The Wells Family Blog

Floor time has been a family favorite around here lately. There are a few precious nights a week that we are home and not running around doing something. On those nights we have gotten into the habit of playing on the floor in Cora’s room with Cora and helping her practice her walking. Once we hit the floor we usually end up there for at least a half hour or longer. The other night we were playing and Andy and were extra giggly and that lead to Cora being extra giggly. We would crack up about something and then Cora would chime in with her small chuckle. After a few silly games and soar checks from laughing so much I looked over at Andy and said, “These are going to be some of my favorite memories.”

This is an awesome video that plays clips from the movie The Passion and uses the audio from Dr. Lockridge. It is a great reminder as we head into the Easter season of the price that was paid for our sins and the salvation we were freely given by Christ’s sacrifice. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The past few nights Andy and I have been sitting on the floor and passing Cora back and forth between us to try and help her get comfortable with the idea of walking. She seems to know how but prefers the safe and familiar feel of crawling on the ground. Here is a video that captures some of her very first steps! (The beginning of the video is just her falling between us, she takes a few steps in a row toward the end as she is walking to me.)

The other day we were in the kitchen getting dinner ready and apparently Cora had her own dinner plans in mind.  It is hard not to just laugh at things like this.  She is so cute, we are so blessed.

Jodi and I often say how much we love living in Sarasota. There is just so much to do, things going on, and places to go.  Unfortuntily with our busy schedules we don’t get to experience these things very often.

Two weekends was an exception to the rule.  On Friday night Jodi and I asked Bri to come over and babysit.  We had her get there just as Cora was going down so we left the house around 8:30.  We went to this popular Tapas Bar & Resturant called Ceviche.  It was great.  There are four floors to the restuarnt.  The first two are main eating resturant, the third is a bar with a stage and dance floor and and the roof is a second outdoor bar.  We had a great time there.

On Saturday we got up and decided to take a stroll around downtown Sarasota.  The farmers market was just wrapping up so we strolled through there for a little bit.  We then wandered through some little shops and thrift stores.  It was great.  We had no agenda just puttsing around enjoying the great weather.  Here are a few of the pictures we took of Cora while down there.  (I also added another page at the top of the our Home Page titled Photo Albums, you can got there to see more pictures)

Saturday night we went to dinner with some new friends at Libby’s on Hillview (the first restaurant we were going to had closed up shop).  This was a really nice place.  We had a great time and it was really nice to get to know Angie and Rich.

It was a rare weekend.  One that was fun. long and full of adventure…even though we never left Sarasota county.

(I took some pictures to share but have been unable to download them! I’ll get my tech support on it when he has a minute.)

Like all of my monthly postings I  am amazed at how fast she is growing and changing. I am grateful that while it is happening so fast Andy and I have made it a priority for me to be here with her and watch her transform.

Cora is funny and loves to make us laugh. She sucks her lips in and pops them out to make a kiss sound and waits for our smiles before doing it again. She also likes to pretend sneeze for a reaction. She still loves music and bounces and rocks back and forth to the beat. She is eating small pieces of fruit, cheese and crackers. We’ve tried giving her pasta and she’s not real sure about it yet. Cora melts us like butter when she smears our checks her wide mouthed “kisses.” She also gives hugs by squeezing her little arm around our necks and laying her head on our shoulder. Adorable. She has started giving hugs and kisses to her stuffed animals and dolls too. She also likes kissing other little kids and babies. She can be playing by another baby and without warning she’ll lean in and give them a kiss. Unfortunately, the other babies aren’t usually as excited about it as we are. We are working on getting Cora to stand by herself for a few seconds at a time and she has stood for about 10 seconds without help. The problem is she knows it’s easier to hold on to something and stand so she’s not sure why we are trying to make her life any more difficult.  I’m pretty sad at the realization that I need to start cutting back on nursing in able to wen her over the next few months. Nursing has been such a special time and I can’t imagine it not being a huge part of our day.

I am officially on my first day of the second week and I have to say that I think it is going well.  Day 2 (plyometrics), which I will be doing again tomorrow, was probably the hardest work out I have ever done in my life. Three quarters through the work out I was only doing the exercises about half as long as they were on the video, and then with about 11 minutes the computer froze.  I thanked Mr. Computer a couple of times beacuse I was already dead.

Other that the plyometrics, the next hardest thing is the meal plan.  It takes forever to try to plan out your day.  I do think I have developed a appreciation for eating good food.  I feel like I have more energy because my body actually has fuel to burn rather than fat to store.  I will keep the updates coming.  Mostly so I can look back.  Hopefully my journey we be encouraging for someone else to try.

Cora’s goal in life for the past few months has been to crawl through the kitchen around the stove and into the forbidden laundry room undetected. The laundry room of coarse is where the big shiny silver bowls of secret dog food and mystery water reside. Yesterday morning Cora saw her dream come true. I was carefully cutting up small pieces of a pear for her breakfast as I saw her quietly pass me and the stove. I can usually gage her crawl and I know how much time I have to react. Well, I must have miscalculated because the next sound I heard was the tinging of Chase’s dog food  against the big shiny sliver bowls. By the time I made it to her she had a clenched fist full of yummy Purina One dog food and a confused look on her face. Apparently the food that made into her  mouth wasn’t all she’d dreamed it would be. I used my hook-like- finger to scoop the food out as she attempted her lock jaw move. I removed the dog food from her hands and got her into her high chair. By the way her high chair is amazing, not because it has any special bells or whistles, but it magically keeps her in one place. At last, I sit down and begin feeding Cora her breakfast to which she has no interest. Apparently Purina beats pears hands down.

I can’t say that I have really done much of any exercise since…about Thanksgiving.  You know how it goes.  Your work has a pot luck Thanksgiving the week before so you eat like crap the whole week.  Then you have a huge Thanksgiving dinner with your bible study group the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  Then you have a huge Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving.  Next the cookies start coming in at work, people are baking cookies and giving away snacks and rather than make anyone feel bad you of course eat as much as you can.  By this time you might as well wait till after Christmas to try to get back in shape.  But, then comes new years and before you know it, you weigh the most you ever have.  You know how it is.

Maybe you don’t, but that is how it went for me this past year.  Now I am typically not one to make New Year’s resolutions, I did realize that I had to something.  Jodi felt the same way.  She didn’t quite give in to goodies like I did, but she too felt like it was time to get back in shape.  Our solution…P90X.

Today was day one.  I got up early this morning and started my journey to getting in shape.  I didn’t go crazy since it was my first day, but I felt the burn.  I think I am really going to like this.  Jodi and I are also doing the meal plan that they suggest to stick to while you are  going through the program.  The crazy thing to me is that we are eating more food during the duration of the day then we did before.  I fell like I am already noticing the benifits.  No I am not that crazy that I think I got buff off one day, but I had way more energy today, never crashed like I usually do around 4pm, and just felt better.  Maybe it is mental, but I am encouraged.

I am sure I will ad more posts about how it is going.  Stay tuned.

Okay, it has been a really long time since I have written in the blog (is it in the blog or on the blog…anyway).  I don’t know why I have taken the hiatis I have, but it hasn’t only been from the blog, this includes most things to do with the computer.  I check my email every third day or so, I haven’t updated my status on Facebook since who know when, and what is this Twitter thing I keep hearing about? (Just kidding on that last one, but seriously)

I just haven’t made it a priority of late, I would much rather spend time with my beautiful wife and baby girl.  But, yesternight was a perfect picture of what chaos can insue when Dad is left in charge.

It started with Jodi dropping Cora off at Nadco at 4:40 in the afternoon.  This was the first night of her self-defense class and it started at 5.  I took the liberty to show Cora off to anyone who cared at work.  I am a proud Dad.  So, I shut down my computer and strolled Cora out.  She was in a really good mood so she was alot of fun.  She does this really cute thing where she makes this whispering sound.  It is so precious.  If you make the sound back to her you can have a whole whispering conversation.  I think it is so cool how you can have a conversation with you child without saying a word.

We got home and it was time to feed her dinner.  She is still downin’ the Mama’s milk, but she is also eating home made baby food.  I was in charge of the baby food since Jodi was out learning how to kick you butt.  On the menu was cauliflower that was mixed with some cheese I believe.  The first few bites go great.  Cora, like her Dad, digs the cauliflower.  But, about half way through I get the lock jaw.  She is not opening those lips for anything.  She has also gotten quiet good at swatting away the spoon when she is not interested.

I tried everything, I made her laugh and snuck it in only to have her ooze it back out, I heated it up to make sure it hadn’t gotten to cold, I even resorted to acting like a gorilla to get her attention.

Just as I am making a complete fool of myself I see a woman walk up to my front door (who can see me making a fool of myself).  This woman doesn’t look familiar and all I am thinking is how bad timing this is.  Then she does the most foolish thing a visitor to my humble house can do…she rang the door bell (I know).  Needless to say Chase (our dog) goes ballistic.  There must be some sort of electronic device in my dog that is set off by the ringing of the door bell because whenever it happens he acts like he wants to get out of his skin.  Oh but even better, this is not “normal” ballistic Chase this is bite wound recovering, infection having, surgery gotten, staph infection diagnosed, cone wearing Chase.  Who even though he has been wearing the cone for about 2 weeks still has not figured out the dimensions of said cone.

So, there I am with Cora in the highchair food all over her face, Chase going nuts whipping his cone into every possible object, and me not knowing what to do.  My first thought was answer the door, so I got up, boxed out Chase like I was trying to get a rebound and cracked the door.  ”Hi I called about the chair your selling on Craigslist.” she says.  ”Um, okay.  That must have been my wife you talked to and she’s not her. Hold on a second.” I said and I shut the door.  Next thought: put Chase somewhere that he can’t kill these people.  I manage to get Chase in the sun room, but of course, he is still going nuts, which after a while can make you go nuts too!  Thought #3: I need to go out to the garage and show them the chair.  Thought #4: I can’t leave Cora in here by herself.  I unlatch Cora from her cauliflower encrusted throne and take her out to the garage.

The good news is the lady bought the chair and didn’t even try to get me down on the price.  I think she may have felt bad for me.  Seriously, that was one evening.  I don’t know how Jodi does it everyday.  She is a great woman, wife and especially mother.  I am forever grateful to the strengths and abilities that God blessed her with.