Christmas Cookies

Cooking has not been a strong point for me. My mother, whom I love, did not spend a lot of time teaching me cooking skills. The longer I have been married, the more skills that I have picked up. I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on the kitchen at this point. One of my goals is for my children to feel confident in the kitchen when they leave our home. I would like for them to be able to prepare their own dinners with ease. Of course, that takes a lot of patience....and that would be another one of my issues :) But I am working on it and every once and a while I will muster up my strength and invite the girls to cook with me instead of just watching. This past Friday was one such day. We had some Christmas cookies to make, so I thought the girls would love to help. And they did! Of course, licking was one of the main jobs, but they did it well! Except for the batter being too mushy to use cookie cutters (I have learned what I did wrong) we did a pretty good job! Who cares what they look like when they taste yummy!

Licking the blender, no worries, it wasn't on :)

Makayla putting on sprinkles

Caroline putting on sprinkles

Before they went in the oven

My sweet helpers!

Blog Giveaway

Hey Friends! There is a blog that I just LOVE to read. It is the life of a former Amish woman. She is chronicling her life for her children to be able to have when they are grown. I just love the stories! As most of you know I have quite the obsession with Amish people, so this has been such a blessing to find (actually, she found me) Anyways, she is giving away some books from her childhood, so if you get a chance go check it out! http://ajoyfulchaos.blogspot.com/2010/12/giveaway-time-again.html

The First Snow

Our Lovely Home

I have been lying on the couch all evening iceing my bum. What does this have to do with the First Snow? Let me tell you. Today, December 4th it snowed in North Carolina. The girls and I enjoyed a nice girls day out. We went to a craft fair and had lunch with my mother. On our way home snow flurries began to fall. By the time I had the girls settled in to their nap (aka: playtime in the bedroom while I have time to myself minus the fifty times I am called to help kiss boo-boos, break up fights and potty breaks) the snow was picking up. After a while I went in to the girls room and opened their blinds so that they could see outside and watch the snow. Once the anticipation built, we all got on layers of clothes to go outside. That's when it happened! I was innocently bending over to tie Caroline's shoes when BAM! I squatted down right on to the corner of the coffee table. I think it took two whole minutes for me to catch my breath and stop what surely would have been a flood of tears. I push past it and we go play outside. 20 minutes of trying to get dressed, 5 minutes of playtime. My fault, I couldn't find their gloves. Oh well! Good reason to have some nice hot chocolate. Once I was back in the house and not so distracted by the fun of the snow I realized how much my bum was hurting. I got some ice and sat on the couch and shed a few tears. Luckily my husband is a nurse and I was able to text him to get some helpful healing tips until he got home. I hobbled through the rest of the evening and Josh surprised me with a Dr. Pepper and a movie. What a great Nurse!

Here are some pictures of our first snow this season:

Making Snowballs

Throwing them at the van

My Three Snow Angels

Makayla eating the snow off of the bushes

Caroline after licking a leave clean of snow

My Sweet Sydney, she is half the size of the snow suit, but it's all I had!

Thankful for Four

This Thanksgiving the adults took turns sharing what they were thankful for. My dad went before I did and said he was thankful for his 6 almost 7 grandchildren (my sister-in-law is due in January). My turn approached and I told dad that he was wrong, he was thankful for his 6 almost 8 grandchildren! We are so very blessed to be having another child! Baby Bradley #4 is due in July, shortly after Sydney's 1st birthday!

Here is Sydney showing her excitement about being a big sister!

Journey with Jesus

Last year our preachers did a year long sermon series titled Journey with Jesus. This title came to mind as I was thinking about how to blog our trip to New York in October.

Our trip had two main purposes: One: celebrate Grandma's 80th birthday, Two: The annual Hike. Although we did have a good time celebrating with Grandma (she is very proud of her age by the way), this post is going to focus mostly on the hiking aspect. We did A LOT of hiking on this trip. We went on three hikes actually. We hiked Taughannock Falls, Watkins Glen and then did our annual family hike. Each hike we were accompanied by family. Aunts, Uncles, cousins, you name it! As we got more comfortable with our extended family our girls would tend to roam, often joining groups of people far from us. This got me to thinking about Jesus when he was a boy. I always gave his parents a hard time for not keeping up with him on that infamous journey where he stopped at the temple to teach. How could they not know where he was?? Now I know... It was such a fun time walking with our family. We would spread out in to groups and chat and then mix into different groups along the way. We all got to spend a lot of good quality time together just relaxing and enjoying the view as we walked. It was such a nice feeling knowing that our girls were safe and with family and enjoying their time too. It was then that I starting understanding the situation with Jesus a little more. Of course, none of our girls took a side trip to share the Good News, but they did have a great time with family. It was so nice to Josh and the girls to finally meet my moms side of the family on their turf. We had a wonderful visit!

Taughannock Falls

It looked absolutely beautiful when we visited because it had just rained the day before and the fall was VERY full!

My Mom, Uncle Dannie and Aunt Debbie

The above three pictures were actually taken at the beginning of the hike. In the background is just a mini falls, but made for a great photo op!

Watkins Glen Hike

Annual Family Memory Hike

If you look closely in the girls hands is ice cream. My Aunt Sylvia hired an ice cream truck to meet us on our walk and hand out free ice cream!

She also hired a horse drawn carriage to carry my Grandma (the birthday girl) and Grandpa the rest of the way down the road.

My Grandma and Grandpa

Caroline and Me after making a "pit" stop in the field

Proof that Sydney did actually come on this trip with us!

All the 2nd and 3rd cousins

The Bradley Family, New York, October 2010

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

It's my favorite time of year again! Christmas card season! Well, I guess Christmas comes in a close second ;), but I really love getting and sending Christmas cards. My favorite company to use for Christmas cards is Shutterfly. I love to be able to personalize my Christmas cards with family pictures from throughout the year so that people can see our growing and changing family. After Christmas I have the "Changing of the Cards" on the fridge and I arrange all of my new picture Christmas cards so that we can admire them all year round and remember our friends and family. Shutterfly makes it really simple and easy, just upload your pictures and insert them in a card. The hard part is picking just ONE card to send! Some cards even have the option to stamp and mail them for you! How easy is that! So, be looking for them, they may even arrive on time this year...but the Christmas cards are coming!



Here are some handy links to some of Shutterfly's great Holiday Card deals!

Christmas Cards: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

Holiday Cards: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards

Christmas Photo Cards http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

Will You Marry Me?

This past weekend, our good friends Kristen and Kyle, along with their two kids Chloe and Elijah came down for a visit. It was a great time to catch up with good friends and let the kids play. Even though the girls only see them once a year, they still remember each other and love to play together. Kyle is the one that Josh and I asked to marry us, hence the title of the blog :) Here are some pictures of their visit.

Kristen and me enjoying an evening of games

Caroline enjoying the long awaited hay ride at the pumpkin farm

Our sweet little pumpkins!

Not Meant to Nurse

I noticed that I hadn't posted in a while and was going to wait until I had pictures of the girls from our recent trip to NY. But then I thought, you know what, I know that other people just want to hear about my girls, but it's my blog and I'll write about what I want to!
Mothers who successfully nurse their children have no idea what goes on in the heart of a mom who is unable to nurse for any reason. Whether we make a choice not to from the start or life events make the choice for us, there is much turmoil in a mother's heart. Maybe it's just my heart, so I'll just share for me.
For all three of my children I have not been successful at nursing. Each child has their own experience and reasons for not nursing, but each child ends with the same result, formula fed. You would think I would see by now that even formula fed babies are smart and healthy. My babies rarely are ill and are just as bright, if not brighter in my unbiased opinion, than any other breastfed babies their age. Yet it still hurts when people make comments or when you see an ad for breastfeeding. There is still a longing to have had that connection, to be in that club, to save all of that money! I remember crying flipping through Parents magazine seeing ads for breastfeeding and feeling like such a terrible mother. Though I don't have such extreme emotional responses with the third child, I still question myself at times. I worked harder than ever this go round to nurse. I nursed Sydney when she was just minutes old, I nursed frequently, pumped frequently, used herbal supplements, talked with lactation consultants and still was not able to nurse her. I felt like I worked so hard and should have been rewarded for that with a wonderful nursing baby! One friend asked if I had tried perscription meds....nope... I didn't.
So as I noticed that I am still producing milk after not having nursed for over 2 months I started to wonder...what if I decided to give nursing another shot, maybe I could take a perscription. So I did a little research into Relactation. Besides the constant nursing, re-latching and other efforts I would need to get my already low milk supply up, I have two choices for persription meds. One they do not sell in the US, the FDA does not recommend it. The second one is Reglan, which I am HIGHLY allergic to. So...really there is no choice.
And now here I sit, reflecting on my experiences and realizing that up to this point (who knows what the future holds!) I am just not meant to nurse. Do I love my children with all of my heart?? Absolutely! Am I doing my very best to take care of and nurish my children?? You betcha!
So to all of you nursing moms who have NO IDEA what it's like to not be able to nurse your babies: I bottle feed and I am proud of it!

Two Months

This is a picture that was taken by Terre Conner two years ago when we stayed at her house in Rockford, NC. Terre passed away last night after fighting an 11 year battle with cancer. We love you Terre! The girls can't wait to join you in Heaven!






Yesterday we celebrated Sydney's two month birthday! It is so hard to believe that she is already 9 weeks old! Have we really had her in our life for nine weeks already?? Time is passing so quickly! I am definetely able to enjoy Syd's baby stage so much more this time around. I'm not so stressed about the infant stage and I have two wonderful distractions ;) Sydney had her check up this morning. She is growing and developing well. She's measuring at 50% in all areas. She's 10lbs 5oz and 22 inches long. Although to Dr. did say she was advanced at holding her head up, we're so proud! She really is a wonderful baby. Some of my girlfriends helped me problem solved with her daily schedule (we're a Babywise family) and these past two weeks have been wonderful! She is playing and napping like a pro, we even survived her 8 week growth spurt. And like a good girl, she gave me 8 solid hours of sleep last night!!!!!

Now today we not only got to go to the Dr. for Sydney, but Caroline also needed to be seen. Last night Carbear and Daddy were playing around and he heard a "pop" in her wrist, so this morning we went in and got some x-rays taken. Thank goodness there was no break, but he did say it was sprained. Of course, Caroline has been living it up today. She enjoyed breakfast and lunch in bed with her arm propped up and watching movies all day. Sounds like the good life to me! Here is a picture I snapped of Caroline resting in bed, but still wanting to love on her baby sister!

These next two pictures were just an opportunity we couldn't miss! Sydney looked so cute this Sunday all dressed and ready for church we couldn't resist a good photo op!

Our newest family change has been Mak starting soccer. She LOVES it! After explaining to her that she has to listen to the coach and do what he says at practice, things have been going quite well. She feels so special wearing her soccer clothes and tells Caroline she'll have some when she gets bigger. She is growing up so fast!

Sydney also enjoys joining her sisters at soccer practice ;)

Let the Dieting Begin!

Sorry again for the long break between posts, but I have three good excuses :) Life has been going well these past few weeks, are are starting to settle in to a little rhythm.
The girls are adjusting better, although they have been taking turns who's week it is to misbehave. We have started our "Responsibility" Chart with Makayla, telling her that things like getting dressed and not whining are her "Jobs" for the day. The second week we saw marked improvement in her behavior. Caroline... well, she doesn't quite understand that the chart isn't for her too, so she still gets a little motivation from it. What she doesn't know won't hurt her :) Aside from some potty accidents and some bossy attitudes, she's doing pretty good. Both of them LOVE their sister and love to help take care of her.
We also started a little bit of "school" with Makayla. We aren't sending her to preschool for many reasons, so we are just working on numbers and letters from home. Target has some great stuff in the $1 spot!
I have gone back to work. It was sooner than originally planned, but it going well so far. Josh is helping make the transition smooth and we are working well at co-parenting. It's nice to feel comfortable leaving for work knowing your kids are in good hands! It has been good to get back in the swing of things.
And today marks the big day when I start getting in gear and start working out! My 6 week check-up went well this past Friday, the Dr. finally explained where all these babies are coming from! Hopefully we got that taken care of for the time being! So now it's time to get serious! Although the nurse applauded me for having lost my baby weight, it was only Sydney's. I still have 30 pounds to go to get back to my original starting weight before Makayla. I'm hoping to be able to work it off in such a way to create a new life style, but it's hard cause I want it off now! It will come, just with a lot of work and patience!
Josh has been doing well going back to work. His fellow nurses threw us a baby shower this weekend. It was so nice! It was good to meet the rest of his co-workers. They put on such a nice shower; the girls had a blast because there were so many other kids there and Josh and I were very blessed by everyone's generosity! Sydney will be well provided for!
Well, due to technical difficulties there will be no pictures tonite. I hope to post some soon!

Welcome Baby Sydney!

So I figured it was probably time to update the blog and introduce baby Sydney! She was born July 2, 2010 at 3:28pm weighing in at 7lbs 5ozs and 20.5 inches long. Labor and delivery went well, although she did have to be prompted to come and meet us :) Makayla and Caroline, 3 weeks later, still love their little sister and are in awe of how small she is. Josh has been wonderful, he just returned to work last night, but he has been a champ taking care of Mak and Carbear while I've been nursing and holding Sydney. The only big snag we've hit so far is that I can't produce enough milk to satisfy and grow Sydney. So, today we made the decision to go to formula. After almost three weeks of very little weight gain, it took only 48 hours for her to gain 4.5 ounces with the addition of formula, almost double what she had gained so far. She is so precious and already very different than her sisters in personality, although in looks she does favor Makayla.

Caroline continues to grow and become more of a "big girl" everyday. She has greatly improved her conversation and independence lately. She is completely out of diapers (woohoo!) and loves to dress herself (although she picks out some pretty interesting outfits.)

Makayla is getting way too smart! She has learned how to write her name by herself (which I need to post a picture of) and is starting to identify more and more letters everday. She is doing great with her numbers as well, meal time is usually math time with how many bites she needs to eat. She sure can be stubborn too! (not like either of her parents :) With both older kids we have had some obedience issues since Sydney has been home, but a lot of it just comes with their age.

Josh and I are hanging in their pretty well. Josh didn't quite know what to do with all his paternity leave and has decided to start a hobby. He is collecting Lord of the Rings characters to use for a strategy game. I'm glad for a hobby, he sure can be tough to buy for! As for me, I'm doing the best I have after a delivery. It's nice to have two other kids as a distration, then I can't stress over a newborn, there is just too much else to think about! I am still in awe of the fact that I have three children! It's such a wonderful feeling; I am so blessed to have such a sweet family!

Well, maybe I'll get some pictures of Makayla's birthday up soon.....in all my spare time :)

Caroline's 3rd Birthday

OK, here are the pictures of Caroline's 3rd birthday in backwards order. Hope you enjoy!