I ran into a strange software bug this past weekend. From my Flip camera, I imported movie clips into iMovie '08, created a project combining various clips, added and edited elements, then tried to export the project. All elements (audio, transitions, titles, sound clips) were preserved except for the video. It didn't matter the format (AVI, MPEG-4), compression, or added elements. None of my Flip clips could be exported properly.

The problem was finally resolved when I saw the following Apple Support Discussion post:

"This is normally the product of importing and editing Apple Animation (or Apple Video) source files. This is a known bug since iMovie '08 was initially released. Either convert the files to a fully compatible compression format before importing them to iMovie '08 or use iMovie HD as the editing application. iMovie '08 is the only QT software that seems to be afflicted with this problem."

I used MPEG Streamclip to convert my Flip video clips to MPEG-4 and had no more problems manipulating them in iMovie.

As Abby is getting out of the infant stage and literally cruising into the toddler stage, her diaper bag needs are changing. She no longer requires us to carry a large, cumbersome bag, anticipating every possible need. These days, if we carry a couple of diapers, wipes, a baggie of cheeries and/or puffs, a hat, a couple of pacifiers, a pacifier holder, some antibacterial wipes, and a sippy cup of water, we're pretty much ready to go out for several hours.

Abby learned a new consonant yesterday. She came home and kept making the sound "kakuh?" I thought she was finally ready to learn to say "Cat!"

When I dropped her off at daycare this morning, her teachers told me Abby had learned to say, "Cracker"...as in a Ritz cracker. She wouldn't say it for me when prompted, but sure enough, when we came home, I brought out a roll of Ritz crackers and she immediately started to say "kakuh, kakuh?" She is not very good with the "R" sound yet, but you can distinctly hear the attempts at the "R's" in "kakuh," so that it actually comes pretty darned close to "cracker." I am so proud of her! :)


^Double pig-tails!


^Going on a stroller ride outside to study nature and the branch she brought home from their adventure.

Today, the class took a pretend trip to Alaska! (Abby will be well-prepared for our Alaskan cruise coming up in 3 weeks.) The babies got to play with ice from Alaska (ice cubes), learn about the word "cold," and got to taste orange sherbet.


^Not so sure about this thing called ice...it really doesn't taste like much and makes my fingers numb.


^Orange sherbet, on the other hand....


^...is surprisingly delicious!


^Must I let go of the spoon?!

More school photos on fotki.

2 Tbsp olive oil
1.5 tsp Coleman's Mustard Powder
1.5 tsp ground cumin
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 tsp Sriracha hot sauce (or 1 small jalapeno, seeded and minced)
1 Tbsp ginger root, grated
1/2 C dried lentils, rinsed and cleaned
2 C vegetable or chicken stock
1 can diced tomatoes
3 handfuls of kale and/or collard greens, chopped into large pieces with tough stems removed
1 Tbsp fresh lemon/lime juice
salt

In a large skillet, heat the oil and cook the cumin and mustard powder until fragrant (will smell like tacos!). Add onions and saute until transparent. Add the next 4 ingredients, cover and cook until the lentils are tender, about 45 minutes.

Add the remaining 3 ingredients and simmer until greens are just softened and dark green, about 5 minutes. (Collard greens take longer than kale.) Taste and add salt, if needed.

Goes well with steak!

^The Provost's squirrel.

This silly, frolicking, agile animal delighted Abby and got her really excited about being at the zoo. Up until the small mammal house, Abby really had no interest and showed no understanding of what we were doing at the zoo.


^Abigail watching the pygmy hippo relaxing in the water.


^Lunchtime for this panda.


^At the small mammal house, watching the meerkats watching us!


^Prairie dogs!! Reminds me of being back in Colorado. :)


^"Isn't the zoo fun, Ryan?"


^Quenching some thirst as we get ready to leave at the end of the day.

Kids at the Goddard School got a chance to ride ponies this morning. Two beautiful little ponies were there and even the infants got a few minutes on a pony. Abigail was fairly apprehensive when meeting the ponies, though, as you can see in the following photos.

Ms Betty (with the black pony) and Ms Maria (with the brown pony)


Abigail not too thrilled about being on the pony...


...but at least calmed down a little bit towards the end.

Abby has finally outgrown her Peg Perego Infant Car Seat. After much research and trying out car seats in our Nissan Maxima at Great Beginnings, we decided on purchasing the Britax Marathon. This seat will last until Abigail reaches 65 lbs or 49 inches tall. We guess that's around age 5 or 6.

We found that TravelTikes.com had the best price for the Marathons at $219.99. (The NEX catalog had the next best price at $249.99.) We just ordered the Ashley Floral print. I can not believe Paul was ok with me buying a floral print. Even more surprising, I can not believe I love a floral print so much!!

It's very girly, but since Abby will be in it for so long, we will probably have to buy a different seat for a second child anyway, so we didn't worry about getting something gender-neutral.

Update: The Ashley Floral has been discontinued and replaced with the Mariposa fabric. TravelTikes called and they are willing to honor the sale price, otherwise the Mariposa would cost $279! Below is a picture of the Mariposa. Butterflies instead of the flowers. I would have preferred a little more red, but I still like it a lot.

And the verdict is, "She's got allergic tendencies."

Ok....

The allergist says that that means nothing. Good, because I don't think I quite understand it.

But what it comes down to is if she shows a noticeable reaction after having egg and wheat products then we need to be sure to stay away. The blood work showed that she definitely has the mechanisms to be allergic to these foods, so we just need to curb her exposure to them a little bit until she is a bit older because there's always the chance that excessive exposure can make a non-issue an issue. Right now, don't give her omelets, but if we want to give her a birthday cake when she turns 1 year old, go ahead.

The allergist did make a comment which I found interesting....at her last checkup for the staph infection, the doctor had made a note that blood tests were being ordered because Abby showed "failure to thrive." The allergist - after looking at her growth charts and the most recent data points - said that he was going to write the pediatrician back saying she's off her rocker because it's obvious that there were bad data points and by no means should we be concerned about her growth. Her weight may have slowed down a bit, but she's at such a mobile stage that it can't be indicative of a problem, especially because her last checkup put Abigail in the 90th percentile for height at her age!

Well, we knew that already, but it was nice to hear it from a medical person's mouth. I did not object to the blood tests because she needed her blood drawn for the allergy tests anyway.

He recommended that we have our pediatrician refer us to a dermatologist. He can not promise that a dermatologist will be able to help Abby's eczema, but it will give us a peace of mind that we have tried every possible route to help Abby's skin. Besides, it would be nice for a second opinion on her steroid cream treatments.

The standard infant growth chart that most doctors refer to are issued by the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The latest revision in 2000 came with a note that indicated that the charts can be used to assess the growth of all infants, regardless of race or culture and can be used for formula-fed and breast-fed infants. However, "in general, exclusively breast-fed infants tend to gain weight more rapidly in the first 2 to 3 months. From 6 to 12 months breast-fed infants tend to weigh less than formula-fed infants."

For Abby's first birthday, Paul and I are planning on getting her a bike trailer so that the whole family can start taking bike trips together. We think Abby will love the ride. As it is, we have had a chance to try out some of these trailers at stores as strollers and she seems to be pretty content just sitting in them! We have done a good amount of research online and today we drove to REI and Hudson Trail Outfitters to take a look at them in person.

The two we were interested in are the Burley D'Lite Double and Chariot Cougar 2. Both of these are multi-function bike trailers, meaning that with conversion kits they can be used as strollers and joggers, hikers, skiers, and probably a slew of others. Although our primary use for them would be as bike trailers, we think the stroller and jogger attachments might come in handy. Both trailers accommodate 1 or 2 kids, up to total of 100 lbs.

We played around with both of these models at REI and felt that the Chariot was far better than the Burley in terms of looks (the Burley looks like a higher quality version of any bike trailer you can find at Target or Walmart in that it's not stylish or sleek), ease-of-use (Paul was able to fold the Chariot down and unfold it without instructions and in seconds vs the Burley, which took a few minutes of fumbling around and turning the whole thing upside-down), comfort for the child (interior cushiness) and parent (handlebars for use as strollers and joggers). The Chariot Cougar 2 is a whopping $600 for the chassis alone! Everything else is sold as individual conversion kits. The Burley D'Lite costs about $100 less than the Chariot, but the Cougar 2 was worth the difference in cost.

Next, we headed to Hudson Trail Outfitters. Their selection was slightly bigger, but what they had on the floor was extremely limited. We asked to see something comparable to the Chariot Cougar 2 and they brought out the Croozer 535 (fits 1 or 2 kids)....First impression was, "Oooh, it looks pretty nice, but does it come with all of THAT?" That being all the accessories that the Burley and Chariot were selling as their individual conversion kits. The answer was "YES!" At $369, it came as a 3-in-1 (trailer, jogger, and stroller). Once Paul was able to get the thing unfolded, it looked pretty neat...not as sleek as the Cougar, but definitely more sporty than the D'Lite. There was a HUGE storage compartment with several large pockets in the back, behind the seats. Rather than the bench style seats of the Burley or Chariot, the Croozer had two bucket seats, which meant that two kids wouldn't be sliding into each others' laps. We did notice that the Croozer seemed to have more plastic parts to it, which could definitely explain the price difference.

We came home and popped online to do some further research. What it comes down to is that the Chariot Cougar 2 is fabulous. We don't think we can find anything better. However, for the cost of $600, plus around $100 for the bike and stroller conversion kits, we think that is outrageous! If we can find the Cougar 2 on ebay or craigslist, we'd definitely consider it, but so far, we've found nothing in the DC area and certainly nothing less than $500 for the lot. (At least that says something about it's resale value and the fact that people seem to like their purchases and want to hang on to them.) We really like the Croozer 535 if we want to buy new. It's certainly not the high-quality of the Cougar 2, but is far, far better than a low-end trailer. Based on user reviews, people seem highly satisfied with the Croozers.

What do you think?


^The Croozer 535

^The Chariot Cougar

Purchase online through Amazon.com:

I Love My Job! - by Dr. Seuss

I love my job, I love the pay!
I love it more and more each day.
I love my boss, he is the best!
I love his boss and all the rest.

I love my office and its location,
I have to have to go on vacation.
I love my furniture, drab and grey,
And piles of paper that grow each day!

I think my job is really swell,
There’s nothing else I love so well.
I love to work among my peers,
I love their leers and jeers and sneers.

I love my computer and its software,
I hug it often though it won’t care.
I love each program and every file,
I’d love them more if they worked a while.

I’m happy to be here. I am. I am.
I’m the happiest slave of the Firm, I am.
I love this work, I love these chores.
I love the meetings with deadly bores.

I love my job – I’ll say it again.
I even love those friendly men.
Those friendly men who’ve come today,
In clean white coats to take me away!!!!

Results for Abby's blood tests came back on Wednesday and everything is completely normal - nothing physically wrong contributing to her lack of weight and length gain - but they did find out she is very slightly anemic due to iron deficiency. So, she is taking a small amount of iron supplements and will be retested in 3 months.

Here is a good summary of iron-deficient anemia: http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/heart/ida.html

Slight anemia is fairly common in infants and easily corrected. Abby does not have any symptoms - such as fatigue and lack of focus - that would lead us to be concerned. Once her diet can include more meat and poultry, this should no longer be a problem. In the meantime, she will take her supplements and we will try to make sure she eats iron-rich foods such as spinach and sweet potatoes on a more regular basis.

We are scheduling her 12-month well-baby checkup soon and we will be talking to the doctor about this in more detail.

The allergy blood test results are not back yet and it might be another week before we get them. Stay tuned....

This is Abigail's handmade Father's Day gift! [Words and picture provided by her teachers, of course.]

The Bingo marker dots were all stamped by Abby. Even after she finished decorating the frame, she refused to give back the Bingo markers, so her teacher had to give her sheets of white paper and let her continue playing.

Something fun to see after a long day at work.

Abby had blood drawn on Friday. Just prior to the procedure, she was seeing a doctor to examine a bump on her leg (3rd over the last month), which had started off looking like a pimple, but ended up about the size of a quarter and filled with pus. :( The doctor decided that it was likely a staph infection and because she was on antibiotics the first time it was found and thought of as an infected mosquito bite, this could be a strain of antibiotic-resistant staph, aka MRSA. So, she is on Septra for 10 days. Septra has side-effects of making her dehydrated, sensitive to the sun, and lose her appetite. We are keeping her indoors for the rest of the week and giving her a lot of fluids. Her appetite is fine, but she is refusing anything in a bottle, meaning she is back to nursing. :)

Anyway, the weight check and length measurement routinely done at a doctor's visit showed that Abby is now 18 lbs 13 ozs and about 30.5 inches long. The doctor is NOT worried about her growth, but was still going to proceed with the blood tests since she needed blood drawn to confirm her egg and wheat allergies anyway.

Our brave little girl not only DID NOT cry when she had her blood drawn, but she didn't even flinch. Instead, she stared with immense curiosity at the tubes and syringes collecting her blood. Silly Abby!

She is getting plenty of rest and seems to be healing well from the staph infection. She is as happy and interactive as always.

When Paul and I picked Abigail up from daycare today, we found her sporting a new hairdo! :) Her teacher, Ms. Betty, is a retired hairdresser and loves to entertain "hair appointments" with the all the infants. Prior to today, all of Abby's hair appointments had been for scalp massages since she had so little hair to work with!

Some really cool slow motion videos depicting interesting characteristics of nature we take for granted. After you watch the first clip of the unbroken water balloon, you can select to see 14 others.

Over the last two months, she has gained only 6 ounces in weight and have grown less than a half inch.

Our gut feeling is that there's absolutely nothing wrong with her and that this is just her growth pattern. When Abby was a newborn, it took her 2 weeks to regain her birth weight and a month to catch up to expected rate of weight gain. She also shot off the charts in height very early on. She is just waiting to hit her growth spurt. So, in the meantime, we are not going to fret.


I have started to wean Abby. Over the last two months she has been very much against nursing. Every night we fight to get her to feed, but she will not take enough and ends up having to wake up in the middle of the night for a feeding. She gets impatient and prefers the instant milk delivery of a bottle when she's hungry. For awhile, we attributed her finicky feedings to a nursing strike, to working through development milestones, and to teething. However, it's been two months!! I have decided to let her take the lead. I will continue to pump enough to allow me to nurse her if she wants it. When she doesn't, she gets formula. Luckily, she takes formula very well.


The upper right tooth is coming in. This is tooth number 4. She has been learning to brush her teeth and she does seem to like the routine.