Road Trip!

Hi

we are down in VA right now.

The baby is a road warrior. She slept the whole trip down. It was pretty awesome.

my mother in law needed a lift down to VA. and we wanted to visit before labor day.

I will be back in phila tomorrow.

So lately, eleanor has been getting a lot stronger. The baby journal says that around this time, the baby develops more neck strength and to try her out in different positions.

Well eleanor has had a strong neck for a while, and she did the roll over thing back on sunday morning.

If we put her on tummy time and tuck her hands underneath her chin, she just sits there looking around the room like a lion trying to seek out its next prey...


ok ok, maybe not exactly like a lion , but she's just up on her hands looking around.

If i nudge her a little to one direction she does roll over to one side. haha.
she does a little better rolling to the left see..


She doesnt always like it. but about 12 times of rolling over, and then propping back up and she doesnt cry.

It has truly been awesome being the father of eleanor. I am still a difficult person to live with, but i have been changed as a person.

hey!
any ideas for baby congestion.
her nostrils are so small we cant fit the aspirator.
but her boogeys are getting stacked up

Sam

A new hat

Hi,

yesterday while eleanor was wearing one of her shirts from korea, sora remembered that it came with a cute hat.

when she wears it , she looks like a little flower.
see...




she seemed to be ok with wearing the bonnet , so we kept it on. we had to go out and pickup my mother in law from the chinatown bus. Very cheap, very fast.

These days in the morning, i have been watching the baby, and letting sora sleep a little more. She usually sleeps a lot when she is with me, but still its not easy to figure out what she wants.

It seems that we have decided to give Eleanor as much love as possible. If we wakes up from sleep and whines a little we won't pick her up, but if she continues to cry a lot, then I will hold her and try and soothe her.

We are still working on the part to make sure she doesnt become a spoiled brat. I am exactly sure how that will work, but i assume its a good mixture of tough love and being strong.

I emailed a christian leader/author about possibly writing a parenting book. He jests that no one would ever invite him to a parenting conference to speak, but i think i would like to hear more about how he raised his children. When he shares his testimony about how his daughter thinks and lives, its amazing. He must have done something right.

I am getting my brain back on track, i am taking some classes this upcoming semester.
I am genuinely excited to learn again, but i have been reading a lot more than i ever have.

not much else to report. I think we are going to day trip down to Virginia to drop off my mother in law, and other stuff.

ttyl folks.

Sam
i will leave you with one more picture of my daughter


She has that, "what you talking about willis" look...

All Day with Auntie Susan (almost)

Hi,

We promised to take the youth group kids out this summer, and we decided while we have free baby sitting services A La Susan Chon (my sister), now is the time.

From about 9 pm until 4 pm, my sister watched the baby. she has her own blog about her experiences.

She took a lot of photos. Kind of repetitious, but she got some great shots.

Pudgie Happy Baby

Because her skull size is still a little small, in real life she doesnt look this large. She is still a small petite baby.
Here is a good tummy time shot


My dad, grandpa chon, was worried that the ambient light was too bright. So while eleanor was sleeping he put a little eyeshade. Looks strange, but somehow there is a loving thought in there.


The kiddopotamus swaddle me is one of the best things we have purchased.

But tell me this... if they make a size small, and size large, wouldnt you expect to find a size medium? Well i havent seen it.

Our baby loves it...


Eleanor is sleeping right now

As of 10:47 am, August 29th, 2006, eleanor is 49 days 17 hours and 45 minutes old.
I have a count up timer.
People ask how old is she...well you can get real specific with that. Timeleft.info


Ok, gtg
My mother in law is coming back to town for a couple days.

ttyl
Sam

Dad's bday / Mom back to Church

Hi,
this weekend we were really blessed. My mom was finally strong enough to come back to church with us.

God has really answered our prayers for her strength to come back. We are still praying for the 1 tumor in the lymph node area.

It was also the celebration of my dad's bday. He turned 66.


a plus to the whole gastrectomy thing is weight loss. My mom can now delve back into he old wardrobe. She is happy to be back at church fellowshipping with the members. Mom watched the baby while we were eating.

Pastor Yoon from korea was visiting his family. His 2 children still live and work in NJ. He sent us a ton of korean baby stuff. His wife loves shopping for baby clothes and other knick knacks.
Pastor yoon is like my dad's brother, so i guess i consider him like an uncle.

Here is mommy in church clothes. Eleanor stays with us during sunday school. Mommy is doing pretty good. I think she will need another month of recovery time to get back to 100%.

All in all we had a good day at church.

Sam

New bath Tub

Hi
Sorry about not posting on monday

Long, weekend. But we have lots to report

1. We got a Fisher Price Bathtub for eleanor, because she was outgrowing the 18 Qt, dishpan we were using.
2. We had been using this yellow sponge below her butt in the dish pan, but it was getting that dirty rag smell. We could never dry it out enough to eliminate that.

Very nice bath tub, can grow with your baby, until they can get in the real bath tub

here she is in her new tub


Features.
1. Hammock. For when the baby is still too small to sit upright on her own strength. it has small webbing straps that can be adjusted to weight and size of baby.
2. After 10 lbs, i dont think you need the hammock as much
3. Drain plug. useful feature

overflows can still occur.

What we do is use the showerhead dual setup. with showerhead and handheld spray. We stretch the spray over to the bathtub. The dual setup allows us to regulate the water flow to a gentle stream.

Shampooing the baby was most difficult before, but now its pretty easy.

Incorporating the bath into the baby's sleep routine is key, so an upgrade at bathtub was a must

Note: don't lose the drain plug. We received a hand me down bathtub, but we didnt have the plug. so thats going out for www.freecycle.org

Eleanor enjoys the new bath tub experience.
Its all about the human experience now!

Sam

Cool human tricks

Hi
This morning eleanor was being a little fussy before we left for church
So I took her out of her swaddle and laid her on the bed for some tummy time

I guess advanced motor function has advanced
She didn't want tummy time and leveraged her skull weight with a little help from the arms and rolled onto her back

She can't always do it
But she does roll over

She can't get back onto her tummy yet

We immediately grabbed the camera and captured a couple roll overs

Seven weeks and she is rolling over

Eleanor is only seven weeks

So cool!

sam

Easy web photo album builder

Hey

I found this software out thru my cousin Joseph Kim, in san jose calif. Madd props to their home high on hill there. my MTV crib dream home.

when you click on the photo album link at the right, you see a Xp type setup
i dont do code, i dont do java.

J album is an easy software to use. Free download.
if you carry your own web space. this is a great option

if you dont host, you can use
www.Dropshots.com
www.ofoto.com
www.shutterfly.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/flikr/

lots of other, but they all require a login.

Wegmans: digital 4 X6 prints 17 cents. Thats madd cheap. Kodak machines for the prints. Very nice.
Target : 4X6 20 cents

ok
ttyl
Sam

Look at me! Look at me!

Hi,
it seems that attention may be the pursuit or goal for most little people in this life. Sadly even for some adults it is their main pursuit.

My daughter: Eleanor has an uncanny ability to know when you are not paying full attention to her.

I hold her on my left shoulder, and try to do work, or chat on AOL im with friends.

No way, she starts to get fussy, or even whine a little. I calm her down and try to go back to the computer, again whine whine whine.

How does she know?

She must feel. She must know and sense things. Amazing to know that the baby is this little sponge absorbing and sucking in feelings and thoughts.

Yesterday we watched "Invincible" my sister offered to watch the baby.
Excellent movie, we are avid Eagles fans, but more just into feel good movies. Alot of the disney pics, we own.
We say, we gotta have that movie so when our kids grow up, they can learn this lesson, or learn about that.

Can you honestly say that a movie or DVD has profoundly affected you? Changed your point of view. Changed your life? I think for me, in my youth, i would have to sat "The Mission" with richard chamberlain and robert deniro. The understanding that i want to do something profound someday. The ideas that westernism isnt always the best. And somehow our hi tech ways corrupt rather than enrich.

Back to the movie. Excellent Disney Fare. No swearing, no sex. Just encouraging stuff. They took some creative liberties with the movie, but it was still excellent.

Haha, while my sister was watching the baby, she had eleanor in the baby bjorn. Eleanor kept on seeking all my sister's attention. She was trying to talk on the phone with her BF. But eleanor wasnt having that. haha.

Yesterday, Eleanor didnt sleep as well, as the other night, but still good enough.

I have decided to do a comprehensive baby monitor test. I will try out a couple different models of video monitor. The slingbox will be used for remote viewing for all models.

I will have fun testing the setups.

For now i am still using the 4 camera X10 setup, with slingbox for remote viewing.

Pics pics?
Baby and Mommy


ttyl
Sam

Be green

Well
I don't know about being greener
But cheaper

Sometimes I can take the broad street subway line from my house to the office

Today my dad is driving to the office to cleanout his old desk. We sold his building and he needs to get out. Hehe
He wanted to sell

I am going to ride to cherry hill with him after work

Sora is taking eleanor ahead of me to cherry hill.
Then we are to watch invincible

I had dreams of trying out for some sports team
Only dreams

Saving the environment and gas money
sam

New turtle hat

So,

Sora likes turtles

I like monkeys.

People get us turtle and monkey stuff.

Here is eleanor wearing a new turtle hat she got. I forgot who purchased this item for us.


nothing else to report at this time.
Bj's wholesale club excellent price on similac. large club pack size 36 oz = 27.99.
Also had a similac 5.00 coupon. thats pretty good. We have 2 more coupons to use.

Go to Similac Welcome Additions Club and register to get coupons and other stuff. I think a free sample kit comes in the mail.

Sam

Eight Hours baby!

I dont know what happened
or how it happened
but Eleanor slept 8 hours last night.

Diaper count - she is at diaper 288.
have to buy a new pack of 96 today

I thought she would have graduated to number 1 by now, but she is till at N.

The baby seems to have a little boogie congestion
her breathing sounds strained when she feeds from the bottle.

The nasal aspirator is too small to get in there...
any suggestions?

Sam

Lots of pics

Hi,
So all in all, i have taken about 241 pics with the new Sony DSCW100. I am very very happy with this purchase.

I wanted to see what baby foot tasted like... so

How does it taste? Like nothing. You'll have the same feeling when you have a baby of your own, how much you just want to bite your childrens toes.

So, some staged shots here.
Stern Daddy...

Happy Daddy...

Daddy on crystal meth!


I don't know what was up. I was just in a happy mood. Actually the baby was not in the best mood.

Today in the morning, because it was a little hotter outside we wanted to take eleanor out, but not with a long sleeve shirt. Our only concern was she would scratch herself. We purchased gay little no scratch mittens. They work for about 10 seconds.
Our solution. Baby socks. They are longer, more elastic. It looks odd, but really it works pretty good.


They really has a hard time getting them off.
I also noticed when she does scratch herself, the wounds heal really quick.

Baby acne is pretty much over. Even 1 week ago it looked pretty bad.

Check out my dad with the white tank top holding the baby. Sometimes its hard to catch the Reverend without his collar. But its more human, more real.


We also visited my Grandmother on my Dad's side today with the baby.
Eleanor is now the 4th generation from our family. Both are teethless. Its odd how we return to that state eventually. Helpless babies, to senior citizens who may need diapers too. I guess its somewhat of a circle of life. Not the new agey reincarnation version, but a circle the same.

Talk about some weird generational stuff. here is Eleanor's Aunt:

She's not even 3 years old, and she's an aunt! hehe.

The baby is making new noises. mainly thru the mouth, but new high pitched noises, some gurgling. its all very cute.

ttyl
Sam

My Baby Monitor Solution

Hi Friends.

So we initially tried the summer baby monitor. 900 mhz color handheld with infared night vision.
Problem neighbor was using same thing. They could see eleanor, we could see their baby.

Before I continue
If you use a 2.5 GHZ cordless phone, you will have to go to 5.8 GHZ or 900 MHZ. Currently because so many people have wireless internet also, 2.4 GHZ phones are jamming the channels.

I purchased my cameras and video stuff from this X10.com . They really made their name with annoying pop up ads. I think popup killers were created to kill x10 ads.

X10 technology uses the wiring in your house to send signals to turn on or turn off different components plugged into the house.

I use X10 to wireless control lights, ceiling fans, rope lights in my home theater. I have mini timer as well. The good thing about the mini timer is you can set lights to turn off and on in your house, but on random time. One day 6:05 turn on, then 5:59. Generally within 5 minutes of the actual time you want things turned on, but not exactly timed. So people "casing" your joint will see randomness.

ok. my setup
2 full color x10 cameras.
2. Black and white low light cameras.

These cameras are wireless signal back to the base, but still require ac power. the cameras all use 2.4 GHZ bands for send images back to base.

In my package, i added 4 PTZ Pan/tilt bases. These are controlled thru the X10 in house wired networking.

All the video gets picked up centrally in the middle of my house.
Thats the AV receiver. You can output signal to a TV with Coax, or AV Jacks.

I used Coax for the TV set to channel 3 or 4.
Then i used the AV jacks to send video and audio into the Slingbox. I already sang the praises of this awesome little internet gadget.

Why slingbox.
I can watch the in home video at my laptop downstairs, desktop upstairs, warehouse office, and even my windows enabled pocket PC phone.

Last night. We put the baby down to sleep , then went to the home theater to enjoy some alone time. We watched the baby from the video the whole time.

Pros: Video is pretty clean when you have everything setup right
Can pan/tilt cameras - if you by the upgrade.
can watch remotely

Cons:
Can have lots of 2.4 GHZ interference. If you have a large home... or your "central" base is not in the center of your home... you could run into problems
Cost: I spent about 600 bucks in total for this setup. about 3 times the cost of a simple baby monitor.

The X10 deal = $400 bucks
Slingbox $200

Currently slingbox is 150.

Also X10 do not buy anything until it goes on sale

Wait for the mega pack: 4 cameras, AV receiver etc etc. Also the ninja pan tilt bases.

Is it perfect?
no

But for what we need excellent.
I am blogging and watching the baby at the same time!

Any q's about X10? You have to like to fiddle with things to get the ins and outs of X10. but very cool when you get it all setup.

Aights.
A seperate post is coming for pics from yesterday and today.

Techo-Sam

Day 43

Hehe
not much to report. so i will just post pics of eleanor.



This is laying eleanor down in the boppy pillow for some tummy time.
She hasnt fully gained enough strength in her arms to hold herself up. but she is trying


you can even see a little of her face

She did get a little frustrated though. Last night i decided to make a new dish. I was watching Rachel Ray on food channel. She was making an asian glaze for chicken wing.

She made the astute distinction between just small wings, and real country wing.

Small wings: the mini drumstick, or two bone portion in seperates, that you eat like hot wings. Lots of work to eat, and sometimes not so satisfying.

Country Wings: Three section, with drumstick, two bone and the pointy part. In the ghetto, you always get these kinds.

Rachel Ray and the Chon family all choose this one for wings.
the recipe is quick and easy. When i cook, i find I dont taste the food much. Just eyeball it, and test it out. but this time, i needed to test the flavor out some with the glaze.

RECIPE LINK

Note: As stated in the show, you can skip the plum sauce, and use All Fruit - Apricot. Test things out. Also, you will be using a pan you stick in the over. Beware of heat. I burned myself 2 times.

To help with minor kitchen burns, keep aloe in the kitchen. OR Tattoo Goo. This is an excellent product. I dont use much on tattoo, but i do use it for burns. Stretch marks is a good place to use the product too.

So. Wings came out good
Also did brown rice in the stove. Use lots of water. simmer about 45 mins. And fluff with fork.

Speaking of food.
Did you hear in korea when people die of cancer. 25% of the time they die because of gastric cancer? They say its because of the red chile, salted/fermented foods, and fermented soy bean paste. Kimchee and DeonJang!
check out the link
the quotes in the story are crazy.

They dont want to cause a mass hysteria and decline of cabbage industry.
There is hope. Fresh veggies, tofu soy sauce, pan fry fish. NO BROILING. I LOVE BROILED FISH!

Fermented, salted, jerkied. bad.
Fresh good.

Good thing i dont really like kimchee. only with curry or ramen.
I do live deonjang though.

There are not a lot highlights of eating Spicy, salty foods anyhow. Diabetes is right there too.

Just get veggies off the vine and dig in. No spice, no salt.

haha

ttyl
Sam

Slingbox - a tool you can use

Hi,

i have been using Slingbox for a couple months now.

It is now $149.99 at amazon, thru J&R Music world.

This is a great price for an item that if you are doing lots of business or even want to make your baby monitor remote internet capable.

What do you do?
1. Setup slingbox to your internet router at home. (you have to setup UPNP on your router. slingbox has a neat page here to help with the setup)
2. Pick a video feed you want to input into your slingbox. You can use a tivo, digital cable box, video security system, baby monitor output.
3. Each Slingbox has a unique ID that gets stored in the slingmedia database. So you do not need a fixed IP address. Also you dont need to pay any monthly fees.
4. you can use a desktop in another room, desktop in another building, laptop.
5. My favorite feature. Windows Pocket PC phones, have a software module that can pickup live video feeds over GPRS EDGE network. If you have Tmobile, or Cingular or Sprint, you can get this feature.

I check my video cameras at the office over the phone. Very slick and useful.

if you been thinking i want slingbox but 200 buckaroos was too steep, then now is the time.

Ok, in the links section, Sam's Amazon Store. I have an amazon store setup for the items i feature in this blog. Check it out, browse. Buy if you like. If you want to buy something from amazon, and you want me to review the product comment on a post.
Sam

Family and Eleanor

Hi,
Yesterday, we took Sora to the Ob Gyn for her 6 week follow up. Eveyrthing looks good.

Some notes
1. the menstrual cycle will not be regular during breast feeding, but that doesnt me we cannot conceive another child during this time
2. there is a different birth control while breast feeding, so dont go back on your old one, get a new script. (maybe this is the doctor prescribing something new for us, because he got a free golf trip, or some bonus for trying something new)
3. if you dont have your period for 3 months, do a pregnancy test. Stranger things have happened.

In the curtis building where our doctor's office is 6th & Walnut. there is a beautiful mosaic. I think they call it the Parrish mosaic, done in tiffany style.

I wanted to take some pics of us.
Sora and Baby

The whole family taken with timer shot.


I never really liked mosaics before, but something i have a new appreciation for art. Can't have the same old pics of eleanor lying on a receiving blanket. gets a little passe'

We went over to my mom's house again yesterday. Spent some time with her, let her hold and be with eleanor.


Mom still looks a little tired, but she is improving everyday. We are praying with her, and doing our best to spend time with her. From the moment i learned of her cancer, i decided, NO REGRETS. NO Lost time.

Want to see a korean man's smile?

Cmon papi, show me some emotion, like you are happy to hold your cutie granddaughter.
Want to see a korean man's smile?

What is this? A DMV license photo? Joy, Happiness, Fulfillment!Better, but not good enough...(this is a turning of the tables for me, A WHAT? how about an A+?, Dad, they dont give A+'s in Carnegie Mellon, I paid 26 thousand dollars so you could skate on my by with just A's, no A Plus?) DO IT AGAIN!

Smile, there it is people. Kwang Chon smiling for the camera. No teeth, but that will have to do. (he has teeth, but doesnt know how to show them in a smile, its in there, but we have to yank it out of him. Lots more happy times to come.)

Here we are at target
one of my favorite places to go.


She is looking right at the camera like "yeah, we about to spend your money pops. You got a problem with that? talk to mommy"

This morning as i am posting, i am working with the sprinker model 3020 in the back. You try to figure out how to just water the lawn, but dont get the deck wet or other stuff. As i was doing that, i just stood in the spray and let myself get sprinkled. I remember the simple joy of just playing in the sprinkler. No pool, no robot vaccuuming for dirt, no water slide. Just kid and sprinkler cooling off on a hot august day.

It's the simple things that matter. The simple things that last. The complicated stuff is so convoluted and takes so long to tell the story, that by the time you tell the story, you forgot the punchline.

Enjoy some water ice or italian ice as they say in NYC. Enjoy a slice of orange, then make gorilla teeth out of the rind, and entertain your family. Jump into puddles just to jump into them. As long as its clean rain water. Do wheelie's with the baby stroller, and steer in a crooked fashion.

Do something for joy today, i think it will make like a little more enjoyable. String those moments together and it makes life worth living.

I wonder when i can take eleanor into the sprinklers with me... Maybe day 80 or 90....

Sam

Six Weeks

Six weeks
Eleanor is six weeks today
41 days old
I don't know what's supposed to have happened by this point

All I know is
We are all happy

sam

Emergency post!

hi,
I usually dont make such short posts, but this is an Eleanor Hae In Chon, first.

I was washing dishes after having dinner.
Sora says to me: "Honey, honey"
me: "What?"
Sora: "Eleanor just lifted up one leg and let out some gas"

She's not even 6 weeks (tomorrow) and she is executing advanced flatulation techniques. Show and tell, baby, show and tell.
I am a very proud poppa today.

Sam

Did someone say Ice Cream?

Can anyone say no to ice cream?
just so funny to see how the baby smiles still. I wonder if she knows she is smiling now. I used to say early on, babies dont know they are smiling. Well how about at 6 weeks? I say YES! She knows she is smiling. Especially when her daddy is making coconut ice cream. Low fat, no sugar version. We have a cuisinart ice cream maker. I used soy milk and i think it didnt work out right. I have to use lactaid milk next time. The flavor was good, perfect to complement my wife's oatmeal chocolate chip blondies. This is a dish best served warm.



Baby manicure. Eleanor, pick a color baby. Eleanor was scratching herself, especially in the cheek area, so sora found a good time with Eleanor was in food coma to file down the nails some. You know that they actually sell baby emery boards. Smaller, and same as adult emery boards, but way more expensive.

What's a better caption "Power to the People!" or "Ms. Chon shoots from the top of the key, SWISH, jump shot good, NY liberty up by 10"
Either are good.

Let's go phillies, lets go. 2.5 out of the wild card. On our AM walk, we took the stroller out. I am taking a shot right across from Citizens Bank Park. I will try and get a new picture in front of Lincoln Financial Field next.
As we went for the walk, eleanor was very good. We didnt stop much. She was getting drowsy and stuff, Bam, i get home. she wakes up. uncanny. I still love her though.

Woo hoo! We are going to church. She is excited. She has the cutest little tongue.

Changing pad on the knees is a good spot when you dont have space to change the baby. I learned this from Eugene & Helen Kim. So, no table, no worry. Changing pad on knees. Keep baby close , dont want her to slip off. Then change the diaper.

So, we have kind of chosen a baby monitor solution.

I am not exactly happy with it. I am tinkering with it a little more before i post a review or anything.

All in all good weekend.
ttyl folks

Sam

Goh-Moh the baby sitter

Hi
so yesterday, Me and Sora dropped eleanor at my parents house. We needed to do some things and could not take eleanor with us.

My sister said "Sure you can leave my favorite neice with me."

We went about our business and made a phone call. How is everything , is eleanor sleeping. She said yes.

All good right? Thats the easy part.

About 1 hour into it, eleanor started to get a little fussy. She would not sleep, she was crying without end.

Then i think my sister asked "What did i get myself into. how did this little cutie turn into human crying machine. "

She went thru the progressions.
1.hungry
2. poopie diaper? YES, a little skidmark poopie, but enough to irritate the buttocks of any child
have you ever seen a skidmark poopie? I mean besides in your own underwears...
3. ok back to hungry
4. swaddle
nothing is working eh?

baby bjorn time.

crying stopped, just a 9 lb baby strapped to your chest.

and as eleanor fell asleep somehow, i guess it was all worth it.

My sister really loves eleanor, and I am glad. When she has her own little munchkin, she will love her 10 x more than eleanor. Its going to be awesome, when I am a real uncle.

I am going to have to teach her children the laws of supply and demand, and ABC's as well. I will show them how to have a fully sustainable lemonade stand operation with marketing/sales/customer appreciation programs.

It was all good.
then i had a bison burger from fuddruckers. Pretty tasty , lean meat too.

Sam

Be a Photo Freak Like me!

Hi,

So after some serious evaluation, we decided that our Olympus Camera was not good enough to capture the splendor and joy of Eleanor Hae In Chon. You know when you say the first middle and last name, its important.

So after continuously envying my sister's sony cybershot. I decided to get one.

I decided on the Sony DSCW100. Why?

1. I like to get things fast. When you see the link for get it from J&R music world(On amazon you can actually choose which retailer you can buy certain items from), this option is really the fastest. Usually next day delivery. Within 5 hours of NYC. I was going to go to bestbuy and get it. I would have had it that night sure, but with tax and a bad price... i decided to be patient. Somewhat. If you live in NYC dont get it from J&R you pay tax, choose someone else outside of NY.

2. Currently there is a deal from J&R also. Rebate Link . For me i was kind of against sony because their memory sticks were always more expensive per MB than any other place. WELL. NOT ANYMORE . NOT right now until August 31st.

If you purchase the Sandisk Memory stick Pro DUO again, buy from J&R music world, the initial cost is 39.99. the Rebates add up to another $15.00 off. Who ever heard of 25 buckaroos kiddies for 1 GB of memory space? Thats a lot of pictures.

Just for reference at bestbuy that same memory stick is 60 bucks. So i got 2 of em. Why? One to leave in the camera with Sora, and one to take with me when i go out, and possibly stop by ritz camera or target.

I am going thru the process of building text links and PDF links for you my friends. No longer will you have photos like this
Why would you want the birds in focus and our little cutie red cheeked sleeping baby not in focus? Like the NS5 in I robot, they could not decide the greater good. (ok, that was a stretch)

Why have the carpet captured in fine detail? But my babies face all blurry? When you should have this?


The picture is clear enough to see what size my wife buys at motherhood maternity... Ok ok
Some of the bad pictures can be blamed on user error. But for the most part humans are not going to blame ourselves, when we know the machines should be fixing our mistakes. haha. We have vehicle stability control, so when you are gunning your SUV in the snow doing donuts the car will save you. Or if you are trying to test the G-forces on your Dodge Caravan, the car will shift power from the wheels that slip to the wheels that grip. We have spell check! We should have smarter digicams that smooth out our mistakes.

I highly recommend a Canon SD700 (Eleanor's aunt so young has this camera, She is very happy with it as well. I have yet to see any pictures from this camera, but it is sleek and nice) or Sony DSCW- Series.

1. Any of the W series: Cybershot DSCW30 $220 bucks
Cybershot DSCW50 - $250.00 bucks
Cybershot DSCW70 - $270 bucks (at J&R)
Cybershot DSCW100 - $320 bucks

The cameras vary in size of TFT screen and megapixels. We went with 8 megapixels because we want to have massive blowup posters of eleanor in the house someday. Also if you want to make clear 4x6 cropped shots from a wider shot 8 megapixels should do the trick.

Almost all of these cameras have same shooting menus and options. they have a learning mode with gives you more information. As you learn the functions of the camera you can turn them off. Low light shots are much better and not blurry.

This shot taken in dark room with no flash.
Its pretty good. To be able to snap a shot of your almost 6 week old baby smiling like that is priceless.

i hear so many parents say, i should have taken more pictures. Or my friends saying when i was growing up, I dont have many pictures. No more regrets and no more shoulda coulda woulda. Let's leave that to our philadelphia sports teams who continue to demoralize and steal the fans money by underperforming each year. I was not really old enough to remember the glory years of the early 80's. I can only imagine. The eagles loss to the patriots still lingers...

I am actually taking a "wall of jericho" approach this year. I walk around the novacare complex where the eagles practice and work out each day. Mainly prayer walking for serious stuff like my mom, my wife, my child, world hunger etc. But near the end i toss up a little prayer for the E-A-G-L-E-S.

ok back to my digicam dealio.

I am not an expert. but this guy is http://www.steves-digicams.com/. He reviews every new camera. I prefer his reviews to Cnet or epinions.

The next step is prosumer Digital SLR. But thats too bulky for me.

Also i realized, the pictures in the past couple days have been a little repetitious. So, I have to make a plan. today mommy and baby shots. Tomorrow, grandpa and baby shots. etc etc.

If not its all gonna look the same.

Ok friends, you are my friends right? you come and read about whats going on with my baby. And what whacko things i think about in terms of first time parenthood. Some of my "friends" have given great insights into how we can raise eleanor. thank you for that.

Digicams a great tool to capture pictures of life. but not the magic pill by any means. you need a Mini DV cam too. More on that later.

Sam

I can't WIN!

Hi,
This morning i took the baby from Sora so she could sleep a little.

1. At the suggestion of friends Sam & Michelle Park , Sora decided to swaddle Eleanor with arms tucked in last night. Its not easy keeping her active arms in , but it worked. Eleanor slept 6 hours. After feeding, bath time and shampooing. Seriously, her hair smelled. not like mens locker room BO, but baby BO. haha. (her poops dont smell so good anymore either)

2. I woke up with eleanor and brought her downstairs for some feeding/burping etc.

3. I tried to lay her down, but she didnt want any of that. And I was getting tired from holding her.



When a baby cries what do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?
1. See if she is hungry
2. see if she pooped or peed.
3. See if she will just accept a couple pats on the stomach (very weak, has never worked for me, but i still seem to try this tactice every time)
4. Pick her up
5. Try baby swing.
6. Try bouncer thing



7. Try Play gym thing.
8. PANIC? haha. yeah,
9. Baby Bjorn time. I find that when eleanor is feeling movement from my walking, she falls asleep

So this morning, i strapped eleanor into the baby bjorn and took a walk. for the whole 30 minutes she was fine. Sleeping mostly. then as soon as i put my key into the door to come home... she wakes up. Whats up with that?

I mean for me, i've had the uncanny ability to sleep thru anything, but when i knew it was nearing the end, i'd wake up. I hear "In Jesus name, Amen" boom wake up. When the credits of the DVD ending roll, BAM, I wake up. When i heard "I now pronounce you husband and wife" BAM wake up. (JK)

Now, my baby has inherited this gift it seems.

What to do?

Do my best I guess.

Baby bjorn will get a lot of miles. Lots.

Poppa Sam

Even after listening to what a doctor has to say...

Hi,
so lately, we have been dealing with eleanor's baby acne. Her cheek skin is crusty to the touch and pretty hard. When we put her to sleep or put her on for tummy time, she rubs her face a lot. Now she has started to peel a little. It seems that after the peeling, it will be better. But just to see your child have this facial peeling its bad. I feel concerned. All doctors and mothers who have had children with baby acne, and even much more serious cases of baby acne, have told us not to worry.



I went out and got the most mild form of neutrogena facial lotion. no perfume, no allergens i hope.

you hear all this advice, but you still worry.

I am still picking eleanor up whe she cries. I think she needs all the love and attention she can get right now. She sleeps at night which is the most important thing.

Right now, she only wakes up one time per night.

My dad, always asks about eleanor's acne. Is it ok? how is she doing.

I keep telling him not to worry.

then i worry myself. haha

She's fine

hyperchondriac parents gone wild!

thats what 24 hour Walgreens are for. To exploit me!


So for now... pics of the baby in the swing.

Sam

My baby, our baby, your baby?

Hi

Because of what is going on with my mom, we are trying to spend as much time as possible with her. But today was tough

Eleanor was unusually cranky and was crying a lot more than usual.

We are still trying to navigate and decide, when we should pick her up when she is crying, and when we shouldn’t. Today she got a lot of attention.
We did decide to try and give her as much contact and love as possible.

If she gets spoiled we will fix that. I hope.

My mom was concerned about the baby so much, that she told us to take the baby home and take care of her there.

So, we went home. I had to leave for 1.5 hours to go to an info session on some classes I am thinking about taking. Sora told me pretty much Eleanor was cranky and cried whenever she woke up.

She said “Your daughter was being a bad girl”.
Oh so, when she is be she’s my daughter, only?
When she’s cute, she our baby.
When she’s extra cute she’s our baby?

Eleanor will feel this vibe… Sora beware.

We will see what happens tonight. If she needs holding and stuff in the middle of the night, I have to wake up and do it. I do it with Joy.

Some cute pics of bath time.




Sam

Good night!

I dont know what she is smiling about. And honestly i dont care.
But she looks darn happy.

I love Sora
I love Eleanor

In the midst of things, i cant help but enjoy this part of fatherhood.

Sam