Memorial Day Weekend Project

We've been extremely busy here at the Lutz household this weekend! I decided to take advantage of this three day weekend and tackle painting the upstairs bathroom. I knew I wanted to do as much as possible on Saturday and Sunday so that we could relax on Monday. It's a good thing... we now have plans to go to GG and Papa's house for a fish fry tomorrow! Glad I planned my project out properly!

Jonathan has been doing a lot of housework for me the past two days and watching Caleb. There's no way I could have gotten so much done without his help! I do miss Caleb though, I haven't been able to spend much time with him for the past two days. I'll still be looking for the proper "decor" for the bathroom, but the main part of the job is done! It's such a nice feeling to have that behind me!

Caleb is now Mobile!

Caleb can crawl! YAY!!! Here are a few videos from today of his new adventures! Hooray for Caleb! : )






PS - He's not using the basket behind him to balance... that's all him!

Baby Dedication

This past Sunday we gathered with our friends and family to dedicate Caleb to the Lord. Traditionally most churches set aside a Sunday to bring all babies up and do a dedication in front of the whole church. Our church prefers to "do" baby dedications within smaller groups so that we can invite people in our life that are helping to raise our children for God. Within our small group we have three young children and decided we would like to have a dedication together.

We held the dedication at our house and had originally planned to be outside for the afternoon. We had all somehow forgotten how hot Texas is at the end of May though! So we decided that morning to spend most of our time in the house and only go outside for the actual dedication. Greg Poore, one of the pastors at our church, came and spoke about our roles as parents. He was very inspiring and good natured as the other two kids (who are toddlers) decided they really didn't want to be held! It was entertaining to watch them run around and Caleb really wished he could get down and play with them too!

We loved having our family and friends together to celebrate the fact that Caleb belongs to the Lord and hear them agree to help him follow whatever the Lord has planned for him. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives.

Yummy Puffs

Caleb has been doing a great job eating solids! He now eats sweet potato, squash, carrots, green beans, peas, pears, prunes, applesauce, bananas and yogurt. We just started yogurt for breakfast and he's still not really sure about it, but mixed with fruit he does ok. This week we also started offering him puffs. Wednesday was the first day we offered Caleb the snack and he needed them put in his mouth for him one at a time. Thursday and Friday he could put them in his mouth if I first put them in his hand one at a time. Yesterday he was suddenly capable of picking them up off the tray and feeding himself! In 5 days he went from needing me to do it all for him to not really needing me at all! Of course, I still stay nearby just in case, but he hasn't needed me lately!

Still working on the crawling. He's SO close.. just can't quite coordinate the hands and legs together yet! I have no doubt that he'll get it soon, he's already scooting all over the living room, soon it will be crawling all over the house!

Here's a video of him eating his puffs! So cute!

Amazing Friends

For several weeks I've been slowly working on cleaning out our overgrown flowerbeds. I've spent hours out in the backyard and bagged around ten bags of weeds, dead limbs and growth, but barely made a dent in all the work that we've been needing to do. Last Wednesday at our bible study, I mentioned the stress I have been feeling and that I needed prayer for time and energy to get all the work done. During that conversation our amazing group decided to jump in and help.

Last night 7 of our friends came over with tools and gloves ready to work. There are truly no words to express how grateful I am that these men and women took time (after working all day Monday) to come work on our yard! They spent an hour and a half cutting back bushes, cleaning up dead stuff, cutting the dead fronds off the palm trees, and plenty more. It seemed that every time I looked up from the project I was working on people had finished where they were at and moved on to the next job. I lost count of the bags, but there are 15-20 trash bags waiting to go out on trash day plus piles of palm fronds. It would have taken me weeks to get to everything they did and there's no way I could have cut back the palm trees on my own! After we finished the work, we came inside to cool off with ice cream before everyone went home.

My church talks about having 2 am friends, the ones you can call at any time of night with any problem. It might not have been 2 am and it wasn't a life threatening situation, but you have no idea the stress and tension it's taken away knowing that the job is done. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful, giving people in our lives!

I wish we had taken before and after pictures, but here are a few of us relaxing after we finished and the HUGE pile of trash that goes out on trash day!






And of course I had to add one of Caleb... he was so great every time I went to work outside! He could spend all day out there and be perfectly happy! : )

Extra Note: The Perrys posted a few "during" pictures on their blog too!

New Things for Caleb!

Caleb has been working toward crawling for weeks now (if not months)... I keep thinking he's almost there and he just hasn't been ready yet. For around a few weeks he's been scooting backwards and that scooting turned into crawling backwards over the weekend. Well, today he went forward! He's not consistent yet, but he's trying so hard!

While Jonathan was playing with him on the floor this evening, Caleb did another "new" thing! He went from kneeling to standing without our help. (He did use Jonathan's knee to pull up, but it could've been anything...) He did it several times and I was able to get it on video! Can you believe how big our little boy is!?!

Mother's Day Weekend

I know... Mother's Day was a whole week ago, but I've been too busy to share the wonderful things we did!

As I mentioned in my previous post, my brother and his family spent Friday night with us because we all planned to participate in a fun run hosted by our old high school on Saturday morning. It turned out to be a beautiful morning! It was a little overcast, but there was a nice breeze. Kristen ran the 5k (and placed 4th for her category!) while Thomas, Jonathan and I walked the 3k with our boys. After Kristen finished, she ran to where we were and walked the rest of the way with us. We definitely took on a leisurely pace while walking! I really enjoyed spending so much time with my brother and his family, we don't get much relaxed time together. It seems that when we do get to visit we have a lot of other things going on.





In the courtyard at Creek there was some food and drinks to enjoy after finishing the race. Our high school had major renovations done a few years after Jonathan and I graduated, so it was crazy to be back on campus because nothing looked the same! Thomas and I spent a while trying to remember where old buildings used to be... It was hard to remember even though it's only been 7 years! (Well, 12 for him!) Crazy the things you forget in such a relatively short amount of time!

There was also a fire truck at the race (they shot the starting gun from a platform on the truck). The fire people (there were men and women) walked the 3k with their uniforms on - it was really neat to watch them! We took the boys over to get a look at the fire truck while we were leaving and both got a chance to get into the truck! I can't believe our 7 month old has already had his first look into a fire truck! He got to wear a fireman hat too... but he wasn't too thrilled about that!




Thomas and his family left from the race and Jonathan and I headed back home. We did little bit around the house, but relaxed for the most part until Sarah and Lana stopped by for a visit. We hadn't seen Lana in quite a while and I couldn't believe how big she has gotten! She will be a year old in June, crazy how time flies! Caleb was very interested in watching his cousin while she crawled and stood everywhere! I think it made him want to crawl even more, he's been much more focused in trying this week : )





Sunday, Mother's Day, was super busy, but wonderful! While I was getting ready for church, Jonathan snuck out of the house and got me a beautiful bouquet of flowers! I was also surprised when I went through to the kitchen and found a cookbook stand on the counter waiting for me! I think I've used it probably 5 or 6 times already this week!

After church we came home to relax for a short while before heading to my parents house for a Mother's Day bbq. We had a great time visiting with family and Caleb took his first nap in a pack 'n play away from our house. I was a bit nervous about how well he would fall asleep somewhere other than his room... I don't know why I worry so much! He went to sleep without a fuss and slept just fine in the den! It happened that Caleb got tired right as we were getting lunch, it was nice to eat without having to pass him around or make sure someone was watching him!






We left my parents' house that afternoon a little early so that we could get home and get ready for a date! Jonathan wouldn't tell me where we were going, only that a skirt or dress would be nice. So Mal came over to watch Caleb and Jonathan and I left around 5 for our date. He took me on a dinner cruise! It was so much fun! The waters were a bit choppy in the bay, so we stayed on Clear Lake. It was fun to get a different view of the area while we ate a yummy buffet dinner.



I'm still impressed with how well Jonathan planned the day! It was packed full of events, but all with people I love! I'm so lucky to have such a thoughtful husband!

Strawberry Pickin'

Today we went strawberry pickin' at Froberg Farms in Alvin!

Kristen and Eli drove into town this morning and Katy joined us as we got together at our house. We let Caleb eat lunch while Eli snacked and then we left to go to Chick-Fil-A. The boys were great as we ate lunch and enjoyed each other's company. Once we were finished we drove out to the strawberry patch!

We had such a great time picking strawberries! I was worried that we would have a hard time finding good ones because it's the end of the season (Froberg's last day for public strawberry picking is tomorrow!), but there were still plenty and Eli even got really good at finding the red ones! While there, Caleb had his first ride in a red wagon. I was concerned that he would have trouble sitting up for very long, but he did great for quite awhile! Aunt Katy was nice enough to hold him after that, so I got plenty of time to fill my bucket! We got enough to share with my mom, Jonathan's mom and GG while we're together on Sunday! It was so much fun to pick them, I didn't want to quit even though I got far more than we will ever eat!




After we finished picking strawberries, we went in to Froberg's produce market. They had a large selection and I picked up a few new things to try. We had such a great time, I can't wait til we get to go next year! I think this will become an annual family event!

This afternoon the girls (and our two boys) stayed at the house and relaxed until our men came home. Jonathan came home at 5:30 and Thomas left work and drove down here to join us. It's seems like it's been a while since Thomas, Katy and I were all together (Thomas and Katy are my siblings). We enjoyed dinner and dessert (angel food cake and strawberries of course!) and laughing at each other. Thomas and his family are spending the night tonight and we are going to a race at the high school tomorrow morning. Kristen is running the 5k and Thomas, Jonathan and I are walking the 3k while pushing the boys in their strollers. I'll let you know how that goes later, but for now I'd better get to bed so I can wake up early in the morning!

A Busy Weekend

Well, you'll have to bear with me... this might be a long post! We've just had so much going on that I want to share and I haven't had any time to write.

First, I'm so proud of our little boy! He started pulling up this week (there's a video on our last post) and he is now trying to stand for a few seconds without holding on! His record so far is around 30 seconds, which I think is pretty amazing! The video I have is from the first day he started doing it (Saturday), he is already much more stable and if he starts to fall is sometimes able to correct himself! He is also getting closer to crawling! The second video shows his attempts! He's so cute!





On Saturday I went shopping and got Caleb his first pool! So, of course, we had to let him try it out when I got home! It wasn't the most beautiful day outside (hot and muggy), but he had a great time splashing in the water!




On Sunday, we went to church and then briefly stopped at home before heading over to GG and Papa's in Kemah. Thomas, Kristen and Eli had decided to come down to see the Boat Parade & Blessing of the Boats at the Boardwalk so we got together to have lunch before heading that way. My grandparents live in walking distance of the Kemah Boardwalk, so we got strollers out and took a walk with the boys, Thomas, Kristen, GG, Papa and Uncle Derrill. It was such a great afternoon with family and we loved seeing the decorated boats.












Caleb and I spent the morning recovering from the weekend! After Caleb went to bed this evening, Jonathan and I worked on the yard for a while. Jonathan needed to mow the front yard and I needed to work on the weeds in my herb garden. I'm so excited to see everything growing! The mint and basil especially smell so good! I can't wait to start using them in my cooking!

Thanks for sticking with me while I shared our weekend! Like I said, a lot has been going on!