Letters

Working on some of his letters. He did get the 'M', just after the 30sec timer was up.

Hello

Big smile, mostly because he likes the camera.

Reading

Some time to read with mama.

Two Phone pics

This is the view from our end when Samuel gets phone calls.

Nevermind that the phone is upside down.

Bathtime x2

This was an extra sudsy bath.

Other bathtub pasttimes include pointing to the toilet saying "Paaaahhhteee. Paaahhhtee." and "na no", as in he's not supposed to touch it.

Tickling the Ivories

In a manner of speaking.

Phone call

Samuel loves my phone. He presses the buttons at random and puts it up to his ear and walks around.

Baby #2

This didn't scan as well as I wanted, but it looks ok as long as you don't zoom in all the way. Lower Left corner is 2D profile shot. The rest are 3D pics. Upper Right is the baby giving us a thumbs up. Bottom Left is sucking the thumb. These really are not scanned well. I'll have to redo them.

Sorry again

I know its been increasingly longer between posts and I admit that its getting old to have to post. On top of this, I just haven't been on the internet as much at home (more so at work) and since we connect through our phones, when I am online at home its sort of a pain (the connect isn't that great so it sometimes cuts out during the upload, especially of videos). And I haven't really come up with something (which could be as simple as a flash drive) that I carry with me to take pics to work to upload.

Excuses excuses.

The other thing is that, while he remains the best looking guy in the house, Samuel's milestones have started to space out a bit more. He's still walking - just farther now. He's still babbling - just more so. Etc.

When the new baby comes, the pictures will roll again I'm sure. Or if I start being a bit more intentional about bring pictures to work to post. Or if I get an iPhone.
Until then, sorry about the delays.

-Marcos

Happy Birthday!

Although Friday was the official day, we celebrated this past Sunday, letting Samuel indulge in chocolate cake for the first time. I must say he wasn't that interested, but did pose for a couple pictures before deciding that it just wasn't worth it if his hands had to be covered in all that sticky stuff.

He has been walking more so here's a video of that. He can actually go a lot farther than what's on the video, it just kinda depends on his mood. And what he's trying to get to.

A couple videos

To demonstrate where he is with standing/walking. Or at least where he was. These were taken back at Christmas (I said I was behind). He's actually taken a couple steps on his own, but nothing we've gotten on camera yet. Stay tuned.

Yea its been a while

We're back from our trip to Hudsonville. Marcos did a short rotation over there while we spend time with Grandma Irene. I'm way behind on posting, so here's a few.

Samuel received a rocking Giraffe for Christmas and enjoys going for a ride.

Samuel's first sledding experience - being pulled by Dad in the yard. He kept falling over when he was sitting up, so we found it it was better to go head first.

Samuel and Daddy hanging out at Grandma's house.

Ok I lied

I found some pictures on my mom's computer from her camera (before we turned off the annoying yellow date in the corner).  This is obviously taken on 12/29, when we had our Christmas present opening in Hudsonville.  Samuel had a good time.

Sorry

I know its been a long time between posts.  We're across the state right now and I don't have a great way to get pictures from my camera to my mom's computer.  Next week might get better.

Christmas

Merry Christmas - here are some pictures.


Sitting in his Christmas (Eve) Church clothes.


Opening a gift with Mama and Grandma.

After opening a gift from Grandma and Grandpa, he enjoyed playing on the box with Grandpa.

Pre-Christmas Pictures

Well it's almost Christmas and its been a while since I posted so here you go.

Yea, Christmas is almost here!


I was just about to send out some Christmas emails...

Why does daddy make me help with the vacuuming?

All these preparations really wear me out.

Also - please, someone vote in the sidebar and tell me which video you prefer if any. No one voted and it makes me feel unliked. I updated it today so the poll will last another week and it allows you to pick the video you like and the one you hate.

Clapping and Wow x3

I present for you a comparison of 3 different video uploading services: blogger's own service, Google Video, and YouTube. Ok its more for me than for you. But you can watch the videos. Samuel has started clapping and saying the word "wow," which is currently our favorite word that he says.

First up, Blogger. Convenient in that the uploader is contained within the blog posting form. Also automatically turns it into a podcast so that you can put our RSS feed(see sidebar) into iTunes and see our videos there.

Next up, Google Video. It's what I used to use.

Finally, YouTube. Perhaps the standard. I didn't like it until Google bought them, so I would now consider using them.

Any comments on the winner? As I compare to the original file, all of the uploads are darker. If you would like the original to compare, it is here (3.7mb).

UPDATE: Vote for your favorite on the sidebar!
UPDATEx2: Thanks to Karissa for pointing out that the YouTube video wasn't working. This site needs a better editor....

Christmas Proofs

I've added an album to my Picasa account with pictures taken by Matt Elasivich (who very kindly gave me access to the files). Matt does terrific work and if you need pictures for a wedding/senior picture/whatever, he's your man. Let me know and I can hook you up with him.

Samuel did well at the photo shoot. These are twelve of the best shots (of about 80 total).

The album can be found here.

Christmas Proofs

Video brightness verdict: Dark.

Dark apparently. Its interesting, as the videos are perfectly viewable before they are uploaded, and once I'm viewing them from the website, the brightness is noticeably less, even on our same computer. Kind of annoying really.

Don't know how I'll fix the problem. I'll start by offering up some more pictures of Samuel. In the next post.

And I'll stop making movies after 6pm.

Video brightness

So I've been posting videos for sometime, and using mainly our digital camera (not a video camera per say) because of how easy it is to go straight from camera to blog. The video is not perfect quality, but it mostly works. When I show other residents our blog and play a video for them, I generally do it from a computer at the hospital, and oftentimes the same computer, which I've known has a pretty poor quality monitor, resulting in most images looking very dark. Recently however I watched a movie I posted on someone's laptop and it also appeared dark?

I expect the videos not to be the best of brightness - they're usually indoors and in the evening when there is no more natural light to light the shot. But the videos look fine on my computer before they are uploaded.

So my question is: are the videos really dark? Please comment.

Weebles progression - 3

Having mastered the weebles, he returns to his first love: our camera. But only briefly.

Weebles progression - 2

Then he started pressing the button, too much. On and off.

Weebles progression - 1

When he got the concept of what the "orange button" was, at first he would only come up at touch it with one finger, not hard enough to start the toy.

Snow!

Swartz Creek received its first snow of the season in the early hours of Thanksgiving. Samuel hates the process of getting into his snow getup but seemed to enjoy being outside (per usual).

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving for us was at our house this year, with Grandparents on the Bira side, Grandma Irene, Aunt Karina, and Uncle Ryan in attendance. We had a gourmet turkey prepared by Hannah, which was wonderful. Samuel had pureed turkey with yams and cranberry sauce.

All smiles

Pretty much 24/7 smiles and good behavior over here. No whining ever.

Samurai

I promise to post some pictures from thanksgiving, and some in the snow, but until then, please enjoy this picture of Samuel in a purple headband.

You don't often see samurai with purple headbands, but you do see them.

GQ

Well, as close as he would get to a GQ pose in his leather jacket.

Another Hope sweatshirt

But can you have too many?

Samuel and Mommy

Samuel has taken to smiling after he sees the flash of a camera. So if you use the red eye reduction mode and take it just right, you can catch the squint.