I’m literally in tears.  Rose officially has colic.  I’m bummed for us because we are not sleeping, but I’m heart sick that she is uncomfortable.  Noelle had colic, and the flashbacks are exhausting.  I remember just holding the paci in her mouth in the middle of the night and praying her painful cries would subside.  I can handle toddler whiny cries, but colic cries sound like they are in excruciating pain… and their little arms pump back and forth so tightly.  It just makes me ache for my innocent little baby.  Thank God it’s not permanent, but it’s no fun in the moment.  We’ve tried gripe water along with all the standard things, but does anyone have any other tips?

This too shall pass!  Pray that our baby Rose finds comfort today. 

Love, Melissa

Isn’t this the most precious monkey you’ve ever laid eyes on!?!

“Ariel’s Daddy doesn’t like humans because he says that they’re dangerous.  He calls them barbarians.  Are we barbarians Mom?”

Is this not the cutest little thing in the whole wide world!?!

We started Saturday at 9AM at Sadie’s birthday!  She loves Elmo, and you could tell she was having a great time!!!

She was such a big girl helper, trying to buckle in baby Rose.

Big brother Bailey and Noelle are big buds!

After giving Sadie hugs and kisses, we headed to Keller for our 10:30 birthday with Mollie Grace!  She was lovin’ all the special attention… she’s their sweet middle!

Grandpa Tim and Poppa are friends from Jacksonville, so it was fun getting to see him play with his grandkids the way Poppa plays with us!

After lots of good bouncing, we headed to Glen Rose for Anna’s dragon party!

Noelle and Anna are scheming some overnight visits together; they are two little peas in a pod. 

To finish off the day at 4:00, we went to William’s wildlife party!

Noelle held a tarantula – I am not even kidding; the boys were too scared to hold it, but not Noelle.  I was so shocked I couldn’t get my camera out in time – I got him getting the spider back from her.  Wow Noelle!  All the school moms were commenting about how they thought Noelle would be too prissy for creepy crawlers – you surely can’t read this book by its cover!

After tons of cool creatures and stories about their features (lol), he pulled out this albino python.  Noelle was all over it – gross!

Thanks William for a creepy cool birthday!

Rose was such a good girl all day long.  At each party, I fed her and changed her diaper.  I was busy, but it was such a fun day and worth all the running around.  We have such special and sweet friends!

And I’ll leave you with a picture of this cutie pie right in the middle of a dream about her fun day!

While Anna Kate was in Jacksonville, we took the opportunity to do something fun that we never get to do… pedicures!

It was so good to spend time together, having fun and relaxing. 

And Noelle got to have a sleepover in our room that night – a weekend tradition around here!

Noelle (top pic), Anna Kate (middle pic) and Rose (last pic).  I just had to do this one more time with Rose…

Noelle (top pic), Anna Kate (middle pic), and baby Rose (last pic) – Anna Kate’s and Rose’s similarities are pretty crazy!

Thank you for sending a fancy necklace and blueberries for Noelley, Ra!

So my mom had this great idea of keeping Anna Kate this week to give me a little break and give her lots of special attention.  Although Mom and Dad still worked at the office, Anna Kate got to meet lots of special friends in Jacksonville who took care of her during the day, which is so good for her since she’s not in pre-k yet.  In the meantime, we have been busy little bees around here because I’m a little more mobile with just two.  My favorite part of the day is nap time!  Noelle, Rose, and I snuggle up and have the sweetest afternoons possible.  I’m the luckiest Mommy in the world!

Tonight in Jacksonville Anna Kate grabbed a pair of Rara’s shoes that I also have, took them to Rara, and said, “Mommy.  See her.”  So, I’m officially dying to see her!!!  On the phone tonight she was saying “Bad girl” to Cinderella’s stepmom in the Cinderella book.  She also saw a picture of our family earlier in the week and pointed at her Daddy and called him “Mikey.”  Tomorrow, the girls and I are headed to 4 birthdays (I know I’m crazy) and then Sunday we’ll get our Anna Katey back.  Can’t wait to give her lots of hugs and kisses, but this week sure has been nice playing catch-up from all of the craziness around here!  Good times!

I’ll do anything for you, Rose, absolutely anything.