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!