Category Archives: nablopomo

behind the scenes

11.02.10

Each and every month that we’ve had Brooklynn around, I’ve written her a letter. Honestly, I have no idea how long I’ll keep it up. I guess as long as I feel that I have something to say, I’ll continue to say it.

Along with the letter, I also include a few selected photos that either illustrate some point I’m talking about or that were just too good (in my opinion) to pass up. In addition, I also post other photos that were never featured on this site. Sometime during the last month (or perhaps just yesterday), we reached over 1,000 pictures of Brooklynn.

I typically print one or two of these pictures out every month and hang them on the wall of my cubicle at work. I’ve had several people comment that the photos are really good and a few ask about what type of camera I use and how I get such wonderful pictures.

(Full disclosure: many people walk by my office without commenting on the pictures, so perhaps most of my co-workers think the pictures are horrible and subscribe to the “If you can’t say something nice…” policy.)

I tell them that I take lots of pictures, choose the good ones, and do a little post-processing on the computer.

All of these are true. I can’t make the claim of every day anymore, but we have some sort of photo of Brooklynn on all but a handful of days in her life. I don’t get a “good” picture everyday. She’s at the age where she’s too young to understand the concept of posing and sitting still for a picture but she’s old enough to want any thing electronic that we might be holding. This leads to a lot of me backpedaling while trying to keep her in frame and in focus. I’ve also ended up with more than a few fingerprints on my lenses over the past months since walking has come in to vogue.

I typically end up with 40 to 60 pictures up on the web in any given month. This usually equates to between 10 and 20 percent of the pictures I actually take. There are a fair number that are poorly lit, out-of-focus, or more than a little unflattering. I’m not a pro photographer and I don’t work in a strictly controlled studio. Luckily, digital cameras have changed the world for home photography. Want to take 100 pictures of your kid sitting on the steps in one afternoon? Go for it. No film. No waiting for development time. No paying for doubles and then wondering what the pictures that you didn’t get back looked like.

So, I take lots of pictures and try to pick the best ones. And then I play with color, exposure, and cropping on the computer. I’ve changed my workflow a little over the years moving away from Photoshop and image editing programs and more toward software geared specifically to photographers. I currently use Lightroom, and when you see black and white or odd coloring, it’s because I thought it looked good. Even just a simple bump in contrast and a small vignette makes photos “pop” a little.

It takes me couple hours to run through a month worth of photos, do my processing, title, and upload them. Being able to look back to photos whenever I want to makes it all worth it. Hopefully you like it too.

And once in a while, I get a little help with the photography. Most of the time, when you see Brooklynn smiling and looking just off to the side of the camera, it means that Rhiannon was standing right over my shoulder to get her attention. Sometimes, she even picks up the camera, and often, these are my favorite pictures.

Also posted in Computers, Media, Pictures | Leave a Comment

month sixteen

11.01.10

Dear Brooklynn,

You are now 16 months old. It’s a big enough number that sometimes I feel like I should start telling people you are one and a half when they ask me. At the same time, you are still our little girl and keeping your age firmly planted in the month status seems to enforce the fact that we aren’t all getting (in your case) grown up and (in our case) old too fast.

A lot of the milestones that people typically refer to have come and gone. First tooth, first steps, first words. First time grabbing a toy and running away from Mom when it was time to put it away. You know, those things that, as they happen, you think you’ll always remember. Then, when a new parent asks you a year later when your kid first started to sit up on their own, you realize you have no idea, because sitting up? Don’t kids come with that feature enabled, because I’m really struggling to remember a time when running wasn’t the preferred method of transportation.

And so, rather than focusing on waiting for the big, life changing developments, we are in the mode of enjoying your daily growth as the little person in our family of three. I am sometimes surprised at how much you pay attention to what we say and do. You have a small plastic laptop that plays music; the other day, when you and Mom were dancing, she used her toe to hit a button to restart a song from your toy on the floor. It didn’t seem like something you would necessarily pay attention to, but sure enough, a minute later you were stepping on the buttons to be just like us.

You want the food that’s on our plates and you want to the look at the computers and remotes and keys that we use. You want to push your stroller around like we push you. This past weekend, we were outside planting some flower bulbs while it was still warm and you needed to be right with us on the kneeling pad making sure everything was still going according to schedule.

And then, just when we think that we’re home free, that all we have to do in order to get you cooperate is model the behavior ourselves, you go and form your own opinions. You don’t want to go in the car, you’d rather go for a stroller ride. You don’t want to stay in the house, you’d rather go outside and play even though it’s almost dark and cold outside. And even if Mom or Dad gets down on the floor to play blocks with you, it sure doesn’t mean that a laptop isn’t the most tempting thing in the room at any given moment.

We know that you have your own ideas and understanding of the world. You empty the silverware rack of the dishwasher for us, taking each spoon and fork out, one at a time, and handing them to us to put in the drawer. You also get a little upset when the spatulas don’t go in the same drawer as the silverware, enough that sometimes we put them in there temporarily just to appease you.

This past weekend, we were cutting up some grapes for you for a snack. I handed a couple pieces to you before I finished all of them. When you realized what I was doing, you opened the cupboard that has our tupperware and got out the small bowl we use to hold your pieces of fruit. It seems like such a simple thing, but trust me, it’s amazing to watch you figure things out.

You are becoming quite the little socialite. You spent a good portion of your time in the airport and plane looking at other people, smiling, and waving. You are always a little shy with new people right away, but it doesn’t take much to get you to smile and soon you are much more interested in walking over to see what they might be doing than in anything Mom or Dad might have. And don’t even mention other kids, because really, who would need an adult when you can hang with people your own size?

I hope that we are nurturing your development like we should be. I hope that you will be excited to see snow for the first time that you are old enough to enjoy playing in it. I hope that our Christmas tree and ornaments will make it through the holiday season in one piece. (We did switch to plastic decorations last year, with you in mind.)

Most of all, I hope you feel safe and loved in our house. Your mom and I have had a few conversations recently that it’s almost impossible to remember what our daily life was like before you were in it. And trust me, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Love,
Dad

Also posted in Brooklynn, Letters, Media, Pictures | Leave a Comment

you can tell they do this a lot

11.30.09

Things said by the flight attendants on our plane today:

- To those of you who listened to the safety instructions, thank you. To those of you who didn’t, good luck.

- Remember it’s open seating, so feel free to pick any available open seat… in other words, sit down so we can get going.

- If you see someone cute, sit by them; you might find yourself with a new love interest. If you end up hating them, don’t worry; you’ll probably never see them again.

- Flight Attendant 1: “With my hawkeye vision, I can see a bag about 5 feet from the front of the aircraft sticking out of the overhead bin. Let’s take care of that now so we aren’t delayed any further.”
Flight Attendant 2: “With your what vision?”
FA 1: “My hawkeye vision. It’s a MacGyver thing.”

- Flight Attendant: “What’s your baby’s name?”
Us: “Brooklynn.”
FA: “You’re last name isn’t Bridge, is it? Sorry, you’ve probably heard that one a million times. No? Well, thank you, I’ll be here all flight. Are you going to have more kids? You’re not going to do a bouroughs theme, are you? Although, maybe Bronx wouldn’t be such a bad name. It sounds masculine enough.”

- Welcome to Denver. We’ll cut right through the community chest stuff and tell it to you straight: Thanks for giving your money to us. We appreciate it. And we’d really like it if you bought another ticket, say tommorrow.

- (After we both ordered Dr. Pepper as a beverage) Are you all from Texas? No, because that’s a Texas drink.

- And remember, federal regulations prohibit forming a line by the front lavatory by the cockpit, so either wait in your seat until you see that the lavatory is open or feel free to congregate in the rear of the plane. We’re business in the front, party in the back.

Also posted in TidBits, Travel | 1 Comment

things we are thankful for this holiday weekend

11.28.09

Family and safe travels to see them over the past two weekends
Children’s Tylenol
Kleenex
Naps during the day, because we all know who isn’t sleeping through the night anymore
Food – too much and too rich and oh so good
Bulb syringe to suck boogers out of a baby’s nose
Having a baby to barter for free room and board (Grandparents are suckers for this one)
Other travelers who don’t mind when the baby poops on a plane
Other travelers who do mind when the baby poops on a plane (I don’t like it either, but I deal with it)
Football, because it entertains Brooklynn just about as well as her dad when it is on TV

Also posted in Count 'Em, TidBits, Travel | 1 Comment

happy thanksgiving

11.26.09

The life of the road of warriors continues. While yesterday was our fifth flight with Brooklynn, it was the first on a plane that was large enough to have three seats together on one side, which meant we had to share a row with someone – up close and personal. Yes, Brooklynn is a good traveler, and we do our best to keep her occupied, but there are some people who would rather not sit beside a baby for a couple of hours.

Luckily, we ended up next to a woman who was expecting her first baby in four months. So, we got to discuss naming, nursery decorating, and traveling to see family. Also, she didn’t complain about the smell when Brooklynn decided to poop on the plane for the second consecutive flight.

On the last flight, we had a row behind us completely open, so it was easy enough to lay her down and change her. And the plane yesterday had a changing table in the bathroom to use – Rhiannon grabbed Brooklynn and the wipes and headed to the bathroom while I grabbed a magazine to read an article I had seen in the contents when I flipped through it. 30 seconds later, Rhiannon was back. She had the baby. She had the wipes. She just didn’t have a new diaper.

We figure that this will be the only Thanksgiving that Brooklynn will be content to kick around on the floor while we eat. She did sit on my lap while I had my piece of pumpkin pie and watched pretty much every bite go by. I think she would have been more than happy to take on of the bits off of my hands for me.

Also posted in Brooklynn, Food, Travel | 1 Comment