Four Years Ago Today......

WOW!!! It was four years ago today I walked down the aisle on my Dad's arm and into the arms of the most amazing man I know. I look back on our wedding day with the fondest of memories, it was truly an amazing day, we had a blast. As my Dad likes to say him and my Mom knowhow to throw a great party and that it was but I also look back on the vows we made and their importance and realize just how much of them we have lived. We made a commitment to love, honor, and cherish each other and I find that four years later we are truly doing just that. My love for Rich has grown daily as I watch him with our girls it makes me fall in love with him more and more, he is so gentle and loving with them, they are truly a bright spot in both of our lives. I see the love from Rich with how he does the small things day in and day out, he makes me coffee every morning, he helps with the dishes, he does the laundry, and takes out the trash because he knows I hate doing it. We have truly formed a partnership that I could never live without! We honor each other with mutual respect, by no means do Rich and I have a perfect marriage but we have learned to respectfully disagree and that when we don't have the same opinions we work through it with respect. And lastly cherish....I cherish my husband and the family we have created, the three of them are my world and I work so hard to provide as much as possible for them and Rich does so much for all of us big and little, he is amazing!

Rich,
The last four years have flown by, it might be because we have just been so busy or maybe it is because we just seamlessly belong together either way it has been an adventure I wouldn't change for anything in the world. I love you so much! You are all I always dreamed for and I thank God for making you just for me! I hope to be looking make on our wedding day together for the rest of our lives and I look forward to all the memories that fill our days, I know it will be a great adventure!

Love,
Jen

The Colic Report

I am beginning to consider myself somewhat of an expert on the colic topic.....I have researched like crazy, I have read tons of studies and doctor's articles and recommendations. And with my new self appointed expert status I have to say my child is in her third day of being cured...that's right folks it is working!!! Avery is a very happy camper, she is pooping more regularly, her stomach is smaller and softer, she is just overall happier, it is truly amazing! I honestly couldn't be more thrilled that my baby is finally happier.

In other news Jolie is home and so super excited! Rich is probably as excited as Jolie that she is back, I even took her up to his work yesterday after she got home so they could see each other. It is a great feeling to have my entire family back under one roof! I was so happy to see Jolie yesterday, I really missed her!

Today, Avery and I are going to get Valentine's gifts for the kids and to run a few errands. Then tomorrow I am going to lunch with my Mom and for a little shopping while my Dad watches Avery, that will be really fun!

Colic Update

So I might shoot myself tonight if I jinx myself by posting this but I am going todo it as this blog cronicles the events of our lives. Last night was perfect, it was quite and we currently have a very happy baby and even better a happy, well rested Mommy. I know everyone is just dying to know what I did so here it is. During my many restless hours over the last several nights I googled "cures for colic" we started with the first few things we saw the gripe water and mylicon, when those didn't work out too well I kept digging and that is when I found it. The "it" was some research about colic and it's causes, this particular research says that colic is caused by the lack of good bacteria in the baby's digestive track. It list several reasons for the lack of the bacteria one being c-sections because this bacteria normally gets passed on from the mother during the time spent in the birth canal during delivery, obviously since Avery was never in the birth canal it would make sense that she was lacking this. So the article suggest some very specific probiotics to fix the problem....I don't have the bottle in front of me as it has to be kept in the fridge but it is from Nature's Way and is for children from birth to five years old. You mix the powder with liquid and give it to them just once a day. It was so far the best $15.99 I have ever spent!!!! I am hoping this will continue to help her, it has only been since yesterday but so far this stuff is liquid gold and if they are looking for a spokeswomen for the product I am their girl! More updates to follow as we progressthroughevery parent's nightmare....the horrors of colic, it really is an awful expiernce, I really didn't know that until having a child with colic, it is not only awful for your child but for the parents as well there is nothing worse than seeing your child sick/uncomfortable, screaming and there is nothing that you are doing to make it better, it really is heart wrenching for the parents.

In unrelated children news Jolie will be home around lunch time, I am so excited to see her, I feel like she has been gone so long, I just know she has grown and change and matured a ton and I have missed it and I don't want to miss those things.

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.

Just when I thought the crying had stopped....

So I thought we were going to be in the clear with the screaming but I think jinxed myself with the last post because last night we were up until about 2:30 am, now I will say she wasn't screaming at the top of her lungs but it was more of a whine so at least it wasn't ear piercing. I am going to continue on with the gripe water and just keep adjusting her schedule til we get it right, will continue to keep posting.

In other news, I am off to the sorority house bright and early tomorrow morning and Daddy is on Avery duty!!! Will have a post about all that early next week. Avery is up from her nap, got to run!

And the sounds of screaming have gone away.....

Okay I don't want to jinx myself but we have officially experienced two nights of a non-screaming baby!!! I am not quite sure how exactly that gripe water stuff works but it is working and I am not questioning it! I will continue to post about Avery's mood as I am not sure that you all care but one day my kids will have kids and like I do to my Mom I am sure they will ask me if they did whatever and then what I did but unlike my Mom I have this written record and won't be relying on my memory because my Mom's famous words when I ask her is "I don't remember". Come on Mom, where is your blog from when I was a kid....oh wait there wasn't even Internet way back then, ha ha!

On to the day at hand today, I have a big sorority meeting this weekend in Gainesville and I have tons of information to put into folders for the meeting so while Avery sleeps today I will be printing from the computer and compiling all the paperwork. This afternoon Avery and iwill beheaded to Publix to pickup a few bogo's that start today and then most importantly we will be picking up some stamps so I can mail out Avery's birth announcements and I have to say they are so freaking cute, I love them, be looking in your mailboxes soon, maybe Saturday or Monday depending.

On a quick Jolie update....she is still in NC with my parents and loving it! It isn't snowing now and most of what they had has melted, however, the forecast is calling for snow possibilities Friday and Saturday. Saturday is my Dad's 60th Birthday so it will be awesome if they can play in the snow for that and then they will be heading home on Monday. I miss her and I am ready for her to come home!!!

Just please don't cry....

Okay this is a follow up to my seris of post yesterday....

Last night 10 pm came and poor little Avery began to scream at the top of her lungs again, ready to pull my own hair out I remembered the comment left on my post yesterday from a friend about gripe water helping with both colic and fussiness, I figure Avery has at least one of those so I sent Rich on an emergency Walmart run to get some. He quickly returns with gripe water in hand and we quickly give our screaming child the recommended dose. I will say she quit screaming at the stop of her lungs almost instantly, it went to more of a light whine but at least it wasn't ear piercing. She fell asleep and then did a little up and down in the early sleep and only slept in three hour sretches but at least it wasn't the full on top of the lungs screaming we were previously experiencing. We will be trying the gripe water again this evening but as Rich and I discussed we will be giving it earlier in the evening to try to prevent the nightly screaming. If there are any other ideas out there I am up for those too, I will try anything at this point, knowing I only have two weeks til I go back to work and I feel like the walking dead and I only have one of my children here and I am not working, wow this mother of two thing might be more difficult than once thought.