Four Boys And Two LIttle Ladies

Hi, my name is Andrea Bradford. I'm extremely shy, and for the most part, I keep to myself.. I've never been bullied as a child or teenager. Of course there were some people who didn't like me, some, the feelings were mutual. I'm sure some people said mean things behind my back, that's okay. I never let it get me down. I went to school for school. I didn't care about being popular, and popular, I was not. I'd rather be unnoticed than have everybody look my way. I had a couple really good friends, that I loved, and still love today. They are my family.
Last Friday, I did what I do every weekday. I get up, get lunches made, wake the boys up, make breakfast, get everybody ready for the day, and walk the boys to the bus stop. I always take the little ones in my double stroller. It is old and heavy, but my double jogger does not hold air in the tires. I walked all four kids to the bus stop and talked to one of the neighbors who has two little ones. One of which rides the bus with my kids. When the kids left, I too, left. I grabbed the stroller and pushed it onto the road, because it is so much easier than trying to push it thru sand and gravel. I get home and start to get myself ready for the day. I hear somebody knock and Jonathon opens the door. I run out to see who it is, and it's one of my neighbors. This lady must start drinking right when she wakes up, but that's beside the point. She see's me and asks if she can 'talk to my dad' I probably look at her like she's an idiot. I just said, "um, he's not here?". She then says, "I just need to talk to an adult." I again, give her a "you idiot" look and said "I am the adult in the house...". She then took it upon herself to tell me how horrible I am. This lady was NOT nice! I was in tears. She kept telling me that my personality sucked, and I needed to change it. She told me how nice my husband was to her and I was a bitch. I just stood there and cried. I honestly didn't know what to say or do. I just stood there and cried. The crap she said was so brutal. This was somebody who didn't even know my name. She just knows we're neighbors, so we should be BFF's.  She stood on my porch for 20 min. telling me how bad I was and that "she'd had it up to here" with me, and that I really needed to change my personality because "You know how you are..". This lady TOTALLY crushed me! I cried for two hours after she left. So, for those who think you know somebody (or me) you don't. You don't know me unless you really know me. There are only a few people who really do know me. I don't let my guard down unless I really feel comfortable with somebody, and that can take a while. All I know, is I've never been a confident person, but now... I feel so horribly about me. I just can't shake it.

Elyse just started crawling on all fours about three weeks ago. I know it's way late! She was 17 months old. It's so crazy to me that she was this old... I really thought she'd just skip the whole crawling stage all together, but she didn't. She just did it a lot later than "normal". She also pulled herself up to standing all on her own today! I was pretty excited! I know she's a completely healthy baby. She was born three weeks early, which is full term. She was born early because the placenta that was supposed to be delivering food and oxygen to her, had died. If left in my belly to cook much longer than she was, she too, would've died. I have no idea if the condition of the placenta has anything to do with her setbacks, but, it'd make sense to me if it did. The things she can do, tho is pretty amazing! She has a pretty extensive vocabulary for only being 18 months old. No, she isn't talking in sentences, but she learns a new word every other day. She tries to mimic EVERYTHING I say. Even sentences. She'll say one of the words I say then a bunch of jibber jabber. Here are some of the words she says- doggy "goggy" she knows the doggy says "arf arf" and she says "arf arf". She says- go, no, blankie (gankie), meow (we don't have any cats because Alex is allergic, but we have friends with cats), nigh nigh, num num, girl, pretty, tickle, momma, dadda, ball (baow), PEEWHEW!,
Yay!!, poo, yeah, hello, hi, shoe (soo), Bye bye. These are just the words I can think of. She can pick out one word out of every sentence I say and repeat it. (It's a good thing I don't swear!). Obviously she can self feed. (she's been able to for a long time..). She can grab with her index finger and thumb (again something she's been doing for a while..). She into EVERYTHING! If she can get to it, she will! She adores her older brothers! She follows them EVERYWHERE!! Alex is the only one annoyed by this! Cam is pretty patient with her, and Jonny? He just adores her back! Not to say that Alex and Cam don't adore her, but they're older and they get annoyed. She is still a huge momma's girl! Daddy is also one of her favorites, and her cousins! She loves her cousins! The older ones carry her everywhere she wants to go, so she's quite spoiled! The younger cousins make a huge fuss over her, which she LOVES! Poor child is starving for attention, haha. Okay, so she's not. But, you'd think she was..There is not a day that goes by that I don't thank Heavenly Father for her (and all my boys). I truly am blessed. :)