Video - Faith Meets Mari
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Monday, June 2, 2008
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Interesting info
According to YouTube, the Faith's birth video is getting viewed more than anything else by a longshot. So I thought I would post Mari's birth video next. Market research comes through! Anyway, sorry the music gets a little over-the-top towards the end. Keep in mind 2 things - 1) The music is from the finale of a 2-cd concept album, quasi-rock opera, so it had to be big. 2) I actually spliced it down by about 90 seconds, so it could have gone on longer. It's a good song, though.
Anyway, here's the vid.
Mari actually looked much like she looks now - Faith looked totally different as a baby.
If anyone wants to make any requests for what videos should get uploaded next, post a comment.
Matt
Anyway, here's the vid.
Mari actually looked much like she looks now - Faith looked totally different as a baby.
If anyone wants to make any requests for what videos should get uploaded next, post a comment.
Matt
Thursday, May 29, 2008
"It eats and eats...be careful of the ROB"
Last day of work.
It's a good time to revisit my philosophy on the whole "Teachers get the whole summer off" argument. I can't stand it when I see my fellow teacher friends desperately trying to justify to non-teachers why we deserve the whole summer off, how hard teaching is, how much work we really need to do in the summer, blah blah blah. So here's how I maturely handle it when someone makes some kind of derisive comment about getting summers off, and it's a response I highly recommend to all my fellow teachers:
"Nyaaa-nyaaa-nya-nyaaa-nyaaa!"
Live it up, fellow teachers - those infidels will have their revenge on us come August, but now it's time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Don't defend yourself, don't argue, you know how hard you work. Bask in the glow of the final day.
Well, enough of that. In other thoughts:
Robby swallowed the airhose. I swear he got a double-chin overnight. All of a sudden he's fat. He's Blobby. Hannah is developing cheeks as well, but Robby seriously exploded when we weren't looking. No worries...we all know how chubby Took was for a while. I don't think any of us doubt that Robby is going to be an active child. He's storing up.
And more seriously...
Am finally feeling like I can allow myself to look forward to a calmer time. Don't laugh. For me that mainly means a consistent enough bedtime routine that putting the twins down isn't like the sandbag scene at the beginning of "Raiders of the Lost Ark". It'll be 'calmer' when Steph and I can plan to watch TV or do something together when everyone's gone to bed and 1) we're not too exhausted to actually do it when the time comes, and 2) we aren't worried about being sabotaged by unexpected crying.
And I can feel that time coming. I can feel the progress, and I look forward to it. Steph and I are doing great, but there is a sort of shadow over the house, because it's an awful lot of seriousness taking care of these guys. Lightness will return.
Oh well, gotta run. More later. Maybe Steph will even post today...
Matt
It's a good time to revisit my philosophy on the whole "Teachers get the whole summer off" argument. I can't stand it when I see my fellow teacher friends desperately trying to justify to non-teachers why we deserve the whole summer off, how hard teaching is, how much work we really need to do in the summer, blah blah blah. So here's how I maturely handle it when someone makes some kind of derisive comment about getting summers off, and it's a response I highly recommend to all my fellow teachers:
"Nyaaa-nyaaa-nya-nyaaa-nyaaa!"
Live it up, fellow teachers - those infidels will have their revenge on us come August, but now it's time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Don't defend yourself, don't argue, you know how hard you work. Bask in the glow of the final day.
Well, enough of that. In other thoughts:
Robby swallowed the airhose. I swear he got a double-chin overnight. All of a sudden he's fat. He's Blobby. Hannah is developing cheeks as well, but Robby seriously exploded when we weren't looking. No worries...we all know how chubby Took was for a while. I don't think any of us doubt that Robby is going to be an active child. He's storing up.
And more seriously...
Am finally feeling like I can allow myself to look forward to a calmer time. Don't laugh. For me that mainly means a consistent enough bedtime routine that putting the twins down isn't like the sandbag scene at the beginning of "Raiders of the Lost Ark". It'll be 'calmer' when Steph and I can plan to watch TV or do something together when everyone's gone to bed and 1) we're not too exhausted to actually do it when the time comes, and 2) we aren't worried about being sabotaged by unexpected crying.
And I can feel that time coming. I can feel the progress, and I look forward to it. Steph and I are doing great, but there is a sort of shadow over the house, because it's an awful lot of seriousness taking care of these guys. Lightness will return.
Oh well, gotta run. More later. Maybe Steph will even post today...
Matt
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
News and an old vid
Two straight nights with a 4-hour inbetween feedings stretch. Woo hoo! AND, we had a successful first bottle feeding. Things continue to go well.
Also:
Added the drive up to Mackinaw video from 06. Couple of cute things about this one:
* Faith's first time she was old enough to remember staying in a hotel. She liked the fact that she got to sit and eat Cheerios in the room...so much in fact, that for about a year afterwards, she thought that eating Cheerios was just something that you did in a hotel, and every time we stayed in a hotel, she always asked if we could eat Cherrios.
* The birth of "Hide and Seek" - a bane of our lives to this day. Great idea, Steph.
* Faith randomly trying to pick up Mari in the hotel room. She'd never done that before and we both couldn't believe it. Funny thing was, Mari didn't mind so much being dropped. She only got upset when Faith left.
* Oh my goodness, look at the size of Mari's cheeks!!!
* Our condo was just great. The view out the back balcony of the Mackinac Bridge was just amazing.
Anyway, here's the vid:
More vids later. All is well in the present.
Matt
Also:
Added the drive up to Mackinaw video from 06. Couple of cute things about this one:
* Faith's first time she was old enough to remember staying in a hotel. She liked the fact that she got to sit and eat Cheerios in the room...so much in fact, that for about a year afterwards, she thought that eating Cheerios was just something that you did in a hotel, and every time we stayed in a hotel, she always asked if we could eat Cherrios.
* The birth of "Hide and Seek" - a bane of our lives to this day. Great idea, Steph.
* Faith randomly trying to pick up Mari in the hotel room. She'd never done that before and we both couldn't believe it. Funny thing was, Mari didn't mind so much being dropped. She only got upset when Faith left.
* Oh my goodness, look at the size of Mari's cheeks!!!
* Our condo was just great. The view out the back balcony of the Mackinac Bridge was just amazing.
Anyway, here's the vid:
More vids later. All is well in the present.
Matt
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
One day down, 3 to go
Work went okay today. I'm not going to sit here and say that it was good to be back, but it WAS good to see everybody. I always say, it's the second day back that's the toughest, so we'll see how tomorrow goes.
Aunt Margie came around tonight and I have to say, she's become a big fave of the girls - she lets them be totally insanely crazy, silly, and loud, and every now and then that's a good thing. And it allowed me to get some dishes done.
Gotta run, time to put the twins to bed.
More tomorrow!
Matt
Aunt Margie came around tonight and I have to say, she's become a big fave of the girls - she lets them be totally insanely crazy, silly, and loud, and every now and then that's a good thing. And it allowed me to get some dishes done.
Gotta run, time to put the twins to bed.
More tomorrow!
Matt
Monday, May 26, 2008
What new bother is this?
I'm not sure what movie that's from, but it's in my head...
Anyway, it references that tomorrow I have to go back to work. Really a weird feeling...I haven't been there since May 1...a lifetime ago. Haven't had more than 3 uninterrupted hours of sleep in two and a half weeks, and yet I'm going back to work.
And also, don't get me wrong, I'm not really complaining...it's the last week of school...I'm not exactly going to be pulling out all the stops here, but still, to exist on an actual schedule and above all, to be away from the family for an entire day is going to just feel really really strange.
But, it's only for 4 days, and then I plan to celebrate like it's the last day of school. Yeah, I will have only worked 5 days in May, but still. I think I've earned it.
Took some great pics today, the best of which is right here:
And that's the photo I'll be using at work when people ask for pictures.
Had a nice time at G and Z's today - nice gathering for the holiday with the extended friends and family. Planned on taking some pics but never ended up getting the cameras out. I can see already that this is going to be a major issue for us.
Added a few extra vids since last post - I'm trying to run in a sort of a cycle of adding a vid from the 07 trip, a vid of another trip, a vid of the 03 trip, and a general family event vid. So, having added Day 1 of the 07 trip a while back, I added Day 1 of the 03 trip. Wow, do Steph and I look different. Also added Faith's birth video - sort of the one that proved that videos with background music would become the primary means of recording family events and wasn't just a fluke with the giant 03 Road Trip movie. Some really bad audio splicing in this one, but it wasn't my fault - there was a frustrating glitch in the editing software I was using. No one cares but me if you can hear the cuts in the music anyway.
Anyhoo...I'm not taking the time today to post these vids directly to the blog. If you want to revisit old times, go ahead and click the YouTube link over there on the right.
God bless...
Anyway, it references that tomorrow I have to go back to work. Really a weird feeling...I haven't been there since May 1...a lifetime ago. Haven't had more than 3 uninterrupted hours of sleep in two and a half weeks, and yet I'm going back to work.
And also, don't get me wrong, I'm not really complaining...it's the last week of school...I'm not exactly going to be pulling out all the stops here, but still, to exist on an actual schedule and above all, to be away from the family for an entire day is going to just feel really really strange.
But, it's only for 4 days, and then I plan to celebrate like it's the last day of school. Yeah, I will have only worked 5 days in May, but still. I think I've earned it.
Took some great pics today, the best of which is right here:
And that's the photo I'll be using at work when people ask for pictures.
Had a nice time at G and Z's today - nice gathering for the holiday with the extended friends and family. Planned on taking some pics but never ended up getting the cameras out. I can see already that this is going to be a major issue for us.
Added a few extra vids since last post - I'm trying to run in a sort of a cycle of adding a vid from the 07 trip, a vid of another trip, a vid of the 03 trip, and a general family event vid. So, having added Day 1 of the 07 trip a while back, I added Day 1 of the 03 trip. Wow, do Steph and I look different. Also added Faith's birth video - sort of the one that proved that videos with background music would become the primary means of recording family events and wasn't just a fluke with the giant 03 Road Trip movie. Some really bad audio splicing in this one, but it wasn't my fault - there was a frustrating glitch in the editing software I was using. No one cares but me if you can hear the cuts in the music anyway.
Anyhoo...I'm not taking the time today to post these vids directly to the blog. If you want to revisit old times, go ahead and click the YouTube link over there on the right.
God bless...
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Something old, something new
A good day today.
I said to Steph about a half a week ago that I had turned a corner and that the current state of affairs in our life officially feels normal now. And I gotta say, I like my new life. It's fun. It's insane, but really not as trying as I had feared. My body is adjusting to the lack of sleep, the twins are wonderful sleepers for their age, Steph has pretty much mastered "Tandemonium", and things are going smoothly enough that I plan to return to work for the final week of school next week.
It's going well.
What to tell you, it's been a while...
Oh yeah, yesterday I missed the last step to the basement and fell down the last couple of steps, while carrying the twins. Somehow managed to position them just right in mid fall and they both were unharmed...really screwed up my ankle and knee, but they are already both reverting to near normal condition. Quite a scare, though.
Tonight we took Faith and Mari to a local elementary school with a cool playground and a big level parking lot so Faith could practice her pedaling on her new trike. She did a GREAT job - we'll have to film some next time, but she's really getting good at it - actually starting going so fast at one point that she made an unexpected hard left and tipped over...but got right back up with a minimum of fuss. We're both so proud of her - God bless her, she's so clumsy and comes by it honestly...so anything she can do that shows some kind of coordination is just enough to melt our hearts.
Added a couple of vids - one is the "Robby" video - didn't turn out exactly the way I had envisioned it, but you're stuck with the footage you get. Still pretty good. Also uploaded another oldie - The famous Lake Superior Picnic (and Tahquamenon Falls) from our Mackinaw trip in June of 2006. Have to say, this is one of the favorite videos I've made, and one of my favorite memories of our young family.
We drove up over the Mackinac Bridge to the UP to see Tahquamenon Falls (the second largest waterfalls east of the Mississipi) and to have a picnic somewhere close by. Well, the falls were nice, but the drive took a lot longer than we had planned. The kids were getting hungry, fussy, and miserable as we continued to drive through wooded nowhere knowing that the picnic spot I had read about was just a few miles up ahead. It's also important to know that Faith was so so excited about this...for months she had liked to play 'picnic' with us...which meant putting a blanket on the floor and putting things on it. She really didn't know exactly what a picnic really meant, so this was going to be her first REAL picnic, and she (and we) were really looking forward to making this special memory.
Well, we finally got there and it was just wonderful and peaceful as you can see in the video. Right on the shores of Lake Superior. And the girls were both wonderful. We sat there for probably over 2 hours, which with a 6 month old and a 2 year old is quite a feat. Faithy and I 'cleaned up the beach' (threw sticks in the water) and Mari sat happily on the blanket looking around. Faithy said while we were there, "This is a wonderful picnic." Such simple pleasures. Such wonderful memories. And of course, the Glen Phillips song which accompanies the video is in my opinion one of the most simply beautiful pieces of music ever written, and truly captures the spirit of the memory we created. I never tire of watching this video, and I hope you all enjoy it too.
Tomorrow we brave church for the first time...the gauntlet. We'll let you know how it goes. More tomorrow. Here are the vids:
Robby
Falls and Picnic
I said to Steph about a half a week ago that I had turned a corner and that the current state of affairs in our life officially feels normal now. And I gotta say, I like my new life. It's fun. It's insane, but really not as trying as I had feared. My body is adjusting to the lack of sleep, the twins are wonderful sleepers for their age, Steph has pretty much mastered "Tandemonium", and things are going smoothly enough that I plan to return to work for the final week of school next week.
It's going well.
What to tell you, it's been a while...
Oh yeah, yesterday I missed the last step to the basement and fell down the last couple of steps, while carrying the twins. Somehow managed to position them just right in mid fall and they both were unharmed...really screwed up my ankle and knee, but they are already both reverting to near normal condition. Quite a scare, though.
Tonight we took Faith and Mari to a local elementary school with a cool playground and a big level parking lot so Faith could practice her pedaling on her new trike. She did a GREAT job - we'll have to film some next time, but she's really getting good at it - actually starting going so fast at one point that she made an unexpected hard left and tipped over...but got right back up with a minimum of fuss. We're both so proud of her - God bless her, she's so clumsy and comes by it honestly...so anything she can do that shows some kind of coordination is just enough to melt our hearts.
Added a couple of vids - one is the "Robby" video - didn't turn out exactly the way I had envisioned it, but you're stuck with the footage you get. Still pretty good. Also uploaded another oldie - The famous Lake Superior Picnic (and Tahquamenon Falls) from our Mackinaw trip in June of 2006. Have to say, this is one of the favorite videos I've made, and one of my favorite memories of our young family.
We drove up over the Mackinac Bridge to the UP to see Tahquamenon Falls (the second largest waterfalls east of the Mississipi) and to have a picnic somewhere close by. Well, the falls were nice, but the drive took a lot longer than we had planned. The kids were getting hungry, fussy, and miserable as we continued to drive through wooded nowhere knowing that the picnic spot I had read about was just a few miles up ahead. It's also important to know that Faith was so so excited about this...for months she had liked to play 'picnic' with us...which meant putting a blanket on the floor and putting things on it. She really didn't know exactly what a picnic really meant, so this was going to be her first REAL picnic, and she (and we) were really looking forward to making this special memory.
Well, we finally got there and it was just wonderful and peaceful as you can see in the video. Right on the shores of Lake Superior. And the girls were both wonderful. We sat there for probably over 2 hours, which with a 6 month old and a 2 year old is quite a feat. Faithy and I 'cleaned up the beach' (threw sticks in the water) and Mari sat happily on the blanket looking around. Faithy said while we were there, "This is a wonderful picnic." Such simple pleasures. Such wonderful memories. And of course, the Glen Phillips song which accompanies the video is in my opinion one of the most simply beautiful pieces of music ever written, and truly captures the spirit of the memory we created. I never tire of watching this video, and I hope you all enjoy it too.
Tomorrow we brave church for the first time...the gauntlet. We'll let you know how it goes. More tomorrow. Here are the vids:
Robby
Falls and Picnic
Video Bar
Hey all, I added a "Video Bar" to the top of the page. As I upload new vids to YouTube they SHOULD appear up above for convenient viewing. I am also going to be working on uploading ALL the family videos (dating all the way back to the big 2003 road trip - pre kids!!!!) so you might see an odd old vid up there, too.
Of course, to view any vid at any time, go to YouTube, search "specfam" and select "channels" from the pulldown and it ought to lead you right to our "channel" with all the vids. Or, you could just go to the link directly:
www.youtube.com/user/specfam/
Hopefully I will upload and post more today. But not now, mornings are insane around here if we have to get anywhere by a certain time.
Of course, to view any vid at any time, go to YouTube, search "specfam" and select "channels" from the pulldown and it ought to lead you right to our "channel" with all the vids. Or, you could just go to the link directly:
www.youtube.com/user/specfam/
Hopefully I will upload and post more today. But not now, mornings are insane around here if we have to get anywhere by a certain time.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Muchos Cambios
Except for a 15 min crying jab at the very beginning of the night last night (which was easily squelched by a few minutes of rocking) from Robby, the twins slept through to each 3 hour feeding time -- granted, they are still waking up pretty much like clockwork to each 3 hr feeding time. But, it's sloooooowwwwly starting to stetch to 3 hrs (as opposed to 2 or 2 1/2) at night. AND...as my mom and I discussed, most IMPORTANTLY, they are going back to sleep after eating which is wonderful.
Big milestone today, though. I was able to get down on my hands and knees to pick up some stuff that had fallen under the kitchen table. This is HUGE for me. I really don't think I have been able to do that since probably last Christmas time. I remember back in early January of this year, when I was about halfway through the pregnancy, and I hosted a dinner for my pokeno group. It totally wiped me out and I could barely stand up at the end of it. It has been at least that long since I could stand for any longish time period. Also, today I was able to put my wedding band back on AND I have ankles now! It is SO nice to not feel 95 years old anymore!!!
Oh and Faith's last day of 3 yr old preschool was today. I can not believe it. She will start 4 yr old preschool in the Fall and MARI (my BABY) will start 2 yr old preschool! Enough, though. We have ALL summer to enjoy before that!
Tomorrow morning we haul all 6 of us out to have a photo session. This was a baby shower gift from my 3 WONDERFUL girlfriends BS, KL & AMW. I am excited about it but very nervous. Will the girls smile? Will they tear each other's hair out? Will they throw fits at being bored? Will the babies scream the whole time or open their eyes at all? And, will Matt and I cry? We shall see... I'm off to watch the season finale of Grey's Anatomy. Whoo hoo!
Steph
Big milestone today, though. I was able to get down on my hands and knees to pick up some stuff that had fallen under the kitchen table. This is HUGE for me. I really don't think I have been able to do that since probably last Christmas time. I remember back in early January of this year, when I was about halfway through the pregnancy, and I hosted a dinner for my pokeno group. It totally wiped me out and I could barely stand up at the end of it. It has been at least that long since I could stand for any longish time period. Also, today I was able to put my wedding band back on AND I have ankles now! It is SO nice to not feel 95 years old anymore!!!
Oh and Faith's last day of 3 yr old preschool was today. I can not believe it. She will start 4 yr old preschool in the Fall and MARI (my BABY) will start 2 yr old preschool! Enough, though. We have ALL summer to enjoy before that!
Tomorrow morning we haul all 6 of us out to have a photo session. This was a baby shower gift from my 3 WONDERFUL girlfriends BS, KL & AMW. I am excited about it but very nervous. Will the girls smile? Will they tear each other's hair out? Will they throw fits at being bored? Will the babies scream the whole time or open their eyes at all? And, will Matt and I cry? We shall see... I'm off to watch the season finale of Grey's Anatomy. Whoo hoo!
Steph
Another video
Faith and Mari meet the twins. I had forgotten all the cute things that Mari said when she came to the hospital.
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