Rock a Bye Bradley

Everytime I put Bradley down for a nap, Ella says "Me rock baby Bradley to sleep too". So, off we go to Bradley's room to rock him and lay him down for a nap. At first, Ella was very excited to assist, but did not grasp the concept of sitting still or being quiet. However, she is slowly getting the hang of it and is very upset if she doesn't get to help. The process started out with Ella talking, getting in and out of the rocker and opening and closing his bedroom door all the time. We have now, however, progressed to sitting still ans whispering. Sometimes we both even sing him some songs together. The funny part is that I have to race her to the rocking chair because if she gets there first, then there is no room for me too sit without sitting on her! If she gets there first, she will look at me like "who are you kidding...I'm not moving". I recognize this look quickly because it is the same look I get from everyone else (Scott, Chloe and Cowboy) when we all race to the couch or bed and I am the last man standing! Anyway, Ella has perfected every part of her routine except for the exit. As BRadley starts to look sleep I whisper to Ella to quietly exit the room. We lay Bradley down she opens to door, slams it shut and seems to think that he can't hear her once the door is shut behind her. Everytime she leaves the room she starts talking 100 decibles higher. I guess Bradley is adjusting because he used to start crying every time she left his room, but now he just lays there and goes to sleep!

Anyway, I got some good pics of the kids this weekend, so I thought I would post them on the blog! Enjoy ALL of them....there's a lot!

Mommy's Supposed To Do It

We are in the process of packing to move back to Orlando. Moving is never fun, but it's even tougher when you have kids. Surprisingly, Ella has done very well with the concept. She has been very helpful at packing up toys and books and seems to be excited about a new house. Everyday she asks if we are moving. I tell her not yet and she always say " I want to move". Obviously, she does not realize that moving involves leaving friends, dance class, etc. She is excited about a change, which is good, but I think it will effect her more than she can grasp. I'm sure both kids will do great!





Anyway, our house is becoming more and more bare as we pack and the other night Scott ran the vaccum through the house. Ella ran up to me a little disturbed and said, "Daddy vaccum? Daddy cleaning?" I told her yes and she said "Mommy's supposed to do it!". We definitely did not have the same outlook on this situation. I for one was ecstatic that Scott was vaccuming, but Ella seemed to think that Daddy was crossing the line of my job description as mommy. Lately Ella has really seemed to identify several responsibilities that she thinks belong to mommy. Unfortunately, another one of these is changing pooopy diapers. She doesn't seem to think that no one should be able to do it but me! What an honor for me!!!





Honestly though, kids observe so much more than we realize. I thought to myself how she probably takes in our every move and every word. Sitting in church a few weeks ago my eyes were opened wide to a whole new vision of what my role is as mom. I always knew I would raise my family in a faith based environment and hopefully raise them to be loving, kind, forgiving, etc. as God would want them to be. However, I never really grasped the fact that it is our role as parents to actually get them to have a personal realtionship with God. This responsibility actually makes the formentioned characteristics seem easy to instill into a child. I thought they would develop a relationship with God if they were loving, kind, etc., but it requires so much more than that. Wow what a task! I am almost puzzled at where to begin! I think it's so easy to live a christian-like life, the whole time thinking you're doing things right, and never really realizing that you're aonly scratching the surface of faith. Hopefully, with a lot of praying, I'll guide my kids to the right spot!





Anyway, I probably won't update this in a long time because of the move. Bradley is doing great. He is getting so big. He is very tall and therefore looks alittle older than what he really is! He laughs hysterically now and is pretty much always a happy little guy! Ella is loving on him like always and is doing great herself. She is talking up a storm. In fact, somedays I feel like she just follows me around babbling. I have remind myself to cherish those moments when my head is trying to process all the noise wihtout exploding.





Well, I need to go because there is a pile of chores to be done......packing, laundry, dishes, vaccuming, snacks, tubbies, etc.......and guess what......."Mommy's supposed to do it."