Posts tagged with ‘Fiery’
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My Life Band
From February 08, 2010 @ 6:00 am
That’s my life band.
It’s actually hard to think about how long ago that was, considering all that’s happened in my life since then. Since I got the band, I’ve married, moved to Norristown, had 3 jobs, had one child and am now awaiting the birth of a second. It’s just crazy.
I was at the OneThing Conference in ‘04 when a man that I at the time hadn’t even heard of came on stage at the end of the conference. It was the first year that I’d been there when the conference wasn’t held in Bartle Hall and it had been, as usual, a complete whirlwind of a time. They pack so much information into those 4 days and your mind just ends up being blown by the end of it. When we had gotten there, we noticed this new organization that we hadn’t heard of before had a booth up. That organization was Bound4Life. It was headed, at the time, by a man name Lou Engle who my wife had heard of because of the famous 1999 Call D.C. (which apparently isn’t very famous on the web… here’s a clip from that day with Jesse Engle praying for the Nazirites) where 400,000 young people came to pray for the elections that year. Lou was like no one I’d ever seen. He spoke with such prophetic unction, shuckling in place and then stopping with his neck out like a huge overgrown turtle every time he’d made a point he really wanted you to get. His voice seemed to perpetually be lost, I assumed because of how passionately he spoke and cried out all the time.
What he spoke about that day was the massive outcry of blood that our nation has in its soil. 50 million babies have been aborted in our country since Roe vs. Wade. Despite the consistent claim that abortion rights are in place to protect the health of the mother, some estimate that over 95% of these children were murdered for reasons of inconvenience or unwantedness. I get these and other statistics from Bound4Life, a biased source no doubt but honestly, no one really disputes these claims. Lou Engle pronounced the urgent desperation of our position before God. We have legally sanctioned for over 30 years the unquestioned destruction of the most helpless and defenseless people group in the world: unborn children. And worse, we’ve done it in the name of choice.
God is not okay with that.
In response, he called for a massive prayer movement to begin in the United States and around the world to see abortion as an inalienable human right end, for adoption of children to be taken up in earnest by those rightfully responsible for it, the church, and for a great turning of the hearts of the Church towards mercy for those women who had received an abortion and who’s hearts were broken because of it. He wanted to encourage this by giving Life Bands to people and having those people commit to, whenever they saw that band, pray a simple 22 word prayer, “Jesus, I plead your blood over my sins and the sins of my nation. God, end abortion and send revival to America.” His hope and prayer was that that simple prayer would be prayed 50 million times every day to God.
And so I wore it ever since. I can’t say I’ve prayed that prayer every time I’ve seen the band; I can’t say I’ve been as active as I could have been in opposing abortion, in pursuing unwanted children, or in participating in acts of mercy towards hurting women who didn’t know what they were doing. But I haven’t forgotten Lou’s call, and I still tremble when I think of the guilt America is building as we daily sacrifice our children on the altar of our convenience.
And then the other day, after over 5 years of wearing it, my beautiful little girl woke me up by pulling on it and it snapped. We had another one that fit me but it just doesn’t feel the same. It’s kind of like the end of some sort of era. I was unmarried, childless, and young(er) when that thing went on my wrist for the first time. It snapped off after having remained there for all of the past 5 years and I’m not any of that any more. What a ride God has brought me on. And still, abortion runs free in America.
God is still not okay with this, and we will answer for our crimes. May he have mercy on us when that day comes.
So, in memoriam of my Life Band:
“Jesus, I plead your blood over my sins and the sins of my nation. God, end abortion and send revival to America.”
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DJ Baby
From December 25, 2009 @ 12:00 pm
This is the project that I did for my Illustrator class. While I’m not terribly proud of how the actual artwork came out, I’m fairly happy with how the screen cast ended up.
I used Telestream’s ScreenFlow which I bought by the end of this project. Compared to SnapzProX from Ambrosia Software, I was floored by this product. I was able to record both the video and the audio from my computer at full resolution on a 24″ Cinema display while playing Pandora and using Illustrator with no really noticeable slow down. And the fact that I could then do call outs for different elements of the screen including the mouse and the different windows as well as speeding up the larger video clips a dizzying amount (3,707%, thank you very much) blew me away. I’ve done much smaller screen captures of areas of the screen using SnapzPro and my computer has literally almost choked even at smaller frame rates. I don’t know what jujujuice they’re drinking, but I want some too.
Two complaints that I had are:
This may or may not be ScreenFlow’s fault, but while I had all of my peripherals connected (4 External Disks, 2 USB/Card Hubs, 24″ Cinema Display, Keyboard, Mouse, LaCie DVD Writer, Soundsticks), ScreenFlow couldn’t quite make it through the export of the full project. I could export samples but once I tried to do the whole project it consistently failed right near the end. I tried this multiple times with multiple encode settings. I eventually found that the only way I could make it work was to unplug all of my peripherals. I’m beginning to suspect that SanDisk’s godawful U3 Software has been to blame for an assorted list of stability issues I’ve been having of late, although another likely culprit is a recently tricked out edition of Quicksilver (enabling the stuff I did actually says that it’ll make it less stable…). Despite that, no other program was crashing like ScreenFlow was…
Despite the amazing job it did of allowing me to speed up the clips a ridiculous amount, the program did have a little bit of a melt down trying to do anything with them once they were sped up. I couldn’t copy and paste them anywhere. I couldn’t hear audio that was playing near them. I couldn’t get sections of them out. To do any of that I had to undo their speed change and then make whatever edits I wanted, and then redo the speed change and drop them back into place. A small price to pay for the functionality, but it would be useful for them to possibly experiment with what their upper bounds are for clip speedup.
To create the loop for the opening narration and to grab the last clip for the credits, I used that fantastic piece of open source software, Audacity. This software has just gotten better and better since I started using it ~2001. I’m not a power user of it by any stretch of the imagination, but for what I was trying to accomplish it did it and then got out of my way. This marks the first time I’ve tried to create a loop at all. I enjoyed it at least as much as I enjoy creating pictorial patterns. Trying to find the correct repeat point and then refining it little by little so that it sounds like it was recorded that way is a lot of fun.
I used Garage Band, of course, to record the opening narration. While I’m sure I could’ve used Audacity for that as well, I wanted the quick EQ settings and the easy ability to punch in on a track as I knew I’d be refining the opening quite a bit. I started out with roughly 5 minutes which was far too long and in the end I got it down to around 2:15. Garage Band is just nice to work with. Period.
That’s everything. Thanks again to La Blogotheque, Mogwai, and The Album Leaf. Click through to Vimeo to watch in HD. Recommended….
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Fiery is 10 months old!
From August 06, 2009 @ 1:15 pm
My little girl turned 10 months old today!
Her favorite things as of this point: opening and closing doors, books, and cabinets. Although she’ll eventually become curious as to what’s behind the door or in the cabinet, she might spend a good 10 minutes amusing herself by swinging wood on hinges.
She loves to dance. We discovered this when we pushed the yellow bell on Fiery’s fire engine that plays a hyped-up version of the “ABC’s” and Fiery immediately started to bounce her arms up and down like you would to a really phat hip-hop beat. Now she does that to almost any kind of music. Whether it’d be a commercial or a song in a movie, she’s dancing :-)
She’s developed a real liking for emptying books and DVD off shelves (before it was a DVD or two, now it’s the whole shelf). I also can’t seem to give her enough food. I’ve heard that at about a year old they slow down with how much they eat because their growth slows down and maybe I’ll be able to catch up with her intake then! She still remains skinny, oddly enough.
It’s been such a joy to see more and more of her personality. She’s stubborn, yet inquisitive, likes to be held, but will rarely, very rarely cuddle. She thinks talking into my breast is the funniest thing ever, but gets upset when that ends the session. She gets mad if I try and put a gate up to keep her in one room but she will happily play in one room for an hour. I could not love who I’m finding her to be any more.
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Fiery is 9 months!
I’ve been surprised how much she enjoys it when we read to her. I was reading “Where the Wild Things Are” to her yesterday and she actually was laughing at some of the parts. She can be totally cranky and soon as you say “do you want to read a book?” she perks up and looks over at the book shelf. She knows what “no” means. She will deliberately make noise to show me when she’s about to bite a cord, shake her potty (and yes, it does happen, and yes, pee goes every where… yuck). And then she teases me, grabbing the cord, I say “no..” she drops it, grabs it again, I say “no Fiery..” and then she drops it. I find it hard not to chuckle at her innocent evil. What’s ultra adorable is at some points she decides to leave the room and when I say, “Fiery, where you going?” and start to go collect her, she starts B-lining it as fast as she can go screaming “ahhhhhh!” Elimination communication is getting easier and easier. Fiery holds it in longer, goes quicker when she’s placed on the potty, and pees less. I think we’ll be experimenting with a toilet seat reducer as that way I won’t have to dump out the contents of her potty into the toilet :-). As far as eating goes Fiery has been eating more (and really enjoying it!) Here’s an example of her ingenuity with vanilla yogurt:
My baby (and I can still call her that) is 9 months old! She’s officially been outside of the womb longer than she’s been in. She is developing SO much more personality with so many more preferences. If I’m holding her on my hip I would usually hold her leg with the opposite hand but Fiery immediately pushes my hand away. She likes to be held a certain way.
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Baby Led Weaning
I was planning on doing purees. I even asked for a tiny food processor for Christmas to make my own (cheaper, more nutrients). It’s still in the box. A friend of mine told me about something called Baby Led Weaning so I thought I’d do some research. My gut reaction was “won’t the babe choke?” I mean, really. How could a 6 month old know not to shove a carrot down her throat? Or know how to deal with apple skin? A spinach leaf?I think the common belief is that babies need to be taught how to chew, and that they’re not capable of knowing what will hurt them and what won’t. But this couldn’t be farther from the truth. What’s amazing is that God designed infants to be totally self-teachable when it comes to food. An infant’s (say 6-9 months) gag reflex is actually bigger than an adults. Which means that while sticking a piece of food near the back of the tongue may not trigger an adult’s gag reflex (for we know better than not to do that), if an infant sticks a piece of food back too far she will gag and therefore will learn “doing this causes this unpleasant sensation. I will not do that anymore.”
The theory is that babies, especially breast-fed babies, are expected to know how much to nurse. We trust that a child who needs more will nurse more, and a child who needs less will nurse less. We also expect our toddlers to feed themselves. So why is there this middle age where we feed them? I am a firm believer that babies know how much to feed themselves. It’s no coincidence that many toddlers will go on a food binge with lots of carbs just before a growth spurt, or why a baby might refuse a certain food and then later on the parent finds out they were allergic.
It was amazing watching Fiery learn how to eat a banana. I split the banana into thirds (long ways) and gave her a piece about 2 inches long. She put too much in the first time and almost immediately spit it out. This happened several times. Over a day or two she gradually took smaller and smaller bites and chewed until she swallowed. The other misconception is that babies have to “learn” to chew. When in fact it’s a lot like clapping: one day they can’t do it, and another day they can.
She’s never choked but she’s gagged and to be honest it’s a little nerve-racking but once you understand that it’s necessary for her to learn and babies fed purees also gag, I’m doing better with it and it’s happening less and less.
It also gives the babe an opportunity to develop her independence in choice. I’ll give her three different kinds of food (like a strawberry, a piece of apricot, and a carrot) and let her choose what she wants to try first. Most of the time she enjoys a little bit of everything, and when she’s done cleans her place by dumping everything on the floor. I believe this will make her more confident about her food choices in the future, and will also give her a wider palate for food.
It is messier. One thing I didn’t think about it. But the mess is totally worth it. Fiery loves, loves, loves, loves, eating with us. She loves to feed herself yogurt with a loaded spoon and as of today, at 8 months, can use a cup all by herself when she wants water. Feeding your infant can be so stressful and a fight of wills but baby led weaning makes feeding your babe enjoyable. I highly recommend it.
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Fiery is 8 months old!
My beauty turned 8 months old last week. Last month was our first food, our first sign, our first crawl, and our first cruise. She is now ALL over the place. We have stuff animals in strategic places until we find a more permanent place for things like the guitar, the stereo, and the bottom shelf of our book cases.I continue to enjoy breast feeding, teaching her about her eliminations, and giving her massages 2 times a week and Tim and I both enjoy wearing her, cosleeping with her and watching her teach herself about solids.
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EC Update
The biggest news is that Fiery has now been holding it in for 1+ hours. This is wonderful compared to 20 minutes and I’ve been catching more :-)
Unfortunately she’s pooping 1-2 times a day at unknowable times, so I’m happy if I catch one of them. What’s ultra cute is that she rocks on the potty when she’s about to poop.
I always clap and go “yay!” when we catch a pee or poo and she immediately starts clapping and going “yay!” but with a face that says she has NO idea why she’s doing it.
My goal right now is to get one no-miss day.
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Fiery the Resilient
Maybe one day Fiery will slam her head into our hard wood floors and cry but it’s not happening right now. Or possibly it’s just an age-thing and once Fiery understands that when she gets hurt it warrants immediate attention from mommy, she’ll start reacting to her falls.
Last night Fiery smashed her head into our head board, gave out one cry, then started growling like a monster and thought it funny.
She frequently (and I think purposely) falls backward when she’s sitting, making a huge thud with the floor, gives out a tiny “ehhhhh!” and then turns over and happily crawls away. The first time she fell off the bed she cried for not even 5 seconds and then started gleefully babbling. Tim and I almost started to worry there was something wrong with her nerves, but they’re fine.A couple nights ago Fiery got to taste her blood for the first time. One of the drawers that holds my art supplies was sticking out and Fiery managed to fall on the corner of it, splitting her lip (picture shown). She started to sob and I picked her up and noticed her mouth was all bloody (talk about a scare) and by the time I was done cleaning the blood off her cry turned into a soft whimper and was gone after I nursed her. It was interesting seeing her pause in the middle of her crying being like “what is this weird taste?”
So maybe this will all change in a couple of months but for now I think it’s adorable. I can just picture her taking her first steps running as a toddler, falling on her face, and getting right back up to do it again.
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I’m a Wild Thing!
Do you really wanna know? Yes I really wanna know- where the wild things are!
They’re in our living room!
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Fiery’s Crawling!
On Sunday morning Fiery started crawling on ALL fours! We were so excited! I don’t know how she does it on the hard-wood floors. They hurt my knees. It’s funny because she still isn’t really the best at sitting up. It seems like she actually enjoys falling over or prefers being on her tummy so she never spends a lot of time on her bum. Enjoy the video :-)
