I talk a lot of nonsense to my children. It's more than just silly baby-talk. I'm talking about ridiculous old inside jokes and pop culture references that make no sense but make me laugh.
I'm sure we all do it. Here are a few particularly ludicrous things I say from time to time.
"I read you Mrs. Esterhouse! Loud and clear!" I say this when my daughter is getting cranky. It's a line from Caddyshack II.
"Keep your eye on the fruit!" Another Caddyshack II gem that I use when spooning in the baby food.
"Somebody stop me!" I say this when I am attacking my kids' cheeks with kisses. It's a line from The Mask.
"You ain't got no hair, Lieutenant Dan!" I say this when I'm combing my bald baby's head. It's a variation of a line from Forrest Gump.
"Pants? Where we're going, we don't need pants!" My husband says this to my son when he gets him dressed. It's a variation of a line from Back To The Future.
"Not so good, Al!" I say this when I drop something or something else silly happens. It's a line from the Weezer video Buddy Holly.
These things are dumb and nonsensical but they amuse me. What are the favorite nonsensical one-liners in your house??
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 7:13PMNataliTweet
Okay, I can take it no longer! I don't mean to call out my fellow MommyBetas but I think we can all learn a lesson from videos like this or this.
These are the cutest videos ever but the quality suffers because they were shot with iPhone cameras shooting in portrait mode rather than landscape mode. Fellow mommies, don't do that! Turn those cameras on their side!
I think I've already scolded Jennifer on this so she is shooting correctly and most of Alex's videos are shot landcape so Nathalee is the biggest offender and, perusing YouTube recently, so are most of you! I admit, I did it at first too before my husband gave me a lecture so now I am going to pass that lecture on to all of you in hopes of saving your childrens' precious home movies!
Why does this matter? Allow me to explain.
The iPhone 4 and most Android phones have cameras that shoot HD video at 720p or higher. That means crystal clear videos - if you use them correctly. This is great for capturing spur of the moment cuteness but even better when you really use it to its full potential. You paid enough - might as well get your money's worth.
When you shoot these videos in portrait mode, you do not get the best HD footage. When uploading the videos in portrait mode, the video is less clear than it should be and can be hard to watch because your video player is forced to put black bars along the side of the video player so the image is compressed, even on a computer screen. And if you decide to play your videos on a wide-screen TV, they look even worse. The video camera in your phone is meant to be used to shoot video in 16X9 ratio, which is the same ratio as your television and computer screen.
Now that Apple offers AirPlay, we play the videos we shoot on our iPhones on our TV screens a lot. When family comes over and we want to share Baby Mo's videos, we play them through Apple TV. If we had been shooting these in portrait mode, they wouldn't look very good on the big screen. And if I want to make a montage of any sort, it helps to have the videos in the same aspect as most photos.
The ONLY caveat about shooting this way is that you can cover up the microphone with your fingers while holding the phone sideways, which muffles the audio. We have made that mistake a time or two and it can be a bummer. Keep your fingers off of the microphone slits along the bottom, or wherever they may be on your phone.
So moms and dads everywhere, make a note to yourself: The next time your child is doing something extra cute, turn that camera to landscape mode! You'll be glad that you did!
My dad owned a video store when I was growing up, so needless to say, I watched a lot of great movies. I know that there are a ton of wonderful new kids movies, but I want my kids to see the movies I most enjoyed growing up. My hubby agrees, so we put our heads together and came up with this list of must-see-movies. (We’ve left out the Disney blockbusters because those are kind of obvious.)
Monday, January 21, 2013 at 9:56PM
I'm sure we all do it. Here are a few particularly ludicrous things I say from time to time. 
