A ball full of energy and a tired momma

Spending the day with Jenna now is full of activity and having to keep a watchful eye on her. She loves to get into everthing, climb on things, and just be an active little kid. She repeatedly likes to open the cabinet with all of our storage containers, pull everything out and then organize and stack the items. While this keeps her entertained, I have to wash containers before I use them as I don't know if she has licked them, stood in them, or put something in them. Here she is posing and saying cheese for the camera while in the midst of organizing.




In addition to Jenna being into sorting and stacking, she also wants to climb on everything. She will try to climb on the coffee table. Dives over the side of her new foam couch and tries to sit on window sills. Recently she discovered it was fun to climb onto a small table I purchased and stand on the window sill behind it. Here she was caught in the act of trying to do this. While I know it is normal and it means she is at the development stage she should be at for a toddler, it scares me. I get nervous some times that she is going to take a bad spill and get hurt. I guess that's how she will learn. I also need to remember that as a child I spent the night in the hospital after falling on my head on the kitchen tile and cracked my chin open twice.


Jenna also loves to play with her toy ball. From kicking and throwing it around the house (which we encourage as this is training for her to play soccer one day at Carolina), she decided this morning that it would be fun to sit on it too. She takes it to doors, chairs, and tables so she can sit on it and bounce. I have to give her credit that she knows she needs something to hold onto or else she will fall over, but yet this is just another thing she could do to hurt herself. I wonder what new adventure or discovery she will make next. I also am thankful that my friend Lori Beth keeps me posted on what her daughter Bennett does so I can be forewarned as she is 4 months older than Jenna. I love my friends!

A new Diva has arrived

Little Miss Jenna is now apparently a diva at daycare. She previously held the title of Drama Queen at home, but now she has moved into diva territory. I think years down the road if she is ever talking to a shrink about this stage of her life its root will be found in the form of a little boy named Alex who loves to torment her. He loves to take her pacifier or lovey blanket and run around with it making Jenna cry. Eventually he gives it back, but thinks it is funny to tease her. I blame this little boy for her acting out as a diva because I asked when he started to do this and it is the same time Jenna started screaming "my. my. my." or "ma me. ma me." (translated to that's mine, give it to me) when she wanted something. She also now looks at Haley our dog and will say "mine." "no." I have to reassure her that yes the toy is hers and no Haley can not have it.

Our little girl also has a set of pipes on her as she is VERY vocal about all of this. As a result. I am working on teaching Jenna patience by making her wait before she immediately gets something. I am also trying to teach her to cover her pacifier with one hand, hold the other arm out to block someone, and say "no!" to the boy teasing her. My thoughts are this is a more proactive method than hitting the little boy, which was her daddy's suggestion (She has to get tough after all.) We will see what develops...

Cousins gotta hug

This weekend Jenna, Haley, and I went to my folks house since Josh was still out of town. We played, looked at llamas, and got to spend time with family. It made me realize how much Jenna loves her cousin Brianna. She lit up every time I asked if she wanted to see her cousin. Saturday night Clay, Brianna and Nicole came over for dinner and a movie to celebrate Clay's birthday and that's when I snapped these great shots of them playing together. Too cute and I hope they always have fun together.

My Funny Valentine

This year my sweet and funny Valentine was little Jenna, as Josh has been out of town all week in Orlando. Jenna and I spent Valentine's Day together and for the first time went to Build-a-bear to make her first teddy bear. We decided to name him Bailey Bear and let me just say how much she loves that bear. She carried him all around the house when we got home, had him sit on her new sofa with her doggie, and even napped with him.

We also went to Stride Rite shoes to get Jenna's feet measured. I had been noticing that she has been curling her toes a lot lately. Well... the reason for that was she was wearing a size 5 shoe and her foot measures 5.5. Needless to say a pair of size 6 shoes were purchased so she now has plenty of room to run around in. Who would have thought she would have grown that much in a month and a half!!!

This week with Josh being gone, I have also been reminded how much I admire and respect single parents, because it is not an easy job having to do everything by yourself. I have been exhausted at the end of everyday juggling Jenna, Haley, the house, and real estate. I am ready for Josh to get home on Monday.



Here's Jenna dressed up in the funny chicken costume her great-aunt Kitty and great-uncle Les got her. We kept trying to think of new things to do for entertainment this week since it was just the two of us. She wore it while the Wiggles sang "That chicken got the hiccups"



















Momma says, "Jenna, where's Dadda?"

Jenna responds, "I don't know! Where is Dadda?"

What's new for the Cowleys. Well, we still are dealing with colds, but staying hopeful that 2008 has just got to get better. A BIG thank you to Josh's Grandma Barb and Pop-pop Ron. Your well wishes and gift were very sweet and thoughtful. Thank you very much for thinking of us.

We were actually able to play outside on Sunday as it was in the 60's and sunny here. Yeah!!!

Jenna is working on words and getting into as much sneaky business as possible. She is testing limits. Starting to say a combination of "ma" and "my" for things that she wants or doesn't want you to have. She is also completely addicted to the Wiggles. We were at the doctors the other day and I started singing a couple of the songs and doing the dances in our exam room (we were waiting for over an hour and that's a LONG time for a 17 month old). While I was singing the second song Jenna looked at me and said "Wiggle". Hard to believe one of the words she can say is due to a love for 4 singing Aussie guys, a dinosaur, a dog, an octopus, and a friendly pirate!

Here is footage of her dancing ballet with Dorothy the Dinosaur and jumping while the song continued. She just loves the Wiggles! (My 2 favorite parts are watching Josh in the back ground dancing too and then Jenna playing with her truck. A healthy balance of girlie-girl and tough-girl)