The Best Week Ever

Our first week home with Clara was wonderful. (Yes, we realize it has been almost 2 weeks, but we didn't have time to post until now. Also, the title "Best Week Ever" sounds alot better than "Best Two Weeks Ever.") The three of us spent it at home where Greg and Nicolle fell more in love with Clara and learned to take care of her. (The biggest lesson we learned was that just because the daiper was off, didn't mean she was finished pooping!) Here are some photos of Clara's "firsts." Meeting cousins Chloe and Luke

Meeting Grandma Alexandre

First Dr. visit

First bath

First 2am viewing of Sportscenter with Dad

We are afraid to say it, for fear of jinxing our good fortune, but for the most part Clara sleeps great at night- waking only once or twice for feedings and is easy to calm if she cries. We love her so much and are amazed by her every day.

The Weight and Date Winner and Answers

Congratulations to Natalie Dorrance for guessing the exact weight of Clara at 7 lbs and 2 oz. Kim Rapier also guessed that weight, but the tiebreaker was the date, and Natalie was closer at Jan 10th than Kim was with Jan 7th.

The overall results are as follows:

The winning prize is that Natalie gets to hold Clara, and get to see her husband hold a baby (under 1 year of age) for the first time.

At the other end of the scale, Natalie Harris, also gets a prize for guessing the furthest off on both the weight and the date. Natalie gets to be able to have a child with the same birth weight as her husband (around 10 lbs), and the child will also arrive with the same efficiency as her husband (about 2 weeks late).

Clara's reaction to the response from Nathalie Harris

Answers to the other questions:

Q. The dumbest thing that Greg will say:

A. While Greg didn't say many dumb things, the dumbest thing he did was eat beef jerky around Nicollle while she was in labor. (She hates the smell of it when not in labor)

Q. Meanest name Nicolle will call Greg:

A. Nicolle was very nice to Greg and did not call him any names, but if she would had, it would have been, A Cottonheaded Ninny Muggins. (Good job Chuck)

Q. What will Greg's first words be when Clara is born

A. "She is huge."

Clara's homecoming

We brought Clara home on Wednesday, Jan. 17th. Here she is modeling her "going home" outfit. (Just a bit too big!)

All bundeled up in her car seat...

It is great to have her home- she really belongs with us.

More delivery photos

We are to grateful to have had an awesome team to help with labor and delivery. It made our special day even more wonderful.

Suzanne Gardner (Nicolle's sister), an experienced Mom, was especially helpful cheering Nicolle through the final stages of labor.

Mary Topp, friend and wonderful labor and delivery nurse, came in on her day off to be our very own nurse.

Vicki Latham, our very favorite midwife, worked hard to help us avoid the need for birth by C-section.

Dad was a trooper the whole way through.

Our first reactions on seeing Clara: (Our feelings are indescribable) Nicolle cried (hard!) and Greg laughed continuosly for the first hour after the birth.

And, of course, the star of the day... Clara! This photo was taken just after her bath. She really enjoyed getting her hair washed... she already enjoys the type of pampering you get in a salon... uh oh!

Clara Hannah Sherwood

Born January 15th at 5:52pm

7 Lbs 2 ounces and 20 1/2 inches

Mother and Daughter are doing great

Clara's Birth Part 1

After almost a week of waiting we decided that we did not want to wait another week to be induced. We called the hospital and they had an appointment at 6am on Monday, January 15th.

When someone in Nicolle's condition is induced, it could take more than 2 days to have the baby. We went to our friend’s house and got about 4 days worth of DVD’s so we would not be bored while waiting for the baby to be delivered.

Clara at her young age has already figured out how to push her parents to the edge and then back off. At 2am Nicolle started having strong contractions. At 5:30am we were admitted to the hospital. The nurse has yet to see pain tolerance to equal Nicolle. At 10:30am, Nicolle was 8 cm and is able to rest because of the epidural. That is all for now.

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

No baby, yet. So far, she is only 2 days late, but my visit to the midwife yesterday wasn't promising. They have scheduled me to be induced beginning on Friday night, Jan. 19th if she doesn't come on her own before then. We are grateful for modern medicine, and know she'll arrive one way or another, but we would love for her to come naturally. Your prayers would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Nicolle, Greg, and baby Clara

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avEN_ZSUxk8

P.S. This is all Greg's fault (see below) :)
http://www.chennaionline.com/health/homearticles/2003/babylate.asp

The Baby Contest

For our next contest, we are going to give you all a chance to guess the birth weight and date of Clara Hannah Sherwood.

The nursery is ready.

In addition to the weight and date, there will be bonus points for the following questions:

What will Greg's first words be after Clara is born?

What is the worst name Nicolle will call Greg during labor(please remember this is a family blog)?

What is the dumbest thing that Greg will say in attempt to comfort Nicolle?

The winner will be posted when we have the baby.

(Here is a hint... her due date is January 8th.)

Our Bathroom Remodeling Project

For the last 2 months or so, our house has been a construction zone. We decided that our shower needed to be replaced. Maybe it was the fact that there was odd looking stuff in the corner, or maybe it was that we could lean on the wall and see it move. Whatever the reason was, we enlisted the help from a handyman friend of ours who built his own house. As you read this further, there needs to be some translation. First, when I say “help,” what I mean is that I watched and on rare occasions, fetched a screwdriver, and he did all the work. Do you want his number? JK

Before

Anyway, we got started with some destruction, and found that someone put up plywood when they should have put up concrete board. If you have no idea what I just said, once again, I will translate, “The people who did the bathroom before us really screwed up.” Look below.

After working a couple of nights each week and about 8 hours each Saturday, we were able to get the shower done.

When we poured the base

Throw in a simple job of tiling the bathroom floor as well, and what you get is the shower that 7 feet high, 4 feet wide, and 5 feet in length. Once again, translation: “It’s Ginormous.”

Thanks again to Pete, for all of his “help” and I can say that I even learned something. What I learned is that Pete is willing to work for Nicolle’s cooking.

Here are a few of the other pearls of wisdom that I learned:
“Measure 3 times, cut once”
“Spending 5 minutes to cover the carpet with a tarp saves an explanation to the Mrs.”
“Doris Palmer (Pete’s wife) is a very patient woman”

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We have had a wonderful, relaxing week. Greg's office closes between Christmas and New Year's, so we have been able to spend lots of time together. Good news!!! Greg finally finished our bathroom remodeling project (details following in a later blog).

In the meantime, we have attached some photos of our holiday festivities. These first two are from Thanksgiving in Roanoke (with Nicolle's family)- Thanksgiving dinner and a "turkey trot." Below is a photo of us at the Volvo Christmas party.

Because Baby Clara is due on only two weeks, we weren't able to travel for Christmas, so we spent it together in Greensboro. On Christmas Eve we had some friends over for dinner, (see photo). This photo is of Greg on Christmas morning opening his presents from Santa. We went to our good friends' (Trinity and Steve) house for Christmas dinner, and it was delicious. (After months of nausea, Nicolle is always excited to be able to eat good food... and keep it down!) We spent the rest of the evening convincing ourselves that Nicolle was going into labor, but no such luck. We'll have to wait until after Christmas for that present!

We hope you are all having a great holiday season!

The Christmas DJ

Thanks for your submissions. This was slightly more difficult than most to judge, because of the range of responses. The scoring was based on a 1 – 5 scale with 1 equaling a Clay Aiken rendition of “O Holy Night” and a 5 equaling the Boney M reggae mega hit “Mary’s Boy Child.”

Now for the winner ….

It is only fitting that the winner of Christmas DJ contest is a professional singer.

Nicolle had the highest number of points; she beat out Kari and Jefe for first by just 1 point. Maybe you two should have rethought your Transiberian menopause ideas; because I can tell you that they lost you the contest. That and the fact that throwing the Muppets into the mix is a sure way to get points with the judge.

The Runner up Prize #1 – Jefe: You get the first runner up prize because Boney M gets the extra half a point over Bruce, plus your Fararararah was a stroke of brilliance. Don’t you ever stop and think about the irony of a Jewish guy (Neil Diamond) singing Christmas songs?

The Runner up Prize #2 – Kari: You must have known that bringing in the Elf version of “Baby, its Cold Outside,” was going to get you a ton of points, however I find it strange that no one else thought of that. I am sure the 12 days of menopause are funny, but it has nothing to do with Christmas, the holidays, winter or even the winter solstice. In fact, don’t you get hot flashes during menopause?

The Bipolar Prize – Karen: You had some Highs and some lows, how could you think that Clay Aiken could sing “O Holy Night?” why don’t you just pick “Santa Baby” by Britney Spears? Come on. But then you come back with "Mary’s Boy Child" and "The 12 Things at Christmas that are Such a Pain." -Both Classics- What can I do?

The Brandon Banack award – Andrea: Brandon Banack was a guy who I played basketball with in High School. He started most every game our senior year. The only problem is that he wouldn’t play after the first quarter. Just like Brandon, your picks started out good, with BNL and The Beach Boys, but after those, you left me no choice but to bench you.


Thanks all for your comments; I will try to get one more contest done before Christmas so stay tuned.

Christmas Songs

In the 9th grade, my English teacher decided to show us a weeks worth of “Christmas” music videos. With respect to the time of year and to honor my 9th grade English teacher, I have decided that this week's contest will be to list the top Christmas songs along with the performer. The performer is very important because there is a big difference between “Baby it’s Cold Outside,” from the Elf soundtrack compared to the Nick and Jessica version, which made me want to vomit.

Here are my top 5

5. “It’s Christmas at Ground Zero” by Weird Al Yankovic
This song is great, because it plays on the cold war fears that most Americans had. What makes this a top five pick is the music video. In it, they play clips from 1950 films that teach you how to survive if a nuclear bomb goes off. It shows a young family on a picnic, and then a flash of light goes off. The family hides under the blanket, as if the Atomic bomb that just went off will not be able to penetrate the 50/50 poly cotton fibers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_CP3OKWGYE

4. ‘Christmas” by the Blues Traveler
This is a great tune that needs to be heard to know why it is so great. It is John Popper at his best. (He composed the song as well.)

3. “All I want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey
I am not a big Mariah Carey fan, but she does a great job in this song. There is an excitement that is contagious, and it gets even the Grinch (me) into a Christmas mood.

2. “Do they Know its Christmas Time” by Band Aid
Any Christmas song that can have Bono and Sting together needs to be near the top of any list

1. “O Holy Night” by Nicolle Alexandre Sherwood
If you have ever heard her sing this song, you will get chills just thinking about it.

Those are my top 5, Please rank yours. The judging with take place on Thursday December 21.

The Biggest Name Dropper is ???

In order to avoid any shouts of this contest being rigged, I opened up the judging to my coworkers. I asked if they had heard of any of the following people and if they had, a point was given. There is one LDS guy in my office, so that helped some of you. One of the biggest problems was when I said Gordon B Hinckley, a number of people said, “Isn’t that the guy that shot Reagan?”

After hearing from nine people, it is my conclusion that the following people are the most famous in the world:
George W Bush
Condoleezza Rice
Michael Jordan
and ….
Barry Williams

That is right, Greg Brady is as well known as Dub yah.

I have included the results per individual to determine the winner.




The Biggest Name Dropper is Jason Shin: I think you should have been penalized at least 4 points, because you not only broke rank, but you met 2 of your 3 at the same time. To quote Seinfeld “You Double Dipped”. So, I guess that means you are a double dippin name dropper. Congratulations.

A close second place is Kari: Kari, you were a riding high with Steve Covey and you would have hit a home run, (Just like the 335 home runs that Darryl Strawberry hit) if you would have shouted something to Darryl Strawberry as he passed you on US60, you could have been bumped up a point on how well you know the person. With your increase and the double dip penalty, you would have beaten Jason.

The Larry Bird Prize - Andrea: In 1979, Larry the Legend took his Indiana State to their only NCAA tournament, and they made it to the final game. Your names were much like that, because one guy got all the points.

The Head On Prize – Karen: Just like this annoying commercial, you were sucked into the lull of obnoxious marketing. Unfortunately no one knew who John Barr was, so “No Soup for You.”

The 2004 Lakers Prize – Koni: The 2004 Lakers had 4 Hall of Famer’s on their team, but they lost in the finals. Your picks looked to be at the top of the pack; however, they lost their steam. Also, like Kari, if you would have said something to Steve Young, you could have beaten Karen.

The Elite IMDB Photo Prize – Jason Steinmann: It should be noted that Ryne Sanborn was the only person, besides MJ & Bush, to have his picture on Internet Movie Database (IMDB). That is worth an additional 5 points.

Thanks for all that did this. It was fun to hear your stories. I will be posting our next contest on Monday Dec 18th.

Name Dropping

The Biggest and Best Name Dropper Contest

While riding home with Nicolle the other night, a song by Josh Turner came on the radio. (It goes without saying that Nicolle had control of the radio since I am not a fan of country music). While listening to this song, I came up with the idea for my next contest. (Nicolle went to college with Josh Turner, so whenever he is on the radio, I am reminded of that fact).

Disclaimer: Nicolle is not a name dropper and hates when I do it.

The contest is “Who are the 3 most famous people that you have met/know?” If you know the person on a more personal level, you get more points. To qualify that you have met the person, you need to have been within a few feet of the person. I don’t want to hear that you “met” Bono, when all you did was go to a U2 concert. Hearing U2 live was enough of a prize for you.

Here are my top 3:

3. Julius “Dr J.” Erving: When I was 13 years old, I went to the National Boy Scout Jamboree. Dr J was a guest speaker there, and I was able to give him a high five.




2. Brad Pitt: When I was 17 years old, while sitting in traffic with my brothers waiting to cross the golden gate bridge, I looked to my right and saw Brad Pitt in a Bentley next to me. As surprised as I was, he was mouthing something to me. “Your door is open,” he said. I followed his advice and closed my door. What a moment.


1. Bob Dole: While waiting in a security line at Dulles, I noticed a man walk by. I was just about to tell him not to cut in line, but first I noticed there was a policeman with him. It was Bob Dole- and I did get within a few feet of him-, so that counts right?


OK, I did not set the bar very high, but you get the point. Lets hear all of your acquaintances.

"How did I survive to be 21"

Thanks to all who submitted their responses and admitted to the crazy things they did, or heard of others doing. It has answered a lot of questions that I have always wondered about some of you, but never had the guts to ask. Unfortunately, too often when I was reading about what you had done, I would nod my head and remember doing that very thing.

And the winner of the ”How did I survive to be 21” contest is….

Chuck Knobel. Anyone that played with mercury is living on the edge. Between the second hand smoke and the mercury, I would assume you would look like this:

Enjoy your victory, you can go home and tell your wife that you need to be pampered because of the dangerous activities that were thrust upon you in your childhood. And if she ever asks why you did not do something you were asked, just blame the mercury.

Runner up prize – Suzanne aka “Ten Second Tom”, your paint chips comment was great. I could not proclaim you the winner, because you would not have remembered long enough to enjoy the victory. If it makes you feel any better, I will tell you that you won, because by the time you have reached here, you have forgotten about that Chuck guy.


The All too Real Prize – Andrea, I can tell you from personal experience how fast a wild fire can spread. No matter how hard you work, or how many times you carry a plastic garbage can filled with water to put the fire out, that fire will grow and only professional firefighters can put out a fire of that size. (The police removed that from my record when I turned 16)

Fear of Mom Prize – Kari, I understand that Kathy Sherwood has had nicknames such as “Sergeant Sherwood” and “General Sherwood”, but I never really felt as if serious danger could come from her. You may have wanted to combine some ideas together to make truly dangerous actions, maybe like standing up on the seat of the tractor as it went by the back kitchen window, and then trying to have it jump the pool. That would have really gotten you some points.

Terrell Davis Prize – Ron, You only offered one, but it was a great one. Just like that debates that surround Terrell Davis getting into the Football hall of fame... yes he had 3 great seasons, but he needed more.

The KG Prize – Andrew, When I hear the 15 foot Nerf hoop one, I just think about the Nike commercial when Kevin Garnett is standing on a platform diving board. KG is telling the people at his camp that they need to learn how to get air. He then has them alleyoopping 30 feet above the ground.

The World is full of Stupid People Prize – Jeff , You get this one, because it goes to show that when you get a bunch of boys together; regardless if it is Baghdad or Victor, NY, they will always try to jump their bikes into a pool. Your cow one was as Dad put it, “The best medicine we could get.”

The “I Hope you don’t bring me Flowers” Prize – Kris, I wonder about you. Most kids are scared of a cemetery; they don’t bring things home from them to display in the front yard.


Thanks to all who commented, my next contest will be posted on Wednesday Dec 13th.

The First IN-LIST Contest

Since I don't think that we can warrant a daily blog, I have decided to follow the example of one of my friends and post a contest every week or so and then declare who the winner is.

For the first IN-LIST Contest the topic is:
"The top three things that are now known as dangerous but we did not think so back in the day. "
Here are my top 3:

3. The Bomb. No, I am not talking about any weapon of mass destruction; I am referring to my family’s station wagon that for a period of time had a hole in the back passenger side floor. It was great, we could have a snowball fight and never leave the car.

2. Surfing in the back seat. When I would come home from church, it was a long 15 minute ride home. My brother, Rob and I decided that rather sitting quietly, we would see who could stand up in the back row of my family’s station wagon, it was a newer version of the bomb with lovely faux wood side panels. One time I almost made it home until my sister Koni, slammed on the brakes and I went flying into the row of seats ahead of me.

1.Scum Jumping. Scum Jumping (http://rocwiki.org/Lock_Jumping) is when someone would jump from a bridge or overpass into the Barge (Erie) canal, which in one of the dirtiest waterways known to man. I promised myself that I would never do this when I heard on the radio, a story about a guy who did this and when he went into the water, hit a carcass of a dead cow. It never was a temptation for me after that.


Please post your top 3 and I will post the winners in a few days

Baby Shower

This Weekend Nicolle had her baby shower and her mom and sisters (pictured... Nathalie, Suzanne and daughter Chloe, Mom, and Nicolle) came into town for it. It was fun for them to get together and celebrate the upcoming arrival of our baby Clara (yes, we finally chose a name). They played games, ate yummy food, opened gifts. Chloe, our niece, won a game for not saying the word "Baby", while catching others for saying it. I think that is why they don't invite men to showers, because they can be so competetive and there is little risk of a man saying "baby," so the men would have cleaned house. We got lots of cute outfits for the baby... Clara will be very well-dressed. It was a great time for all that were involved, thanks to Andrea Sweat, Trinity Martin and Heather Johnson for putting it on. They did a great job.