Sheward Family Updates

It's been a long time...

2011-03-10T15:10:00.006-05:00

But here we are again.

Cole turned 3 years old on February 16th! Here he is celebrating:

I can't believe how big he is and how smart he is. He's so much fun to have around! Just the other day, he told me, " Mommy, You look very nice." I replied, "Thank you." He then said, "You look very cute." To which I also replied, "Thank you." He then sneezed into his hand and looked up and said, "Mommy. Look at all my germs." He loves dinosaurs and tractors and Thomas the Train and Toy Story and tractors and Finding Nemo and tractors. Did I mention he loves tractors? He also recently looked out the window and said, "Look! A squirrel." (which he pronounces "swirl") Then he watched it for a while and looked back at us and said, "He is very cute.", with a big smile on his face. (That one's for Uncle Clint, who is constantly at open war with the squirrel population in Nappanee.)

Henry is growing so fast. He is a very happy baby. He loves his Daddy and always has a huge smile for him. He's sitting up on his own now. He's very laid back and has the ability to sleep anywhere. Including in the middle of a birthday party full of three year olds. He's holding his bottle on his own now and eating all sorts of baby food.

We're excited for spring and summer to get here. We plan on a lot of bike rides, walks, zoo outings and camping trips.

The boys get a long great (so far). Let's hope they stay that way the older they get. :-)

Happy Birthday Crystal!

2011-01-25T20:38:00.008-05:00

Crystal's 31st Birthday was last week. Cole really happens to be into birthdays right now, so we made a big deal out of it (for both Cole's and Crystal's benefit.)

Here's a photo of all of us wearing party hats.

Henry also ended up getting really excited. Here's a video of him getting in on the birthday action: (As always, in order to see the full video click on it to watch it on youtube, rather than directly on the blog. Not sure why that is.)

Stay classy, blog readers!

Gorillas and Bunnies

2010-11-03T10:07:00.005-04:00

Is it a gorilla? an orangutan? big foot? a monkey? alf? a sasquatch? a wookie? At any rate, it's CUTE!!! Cole was a gorilla for Halloween this year and although people who saw him had a hard time deciding what he was, they all agreed the costume was one of the best they'd seen.

He was able to get a lot of use out of his costume this year. In addition to trick or treating on Sunday night, we attended a 'trunk or treat' at a local church on Wednesday night and a costume birthday party at the Children's Museum on Saturday. Needless to say, we have A LOT of candy to help him eat.

Henry tagged along for the trick or treating in the stroller. He was dressed as a little blue bunny.

AW! So cute!

Well, we hope everyone is enjoying the fall! As always, more to come...

Chair Thief

2010-10-13T18:08:00.002-04:00

Last Christmas, Cole got a mini arm chair. We keep it in the living room and sometimes he sits in it to watch TV. I guess it's time for Cole to get used to sharing.

Just A Typical Evening at the Sheward House

2010-10-06T19:28:00.004-04:00

We don't have anything notable to report today. But, part of the intent of this blog is to allow those we love that are living far away from us to be able to watch our boys from a distance. This is just a typical evening at our house. But this "typical" is what gets me through each work day. This is what I love to come home to. (And I still haven't figured out why this happens, but the blog format cuts out part of the video. If you want to see the full scope of it, you'll need to click on the video so that it redirects you to youtube.)

Cole the Daredevil

2010-09-16T21:49:00.004-04:00

We have some very good friends who unexpectedly had their second child at 27 weeks. Luckily, little Sean is doing very well and tonight Crystal decided to go visit him in the NICU. Since no child visitors are allowed, the boys and I had a "He-man Woman Haters Club" night.

The definition of crazy: being the only adult taking a 5 week old and a 2 1/2 year old to Monkey Joe's, an inflatable heaven for children (and not so bad for dads either.) This visit was a little different for Cole, though. Previously, I've been able to play on the inflatables with Cole. But this time, since I was holding Henry the whole evening, Cole had to go it on his own.

I was surprised how well he did. Check him out.

I still think he likes it better when I get to play on the slides with him (or at least I do.) But this is just a little example of how you realize that your kid is getting older and more independent; he can careen down a two-story inflatable slide without you.

Cole's Rockin' to DMB

2010-09-09T20:20:00.001-04:00

So I guess Cole likes Dave Matthews, or at least he likes playing his guitar with DMB. We were watching the NFL Kickoff pregame, and this is what Cole started doing.

Happy Labor Day

2010-09-06T21:42:00.006-04:00

We spent Labor Day at home for the first time since we have been married. Normally we go camping with Crystal's extended family. This year, since Henry has just joined us, we stayed home.

Ours wasn't eventful, but it was relaxing.

Happy Labor Day, everyone.

(For some reason, this video is cutting off on the blog so you can't see Henry's face. If you want to see the full version of the video, double-click on it, and you can watch it on YouTube.)

And Cole making his first s'more:

Cole the Footballer

2010-09-04T20:17:00.004-04:00

So, I'm doing everything I can to teach (not brainwash) Cole to become a Browns fan, especially since we live in Colts country. I'm doing a pretty good job, as you can see, below:

Announcing the Birth of Henry Philip Sheward

2010-08-17T14:57:00.006-04:00

Henry was born on August 9th, 2010 at 1o:37 am. He was 20 1/2 inches long and weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces.

We are so blessed to have another healthy baby boy!

Here are the boys meeting each other for the first time. Cole gave Henry a hug and told us "Baby Cute!". He always wants to know where Henry is and gets worried about him when he cries.

We're so excited about the addition to our family and can't wait to experience all the joy Henry will bring to our lives!

OBX Vacation

2010-07-13T20:48:00.008-04:00

In June we went to North Carolina and Cole got to experience the beach for the very first time. True to form, Cole was hesitant at first, but by the end of the week, he was loving it.

We have documented just how much fun we had, to wit:

Cousin Kaitlyn must have seen something out in the ocean!

Sawyer and Cole, beware!

Cole was enthralled by the lifeguard's ATV

and was fortunate enough to score a photo op.

A family self-portrait on the beach.

The Shewards bid farewell to the OBX.

And for the Grande Finale, here is a video of Cole playing in the sand:

Goodnight

2010-04-26T19:58:00.006-04:00

Crystal and I each put Cole to bed about 50% of the time. We don't always alternate, but it ends up working out that way. We both have slightly different bedtime rituals, and somehow mine has evolved into singing Amazing Grace with Cole, normally at his request. Tonight, I decided to catch it on video because, well, it's so darn cute.

Please excuse the poor video quality. We did this by Cole's Harry Potter night light.

P.S. Bummer. I just watched the blog version of this video, and you can't really see anything at all. When you watch the original video you can actually see Cole singing along. At least you can listen.

And the piano, it sounds like a carnival...

2010-03-25T10:06:00.003-04:00

Cole really enjoys playing the piano and I thought I should get this on video in case he turns out to be a world renowned concert pianist someday. Of course, that would make him pretty busy along with being a star quarterback (or kicker, because it's less dangerous) for the Cleveland Browns (winning them their first Superbowl since... well, ever), a master celebrity chef with a show on the Food Network, and the President of the United States.

Just Toolin' Around

2010-03-06T18:49:00.004-05:00

Cole recently got a toolbox full of tools. He loves playing with it. The other night, Philip was taking apart our dining room table, to make room for our new one, and Cole wanted to help out. Here's how it went...

Good bye, old friend.

2010-01-24T14:54:00.004-05:00

There's no doubt that we haven't posted anything to the blog as of late. Neither Crystal nor I have been very good at updating lately. This entry won't be long.

This weekend we lost our dog, Allie. Crystal and I got her two months into our marriage; she's been with us the whole time. On Friday, Allie started showing signs of being very sick and she deteriorated quickly. The vet told us she had an auto-immune disease and that her body was attacking itself. There was no realistic way to save her. We had to say good bye to her on Saturday afternoon.

As funny as it sounds, she was part of our family. We'll miss her, and I know that there are others who will too. She was the greatest dog I've ever known. I don't know anyone who didn't like having her around. Before she came into our lives, I did not like dogs at all. For the last 7 years I've said that she turned me into a dog lover. She certainly made me love her.

We'll miss you, Allie. It won't be the same without you around. You were the best dog. I'm thankful for the 7 years we had with you. I know that we will never forget you. All you ever wanted was to make Crystal and me happy. You succeeded.

September

2009-10-08T16:49:00.003-04:00

The biggest change you'll notice in the above picture is Cole's new haircut. We went ahead and buzzed it. It was not easy to keep a screaming one year old still to do it but we did.We think it looks pretty cute, but we're biased.

We went camping over Labor Day as usual. In the above picture Cole is actually hooked up to Allie's rope. He didn't like it at all. It only lasted for about a minute. It was difficult trying to keep him in one place while camping. Here he is playing a game with Daddy.

We played a big group game of kickball and Cole was so excited to try and play with the big kids. He liked running around in the field.

Here's another picture of Cole at the zoo. He really likes the fish. I think it's all the bright colors.

Here he is with Daddy trying to touch a shark.

We went camping at the end of September with Brian and Rebecca and Harrison. These two were quite a handful. Here they are playing with our bike trailer. Definitely two boys to keep your eye on.

Cole passed some time while camping playing with the van tires. What can I say? He's a boy.

August

2009-10-08T14:35:00.004-04:00

In August Cole and I went to Gatlinburg, Tennessee for a week with Papa, Grandma, Uncle Trey, Riley, Uncle Clint and Aunt Kristy. We had a fun time but we missed Daddy. Cole even liked going to all the shows at Dollywood. He also rode all the way to a look out point on a ski lift with Mommy and Papa. Mommy was a little scared but he liked it.

We took a scenic mountain motor tour through the smokies one evening. Here's Cole walking out of an old homestead we stopped to see.

The Indiana State Fair was in August and Cole went two times. Here he is the first time, checking out the sheep.

Here he is making a break for it.

The second time he went, Nana and Papa and Kaitlyn were with us. He really like this calf. It licked his whole arm.

The biggest accomplishment of the month of August for me was that Cole stopped drooling constantly. His outfits are so much cuter when there isn't a bib covering them up!

July

2009-10-08T14:21:00.003-04:00

We spent the 4th of July at Brian and Rebecca's house. The boys were dressed almost identically with plaid pants/shorts and red shirts. Very cute. We went and watched some rainy and cold fireworks. Cole couldn't take his eyes off of them but he wouldn't let go of my hand either.

We have a membership to the Indianapolis Zoo so we're frequent visitors. Here are Cole and Philip on the bridge in the forest section. This summer Cole wanted to be on his feet a lot more than in the stroller.

One Saturday Cole and I went to the Indianapolis Art Museum and then went outside and ran around on the grounds. He really enjoyed being able to go as far as he wanted.

The month of July wouldn't have been complete without a visit to the Elkhart County 4H Fair. Cole and I went up and checked out all the animals and the food along with Grandma and Riley. It was a fun time.

Here he is getting ready to pet a horse. He wasn't afraid of anything.

June

2009-10-08T14:01:00.006-04:00

Seeing as how we've been very bad in keeping you all regularly updated about what we've been up to, I've decided to recap the past 4 months for you. I hope you enjoy seeing all the things that Cole's been doing and how he's been growing and changing. He's definitely led a busy and active summer.

Cole loves his books. He'll sit and read all alone but he loves when we read to him.

We were able to go out to Albany, NY for Philip's grandfather's 90th birthday. Cole got to meet his Aunt Alyssa and Grandma Lisa for the first time.

On the way home from Albany we stopped at Papa and Nana's house. Cole got to play with his cousins, Kaitlyn and Sawyer. He enjoyed getting out of the car for a little bit and playing.

Cole loves to swing. Here he is with his cousin, Riley on the swings at Papa and Grandma's house.

Cole was quite the little camper this summer. Here he is enjoying the first camping trip of the year.

Stay tuned for the July installment...

Been a long time...

2009-06-08T11:24:00.006-04:00

My apologies to those who check this blog on a regular basis. We've been lax in updating. In order to remedy that I am going to post a photo rundown of what Cole's been up to since the last post... Here goes... in 3...2...1

Opening his Easter basket before church. (The candy is for Mom and Dad.) :-)

Easter Outfit... Awwwww!!!

Just Looking Cute out in the back yard... (04/16/09)

Cole playing with legos. He LOVES legos and will sit and play with them for hours. (04/29/09)

First pony ride... (Indianapolis Zoo - 05/02/09)

Cole's been saying a lot more words lately, duck, da-da, ma-ma, dog and banana among them. He also knows a lot of sounds. He can moo like a cow, quack like a duck and make tractor noises. He also says Allie, which sounds like "Ah-yee". He likes "swimming" in the kiddy pool at our friend's house. It's about a foot and a half deep. He just likes to walk around and doesn't like help, which means when he reaches for a toy (that's on the bottom of the pool) he plunges face first into the water. It doesn't seem to phase him though. Just stand him back up and he's off again.

Stuff we have in common: Love of cheerios

2009-04-06T12:43:00.006-04:00

So, what do best friends that are a year or under do together? Well, let me show you...

We eat cheerios together.

We hang out at the zoo.

And more cheerios. Man do these boys like to eat!

All I wanna do is... Bicycle!

2009-04-06T12:29:00.004-04:00

Philip and I got bikes for each other for Christmas which, of course, meant that we needed some sort of apparatus to put Cole in so we could ride together. We got a little trailer to pull behind us and also a helmet for Cole to wear. He likes riding (and usually falls asleep) when we're moving. When we stop, he is not happy. Here he is in his helmet with Philip. The trailer is behind them.

On our first bike ride we went to the park, where Cole tried out the swings. He LOVED swinging!

(Notice the white knuckled grip he has on that swing!) I foresee many-a-trip to the park in our future.

And we're back... (Radio Flyer)

2009-04-06T12:20:00.004-04:00

Our computer has been down for the past several weeks and now we have it back up and running. This means that you will now be inundated with Sheward Family (a/k/a Cole) updates.

Cole got a red radio flyer wagon for his birthday from Grandpa and Grandma and a while ago it was warm enough to take it out for a spin. He loved it.

Allie only sat in the wagon for the photo op. According to the vet, she needs to loose her winter weight so she walked, plus the wagon would have freaked her out and she would have jumped ship anyway.

Then and Now

2009-02-16T20:43:00.005-05:00

It's about 8:40 p.m. on the night of February 16 and Crystal and I were just talking about how it was exactly one year ago that Cole was born. He was born at 8:20 p.m. last year, and I just thought I would post a picture of him in the hospital, and one taken this past weekend for comparison.

First, just after he was born a year ago:

And then, just this past weekend:

With all the talk lately about, "Change you can believe in", this is change that for me is hard to grasp. And I love it.

They Say It's Your Birthday

2009-02-15T16:04:00.018-05:00

Tomorrow Cole officially becomes a one year old, but we celebrated his birthday a couple of days early, and had a party for him on Saturday. Cole wanted to invite all of his friends and family and many of them were able to come. Here are some of the highlights.

Cole & Friends (from left to right): Lyla, Philip, Harrison, Cousin Riley, Cousin Sawyer, and Cole

Cole & Friends, Take 2 (from left to right): Philip, Lyla (being blocked by [Ben] her Dad's head), Cousin Riley, Cole, Cousin Sawyer, and Gracelyn

Cole was so happy that his friends could come to his party to help him celebrate turning one. He was disappointed that his friend Ellie couldn't make it, but her Dad, Scott, came and let Cole know that Ellie just didn't want to get him and all of his other friends sick, as she was feeling under the weather.

Cole was also so excited that his Grandma and Grandpa Cripe from Nappannee, (Crazy) Uncle Clint and Aunt Kristy, Uncle Trey (Cousin Riley's Dad), Aunt Danielle and Uncle Jim (Cousin Sawyer's parents) from Pennsylvania, and the Tierney family (especially Cousin Bradley) from Wakarusa came in too.

Cole received lots of very nice gifts, all of which he is thankful for. He is a little boy, so of course he loved getting presents.

Cole and his Mom, opening up a box of Legos (with the eager help of Cousin Riley)

And of course, what is a birthday party without cake? Cole told his Mom that he would rather have cupcakes than a big cake because he hasn't learned to use silverware yet, and you can eat cupcakes with your hands.

At first, Cole wasn't sure what to think about his cupcake, but it sure didn't take him long to warm up to the idea...

After cake, all of the kids were a little wired. The ones who could walk (read: run) were running all over the house, and the crawlers were doing everything they could to keep up. Let's just say that our dog, Allie, got a lot of exercise.

(From the top, clockwise): Cole, Philip, Cousin Riley, and Cousin Sawyer

So, after all the friends, all the presents, all the cake and all of the playing, I'm sure you can imagine how much fun Cole was having.

Uncle Brian, my Mommy and Daddy sure do know how to throw a party! I'm having SO MUCH FUN!!!

All in all, Cole seemed to enjoy the evening. It was a good way to end his first year, which to us, has been a year filled with joy. We can't believe how much he's grown. Thanks to you all for being part of our lives.

The Sheward family, happy and blessed.

Off to the Races!

2009-02-09T20:58:00.008-05:00

I spent this past weekend in New Orleans with my firm, so Crystal and Cole got a break from me for a couple of days. As it turns out, Cole decided to make the best of my time away. As my plane landed at the Memphis airport from New Orleans, my phone buzzed, letting me know that I had a voicemail. While I was in the air, Crystal called to tell me that Cole had taken his first steps.

I got home Sunday night at about 10:00 p.m., so Cole was already in bed when I got home, and I didn't get to see his new trick. Before I left for work, I asked him if he'd take a stroll for me, and he put on his walking boots. I didn't have time to video tape it all before I went into the office, so Crystal and I decided that we would record the milestone for you all this evening.

So, now that I've built up your anticipation, here he is, in all his walking glory. I have a feeling our lives are about to get a lot more...active.

My Eyes Are Really Blue

2009-01-24T23:09:00.003-05:00

2009-01-06T08:14:00.002-05:00

As I was sitting in my office today, dutifully doing what lawyers do, my cell phone made that chimey noise indicating a text message had just arrived. I checked the incoming message to find out that Crystal had just seen Cole stand on his own for the very first time. She said that she was holding him up and let go of him and that, though he didn't realize it at first, he was standing without anything to support him for approximately 10 seconds.

So, this evening, after I got home, we decided to try and get him to do it on video. As you'll soon see, it didn't go so well. But he's cute anyway, so I thought I'd still post the effort. Enjoy.

Been a long time...

2008-12-08T11:37:00.008-05:00

Sorry the posting's been a little light. We've been super busy lately. Here's a quick update and a few pictures to catch you up.

We spent Thanksgiving up in Nappanee and Cole really enjoyed seeing his cousin Riley. She loves playing with "Baby Cole".

Cole is getting very big and is pulling himself up and crawling and is very close to standing alone and walking.

(Don't you just love that little chubby face???)

Last weekend we went to the Irvington Business Christmas Open House and Cole got to see Santa. He didn't really have any idea what was going on. It was still a great photo opportunity.

(Is it just me or does Santa seem a bit intense?)

Anyway, that's all for now. Except this one last picture.

Crawling Cole

2008-11-05T18:03:00.005-05:00

Look out world. Here I come!

(Sorry the video is so blurry. My dad recorded it with his phone.)

Trick or Treat

2008-10-27T16:04:00.009-04:00

We took Cole to the Indianapolis Zoo's "Zoo Boo" this weekend. We enjoyed eating his candy. We also enjoyed seeing all the cute little babies in costumes. Cole was a lion and we like that the lion's mane is reminiscent of how Cole's hair stood straight up for the first five months of his life.

Apparently he was a little freaked out when we took him to face off with the real lion. But he's definitely the more cuddly of the two.

We had a great time! It's fun dressing up your kid before they have a say in what they wear. It's so much cuter being a cuddly lion than a power ranger.

When the frost is on the punkin

2008-10-20T15:17:00.004-04:00

Cole is now 8 months old. He's been hitting quite a few milestones. He has pushed two teeth through those bottom gums in the past week and also constantly repeats his first, and only, intelligible word: "Da-Da". He is not a master of the classic crawl yet but he maneuvers himself all over the living room by laying down and sitting up and rolling and sitting and somehow he's all of a sudden pulling on the cord of my laptop before I even notice he's there.

As Halloween approaches, Cole is gearing up to be a little lion. We've been trying to get him to learn to roar but it seems that he'll be the little lion that says dadadadadada. Our little lion will be helping us give out candy to trick or treaters on Halloween night and will also be making appearances at the Irvington Halloween Festival, my office, and the Indianapolis Zoo's "Zoo Boo".

Crawling... almost

2008-09-20T20:10:00.003-04:00

Cole is THIS CLOSE to crawling. He's got all the elements down. He's just got to learn to move himself forward. He's got crawling in place down, he's got sliding backwards down, he's even got some crazy yoga moves down. Just not the actual crawl. I'm thinking it'll be soon. He must be waiting until Grandma comes to visit the week after next to do it. At any rate, here's a little video of him doing everything but crawling. (No, there's no sound. I keep on getting little videos with my camera because I keep forgetting to plug in my video camera.)

Also, ten extra special bonus points to the person who can name all the proper names of the yoga poses he's doing in this video. Rebecca, my money's on you.

Be sure to check out our new slideshow on the left hand side of this page. It's a summer in review show. It includes pictures of the zoo, the Indiana State Fair, camping, swimming, Cole's first Cleveland Browns game and Cole just being cute.

A little off the top...

2008-08-13T12:27:00.003-04:00

Here's a video of Cole's first haircut. I did it with my camera, not the video camera, so that's why there's no sound.

Little of this... Little of that...

2008-08-12T10:07:00.011-04:00

Cole will be 6 months old this coming Saturday and has been doing a lot of new things. Here's a summary:

He's been sitting up pretty well now. Sometimes he falls over, more out of sheer boredom or tiredness than anything else.
He wants me to tell you that he doesn't NEED his boppy. It's just that when Mommy walks away to do things, it's better to fall over onto that than onto the floor or a hard toy.

I don't have a picture of this, but his goal is to get his mouth onto his hard toys and gnaw on them because his first tooth is attempting to poke through his gums. It's the bottom left one. He's not too fussy about it, which is nice but the amount of drool coming from his mouth is astronomical.

Here's a photo of him gnawing on a designated gnawing device.

You can't tell from this photo but the front of his shirt is completely soaked.

Cole has also begun eating vegetables and fruits. His face when you first put food other than bland cereal into his mouth is priceless. He looks supremely offended.

We have peas (this was his first food other than cereal) and sweet potatoes. Note the bright green color of the peas. Nope, you can't get that from jarred baby food. Only from the homemade stuff. I'm making all of Cole's baby food and so far it's gone really well. His palette currently includes green peas, crookneck squash (from my garden), sweet potato puree and bananas. We will be adding apple puree and pear puree this week.

In other ADORABLE news, Cole and his best friend Harrison are really warming up to one another. Proof of their undying friendship:

How cute are they in their little khaki cargo shorts? Also, Cole totally reached out to grab Harrison's hand all by himself. This is what sparked the photo op.

Until next time...

Lonely in Louisville

2008-07-28T12:09:00.008-04:00

There they are. My family. Very attractive bunch.

I'm getting ready to leave for 6 days to go to Louisville, Kentucky for work. First of all, I really wish I was heading to a more glamorous destination. The tourist highlight of my week will most likely be when I get to leave the hotel where our convention is being held to go to the Louisville Slugger Baseball Museum, which the fraternity I work for has rented out for an evening. Since I'm not a huge sports fan to begin with and I'm definitely not into baseball, I foresee yet another exciting evening where I will be mingling with older gentlemen and hearing about the "good ol' days" when they were in college.

Secondly, I'm really gonna miss my boys. I'll be working from 8:00 in the morning to 11:00 at night so the week's bound to go by fast but I'm sure I'll be pulling out this picture and looking at it all the time.

I'm fairly certain Cole will hit some amazing milestone while I'm gone. The First Word being the one I fear missing most. The ONLY way I'll forgive him for developing coherent speech while I'm gone is if his first word is Mama.

I know he'll be in great hands while I'm gone. Philip is a WONDERFUL dad. He knows how to do all the things that I do and then some and he'll take care of everything just fine. I'm more worried about him forgetting to water my flowers and vegetable garden than his ability to care for Cole. Plus, Cole's expecting visitors while I'm gone: Grandma and Cousin Riley and also Papa, Nana and Cousin Kaitlyn.

He'll have a great week. I just hope with all the fun he has, he'll remember who I am when I return. Because if he doesn't, I may just never want to leave again... unless the destination is anything other than Louisville, Kentucky and the companion for the trip is my husband and not my co-workers...

A New Feeling of Homesickness

2008-06-27T22:56:00.007-04:00

This past week was one of those long weeks. You know, when on Tuesday morning, you're thinking that it has got to be Friday already. One of the reasons why my week was this way was because I was out of town for work on Wednesday and Thursday. It was the first time I've had to be gone overnight since Cole was born.

I have never been one to be homesick. I've always enjoyed traveling, whether with others or by myself. I always look at it as a chance for adventure, whether the purpose of the trip is business or pleasure. But, this past Wednesday night I felt the odd feeling of homesickness for one of the first times in my life. I was only gone for one overnight. Afterall, South Bend is only a 3 hour drive away from Indianapolis.

But as I sat in the Fiddler's Hearth (an Irish Pub in South Bend--go figure) and watched a slew of amateur guitarists demonstrate their passion through six strings and a microphone, I couldn't help but realize just how much I missed being home with my wife and child. I found myself constantly pulling out my cell phone and looking at this picture on Flickr:

God truly has blessed me, and for that I thank Him each day. For me, going home to Crystal and Cole makes a long week seem wholly insignificant and totally worth it.

~Philip

Best Buds

2008-06-18T09:11:00.004-04:00

On Saturday, June 14th, 2008, Cole's best friend was born and he's been bugging me to let you all in on this news. So here it goes.

Weighing in at 8 lbs. 14 oz. with the longest fingers and toes ever is Harrison Dean Gapinski Coon. He's very cute and we stopped by the hospital so he and Cole could meet. Here they are:

You all should probably get used to Harrison because, as he is Cole's best friend, he'll probably be a frequent guest star in the Sheward Family Blog.

I know a lot of you are saying to yourselves, "What if they don't like each other?" Well, it's not really up to them at this point and so far we've gotten no complaints.

So, in closing, Congratulations Brian and Rebecca. Harrison's one great kid and we're proud to call him Cole's best friend.

My Name is Cole

2008-05-24T06:39:00.007-04:00

Hello everyone! Cole here. I'm 14 weeks old now.

I suck my thumb:Most of the time I look like this: With a lot of this thrown in:

But sometimes, now this is rare, I look like this:
(Mom: It's not THAT rare! Cole:Stop it Mom. This is MY blog entry.)
But MOST OF ALL I'm cool, very very cool, like this:

Well, until next time, I'll be keepin' it real.

Cole

Hats, hats and more hats...

2008-05-01T16:00:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago, my Aunt Sue and cousin, Jessica, came down to see Cole and while they were here I showed them his room and some of his clothes. Well, Jessie suggested to me that I should take pictures of Cole wearing all of the hats he has. As a master scrap-booker, she saw the potential for a great scrap book page. Now, I'm not into the creative memories thing yet, perhaps that will come, but I did follow the sage wisdom of my cousin and a few days ago, Cole and I had a photo shoot with the hats. He would start laughing and smiling every time I put a new hat on him. At any rate, here's the link to the slideshow. Grandmothers, fair warning, you're going to want to jump up and down he's so darn cute. Here's the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24017746@N08/sets/72157604828625770/show/

Side note: If a certain dog (ahem, Allie) leaves a different toy strategically placed on the steps every night and every night a certain new mom goes downstairs to make a bottle and almost trips and falls down the stairs and DIES, does it mean that a certain dog is trying to kill me? Any thoughts?

Cole Being Cute

2008-04-24T19:41:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone. We've been a little negligent when it comes to putting videos on here. I presume that ya'll like seeing photos, but videos just seem to be much cooler. The problem is actually taking the time to get the camera out. Downloading the video to the computer's not a big deal, but uploading them to YouTube seems to take forever!

Anyway, tonight Crystal, Cole and I were just hanging out in the living room, and Cole just started being really cute. I mean, we think he's always cute, but he was being cute enough that I thought I'd try and catch it on video to share with ya'll. By the way, if you're trying to remember how old he is, he'll be 10 weeks on Saturday.

In any regard, enjoy!

An Early Lesson for Cole

2008-04-10T17:48:00.013-04:00

Today I came home from work and explained to Cole this principle: "The public wants what the public wants." Cole looked at me as if he didn't understand the words that were coming out of my mouth. I looked at Crystal and said, "should I have explained that to him in French?"

So the reason I decided to bestow this wisdom upon my son was because I have heard from a number of concerned citizens as of late that the Sheward Family Blog has not been updated frequently enough. Of course Crystal and I recognize that Cole is the star of the show here, so I thought it would be appropriate to explain to him that he's going to have to get used to the papparazi. Especially since he's going to be the star quarterback of the Cleveland Browns in 2030.

So, in response to the numerous inquiries as to when the next blog posting would be, Cole and I sat down to type out this entry. Here's a picture of us in action:

Many of you have asked me whether we've gotten Cole rolling over on video yet. My deepest apologies, but we have not. Reason being is that my lazy butt still has not ripped all the video from the weekend Cole was born from the camera and saved it to our computer. So I've been procrastinating when it comes to getting stuff done with the camcorder. I'll try to get on it soon. I hope to make video entries more often, especially as Cole hits milestones like crawling, walking, and rocking out to Guitar Hero 3.

And, for all of you who are yearning for more pictures, you'll find them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24017746@N08/sets/72157604232202970/show/

I promise, we'll try to be more diligent with our blogging. Afterall, the public wants what the public wants!

Your child may be a genius if...

2008-03-20T11:13:00.002-04:00

at one month old he can:
a. recite the Periodic Table of Elements
b. speak fluent French
c. ROLL OVER!!!!!

Yes readers. Edwin Cole Sheward, at one month and 2 days of age, has rolled over. On March 18th, 2008, I placed Cole on his stomach in the Pac n' Play and when I looked down, he was on his back. Well, I figured this was a fluke. An anomaly. So I layed him down on his stomach on the floor where he proceeded to roll over onto his back... AGAIN! He did it another time or two and so I called Philip and told him and then decided to let The Wonder Child rest so he could do it when his father got home. Of course, when that happened, he would have none of the rolling over. Such a tease!

The next day, Cole rolled over again several times and was able to do it for Philip. Now, I don't want to brag, but I looked this up and kids aren't supposed to do this until they're like 4-7 months old.

While Cole can recite the Periodic Table of Elements and does speak French fluently, this rolling over thing is impressing the heck out of me.

For those of you who may be skeptical, I'll try to get this phenomenon on video and post it at a later date.

And then there were three...weeks.

2008-03-08T21:32:00.003-05:00

Well folks, we've managed to keep Cole alive and mostly happy for three weeks now. He's very good at being a baby... eating, sleeping, more sleeping, eating, etc. We're also getting the parenting thing down. I mean, we're not ready for the junior high years or anything but we feed him regularly and change him and such. He did ask where babies come from the other day and we've decided to go with the stork angle for now.

We've put new pictures up so you can check out how cute he is. We know, we know, we're pretty shameless about that.

Enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24017746@N08/sets/72157604072752666/show/

Cleaning the Kid

2008-03-03T17:57:00.015-05:00

Well, Cole is now into his third week with us and we thought we'd give those of you who care a glimpse into one of the only things that Cole gets to do other than eat, sleep and...well, poop. We decided to record giving him a bath because up to this point it has been slightly entertaining because of how much of a fuss he makes. That didn't prove to be very true this time. But, he's cute nonetheless (if we do say so ourselves) so we thought we'd share. Enjoy!

Some Pictures from Cole's First Week

2008-02-22T11:54:00.003-05:00

Here is a link to a Flickr Slideshow of some photos that we've taken of Cole during his first week (which actually doesn't officially end until tomorrow.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24017746@N08/sets/72157603954507976/show/

Things have been pretty smooth the first week. We've been adjusting to the new sleep patterns, but it's not burdensome at all when you realize why you're doing it. Cole's got some jaundice issues, but that's pretty normal and we're not really concerned. The "biliblanket" that they've put him on to fix the jaundice stuff actually makes him sleep pretty well.

Also, our pediatrician recommended that we integrate some formula into Cole's diet since the breast milk hasn't been so cooperative so far. He's been a little less finicky since we started that up.

Well, that's about all for now. Until next time.

Edwin Cole Sheward

2008-02-19T13:46:00.013-05:00

On February 16, 2008 at 8:20 p.m. we welcomed Cole into our family. Cole was 7lbs. 8oz. and 21" long at his time of birth. As you can see, he's got a head full of hair. It now looks like he's got light brown hair with blonde highlights. Kinda funny. His eyes are currently blue and we think they'll stay that way since both of his parents have blue eyes.I'm hoping to post some video for you all (don't worry, nothing graphic) but for now here are some photos from the weekend.

If you'd like to see a slideshow with some more photos, go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24017746@N08/sets/72157603941338578/show/

Thunder's Room!

2008-02-10T15:25:00.001-05:00

Alright, here is our first attempt at the whole video-blog thing. Please enjoy this pre-baby tour of Thunder's Room, soon to be completed by the arrival of our son.

Let there be a blog...

2008-02-08T12:15:00.001-05:00

So, I've decided that with the impending birth of our child, it would be a great idea to set up a blog where friends and family could check out photos of said child, possibly videos, etc. This is my first ever blog so bear with me as I figure all this out. I thought this would be a fabulous way for out of town kin to keep up on the "Life of Thunder"... coming soon to a hospital near Indianapolis. So, not much to read or see yet, since he's still inside the womb and all but soon my friends... very soon he shall make his debut to the world.

The only thing I can tell you for sure is that the little guy has chubby cheeks. How cute is that? Chubby Cheeks!