Easter Eggs

I'd love to edit these Easter egg pictures. Easter pictures are always some of my favorite to look back on from the years past with their vibrant colors and intensity in Ryder's face as he gets the eggs just the right color, BUT we are busy this weekend! With a potential baby on the way these pictures could never make it up if I took the time to edit them and such. So here they are right off my camera.

Ryder loveddddd doing the eggs, but made a huge mess of himself! Between getting him to stop dying the eggs and then trying to get the dye off it made me thankful we only do this once a year because by then I might be ready to do them again with him!!

I may have told him he had to be a bunny to dye eggs :)

He totally fell for it

So careful starting off

Starting to get the hang of this egg stuff

Landon... Hope he's here Sunday to enjoy the day with us!

Creating his masterpieces

Landon Update: He's obviously very happy in my belly. No contractions :( My mom and sister are on their way and should be in tonight at 9:30. Me-Maw will head out as soon as we are certain Landon is really on his way. Just waiting....

Meanwhile... It's my hubby's birthday! Going to enjoy some cake and presents then head out to dinner with my man while our sweet friend Tricia offered to watch Ryder.

Doctor Update - 38 Weeks

OMG OMG OMG! That is what is going through my head right now. Flash back to two years ago... 38 weeks 4 days I go to the doctor. I'm 3cm 70%effaced and they strip my membranes. Two days later I was scheduled to be induced. Instead I had Ryder a short 11-12ish hours later in my arms in a whirlwind delivery. Fast forward back to today... 38 weeks 1 day... 3cm and they stripped me membranes! Trying not to over react here and take a deep breath, but I feel like I need to do a thousand things!

We have everything lined up for Ryder to stay with my friend Tricia if needed. My mom and Ally are catching a flight out here that will have them here around 12:30 tomorrow afternoon. Derrik is currently at work doing a baseball game, but has his phone on him. I'm going to try to relax and get packed for the most part. Derrik wanted to call his mom, but I know her and Tom should be out here soon as well.

Now it' just a waiting game... will Landon be here tonight? tomorrow? will we still be heading to the hospital Wednesday night for an induction? Your guess is as good as mine! All I know is a certain Daddy is hoping to share his birthday with his little boy tomorrow :)

If we are still sitting around tomorrow waiting i'll update, but if things put us in the hospital i'll update via Facebook.

Daddy's Baseball Game

Last night we went to Daddy's baseball game. Of coure he's not exactly on the pitcher's mound quite yet like we would like him to be, but we will support him in whatever he is doing. These days we get to watch Daddy behind the plate as an umpire. Derrik is so busy officiating everything from football to basketball to baseball to softball. Baseball is his busiest sport this time of year, but we've learned that all sports go year round if you really want them to. He stay busy 5-7 nights a week so every once in a while Ryder and I will go along just to enjoy some time in the car with him and at least be in his presence at the game. Plus it's nice to get some fresh air every once in a while and let Ryder run around with some kids.

Derrik doing his thing behind home plate

Ryder cheering Daddy on.

I always wonder what people are thinking when Ryder cheers "Go Daddy!" when it's little league kids playing. They usually figure it out when Derrik comes to talk to us between innings.

And since we're talking baseball... a little update on Derrik's real career. He's been throwing bullpens for about 2-3 weeks now. He is at the field six days and throws two bull pens a week. He had one rough day so far, but the rest have all been great. He feels great, is in great spirits about it all, and is in high hopes he'll be back out there with his teammates soon. They even scheduled his tentative first game on the calendar! This will be for the extended spring training team that plays at the spring training fields. He will play on this team until everyone feels confident he is healthy and ready to go. I forget the exact date Derrik told me, but it's only about a month and a half away!! We are still open minded to all the avenues our life could go in the near future with his career, but for right now are focusing day to day on how his arm feels at this critical time and are obviously greatly distraction by the upcoming arrival in our family :)

AND... I'm obviously still pregnant... 38 weeks today... 1 week from our induction date! I'll update after our doctors appoinment tomorrow afternoon with any news!!!

The Easter Bunny

I hadn't really given much thought to the Easter Bunny this year. Last year was a disaster, and Santa Claus took two trips this year and a lot of help from my sisters to convince him it was ok to sit on the old man's lap. I had just given up hopes of the Easter Bunny and figured we'd only torture him once a year with Santa. Heather had called to see if we wanted to go on Saturday morning and since we already had movie plans and Ryder is anti-bunny we passed.

We had started talking with Ryder last night at dinner about Easter. We talked about how the bunny would bring an Easter basket with presents and hide candy on Easter and of course all the talk got him excited. We talked a little bit about how we will dye eggs this week and then the conversation was pretty much over. Then this morning I read Heather's blog with the picture of Nash sitting on the Easter Bunny's lap and Ryder saw it. He asked who it was and got sooo excited! I asked him if he wanted to sit on the bunny's lap and he was all about it. It continued all day! He naps after lunch, and when he was done eating his lunch he turned the tv off and told me, "nap time then I go see the Easter BunnY!"

I truly figued I was wasting my time, money, and gas to drive thirty minutes each way to the mall for Ryder to freak out and boycott this whole bunny idea, but he was still so excited. We had to wait a little bit, and he was grinning ear to ear the whole time. Of course as soon as I nudged him to walk to the bunny when his turn came he froze! I just picked him up and plopped him on the bunnies lap. He gave me a terrified look and told me "no mommy", and I just said smile sweetie and you'll get a book.... and we got this masterpiece :)

Thanks Mr. Easter Bunny for not looking at the camera when my child smiles...

seriously my luck!

A Baseball Nursery

If I could have forseen into the future when we had to move out to Arizona in September 2009 that we would still be living out here in April 2011 with a few more months to go I probably would have invested in moving all of our belongings out here to create a true "home" with our stuff for ourselves. Of course as most of you know that is NOT how it went. We've moved three times (five for Derrik) during our time out here in Arizona, with stints for Ryder and I back at my parents, plans on getting out of here, and in the end still being out here for even longer. Anyhow... in the end we once again have had a need for our furniture, our baby furniture this time, and have had to make plans to make do until we can get back to our real furniture. So i'll give you a little preview into Landon's "baseball nursery"... if you can even call it that. It's all in our room and very pieced together with the intention of getting rid of it all in a few short months. I have a hard time sleeping with a baby in our room so he'll be spending his nights (if all goes as planned... it's all luck with a baby)out in the living room in the pack 'n play.

Landon' Crib

Landon's changing table

(two small dresser pushed together so we would have drawers for his stuff as well)

Landon's Closet

Our apartment is a one bedroom with a den which means we have ONE closet for our whole family. Needless to say it was already full so Landon got a free standing rack.. lucky guy! lol

There was a point in my life when I would have freaked out about my baby not having a room, not having nice furniture, and not having the perfect nursery. We've been doing this "on the road" lifestyle for so long i'm not sure i'd even know what to do if someone told me I could actually decorate a nursery this time around. I've come such a long way :)

Landon is officially on the calendar!!!

9 Days or less!!!

37 Week Comparison

RYDER - 37 Weeks

LANDON - 37 Week

What do you think? Minus the slight different in the lighting and stuff, I think the belly looks exactly the same! Hopefully that means he'll arrive just as early and just as quick too :)

I dusted off my camera...

No serioulsy... there was dust all over my camera on top of the fridge! Somehow I went from that annoying person who always had their camera everywhere and in everyones face to that person who has no picture except ones on their phone of their kid for the last three and a half months. Last night it was gorgeous out, Daddy had the night off, Ryder had an extrememly long/late nap, and the splash pad had opened for the summer! Seems like a great night to dust the camera off to make sure it still works huh? The night did not disappoint. There were probably 100+ people at the park due to two birthday parties, a band was setting up, the splash pad was finally being put to use, and Ryder was one excited little boy! FINALLY... some good pictures of my sweet little man :) We finished the night off at a really cool pizza place. Ryder was awesome through the whole dinner, and it was such a great night out. Of course Daddy is off working until 10pm tonight, but he has off tomorrow! Maybe some pool pictures?!

Rio

I realized in the last couple of months that Ryder's attention span for tv shows and movies has gotten much better. He thoroughly enjoys cuddling up on the couch or in bed to watch a movie and usually can sit through the whole thing. I've been wanting to attempt a movie for a while, but was waiting for a good one to come out. I was so excited to take Ryder to see the movie Hop but heard quite a few comments about how it wasn't that great of a movie. Then I saw the previews for Rio in the past week or so and decided to take Ryder. Derrik claims he "couldn't come"... we would have made it work if he wanted to... so Ryder and I went on our own this morning. You would have thought I was taking him to Disney World or something. He was sooo excited! He was so excited to get his popcorn and candy and looked like such a big boy carrying his little kids pack into the theatres. We walked in just at the previews were starting, and he settled right into his seat. I knew he'd sit there for at least a half hour eating his food, but expected him to lose interested at a boring part of the movie or something. He sat with a smile on his face for every single second of that movie!!! He grabbed my hand at scary parts, laughed at funny parts, danced to the music, and seriouly loved it! When the movie ended he looked at me and said, "watch it again Mommy!" I'm so excited Ryder is finally at the movie going age... lots more dates to the movies with my little man to come :)

37 Week Doctor Update

***FYI - Post contains doctor/pregnancy info... if you are someone not interested in that kind of stuff just know Landon is still very happy in my belly and don't read any further***

And for those girls out there wanting the details... I went to the doctors yesterday at 37 weeks 2 days. They did the first cervical check this week and the doctor said that things are getting going, but nothing too significant yet. I see the same doctor again next Thursday (38w1d). He said he will do an exam again to see if anything is going on. He said if there is any progress he is willing to strip the membranes away. I had this same thing done with Ryder at 38 weeks 4 days. At that appointment I was 3cm and 70% effaced. I had my appointment around noon that day, realized labor was starting around 8pm, got to the hospital around 9:30 pm, and had a little baby in my arms at 11:11 pm! Here's to hoping things are that simple this time around too!!!

Plan B: If things aren't getting started on their own, and nothing decides to happen in the week after that I have been set up to be induced Wednesday, April 27th at 9pm. I will be 39 weeks at that point. Judging by the late induction time it appears Landon will be here no later then April 28th!!

I'll keep you posted!

37 Weeks... Still Pregnant...

Who's over the weekly questions?! I AM!!! I think BabyCenter.com is even over e-mailing me my weekly update. This weeks summary on my pregnancy basically should have said "The baby is healthy to come out, but doctors will make you stay pregnant for three more weeks just to show they have all the control!". Seriously... the e-mail stated nothign except the fact that Landon is healthy enough to make his debut NOW! Nothing has changed since last week so I won't bore anyone with anwering all of those questions. On a positive note, even my weight hasn't changed. Still holding strong at 39 pounds. Hoping I never have to see the forty pound weight gain mark! Come on Landon!!! Ryder and I have been doing a lot of this... we just hang out in my room, and he does puzzles or plays with cars. I always hated our ghetto baseball mattress we like to call our bed, but it' really paid off these days since it's the perfect height for Ryder to play!

I hope my big belly doesn't offend anyone! It's kind of always hanging out like that these days.

Today Ryder and I got to watch Heather and Chris's baby Nash for a couple of hours! His momma had a long phone conference for work and needed a little help. Not the greatest picture, but the best I could snap...

Ryder practicing his big brother skills!!

Guess Landon's Birth Date!!!

Soo the only thing anyone seems to want to talk to me about or that I ever want to talk about is when Landon will make his arrival!!! Everyone seems to think he'll be here soon, but the reality is he could still not be here for another 3 1/2 weeks! That reality is absolutley insane to me since i'm so ready right now, but I try to remind myself of it all the time. Plus I am trying really hard to enjoy Ryder because I know it'll be hard in the weeks and month to come. For those wondering Ryder's stats: 7 pounds 1 ounce 20 inches long @ 10 days early. He was born at 11:11 pm. I can't wait to see everyones guesses :)

Doctor Appointment Update and Some Important Dates

We really got no news at the doctors today, but I figured i'd let everyone know that though since everyone seems to be pretty anxious these days :) This nurse practitioner is literally in and out of the room in under five minutes... maybe even under two minutes. It annoys me, but I guess she's just doing her job. I see an actual doctor the next two weeks and my doctor the week after that if we need that appointment. I know next week is still a little early, but i'm really hoping for a 13th, 14th, or 15th delivery date! All three dates are very special to us! 13th - My momma's birthdy 14th - My Great Grandma's (Gigi) birthdy. This is who Landon's middle name, Brennan, is after. How awesome would it be for them to share a birthday?! 15th - One of my best friends, Natalie, little girl Charli's birthday. Her first daughter Finley and Ryder share an August 25th birthday so it would be crazy four our second children to share an April 15th birthday as well! If Landon decides he wants to continue to hold out (which I need to realize is most likely going to happen) he could also share a birthday with Derrik's brother, Cole, on the 18th or with his Daddy on the 22nd!! Anyone have a guess when they think he'll be here?!

Baby Landon Update: 36 Weeks

Sorry this post comes a day late. Forgot to take a picture yesterday, and got busy yesterday afternoon. I didn't realize how important these posts were to people until I got multiple texts and e-mails about it... sorry girls!

How Far Along: 36 Weeks

Size of Baby: About 6 pounds and more than 18 1/2 inches long

Food Size (According to my e-mail from BabyCenter.com): A crenshaw melon... no clue what this is!

Total Weight Gain: 39 pounds! I've been waiting every morning to see that 40 pound mark... it's bound to happen :(

Maternity Clothes: One of my mom's friends was sweet enough to give me some of her maternity clothes for these last couple of weeks. It's been nice to have a few different shirts to wear. Honestly though probably like 90% of my stuff is still not maternity. Between leggings, long dresses, Target's long tank tops, and my husbands t-shirts they aren't really necessary.

Gender: It's a BOY! Landon Brennan Lutz

Movement: Trying to enjoy it every night. I remember being so annoyed with it at the end of my pregnancy with Ryder and then missing it when it was over. I always had that "it'll happen again some day" feeling though. This could very likely (according to Derrik 100%) be our last pregnancy... trying to soak it up!

Food Cravings: Just eating whatever when i'm hungry in small portions. I can't eat much at one time. I'm so over gaining weight and ready to get back to my old self and work out.

Labor Signs: I wish! The last couple of night i've had really bad cramping at night and a few contractions here and there, but nothing consistent enough to get excited about. Not too much longer hopefully!!!

How’s Ryder Handling It: I think he's as ready as a two year old can be. He asks about Landon a lot. His stuff is everywhere all ready for him, and I think Ryder is ready for him to get here and start using it.

What is the same/different as the last time: Same: At this point just being so uncomfortable!

Different: Feeling cramping and stuff before actually being in labor. With Ryder I never felt any signs of anything until the day I had him.

Symptoms: Does anyone want to hear me complain about my hips anymore. They have gotten so awful that when I roll over and stuff at night they are making an awful popping sound. Hoping this all goes back to normal after I have him.

Best Moment This Week: Getting settled back in at home and officially being 95% ready for Landon to get here. I think I can always be adding stuff to the to-do list. I do need to pack our bags, but that'll take two seconds. Last time I went with sooo much stuff that was not necessary. I packed a ton of clothes for myself and Ryder... we ended up wearing the hospital gowns and cute little hospital shirts on him the whole time.

What I Am Looking Forward To: Our little guy being here! Hoping it happens sooner rather then later, and date night with my hubby tonight :)

Doctors Appointment: Friday... with the awful doctor I saw last week.

A few photos from Florida

I really hope my picture taking skills and desire to actually take them find their way back to me sometime in the near future. I have such a scattered mess of pictures from Florida. Don't let the lack of pictures fool you though... we truly had a great time! My mom and I spent probably too much time finding clothes for Landon, and if he was lacking at all in the clothes department we took care of that problem :) It was so fun finally getting to do some baby stuff with her! Ryder spent his time in the pool, playing with his aunties, flirting with lots of cute little girls, and playing hard to get with his Mack and Grammy. I'm not sure what his deal is, but he seriously gives them a run for their money in the affection department. I'm pretty sure it's those aunties stealing all the attention. He finally call my sisters and brother Uncle Ryan, Auntie Ally, and Auntie Hay (not sure why he opts not to use her full name). It' so cute though! On to some pictures...

This picture right here is one of my biggest reason for wanting to move back to Florida...

Just look at all the kids Ryder has to hang out with!!!

Two seriouly pregnant mommas

Amanda 32 Weeks and Me at 34 Weeks

The cake at the baby shower Miss these girls so much! Courtney was loving being the skinny girl in the picture :) Soon enough you'll be the preggo one... just wait! Look how big these three are getting!!! Our traditional picture of the three kids together from every visit we've had to Florida Dakota, Sophia, and Ryder Landing in Phoenix... he's telling me "I see Daddy"

Running to go see his Daddy!!!

This was the first time that Ryder very obviously missed Derrik. For a while he was obvioulsy too young to know what was going on when they would spend time apart. Last summer and over Christmas he knew Daddy wasn't there, but had a very "out of site, out of mind" personality. This trip though he would ask me where Daddy was, would tell me he missed Daddy, told me he was excited to go home to Daddy and Chloe, and was SO excited to get off the plane to see him. I love the father/son bond they have built recently. My mom alway told me that intense father/son bond comes later once they can really interact on the same level with each other. Ryder seriously does anything he can to be just like Daddy! It's too cute, and I can't wait to see Landon have that relationship one day too!!!

35 Week Doctor Appointment

Yesterday I went to the doctors for an appointment. Unfortunately our doctor office is down a few doctors at the moment and they had to schedule me with a nurse practitioner. I was not very pleased with anything she did or had to say. She said she's only been in the practice for eight months and honestly wasted my time. Of course she was the only person available for our appointment next Friday as well. I'm going to try calling next week to get with someone else. Other then that we basically just wait at this point. We're getting very anxious!!!

The First Year

We made it back to Arizona with Landon still safe in my belly. Not that I intended on having the little guy at 35 weeks or earlier, but my friends have put on quite a show lately with early delivers so I was super paranoid the whole time we were in Florida. We're back though! I did lots of cleaning and unpacking yesterday. We have a few more small things to do to get ready for Landon, but at this point we would gladly welcome him at any time. I go to the doctor this afternoon and will get a post up about that once we get home. Sorry I missed the 35 week update. We were flying and honestly every week is kind of the same right now. I'll get a post up with the end of our Florida visit soon too!

Now that I visited Florida and could show off a small project I had been working on I think i'm ready to share it on here. With all the work I put into it I wanted my mom and a few other people to see it in person because it's way better that way!

The past couple of months i've been working on a scrapbook for Ryder. I am making each book a years worth of photos and stories. It came out amazing and is printed on a hard cover 12x12 book. I am so glad I finally pursued doing this. I'm about half way through his second year book and truly hope I can finish it soon so i'm caught up with him! It'll be way less overwhelming to do knowing i'm caught up... especially with two kids! This is definitely my reason for a lack of blogging lately. Whenever i'm spending time on the computer I want to get another page done instead of another blog post. Promise to let blogging take number one priority once the little guy is here!!!

Hope you enjoy this as much as I do :)

P.S. - You probably will want to click the link below the book to view it better.

Click here to view this photo book larger