Update: Happy Thanksgiving

HAPPY Thanksgiving from the New Family.

The Desolate Wilderness

And the Fair Land

EJ was dressed and ready for photos, unfortunately he soiled his outfit before Dad could get the picture. Check back after the outfit gets washed.

Update: Finally Dad got around to washing EJ's outfit and getting pictures.

 

Today's Lunch

Turkey and feta salad with vegetable soup.

Heidi went to excess with the black pepper.

The soup consists of celery, onion, and carrot veg with Better than Bouillon chicken base and gelatin. For seasoning, Dad used oregano, bay leaf, basil, and garlic. It is hearty and savory. Yay gelatin. Easy to make, wonderful to enjoy, and very healthy.

Try adding an acid to it like lemon juice. Mmmm.

Update: Cyberlink's Power Director

AS you may have read, Dad didn't enjoy editing video with WLMM. It had multiple issues that made editing a PITA. It was such a hassle, that Dad has yet to even tackle vacation video footage from 2010. It was all shot in full HD and WLMM just couldn't handle it.

So he downloaded and tried Power Director for free for thirty days. He liked it so well he bought it. It works great. It is fast and smooth on his 64 bit, dual core system with 4 GB of RAM. The interface is intuitive. He can control everything from audio to video and can even do things that are unavailable in WLLM like create chapters for a DVD. He gives it four out five stars. The final star is withheld only because the preview screen has issues. He has yet to investigate the problem, but sometimes he gets this

Bad preview screen

 instead of this

Good preview screen

So if you are in the market for powerful video editing software that can handle your large HD video files, you can shop for it here.

http://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdirector-ultra/features_en_US.html

There is a less expensive version that runs on 32 bit systems. You'll save about forty dollars, but it also has fewer features.

Update: Cyberlink's tech team helped Dad to solve the problem. He was directed to disable the graphics acceleration option from the preferences menu.Problem solved.

Aside, Dad failed to film the video in HD. There is not much of a qualitative difference on the small computer screen, but when he blows it up to 46" or whatever size is the TV, it looks really grainy. No amount of image enhancement can fix that. Next time it will be full HD.

Also, while editing video, creating menus, and just generally being creative with all of it is a lot of fun, rendering (producing) the final movie is not. On his system it takes about an hour to render every ten minutes of footage. Those of you with more CPUs and RAM will likely wait less time.

Snugaboo

MORE just missed smiles. Dad needs a better camera and is considering a DSLR. The ability to manually set it would eliminate the auto focus orange "laser" that fascinates them so much so, that their smiles turn to expressions of wonderment while the camera takes about a second to set itself.

Anyone with suggestions or recommendations please comment or e-mail. Perhaps a certain reader from Cincy OH has something to share?

"Missed it by that much." Agent Maxwell Smart.

Yeah, she is in her brother's sleep sack. How ever did you notice? But the blue matches her eyes.

Something New Everyday

AS Dad has pointed out time and again, every time he makes a declarative statement about the nature of his children, they take it as a challenge to prove him wrong.

EJ has never been a fan of swings. He tolerated them for a few minutes but ultimately had to be puled from them because he began crying. Well, yesterday he decided he liked it and had a twenty minute rock to sleep.

This went so well, Dad did it twice that day. Below are pictures of him sleeping.

Dreaming of piloting a spaceship.

Or maybe dreaming of slaying dragons.

Normally Dad would put him to bed, but given that that would mean disturbing him, Dad left him alone and simply stilled the swing. He slept for over an hour both times.

Liesel is still no fan, but she seems to be one to two weeks behind her brother. Perhaps she too will come to like it.

Dad spoke with Grandma this morning. She expressed concern about his being upright while sleeping. The detachable bouncer reclines about 60 degrees, so he is not entirely upright. The angle is close to that of his car seat in which he has napped before. Dad will nap them in their crib as often as he can, but cannot justify waking him to move him. Once aroused, the nap would end, and Boy Boy would become cranky all too soon.

Daddy's Team

WELCOME to the Pee Pee League.

Update: Buddy Too (EJ) is a southpaw.

THE evidence is in. Barring some late stage development, EJ is a leftie.

Dad has carefully watched him and has observed that he favors his left hand. The left hand glove is always the first to come off. His left hand is the one he uses to reach and grasp. When offered a toy, his left hand goes to explore it first.

Well, it could be worse. He could become a tax accountant.

Update: Bugaboo seems to favor her left hand as well, but not as strongly.

Check Out this Five Month Milestone!

BUDDY Too decided he is going to sit up on his own today!

"I'll sit on my own thanks!"

Dad had to put him down to attend to Bugaboo. When he came back, Buddy Too was just sitting up all on his own to look around.

Liesel Sings, EJ Coos

WHAT a great time in the New Family life.

Long post. Click the button below to continue.


The Twins are now old enough, and Dad experienced enough, that crying and screaming are minimized, and positive interactions are maximized.

They both now wake content and happy (as opposed to screaming for food, attention, diaper change, etc.). Liesel wakes and begins to entertain herself through softly singing that gradually increases in volume and if left unattended for too long transforms into crying. EJ does the same but instead coos to himself.

Their periods of wakefulness are generally about two hours in duration, during which they feed, have diaper changes, interact with Parents, each other, and their toys. Naps can be as short as 45 minutes or as long as two and one half hours, though recently Liesel set a record four hour nap.

From 10:00 a.m. 'til 2:00 p.m. Dad did not have a daughter.

Their nap duration variance bothers Dad. He'd prefer to see them nap two, wake two, and repeat. But, their schedules are slowly becoming more regular and routine, a necessary condition before venturing out and far away from the house for any period of time. In another month or so, Dad expects to see them nap on a regular and consistent schedule.

The kids imitate Mom and Dad. Liesel has begun to imitate Dad's "growl," a high pitch vibrating sound he makes in his throat. EJ carries on "conversations," quietly listening when Dad is talking and then "talking" himself when Dad stops. Both love to make eye contact and smile (if fleeting). Although when EJ smiles, he sometimes acts like he is embarrassed to be caught smiling so he turns his head away as if to hide it. Liesel smiles until she is distracted, usually by the sound the camera makes when it turns on. PITA.

EJ is now less dramatic when performing certain body functions. Before, everyone in the house knew when he was having a bowel movement. Now he is so private about his affairs, he occasionally surprises his Parent with his diaper's contents. There is not always a smelly forewarning.

They are both reaching and grabbing for things. EJ is learning cause and effect. They have an electronic toy that has lights and sounds that respond to button pushes. EJ is this close (fingers held really close together) to figuring out how to make the lights flash and music play by pushing the buttons. She has figured out that when she feeds from the bottle holder, she has to coordinate her head and body to stay in position in order to continue feeding.

So all is well and they are growing up fast.

Back to the New Family blog.

She Does Not Like This at All

OF course she would prefer for Dad to hold her and chase her head around while she feeds. But Dad wants to challenge and develop her gross motor skills.

Liesel feeds herself with help

When she gets on it, she does well. But her lack of coordination and fascination to see the world around her means that she gets off of it several times over the course of 4.5 oz. Dad will let her struggle to get back on it before interveening. Sometimes she gets it, sometimes not.

The tears and cries do pull at his heart strings. Such is life. There will be many more tears of frustration as she grows and develops.

When she is finished, she gets extra special huggy-lovey to soothe any anxiety built up during feeding.

Dad does this about once a day with her now. She is getting better. When she is hungry, she focuses on feeding and does really well. When she is not so hungry, this challenges much more.

EJ, unfortunately,  does not tolerate this at all and, so far, refuses to feed this way. He, however, is on solid foods twice a day while she isn't so sure that she likes the spoon.

Two Twins as different as night and day.

Liesel was in a Generous Mood

SHE shared more smiles with us.

Nap Time

EJ gets acquainted with his crib while Liesel plays in hers.

A prisoner in his own crib.

"I can reach and pull them off!"

Updated: Smiles!

RUTH M stopped by for lunch and snapped the photos.

Courtesy of Ruth M galleries

Courtesy of Ruth M galleries

Smiles are fleeting things. One needs a fast trigger (and a fast trigger finger).

We had pea soup which was made most excellently by accident. Dad pulled collagen out of the freezer believing it to be pork, but it turned out to be chicken. That brought a host of flavor hitherto unknown. He usually used chicken bouillon cubes, but the chicken collagen was much better.

Update: Ruth M asked if Dad used thyme. He did not, but is interested in studying its uses. He may do so and will report back in a future post.

Updated: I Do it Myself Mommy!

THE words that break every Mom's heart (but makes Dad feel glad).

EJ holds his own bottle.

This comes as a surprise to Dad since EJ has always been content to lay back, limbs completely relaxed, and be fed while conserving energy. Liesel has always been feisty, the one to "direct" the bottle, like a control freak, micromanaging every aspect of her feeding. She likes to hold her hands up to "help" with feeding. Dad thought she would be first to hold her own bottle.

Oh well, to borrow a phrase from a friend and twin mother, "He did it first. She did it right."

Update: Not to be outdone, just this morning (at 5:30 a.m. no one told these kids about daylight savings time) Liesel held her own, full, bottle while feeding for about a minute.

Election Season Match-up

OH, the political rhetoric is heating up this evening as we are just three days away from Election Eve. Tonight, the MacLaughing Group hosts the final debate between supporters of Governor Pizza and incumbent President Hotdog.

EJ; "I vote for Pizza!"

Votes for Pizza

Liesel; "I vote for Hotdog!"

Votes for Hotdog

EJ; "You can't vote for extreme-wing Hotdog, we need the centrist bipartisan Pizza!"

Liesel; "Pizza will take away your milk and substitute Tea!"

EJ; "We can't tolerate four more years of Hotdog!"

Liesel; “Hotdog inherited the mess Pizza people made. He needs another term to clean it up.”

Pizza party mess is a two term job

EJ; “ ‘Hotdog inherited’? Hotdog ran for the job! Ask yourself this, is there more food on your face today than there was four years ago?”

Liesel; “Like Vice President Bun said, ‘Under Hotdog, mustard is alive and ketchup is dead.’ Pizza has run negative attack ads against Hotdog. Do you want a leader that has to campaign negatively to scare voters into supporting him? Hotdog ran on the positive platform of 'Expect Change'."

Mustard alive, Ketchup dead. The true CHICAGO dog

EJ; " ‘Expect Change’ metastasized into more of the same, only worse. Pizza's experience and acumen will lead us to satisfied tummies!"

Liesel; “Governor Pizza supported Hotdog’s policies before he was against them; he flips faster than a hamburger on a hot grill.”

Governor Pizza flipped positions

EJ; “Pizza runs on his record, Hotdog runs from his record.”

Liesel; “Hotdog supports condiment choice. Pizza is against relish marriage.”

EJ; "Hotdog supporters are crazy."

Moonbats

Liesel; "Don't go ad hominem on me you greasy fingered Pizza lover!"

(In unison); "Daaaaad!"

New Family Dad; "You are both having bottles for lunch today."

New Family Dad; "And that concludes our roundtable discussion tonight. Join us next week when our guests debate the results of the election and the message each party should infer from it. "

The Wells' have New Posts

OUR friends have a bunch of new pictures and news posted on their blog. You can navigate there by clicking the button "The Well's" over there on the right under "My Blog List."

Welcome Back!

WE missed you. Since you've been absent be sure to see all of the content posted since your last visit. When you scroll to the bottom of the page, click the orange button "older posts" to catch up.

Thank you for stopping by.

And yes, this will be on the exam. No, it will not be open book, open note, or open neighbor.