Oh My Dearest Bradleypoo

As most of you know, Bradley is still struggling after his tubes and adenoids surgery. In fact, Bradley got an ear infection 10 days after the procedure. They tried giving hima new medicine to treat it, but he had an allergic reaction to it that cause his whole body to break out in awful hives and attacked his respiratory system. Anyway, they put him on steroids to help his respiratory system until the medicine is out of his system. I wish theywould have prescribed me some as well so I could keep up with him. The kid goes through 3 continuous phases all day....1. "eat, eat, eat" (I can't fit enough snacks in my bag for a dsay).........2. "mommy up, mommy hold me" (he follows me around clinging to my legs or propels himsef at me in an effort to be held"...............and the 3. exremely frustrated "NO" phase (this phase is just really Iam mad and nothing you do makes it better". This last one is definitely my least favorite.

Anyway, Ella hast 3 really good girlfriends at school and today one of them invited us over for a play date. The girls had a blast playing dress up as Bradley combined phases 1 and 3 and stood in front of their pantry screaming to eat everything in sight. By the time we left my son had finished off their juice, had half a brick of cheese and some crackers...this is extremely odd for Bradley since he is n't that good of a na eater right now, but the steroids have turned him into a ravenous snacker. After finally filling his belly he went to play with the girls. I went to check tot he room to make sure there was nothing he could break or damage and then I came back out with the other moms and bagan feeding Jameson. A few minutes later Bradley comes running out with no pants or diaper on yeliing "poop" over and over. I automatically started sweating because I knew he had taken off a poopy diaper and put it somewhere in there house. This is a new phase Bradley is in. The mother went to check and found his poopy diaper on the floor and poop on the bathroom floor. How mortified was I? Ugh!

As we're leaving the playdate, Ella was sobbing to leave her new friends and they were all hugging and kissing like a high school click and Ella dramatically says, "I want to stay here my entire life". I noticed when the mother answered her that she said "Ella" you are welcome anytime......I'm not sure if Bradley and I will be invited back after today. Ella then continued to cry the whole way home because she "NEEDS" her friends Sophia, Olivia and Ava from school. She just "NEEDS" to see them today. It was like a preview of what it will be like in high school with Ella and her friends. Every day when the 4 girls show up at school they all scream and do this great big group hug and kiss, so it really is great to see that they are so excited about each other and such good friends already, but seriously.......let the drama begin.

Hope you all have a great poop free day!

Ella, Bradley and Jameson.....Oh my!

Today was Ella's first day of VPK. She will be going to preschool Monday through Friday from 8:10 to 11:10. She has been very excited about school and even woke up early this morning to go. However, afterward it was like pulling teeth to get her to tell me about her day. During their playground time Ella fell and hurt her leg in 3 spots and her arm in 2 , so that put a huge damper on the day for her. Of course I cried when I got in the car this morning after dropping her off and Bradley sat in the back seat saying "Ella". he must have said it a million times in the 3 hour span. We went to the YMCA and it was Bradley's first time to be at daycare without her. They said he walked around saying her name the whole 45 minutes. However, he did well and went in without crying. Anyway, when we picked Ella up from school she said, "Did you cry when you left me?". I told her I did and she said, "I cried too because I wanted you when I got hurt and you weren't here." Ughh! That made me feel so bad. Ella didn't seem as excited as I expected her to be afterward, but I think she was distracted by the playground accident...we'll see what she says after this week when she has had some time to adjust.

Bradley had his adenoids removed 1.5 weeks ago and got tubes in his ears. Hopefully this will help the little guy from all fo those ear infections and asthma attacks, but we'll see. He is currently semi-potty training. I say semi because it is very difficult for me to keep up with my part of it with the arrival of Jameson. I think I could have him potty trained quickly, but I can't always get to him to take him when I need to. Besides, when the little man has to poop it literally takes 25 minutes and that is difficult to accomodate. The other day I heard water running in the kitchen and thought something started leaking, when I looked around I found Bradley standing over the dog's water bowl urinating in it. Who knows how many times he has done that before. I bet the dogs are really feeling lucky since they have moved to the end of the priority list behind 3 children and even have to drink pee water. Bradley had recently learned to ride his bike almost completelt by himself, so it is one of his favorite things to do right now!

Jameson is doing well. He is about 10 pounds now and is very long. He will be 7 weeks on Thursday. He will sleep anywhere from 4 to 7 hours at a time for his first stretch at night. He's a good little boy, but he does like to be held a lot when he is awake. I guess he is already starting to battle for attention!!! He has heard how loud Ella and Bradley are and knows he must work his way into the commotion somehow!

Jameson

Jameson is changing already! He is filling out and looking less like a newborn. He will be 3 weeks old tomorrow! I finally got a 5 hour stretch of sleep last night! Hallelujah! Here are a few recent pictures of him!

I Like Big Butts!

Ella's cousin Kate gave her a swimsuit a year ago or so and it was a little mermaid swim suit. Ella has been so excited to wear it for such as long time, but the bottoms always fall off. So, the swimsuit is a size 4 and I told her she could wear it the other day since she is 4 now. I told her that it should fit her now. In the past I told her that it was too big and would fall off her bottom. Anyway, Ella got all exciteds and said, "Yeah mommy is my butt getting bigger?.....this is so exciting!" She then went on to chant, "yeah, I have a big butt" repeatedly. We tried on the suit and unfortunately the bottoms still fall to the floor, so we have to cinch it in the back and put rubber bands around it! Regardless, Ella is very excited to wear the suit and is very excited at the thought that her butt might be growing. Don't we wish that was our problem as an adult? I would love to excitedly look in the mirror every day to see if my butt had grown.

Jameson WIlliam Reuter

Welcome to the world Jameson!

Blessings

My goal this weekend is to get all of our pictures updated from the past few weeks. As you all know, Jameson arrived on July 8th weighin in at 8 pounds 3 ounces / 21.5 inches long. So far, he has been a sweet little baby. He has some similar features of Ella and Bradley, but has a different nose and we can't figure out whose nose he has. He likes to be held a lot, which might be slightly difficult for me with 3 kids now. Ella and Bradley love having a baby brother and have adjusted well to his arrival. They are very good with him and love on him all the time. However, neither one of them have adjusted to the reduced amount of mommy time. The other day Ella was very argumentative. When I asked her what was srong she said, "If you had more time to spend with me, then I would be happy." Now doesn't that just break your heart as a mother. Ughh!! Bradley started throwing some major tantrums, which have pretty much stopped already, but he now is not sleeping good at night. Bradley has hardly woke up in the middle of the night ever and now he is waking every other night. It is so frustrating to be awake in the middle of the night with a 2 year old when your staring across the room at baby Jameson sleeping soundly in the bassinet. Ella is a good sleeper unless her brother cries, so you can bet that on any night that Bradley wakes up...Ella is up too. In case you were wondering, it is possible to fit 2 adults, 2 toddlers and 2 75-pound dogs in one bed. Anyway, the addition of Jameson has been wonderful and we look forward to seeing his personality unfold. Being a mother of 3 healthy, sweet children truly is the best blessig God has given me. I've attached few pre Jameson pictures that were taken just a few days before his arrival! Take care!

Beach Buddies!

We took the kids to Clearwater beach this weekend since we are now down to 4 weeks and 6 days (not that I'm counting) til the newest member of our family arrives. Ella absolutely loved it and wasn't afraid at all this time. Bradley wasn't sure at first, but he loved playing on the beach in the sand with a shovel and bucket. However, by the end of the day he was having a blast in the water with Ella copying everything she was doing! It was nice to have a day away and the kids were great...they even tried building a sand castle on my belly! Here are a few pics of our day!

Dora, Dora, Dora the Explorer!

A year ago Scott and I bid on tickets at a silent charity auction for a 2 night stay at the Nickelodeon hotel. We booked our trip for this weekend so Bradley would be old enough to enjoy it too and we could go before the baby comes. Anyway, Scott and I didn't think the resort was all that great, but the kids enjoyed the weekend getaway! We mostly played in the pool and on the little kid water slides. Ella wanted to do the big slides, but on the 2nd day they told her she was an inch short. That was little disappointing to her since they let her ride the big slide the first day! Anyway, it didn't really matter because ELla and Bradley just love having fun together. Here are a few pics of the crazy pair enjoying their weekend together. They played so hard on Friday night and Saturday, that by Sunday morning they were both crying in the pool saying they wanted to go home because they were too tired to swim or slide. Well, that is what Ella told us....Bradley just kept saying "mama"..."home"...."mama"...."home".

Peek A Boo...I See You!

I don't know why I find this so funny, but on Friday I was playing hide and seek with the kids. This is one of their favorite games and then I chase them when I find them! This is where Bradley hid everytime....see if you can find him!

To Nap or Not To Nap

Ella is almost 4 now and is showing signs of not needing a nap anymore. If she naps during the day she has a hard time sleeping at night. If she doesn't nap during the day, she is tired around 5pm. Anyway, I make her do quiet time everyday and still try to get her to sleep for at least one hour. Today (like many other days), I could hear her getting in and ouat of bed. The first time I went up she was reading, the second time I went up she was going to the bathroom and the third time I went upstairs I was overtaken by the smell of nail polish! OH CRAP.....I thought! I saw her dart from the bathroom with wet toilet paper and run to her room. When I entered she was covered with nail polish! I instantly thought of all the things that would be ruined! Ugh! However, after searching her room, she had gotten it on nothing but herself (and it was all over herself). She tried to paint her fingers and toes and for her age did considerably well. I wish I could have told her that, but the rule is...."only mommy opens nail polish".....so, I really couldn't tell her she did good. Plus I was highly irritated! I took her into my bathroom and she had to be wiped down all over her hands, feet and face with nail polish remover. While we were doing it we had a chat about breaking the rules. Ella started crying and said she just wanted to nap now! I took her back to her room and when I tucked her in and she went to suck on her middle 2 fingers like she usually does, she got a look of disgust. "This is awful stuff," she said. I tired to wash her hand to get the nail polish remover taste off, but apparently it didn't help too much! I guess that was a lesson learned. It has been quiet now for about an hour, so she is either in her bed afraid to make a noise and get in trouble or she has sucked all the nail polish remover off her 2 fingters and is sleeping soundly! I think we have definitely hit the time in our lives where there is never a dull moment. One of the kids is always doing something crazy or trying some dare devil stunt off the furniture! It has been really nice talking to everyone on the phone, over the internet and having playdates, but I'm not sure how much I will be leaving my house after baby #3 arrives! I try prayer a lot, but it is constantly interrupted by my little stunt devils! I sure hope God is finishing my prayers for me since I never get to! I don't think God is impressed with my numerous referals to him throughout the day as I nearly have a panic attack when I discover the next trick learned by each kid! I wish "Oh God" counted, but I really don't think that counts!

Dog Tired!

It has been a while since I wrote on here. So much has happened that I could have wrote about, but we have been so busy with moving, the pregnancy and keeping up with the kids that I just haven't found the time. I'm a little tired to say the least........I am almost 30 weeks pregnant, I'm trying to get our new house in order before the baby comes and I try on a daily basis to keep up with Ella and Bradley. There have been 2 times now that I have actually fallen asleep while playing with the kids. Last week I fell asleep on Ella's bed and when I woke up 30 minutes later they had dumped every dress up outfit, book, stuffed animal, etc everywhere. It looked like a hurricane had come through Ella's room. When we left her room I realized that they had gone into their bathroom and opened every bandaid we had with a character on it and put them all over their legs and other miscellaneous objects. You would think I would have learned my lesson, but today we were playing doctor in the toy room. Poor Cowboy had to be the patient and was getting a lot of unwanted attention. Anyway, I was laying on the floor because my job as doctor assistant was to feed Cowboy a baby bottle. Cowboy was not into it at all, so he layed on the floor and looked up at me with sad eyes. I sympathetically looked back at him and fed him his bottle. However, the next thing I knew I woke up about 20 minutes later and the kids had decided to make arts and crafts. Unfortunately, one of them found the dry erase markers instead of the washable markers and.........inmstead of coloring on paper, they though tit would be more artistic to color their bodies! Ella nd Bradley have been playing together so well, so it is always funny to watch them, but they can also get into some trouble together. Here are a few pics of the best of buds! Enjoy!

Sweet Moments of Life

Today when I was putting Ella down for her nap she looked at me and said, "Mommy, I want to give you my heart". It was so sweet. She then asked me, "Do you want to give me your heart?" I proceeded to tell her that I gave her my heart the day she was born and that she would always have it. She excitedly thanked me and then confirmed again...."so my heart is in yours...and your heart is in mine?" I reassured her that she was right and tucked her into bed for her nap!

What a wonderful day!