We have a new site!!!

Thank you to everyone who has followed us on the blog and for all the prayers that you have prayed for Jodi’s pregnancy, Cora, and our family.  We have a new website that you can continue to follow our adventures on.  The new address is www.thewellsfamilyblog.com.  Make it a bookmark or a favorite so that you can always see new pictures, videos, and stories of things we are up to and more importantly things that Cora is learning to do.  Thanks again and please continue to pray for us as we continue to learn how to be parents.

It’s true, she laughs!

I just heard Cora laugh for the first time. Andy claims he heard it this past Tuesday but I wasn’t completely convinced. I spent most of my week trying to get her to laugh only to get big smiles. A few minutes ago Andy, Cora, Chase and I were all laying on the bed together playing with Cora. I was using a stuffed monkey to tickle her face and out of no where her smile broke into a small giggle. I instantly dropped the monkey and covered my mouth as a tear came to my eye. I heard it and it is the sweetest sound I’ve heard. Andy just smiled at me and said, “see.”

July 7th, Cora is 3 months

According to babycenter.com at three months Cora  is officially an infant  and no longer a newborn baby. Even though I hate to admit how fast she is changing she doesn’t resemble a newborn anymore. She now has a fuller face, rolls on her arms and legs, and is much more observant .  She has really started to show us some glimpses of her personality now that she is becoming more interactive. For some reason the word “interactive” makes me feel like I’m referring to website or a video game. Anyway, she started “talking” around two months and has been working hard on perfecting her cooing sounds. She will look right at us and make all kinds of vowel sounds (ah, eww, eee) and then wait for us to say something. It is almost as if she thinks we are  having a conversation. Just in the last few weeks she has gone from staring at her hands to trying to get them in her mouth as often as possible. She prefers having 3 fingers in her mouth at a time but will settle for one if she can’t get the others to cooperate. She is still full of smiles and loves when people talk to her. Andy and I joke that sometimes she gets so excited and so happy that it seems that when she smiles the smile is exploding on her face. Last night, at bible study Andy took Cora with him and the guys so I could enjoy some free time with the girls. While he was changing her diaper he claims she LAUGHED for the first time. He said that it was a classic little giggle and he claims he yelled for me to come see her but I couldn’t hear him. Now I am a little hesitant to believe this, mainly because I’m jealous that I missed it, but she has been making some significant attempts at laughing lately.  So, according to Andy, Cora shared her first true giggle on her three month birthday. I’ll believe it when I hear it.

Hey Hey Happy 4th of July!

First, I should say that the 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I love the freedom we have in our great country, fireworks, summer, picnics, family and everything 4th of July. With that said we  had a fun filled weekend with a lot of firsts for Cora; first baseball game, first touch of sand,  first time in a hotel, and first firework show . We kicked the weekend off with our traditional Sarasota Reds baseball game Thursday night. We enjoyed hanging out with good friends and watching another loss for the Reds. Cora was so into the game that she fell asleep about an hour after we got there.  We  then joined my family at Clearwater beach for the weekend. I really enjoyed spending some time out on Ryan’s boat and it was nice to get some sun. Andy has informed me that I’ve been a little “white” compared to my normal color. Hunter and I made up a great 4th of July song and proceeded to sing it off pitch and loud as we strolled down the busy sidewalk. We decided to stay on shore for the fireworks so we could be with Cora and my parents. We were far enough away from the fireworks that the noise wasn’t too bad and didn’t seem to bother Cora at all. She actually stared off into the sky and was mesmerized by the array of color. Ryan and his family watched the show from their boat and ended up getting lost after having to take a detour from the boat ramp. The detour ended up in a bad part of Clearwater at midnight and Ryan had some problems with the boat trailer. That made the evening even more eventful. Luckily, they made it back to the hotel OK and we were able to hang out on the beach for a few hours on Sunday. I was really concerned that Cora would be in the sun and went to great lengths to keep her protected. She was in a long sleeve onsie under a few layers of shade with a fan for most the day. We did take her out early Sunday morning so she could sport her new bikini and touch the gulf for the first time. She seemed to like the sand and was concentrating on how she  could get a handful of it in her mouth. Happy 4th everyone!

Molly Baby-sat!

I had a dentist appointment today and Molly, a friend from church whose been excited to baby-sit, watched Cora at her house for a few hours. It was the first time I’d left her with someone other than Andy or my mom. We are so blessed to have such a great community of friends like Molly. It was a little strange but I wasn’t nervous at all. Thanks Molly! Next thing I know Cora will be running out the door for kindergarten!

June

The past few weeks have been crazy to say the least. Cora came down with a nasty cold a few days after we visited Samoset. She was really congested and labored for each breath. Hearing her caugh over and over was heart renching. She was so helpless and perplexed about why everything she was in pain. She would stare right at me as she’d caught her lungs up as if to say, “Why Momma, why?” AHHH. So stink’n sad. While Cora was sick I had a small medical “procedure” that ended up being futile and I had to fast for 24 hours. This was no easy task, especially when nursing a sick 9 week old baby. Luckily Grandma came to the rescue and stayed with us for a night to help out. Then as if that wasn’t trying enough, Cora got over her cold and needed to get the dreaded 2 month immunization shots. Thankfully, Andy came to the appointment with me and was brave enough to help hold her still while the nurses gave her the shots. It wasn’t quiet as bad as I was imagining. Although I can say that I have never heard Cora cry that way before. It was a gasping-for-air kind of cry.  She seemed OK a few minutes after the shots and ran a low fever for a few days. The best part was the silver glittery Band-Aids they put on her thighs that made her look like a little roller derby mama.

On a happier note, Gram and Cracker, Andy’s grandparents from Maryland, drove down last week to see their first great grand-daughter. There trip was complete with keys stuck in their cup holder, a broke down Lincoln, a lost pair of prescription sun glasses, buying a new Lincoln, and some of the hottest weather Florida has to offer. While they were here it was Father’s Day and I suprised Andy by taking him to Lee Roy Selmon’s, his new favorite BBQ place. Cora is giving her Dad the gift of golf next weekend with his good friend Chris. Andy doesn’t know how to golf and has been saying he wants to learn. He also wanted to learn how to play the guitar and that is just sitting in the corner collecting dust, so we’ll see how golf goes. Andy has been such a great Daddy and it is so much fun watching him love on her. My favorite things about watching Andy become a father: have been; the way he lights Cora’s face up when he talks to her, he changes diapers, he can’t wait until he gets his “Cora on the Cob” after work, he’s always telling her how beautiful she is, he loves waking her up, and the best of all is listening to him when he prays for her!

Happy Father’s Day Andy! We love you!

Cora’s 2 months old!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Sunday  morning Andy and I sang Happy Birthday in unison to Cora. She was grinning ear-to-ear, most likely because of how awful we sounded. She is growing so fast (last week she was 10.12 lbs,) smiling all the time, and moving her arms and legs like crazy. She also discovered her hands in the last few weeks. She was obsessed with the left hand and could hardly take her eyes off it most of the time. We tried to show her that there was another hand on the right side too but she would have nothing to do with it until just a few days ago. Now she’s very aware that there are two hands attached to her and she usually has them in fists in front of her face while she goes cross eyed staring at them. Too cute!

June 5th = 5 years of marriage!

On Friday Andy and I celebrated our 5th year of marriage and unlike other anniversaries, we needed a babysitter! Thankfully my mom jumped at the chance to watch her and cousin Rachel was able to join her too. Andy gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and took me to the Chart House on Siesta Key for dinner. I was really excited to fit into one of my favorite black dresses for the occasion. We spent most of the night reminiscing some of our favorite vacations and milestones from the past few years. We tried really  hard not to talk about Cora the whole time and we were pretty successful, but we couldn’t resist talking about how in love we were with our new baby girl. We are overwhelmed with how blessed we are and we can only image what God has planned for our next 5 years!

Then… and now.

More family!

We have been busy the last few weeks visiting with family and introducing Cora to lots of new people. Cora got to meet some more of the Wells family and she even go to see her great Grannin. We spent Momorial day with the Botts family and I got to enjoy some pool basket ball since there were so many extra hands to take care of Cora. She was able to meet some of the Armour family including cousin Rachel and Aunt Paula who came to visit from California. I also took Cora to visit my kindergartners at Samoset Elementary about a week ago where she was a huge celebrity. Most of the students liked Cora but were far more excited to fill me in on what I had missed. The kids had so much to tell me, from losing a tooth to the zoo field trip I missed they were talking a mile a minute. I really enjoyed seeing my co-workers and it was nice to go back and see the kids.

Fun with Adam & Tenille

Adam, Andy’s younger cousin from Pennsylvania, and his girlfriend stayed with us for the past week. Unfortunately for them this was the rainiest week Florida has had in a long time. They  went to the beach every day, refusing to give up, and spent most of their time huddled under the beach umbrella trying to stay dry. The best part of the week was that after 8 years of dating Adam popped the big question. They are official engaged.  We spent most of our time eating or playing some sort of game together. I’m not sure if there is anything much more entertaining than watching Adam and Tenille play catch-phrase on the same team. We loved having them with us and we were sad to see them go. We have also been able to spend some time out at the Jim & Tawnya’s lake over the past two weekends and there is a picture below with Mary Cate and Cora getting to know each other. They’re already such good friends!

Recently Cora has started smiling, my first official smile from her was on mother’s day. She loves when we talk to her and make silly faces at her. She has even started grunting a little when she’s really happy and I think she’s trying to laugh already. She has been a little fussier than normal and we weren’t sure why until yesterday. Yesterday we saw a tiny white spot on her bottom gum and sure enough it is the beginnings of a tooth. We are hoping that just because it broke the skin doesn’t mean it is any rush to push through. Poor girl, babies don’t usually have to deal with that until somewhere around 6 months. I hope that it just stays a tiny white spot for a while. Cora is still a great eater and has continued to be a good sleeper. The best part about this stage is the ear-to-ear grins that take over her face and seems to stop the whole world.  I can’t believe Cora will be 7 weeks on Tuesday. As sad as I am the the time is flying by I can also start to see how everyone says that each stage will be my favorite stage.