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Not a lot to say here, just watch the videos of Cora doing stuff…and the preceding captions for each…

Tiffany has been working with Cora doing different things…mostly mimic type stuff, but it’s fun to watch nonetheless…

Cora sometimes does this funny sounding laugh..it’s kinda like her courtesy laugh.

Here’s Cora using one of our chairs as a walker.

Sort of like a tiny little (much cuter) frankenstein, Cora has decided she’s ready to walk. Like any new walker, she is still working on her skills. Check out the video below…

This rocking chair has a history in Tiff’s family and we recently brought it up to our house for Cora to play with. One evening we put her in it and discovered she had figured out how to get it rocking on her own…little genius she is…see video below…

Today was another amazing weather day and just after Cora and I got back from lunch (after Church) this afternoon, we had some fun in the driveway with her favorite walker. There’s also a couple other recent photos thrown in as well!

“Just wait ’till she’s mobile” has been one of the most repeated phrases I’ve heard as we have journeyed through the (sometimes harrowing, yet always fun) initial stages of life as new parents. Well friends, she’s mobile, and it is both very cute and a bit scary at the same time…She now has the ability to get at all those things we’ve been able to keep at arms length…you know, plastic bags, glassware, knives…the basics. I suppose now we must bubble wrap, child-latch, lock up all things sharp, pointy or otherwise dangerous to babies. In any event, I was able to capture one of the very first successful attempts at this new development stage…the crawl…

Check out our YouTube Channel for more Cora related moving pictures.

I’ve got some photos that don’t necessarily have much to do with each other, but I’ll attempt to show/describe them with a bit of storytelling.

Picture #1 – I was playing around with my old video camera lens that sorta does a wide-angle effect and I found that it fits on my Nikon lenses…so I put it on and snapped this photo of Cora one day at home on her mat…

Picture #2 – Cora went to her first wedding (congrats to Rob & Liz!) and I snapped this pic during the reception outside of the Masonic Center in Toledo…

Picture #3 – Separated by almost 98 years. Cora saw her Great-Great Grandma for the second time for a 98th Birthday Celebration we recently had. Great-Great Grandma Treva currently has 3 Great-Great Grandchildren which is outstanding!

Ok, Take your tiny little baby, blow in his/her face, then dunk said tiny little baby under the water. What sort of reaction do you think you’ll receive for your efforts…Wonder no longer, just watch this video of Cora’s first swim.

Here’s a pic from the water fun.

and here’s the best of shot of Cora’s Hair so far…

Yesterday was a special race for a number of reasons. First, It was Father’s Day! My first Father’s Day since becoming…a Father. Secondly, it was Tiffany’s first race since Cora was born. Finally, it was Cora’s first Triathlon spectating experience. Quite a day indeed!

Let’s start the reporting off in reverse order of importance…Me first…

Being my second race of the year, and my first olympic distance, I felt as prepared as I could be given the lower training levels compared to last year. My wave was well after Tiffany’s as she is doing sprint distance this year, so I get to wait around a while until getting my piece of the melee that is triathlon beach starts. I can’t really say much about this race other than that I felt strong the whole way and didn’t overdo any one part. I was excited, however, that my average bike speed for the 24mi was 22.1 mph! The other exciting thing about the race is the photo above, where I actually look like I am running!

Now on to Tiffany’s comeback race!

She will probably say that she didn’t train nearly enough, which is possible, but given the outcome, I’d say she is doing just fine. With a 20.4 mph bike average and a 22:06 5K she took 1st place in her age group by a whopping 6 minutes and 3 seconds!

As far as Cora’s first spectating experience, I’d say that too was a success. Tiffany’s mom, [read: grandma] came with us and the two of them and friend Mike W. hung out together while watching us. Sadly, we have no photos of this as I forgot to pack a camera…I guess she will just have to start racing to get photos at these things…

Cora has now received her very own pair of sea legs during the first trip out on my parent’s boat. Not surprisingly, she was very content and even slept while the boat was moving (bumping and jostling is her favorite pastime). A side note: baby sunblock is very thick, it kinda turned her skin white for the next 30 mins or so…I guess you know it’s working if you can see it…On to the pictures…

There’s one toy that I’ve always loved for little kids, I have fond memories of this myself, and have spent hours watching little cousins and other tiny little people enjoy the simple yet thrilling device…”Johnny Jump Up” How could you not just love this thing and jealously want one for people way, way outside the 30lb. max weight…say like 180lbs. Well, I finally decided that it was time to assemble and test our very own johnny jump up with Cora. She is so small that we had to wrap a blanket around her so she could stay somewhat upright in it. Even still she is dwarfed by the size of it and barely keeps her head above the top…but she loved it! Spinning around, kicking her legs to almost represent a jumping movement…Remember she is only 2 1/2 mos. old. We tried to get some video of this momentous occasion, but alas, that didn’t turn out nearly as well as we had hoped. Here are some pretty decent photos of our fun time.

In other news: Cora rolled over from her back to her tummy 3 or 4 times last evening, and even ended up on her elbows in a pseudo crawling posture! Again, one of those moments that happened so fast we hadn’t even thought of getting the video cam out…

What’s the Goomba reference you ask? Well, for those that remember, a goomba is a small mushroom like character from Mario Bros. My first thought when I saw Cora in the Johnny Jump Up was that she looked just like a Goomba…large combination head/body and legs. It may be a bit of a stretch, but, I liked it and have started occasionally calling her “My Little Goomba” Click here for Goomba wikipedia article and here for a photo of a Goomba.

Last night Tiffany and I decided to try out the jog stroller with Cora. We picked a time that gave us the best odds of having a good run, and packed everything into the stroller, locked the car seat in and took off for the city park. Our thought was that we could run the 1/2 mile loop around the park and if we ran into any issues or crying we could run home quickly. Best laid plans, huh?

The first 10 minutes were well enough, Cora just looked back at us from her seat, so I snapped some pictures. Tiff took a turn pushing and I got some photos of her running along. Then came the first cries…followed by more cries which turned into a full-blown scream. We stopped and Tiff held her for a while until we thought she was asleep and continued on. She fussed until we got out of the park and onto a bumpy sidewalk…She fell fast asleep and we decided to go over to my folks house and back. All in all I call it a success, and we found that the key to success is bumpiness…Here’s some photos and a video of Tiff pushing the stroller and Cora’s face…

Every day brings with it a multitude of new experiences for Cora. Just staring at the ceiling fan is cause for great observation and contemplation. Her very own hands can be cause for great concern as they (from her perspective…i’m told) are an unidentified flailing object that is not only a nuisance, but a source of distress. At some point we all started experiencing our world in a similar way and haven’t stopped learning since. As a parent, I have the great opportunity of not only observing this process (9 mos from the beginning), but being a guiding participant in it.

On a lighter note, I’m led to believe that when a newborn smiles it is not because of some awesome joke or crazy face i’ve just made, but a reaction to excess gas making its way through her digestive system…