Cole Family News....

We have been working on helping Jenna put strings of words together, like "bye bye Daddy" or "more, please."  She is really improving at putting two words together, they are not a repeat of the same words (i.e., bye-bye or dog dog).  For example, she can say "more water" (sounds like "mo wawa), "it's bath time!", "go potty" and so on.  Getting her to say three words in a sentence structure is a whole different ball game.  But one of the ones we have been working on is teaching her how to say "I love you."  Previously she could say, when prompted, I ...  love... you.  but she never said mroe than two of the words together - until this week, when she said "I love you."  JP and I looked at each other and started cheering her one, and she kept saying it over and over.  JP grabbed his phone and started rolling a video....and she stopped, and started staring at the screen with a blank look (which is her favorite r...

Good evening all! We are coming off of a mellow weekend this past weekend.  Jenna is continuing to grow like a weed - and is getting more and more verbal (except when I start rolling the camera...then it's the blank look!).  This week she has even started answering our questions, most emphatically when the answer is no, which is marked by a shaking of the head and a firm "No."  Sometimes she repeats it a few time for good measure.  And of course we try not to laugh, so as not to reinforce, but it's so cute! For now, anyway. Jenna is also getting more and more independent.  She eats using adult utensils - a fork and spoon.  We have found that the toddler versions usually have a guard on them which makes it nearly impossible for her to get anything on her fork.  She does good with it so far, so we'll keep our fingers crossed.  She is doing a form of hybrid eating where she sometimes uses the utensils and sometimes uses her hands.  Both vers...

What a difference 14 years can make... From a toddler to a teenager... From a teenager to a middle ager... From a wreck - a shell - of a person to the life I live today.  That is the difference 14 years can make. And if I had planned what I wanted, it would look very different, and I would have terribly shortchanged myself.  As that is the nature of Grace...always much greater than anything I can conceive of in a moment's time. I am grateful I am alive. And that I have peace of mind.  And my soul shines! Thank you, God, For the life I live today.

Yeah, yeah....a day late & a dollar short, as usual! :) Despite the neighbors keeping us up half the night shooting off firewarks, Jenna was ready to roll this morning (and as cute as always!)...

I have always been able to fit a lot into a day.  Anyone who knows me can attest to this.  JP can fit a lot into a day.  People can attest to this with him, too.  It's something that we have in common - that we had to have in common to survive each other! ;)  As a result, it is no surprise that we can fit a lot into a weekend.... In particular, this past weekend.  We worked a full day Thursday, went to chiro, worked out, showered/ate/changed, packed up for the weekend, prepped all of my meals for the weekend, took Dacie to Nana's and then hit the road to Murrells Inlet.  Then spent the night in Murrells Inlet, got up Friday, went to buy JP tennis shoes (since he realized he only brought flip-flops and that wasn't going to work in the gym), worked out, came home and showered/changed/ate, and then hit the road to Charleston (left baby with G-Unit in Murrells Inlet).  In Charleston, we checked in, signed in to the work conference we were going to, ...

Well...as it turns out, Jenna did not have ear infections.  Nope, not in either ear.  Curious, right?  She went to the ENT yesterday for follow-up and he said her ears were perfect and he is not sure how that it was possible that they would be infected two days before and perfect then.  So, his logical conclusion was that she never had an ear infection.  She has been sick, though, and her temp was still running low-grade at 99.7 yesterday when they took it at the ENT office.  And she's still sleeping a lot, coughing, congested and has the sinus stuff.  So, our conclusion is that she had a sinus infection or a fill-on upper respiratory infection, which she is still trying to get over.  And since her sinuses were so bad on Sunday that her face was swollen, then maybe that caused some redness in her ears that was unrelated to actual infection in the ears?  I guess we'll never know. On another note, I had to laugh today.  Hard.  Yes...

ARGH! ARGH! ARGH! ARGH! I woke Jenna up last Thursday and realized she was burning up.  I took her temp - 101.9.  We had some breakfast and took it again - same thing.  A little but later, I felt her and she didn't feel that warm anymore, so I took her temp again - 102.6.  And on and on up to 103.9.  We rotated the fever reducers through the night, and they kept her to about 102.5 all night.  The next day it went down some, peaking out at 101.3 or so.  At this point we don't have any other symptoms, so of course the doctor's office advised that we monitor and get her in Monday if she is still having a fever. Saturday morning she started with the runny nose and by Saturday afternoon she was congested in her chest.  The fever was better, but the other symptoms were getting worse.  Saturday night she cried out throughout the night (this has sometimes been our only sign of an ear infection in the past) and Sunday her nose and congestion wer...