Here are some of the photos, way too many more can be found on SmugMug

Room by Ikea

This time we decided not to wait until the bed was being scaled with a single leap over, and got Sydney her own bed. She’s been really good at sleeping on the floor mat at Grandma’s house so we thought she was ready. We waited for it to be assembled before we brought her into the room. I think she was a bit confused at first, not knowing what happened to her crib.

[See post to watch QuickTime movie] ]]> http://tomchak.com/blog/2011/11/12/sydneys-first-bed/feed/ 0 http://tomchak.com/blog/2011/10/28/photo-walk-chicago/ http://tomchak.com/blog/2011/10/28/photo-walk-chicago/#comments Sat, 29 Oct 2011 04:31:56 +0000 Thomas Tomchak http://tomchak.com/blog/?p=3842 Back in September Brenda and I took the day (child-free) to spend all day in Chicago walking, talking and taking photos. I decided that I would only take HDR photos that day, so this is my first serious attempt at this type of photography. The rest of the photos can be found on SmugMug.

Normally I have a much higher good to bad ration when shooting, but because there was a lot of experimenting going on, and some of the photos were taken without a tripod to hold it steady, I only ended up with just over 20 that were any good after shooting about 80 different locations. But after all, it was a first attempt.

All processing was done in Aperture using the HDR Efex Pro plug-in (which also works with Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom).

On this most awesome day of August 1st 2011, I would like to wish my beautiful wife and loving mother to 3 crazy kids a Happy Birthday. Enjoy that long quiet ride back from Michigan. It’s the most alone time you’ll have for years to come.

Since Max and Andrew entered early intervention just after their first birthday,  Brenda has always looked for any and all solutions that might help the boys. As time moved forward the focus would change, and of course now the focus is on his diagnoses of being on the spectrum of Autism.

Brenda has read more books than I could have imaged, and frankly I don’t know how or where she finds the time. Some are better than others, and some of the better ones she’s asked me to read, which I have done. More recently, she read a book by Dr. Goldberg titled “The Myth of Autism”. It was the reading of this book that changed the course or our lives this week.

The underlying theme of Dr. Goldberg’s book is that while many more children are diagnosed with Autism these days than 20 years ago, a high percentage of them do not fit the original definition of what Autism is. That in fact, many of these children actually suffer from sickness that in many cases can be cured through his treatment protocol.

Through very careful screening, only children that meet certain criteria are accepted to see him in his LA office. You need to submit complete medical records and a recorded history of events, as well as some specialized blood tests. If you child seems like a good candidate, you’re accepted to make an appointment with the Doctor. We were lucky enough to be accepted and took the first appointment we could get (which was 3 or 4 months later). That time is finally here, and Max sees the good doctor on Wednesday of this week.

While we are not expecting any miracles here, we are cautiously optimistic. We have always believed that while Max did seem to fit some of the definition of Autism,  at times he does not. There are some very specific things that he does (like make good eye contact and initiate play with his siblings) that fly in the face of being Autistic. So while we don’t see this as a cure-all, we feel that from the research that Brenda has done, and from reading the book (we have both read it now) we would be foolish to at least not try this and see where it goes. Max is still very young and we want to use all of his time to our advantage to make him better.

So today Andrew and Sydney are being delivered to their Dearborn Michigan family so they can spend some quality time with the people there that don’t get much time with them, and tomorrow we head off to Los Angeles CA with Max for his very first plane ride. Funny, I didn’t take my first ride until I was 22 years old, and he’s not even 4 years old yet.

If you’re interested in knowing more about Dr. Goldberg and his book, follow the link below. For a very touching look at some parents that have seen their children recovered, watch the video below. It’s this video that first got my attention.

NIDS Website and more about Dr. Goldberg

So, enter the new “Tractor Wagon” (this is what Andrew calls it). It’s made to carry 1,000 lbs, so I’m pretty sure it will be up to the task of carrying the boys all the way through adulthood.

But this one is so big, we realized today that it easily carts the boys around, Sydney and a few bags of daily necessities while we’re out.

The down side? My legs are KILLING me from being the horse to this cart. But the kids loved it.

The rest of the photos are on Flickr

Location: Adler Planetarium

Starting this November Brenda is returning to the work force as a freelance editor. But after 3+ years of not working outside of the house, she was feeling just a bit rusty and apprehensive. Would she spontaneously burst into song in front of the client and sing the Bob the Builder theme song? Would she keep saying to the client “very good” for even the smallest accomplishment? Or even worse, would she start asking those around her if they went poopy in their pants?

To help ease her transition back into the world of non-child speak, we decided to swap jobs for the month of October (actually, it already started today). She would work at the office at a place she’s familiar with, with people that she knows – and I would take over at home being Mr. Mom. That also has the side benefits of giving me more time with the kids that I don’t normally get, and her a break from the kids for a bit.

So we shall see how the month goes, but it seems like a win-win all around.

This time shot and edited by Brenda, and get this…. it was done entirely on her iPhone! She would shoot footage along the way, add photos here and there, and just edit a shot or two as she had time. When she was done she exported a full 720p HD video. It’s just mind blowing what you can do these days.

So here’s the video. Enjoy.

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

The rest of the photos are on SmugMug as usual.

More on SmugMug

Our first family trip to the city, and it was a great time. We did a lot of walking and enjoyed the weather.

You can find the rest on SmugMug

But, I would argue that pregnancy can be very beautiful even if you don’t feel beautiful. After all, it is the miracle of life that’s being created. Pregnant women often have a glow to them that’s quite beautiful. I’ve seen this in Brenda, and what’s funny is when I’ve complemented her on it she’s always shocked.

Recently I had an idea of how to shoot a photo of Brenda, making it very clear that she’s pregnant, but in a more artistic way. Let’s say, to try and capture the beauty instead of focus on the discomfort of her condition. I got the idea from another photo I had seen recently in an ad that I really liked. What I did was a bit different, but inspired by that photo. I also captured a few candid moments along the way.

On Tuesday of this week I took the day off of work, and as soon as the boys were dropped off at daycare I cleared out the living room and setup a small studio to capture my “artistic vision”.

So with permission from the mother to be, here are the only photos that I liked in the bunch. It was a bit of an experiment for me so I took a lot of really bad photos before I ended up with a few that I actually liked. And while they fell a bit short of what I wanted, I’m still pleased with how they came out. After all, photography is all about trial and error and learning as you go.

The photos in black and white are the ones I planned on doing. The ones in color were a last minute thought based on where the couch had been moved and the light coming in at the time. Looking at them I already know what I’ll do different next time to improve on the look.

I hope you enjoy them. I think in years to come we will be very glad that we did this.

The baby is now 5 lbs 12 ounces, head is down and all of the body measurements were normal. The baby is also moving a lot more as time goes on. Brenda said a lot more then with the twins (probably because they didn’t have all that much space).

If the baby grows at the usual half pound per week, the birth weight should be between 7 and 8 lbs.

We’re getting excited! I have a feeling the next few weeks will go by fast. We can’t wait to meet our little guy/girl!

This past Saturday we didn’t know what to do with the boys. The weather wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. We had spent the previous weekend at the mall since the weather was so nasty, but didn’t feel like being indoors again.

The boys really loved it and we ended the trip with a ride on one of the Fire Trucks. All and all a great way to start the day! The rest of the photos can be found on SmugMug.

As with the library clip, this is unedited footage so it’s a bit longer then the 2 minute clips I normally put up. But you might find if you start watching it you can’t stop! TRT is 10 minutes.

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

We left on Saturday at 10am, went to see a movie, checked into a nice hotel downtown, had lunch and then just relaxed in the room and ordered room service. We didn’t return until Sunday at 1pm and then spent the rest of the days with the boys at the park.

She was kind of upset about it since it is an automatic $100 ticket and argued that we should contest the ticket and see if they would let her off on account of her good driving record.

I started thinking and remembered that most of the time now, you can actually go on-line and see a small movie of what happened.

So I said “You know what, you’re right. Let’s go on-line and watch the video of what happened and then we’ll have what we need to fight it”. She turned around and said “What video?”. I explained, and slowly a sly smile appeared on her face.

So we both went over to the computer and I typed in the website listed on the notice and entered her license plate and violation number. Up came the following video. Her car is the black one all the way on the right.

You make the call. Did she make a proper and complete stop?

Needless to say, we paid the ticket.

There are more photos on SmugMug.

On Saturday we decided to try again getting some photos of the boys as well as an updated family photo. They boys were GREAT and just seemed to love not only being outside, but playing with leaves (a new experience for them). 

You can see the best of them on SmugMug.

Here are a few photos, and you can find the rest of them on Flickr. 

Because I have not been feeling well since getting back from the Thailand trip, we decided not to make the trip to MI this year for the annual family reunion. I think we made the right call even though we were both disappointed that we didn’t go. The boys were really looking forward to it, it’s all they’ve been talking about. 

So, instead we took a much shorter trip down to Chicago’s Millennium Park and walked around with the boys and just hung out on the grass for awhile. 

There are more photos here of Andrew only because Max was still sound asleep in the stroller when we stopped. By the time he was awake they were both ready to eat so we didn’t have time to get more photos of him. 

Here’s a short movie clip as well of them playing in the grass for the first time. 

Not much. But here it is anyway.

It has only been 8 weeks but it seems like at least a year. It’s just hard to remember what things were like before they came along. 

This weekend we had our friend Don over on Saturday and it was his first time meeting the boys. We all just hung out and relaxed with some pizza and beer while playing with them (as much as we could between sleeping and eating). It was a nice relaxing evening.

This week Andrew was weighed and we found out that he’s almost 11 lbs. now. Max has grown as well but we don’t have an official weight on him.  

They are both smiling now. It just melts your heart when you pick them up, they make eye contact, and then just smile from ear to ear. Yesterday when I picked Andrew up he was mad and crying, but a few seconds later he was just looking at me with a huge grin. What’s not to love! 

I have more video then I have time to process right now, so I’m not sure what else I’ll have posted this week.  

Have a great week!