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!