Claire will be 5 months old in just a few days! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. She's such a sweet, happy baby, and Boden loves being a big brother. Claire started rolling over in the past couple weeks and her new favorite thing to do is squeal and play with her feet. It's adorable. I'm pretty certain she's working on her top two teeth now - her little gums are quite swollen, so I'm guessing it will be any day now.


At the end of February we went back to Virginia Beach for a week. We rented a condo on the beach - it was beautiful to look out at the beach, but it was COLD! It even snowed one day. We did get one afternoon where it was warm enought to at least take a little walk on the beach. Boden was so confused as to why it was cold at the beach, he remembers being there last summer and it was warm. He kept wanting to swim in the ocean. Daddy took him down by the water to put their toes in, but it was freezing cold! Boden loved it! We visited the aquarium one day - Boden really enjoyed seeing the big sharks and fish....once he figured out that there was a big piece of glass between him and the shark and the shark couldn't get him! :) It might turn out to be our last trip there as a family - Michael will likely finish up his degree at Regent this summer, and since he'll be really busy taking 2 classes in one week - we probably won't go with him then.


I've been busy sewing and making up some new things. Boden's friend Aiden turned 3, so I made him a "Super Aiden" cape for his birthday. Boden tested it out and approved :) I guess I better get busy making one for him too.



And yesterday, I made this little dress for Claire. I used one of her dresses and kind of traced the outline so that it would be about the right size, then just made it up from there. I think it turned out pretty good - and it actually fits her!



I'm planning to try and make Claire's Easter dress this week too - We're visiting my parents for the week while Michael is in Guatemala (therefore I have much more freetime to sew while the kids hang with Nana & Poppa and their aunties). We also got to go to my sister Molly's first bridal shower on Saturday -which was lots of fun. I'm so excited for her. It was actually a joint shower with my cousin Julie who is getting married in July and my cousin Scott's fiance Kelly who are getting married in June. It will be a busy summer for our family!

Michael and the team arrived safely in Guatemala on Friday and I haven't gotten to talk to him a lot, but he said they were going to an orphanage on Sat, preaching in a few churches over the weekend, and then working on a home for widows and street children for a lot of the week. He said it was 95 degrees there at 9pm the other night! Yikes! And we came to Nebraska and got snow.

A funny little conversation occured the other day between Boden and my sister Micaela....

Caela : "Hey Boden, where is your daddy?"
Boden: "Daddy's at Guatemala"
Caela: "What's he doing there?"
Boden: "He's telling people where Jesus is"

Don't you just love that? He was so matter of fact about it, it was so sweet.

If you think of it this week - would you pray for Michael and the rest of the team as they minister to the people of Guatemala and "tell them where Jesus is"?

I'm really trying to be better about updating this blog, really I am. :) I need to update the header photo (to include claire) and the background, and finish my re-cap about christmas. but those will have to wait for another day. Today I have some photos and a cute video from the past few days. (video is in a seperate post before this one)

Boden still LOVES to play the guitar. He is always amazed by the musicians at church and wants to go up on stage and see their guitars. On Christmas Eve, right before service was starting I was looking around the sanctuary for Boden .He was with Michael when I walked out, but when I came back Michael was talking to someone and Boden was not next to him. I looked all around and found him on the stage talking to the worship leader and admiring his guitar. I should have known.

I promise we are good parents and don't typically lose our children. Although, this reminds me of another story recently at church. I was talking to a few of the other pastors wives by the nursery after service one Saturday night and Boden and some other kids were running around. When we finished talking I began looking for Boden and couldn't find him anyhere. I wasn't that concerned, because he's often with a few of the teenagers who watch him in the nursery. I looked in the bathrooms, the hallways, I even went back into the auditorium. I'll admit I did begin to panick at this point. Then, I remembered he loves to push the buttons that open the elevator. I ran to the elevator and pushed the button. When it opened, there was Boden....looking a little panicked. He had walked in the when the doors opened, but didn't know how to get back out! poor little guy. He's now been taught that he can push the alarm bell button if he's ever in the elevator without a grown up. But, we've also talked about how he should never, ever get in the elevator without a grown up too. :)

Claire is nearly 3 months old already! She is a very happy baby. Although she spits up ALOT (seriously, I sometimes go through 3 burp cloths per feeding), she loves to lay on her back and kick her feet. She loves the mobile in her crib, the playgym, anywhere she can kick and squeal freely.
Boden got a train set for christmas. I'm amazed at how well he puts the pieces together to make a track.

When not changing diapers, cleaning up spit up, feeding a toddler, reading books,and playing all sorts of games with Boden, I've been doing a lot of crocheting and knitting. This is a little hat and booties set I made for our friends' Nicki and Ryan's new baby, Allison. She's just about 6 weeks younger than Claire so I'm sure they'll be good friends.
Boden got lots of games for christmas. He always wants to play them, but he hasn't quite gotten the concept of how to play a game. Especially the taking turns part and only moving the correct number of spaces. lol. he does love to make up his own games with the pieces though. The other day he was talking to all the gingerbread boys and girls from candyland and putting them down for naps on their colored cards.

Crazy Hair Claire (as aunt Molly has named her), still has some crazy hair and it's getting longer. This was taken just after her bath - you can see how it's quite curly when it's wet. When it dries it's not so much curly as it is just wild. I'm hoping as it grows longer it will be curly. I think little girls with curls are so darn adorable.

and here's one of her "talking" to her mobile. She is content to lay there and kick and "talk" for 30 minutes if I keep the mobile going.

and some good news for our neighbors. Our christmas tree (that we took down 3 weeks ago) has been removed from front yard finally. We rarely enter the house through the front door, and aren't out playing in the yard since it's so cold, so we completely forgot it was out there. oops!

2 months

Here's my attempt to update you on what we've been up to for the past 2 months...





Our church in delivered thanksgiving meals to over 400 families in need in the St Louis area - the crew in O'Fallon delivered to about 100 of those families!


One of Boden's chores is to help me put away laundry. some does he's more helpful than others :)

Claire's hair is still wild and un-tameable

Michael has been busy preparing and preaching messages. we changed our stage set recently too - I love the new look

We went to Nebraska for Thanksgiving this year - my sister Micaela hosted her first Thanksgiving dinner and it was fabulous. The most memorable part for me was the nap I took by their fireplace that evening. naps are a great thing in themselves, but one by the woodburning fireplace is even better! Michael and I have been thinking about how to put a fireplace into our house ever since :)

Claire smiling at Poppa

Nana & Boden made a turkey hat. I believe there is a photo of me and micaela wearing these floating around somewhere, but apparently not on my camera - sorry folks :)
We also made it back to Missouri in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Oldham family on Saturday
and spend some time with Michael's step-sister Lauren & her family (including our adorable nephew, Austin)

Photo of Bubbe, Zeyde and the grandkids..Michael was trying to make Boden smile by making funny faces - but Boden just made funny faces back at him :)

We finished off Thanksgiving weekend with a trip to the tree farm to pick out the Brueseke family tree. Boden even had his first "man-experience" of peeing in the woods. (the bathrooms were way far away for a 2 yr old to make it without wetting his pants, so you do what you gotta do)


Claire hanging out in her cradle


She also LOVES her playgym. She coos and giggles at the little birds & bugs and at herself in the mirror

well, I tried to get it all in one post, but the baby is hungry and boden is tearing apart the house...so I'm gonna have to finish this later. to be continued...

3 weeks

Introducing Claire Elizabeth

The newest member of the Brueseke family has arrived! Claire Elizabeth was born at 6:59am on Oct 27 weighing 7lbs 10oz and 20.5in long. She is beautiful, with lots of DARK hair - two things I was not expecting! (EDITED: the two things I was not expecting were lots of hair and dark hair - I was of course expecting she would be beautiful - Michael pointed out that this didn't sound quite right!) I just assumed she'd be blonde like her big brother...and I think she has more hair now than I had at 2 yrs old. We're doing wonderful -resting and enjoying our sweet little girl. Here's a few pictures to for now:

What have the Brueseke's been up to?

This is gonna be a long one! August was a busy month for us. We're happy to be moved in and getting more and more settled into our house each day. A few weeks ago, Michael and I made the trek to Chicago to go to IKEA and get "a few" things for the new house.

I had so much fun and could have stayed there and shopped for days. Luckily for Michael we were on a time schedule and didn't get to just browse. We were on a mission. Not that we could have fit anything else in the Durango anyway :). We made a quick stop at the Crate & Barrell outlet while there too (another place I could have spent and entire day!) and found a great rug. We also got to spend a little time with our friends Andy & Kasia and their new puppy while in Chicago.

Here's just one of my many favorite purchases from IKEA (thank you Molly & John for helping me put it together!) This big shelf is going to provide lots of storage for toys, games, books, and who knows what else in the playroom side of our new living room. I can't wait to fill it all up and get organized!

We made it back from Chicago just in time to go to a Cardinals game. Boden LOVES baseball and can sit still and watch it much longer than I can. This game was extra special because Boden finally got to meet Fredbird!!!

We also got to spend some time with out-of-town family this month. Michael's step-sister Lauren came to visit with her little boy, Austin. Austin is 4 months old (well, 5 now) and such a happy baby! Boden loved playing with him and he even helped feed him a bottle.

Boden and I also made a weekend trip to Nebraska to see some of my family. Unfortunately, Boden got a stomach bug while we were there and we didn't get to see everyone we had hoped to. I still got to see some family at my cousin Michelle's wedding shower, and we hung out with my parents and sisters. Before he got sick, Boden helped blow some bubbles with Aunt Caela, help Poppa build a fire in the fire pit, and even played some guitar with Casey.

When Boden was feeling a little better, he found the energy to help water some flowers...in his underwear. (When a little kid has been throwing up on and off you eventually just quit putting clothes on them - it's just easier that way. lol.)

We've also been busy this month playing at the neighborhood playground....


and of course, eating lots of watermelon.

oh, and just 8 MORE WEEKS til our little girl is due to arrive!! Yikes! I go back and forth with being really excited and feeling completely unprepared. This pregnancy has gone by SO fast!

Hope you all are enjoying the tail end of your summer too!

home at last

We're still here! Well, technically we're in O'Fallon, MO now. We've been very busy with buying a house and moving lately. I've been meaning to blog about it, but honestly it was such a messy process that if I had written about it when we were going through it, it probably would have been a bunch of whining and complaining and who really wants to hear that?

We were originally scheduled to close on July 24th, but that got delayed a week, and then another week. The sellers live out of the US (in 2 different countries) and there was also a relocation company involved so there seemed to be a lot of mis-communication or communication errors through the process. Thankfully, our apartment manager was generous enough to let us extend our lease by 1 week so we didn't have to move out to a temporary location. My mom was in town for the whole week when we were supposed to move to help with all the cleaning and packing, but unfortunately had to head back home to start school before we could get into the house. :( Hopefully they'll be able to come visit soon and see the house.

We've learned and grown a lot through the process though. We had to rely on God to show us if we were supposed to continue the process even with all the struggles we encountered and we really learned some lessons on patience and trusting His timing and His plan through all of this. As frustrating as the whole thing was, we were both filled with a peace from the moment we saw the house that never left us, we knew that this was the place God had intended for us. We also were overwhelmed with love from friends and family who offered to help us during this transition time. We had offers from so many people that we could stay with them if we had to be out of our apartment before we could get into the house, a crew of about 8 guys helping us move, a generous donation of restaurant gift cards to help us out while our kitchen was packed away, a group of girlfriends helping me paint, and a wonderful home-cooked dinner provided for all of our moving help on moving day. Not to mention all the people who prayed with us and for us through the processes. Thank you everyone! God has shown us His amazing love through all of you.

So -we are finally in the house - and we LOVE it! We're not completely unpacked and there are still a few walls to paint, but we are taking our time. This 6 mo. pregnant lady can only do so much in a day. The kitchen and bedrooms are put together, which is most important. The rest will come together soon.

Here's a couple photos of the new house (even if it is still a little messy):





I love having a big, open kitchen


Boden even helped me paint a little bit


These were a nice bonus that came with the house - however no one told me that HE washers on the second floor of a house can spin so fast that it shakes the room below it. The first time I did a load I was in the kitchen when it started the spin cycle and I thought we were having a small earthquake! We bought some shake pads at Lowes the other day so hopefully that will help. Other than that minor detail - I love these things!








Boden's new "big boy" bed with the quilt my mom and I made. I'm making matching crib bedding and curtains for the room too...one of these days.


The subdivision playground that is just a short walk away - one of the things I LOVE about this neighborhood. There's a pool too -thats an even shorter walk!


We're starting to get used to O'Fallon and learning where everything is. It's a really nice town and I think we're going to love it here. Although Michael has a little bit longer of a drive to his office now, we're much closer to the O'Fallon church and excited about getting to know our community and the people out here...and eventually Michael will likely have an office out here too. We are so excited about what God is doing here! Come visit us! :)