So it has been a long couple of weeks but the good news is we have made and things are getting better. I am finally feeling better and there is no more draining of my tummy scar, what a relief all of that is! Rich has done a fabulous job of taking care of both Avery and me, I am so thankful for him and all he has done, he has been the one person keeping our household running and that has been a blessing. In other good news, Jolie is coming home this afternoon after 3 weeks of being in the mountains of North Carolina with my parents, she has had a great time but is really excited about coming home. I have to say we are very excited about her coming home, it has been so quiet at our house without her home but it was a blessing for Rich and I to have her with my parents as I was so sick these last couple of weeks. But now that I am feeling better it is going to be great having her home, she has the weekend to hang with us and then on Monday will be going to the summer program at her Montessori Pre-School, she will love that as they do so many fun activities. I am home from work until Thursday of next week when I finally return. I assume the rest of the summer will be pretty busy with work since I have spent the last month out of the loop.

Oh, I meant to post about this a few days ago but time got away from me but anyone that does home school or pre-school at home should go visit the dollar spot at Target soon, they have some amazing school stuff all for a dollar, I even got Jolie a few things as even though she goes to a great school we like to re-enforce at home so I picked up several workbooks to help her with her letters and writing as well as some slight word flash cards as she is starting to read. I also got her a little calendar thing where we can do it every morning and she puts the month, day of the week and date. So if you are in need of educational materials, check it out. They pretty well have stuff for ages 2 and up and tons of stuff for 4 and up.

As of Tuesday of next week I will finally be able to pick up my kids, we at least Avery, I probably won't be picking Jolie up much for a while considering she weights about 40lbs. I don't want to push my luck as I have promised myself I never, ever want to do this surgery again! Having this surgery was far worse than either of my 2 c-sections.

Things are getting better in the Perillo House and we couldn't be more grateful for that!

Life going on around us....

So life is going on in the Perillo House but is far from normal.  As I said several days ago I had some surgical complications so I continue to lay held up in my bed at our house trying to recover from what was suppose to be a fairly easy and routine surgery to repair two hernias.  On Wednesday when I went to the doctor I was in more pain than I think I have ever been in before in my life.  The doctor quickly came into my room in his office and realized there was a problem, it seems as though my body decided to fill the space that was left open by the hernia repair with fluid that had to be drained, the doctor quickly began draining the fluid (probably one of the worst experiences of my life and Rich's as he was in the room watching all this).  From there he set up the incision to continue to drain for days to come, in fact it is still currently draining as we speak, every time I think it might be finished it fills up again and then yet again let's loose even more fluid.  I know most of you probably don't want to read about this but I figure I better write it down so I can look back years from now and remember what I went through to have these hernias fixed.

In other more exciting news Avery is doing well with Rich watching her and caring for her as I still can't lift her or anything else.  She had a pediatrician appointment on Wednesday afternoon that Rich took her to.  Her appointment went well, she got 2 shots and the oral Roto-Virus vaccine and did great with them.  Rich also discussed with Dr. Anton the fact that Avery is extremely difficult to put to bed and that she tends to scream and be inconsolable.  Dr. Anton fully examined her and discovered there is nothing wrong with her, no ear infections, no reflux problems, no intestinal problems and told Rich that more than likely her fussiness was more than likely just a behavioral issue.  So he basically says that she cries/screams at the top of her lungs because she knows that gets us to run into her room and pick her up and hold her and thus she doesn't have to lay in her bed and go to sleep.  So Dr. Anton suggested that we let her "cry it out" in her bed at night, so Rich and I bravely started the "cry it out" method on Wednesday night and go in and check on her in 15 minute intervals but never actually pick her up.  That first night the screaming lasted about 35 minutes.  Thursday night it lasted about 20 minutes.  And then Friday night the screaming was less than 15 minutes so I think it is working, I think we have her realizing that when it is time for bed it is time for bed.  It is amazing to me how different of sleepers our children are.  When Jolie was this age we put her in her crib at 8 pm every night and she didn't make a peep until she woke up the next morning around 7:30 am.  Now we have since had some sleep issues with Jolie but at 6 months old she was a dream sleeper, she took 2 naps everyday and was super consistent on sleep.  On the other hand Avery is not like that at all, she barely naps at all during the day and has been difficult to train to sleep at night.  Just shows how every child is different.  Also here are Avery's stats from her appointment.
Height: 28.75 inches (100th percentile)
Weight: 19 lbs, 4 oz (93rd percentile)
Head Circumference: 99th percentile (I forgot the actual measurement)
So as you can see Avery is a BIG girl, Jolie has always consistently been in the 90th plus percentile for height and weight but she never actually hit the 100th percentile like Avery.  Rich is already very excited about the possibility of athletic opportunities for both the girls based on the fact they are both so tall and projected to continue to be tall.  At two years old when they did the height projection for Jolie she is projected to be 6 feet to 6 feet 2 inches when she is done growing, even if she comes up a little short of that she should be pretty tall.  I think Avery might surpass her quicker than any of us expected if she keeps up at this pace!

Jolie is in the mountains with my parents and having a blast.  We have been skype-ing with them every evening and got to hear all about her adventures.  She has been pretty funny on skype every night, laughing, giggling, and just plain being silly.  Although it is so sweet when she tells us she misses us and loves us but at the same time she is loving being with Mimi and Poppy and the best part is she is behaving perfectly for them.  The three of them have played and watched numerous children's movies on DVD and been on several trips to town and the store and had a blast.  Jolie has gotten the chance to be both Mimi and Poppy's helper and I know their three weeks together are going by so quickly for them but I will say I sure do miss all of them!!

Hopefully this week will be the week I really begin to feel better, I am still out of work until at least Wednesday when I return to the doctor's office for another follow up appointment.  I am hoping that this week will be a better appointment and that I might return to light duty work by Thursday or Friday of next week.  I have a lot of things going on at work and just feel as though I need to be back to deal with all my upcoming events.

This weekend we plan on laying low as we celebrate our Nation's birthday and independence.  I think Rich's friend and mom are going to come over tomorrow for a little cook out, Rich is going to throw some food on the grill and we will all just hang out.  I think it will be nice that I get to see people instead of being held up in my room, I am starting to go a little stir crazy!!!  I again am so thankful that I had this procedure over the summer and that Rich has been around to take such good care of me, that sure has been nice!!  Well here is to a Happy 4th of July and a good weekend of recovery!!

The Magic of Disney Lives On....

So below are the pictures I have gotten via text from my Mom of Jolie totally loving the magic of Disney World.  I remember being a 5 year old girl and going to Disney with my parents I hope that Jolie will look back on this trip with my parent's with the same fondness and joy as I do on one of my first trips to Disney.

This is Jolie yesterday on the bed of her hotel with the Mickey ears they made on the bed for her.

This is Jolie this morning at breakfast with Mickey, she is truly loving her expierence!  I talked to her several times today and you could just hear the joy in her voice!

Jolie Perillo, you just turned 4, now where are you going?

DISNEY WORLD!!!!

That's right, a very excited, very eager four year old is currently in a car with her Mimi and Poppy on her way to Walt Disney World. Jolie will be there with them until Tuesday staying in the Toy Story building of the All Star Movie Hotel and she couldn't be more excited!

This week I will be posting all about Jolie's forth birthday including several birthday celebrations. Here is to three days of just having one child and a crazy few days at work....

Happy Easter!!

I hope everyone else had as great of a day as The Perillo's did! Rich and I even commented this afternoon that this may have been one of the best holidays in recent memory. We had a great lunch at my Mom and Dad's house and a little Easter Egg hunt for Jolie. It was real nice and Dad got some great pictures on his camera so I don't have one to leave you with but I will add one soon, promise. But let me say both girls looked so cute in their Eater dresses and hair bows, I loved it!

Happy Easter!!!!

A Picture Message from Mimi....

This morning when Jolie and I went to the grocery store we ran into Mimi and Poppy at the store and of course they are way more fun than Mommy and Daddy so she wanted to go home with them and they were all about it so she did.  Just a few minutes ago I received this picture in a text message from Mimi.

It is Jolie eating her lunch in a paper flower hat that my Mom had made over 25 years ago for me, I can't believe she saves all this stuff but it sure was sweet to see her in it.  We are all going over there later to color Easter Eggs so that will be really fun and means more pictures to come.

Saturday Fun....

So after a rocky start to our day with a restless night of sleep our day has turned out to be wonderful!  Avery finally went down for good sleep from about 4 am until about 6:30 am, I think she might be cutting teeth and that might have been what lead us to a restless night and thus my 3 am post, hopefully my post makes sense, I might have to go back and re-read and thus edit so that it sounds normal as opposed to the sleep deprived rambling rant that I sure it is.  Anyways, enough of that and on to our really nice Saturday. 

This morning around 8am, Rich and the girls followed me to the car repair shop and I dropped my car off for an oil change, tire rotation, new windshield wiper blades, etc, the place was having a special so it actually wasn't that expensive so that was a pleasant surprise.  Then we came home and Rich went over to my Grandma's house to mow her lawn and trim a bush for her, he goes there for this almost weekly if not every other week to help her and I think it is really nice of him.  Then Rich came home and watched the girls and I was able to take my Mom out for a nice lunch, just the two of us as a little "thank you for all you do to help me" lunch, needless to say a simple lunch can't even begin to describe all I owe her for but at least she knows that I am grateful for the help and that I value her as so much more than my Mom these days.  I think my Mom has become my best friend over the years since I have become a mother myself I find myself asking for her opinion more than ever and I take her advice to heart anytime she offers it.  After a nice lunch we ran into Walmart to try and find Jolie a few school/play clothes as she is changing sizes and the weather is warming up, we weren't very successful as it appears there are tons of other children her size that beat us to the 5T clothes, oh well, a trip to the Target might be in order for tomorrow.  After that she dropped me at the car repair to pick up my car, it was ready to roll again!  Then we came home and I packed up Jolie's little "Going to Grandma's" suitcase and off she went with Mimi for a sleepover.  I packed her little bathing suit as well and she had a great time swimming at my parent's house with them so that's cool.  Jolie truly loves the time she spends with my parents, it is so nice to see as I fondly remember sleepovers at my Grandparent's house as a child as well, I love that Rich and I have decided to for go career moves to stay near family, it is honestly worth so much more than the financial rewards of a job far away from all of this.

Not long after Jolie left, Rich left as well to take his Mom to the Baltimore O's Baseball Game as they are in town playing the Rays, the O's won last night on opening night but for Rich's delight I sure hope the O's can win again tonight!  So that leaves Avery and I home alone for the evening.  So I feed her, made myself some dinner, we did some Avery tummy time, she sat in her Bumbo for the first time and now is taking a little snooze in her boppy on the couch next to me as I type this post to tell all you folks about our day. 

The pregame view from Rich's seats at the Baseball game, he sent it to me on the blackberry already, got to love technology.

This was Avery's first time in the boppy!

After writing all this our day doesn't sound like much but I have to tell you after the super busy weekend we had last weekend this was just what the Perillo's need, a slow paced, nice day!  Tomorrow will be a chill day as well, after going to church in the morning Jolie and I will be grocery shopping and doing a BJ's run and then it will be cleaning the house and then unfortunately that will be the end of our weekend and we will be getting ready to do another work week.  It will again be a busy week as I turn 31 on Thursday and then my Grandma has heart surgery on Friday and my Aunt flies in Thursday afternoon to be with Grandma.  So I will be taking the day off on Friday to be with her and my family so the other four days in the work week are sure to prove extremely busy. 

I also have to get a ton of pictures posted to the blog this week, it might end up being a slide show of stuff as I have so many things to share but it is a priority of mine for the week to get it done!  I did however include a few pictures of our day today just to show you Baby Avery really is getting SO big, SO quickly!  And just so you know I am serious about more pictures below are a few that were on my Blackberry, I will download from the regular camera one day this week, maybe tomorrow if I get a few minute.

Coming Home

I just got a phone call from Jolie and she is officially on her way home from NC!!!! I have to say it was nice only having one child at home and with Avery's colic it might have been a necessity as Avery normally screams at the top of her lungs from nine at night until at least midnight, sometimes as late as three in the morning but I am so ready to see Jolie, I love her and miss her so much. Last night was one of Avery's worst nights....she screamed full throtle until around 2:30, I cried from about 1 until about 3 am, it was awful. I am super stressed and just so tired with all the screaming! I have literally tried everything...this morning I even picked up these specially probiotics from the health food store and I am trying that, so my colic fixes now consist of gripe water, mylicon, and these probiotics and the normal holding, walking, swinging, bouncing, and whit noise, I hope things get better soon. I never could have imagined how bad colic is, it is the craziest expiernce I can remember in my whole life.

Weather Reports...

This morning I have gotten several phone calls with weather reports from Jolie....

They began around 7:30 am when she called to say "Good Morning" and that it was raining and cold.

Then at about 9 am I got a call to tell me it was snowing, she was so excited!!

And just a few minutes ago I got a call about 9:30 am to tell me she was outside throwing snowballs at Poppy, I don't know that I have ever heard her so excited, she is in complete awe and amazement of the snow!

This picture is from when they got there on Monday and is just of the snow that was on the ground but you can see the pure joy in her face.  My Mom promises more pictures today so I will update as I have them!

Over the Weekend...

**Updated with Pictures**
So here is a little weekend in review post, I will begin with Friday because I don't think I said anything about that yet. So, Friday I had two doctors appointments and since my Mom was sick with a cold I took Avery with me to both. We started with dropping Jolie off at school and then headed over to the chiroprator's office, I got adjusted and treatment and Avery slept like a baby, well duh she is a baby but you get the idea. Then it was off to an appointment for my bladder, an ultrasound was in order for that and here I thought I was forever done with ultrasounds as my child bearing times are over but nonetheless an ultrasound it was. So knowing we were going to be out for so long I knew I was going to have to make time to pump and/or nurse so I took the pump along and figured I would just figure it out along the way. So after the chiro appointment I got in the car and thought of something my friend Jen had told me about the Medela Freestyle pump I use and that is that because it is handsfree it is very possible to use it while driving, she originally told me about this because of my job, she is in the same business and did this with her daughter so I thought to myself, self this is a chance to try out this theory, so I strapped it on and proceed to doctors appointment number two. And to my amazement she was right and not only was she right but this was amazing, I can get where I need to while accomplishing something else I have to do so I don't explode. So I pumped successfully and got to appointment on time, score!

(this is a picture of the pump, it doesn't give you the full idea but just imagine it...)

Avery slept between appointments and woke up in time for my to bottle feed her in the waiting room and then just hung out in her carrier while I was in my ultrasound, awesome! So then we went home, rested, ate and then had to run a few errands to finish gathering a few things for my friend, Sarah's Baby Shower that I was throwing with another friend on Saturday.

So Saturday I drove to Minneola with shower stuff in tow and left my sweet baby for the first time, I was sad to leave Avery but knew she was in good hands with her Daddy! I will add pictures later from my regular computer as I am currently writing from my I-Pad but we threw a really cute, really fun shower for Sarah and her triplets, she got great gifts and it was so nice to see so many wonderful friends! I had a great time visiting with Sarah, Lora and Sarah's Mom and sisters after the shower. Sarah's Mom even made Avery a beautiful quilt similar. To the one she made for Jolie, I absolutely love it!! After a great time I headed home to the family.

Jen, Sarah, and Lora (Addie is also peeking in the picture)

The food table.

The diaper cake centerpiece that Lora made, it was so cute!!

The cupcake tower.

The cute Monkey Soap Favors.

(It seems as though I didn't take any people pictures so Lora when you read this please send me some!)

This is Avery on the quilt that Sarah's Mom made for her and she is even wearing the matching onesie, I love it, it is so sweet!!

Once home I packed Jolie up for her trip with Mimi and Poppy and crashed into bed as soon as Avery was asleep! Sunday morning I finished getting Jolie ready for her travel and then she was off to the snow! Once she left I can honestly say Rich and I just hung out, we didn't do anything! We laid around, I got in a great nap while Avery slept. We did take out, watched Jersey Shore on DVR and football and just regrouped after some long weeks! I can honestly say it was delightful! We have gotten several phone calls from Jolie with weather reports, she hasn't seen snow yet but it is coming and it is cold! My Mom says she has behaved amazingly and all is well with them. So it was a great weekend! Rest, friends, some family time, nothing gets better than that!

So quiet....

So this morning around 10 am our house became super quiet....I am sure you are wondering how in the world that happens with two young children. Well, the answer is I have amazing parents! My amazing parents took Jolie to see snow in the mountains of North Carolina, to say the very least Jolie was ready to go. She has spent the last two days singing frosty the snowman in preparation of building her very own snowman with my parents. My Mom even packed all the items she said she needed for this snowman, like coal and buttons, a corn cob pipe, and hat and scarf, I can't wait to see a picture of her creation. Based on the forecast we are thinking she will be building on Tuesday, I am sure there will be a post after that! I am already enjoying the quiet and the easiness of just having a newborn at home, I have said this before to Rich but it is easy to have either of the girls by themselves it is the combination of both of them that can make things a little stressful! I plan on using the two weeks that Jolie is gone to finish a few things around the house and organizing life to get ready to return to work and care for both my girls, I know it won't be easy but can be done! For now I am catching up on sleep, so the plan for today is nap, take-out, jersey shore on dvr, football, and just relax and hang with the hubby and baby!

Christmas 2010

Here is my completely overdue post about Christmas with the kids, what a great time it was.  I have to say I think this was my favorite Christmas to date.  First, Jolie was so excited about Christmas, truly into this year and then holding Avery and knowing our family is complete was an amazing feeling!

I forgot to get a picture of all of Santa's presents under the tree before Jolie started to dive in but just let me say that there were TONS of gifts under the tree from Santa, from Rich and I, from my MIL, from my parents, and just from our entire family.  Jolie was so funny because she can read and write her name so she would look through all the presents and say "I think this is mine".  She would wait for confirmation and then rip it open.  She got so many of this year's hottest toys and a few other things that I think she is going to love.  She hasn't gotten a chance to open and play with everything yet but I am sure she will love it all.

From my MIL, Jolie got a Disney Princess Scooter, she took it out briefly Christmas morning but it has been so cold since she hasn't gotten much practice on it so hopefully as the weather warms up this weekend she will get to go out on it some more.  Here is a quick pic of her riding out in the neighborhood with Rich.

And yes she is out there in her pj's, she was VERY excited to be riding and yes I made her wear her bike helmet, I even told Rich I think she needs knee and elbow pads, we'll see if the Mom in me wins that battle!

My parent's hit the jackpot of hot toys of 2010 and found Sing-a-ma-jigs, I don't even know the best way to describe these if you don't know what the are so I am including a link to their website, here.  But my Mom and Dad literally bought these for everyone, they got both Rich and I one, both of the girls got two, they sent three to my Aunt in Chicago, they got one for each other, you name it.  Below is a picture of our family of Sing-a-ma-jigs.  Rich doesn't love them but since it was Jolie's only gift that makes noise he is living with it.  Rich's is the green one, third from the left in the back and it has the deepest voice you have ever heard and it just makes me laugh!!

My parent's also got Jolie one of those indoor/outdoor tents with a tunnel, well actually there are two tents and you can connect them with the tunnel.  However, Jolie doesn't know yet that there are two tents as I couldn't have my living room any more trashed with Christmas so we only put up 1 tent and the tunnel but let me say it has kept her super busy for the last several days.  The day after Christmas when my Mom came over she played in that tent and tunnel for hours and allowed Rich and I to rest without hysterical scream so as far as I am concerned it was successful.

As you can see Jolie took several toys inside and made it her own little cave of play.

Santa was also kind enough to bring Jolie the one gift she wanted more than anything and that was the Ladybug Pillow Pet, she loves that thing and takes it everywhere with her.  It goes up and down the stairs at the house a million times a day with her, she has taken it to my MIL's, my parent's house, my Aunt's house for dinner, you name it that pillow pet has gone with her.  She is about to go to the play area at the mall with Rich and she is already begging to take the pillow pet with her. 

She also received from Rich and I a responsibility chart so we can start working on the idea of chores and allowance, it is really cute, we got it from Melissa and Doug, I found an amazing website before Christmas that I did most of my shopping at, you can find it here.  The have flat shipping for $5 and the items were here in less than a week on standard shipping.  We also bought legos, lace and trace, and pattern blocks for her from there, they were a mix of gifts from us and Santa and worked out perfectly.  One of her other favorite gifts was a rough and tumble little kid camera that she has used to take pictures of everything under the sun, I find it so much fun to download the pictures and look at them, they are funny to see things from her perspective.  Here are a few of her "best" pictures.

After Jolie takes the pictures she looks at them on the little screen on the digital camera and says "that's a great one", it is so cute.  As you can see she might need a little practice but she has gotten the hang of it pretty quick although quite a few of her pics are just a blurry black mess but at least there are a few good ones!

She got tons of coloring things and coloring books, markers, crayons, art kits, all kinds of that stuff.  She got some clothes and socks.  She got number, letter, and word trace cards from my Grandma.  She got a ladybug that lights up and puts stars on the ceiling at night from my Aunt.  She got one of those recordable books from Hallmark from my Dad's sister.  She got Uno Moo, which I have to say is super cute!  She got a huge aqua doodle floor mat.  She got so much!!  Here are a few pictures of Jolie opening presents and having fun with Christmas.

This is Jolie with her "Cootie" Bug she made while playing the game Christmas morning with my MIL.

Toy Story 3...she loves it and has watched it probably at least 5 times already.

This is the sock monkey hat that my Mom and Dad bought for her while they were in North Carolina this fall.

On the other hand Avery got more than any one week old baby needs but not near as much as Jolie got. Avery got several different crib toys, she got a car seat cover for the cold weather (we need that right now), car seat toys, tons of clothes, she even as I said earlier got two sing-a-ma-jigs, she got money for her bank account. She had an amazing first Christmas, wish she had a chance of remember everything. Here are a few pictures of Avery from Christmas.

Now on to the most important part of Christmas, family.  Here are some great pictures of my girls with my parents.



I think I have said it a million times already but I will finish my post with it again, this was truly the most blessed Christmas I have ever had, it wasn't about the gifts (although my husband did out do himself with my gift), it was about what really mattered, it was all about our new family of four and I have to say I loved every minute of it, even when I was sick for part of it (well I didn't love that part but it was a part of our family being together since it was complications from Avery's delivery).  I hope that all of you were able to have as joyous of holidays as we did!

30 Days of Thanks: Days 1-3

Okay so all over blog-land there are people doing 30 Days of Thanks for the month of November, I have thought since Monday, that this was a GREAT idea, however, I have been just CRAZY this week and haven't gotten started on my list yet so I figured I would just combine the first three days and try to stay on target from there, we'll see how that goes, there might be several catch up post throughout the month, life as a pregnant, working Mom with a three year old isn't always easy.  So here is the start:

November 1st, Day 1:
I have to say I think the one thing I am most thankful for is my husband.  My husband Rich truly is amazing, he amazes me everyday, he is the best Dad to our daughter, he is so sweet and sensitive with her it amazes me.  When we were dating and I knew he was the one I would have never imagined how amazing he would be with our children.  Jolie is the apple of his eye and he is so sweet on her and caring, I know he will be the same way for Avery, it is truly inspirational.  Not only is he great with her but I have to say he is great to me, he helps me so much, especially now that I am pregnant, he helps me get up all the time (especially when I feel stuck on the floor), he will get me a drink, he tries to be sure I am happy and comfortable all the time, he does tons of chores around the house just to make things easier for me.  I love him with everything I am and I know sometimes I don't thank him at all for all he does let alone thank him enough.  Rich is my best friend and the person I turn to in every situation good or bad but he is also the one that so often becomes my punching bag when other things like work aren't going well and while it isn't fair to him he often gets whatever is left of me after everyone else gets there piece and often that isn't much nor is it the nicest side of me.  I know that I need to work on that but I appreciate that my husband loves me enough and is in this marriage enough to take it.  We have had our fair share of ups and downs but when the bottom line comes there is always still me and him, together and I think that might be the most important part.  Rich is really my better half and just a true joy of a husband and I am so thankful for all that he is and all that he does not just for me but for our family, he is truly an amazing man and I love him more than I can ever express.

November 2, Day 2
The other super important person in my life is Jolie and I am so thankful for her and all that she has brought to my life.  Jolie has a smile that lights up my heart and my life, she is so cute!  I know that every mother thinks that their child is the best but I have so say I really think God out did Himself when he made Jolie, she is so special to not just me but her Dad and our entire family.  She is funny and smart, she is beautiful and I have thoroughly enjoyed watching her take in the world and seeing the little things in life through the innocent eyes of a child, the world is just so much prettier as a child.  I have so loved the hugs and kisses that she gives of so freely, I love when I am dropping her off for school in the morning and she turns back and runs back to me to give me just one more hug and one more kiss, it is amazing and brightens my day.  Jolie is just so sweet and loving and dispenses hugs and kisses so freely and I absolutely love it!!  I am thankful that she is so much of both Rich and I and so thankful that God entrusted us with such an amazing gift.

November 3, Day 3
Since I have spent the last two days being thankful for the people in my life I think I will make it three days in a row of being thankful for amazing people.  The other super important people in my life are my parents I am just so grateful for all they have done for me and all they continue to do.for my family.  My parents did anything and everything for me when I was a child and living in their house but I have to say they have never stopped doing for me and my family, my Mom still gives me a little spending cash from time to time or buys me groceries just because.  She is always on the look out while shopping for things for me or things for Jolie, she even has a new wardrobe working for Avery who isn't even here yet.  She is always willing to help me and Rich with Jolie and tends to give us several weekend mornings to sleep in which is amazing!!  My parents love me and my family so much it is just inspiring, they have taught me so much about family and about raising a family and I can just hope that I can instill in my girls what they have taught me.  I hope to be as good of a parent as my parents have been to me. I am just so incredibly thankful for all that my parents do for me, the help with Jolie, the spontaneous gifts, and the love which is most important of all.

I have to say that the  4 people that I spent the first 3 days of my month of thanks being thankful for really are the love of my life and truly the best of what I am and what I have, they all make me want to be a better person and I thank them for EVERYTHING!!!

Oh Happy Day...

So today might be one of the better days in my little three year old's life....My parents are coming home from North Carolina after being gone all month, she has missed them so much and asked everyday for nearly 3 weeks when Mimi and Poppy were coming home, they are even picking her up from school today because she just couldn't wait to see them!  On top of all that wonderfulness her school is having their Fall Party today, which means fun artwork and treats, she even wore her super cute Halloween shirt to school this morning!  And then probably best of all for her, she doesn't have school tomorrow because it is Conference Day so she gets to spend all day and tomorrow night at Mimi and Poppy's house, she has been looking forward to this the entire week!!  I am so happy for her to have a couple of days of nothing but fun, it just makes me smile to see her smile!!

Packing Jolie up....

Tonight I will finish packing little Jolie up for her vacation. She is going with my parents to their house in the mountains, she is so excited and been on her very own countdown for the last week. She has put together a few toys to take with her and has even informed us of all the things she is going to do when she gets there!! According to Jolie she will be seeing goats, cows, and horses and will be going to pick blueberries. The good news is Mimi and Poppy have planned to take Jolie on a farm tour this weekend and she is going to get her wish and see all of those things. We even have plans to take her on a pony ride when Rich and I get there!! Rich and I will be child free until Friday, July 2nd when we head up to meet with my parents and Jolie, it is going to be so quite at our house without her but Rich and I have tons of projects to complete at the house so this will be a much needed kid free break. I can't believe it won't be long until there are two little ones to care for, I have a feeling the first several months are truly going to be crazy, it is going to mean adjusting so much of our schedules to accommodate for two. I think there might be a bigger adjustment to having two then to having one, now we feel like we have a routine with one and all that is going to change with two, although I am so excited about completing our family as this will be our final child! Rich and I will so miss Jolie while she is gone but what better way to spend her summer vacation then with Mimi and Poppy in the Mountains!?! She is going to have a BLAST!!!