Count your blessings...not your battles!!!

Bradley is 3 weeks old today and this is the first day that we are officially on our own without any assistance from grandparents. Things are going as good as we could have hoped for, but it is definitely hard work. I'm not sure that I will ever leave the house again. I have to get up at 6am to get my self dressed, Bradley fed, Ella's breakfast ready, get both the kids dressed, let the dogs out and load the car to be out of the house by 9am. Three hours probably sounds like a lot, but that leaves us extra time for unexpected feedings, tantrums or messy diapers!

In all honesty, Ella is doing great with Bradley. She is a great big sister. She always lets me know when the baby is crying, pooping, sleeping, eating or sneezing. She loves yelling, "Baby sneeze", "Baby pooped", "Baby crying", etc. When she is feeling like she needs a little mommy time she says, "baby nap" to let me know that she would like me to put him down for a nap. Of course she has noticed that crying gets the baby attention and therefore has developed a fake cry for attention, but other than that and the normal emotions you would expect a child to experience when a baby joins a family, she is doing great. She is very gentle with Bradley and likes to put toys and blankets next to him while he sleeps. We are very proud of her.

Ella will be 2 on June 23rd, so we celebrated her birthday when all of the grandparents were here. She had a blast. Her birthday theme was Boz, a Christian bear that teaches kids about manners, being nice and God's love. It's hard to believe she is almost 2. Boy does time fly by!

Bradley is doing great as well. He has been pretty easy so far during both day and night! He is changing and growing so quickly. He seems to look a little different and a little bigger each day.

Scott and I are both pretty tired. We neither one get any free time these days, but it is definitely worth the work. We are still trying to figure out how to handle 2 kids, maintain some order in the house (to be honest i think i lost this when i got married) and keep up with the kids. It takes a lot of energy. If you have not been around Ella since she was about 15 months old, then you do not know that the Lord made his first mistake and accidentally gave Ella springs instead of feet. Honestly, the kids jumps probably 50% or more of everyday. The other 50% of her day is spent dancing, running and singing her ABC's.

Life has definitely changed with the addition of Bradley, but we are all so excited about his arrival. We thank the Lord every day for all that he has blessed us with.......and then we ask him for patience, wisdom and energy to help us get to 8:30 p.m........bedtime for the kids!!!