Our sweet Lana Rae's birthday is today! She is four! Lana has her very own lovable personality, and keeps us laughing. She has a love for shoes, and has since she was a toddler. She loves them so much that she's stolen   claimed a pair of her older sister's Cinderella dress up shoes. I think Ella has maybe been able to wear them a handful of times. Lana has worn them out as she wears them almost every day. Any time we return home, off go her shoes and on go the Cinderella slippers. She must get her love of shoes and heels from me. ;) Before I had kids, I lived in heels. Now, I choose function over fashion. I do miss wearing beautiful shoes! Lana also loves babydolls, fashion, The Little Mermaid, and Ursula. At the beginning of the year, The Little Mermaid came to The Fox, and Ella and I went to see it with my Grams. When we returned, Lana was looking through the book and saw the picture of the actress dressed up as Ursula. From that day forward, she has become intrigued ...

In looking back on this year, I've dubbed it as the year of unexpected surprises. Some of these surprises have been good, others weren't, while still others were somewhere between. I've intended to write down and process each of these, but I haven't gotten around to it. I will start here with the most recent unexpected surprise. My second-born started Kindergarten this year, so I now have two in school! We've had to adjust to a new schedule as there are a couple more subjects in 1st Grade, and then simply adding another child into the schooling mix is a big change! Add in the new and frequent sibling fighting, and it has been a challenge in starting this new year. I *think* we've finally found some sort of a groove and schedule, but time will really tell. Recently, Owen's Kindergarten teacher stepped down as his teacher in order to take on a different job. As a result, the kindergartners are now in the 1st Grade classroom with Ella's class and teache...

As we get ready to embark on year two of homeschooling, I wanted to take some time to reflect on our first year and the journey to homeschooling for our family. I wanted to remember our story because I want to share it with our kids, and the best way for me to remember anything these days is to write it down! That 'pregnancy brain' turned into 'mom brain'. Also, I'm a sucker for a good story and sweet details. :) I grew up in a household where we were sent to public school. I rode the school bus. My mom even became a school bus driver when I was in middle school so she could be home with us during the summers. I LOVED school! My grandmother was a school librarian! At one time, I wanted to be a Kindergarten teacher! I would get so excited about going back to school-- meeting my new teacher(s), getting new school supplies, picking out new clothes, and seeing my friends. I was fortunate and had so many great teachers- I can't think of a single teacher who wasn...

Now that today marks one whole year of Knox's life, I thought I would finally publish his birth story that I've been working on and editing for a year now. I think it took me longer to write it because I've had to process his birth and presence in a whole new light given our circumstances before he was born. (Those circumstances are detailed here  and  here.  I thought we might lose Knox, I thought he may not have a chance to learn to eat in the same way his sisters and brother did, I thought his quality of life may be absent, and the list goes on. Anyway, I needed some time to decompress and bask in the joy of Knox's life. My pregnancy with Knox was full of joy, lots of stress, feelings of loneliness, fear of losing our baby shortly after birth, fear of a possible surgery, and so many other emotions I cannot even express in words. Due to not knowing whether or not he would need surgery or if he would make it, I froze in many ways. I couldn't continue prepari...

Hello my friends! In case we haven't spoken since we've added another baby to our family, here's what us Bradleys have been up to as we've adjusted to our new normal. Shortly after Knox was born in June, Brent entered a contest with the new Middletown Chick-fil-a location that would open early July. I caught a glimpse of a fb/Instagram photo contest while Brent was at Target picking up his new, toy Velicoraptor claws. (These claws play an important role in the events leading up to our future.) I sent him a text and told him he should enter since he was close to the Chick-fil-a (the contest involved taking a selfie on their new campus and the most creative pics would win). He used the claws in his pic and ended up winning a VIP experience for two before the restaurant opened. He took Ella on a special Daddy/Daughter date night with a behind the scenes look at all things Chick-fil-a! They sampled most things on the menu and some employees shared different things about t...

For those of you who have been praying and keeping up with any news about Knox, we have an update. We had another ultrasound last Friday, May 15th. The ultrasound tech reassured us that she couldn't see anything wrong other than the stomach being on the smaller side. Once Dr. Weeks came in, he took another look and was able to see the best view of Knox's stomach he's seen since we started this process with the specialists. He told us that if he had seen this view during our first appointment with him, then we would have never come back for any follow up appointments. He stated that every human is different and Knox may just have a different size and shape stomach than others. Dr. Weeks thinks we can go from here with a normal delivery with my own doctor. He went ahead and scheduled an appointment with the neonatologist as a precaution- in the event anything arises after Knox is born. This past Tuesday, we met with a neonatologist and he discussed the different type of t...