Sweet Moments

Cole's new favorite spot to sit and hang out is the chair in the office. When you sit in the chair you get a full view of the office, the hallway and Annie laying on the bed in our bedroom. I asked Cole last night if I could join him in the chair and he patted the chair and said, "Mamma". We sat and rocked for several minutes in silence then I told him we should blow kisses to Annie. So we blew several kisses to Annie then he looked up at me and puckered his lips so tight to give Mamma kisses. What a sweet boy...we stayed in the chair for a long time just rocking, blowing kisses and giving smooches. 

Graduation, Graduation, Family...

The month of May has come and is almost gone! A trip to Atlanta to watch DJ graduate and a celebration party the weekend after we got back - WOW...but lots of fun. DJ is very lucky to have such wonderful family and friends who have been so supportive of him during this journey. He had an awesome cheering squad from the Georgia Tech stands (MINUS HIS WIFE AND SON!). For those of you who have not heard the story...Cole decided to throw a tantrum right as the graduates names were starting to be called. I was furious and very flustered as this was a big moment for me so the tricks up my sleeves were hard to pull out! After a very long tantrum, two time outs and trying to keep a good mood, I finally realized Cole's pants were wet. Of course! Perfect timing...I was way at the top of the stadium, platform shoes, and a screaming child with diarrhea and no diaper bag or cell phone! I was able to convince a very reluctant security guard to gather my diaper bag by writing a note to my mother-in-law. "Valerie - I need diaper!". By the time I got the bag, changed Cole (very bad diaper rash) - DJ had already walked the stage. You can imagine how upset I was...anyway, it was  great weekend and one we will never forget!

And my sister, brother-in-law and their two children were able to come and celebrate with us in Los Alamos this last weekend for a party with friends. We had an awesome weekend and it was very sad to see family leave. Jake, Clara and Cole got along so well. We spent lots of time hanging out at home, went to the kite festival, bowled in the drive way, read books and ate WAY TOO much cake!

Easter...

Easter is my favorite holiday of the (and the 4th of July) so of course it was even more fun to celebrate with Cole this year. The Easter Bunny visited in the front and back yard!!! The first two eggs Cole wasn't sure what to do with until Daddy showed him what was inside. Then the race was on! "More, More, More" was all Cole could say. We tried giving him his Easter basket to gather the eggs but he had other ideas. You'll notice that the dump truck was his basket.

It was very very hard for Annie to stay away from the eggs. And so we had to be very careful she didn't get any chocolate eggs. In the past, the Easter Bunny only had to hide eggs for her. So, of course you can understand her confusion.  The Easter Bunny was on top of things though and knew to hide Annie's eggs in a different location. As soon as Cole found his last egg we headed to the front yard and let Annie find her eggs. This then led to confusion for Cole. Certainly the Easter Bunny left those eggs for him too! In the end both kids were happy with their findings...

Month of Grandparents

I honestly didn't think it had been since January! My goodness....There has been way too much time that has past so to best summarize you get a list -

• February must not have been very exciting or it was the month I lost my memory card because I have no pictures.
• The Beginning of March Papa Rodney and Granny Carol came to visist

 Papa Rodney and Granny Carol of course spoiled Cole the entire week. It was full of sweets, little to no naps, late bedtimes and lots and lots of love. Cole went to the park, on wagon rides, cuddled on the couch, sorted cars with Granny, ate too many  powdered donuts with Papa. It was very sad to see them leave of course. Cole still goes to Papa's "chair" at the table and says "Papa". So, sad... Or getting the laundry basket and pulling my hand (it took me awhile to figure out that he wanted rides like his Granny gave him.) Thanks Mom!!!

• Cole got really sick this month. 

A low grade fever due to teething (or so we thought) for several days quickly turned into 103 and higher. I took him to Urgent care and Cole put up quit the fight. He wouldn't let nurse or doctor touch him. He screamed - and not just screamed - but screamed for over an hour. He was gagging and sweating he screamed so hard. So, of course they weren't able to get an appropriate oxygen count. At one point it even dipped into the 70's - so we were sent to the ER! Cole was sent home on a nebulizer - just when we thought he was getting better he got an ear infection and it was back to the doctor.

• Middle of March Nana Luscher came to visit

Oh boy - that Nana was a spoiler and Cole ate it all up! Another fun week of parks, and wagon rides, sorting cars by color and lots and lots of chocolate. Nana even taught Cole was it means to "shop". And I thought I was doing a good job training him for the future but I think Nana's got me beat. :) We even took a weekend trip to Durango, Colorado and saw the trains. Cole misses Nana and can still be seen waving bye bye and saying "Nana".

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Good Night Moon

Each night as we start Cole's bedtime routine, we tell him to go pick out some books. His stack almost always contains "Trucks" and "Good Night Moon". The last three nights while reading Good Night Moon, Cole has started crying. At first we thought something in the pictures must be scaring him but we couldn't figure out what was so scary about the book. We then realized it was the words "good night". We can read the book just fine if we change the words "good night" to "sweet dreams". But... as soon as you sneak in "good night", Cole starts crying.

St. Kitts & Nevis

I meant to post this as soon as we got back but I got sick. Then DJ and I both got sick and then I was getting errors every time I tried to post.

On New Years Day we began our voyage to St. Kitts and Nevis. Dj was attending a work conference and there was now way Cole and I were staying behind in the snow! It took us two days to get there. Cole did okay on the first two flights (DJ gave him a score of a B- but I gave him a B.) but there were certainly tense times.

Even though DJ had to work most of the week we still got a few family days in and were able to hang out at the pool bar each afternoon. The food wasn't the best but I had no problems living on fried fish, fries and pizza. Cole on the other hand chose to drink his diet for the week. And the mile was terrible!!!!!!! It looked sour, tasted sour and smelled sour but Cole was a trooper and drank it. He obviously wasn't too concerned since he'd rather it be this way all the time.

Cole was hesitant to get in the pool which was strange given it isn't new to him. By the second or third day he was a pro as long as you let him run the show and as long as I made sure to have his tractor in the pool bag. We spent each morning having snacks and playing in the water. However, given we were at the beach in a beautiful location - Birds, Birds and more Birds was the most excitement of his week. Cole learned to say "bird" and whenever we had a visitor he was off chasing it around.

We spent the afternoons on the beach. Cole greatly enjoyed digging in the sand. Sand in his mouth, sand in his sippy cup, sand in his hair - he loved the sand. Cole and I had a great time building sandcastles. I was team construction and Cole was team demolition. I don't think I was able to construct more than 3 towers at a time if I was lucky. The ocean wasn't on the top of Cole's list of things to do while at the ocean. The waves may have been to loud but he did not want to walk in at all. However, by the end of the week DJ as able to take him out with little hesitation. (Don't know where my camera was that day - darn it!)

Cole has gotten very good at copying mom and dad. Although it can be quite funny at times, we have to be extra careful now. Several times while in the hotel room we found Cole busy at the door trying to escaping our room. He had found a room key and was trying to slide it up and down the door crack. Smart...yes but this could have been scary.

Cole met alot of new people while we were gone. His blonde hair and blue eyes "whooed" the locals which was a good thing considering is attitude did not. All and all it was a great trip - UNTIL...it was time to go home. The plane rides home were the most horrendous and stressful times we have had with Cole in a long time. Tears even came to my eyes. It was hard and 4 1/2 hours was too long - but we made it and will most likely be flying to Atlanta this May for DJ's graduation.