Cole the Daredevil

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.