Now and Then

DIVA PRINCESS OF THE WHOLE FREAKIN' UNIVERSE EDITION

Here are some pictures I made of Remi in Feb. 2008 and in Dec. 2008. She's wearing the same dress.

SWIRLBABY

Swirlbaby will now be published in a custom domain. Its very easy to remember. The new web address is www.swirlbaby.com. You will no longer need to add blogspot.com after swirlbaby. PROGRESS!

Wordless Wednesday

Illustrations by: Remi

Stains the Dog in a Dazed and Bewildered Condition

All Smiles All the Time

My Long Lost Biological Brother

STAY-AT-HOME DAD WORKOUT

Look What I Can Do!

I found Sydney standing just like this in her crib yesterday morning. She pulled herself up into that position on her own. I cried and when she saw me she got the "my mother is such a sentimental moron" look on her face.

A Message to My Children.....Wear Sunscreen

The following is an essay written by Mary Schmich called "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young". The most popular and well-known form of the essay is the successful music single released in 1999, credited to Baz Luhrmann. I decided to post the essay here for my children to read because in my opinion it provides part of the answer to the "What is the meaning of life?" question.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience…I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh never mind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….You're not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing everyday that scares you

Sing

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss

Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind…the race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds still don't.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't, maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't, maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it's the greatest instrument you'll ever own..

Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair, or by the time it's 40, it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen...

Follow Up Pictures to Snow Day

Jingle Bells (Part Three)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Wordless Wednesday

The Lost Sixth Spice Girl:

SPOOKY SPICE

Snow Day

Yesterday Remi saw snow for the very first time ever. I promised her that if she would eat something besides Sydney's Gerber baby bananas for breakfast I would take her outdoors to build a miniature snow man. She agreed and finished a small bowl of egg noodles as fast as she could. I dressed her up in nine thousand layers of sweaters, hats, socks and gloves to prepare for the bitter cold conditions. It was so much fun to witness her very first real snow experience. I made several pictures and videos of her and hopefully I can post them later today.

Charlotte Survivors Filled With Admiration

The pilot who guided the US Airways jetliner into the frigid Hudson River on Thursday was cool as ice, Charlotte survivors said. The former Air Force fighter pilot, they said, was the last one off the plane and the last out of the life rafts.


Mark Hood, 48, of Charlotte, himself a Citadel graduate and Desert Storm veteran, tried to show his respect for Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger” with a small act as they prepared to climb onto a ferry.


“After you, sir,” Hood told the pilot. “He said, ‘No. I'll be the last one off the raft.'”


Passengers were universal in praise of Sullenberger as they recovered at LaGuardia Airport awaiting their return home. From the first jolt to the plane to the final count of passengers, there was no sign of fear.


The ordeal began immediately after takeoff.


Hood, a medical equipment salesman who flies weekly, was in first class. Takeoff was normal, he said. Then he caught sight of a blur headed toward the wing.


“Then there was a punch in the wing, like someone hit it with a baseball bat,” Hood said. The plane turned and started away from the city, down toward the Hudson.


Then came Sullenberger's voice over the speakers: “Brace for impact.”


“There was no fear in his voice,” Hood said. “It was monotone. All business.”


Larry Snodgrass, 59, of Lake Wylie, a national sales manager for U.S. Chemical, was in coach, flying by the wing.


“The pilot brought it down so smoothly,” he said.


The tail touched first, then the fuselage settled on the water.


One group went out the front on a raft, and others went out the center onto the wings, survivors said.


“It was frigid,” Snodgrass said. Nineteen degrees and wind chill.


How long was he on the wing?


“Four years,” Snodgrass replied.


Up front, Hood and others shared the raft with the crew and captain, who helped passengers off the plane. Passengers stood on the wing, some knee deep. Helicopters kicked up spray.


“He looked unflappable. It was a testament to leadership,” Hood said. “I heard him reinforcing over and over to his crew – ‘Did you get the count right? Did you get the count right?'”Hood said.


Ferry boats pulled up by the plane and raft within minutes.


From the raft, Hood and the crew assisted others onto the boat.


He and the pilot were the last two left.


“I don't know if you believe in God, but that was a miracle out there today,” Hood said. (Charlotteobserver.com)


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Her Very Own Yaptop

When Moneybags and I were going over our Christmas list he seemed a bit taken aback when I mentioned to him that I wanted to buy Remi a laptop. I remember he placed it at the very end of our long list because he believed it was the most ridiculous idea he'd ever heard of. Who on earth would buy a 2 year old her own laptop? I would. I needed to prepare the babies for the real world. I knew it would be educational for her and Sydney. It was the Vtech Baby's Learning Laptop and I had to have it for Remi and eventually, Sydney. Well to make a long story short, when Moneybags wasn't looking I went out and bought the laptop for $29.95. This instrument is amazing and up until today it has functioned as one of Remi's 4 dozen purses. She has been carrying it around since Christmas as an accessory not a learning tool. This morning I sat down with Remi and explained to her that her favorite purse is actually a laptop. I opened it, and together we proceeded to become a little more educated as mommy and daughter.

To my surprise she is amazed with it and she carries it everywhere with her. She calls it her "yaptop". I don't usually discuss her potty moments on here due to the gruesomeness nature of it all but when she realized she was in possession of a true laptop she ran to her nearest potty chair, plopped down, and began working madly on some very important toddler business matter that demanded her immediate attention and could only be completed on the potty using her yaptop.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Neither of these babies were hurt during making of this post. This Wordless Wednesday involves a toddler/infant smack down between sisters. I dressed the girls in matching shirts to make some pictures expecting to compare them to some pictures I had made from last July. I was really hoping Remi would allow me to get some cute shots of her holding Sydney so I bribed her with vanilla ice cream and chocolate.....it worked. She held her sister for as long as she could up until Sydney got bored and grabbed a handful of Remi's curls. Remi is a pretty tolerant child when it comes to her sister but she draws the line at her own hair. Remi started screaming bloody murder as a defense mechanism to her tress violation. When that didn't work she pushed her sister away using her fist. Sydney only pulled harder as Remi fought for her curly locks. After that it became an all out sister WWF brawl that played in slow motion. As their referee Mother, I couldn't get to them soon enough it seemed. I got between them by releasing Sydney's death grip she had on several strands of Remi's hair. The babies are safe and I have placed them in separate corners until Remi starts kindergarten.