Bradleys and Beaches

Another long overdue post, this one to document the trip made by Grandma & Grandpa B and Aunt Laura to Pensacola Beach, July 22nd- 26th.

Grandma B & Little B

Even a size small is too big right now!  

He looks more like he should be a member of the 3 Amigos than at the beach!

Grandpa B & "Bunky" at the beach- 

don't worry, it was too hot, so Bradley didn't stay for very long.

I was antsy to finally see Bradley in his beach wear!  

Sisters reunited

Bradley & Bradley women

Looking for Jellyfish- they were everywhere!

Aunt Laura & Bradley relax at the Holiday Inn (alas, Snoop Dog was nowhere to be found)

Brian and Laura took a wave runner out on Friday in the sound- aka, the Fake Ocean, and unfortunately, the only body of water around able to cool you off, due to the massive influx of jellyfish on the coast.

We had a great visit.  The weather cooperated for the most part, even though the jellyfish made it impossible to get in the ocean.  Bradley got some great time visiting with Grandma & Grandpa B in the hotel room, while Mom (that's me!) got some much-needed down time at the beach.  I'm sure there were funny stories that I was supposed to blog about, but it's been so long, I'm doing good enough getting pictures posted!  Yay for family visits, and fun in the sun!

Tally Trip

This blog is long overdue, but I wanted to be sure to document our first trip to Tallahassee to visit Jim and Grandma Anna.

 The weekend of July 18-20th, Bradley & crew went out to Chili's for dinner on Friday night where Jim and I lamented over the absence of the Grilled Caribbean Salad from the menu.  Saturday we all went bowling (and I beat Brian on the first game, pla

cing 2nd out of all 6 of us who went!), and afterwards took a 

tour of downtown Tallahassee 

where I got to see FSU's campus, the governor's mansion, and the state capitol building where the "hanging chads" were counted in the '00 election debacle!  Saturday night Jim cooked an amazing meal of stir fry.  The guys watched a UFC fight, and me and Ann had girl time & watched Pretty Woman!  Bradley got settled in for story time as Grandma Anna read him a Mercer Mayer book that had been one of Brian's favorites as a kid.   Judging from the picture it looks like Bradley enjoyed the book!

We had a great weekend and can't wait to go back soon!

 

Cart Query

Calling all moms, friends of moms, or anyone smarter than me who can find a solution to this problem of mine:

When taking Bradley to Walmart, I am having a lot of difficulty navigating through the store with Bradley's carrier cautiously positioned on the top of the basket near the handle.  Am I doing something wrong?  Is there a better way to shop with an infant?  I implore your help.

My biggest problem is that I am a mere 5'2", not tall enough to see over the carrier, and that's with the canopy and carrier handle bar down!  I have to crane my neck and look around the basket to make sure the way is clear, and inevitably I am going to run over a small child who darts out in front of my cart without my knowing.  Already I have hit food displays and wet floor signs that come of of nowhere, causing me to back up my novice, cart-pushing self, and retract my steps.  I feel like an idiot, and it makes grocery shopping even less fun than I normally find it, worried the whole time that Bradley's carrier is going to slide off, or like I mentioned previously, that I am going to run over a toddler.  Any ideas??

A Bedder title could not be found

Bed medicine... the good, the bed, the ugly... In spite of everything, not doing so bed... or how about this one:  a Really Bed pun!  Ha ha.  I amuse myself at least.  I've spent the past few weeks not blogging, and this is the best I can come up with?  A story about my mattress and bed frame?  Yep.  Sorry, not all the glamour and pictures you had hoped for.  But here I sit, typing away when I should be sleeping.  That will come back to bite me in the rear when Bradley wakes up at 2am wanting to eat.  But oh well.

So long story short:  the Bradley family curse for bad luck has followed me to Florida.  But you didn't come here to read the short story, so here we go.

Last summer Brian bought a new bed.  It was supposedly a full/queen size bed.  He also bought a full-sized mattress and boxed springs.  The length matched up, but on either side of the bed was a gap of an inch or two.  One day, Brian knew that one of us would lose our balance and step through the gap breaking an ankle or worse.  I can only assume this inevitable accident would have been mine.  Fast forward to this past weekend when Brian fell asleep with a cup of lemon water in his hands, and spilled the entire contents on our bed.  Since then I have tried and tried to soak up the water and the stains, and the more crap I spray and blot onto our mattress, the worse it smells, and the dampness remains.  For days now we have awoke to damp sheets and damp pajamas.  Daily I wash our musty damp sheets, and daily I clean and blot the mattress.  Nothing has worked, and our foul-smelling mattress appears to be ruined.  

Turns out in the middle of our dilemma, our neighbor Paul has a brand-new Queen sized mattress and boxed spring he is selling.  Brian and I decide to buy this to fit our queen sized bed and kill two birds with one stone- get rid of the gap in between the bed and the mattress, and get rid of the stinky wet mattress.  Tonight Brian brings over the new mattress, and of course it doesn't fit.  "Why can't anything be simple?" Brian laments, but the feeling is all too familiar to me- the Bradley curse has followed me here.  

3 measly inches too short are our current bed rails.  Apparently the furniture store sold us incorrect bed rails last summer?  Or the furniture company itself makes irregular sized beds?  (doubtful)... so I emailed the company to find out about the possibility of acquiring new rails in the correct length, and of course the store where Brian bought the bed is no longer in business, making a transaction with them impossible.   There is also a store in Pensacola that sells this brand of furniture, but they were closed when we called.  That's on tomorrow's to-do list.

So as of right now, we have one boxed spring, one stinky mattress, and one footboard outside on our patio, and we have one queen sized mattress and boxed spring and one freestanding headboard inside.  The predicament now is, we just replaced our better quality yet ruined mattress for a newer one, now must we replace our bed frame as well?

Brian got so frustrated in the midst of the storm tonight that he proclaimed he was going to bed.  "Do you not see the irony and humor in that?" I called in to him from the other room.  He was not so amused.  

Bradley babbling

Here it is- my first attempt at a video blog post.  This is a very rudimentary film, taken with my digital camera.  (Yes, we bought a real video camera, but I'm technologically challenged and don't know how to upload video from it yet, so this is as good as it gets for now.)

staying at home... and barely leaving the house

5 1/2 weeks into it, and you'd think I had this whole mommy/wife thing down to a science!  Ha!  Boy would you be wrong!  A more accurate picture of day to life at home is "what can I get done in the few precious hours that Bradley is sleeping?"  Most days I choose between internet, phone calls, and house work, so all those emails and blogging I planned on doing daily is right up there with the chores around the house that I struggle to accomplish as well.  Many days I don't even leave the house, and when I do, it's an exciting errand like returning a movie to Blockbuster, or going to the grocery store (that was for you Ari), my favorite place in the world (NOT) to scrounge up something for dinner.  Anyways, all that to say, I have NOT fallen off the face of the planet, and no, I'm not living it up at the beach every day (still have yet to dip my feet in the ocean, but we're counting down the days).  I'm at home, learning how to make this stay-at-home mom thing work.  For those of you who have been asking, here are some of the newest pics of Bradley:

This last one is my favorite- he seems to be saying "heeyyy!"  I have yet to capture a smile on film, but I promise they're there.  Bradley really is a happy baby, he just concentrates a lot.  And by concentrate, I of course mean "poops his pants."  Smiling photos coming soon!

4th of July

You look like this... and it makes me want a hotdog real bad.

One Month recap

Bradley turned one month old on July 7th- I can't believe how quickly time has passed!  He definitely doesn't look like a newborn anymore, but he's still pretty tiny.  So far he is more alert during the hours he is awake during the day (and unfortunately, the night), he holds his head up, and is starting to pay more and more attention to his surroundings.  If he knows his name, or recognizes me and Brian as his parents yet, he hasn't let us know.  Brian swears Bradley smiled at him twice today so I spent the morning trying to get Bradley to do it again with no such luck, and Brian doesn't believe me that Bradley rolled over (twice!) at 3 weeks of age.  While our little angel is napping in his crib I figured this would be a great time to post some new pictures- enjoy!

Grandma Anna meets Bradley for the first time!

Bradley loves his aunt Sarah

He loves his Boppy pillow!

4th of July- sleeping through fireworks

He's starting to pay attention to his surroundings- here he is watching the mobile over his swing

Mother-vision

It's funny how once you have a child, suddenly you see the world with a new set of eyes- the eyes of a mother.  We set off fireworks in front of our house on the 3rd, and the entire time I could not relax because I worried about a stray rocket coming Bradley's way.  Same thing with the night of the 4th when we were in a park in Pensacola to watch their fireworks show, and people throughout the crowd were setting off their own fireworks before the show began!  The entire time I was on guard, ready to dash in front of any rogue roman candle that was headed towards Bradley's carrier.

This morning in church I had a little different experience seeing the world with my new mother-vision.  We closed the worship set with "In Christ Alone" (finally!  a song I, along with the rest of the congregation, knew!).  I've sung that song a thousand times before.  I love it, and its words speak powerfully to me, but today a few lines stood out to me in a way they never have before:

In Christ alone who took on flesh, fullness of God in helpless babe

As I looked down at sleeping Bradley in his carrier (we have an angel child by the way, and I'm not just saying that because I'm his mom- he really is that good of a baby that every time we take him out, he sleeps peacefully in his carrier no matter where we are!), anyways, as I gazed lovingly at my son, it occurred to me for the first time what it really meant for Christ to come and surrender himself to becoming an infant, dependent on his earthly parents for every need when He himself was the savior of the world.  Immediately I became humble as I thought of all the care it takes for me to meet Bradley's every day needs, and how Jesus entered into this world and gave up his role as King and Lord so He could live a mortal life from beginning to end in the perfect sinless way to lead us by example.  He didn't have to do that, but it was Christ alone who chose to take on flesh and become a helpless babe for us, for me, for you.

Talk about being humbled!  I was... I am.

a drip to wallyworld

I have officially experienced one of the rites of passages that every mom inevitably goes through- the purchase of the"Mom swimsuit."  Yesterday I braved (the) Walmart alone with Bradley in search of a "fat girl swimsuit," not knowing what our 4th of July weekend plans held, but certain of the fact that should our plans include water, that I was not yet slim enough to fit into one of my regular swimsuits.  So, to Walmart I went.  Bradley was an angel and slept in his carseat in the basket the entire time while I shopped around and settled on 3 suits to try on.

Once in the dressing room, things got a little hairy.  It's not that the suits didn't fit- well, one of them did anyways- a hot pink halter top and skirted bottom tankini-  it's just that, shall we say in between suits, I gasped in horror as I realized I was leaking onto the dressing room floor from the chestal area.  Given that I doubt any Walmart shopper would appreciate my lactation expertise, I tried to stopper the drips while simultaneously grabbing my nursing bra.  I realized the humor in the situation but was completely grossed out at the time! (probably like you the reader are now!)  (who knew those things had such a mind of their own, right?)  All I could do was gather my things, try to duck out of the dressing room, and hope that no one noticed the puddle I left behind!  I mustered every ounce of dignity that I had, casually placing the skirted tankini Mom-suit in my basket and speeding away from the dressing room area before someone could blame me for them slipping in a pool of vitamin D goodness.  All in the day of a life of this diva mom!

Thanks aunt Sarah!

Now before you all go chastising me about dressing my son in- YES- a PINK elephant sleeper, let me throw out the disclaimer that he got this outfit from his aunt Sarah.  So I take no credit in purchasing the offensive article, but every ounce of credit in dressing him in this, and posting pics on the internet for all the world to see!

I maintain my philosophy that "real men wear pink" and take every opportunity to convince my husband of this mantra and anyone else who will listen.  Bradley will no doubt get his fill of my pink propaganda once he's old enough to understand English, and becomes aware of the fact that his mom is dressing him in "sissy colors."  But for now, he's my precious little doll, and I get to dress him in whatever I want to, and right now, I have an adorable pink elephant onesie sleeper that will only fit him for so long, so I might as well take every opportunity to get some use out of it!

Nursery Times

Here they are- the long awaited pics of Bradley's nursery!  Brian and I spent yesterday putting together the crib which then gave me the go-ahead to put on the bedding, set up the mobile, and hang the wall hangings.  Everything else had been tackled and organized by me and Mama B when she was here, and then Dad helped us hang some things on the wall when he was here this weekend.  So after much anticipation, I give you my favorite room in the house- partly because it's decorated in bright colors, partly because it is my son's first room, but admittedly most of all because my OCD nature loves that everything matches!!

Bradley looks on while Brian puts together the crib!

home sweet home

Bradley & I are here in sunny Florida, getting settled in nicely. Luckily for me and my OCD need to get everything put away ASAP, I've got Mama B here to hold Bradley while I organize and vice versa. Brian is putting the crib together tonight so I should have nursery pics up soon! I definitely miss TN and all that comes with it (especially Laura, Dad, George, and The Boys) but I know that I will soon establish a new sense of normal and the homesick feelings will fade as our new little family starts to build our life here.

I am itching to get to the beach and see the Real Ocean- as opposed to the sound, or as I call it, the Fake Ocean, that I can see from Highway 98, but that's going to have to wait a few weeks. As a new wife and mom, the sun, surf, and sand are not exactly high on the priority list right now. Luckily the thought of trying to squeeze my postpatum self into a swimsuit is enough to keep those feelings of want at bay right now anyways!

I will post pics soon of our cute little house, but for now, this is Missus V, signing off to head to the kitchen for more organizational antics.

Viva Nashvegas!

It's the end of an era, and the beginning of another.  Bradley and I are saying so long to Nashvegas, and hello to sunny Florida today.  I love my hometown of Music City USA, but the time has finally come to branch out and allow our little family of 3 to start our life together under one roof.    Don't worry kids, we'll be back for lots and lots of visits.  Keep reading the blog as we make the transition to beach life from the country music scene!  

The Lil' B 2 week in review

Bradley is 2 weeks old today!  Since he came into this world, he has turned our household upside down, but in the best way imaginable.  Once we get settled into our new home I am hoping the blogging can resume once again, but for now, here are a few more pictures of my precious son to show how much he is changing every day!

Julius takes his role as guard dog very seriously!

Bradley's first bath time experience- he did surprisingly well!

So fresh and so clean clean

Mom has taken to calling Bradley "Little B" which Laura & Conley both  remarked that it sounded like a rapper's name, so when we snapped this picture the other night, we were all in hysterics that with Bradley's current pose with hands gesticulating, and the sock cap on, it looks like he's trying to make his hip-hop debut!

Me and my precious little boy!

Dads' Day

Daddy B and his girls

Grandpa Bradley, Brian, and Bradley

Dad and Daddy's little wing man

Like father like son!

We celebrated a special Father's Day yesterday.  It was Brian's first father's day, and Daddy B's first father's day as a grandpa!  Bradley told me what he wanted to get for his daddy and sent me shopping at Target!  Some of the purchases can be seen above- new hats and shirts for the dad and grandpa.  And in true Bradley family fashion, we spent the dinner conversation discussing the correct pluralization and plural possession forms after Laura asked if dinner was to the fathers' liking. 

Baby Bradley's Visitors

Whew! What a whirlwind of a week it has been! Today is my due date, but of course Bradley decided he didn't want to wait quite that long to get here. Bradley is over a week old now, and we are starting to settle into day-to-day life. As much as I anticipated his arrival, many others were anticipating Bradley's arrival too. He's had lots of visitors so far with many more to come, so I wanted to put together a blog with pics of Bradley and all his adoring fans!

Meet the Grandparents!

Grandma "Mama B" Bradley and Grandpa "Daddy B" Bradley

Aunt Laura & future Uncle George

                                                                                     "Uncle Tadd"

Emily & baby Bradley

The Gang's all here: Natalie, Emily, Brad, Rhonda, Joe, Amanda, Brian, Bradley!

The DIVA contingency

"Aunt" Ari with DIVO Bradley Jr.

"Aunt" Conley with the Little Wurker

DIVAS Angela, Ari, Bradley Sr., & Conley