An Impromtu Trip

Monday night Jared and I decided to take off to Oregon to pick up my dad's van that had been left at a shop down in Astoria. We booked a hotel and quickly packed our things and went to bed. Jared was a little bothered by how fast we were doing things but I figured it was an adventure. And it was in more ways than one!!!

We drove up to the Column in Astoria to let Benjamin and us stretch our legs and take care of Elizabeth and eat lunch. I sat at the base of the tower and took care of Elizabeth while Benjamin led his daddy around. Where did they wind up? Oh at the top of 164 steps and 125 feet in the air.

I heard my name called out and got up to see what was going on. There was Jared and Benjamin at the top. Jared said it was a long way up with an extra 35 lbs that he was carrying. His legs were shaking after they got back down. Going up once was not enough for Benjamin. He really likes being at the top of the tallest thing he can get to.

We enjoyed some lunch while Elizabeth was awake for the first long stretch of the day. Apparently driving long distances helps her stay asleep.

After getting my dad's van registered in Washington state we went to the beach. Jared is so wonderful. I requested to go to the beach at my mom's advice and he thought of a beach we could go to. We had gone to both this beach and the Column with my dad and brothers. Ed got the truck stuck at the beach if I remember correctly.

Anyways this was Benjamin's first time at the beach and as soon as we reached the sand he fell down and started to play. I had to pick him up and make him walk to realize that there was more to the beach to enjoy and see. We walked all the way down to the ocean and I took Benjamin's shoes off and rolled up his pants and mine too (not that it helped much).

Benjamin's reaction to the ocean and the beach was priceless. He thoroughly enjoyed himself and I enjoyed playing with him and sharing in the moment. Jared stood back a bit from the ocean with the camera while holding Elizabeth and took pictures. It was a wonderful trip together!

Set-Up for Benjamin

Monday Jared took off with Benjamin to the manly auto-part stores to get some parts for a car he was working on. Elizabeth was sleeping for me so I worked quickly to clean up the dinning room floor and finish a few other deep cleaning projects to check the kitchen off my list for awhile (minus the every day items that have to happen). I moved all the chairs and stools into the living room and I set them up in a way that I thought Benjamin might enjoy.

I think he did! What do you think?

I also took some pictures of Elizabeth laying in my arms. I had fun trying to get some good angles and good shots.

Benjamin is obsessed with a little race car trophy of ours. He enjoys playing with it all over the house now. It was locked up in a cabinet until I recently cleaned my carpets.

The Lutz Cousins

Sunday we had family over for dinner which entailed having all of the Lutz cousins together since Elizabeth was born. We enjoyed a delicious meal of burritos that Jared prepared (I only shredded the cheese and made sure the dishes were clean to cook on). After dinner the older boys got to go play downstairs and watch Phineas and Ferb.

Left to right...Benjamin Lutz, Brooks Lively, Connor Keenan and Corey Keenan

While upstairs were the younger kids all under a year old. Heather was in auntie heaven holding her first niece. Now there's a 2nd girl in the family for Isla to be good friends with.

The girl cousins. Elizabeth and Isla. There was such a difference in the abilities of the babies.

Who can't help but love those chubby cheeks! Isla is adorable!

Tyson in the push up position. And 1!

We eventually tried to get a picture of the cousins together which as you can see is no easy task.

 

Success!!

Hand-Me-Downs

Who doesn't love hand-me-downs? Benjamin is not adverse to them either. His favorite hand-me-down is from the Risenmay's at church which is a pair of green rain boots. They are either frogs or dragons I am not sure.

I tried to get a picture of him standing in his PJ's with his boots on. He refused to stand.

  Benjamin took a stool down the hall to the nursey up to the dresser in the closet to get his boots down. He understands the concept of how to put his boots on so he does it with only a little help. He will carry his boots around the house until someone helps him to put them on. And then once they are on they better stay on or have a good distraction once you take them off.

Elizabeth at 1 Month

I am a little late getting this together but I didn't want to skip it all together. Elizabeth has already passed the 1 month mark and is on her way to 6 weeks this Friday. I didn't actually get a picture of her on her 1 month mark for some reason. I remember thinking about it and then it just didn't happen. That's how life goes sometimes.

Here is Elizabeth when she was born

and

here is Elizabeth when she is almost a month old (one day prior).

It has been interesting adjusting to having two kids. Elizabeth is very different from Benjamin...she's not as easy as he was sometimes. Elizabeth loves her mommy! Daddy on the other hand she will tolerate sometimes. She loves to sleep in her swing and is big on being in motion. She only liked me to hold her straight up and down on my chest and for Jared she would only like to be held horizontally. If either of us tried the opposite direction she would scream at us. Elizabeth came out with a great set of lungs. She has an eardrum piercing scream when she is really ticked off that we call the "Banshee Cry". We try to keep her from getting to that point as it really hurts. She is a great sleeper though at night. Elizabeth will typically go down around 10pm and not wake up until 2am or 5am. Which is great because it helps me to get enough sleep to keep up with her and Benjamin and the house throughout the day. Elizabeth is only recently starting to take a pacifier more now but she has to want it or it just makes her gag. Another nickname we've had for Elizabeth is "little squirt". She was really good at doing little squirts in her diaper that were just so tiny but big enough to irritate her bottom that she would not fall asleep or nurse. It has made for a lot more diaper changes and Jared threatened that if she didn't learn to stop with the little squirts that he would keep the nickname "little squirt" and tell all her future boyfriends how she got the nickname. It seemed to have work as she is not doing it quite so much anymore. At the beginning I would get up and nurse Elizabeth and then sit back on the bed with her vertical on my chest and fall asleep there with her sleeping. It was nice. She's gotten bigger so she doesn't fit as well and doesn't like it as much anymore. The miracle worker that Jared found to help calm her down when she is in a fit was the box fans on high. She definitely likes white noise...if I vacuum while she is in the swing she will typically fall asleep (my carpets haven't been so clean in a long time) which Benjamin did too.

Elizabeth is weighing in now around 14lbs and is between 23 and 24 inches long. Benjamin loves to look at her and smile more and more now which is great. He is going to be a great older brother. I love Elizabeth so much and I am grateful to have her in our family. It's wonderful to cuddle with her and watch her grow so much already.

No Real Story

Here's a few random photo's from the past few weeks. I just try to keep taking photos of my kids but sometimes there's no real story or I can't remember one.

Elizabeth on 06/29/2012

Benjamin on 06/29/2012

Benjamin rearranging furniture on 07/04/2012

Elizabeth awake in her chair on 07/04/2012

Elizabeth asleep in her chair on 07/09/2012

Benajmin playing in his favorite window on 07/09/2012

Elizabeth playing on the floor on her blanket from Aunt Heather 07/14/2012

Benjamin enjoying crackers and juice on 07/14/2012

Always Bigger Than You Think

I can honestly say that I had a conversation with someone about 2 - 2 1/2 weeks ago where I said I will probably never get new couches anytime soon. Then out of the blue about a week later or so I get a text from my sister in-law Jacki asking if we wanted their couches as they were getting her in-law's couches. I was like heck yes! Our couches have left their mark (literally) on me enough and needed to go to the dump.

Once we got the couches we decided to clean them and clean the carpets. I had wanted to clean the carpets for months. It always seems like such a simple task but I spent most of last week cleaning my house and moving furniture just to prepare the areas to get the carpets cleaned. There were days that I would look around after hours were spent cleaning and go it doesn't look like anything has been done in my house.

Friday came and Jared and I got up and moved the furniture out of our room and out of the living room. We had completed the nursery, Benjamin's room and the hallway the day before. Now it was time for the rest of the upstairs. Benjamin enjoyed the house being empty to some degree but it also seemed he was a little confused about what was going on...especially in our bedroom because he couldn't watch TV anymore. Once we got the rooms done and the stairs we took off to do a little shopping, playing and eating out as a family.

Figuring out where to go to spend our time as a family was a little harder. We decided on Redmond as there's plenty of choices and Jared's parents always appreciate seeing their grandkids. We went to a park that I had never stopped at before and let Benjamin have a good time. Elizabeth slept through all of it thankfully!

Benjamin loves to swing! He's also gotten quite comfortable with going down slides now. But swings are his favorite. Once he laid eyes on the swing pretty much everything else was forgotten. He could swing for hours and so can his mommy.
 

After the park we went to see their grandparents and enjoyed a nice visit with them. We eventually left and picked up Taco Time on the way home. Both kids slept the whole way home basically which was nice. I snoozed a little bit too...I tend to do that these days. When we got home I realized the table was still covered and the floor was too clean to eat on with Benjamin soo....I ran downstairs and grabbed a blanket for an indoor picnic. It worked out well and was fun. Benjamin used the blanket as his napkin so it was perfect. After our picnic was done I took care of the kids while Jared set up our room and put the living room back together.