The Kriz Family

We were released from Bethesda North hospital at about 1:30pm on Thursday, Feb. 25. While everyone at Bethesda North took very good care of us, we were still glad to be coming home to our own space, and start this first step on the journey of little Elsa’s life. We were very glad to come home to Lukas too – we hadn’t seen him in a few days because of the hospital’s restriction on young visitors. Both our Grandparents took really good care of Lukas (thank you Granny and Opa, and Grandma and Grandpa!) and we know he loved being with them, but we missed him too!

Here are a few photos of our last day in the hospital, and Elsa’s first hours in our home.

All packed up to go (you’d think we were on a weeklong trip…)

Mommy, Daddy, and Elsa

Cute Little Smile

Asleep on the Boppy Pillow

Mommy, Lukas, and Elsa

Daddy, Lukas, and Elsa

At 9:22am on Tuesday, February 23rd, Elsa Maria Kriz came into the world. She is 7lbs 11oz and 20 inches, with a LOT of black hair (unlike her older brother who had almost no hair when he was born). We are so excited that she is finally here, and we are probably a little better prepared than when we had Lukas. Unfortunately, the hospital is not allowing visitors under 14 because of H1N1, so it will be a couple days before Elsa gets to meet her older brother. Everyone is doing well, mom is recovering, and Elsa is sleeping. Life is good

I’m sure there will be plenty more to come, but here are a few photos of little Elsa.

As most of you know, our home was for sale in mid-late 2009, and we were hoping to have sold, found a new home, and settled in long before Baby Girl was due (Feb 22nd was the original due date). Well, things didn’t go quite as expected, and it wasn’t until early January 2010 that we were under contract to sell. The closing date was originally Feb 24th, but we worked with the buyers to move it up a few days. So finally, on Feb 19th, 2010, we officially closed our sale and have moved on out. We’re temporarily living in Heidi’s Grandparents’ home, until we can find a new place of our own.

I have to say, it is a bittersweet feeling leaving Bobby Lane. We have some really good memories, especially that our little family started out there, so it will always be special to us. It was kind of sad to leave for the last time. But we’re also very happy to have sold our home, because that means we can now focus on finding a new home (well, and on Baby Girl, who is now due on the 23rd).

We stopped by Bobby Lane for one last look just before closing. With as hectic as things have been, we never got to say a proper “goodbye”, so we wanted to take this last opportunity. We’ll miss you, old homestead. Take care of the new owners!

We’ve been busy getting ready for Christmas, and although it’s been a little hectic, we are just glad to have the time off together (2 weeks!), and also glad we’re not renovating a kitchen or anything like last year.

Lukas has been taking it all in, and he is so much more aware of (and excited about) everything going on this Christmas. He’s taken on lighting up the trees and the house as his job. As soon as he walks out of his room in the morning, he turns on the Christmas trees, and uses the remotes to turn on the lights. He gets really proud of himself when he finds the right button to push to turn on the lights. “I did it daddy, I turned on the lights! Wow!” It’s pretty cute.

We also had to go out Christmas shopping for him without taking him with us. It’s funny – last year we bought his presents with him with us, and when we got them home, we left them sitting out, unwrapped, and he couldn’t have cared less. This year, we are pretty sure he’d rip open any presents under the tree, and I don’t even want to imagine the scene if he found one of his but couldn’t play with it!

So a couple days ago, we made sugar cookies, and Lukas got to help ice them. While it didn’t hold his attention for too long, he did keep coming back to the table and wanting to help. And surprisingly, it wasn’t too big of a mess either.

Stirring the icing, and, as usual, hamming it up for the camera

So serious…

Of course, we get to lick the beater before we start icing (still not too excited about really sugary stuff like this though…)

Steady, steady…

This weekend officially marked the beginning of the Christmas season for the Kriz home. We took our annual trip to Dirr Nurseries to cut down our tree on Saturday.  This is the 6th year we’ve gone there, it’s become quite a nice tradition.  Lukas enjoyed it, especially getting to feed the goats and sheep.  He was a little too young last year, but this year, we had a hard time getting him back to the car.

After we got home from the Christmas tree farm, we started decorating the house, putting up the lights, etc.  We had a to do a little yard cleanup, to get rid of the last of the leaves (finally) before putting lights on the bushes and trees.  Lukas “helped” with that – he took his rake and pushed a pile of leaves into the street, and then when I raked them back up, he decided to play in them.  What a nut.  He’s so much fun now though.

Then on Sunday, we decorated the tree (including Lukas’ little tree), and finished up the rest of the decorating.  I really can’t stand winter, but Christmas is probably my favorite time of year in spite of that.  I just love looking at all the lights and decorations – it is well worth the time and effort to get it all done.  And our boy is beside himself with all this stuff in our house and all around.  I love watching him take it all in with huge eyes and lots of statements like “Wow, look at that daddy! Look at all those lights!” or “Look, there’s a star, and another star, and a snowman!”

This is going to be a great Christmas!

Found our tree, time to saw it down

Mom & Lukas

Hauling the tree to the 4-wheel-drive sleigh

Lukas loved feeding the goats & sheep

Playing around in a small leaf pile

Some "garland" with cars, trucks, and planes on it

Putting the garland on the tree (It was kind of clumped on there, so we fixed it later…)

Decorating is finished!

Our home, decorated, and "blanketed" in the first snowfall of the year – all 1/8 inch of it