KerryAndGabe.com

I have had this video ready to post for almost a month now. I have been overwhelmed with managing videos of the kids. I get behind on photos every now and again, but then I can look at hundreds of them by browsing thumbnails and sort through them in a fairly efficient manner. Video is just so time consuming. I often have long clips with very little usable material. So, I was excited about having video and a way to edit it on my iPhone.

The following embedded video (click through to the post to see it) is my first movie shot and edited entirely on the iPhone. This was also my first HD movie upload, so be patient while it loads… And did I mention that I’m a really bad videographer?? I cannot seem to hold the camera still. It doesn’t help that my subject is moving all over the place.

It is nice to be able to put together a polished video anywhere anytime, but I don’t think that I would use iMovie very often for that purpose. It’s more likely that I would use it to make a very short video clip for sending to grandparents. I did this just before going to the beach with Gabe’s mom. I made a very short clip of Maddie telling Grandma that she loves her and is looking forward to going to the beach. It was nice to be able to splice together a few clips right there on the phone.

iMovie on the iPhone is very, very basic. I expected it to have a few more features, though it’s possible that some features exist and I just haven’t been able to find them. The biggest feature that I would like to see is the ability to split a clip for titling purposes. I was able to achieve multiple captions on a single take of video by importing the clip multiple times and splicing them together seamlessly. That was a bit of a pain.

I thought that the built in “titles” were a bit chunky for the way that I like to use them. I like to put little explanatory captions on the clips to say what the kids are doing or saying, like I did in the video I’ve included. The titles I used were the only ones that weren’t too big (thereby blocking too much of my cute daughter). As always, more themes to choose from would be nice. I feel the same way about iMovie on the Mac.

iMovie on the iPhone allows for importing of videos, photos, and music. Transitions can be added, and there is minimal control over this and all of the various features. Very simple captioning is allowed, but it was a bit of a pain to do what I did (adding multiple captions for one clip). Apparently captions are not possible for images.

I think that I will probably most likely use iMovie on the iPhone for trimming videos for emailing to Gabe or grandparents. I’m not sure how often that I will want to use it for creating a polished video, though that could be useful on vacations. It might be nice to have the videos already put together and polished so that I don’t have to take the time later to filter through all the clips.

iMovie for iPhone is a good start, but it needs more features. The ability to split clips and add simpler titles would be great. More themes (preferably ones that do not take up so much real estate) would be nice. The way that you do video clipping is nice, but it is a big of a pain when you know you want to clip out a large chunk. There might have been a shortcut to doing that, but it was not immediately obvious to me. It would be nice to be able to not just drag the ends of the movie clip but also to specify a start or end time as a shortcut.

Overall, I’m glad that I downloaded the app and look forward to future upgrades.

I’ve been trying to write down the funny things that Maddie has been saying. She has no problems communicating, and she often entertains us with the things that she comes up with! Here are a couple related to “going places.”

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Perhaps we’ve been taking too many trips lately.

Maddie: Daddy, we need to take this [toy] piano!
Daddy: Take it where, Maddie?
Maddie: To South America!

I’m not sure where she got this idea! We have never talked about going to South America (nor do we know anyone who has). I’m guessing she got it from her map studies at school (yes, they actually do study maps in her 2-year old class, believe it or not).

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She’s very into pushing her shopping cart around the living room. The other day, she said the following while pushing the cart.

Maddie: I’m going to go to Whole Foods.
me: What are you getting at Whole Foods?
Maddie: Um. Bunny Snacks. Ronis [pepperoni]. Beans. Breakfast bars. And some really nice cheese.

Something that makes me happy: Lazy Sundays with my family (though we did make some plans for after nap, so today isn’t totally lazy).

Something I’m thinking: I’ve lost over 40 pounds since January!!! Yes, I know that some of that was due to giving birth to Cullen, but I’m counting that in my numbers, thank you very much.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping that my grandpa gets well soon. He’s not been feeling well and is currently in the hospital.

Something happening around the house: Intermittent ants. I hope that isn’t a sign of what’s to come. We need to call the pest control people this week and put a stop to the parade before it’s a real problem.

Something I’m reading: I’m almost finished with Little Earthquakes for book club this week. I think I can finish it before Wednesday! I’m enjoying it. She’s really hit the nail on the head with various baby and child issues. Some parts have really made me laugh because they are all too true!

Something I’m watching: I don’t think we watched anything this week, aside from maybe an episode of Losing it with Jillian or Hell’s Kitchen. I want to see Inception, but I’m not sure when or how that is going to happen.

Something I’m playing: We wanted to play some games with friends on Friday evening, but the kids did not cooperate. Oh well, next time. We are still playing Words with Friends and started playing a boggle-type game (Scramble 2).

Something tasty: We had some tasty peaches from our produce box this week. I love the smell of ripe peaches! Yum! I tried pureeing some and putting them in pancake batter this morning, but I don’t think that it worked out too well. The pancakes were fine, but they didn’t taste very peachy.

Something Maddie is doing (29 months old): Thursday, we decided to say goodbye to the paci. She has been using it only at night and during naps for a while. We had wanted to take it away entirely a while ago, but she has had lots of major transitions this year. I should do a separate post about the paci.

Something Cullen is doing (26 weeks old): Cullen had a big week, too. He turned 6 months old – I can’t believe it! He also had his first taste of solid foods. We decided to skip the yucky rice cereal this time and go straight to banana. We might try cereal later once we have some fruits and veggies to mix into it. I’ll have to do a separate post about his first taste of solid foods.

Something I am struggling with: I’m struggling with the space on my hard drive. I’ve been taking more video clips lately on my iPhone and regular camera. They are taking up space, and I don’t have time to deal with them! I need to figure out a system or something.

Something I’m looking forward to: Dinner with friends, Cullen’s 6-month appointment, book club, and a fun-filled Saturday!

Something random: My friend Shannon says that Vermont is random.

Something captured: I think Cullen wants to crawl!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Wow. I thought time passed quickly with Maddie, but it’s just crazy now with the two kids. I can’t believe that my sweet baby boy is already 6 months old. He’ll be in college before I can blink. This must mean that it’s time for another letter to Cullen. (more…)

This is part two of our recent trip to the beach. I posted details and photos of Maddie’s experiences and now it’s time for Cullen’s story.

Cullen is almost 6 months old, so he’s at an age where it is pretty easy to take him places without complaint. As long as he’s fed, has had enough sleep, hasn’t been forced to spend too much time in the car, and has his mommy nearby, he’s a happy boy.

As I mentioned in Maddie’s post, we headed to the beach on Saturday morning. I was concerned about the kids getting too much sun. In addition to lathering them with sunscreen, we borrowed a cabana for some extra shade. Lugging the cabana, 3 adult chairs, a kid chair, a beach blanket, water bottles, snacks, sunscreen, 5 towels, cameras, and 2 small children to the beach was no small feat for 3 adults. In the end, it seemed like much more trouble than it was worth (especially considering that I got only a few decent photos, most of which were taken with my iPhone).

Once we figured out how to set up the cabana, some beach patrol dude came by to inform us that we were welcome to use the tent but that we needed to have it at waist height (um, whose waist?). It took some finagling to flatten it to the approved height. At this point, we’re already frustrated because the tent looks unusable and we realized that we had it backwards. So while Gabe and his mom turned the tent around, I managed to wrangle the two kiddos. The beach started out to be quite a bit of trouble.

The good news is that Cullen liked it! It’s rare for us to lay him down and then have him fall asleep, but that is precisely what he did. The comfort of the beach blanket on the sand plus the added darkening effect of the cabana shade and sunglasses only added to the lull of the waves. Add to all this a tired little boy and a pacifier, and you’ve got a recipe for a fabulous nap!

After he woke up from his nap, I was happy to have the privacy of the flattened tent so that I could feed him without exposing myself to the world. This was a big plus!

I tried to keep Cullen from the sand, but he still managed to get little bits of sand all over himself. It’s just impossible to avoid getting sticky bits of sand everywhere. I tried to keep him wholly on the blanket, but a little foot kept slipping onto the sand. Oh well, it eventually all washed off of him at the pool, and he didn’t seem to mind. I just didn’t think that his soft, sensitive baby skin needed any exfoliating.

Cullen enjoyed the pool in his newly borrowed suit and rasher guard. He looked adorable in his beach/pool digs. He gave us many smiles while we played in the kiddie pool.

Cullen was awake most of the time while Maddie took her marathon nap, but he was ready for a good nap by the time she woke up. Fortunately for him, we brought the Ergo and he comfortably was strapped to Mommy for the walk to dinner and slept throughout the majority of our dinner. I had to contort myself in weird positions to avoid dropping food on him, but it sure was nice to eat a meal without a wiggly baby trying to grab at everything.

He woke up and gave out smiles to other restaurant patrons and waiters. He spent a little bit of time outside of the carrier before it was time to take our stroll on the beach. Once again, he was comfortably strapped to Mommy.

He developed quite the attachment to Mommy this weekend. He certainly has preferred me in the past and even demanded me to hold him above all others, but he took his Mommy attachment to new levels. It’s very sweet, and I’m loving the extra cuddles and special smiles. I love how when I take him into my arms, he looks around and grins at anyone who will look at him and then buries his head into my shoulders. He’s clearly saying, “Look! I have my Mommy! I got what I wanted! My Mommy is the best! She’s right here, look! I got my Mommy, I got my Mommy!” It’s adorable.

Aside from refusing to sleep in the co-sleeper (which is a pain to pack up and tote on a trip) and a few rough moments in the car, Cullen had a great weekend. I’m not sure when he will be visiting the beach again, but I’d say it was a successful first trip for him!

Stay tuned for more posts about our beach weekend…

This is part one of our trip report from the beach trip this past weekend. I thought I’d do a post about Maddie’s experiences and then one about Cullen’s (which is likely to be much shorter). I’ll do a separate post about the aquarium.

Maddie’s first trip to the beach was over a year ago when we went to Bermuda. She did not care for it at all then. We thought that bringing a stroller on the beach was a bit crazy (but where else were we going to put it?). It ended up being a very good thing as all she wanted to do was ride in the stroller where she was nice and safe.

We had not visited the beach since that trip until this past weekend. Maddie talked about the beach quite a bit before we went. She seemed excited. We told her it was like a big sandbox and that we were going to build sandcastles. She talked all week about how she was going to go to the beach with Grandma. She was excited about her new water shoes. She couldn’t wait to try her new beach toys.

We lugged all the stuff out to the beach on Saturday morning, and she seemed to like it at first. She had fun building sandcastles. After a while, she wasn’t enjoying it. She was scared of the unpredictable waves that kept getting closer and closer. She did not like how the sand was everywhere and she couldn’t seem to brush it off. She firmly declared, “I don’t like the beach.” She was ready to leave.

We headed to the pool next, and she was so much happier. I was very disappointed with the photos that I was able to take. My good camera was all fogged up with the heat and humidity. I was upset about this! I wish I had gotten better pictures at the pool, too. Maddie was thrilled with the pool! She loved it so much. She said very clearly, “I don’t like the beach. I like the pool.” The kiddie pool was great. It was only about 18 inches deep and had all kinds of fountains and buckets dropping water and such.

After the beach, pool, and a casual poolside lunch, we headed back for a nap. She must have worn herself out with all the fun and sun because she slept for over 3 hours! When she woke up, she looked out the window and saw the beach. After a surprised gasp, she exclaimed, “There’s the beach I like!!!” She didn’t quite get that the beach that she saw from afar and the beach we visited earlier in the day were one and the same. Too funny.

We had promised she could go back to the pool after nap, but once she woke up it was time to go to dinner. Maddie ate a great dinner and was fascinated when the waiter prepared bananas foster table side. “Nanas in there! The nanas are on fire!”

After dinner, we took a nice stroll on the beach. That was wonderful! Maddie loved looking for shells. Since one of her favorite pastimes at school is to look for rocks (and often store them in her pockets), this was right up her alley. She had quite a collection of shells in her pockets! (Gabe said that he didn’t think this is what Rage Against the Machine was singing about).

Since we promised Maddie a trip back to the pool, we went to the pool after our stroll on the beach despite it being past her bedtime! Since we only had one full day at the resort (and a full day it was), we wanted to make the best of it. She was unsure about the pool at first, but after a while she was having a blast. I think she would have stayed there all night if we had let her.

I’m not sure we will be visiting the beach again in the near future, but overall we had a successful weekend! Stay tuned for Cullen’s post and a few notes about the aquarium visit on the next day!

Another weekend trip, another late Sunday Somethings. Oh well. Maybe I should just call them, “The Sometime Somethings?”

Something that makes me happy: Good photos.

Something I’m thinking: I don’t think I got many good photos from this past weekend’s beach trip.

Something I’m hoping: Shall I continue the theme? I hope that I am mistaken and I find some hidden gems on my cameras from the weekend.

Something happening around the house: The cleaners came on Friday, and then we went out of town for the weekend. You’d think that would mean our house would still be nice and clean, but you’d be wrong.

Something I’m reading: Um. I don’t know if I managed to read any of Little Earthquakes this week, but I probably read Snow White about 20 times.

Something I’m watching: More Supernatural. Some of the episodes really freak me out, like the Bloody Mary episode based on that bathroom mirror thing that little girls like to scare each other with at slumber parties. Yeah. Because of that legend, I have always been afraid of mirrors in the dark. That episode DID NOT HELP.

Something I’m playing: More Words with Friends. We got Gabe’s mom to join us this weekend.

Something tasty: Ooh, I had some apple pie at an actual restaurant that was completely dairy free. It’s rare to have a dairy free dessert!

Something Maddie is doing (28 months old): Maddie had a great time with her grandma this weekend. Her second trip to the beach went only slightly better than the first. She didn’t care for the waves or the sand. She did have a little fun building sandcastles before deciding she did not like “the beach.” She was very excited about the swimming pool and had a great time there. She also had fun looking for seashells on an evening stroll on the beach (as long as we were far from the water).

Something Cullen is doing (25 weeks old): Cullen had his first experience with the beach! He didn’t seem to mind it at all and thought that it was a fabulous place for a nap (in the shade of the cabana on the beach blanket). I think the sound of the waves lulled him to sleep. He has officially entered the Mommy stage. It’s really sweet, but it’s also demanding! At certain times, he wants to only be held by me, especially if he hears or sees (or smells) me. I remember Maddie when she was in this stage. I do love the cuddles and the fact that he loves me more than anybody else! It does feel pretty good to be so well loved.

Something I am struggling with: I struggled with taking photos this weekend. My SLR’s lenses kept fogging up and I was concerned that I was doing damage to my camera. I didn’t get the photos that I had hoped to get when we took our excursion to the beach. I was quite disappointed!

Something I learned: Wheat Thins no longer have high fructose corn syrup…well, at least some varieties of Wheat Thins. This is good news for us since we have been trying not to buy products with hfcs for a while.

Something I’m looking forward to: We have some dinners with friends and some pool time this week.

Something random: I think anyone who serves raw chicken in Hell’s Kitchen should automatically be sent home! Seriously!

Something captured: My awesome family on the beach after dinner on Saturday night.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Planning (and going on) vacations makes me happy!

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking about getting some of those new designer diapers from Pampers. I saw them in Target the other day, and I was tempted!

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping to take better photos of Cullen than I have been taking lately. I’ve been lazy and many days the only photo I have taken has been on the iPhone. The iPhone’s photos aren’t as good as the small camera (and definitely not as good as the SLR, obviously).

Something happening around the house: We had our friend Shannon watch the kids on Friday so that we could go to a dinner and a movie. It was strange being out of the house together without the kids. This was the first time since Cullen was born that we managed to do it. The next time will probably be for the Jack Johnson concert next month.

Something I’m reading: I started reading Little Earthquakes, the revised book club book for July. I don’t know if I will be able to finish it in time or not. I have plenty of time, theoretically. I just haven’t made much time for reading lately.

Something I’m watching: I was sad that Babies left the theaters before I could see it. Darn! Guess I will have to netflix it. I did manage to see Eclipse and Toy Story 3 in the theater. Wow, I can’t believe I saw two movies in one week! We also watched the first few episodes of Supernatural which is a bit creepy so far.

Something I’m playing: Gabe and I have been playing a lot of Words with Friends and iAssociate on our iPhones!

Something tasty: We had dinner at Lucky 32 Friday night for the first time in a while.

Something Maddie is doing (28 months old): She was doing great with potty training, but we had a couple of setbacks this weekend. Yesterday, she had a tiny accident while playing with a buddy. She wet herself a little and stopped herself and did the rest of the potty. But then after bath, she peed on the floor before getting her clothes on and announced happily that she had done so. Nice. She did the same thing again this morning, so I’m not sure what’s going on with her. We aren’t making a big deal of it and tell her that “peepee belongs in the potty.” Maybe she’s just trying to get attention. She had no other accidents this week, not even at night. I can’t believe how few nighttime accidents that we have had so far (only a couple in that first week). In other Maddie news, she continues to love singing songs. She loves her baby brother. She is very much into doing everything herself from climbing into her high chair or car seat to pouring her own drinks to dressing herself. She refuses to let us dress her and has to do it ALL by herself. She’s pretty good at it, but she’s not always the fastest dresser. Parenting a toddler takes a lot of patience!

Something Cullen is doing (24 weeks old): He started sleeping on his belly this week. I think that he’s more comfortable. He hasn’t miraculously slept through the night or anything, but I think we’ve been able to get him to sleep a little longer in the bassinet sometimes. Maybe. He still spends most of the night in the bed (NOT on his belly). Cullen gets compliments on his smile and his blue eyes everywhere he goes. He has a great smile. He’s so pleasant to be around (most of the time!). He loves his jumperoo. He seemed to be rolling over with more purpose this week. It seemed like he was rolling to reach things and for movement. He is good at spinning around on his belly when he’s playing on the floor. He explores everything by putting it in his mouth. He drools excessively. He’s wearing 9 month sized clothing (and has been for a little while). He’s getting close to being able to sit on his own.

Something I am struggling with: Keeping up with photos. Now that the first half of the year has passed, I had hoped to start on “volume 1″ of our photobook for 2010. I still need to organize quite a few photos from the first half of the year (including getting them on the website…I am still in April for those).

Something I learned: I learned that the front camera on my iPhone does not have as good resolution as the regular camera. Oh well, it’s still useful!

Something I’m looking forward to: Gabe’s mom is visiting soon, and we’re going to go to the beach for a couple days.

Something captured: My kiddos. They were both amused to see themselves on the iPhone while I took this photo with the front facing camera. Maddie had been singing “Where is Thumbkin” to Cullen, hence the sock puppets.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

I have been meaning to get these photos ready for posting on the website for a little while. We had another great session with Catherine Keene Photography. Let me know if you’re interested in doing a session with her in the fall. She’ll be coming back to do some more photos for Cullen. Click the photo to see the rest of the album. We are thinking about getting a large print of this one framed.

I really did write most of this on July 4th, but I didn’t have my “something captured” ready to post…and then we got back late yesterday, so I hadn’t had much of a chance to finish it up.

Something that makes me happy: Any quiet car ride makes me happy. These are becoming a little more common (though not quite common enough!).

Something I’m thinking: Happy Independence Day!

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping that my tick bite heals. It still looks yucky after a month.

Something happening around the house: Not much for several days since we were in the mountains.

Something I’m reading: I read a lot of princess stories to Maddie this week.

Something I’m watching: I think the only thing we watched this week was an episode of Hell’s Kitchen.

Something tasty: Vegetarian chili with lots of fresh veggies. Yum!

Something Maddie is doing (28 months old): Maddie’s doing great this week with her potty training. I think she just had one accident this week, and that was during the day when she was too busy at school to be bothered by a trip to the potty. She had no overnight accidents and did great when we spent over 3 hours in the car (twice!). She’s been singing a lot of songs this week. Her favorite song right now is, “Where is Thumbkin?” Since the music teacher at school puts on a sort of glove with finger puppets for the song, she MUST have a sock over her hand to perform it.

Something Cullen is doing (23 weeks old): He gave us a small break a few times this week by sleeping in the bassinet for an hour or two. It gave us hope, anyway. Cullen has been very interested in grabbing toys and drooling on everything. He seems to enjoy tummy time more and more. He’s quite strong! His eyes are as blue as ever! We’re starting to wonder if they will really stay blue. Maddie’s were blue until she was at least 8 months old, so we’re not holding our breath yet. He’s starting to roll a bit more and may even be rolling to get places. He’s rolling over in the bassinet, too, so we might have to start letting him sleep on his tummy.

Something I am struggling with: Aside from the usual sleep issues, I can’t think of any other struggles at the moment.

Something I’m looking forward to: Ooh, I’m going to sneak out to two movies this week, I hope…Toy Story 3 and Babies. I also hope to see Eclipse before too long!

Something random: Maddie rejected some blueberries from her snack the other day. When I asked what was wrong with those blueberries, she said, “there’s deer on them.”

Something captured: Our family on the 4th. Once again, I appreciated Scott taking some photos for us!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey