Pumpkins!

Wade has been learning all about pumpkins at school this month. For the first time we carved pumpkins with him, rather than after he went to bed. He was very into the pumpkins at the time, though he has kind of forgotten about them now. Turns out the giant inflatable pumpkin in our yard is much cooler. Who am I kidding? He's right!

Graham was so patient while we carved our pumpkins. He laid on a big blanket on the kitchen floor and was all smiles when we got outside to display the pumpkins. Happy Halloween everybody!

Graham's Baptism

Graham was baptized at our church this morning. Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Chris, Evan, Mommo, Aunt Kiki, Mam Maw (Ryan's grandma), and Great Aunt Jenny were all in attendance to witness the event.

Graham was baptized at St. Thomas/Holy Spirit Church, the same church where Wade was baptized as well. We are now members there and attend regularly.

 

After the service we headed back to our house for lunch from Rich 'n Charlie's and Wade opened Graham's presents while Graham took a nap. 

We want to thank our family members for celebrating with us, especially Graham's sponsors, Chris and Kristin.

Wade is Two & a Half

Graham turned 6 months this week which means Wade also had a half birthday this week, on October 8.

Life is good for our busy two year old. We are happy that he (mostly) outgrew a phase of fighting bedtime. His favorite toy is a red truck with a yellow trailer. The truck is driven by a Little People toy with yellow hair that he calls "Mommy" and a goat with a hat rides in the trailer. He plays with this toy constantly. It even rode with us to school yesterday. Trucks, in general, are very cool. His old favorite, an orange jeep-like truck that I found at a garage sale, has been proclaimed Graham's truck which is a good start to sharing. (And Graham does sort of wheel it around while he plays on his belly.) Most trucks are called "Grandpa's truck" whether or not they look anything like Grandpa's actual truck.

Wade shared doctor's appointments with Graham last week. We talked about potty training, something we've dabbled in but plan to try officially soon. We also discuss sleeping, eating, and talking and we're feeling fairly comfortable with his development in these areas.

Ryan joked that Wade is a perfect square - 38 x 38....he measures 38 inches tall (94%) and weighs 38 pounds (98%).

Here are some fun facts about Wade:
he loves school
he can name several of his colors
he recently learned his shapes
he can draw a circle
this month he is studying apples and pumpkins
he wants Mommy to put him in bed every night, but in the morning he often asks for Daddy
he likes to sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame, his ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Happy Birthday, amongst others
his favorite food is a Nutrigrain bar (aka "bar") but he'll eat anything and is known as the non-picky eater at school
he thinks every school that we drive by is Daddy's School
he helps Mommy make Graham's baby food while wearing an apron
he likes to go for walks every night after dinner and he dictates the direction we go
he loves pictures of family, videos of strangers or people he knows, and watching Curious George (Elmo is so 3 months ago!)

Happy Half Birthday Graham!

Graham turned 6 months old yesterday. Everyone says it, but that doesn't make it any less true - where has the time gone? The first couple months were tough, but lately Graham has turned into a happy, easy baby. He smiles and giggles often. More than one stranger has actually said - does he really smile this often? With that being said, I don't always capture them on camera...

We are struggling a bit with Graham's overnights. He slept through the night in early August...then stopped...then slept through the night...then stopped. Each time he stopped we gave in and gave him a bottle in the middle of the night to put him back to sleep. The pediatrician talked us out of that behavior this week so we're cracking down. No more overnight bottles and hopefully Graham will officially be sleeping through the night for good soon. In the meantime, we go into his room to soothe him back to bed which luckily is fairly easy.

So checking in at 6 months, here are the stats:
19 pounds, 13 oz (87%)
27.5 inches (86%)
I hate to compare, but you're wondering, aren't you?

Wade's 6 month stats:
23 pounds, 7 oz (97+%)
29 inches (97+%)

Graham is sitting up for brief periods of time and is scooting around too. I think he'll be officially crawling in no time! Time to baby proof again, I guess. I'm making all of his baby food, like I did for Wade, and he's been enjoying fruit and veggies for about 2 months. He just moved into the high chair this week and is now attempting to use a sippy cup and is eating puffs too. He is trying all sorts of fun things and has many more fun things ahead of him!

I hope the next 6 months slow down, but I imagine it'll be April before I know it.

Wade Plays Soccer

Wade is a Kickaroo! He's taking part in a parent and kid soccer class on Thursday nights this fall.

Soccer class is a bit intense. He started the first class by putting a cone on his head, so it was kind of a challenge to kick a soccer ball between the cones by the end of that first class. Also, 45 minutes of soccer is hard after a long day of preschool.

I was impressed though with how well Wade can follow directions (when he wants to). They do a lot of follow-the-leader type of drills and he does great with those. Sometimes though, he prefers to sit on the sidelines and drink a glass of water.

Also, judging by his decision to wear Mardi Gras beads to soccer practice, you might also decide that he's not the most serious soccer player at this point. And, of course, we're okay with that! After all, he's only two, even if he is a head taller than the other kids in class.

Annual Trip to Eckert's

The apple supply in the Midwest is rumored to be low after the lack of rain, but who needs rain or apples to visit Eckert's Millstadt Farm? That place is more like a carnival than an orchard anyway.

The Woods joined us for a gorgeous fall day at Eckert's and I think everyone had a great time.

Wade and Maddy on one of the rides

We checked out two of the rides and then it was time for the hayride to the actual orchard. Despite the rumors, there were plenty of apples and they were delicious. We should know - we sampled quite a few while filling our bags.

After picking apples, we had lunch (as if we hadn't just chowed down on apples), fed the animals in the petting zoo, and jumped on a giant inflatable thing.

I had such a great time and I think the kids did too. It was a perfect day!

New Beginnings

The past week was a big week at the Brueckmann house.

Here is Wade on his first morning of preschool. He has been excited about school every morning. They have been doing lots of fun art projects and other activities. He also enjoys the playground and tricycles each day. His teacher posts Facebook updates many afternoons so we often get to read about Wade's day before Ryan even picks him up.

Graham also had a big week as he started going to the babysitter's house each day. We are happy to report that he's keeping up a great schedule, taking regular naps, and has only spit up on Pam once. Graham is going to the same babysitter that Wade went to for two years. Graham didn't get a first morning picture, but we do have another big event that was worth photographing:

Graham's first meal!

Graham had his fourth month well visit a few weeks ago and we were given the okay to start rice cereal. Wade has been spoon feeding him, which is sweet but does complicate things slightly. This week we are starting zucchini from Grandma and Grandpa's garden and then squash.

The above picture isn't quite cute enough and it's also worth mentioning that someone else had a big week...

Ryan went back to work after his summer off. I think it's safe to say that his summer with a spitting-up newborn and sometimes demanding two year old was probably more work than his real job though.

I am finding myself busier than ever. My summer schedule of quietly sneaking off to work before anyone woke up and coming home before 4 pm is over...now I'm still waking up as early as ever and hoping to get my hair dry before one or both boys wake up. Then it's time for getting dressed, bottle/breakfast, in the car for 2 drop offs, off to work for a full day, home for 2 hours of playtime & dinner, then double bathtime/storytime/bedtime. Whoever said having two kids is more than twice as hard as having one kid was SO right! No wonder my blog updates are few and far between!

Good thing these boys are cute!

A Visit to Santa Claus, Indiana

We took our first camping trip of the summer and Graham's first camping trip ever last weekend. We camped with my parents and sister's family at Lincoln State Park in Indiana.

We arrived at our campsite on Saturday afternoon in time to get set up, explore, and have dinner. On Sunday we visited Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, just down the road. Then Ryan, Wade, and I took a paddleboat ride for about 10 minutes - just enough to get a taste of it. After Wade's nap, the Emsleys arrived and we all swam in the lake at the campground.

This wasn't our first trip to Lincoln State Park - and the highlight was and will always be Holiday World Theme Park & Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus, which was about a 10 minute drive from our campground.

We explored the amusement park in the morning, went back to the campground for naps after lunch, and brought Wade back to the water park in the afternoon.

Graham had a few fussy moments but did pretty well over all. He slept through the night the first night and did pretty well the second.

Everyone had a good time, it was fun to be together, and I don't think we would have braved Graham's first camping trip this early without the rest of them! Looking forward to next summer's visit to Holiday World!

A Great July Weekend

We had a weekend with zero plans, which can be sort of a mixed blessing. It's nice to not run around crazy but sometimes I worry about getting bored. In the end, it ended up being a perfect weekend. We made sure that we got out and did stuff and we really had a fun time!

On Saturday we took the boys to the park for a picnic. It was Graham's first picnic. He thought the generic Enfamil made for fabulous picnic food! Wade played on the playground and then had fun traipsing through the woods (okay the trees...we were just in Webster) looking for a picnic site.

The next day we visited Suson Park with Steve, Maddy and Wes. Graham had already been to Suson Park, but it was the first time the Woods had been there. We were glad to introduce them to one of our favorite county parks.

Afterwards we had lunch at P'Sghetti's. I also got some sewing done (until I broke my needle), visited a baby/kids consignment sale, made chocolate chip cookie dough truffles for this week's book club, took part of an online photo shop tutorial, finger painted with Wade, watched Wade play in his pool, and did normal chores around the house. It was a great weekend all around!

Graham is 3 Months Old

Stolen off the internet, since the prints won't be here for another week

Graham turned 3 months old on Friday! He has worked out most of his spit-up issues and is now a smiley, happy baby. It is so much more fun to hang out with a baby who stays awake for awhile and does it in a pleasant manner.

I think he was even laughing at me!

Despite a 6-hour power outage and some basement flooding on Sunday, it was a good weekend. We had a pool party with friends and bought our new minivan. Wade really likes the minivan and so do we!

Wade cried when we made him get out!

A Visit From the Ferchens

Megan and her family took a vacation to St. Louis in June. It was great to visit with them, but it was also a great excuse for us to do some fun things around town.

On Saturday, Ryan and Wade introduced Jon, Kade and Alec to Busch Stadium. It was a hot game, though nothing compared to the 105 degree weather we are having now. Megan, Mazzie, Graham and I stayed home in the air conditioning and caught up.

After the game, the boys played in a fire hose to cool off. They came home very wet!

We went to Grant's Farm on Sunday and to the Arch on Tuesday. Wade was unsure of the tram ride but really enjoyed the view from the top.

Brotherly Love & Graham at 8 Weeks

Wade has decided that holding Graham is fun. Recently after I took Graham back from him he sadly said "my baby, my baby." He also tried to stick a pacifier in Graham's eye and countless other antics, so we don't trust him to always be that sweet.

Hey Graham, someone's calling for you!

I returned to work after the Memorial Day holiday and Graham turned 8 weeks old a few days later. I miss the boys but Ryan's got things under control and everyone at work seems thrilled to have me back so it was nice to feel missed and appreciated there. Plus work has been busy, so the days have flown by and I quickly get to come back home each day.

Here's a half smile!

I haven't done a good job of photographing it...but Graham is a smiley guy! (Of course he may also be suffering the curse of the second child...less photographs in general.) He is fairly happy and is getting onto a good schedule.  His nights are continuing to improve and actually both kids slept in this morning (aside from Graham's overnight feedings) which made Mom and Dad very happy!

Graham's Newborn Photo Shoot

We had a photographer come to the house the week after Graham was born. It took a few hours but she got a lot of great pictures. She even made it look like Wade cooperated.

We finally got the cd of prints last week and here are a few of my favorites. Though with nearly two hundred to choose from, it was hard to pick only a few!

Five Weeks Old

Graham is looking more out the window than at me in this picture, but I do like his little "oh!" face. He's five weeks old today and doing well. He's kind of a spitter-upper but thankfully not all the time and he's sleeping as well as can be expected for his age. Most imporantly he's not colicky and does not have acid reflux or any of those other horror stories I've heard about. (For those of you that have dealt with any of that, bless your heart - I don't know how you've held it together!)

I have two weeks of maternity leave left and hope to enjoy every minute.

In comparison, Wade around this time:

Hmm, I should try to duplicate this picture for a real comparison! Yeah, let me get right on that...right between all the loads of laundry, washing bottles, filling bottles, and taking care of the boys!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Wade!

Wade turned two while Graham and I were in the hospital, so we scheduled his party for a few weeks later so he could have a day all to himself. After all, this will likely be the last party for awhile that is all about Wade, since he and Graham have birthdays just two days apart.

It was a monster themed party and I had fun planning and decorating. I started before Graham was born, since I knew April would be a busy month.

It was the first time that Wade really got excited about presents and he did score some great loot! (Thanks all!) He seemed like he had a blast at the party and is really enjoying his new toys now.

Graham was at the party too, of course. He was sporting his monster onesie in honor of the big day!

Welcoming Graham...

I am (finally) excited to announce that Graham William joined our family on April 6, weighing in at 8 pounds, 9 oz. and measuring 20.25 inches. He was (and still is) completely healthy and perfect - a wonderful blessing for our family.

Not surprising, having two kids has made us much busier than we used to be (hence the belated blog post) but the last three weeks have been wonderful. While Graham requires a lot of attention, as any newborn does, he hasn't been too difficult and we have been enjoying him immensely.

Wade visited the hospital on April 7 to meet his new brother. I was worried about bouts of jealousy but aside from some poking & prodding, Wade has been a great big brother and has adjusted well to the change in our lives. He knows that Graham is usually "night-night" and is pretty good about leaving him alone when this is the case. We didn't know if the baby was a girl or a boy until April 6 - now I'm hoping that having two boys means they will grow up to be the best of friends.

Graham deserves a solo picture - and a close up without a hat so you can see his dark hair. This picture was also taken in the hospital and I'll have to try and update the blog again soon with new pictures. Graham has already passed the 10 pound mark and is changing every day.

Pre-Easter Festivities and Almost Two Years Old

Last weekend we went to two Easter egg hunts. Wade wasn't overly into it, but he did pick up eggs and enjoyed playing with them on the way home. I think the eggs were more fun for him than the treats inside of them.

This week Wade had his 2 year well visit at the doctor's office. Everything is going really well. He measured 37.5 inches and 36.2 pounds. The doctor had some tips to help him get used to being a brother and we'll take all the advice on that front that we can get.

Spring Break 2012

Spring break definitely means something completely different today than it did during our college years. I obviously don't get spring break, but Ryan and Wade have been enjoying their time together this week. They've done some productive things (had the garage door fixed, got the baby stuff out of the basement, ran errands, etc.) and some fun things as well.

On Wednesday morning, I met Ryan and Wade at the zoo. Even though Wade has been there before, this was the first time he seemed into it. It was a beautiful day and after two hours of walking around, we were all pretty exhausted. Unfortunately for me, I had to go back to work while they got to take naps.

Today we went to Fun Friday Puppet Shows at the Carousel in Faust Park. The puppet show was okay, but the real fun was riding the carousel. Wade saw it the second we walked in the door and waiting 30 minutes through a lame puppet show tried his patience a bit.

Riding the carousel was serious business! You have to hold on tight and no smiling!