My Little Pumpkin

Brody was born only a few days before Halloween so of course we had to get some pictures of him in his cute little "My first Halloween outfit". Brody is a wonderful baby. Sleep is challenging, but we are getting the hang of it. I was extremely nervous the first few nights home from the hospital. My mom was soooo amazing to stay with me for the first few nights and help me get up with him. He spoiled me by sleeping a few 4 hours stretches, but after the first few nights, that stopped. For the first 2 or 3 weeks, Brody woke up every 2 to 3 hours to eat. He kept the same pattern through the day. It was so difficult to help him learn his days from nights, but he's precious when he sleeps!

We kept a pack and play in our room for him to sleep in. After about 1am, I would bring him downstairs and let him sleep in his swing or make him a bed on the loveseat while I slept on the couch...not a lot of sleep for me!!! So worth it though. I loved just staring at his little face. Here are a few pictures from the first week!

Sweet, precious, perfect...Brody Campbell Lutz

Let me start by saying...I'M SORRY!!! I am that mom that has her baby and lets everything else go for six months! I thought for sure I would keep up with this, but I promise I will from here on out! I have about a zillion blogs to post on here, but I'll start with the most important...

On October 25, 2009 at 11:10 AM, my perfect miracle entered the world! Brody Campbell Lutz graced us with his presence...all 8 lbs 3 oz and 21 inches long of him! My labor was actually really great compared to some of the horror stories I've heard. I went to the hospital on Saturday morning, the 24th after what I thought were pregnancy symptoms, including light contractions (I'll spare you the details of the symptoms). We got there around 7am and were discharged around 5pm...never dilating past 2 cm. I thought for sure it was labor, but we went to my parents' house since they live much closer to the hospital. I had contractions through the night that progressed, but didn't seem to be consistent. At 4am, I had a massive contraction, and from there on out...they were 2 minutes apart. Taylor rushed me to the hospital where I had Brody 7 hours later after only 20 minutes of pushing! He was really ready to meet us! And let me just say, praise Jesus for epidurals...what a life saver! I only had to endure a little over 2 hours of those horrific contractions!

I just have to thank God that he was born in perfect health...and just really perfect in my opinion! Most of our family were able to make it for his birth! Taylor's parents were worried they wouldn't make it once we called and I was in hard labor, but they made it just in time! Above are a few pictures from his birthday...much more to come from the last 7 weeks!

Could be soon???

Tomorrow I'll be 38 weeks pregnant! I had an appointment today and am 1 cm dilated. To me, this didn't mean very much seeing as how I know my sister was dilated forever before she actually had Ella, but the doctor said that the head was EXTREMELY low and in position. THIS scared me a bit! I wasn't expecting to hear that! She said she would be shocked if I made it to my due date. Now, I'm all about having him early to avoid any possibility of a Halloween baby, but I guess I wasn't processing that this could happen at any time. She said to be conscious of contractions, even if they are not painful, and to look for other signs. I have another appointment next Wednesday where we will see if further progress has been made!

I really have to kick things into gear now! We have the crib and changing table/dresser all ready in the nursery. Bedding is in the crib, and lots of clothes have been washed. We were hoping to have time to finish the little things in the nursery, but I doubt baby will care:). We will be focusing the next few days on getting all of our stuff as unpacked and cleaned up as possible!

Sooo...stay tuned...could be an eventful week!!!!

37 Weeks

I am 9 months pregnant, just signed to close on our house, and moved in all in one week. Anxiety doesn't begin to describe what's been going on with me lately! WHAT A WEEK! So this past Monday, Taylor drove to Hickory late after work. Tuesday (thanks to Lowes paying for packers/loaders...what a Godsend) he, with help, packed up the house in Hickory, loaded it all up Wednesday, and drove back to Atlanta in a 24-foot truck Wednesday night. I hear that wasn't the most relaxing experience! Thursday morning we closed on both houses back to back, and had unloaders come unload all our stuff int othe new house around noon. I honestly have no idea how we pulled this off! We couldn't have done it without our ridiculously amazing family and friends. Taylor's parents helped with the Hickory stuff and his dad is here now helping us move in. My mom has been at the house helping unpack and clean...not an easy task with over a hundred boxes!

All I could think for the week was, oh God please please please don't let me go into labor yet! We only have a couple of weeks left, and God's timing is just incredible. To think that we got our house right at the perfect time and got in right before the baby comes...I'm just amazed. We've had our ups and downs...and certainly very stressful times, but God is good...and I'm so thankful for where we've been and where we are going!

Taylor is painting the nursery tomorrow!!! I'm so excited to finally get everything up and ready for the baby. I'll post pictures just as soon as we have it done, though, judging by the belly, might not be done until AFTER the baby is here:). Thank you for all your prayers...we can't wait to get baby Lutz here!!!

Uncomfortable? Me???

We are officially in the home stretch. I can't believe we are a little over a month away from meeting our little man! I have been one of those annoying pregnant women who constantly say I love being pregnant...because it's been true. I never understood the women who complained about pregnancy and didn't love it. I now know that they must be in the last month! I've never been so uncomfortable in all my life. My feet and ankles are completely swollen, my back hurts, my stomach feels like it's going to explode, and I can't sleep. Other than that, I love it:). Don't get me wrong...nothing compares to feeling him roll over in my belly and watching him switch from one side to the other. The bruised rib feeling sort of gets old though! I will be happy when he is here and I can breathe again!!!!

We have a little over two weeks before we close on our house, which gives us roughly two weeks before the baby's due date. Uncomfortableness aside...please pray the baby holds off until after we move in!!! Here is our new house, well, will be our new house October 8th!!

We are appreciating all prayers that the closing goes smoothly and we move in without any water breaking! God has been so good to us...we are just so thankful!

We do have a name picked out for the little one...I know...I hear you all gasping that it FINALLY happened! We have "decided" but agreed not to set anything in stone until we see his face and know for sure. We are still keeping a top 2 or 3 just in case, but think we've settled on the one! We will be taking a few 34 week pictures, much to my dismay as I now feel like a whale, but here are a few 32 week pics I never posted.

6 and a half left to go...

Could it really be that I only have a little over 6 weeks until this baby is here? Most women in my position are ready as can be, but I'd like to extend this time a little bit! I'm due on the 29th, but we close on our house in Hickory as WELL as our house in Atlanta on October 8th. That only gives us a few weeks to get the house in order and the nursery ready! I know it won't all be perfect, but we have a pretty awesome God who answered our prayers to let us be in a house before the baby was here.

We have so much to do leading up to the day, and it feels like our heads are spinning!!! I had another shower in Hickory this past weekend. Sue was sweet enough to do that for us! It was absolutely beautiful and so wonderful to see so many great friends! Also, we got to see Ella and bring her back with us to Atlanta for the week. Lindy is missing her something awful, but we are thankful to have this precious time...and she could not be a sweeter, more precious, more beautiful baby!!!! We just adore her. Here are a few little snapshots from the other day with her.

See, I told you...perfection! I can't wait for her to meet her cousin!!!

SOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Most of you, if not all of you, know that we have had our house on the market for over a year now. We happened to move at the best time...right before the market took a nose dive. We got an offer on our house last September that we didn't take due to the amount of money we would have lost...well, a year later we received just about the same exact offer. I wish we could say that we got what we needed out of it, but God provides!!!!! This was such an answer to prayer. I don't think it's a coincidence that we've been praying "Please God...just let it sell by the end of August!" Our movers are paid through Taylor's company through October, so this is such a blessing...and two months before the baby arrives! God has a plan, and has taught me so much about prayer and trust this past year. We are so thankful that He works in the ways He does!

So this is a bit bittersweet as we are THRILLED to have the house under contract, but a bit sad that we will be moving the stuff out of our first home together! It was a great house! On to the next chapter...