Fort Lauderdale

While in Ft. Lauderdale last weekend, we got to head to the beach for a few hours. Last year when we were at the beach, Samuel was pretty scared of it. This year, he LOVED it! It was the biggest sand and water table he had ever seen :)

First view...

Loving the water... It was difficult to hold on to him. He really wanted to swim on his own, but that wasn't allowed :)

Loving the sand...


Time with Grandma... He loved to help her with her walker.

Flying home... This flight was during naptime. Not sure if that was a good idea or not... he was very overtired at first, screaming and crying, but then slept for a good bit of the flight. It's always a gamble :)

Florida Trip

As if things weren't busy enough with having moved half way across the country last week, we thought we would take a trip to Florida this past weekend. :) We went down for Bud's grandparents 60th wedding anniversary and are so glad we did! We had a great time with all his family... and there are a lot of them! Bud's dad is the second of 15 kids. All 14 kids (one passed away several years ago) were there, along with most of the spouses, over half of the 40ish grandkids, one of 3 great grandkids (Samuel), and many other close family friends (one came all the way from Ireland). It was a crowd, a very fun crowd! We took over the lobby at the Hampton Inn playing cards and hangi

ng out late into the morning. Samuel stayed up till midnight all three nights. Bud was up till 3:30 or later... I was glad to have Sam as an excuse to head up to bed :) Grandma watched him sleep one night so I could hang out though, which was nice to not miss out!!

There were more than 60 people (family only) at their house for a cookout one night and 130 at the Anniversary celebration. Grandma and Grandpa Lutz are very loving and welcoming to those they come in contact with! I am so grateful to have them as my family. They have treated me as one of their own from the first time we met and I really enjoy the time we have spent together over the past several years.

Now for the pictures... Sorry for the poor quality in a lot of these. My camera is making me mad lately. Thankfully my parents gave me a DSLR camera recently! I just didn't want to take up the luggage space with it on this trip.

Last airplane ride as a "lap child"... I now understand why they make you pay for a seat for a two year old! He was quite wiggly and didn't like sitting on my lap for almost 3 hours. Mickey Mouse on the Ipod worked for a little while...

Samuel pulling Michael around... Michael is Bud's cousin and is 18 days older than Sam.
It worked better this way... Michael is a bit stronger than Sam :)Grandpa playing Ring around the Rosie with his niece, nephew and grandson...
Balloons are fun... And, the only decent pic of his cute outfit. He first wore this blazer for Easter at about 9 months old... a little big then, a little small now, but we've gotten our use out of it :)
The happy couple...
Helping Papa and Papa's cousins bartend...
Dancing as only 2 and 3 year olds can dance :)

Samuel and Madison (Michael's sister... she just turned 3) dancing. They did this several times throughout the night, but I could never get a great picture of it. So cute!!

All tuckered out...
The Fred Lutz clan...

We headed down to Ft. Lauderdale to visit Bud's other grandma after this party. Pics of that coming soon...

Happy Anniversary Bud!

We celebrated our 6 year anniversary a few weeks ago. It kind of got lost in the shuffle of moving, traveling, etc. We did get to go out for a nice dinner while Gigi and Dodo babysat and then celebrated the day of with Sam in tow. I guess we will have to get used to dates with a toddler until we find babysitters up here. :)

We pretty much mimicked our engagement day/weekend (exactly 7 years ago... the same day as our wedding)... Breakfast at Pancake Pantry, a walk in Centennial Park (we found the bench where he popped the question and shared the story with Sam... he could have cared less), shopping (7 years ago it was to get my ring sized... this year to buy a computer :)), and hanging out at the house, followed by fireworks downtown the following evening (they did a fireworks show just for us :))!

I'm so grateful for a wonderful, loving husband. I love spending time with him, watching him with Sam (and B2), and sharing life together. I am so grateful to have him by my side through everything! Love you Bud!

Of course, no post is complete without pics of little man too...

My two favorite boys relaxing before bedtime...
Little guy enjoying "Bears in the Snow" at Pancake Pantry... again :)

Grandan and Grandma Chris' visit

My grandparents came down for a visit while we were in Nashville. It was so good to see them again! It had been a year and Sam had changed a lot in that time!! We had a good time eating, watching Sam, and catching up.

Sam and Grandan playing golf together... the red club always belongs to the guest :)

Rough housing...
Doing puzzles with Grandma Chris... he looks like he is telling a story in this picture :)

Watching Toy Story 3... his first movie in the theater. He loved it... couldn't take his eyes off the big screen :) He did fall asleep at the end, but only for the last ten minutes or so. "Muzz" (Buzz) is his new favorite character!

Moving Part 3... the final step!

Bill leading the way... Samuel thought this was hilarious :)

The first day was a little exhausting... this was after we checked into our hotel at about 6pm.
Life has been busy! But, we are finally getting back to routine... or a new Philadelphia style routine.

The drive was uneventful. Clara has some meds to help with the 13+ hours in a car and an overnight in a hotel. It was marvelous! Sam played with his new "Muzz" (Buzz Lightyear) and Woody toys (Thanks mom!), "Ba Bill" (an old favorite), slept and ate the whole way. No movies the whole way!! Partially because he was content, but mostly because Bud and I wanted to listen to our road trip playlist :)

I think our house is going to work out great... we found it on Craigslist and signed the lease without ever seeing it. But, there were no major surprises upon moving in last week (no surprises, but plenty of drama... more on that later). The neighborhood is great... lots of young families. We've met several of the neighbors and they have been very helpful in offering suggestions for restaurants, grocery stores, nursery schools, etc. and even brought us lunch on moving day. Our back yard is perfect for a toddler and a dog... complete with hammock, tree swing, and pond (Sam wanted to blow bubbles in it this morning :)).

I will hopefully get back in the routine of posting on here more regularly now that we are settling in. I have a lot of catching up to do :)

P.S. We got chinese food last week and my fortune cookie read "You will make many changes before settling" - I thought it was appropriate :) Hopefully, the changes have already been made and we can get on with the settling!

Fourth of July

We braved the crowds and headed downtown for the big fireworks show. It was just as crowded as expected, but the fireworks were amazing! We weren't sure how this was going to go with Samuel in tow, but he LOVED it! They didn't start till 9:30 which is way past his bedtime, the crowds made it so he had about a two foot square to run around in, and we didn't know how he would react to the noise as last year he slept through them. He loved listening to the music before hand, did lots of dancing and guitar playing. And, anxiously anticipated the "boom boom boom" (while banging his hand on his chest) of the fire works. When they started, he clapped and cheered after each one and than asked for "mo" (more) over and over and over again.

Waiting for them to start...

He couldn't take his eyes off the sky...

... and, out! He was asleep before we had driven three blocks.

I can't figure out how to get my videos facing the right direction, so you have to tilt your head to watch :)

Samuel's interpretation of a firework...

Dancing to the music while waiting for things to start...

Cheering for the fireworks...

Decision Made

So, the results are in... 65% said we should find out B2's gender, 34% said we should not. However, we are going with the minority :) Sorry to disappoint the masses!

I really wanted to find out with Sam and hadn't really thought of not finding out with the second. But, Bud brought it up (I think he's trying to save money :)) and I've started thinking it could be fun.

I don't really need to do as much preparation with this baby anyway. We have all neutral gendered baby gear. Since Sam and baby will be sharing a room, I won't need to decorate a nursery until the baby moves out of our room (which will likely be when he/she is sleeping really well at night... in other words, a while). And, with online shopping, I can order boy or girl clothes from the comfort of my warm home once baby arrives.

So, for now, I'm looking for a few neutral sleepers and long sleeved onesies/pants (which are really hard to find!!) and looking forward to seeing pics of B2 next Friday (I think we are going to have an ultrasound then, although it might just be a meet the new doc appointment).

I have some pictures of my boy to post, but my camera isn't cooperating with my new computer. I'm hoping to get that fixed today!!

Birthday Present???

Samuel LOVES guitars! We went to some friends house last week and rock band was being played...

He screamed and cried when we took it away from him so the big boys could play. So, Kevin gave him a real guitar to play with. He was in heaven! He again cried when we had to leave and gave the guitar a kiss "nigh-night."

23 Months

After getting all "reject" pictures at 22 months, Sam sat still and smiled perfectly for his 23 month pictures. It all depends on the day and Sam's mood : ) This will be his last monthly update!!! How sad :( Of course there will be updates after his second birthday at the end of this month, but probably not monthly.

- We have been swimming a lot! He's getting really comfortable in the water. He went through a phase where he wouldn't let go of me or papa, but after realizing that his water wings would help him stay afloat he has taken off. He dives under, floats on his back (or pretends to), blows bubbles, etc. He's quite the little fish. I think he's trying to be like Nemo :) He asks for his "Nemo" at least once a day (Nemo is on his swim diapers, so by asking for a Nemo, he's asking to swim :)).

- He continues to show off his musical interests. Ever since he was a newborn, he has respond to music. He now pretends to play the guitar (complete with sound effects), loves to play Gigi's piano (and "sings" while playing... he learned that from Gigi), and has added "Holy, Holy, Holy" (just those words and then babbles the rest of it :) to his repertoire of songs. Some pics of my little guitarist coming soon!

- He loves to tell me whose things are whose. He labels "papa's" chair, "gaga's" food bowl, or "K-K's" or "Kake's" phones. Sometimes he gets it wrong... today I was hanging up a skirt and he said "papa's" :)

- He knows how to push back bed time (I had no idea he would understand procrastination at such a young age!! But, he does come by it naturally.). First, he plays independently and without whinning, so that we won't want to disturb him. He then asks for some juice or milk. Then, he wants to read his Bible (it's the Bible, how can we say no to that!!). We then pray and sing songs. He quietly cuddles during this and everytime we stop he says "more" and cuddles up for the next song. How can I pass up cuddles?! He's a smart little boy : )

- He's also coniving when it comes to getting in trouble. If he's doing something wrong, we just look at him sternly and he gives multiple hugs and kisses. Or, if we ask him if he "needs a spanking" he gives himself a spanking and then gives out hugs and kisses again. He does the same thing with "time out." I ask if he might need to take a time out and he sits right down on the floor. How can I follow through when he's being so loving and sweet!?! I'm working on that :)

Sam is asking to play computer games, so I better end this update :) Those of you with toddlers, Samuel really likes this website.