The Middle

Today I had the rare opportunity to spend a few hours alone with my girl.  It doesn't happen often.  I get one on one time with Boden when Claire and Titus nap in the afternoon, and one on one time with Titus because he's the baby and he is pretty much always with me.  But today, Claire had a Dr appt and my parents were visiting, so they stayed home with the boys and we girls headed off...

 - after getting our "earrings" on first, of course.  

She asked when we got in the car "Titus coming? Boden coming?"...it unusual for her to go somewhere with me alone.  We often make it a point to take time out with Boden - he and Michael go on a special "boys night out" a few times a month, or go to Starbucks and hangout.  It made me realize that I really need to be intentional about spending time with Claire one on one.

I really enjoyed our morning together.  She loved that I was able to carry her a lot - something that doesn't happen much with a baby brother.  

After her appointment, instead of rushing home I decided to capitalize on our girls day out, so we stopped by the cafe in the lobby of the hospital, got a big chocolate chip cookie, and headed outside.  

we found a sweet little fountain across the street 

enjoyed our cookie on the bench

talked excitedly about her newly aquired strawberry shortcake sticker

curiously checked out the fountain

 and watched the city buses with awe.  

I asked her if she was ready to go home and see her brothers and she looked at me and said "no.  i just want to stay right here."  I was a bit surprised - she loves her "buddies", as she lovingly calls them.  She gets excited when Boden gets home from preschool or when Titus wakes up from a nap.  But today, I think she was loving some mama time.  And I was loving it too.

Being the middle child isn't always easy (coming from a middle child myself), sometimes the middle child feels like the older one gets all the privileges and the younger one gets all the attention, and sometimes I feel like Claire missed out a bit on being the baby since Titus came along so quickly after her.  But, today I was reminded that it doesn't matter the birth order or how close in age my kids are, or how many of them there are....I HAVE to be intentional about spending time with each of them...and making that time count.  Today could have gone a lot differently, it didn't start out as a mommy/daughter date.  I could have rushed to and from the appointment, seeing it as an interruption to my day... but instead, I saw an opportunity and I chose to slow down and enjoy it.  I chose to ignore my phone while in the waiting room and instead play with my daughter.   I chose to get on her level and talk about what interests her.  I even chose to eat a chocolate chip cookie when I didn't want to (ok, ok, that one's a lie.  no one twisted my arm there.)

It was a good day.  I'm so thankful for my precious daughter.  She is full of laughter and brings immeasurable joy to our family.  

(And for those of you wondering - her appt went great.  Her hearing is just fine and we decided to hold off on getting a second set of ear tubes for now. )

lately

Just a random assortment of what we've been up to lately...

Titus is perfecting standing - he loves to pull up on EVERYTHING! The last few weeks he has even tested out letting go a few times...crazy to think we may have a "walker" soon!

 Boden had "Character Day" at school - where you dress up like a character from one of our favorite books and then bring the book to school to share with the class.  He dressed up in his baseball uniform (t-ball t-shirt under his Cardinals jersey- had to wear them both) and took the book "Froggy Plays T-Ball." He had a lot of fun with it - he was so excited that he got to take his glove to school!

Boden is such an artist - he amazes me every single day with the elaborate drawings he comes up with - he will sit and draw for an hour sometimes - I asked him one day what he was doing and he said

 "oh,  I'm just using my imagination" - I love that kid!

this pretty much sums up Claire....sitting on the counter, crazy hair, hollering about something, with a dumped box of crayons...yep, that's pretty accurate.

Titus got ahold of a chocolate chip pancake I left unattended for about 10 seconds - lucky duck...

Boden read his first book! He is having fun learning to read and it is such a joy to see him grown and learn.  I love getting to see the lightbulbs pop on when he figures out a new word or concept.

It's been a pretty mild winter here - we had snow one day for about 20 minutes.  We've had a lot of days to play outside which the kids love and so does mama.

Boden's artwork was featured on the entrance wall at school - I just happened to take him to school one day that week so I got to see it and snap a picture.  He LOVES art!

in addition to standing Titus is constantly exploring the stairs.  I knew the day would come that I would dislike that double staircase...it's here! He makes a dash for the stairs every time I put him down (as long as the dishwasher is not open.  If the dishwasher is open he prefers to try to crawl in it instead). :)

Tea party with my favorites.  There is no photographic proof...but I was dressed up too! 

So that's a bit of what we've been up to - in between my kids catching every single virus and cold that comes near them. I'm so ready for spring and warmer weather to come!

They're getting it

Every once in a while I have one of those days where I wonder why in the world I am a stay at home mom?  My kids are driving me crazy.... I'm pretty sure I'm driving them crazy.... and once in a while I have the thought that they would be happier in daycare with a more consistent structure, playing with their friends all day.  I know from talking to other moms that I'm not alone in having this feeling occasionally (or everyday).

It's a big task.  Being a mom is not the most glorious job on the planet, and sometimes I think it's quite possibly the hardest.  And I'm not always confident that I'm any good at it.

Because the kids are fighting....and I'm yelling. Sometimes I feel like I'm the professional time-out enforcer. They're whining...a lot. Claire refuses to use the toilet.  And has no desire to learn her colors (really, she just says everything is pink so we can move on. lol)  I don't always provide the most structured day.  And sometimes they watch more cartoons than they should.... and I begin to wonder if I'm qualified to do this.

 But every once in a while something happens that reminds me that even in the midst of all that....they're getting it.

Today, Boden ran out to the curb as the bus was pulling up and Claire ran after him and they both got there before me.  I grabbed Titus and followed.  I looked up and nearly started crying at what I saw.  Claire had her hand on Boden's head and was praying for him.

I couldn't make out what exactly she said (because I was scrambling for my iphone to capture the moment) but it didn't matter.  What mattered to me is that she's getting it.

And then it no longer mattered she thinks every single color is pink...or that that she has no desire to potty train.  What she does know is that she should pray for her brother.  She has watched me pray over him before he gets on the bus everyday.  She has learned something from me.  And it's way more important than colors or numbers or reading or writing, she'll get to those eventually.

I'm reminded today that I know I'm here for a reason.  God put me here to raise up these little children to know and love the Lord.  To be a reflection of Christ to them everyday.  And I'm so thankful for these reminders that God gives me once in awhile to show me that even though I don't always feel like I'm doing a good job - I am on the right track.  They're getting it.  Thank you Jesus.


Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

moments

I want to remember these moments...

 sharing an orange

 and some giggles

with my two year old little girl!

Jesus and English

Happy 2012! We had a great end to our year, lots of visits from family, lots of exciting things happening and church, and lots of fun happening at our house with our 3 crazy kids.  I'll try to recap more of that soon.  I've just been so bad at getting on the computer and writing down my thoughts lately.

To start the new year we bought Boden a composition notebook to journal in.  He loves to write and we talk to him a lot about what he thinks Jesus is speaking to him, so we thought this would be a great way for him to record it, practice his writing, and learn to journal his thoughts.  On New Years Day Michael and Boden sat down on the couch and prayed about the upcoming year.  Then Michael asked Boden what he thought Jesus wanted to do in him this year.  And this is what he came up with:

"I think Jesus is going to draw me closer to Him"  How sweet is that? I asked Bo what the picture was and he said "That's me and Jesus, mom." Notice they are holding hands...Love it!

We do still have to help him spell words, but he knows all his letter sounds.  As I'm teaching Boden to read/write I'm realizing again how seriously confusing our English language is! Just today I was trying to explain that sometimes "K" sound is made with a K, sometimes with a C, and sometimes with a CK.  He kept asking why...which led me to wonder how in the world any of us learned all the crazy rules of our language and how am I going to teach the rules to my kids!?

TWO!

Happy Birthday baby girl!  Yesterday marked 2 years since our sweet Claire entered our lives and turned our world upside down.  It has been so much fun having a little girl... dresses and bows, pigtails and sparkly shoes... but she loves the dirt too - she's not afraid to sit down on the lawn and start digging in the dirt with her bare hands.  And at the playground she isn't shy either - she takes off for the biggest slide every time, and if Boden can climb it, she thinks she can too.

Claire is really starting to talk alot and in 4-5 word sentences.  It's been so much fun to hear her language skills take off.  She and Boden have a lot of fun playing together (most of the time).  It's fun to listen to their conversations.

She loves to help me cook and constantly pushes a chair up to the island when I'm making dinner so she can "help."  And her favorite food by far is cheese...she would probably eat an entire block of cheese every day if we would let her.  She gets into the fridge approx 3x AN HOUR and brings me a cheese stick that she wants me to open for her, and then throws herself down when I deny her the 3rd cheesestick of the day.  A few days ago I caught her actually just taking bites our of a big block of cheese.

Claire loves technology, she can work my iphone better than I can!  Today we were organizing in the garage ands she went inside.  I went after her when she didn't come back in about 2-3 min, and found her upstairs on our bed playing a game app on Michael's ipad.

She is such a good big sister too - she wants to hold Titus all the time, she tries to help feed him ("open mouth Titus!"), and is always excited when he wakes up from a nap.  Recently she has started trying to read books to him too.

Claire is such a fun, crazy, spunky, busy, little girl.  She is teaching me so much about motherhood.  I always thought Boden was strong-willed, but then I met Miss Claire.  Maybe it's just the age, but this girl knows what she wants and is determined to get it!

I am so thankful to be her mama and I can't wait to see the woman she grows up to be.  I know God has big plans for her life.

"Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him.  Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior's hands.  How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them! ..."  Psalm 127:3-5

little worship leaders

these two crack me up... a little morning worship time at the Brueseke house:

Preschool part 2...the school bus

Yesterday was Boden's first day riding the school bus! He was so excited.  He wanted to go out and wait for it long before it was time.  It was a weird feeling putting my baby on a school bus - it's impossible to me that he is old enough.  It's only the preschoolers on his bus and they have seat belts and a supervisor other than the driver, and they pick up/drop off at our driveway.  Otherwise, I'm not sure I'd be so ok with it.  We only live about 5 minutes from his school, so it's not a big deal to take him, except that I have to take the other two little ones with me and get them in and out of the car to take him into school and pick him up.  and pick up is in the middle of naptime.  So, we are all pretty excited about the bus! :)

He came home yesterday feeling like such a big kid.  He got to sit next to one of his classmates and talk and play.  The only disappointment was that he had to get off so quickly - he is one of the first stops.  

Today he was all ready with his lunch packed, his backpack on, and his bus tag around his neck, standing at the end of the driveway. We saw the bus coming, prayed about his day at school, and then right as he is about to get on he says he has to go potty...like, really bad.  I definitely did not want him to have an accident, so no way I can tell him to wait until he gets there. And the bus can't wait.  I told the driver to go on and that I would bring him to school.

Poor Boden, he was devastated.  I had no idea he was SO excited about the bus.  I knew he wanted to ride it, but he was really, really upset.  So upset I wasn't sure I could get him calmed down enough to go into class.  He kept saying things like:

"just call the bus driver and have her come back for me"

"I can't go to school if I don't go on the bus"

I can't calm down, I NEED to ride the bus!"

I tried calming him down by talking about how he gets to ride the bus home and how he can ride the bus tomorrow.  And, at least he still gets to go to preschool today and he will still see all his friends, and how fun that mama gets to take him today.  He wasn't having it.

On the way to school he kinda calmed down and then he got upset again because "I can't pretend this is the school bus because it isn't yellow!", "This isn't the same road that the bus takes to school!", "my whole day is ruined now" and "but I don't wanna go through this door because when I come in the bus I go through a different door", and "but now I don't get to walk in a line with my friends!"  

We did finally make it into school and I dropped my little guy with red rimmed eyes off at his class. I told the teacher what had happened, just in case he has a hard day.  But, I'm hoping once he saw his friends and started playing he'll forget all about it.

I did have a hard time not laughing and smiling at some of the things he was saying (like that my van wasn't yellow so it wasn't like the bus), but I felt bad for him too.  While I know that in the scheme of things, this is not a big deal, but to him, today, it was HUGE! It was so not his fault that he didn't remember to go potty - at barely 4 I'm pretty sure that's still my responsibility to remind him to go before he leaves the house.  But, I think he learned a few things today.  We talked about not letting something bad ruin your whole day, and how he can still have a good day even though it didn't go the way he planned.  We repeated "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" several times until I finally got him to crack a smile.  And I'm pretty sure I won't have to remind him to go potty before the bus comes again...

Preschool!

Tuesday was Boden's first day of Preschool! He was so excited, talking about it all summer long.  It's hard for me to believe he is already 4 years old and ready for Preschool...it goes way to fast!

packing up his school supplies

The "Lightening McQueen" lunchbox! 

I have to admit I am really NOT a fan of character themed items for kids - shoes, t-shirts, etc. I try to keep it to pajamas only.  I had him convinced to get the gray and green backpack rather than the cartoon character one, and even talked him into a very sleek gray lunchbox.  But I noticed he just kept eyeing that obnoxious race car, and I felt guilty.  Who am I to judge what's "cool" to a 4 yr old?  So, we put the boring gray lunchbox back and left the store with bright red Lightening McQueen, and a very excited little boy.

 I may have gotten carried away and took a whole bunch of pictures...

"come on mama! I wanna go to school!"

 when we got to school we saw his friend Taylor who is going to be in the same class

 don't they look so cute walking down those big hallways?

He walked right into the classroom without me, didn't even look back.  Such a big kid. :(

Didn't even take 30 seconds for him to acquire some type of costume, no surprise there

This is his teacher, Ms. Kristine

I couldn't even get a wave "goodbye" - he was ready to play.  I was a little teary at this point, but so happy to see how independent he was about the whole thing.  I know he is going to love preschool!

We are so thankful for such a loving, intelligent, sweet boy.  God has really blessed us. Boden's name means "messenger" and we have been praying over him since his birth that he would be a light in this world...that through him, others would come to know Jesus as their savior. Even though it may seem like it's "just" preschool, this is the first big step for him to begin reaching out to the world and having an impact on his peers.  As our family and friends, we ask that you would please join us in praying for him and his new adventures in preschool.

I also interviewed him when he got home from school....I'll have that video posted soon!

Oh, the drama!

Yesterday we had a beautiful 72 degree day.  I decided we should walk to the park, and that Boden should ride his bike while Claire and Titus rode in the double.  It's about a 1/2 mile to the park, but he's been doing so well riding lately, that I thought he could handle it.

Halfway there he started complaining about his knees hurting from all the pushing and his nose hurting from riding so much...really? His nose? Yes, I confirmed that he was indeed complaining of his nose hurting.  I'm still scratching my head about that one.

Anyway, he's whining and trying to convince me that I should carry Titus and his bike (while pushing the stroller) so he can ride in the stroller the rest of the way... not happening. Finally I just told him we were turning around to go home and that I was sure he could make it back home.  He reluctantly got on his bike and started pedaling.  I said "See Bo, I knew you could do it!"  To which he replied in a very calm voice.....

"yeah, I know.  I was just being dramatic." and off he rode...

while I tried my best to contain my hysterical laughter, In fact I'm still smiling just thinking about it.  I can't imagine where he has heard that phrase before.  ;)