welcome to spiceland.

Here is a video I found while cleaning off my desktop which I do not believe we have posted yet. This is me clownishly trying to get Heidi to say “dada” around age 8 months.

I’ll also update concerning the last post about Heidi signing. After that one incident, she seemed to have forgotten how to sign for a couple of days. My urging did not provoke her to sign again until tonight. Mike made oatmeal cookies tonight, though. She was sitting in my lap while I was eating one, and she started clapping out of the blue. I clapped along for a moment before I realized she was actually saying “more,” not clapping. I fed her bits of cookie and made her say “more” for each additional bite. She probably signed “more” about 8 times tonight.

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Logging GPS in Keith’s RC Plane

We put a custom designed GPS logger in Keith’s rc plane. The cool part of the video starts 2/3 of the way in. I take the logged data and show it in Google Maps and Google Earth.

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Here are some direct links to Google Maps (click on “view in Google Earth” for the really cool version) :
Keith’s RC Stryker
Keith’s Green Plane

We had Tru’s EEG to measure brain activity this morning. An EEG (Electroencephalography) records the electrical activity of neurons firing in the brain. EEGs are especially effective at diagnosing epilepsy and other seizure disorders. In preparation for the test, we had to keep Tru awake until 1 AM last night. Wonderful, sweet Mike let me sleep from 8 PM to 11 PM. I couldn’t go back to sleep, so the four of us (after Heidi woke up from a very late nap) watched Star Trek: The Next Generation until 1 AM. Tru conked out quite easily. This morning, I had to wake her at 5 AM and keep her awake until her 9 AM appointment, so we were quite tired by the end of the test.

Tru films Heidi before the test.

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Tru preparing for the test. The nurse took her to the test room and explained the procedure while I was in the bathroom. The chair Tru is sitting in is for the mother to hold the child if the child is too distraught to lay in bed. We did not have to use it.

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During the test.

The nurse scrubbed Tru’s scalp with a q-tip and put leads all over it with a gunky, conductive substance. Tru did not like being dirty one bit. The nurse then wrapped her head so that the leads would stay put, and Tru didn’t like this either. I thought she would have fun laughing at how silly the test was, but she was just too tired and cranky to enjoy it.

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First, the nurse measured her brain activity with Tru lying quietly on the bed. Then she asked Tru to close her eyes for a minute. Next, Tru had to blow a pinwheel for 4 minutes. I demonstrated to get her started and intermittently to keep her going, and I was totally out of breathe. I don’t know how Tru managed to do it for so long! The nurse said that 4 minutes is usually a pipe dream in a child as young as Tru, but she did blow most of that time. Next, she measured Tru’s brain activity while flashing her open and closed eyes with a strobe light with the light strobing at different intervals. Finally, Tru rested with the lights off for about 30 minutes. The hope was that she would fall asleep, but she never did go completely to sleep.

When we were finished, Tru’s hair was very dirty and gunky! She was not a happy camper, but Chicken McNuggets and Sprite cures anything. We immediately went to McDonald’s for lunch and home for a nap. Now that we’re awake, all of us are feeling much better! We should get the results of the EEG in about a week and a half. Cross your fingers!

Happy belated St. Patrick’s Day! We spent yesterday sick, and not one of us wore green! However, Tru received this card from Missa and Papa and wanted to respond.

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I took this video of Heidi crawling this morning, and Tru wanted to be on video, too. She is feeling much better after her 2-day stomach bug.

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Heidi has been babbling quite a bit lately. I caught some of it on camera today. Disregard the portion of the video where I try to get her to blow raspberries and she refuses!

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Several developments today! Tru recently got very frustrated on several different occasions when Mike or I tried to teach her how to ride her tricycle or drive her Barbie Jeep. Today, she figured out both of them! We rode all the way around the block with Tru riding her RadioFlyer tricycle, and when we got back, she drove her Barbie Jeep around in the yard for about 30 minutes. Toward the end, I popped Heidi into it, taking care to buckle her in very securely with the seat belt. Heidi had a blast, and Tru loved driving her around. We’ve got pictures (the “Kerri Visit 2009″ album) and videos!

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Woot.com has our tiny, handheld video camera for sale today for $79. Target.com lists these for $149. Most of the videos on our site come from this little camera, and it is so easy to use that even Tru can do it. There is no charger or special battery. It just takes two AAs. You can record up to 60 minutes of video. Plug it into your comptuer’s USB port, and just drag and drop the videos onto your desktop. They’re all ready for uploading to Youtube and most other video sharing sites. This camera is perfect for those just wanting a simple point-and-shoot video camera that fits into your pocket. We have two already.

Heidi turned 8 months old today! It’s hard to believe that she’s getting so old. She’s just beginning to show some interest in crawling, and she’s becoming much more personable and interactive. A couple of days ago, I was using my computer with Heidi standing in my lap. I was looking around her at the computer screen. (Shameful, I know.) She leaned her whole body over to position her face between mine and the screen, forcing me to may eye contact with her! It was the sweetest, cutest thing she’s done yet. She’s also much more interested in her toys and in interacting with Tru. Tru loves to entertain her little sister. She sings and claps with Heidi and shares her toys with her, too. Heidi loves watching Tru play!

Here are some videos that we’ve taken recently. We have a tiny little video camera called a Flip that Tru loves to play with. She took some of these videos herself using the Flip! We have one that Tru took of Heidi walking down the hallway (at not even 8 months old!), a video of Tru and Heidi watching home movies from when Tru was about 18 months old, a video of Tru showing off her GeoTrax train set, and a video of Tru’s 4th birthday party. Enjoy!

Heidi Kinda Walks

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Tru and Heidi Watch Homemovies

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Tru Shows Off Train

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Tru’s 4th Birthday

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