The only time he watches tv is for the 10-15 minutes he sits in his highchair and eats breakfast. I am usually very busy at this time trying to get work done so he sits and watches his girlfriend Kelly Ripa on t.v. (no my son does not like cartoons... weird I know) Well they clap a lot during Regis and Kelly and he gets so excited and claps right along with the audience. Makes my heart melt when I see him do this :)

Favorite Thing #2 - The Ball Pit: Oh Gosh! Ryder loves his ball pit! I'm sure you have seen it in the background of many of our pictures, and we put it to great use! Derrik got the idea from his old Single A coach. He saw him during his rehabbing, and he mentioned how his son Cole loves his ball pit. So Ryder's wonderful Daddy came home one afternoon with goodies in hand. He blew up a huge plastic pool in the middle of our living room and put balls in it. Lucky for me the huge one popped last week, and we now have a smaller one. He just loves this though. By the time the afternoon hits we have balls everywhere! It is helping me with my aim though because Derrik keeps track of how many times I throw the balls from across the room back into the pool and miss. I have about a 50/50 rate going (which is very good for me). It is also a great workout for me because I spend a lot of time bending over and getting back up throwing these balls into the pool... usually get pretty dizzy!

Favorite Thing #3 - Screaming: This child LOVES to scream! It is the reason we can not longer frequent our favorite restaurant. He literally pierces my ears sometimes with how loud he can get his voice. He does it all the time for all sorts of reason. He does it if he's excited, if he isn't getting what he wants right away, and sometimes just for fun. This video is of him doing it just for fun the other morning while I was working.

Favorite Thing #4 - The Pacifier: Or better known as the "paci" in our house. Probably because we have to say it so many times a day that we don't have time to say the whole word. Yes, I know, he should really be getting rid of this thing at this point. We were making a very good effort at doing just that until "favorite thing #3" poppped up around early July. Now the paci has become sometime that we will attempt to give up later. As far as I'm concerned a baby looks cute with one until about the age of two... so we're still good to go for about another year. We need the paci so we can be out in public and not have the fear that Ryder will scream and we'll have no means of stopping it. The other day I realized when we were going down the water slide that we hit the bottom of the slide and he still had one in his mouth! He literally has this thing suction cupped into his mouth all the time. So Mr. Paci is here to stay!

Favorite Thing #5 - Dried Fruit: Ryder is going to turn into a piece of dried fruit soon if he doesn't stop eating this. I know it is loaded with sugar, but it is somewhat fruit. Sometime I have to count my blessings and get what I can into that little boys mouth. Needless to say this is something he has yet to turn down... i'm sure he will in the morning though!

Favorite Thing #6 - The Bulldozer: While visiting Cape Cod up in July, Ryder loved pushing around my sisters Barbie car. I was hoping it was because of the way it moved and not because it was Barbie. When we got home we went to Walmart to look for something like this that he could push and ended up walking out with this $4.00 bulldozer... i'd spend $100 if I knew the peace of mind this little toy would give me! This bulldozer is Ryder favorite thing in the world! He will search through the whole basket of toys every morning to find it. He pushes this bulldozer over all of his toys, across the couches, window sills, tables, up the walls. It is amazing to watch him, and I so wonder what goes through his precious little mind as he is playing this this toy. The best part... He makes broom, broom, broom noises as he pushes is all over the apartment. The bulldozer will definitely be a toy in the "yes" pile for the move to Arizona!

So there ya have it! These are the things that help my little man make it through the day. I hope you enjoyed :)

A Fun Day at the Park

My computer has been silly lately and picks and chooses when it wants to let me upload photos so these pictures come a little late. Last week Derrik was on one of his off days and had spent a longggg day at home with Ryder and I. He began to see why I go so stir crazy and needed to get out of the house! We went down to a park and had the best time. We got to watch people fish, check out some yachts (dreamt about which one we'd buy when Derrik makes it to the bigs!), did some swinging, played on the playground, and watched some kids play in the water fountain. I saw watched because Mom was ready to strip him down to his diaper and let him go have a blast with all the other kiddos playing and having a great time, but boring Dad said no... next time. I gave him a hard time about how he is going to be such an un-cool dad, but he later admitted he was just too hot. We were going to head down there Friday night to try the fountain out, but it rained... go figure! I'm sure we'll be there soon enough.

Family Photo... These don't happen much!

My boys on the swing watching some people fish

Ok so we have tried to put Ryder down a slide a few times now, and all he does is stick to them. He isn't a big fan at all, and usually get fustrated because they are also kind of hot. We let him sit at the bottom the other day and this is what happened....

Florida shouldn't be allowed to have slides... the kids just stick to them!

Whenever we go to the playgrounds they are always pretty dangerous for Ryder being so young, but this playground had one on ground level that was perfect for him. Here he is attempted to crawl through the tunnel for the first time.... (I had to crawl through it first for him to know what to do... it wasn't a pretty site!)

Invitation....

I thought I would share Ryder's 1st birthday invitation with all of our friends and family since unfortunately many of you probably didn't receive one. It is never easy on us being so far away from both sides of our family, but we are fortunate enough to be an hour and a half away from a place we once called home and some really great friends! We are very excited for Ryder's upcoming party and wish we could have invited everyone! If you feel like flying down i'll be glad to send one to you!!!!

SoSo Turns One

Today Ryder and I drove down to Fort Myers for Sophia's 1st birthday party! I can't believe that these babies are all turning one! Ryder's big day is only two and a half weeks away. We had so much fun at Sophia's party. She had a huge water slide which we all had so much fun on. We also got to get in some swimming, cake, and of course the best part... see some friends! This has become pretty important to us since we don't see anyone while we are in Sarasota and pretty soon will be thousands of miles away from any friends or family.

Thanks to MiMi and Papa for breakfast to get our day started and for watching their great-grandbaby while Mommy went and got a hair cut before the party.

Now of course here are some pictures... I feel like I can't put up a post without a thousand pictures! I always tell myself just a few is enough, but a picture truly is worth a thousand words. You'd rather look at the fun times we have then listen to me ramble anyhow right?!

Sophia with her Mommy at the bottom of the water slide

Lucky Us! Courtney, Danielle, and Mady were at the party!

The Little Man
Oh he loves Miss Courtney :)

Mommy want some?!

Oh yeah this is sooo good!

Want some?

Yeah we still got it... made it to the top with babies in tow!

Ryder and I going down the slide

We all made it down :)

Miss Becky (Sophia's Gigi) loving on Ryder while Mommy goes to play

Making fools of ourselves like the good old days!

Love You Girls!

Sophia going down the slide with her mommy and daddy

Sophia we hope you had an amazing first birthday! You are the sweetest little girl, and we hope to be around for many more to come!

Happy Birthday SoSo!

They Are Buldging!!

Ok so these might be the most unattractive pictures of my son that I have posted, but I want to show how his top two teeth are literally buldging through. Every day when I think if they come down anymore they will be here... they get even closer! Check these things out... double click the pictures to blow it up if you can't see them like this.

What A Boy Will Do For His Toys!

It coming's... AGAIN... The Craziness!

So just as we settled into a perfect routine we have to start thinking of how we are going to move AGAIN... Yes it is already that time. For those of you not paying attention, the Reds rehab where they do their spring training which has been Sarasota, Florida for years, but, lucky us, they are moving out of Sarasota and out to Goodyear, Arizona this year. So we get to add another move to our crazy lives! So all of this might be a random explanation of what is going on, but honestly it is just as scartered in my head!

... Ryder's birthday is August 25th (don't even get me going on my mixed emotions with this!), so my family will be coming down the week before to celebrate, get some beach time, and catch up with old friends. Unlucky for us is the fact that it's an hour and a half drive which we will be making a few times throughout the week. I plan on packing supplies in the car and living on the road this week. To throw an extra twist into it all, we will be lucky enough to have Ryder's Papi visiting for his birthday also! We are very excited to get some more unexpected time with him so soon!!!

So with all this talk of birthday.... that means I get to plan a birthday party between all of the traveling back and forth and thinking about moving a week after. I am very excited to be having his party, but am just stressed about getting everything together while living out of our car and being on the go all week.

So my family is flying back up to Cape Cod on the 26th (the day after Ryder's birthday). I have asked my mom if she would mind taking Ryder back with her (since it's free for him to go with them) and of course they love the idea.

So with family and baby gone that gives us about two days to get our lives packed up into our cars. What does this entail? It means getting my brother (or his truck) up here twice to bring the couch and bed back to my grandparents. The annoying part is it takes two trips since the bed of his truck isn't big enough! We then have to get a u-haul tow trailer for the second car and try to pack our whole lives into the cars.... along with our dog and two cats. I don't know what to do with all of Ryder's baby stuff we needed when season first started that he has now grown out of. Do I give it up? Do I ship it back up north? Do I want to spend the money to ship it? One thing is for sure... I don't want to be traveling with all of this stuff we don't need!

Once we are all packed up we get to drive to Arizona. The drive is going to stink as all traveling does, but Derrik and I haven't been out west and are kind of looking forward to the time together. He has tried to convice me to camp on the way out over the nights, but I found a good way out... we have the cats! Thank God I thought of that!! Haha!

So we did find a condo out there to live in!!! It is fully furnished, two bedrooms, two baths, and looks very nice! And yes... I did say two bedrooms! I am not sure if I have actually confessed on my blog, but Ryder has been sleeping in a walk-in shower and two closets since we have left his beautiful nursery when baseball season started. He loves his dark spaces, but it will be very nice to put him into an actual bedroom!!! Maybe in my spare time i'll find pictures of him in his shower and closets... i promise we're good parents! So we will get out there and get settled... spend a ridiculous amount of money restocking yet another kitchen with the basics. Do any of you ever move and realize how expensive the "1st shopping trip" is? Getting the paper towels, toilet paper, ketchup, mustard, mayo, windex, dishwashing detergent, laundry detegent. You know what I'm talking about... it really puts a dent in your wallet when you have to do this ALL the time!

They have said we should be able to leave Florida August 28th or 29th so once I have a good idea of when we will be out there and settled i'll find a good date to fly back and pick up my little man from my parents! Because we all know after a few days how much I start to miss him :)

Sorry for the rambling, but I figured everyone needed an update of the chaos coming up... i'll be sure to blog about it all as it's happening! Sorry for any typos... too much to go back and correct.. Until then....

Some Random Stuff

Just a random picture of Ryder getting ready for a bath after a messy dinner the other night, but you can really see his two teeth if you double-click the picture :) You might also notice if they had baby braces that he'd be a candidate!

Ryder dropped his pacifier in the dog cage.. which was locked.. and was not pleased!!

Trying to get it out
Yelling at me to get it out!

Great Times with Old Friends

On Sunday two of my childhood best friends drove up to come visit Ryder and I and head to the water park. We have been quite lucky to see Amanda and her little girl Sophia quite a bit in the last few months, but had yet to be able to work things out to visit with Courtney. They all made the trip up to Sarasota from Fort Myers and we headed to Ryder's favorite place... the water park!

Ryder and Sophia checking the place out

Sophia trying to figure out what she thinks of this place
Ugh yeah... he remembered what to do...

"Mom... I love this place!!!"

Amanda trying to convince Sophia to like it too

Playing in the water sprinklers

Ryder going off with his favorite toy... his bull-dozer

Mommy and Ryder

Courtney with the babies

Good Friends :)

Amanda and Soso

Courtney making Ryder laughTime to get all the yucky chlorine off... bath time!

Getting some comfy clothes on after a long day

Some last minute play time in the ball pit

Ryder has such a pretty girlfriend :)

I had the best time with these girls on Sunday! We grew up racing BMX together and spent our childhood traveling all of the country together. We have some of the best memories together. A big group of us kind of lost touch through our later high school and college days, but in the end it's them we always run back to :) It is going to make leaving this area bitter sweet in a few weeks... i'm going to miss these girls all over again. At least we still have a few more get-togethers to go :)