So I heard that some people are watching the videos on the internets nowadays. I thought that I’d give it a try, though not through the youtubes. Uploading my son to the youtubes seems a bit creepy - you don’t know who is doing what over there. So here it is the Sundance sleeper hit, “Sebastian After His Bath, Dressed As a Crocodile”:
What camera work! What cinematography! What costume design!
Let me know how you like the video. If I get some positive responses, I can keep posting them. If I do, I’ll also test outreal streaming video since my hosting company provides the service for free.
In case anyone of you missed it, here is my family:
So that’s my wonderful, lovely, super fantastic wife Juliann with my brand new son Sebastian Quinn and our cat Misha.
Quick info on Misha: I found him about 11 years ago or so; he’s quite fluffy; he’s very old (17 or so); he loves to eat baby food; his eyes don’t normally glow like the gates of Hell (they do only on Wednesdays and Fridays after a full moon); he is as much a part of the family as everyone else.
An in case you were wondering about the glow behind Juli, it’s not a fire, and it’s not a lens flare. It’s actually Juli’s natural glow. Ask anyone, she walks around like that all the time.
No, not the only place in town to get a Tokyo Teriyaki. I’m talking about this:
OK, he’s not raging there, but you get the idea. Swaddling ROCKS. (Yes, that’s a London Underground cap that he’s wearing. Our friend Julia brought that back from London last time she was there.) Back to swaddling. The thing that I noticed is that Juli’s swaddling is always way better than mine. And I was a little jealous. I thought I was a pretty good swaddler. Then I realized something: I only really swaddle Sebastian after I change a diaper. Diaper changes are definitely not on Sebastian’s Top 10 Things To Do list. So, inevitably, he’s squirming and carrying on and refusing to straighten out his arms. In not time flat, he has the swaddle all screwed up and his arms a flailing about. Juli usually swaddles him after he’s done feeding when he’s virtually comatose. The difference is akin to the difference between trying to apprehend a crackhead hopped up on meth and speed versus trying to apprehend a guy who just smoked a big fattie and ate a bag of Doritos.
That’s why my swaddles tend to have a bit less staying power. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
shawn .:. January 29th, 2008 at 5:37 pm (general, reading)
Is the roof on fire? Nah, it’s just Sebastian getting ready to go to the pediatrician for the first time.
He passed the doctor’s visit with flying colors. She was quite impressed with the fact that he’s almost back up to his birth weight. He’s up to 9 lb 1 oz, so he’s ahead of schedule. (For those of you who don’t know, newborns typically lose up to 10% of their initial body weight within the first day or so of being born.)
You can’t see it in the photo, but he’s wearing his mathematical equation filled t-shirt. We’re trying to get him started early on all subjects, not just literature. Speaking of literature, he would NOT sit still this morning for the second half of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. I don’t know what he was thinking - we were just getting to the good part last night when we had to cut it short for some reason.
shawn .:. January 28th, 2008 at 7:02 pm (music, reading)
One of the things that I looked forward to the most about being a dad was reading to my child. I imagined me reading all kinds of books to him, especially my childhood favorites like Dr Seuss and Richard Scarry. I also love shopping for books to read to him. Recently, I found these two children’s books:
Jazz *AND* reading! Reading *ABOUT* jazz! To children! Could anything be better?
Well, yes. After reading my son Hop on Pop last night while he was laying on my lap, I asked Juli to find my cool, antique book of Tennyson’s Collected Works. This book was published the year he died (1892) and is one of my very small collection of old books (most of them bought at the old OxfordBooks). So she found it and I proceeded to read three poems: Lilian, Anabel, and Ulysses. It’s been a long time since I read poetry, and I think I know why: I wasn’t reading it out loud. There is something about poetry that just works better when reading it out loud. I am definitely going to be making this a part of my regular routine with the little guy. I read Tennyson’s Lady of Shalott this afternoon and he really liked it (it has a very nice cadence to it). I think I’m going to expand Sebastian’s range of authors. Maybe Lord Byron or Poe’s The Raven. Of course, I’ll also break out my huge collection of Basho poetry, but I think I’ll have to stick to his journals mostly since haiku really a bit short for this purpose.
If there is one thing that I like, it’s jazz. And vinyl. And playing vinyl first thing in the morning while drinking a dry cappuccino while reading the New York Times (our morning ritual for the past three years or so). Even better than all that was sharing it with Sebastian this morning for the first time. So I was thumbing through my collection trying to figure out which would be Sebastian’s First Jazz Album. Juli suggested Miles Davis (one of her favorites) and then quickly resuggested (I like Miles, but he’s not in my top 5 artists to listen to) Thelonious Monk (my favorite artist). Of course, I though Monk was a great idea, so I found this album. Perfect.
So my friend Jimbo came over yesterday so I could take a look at his baby: a brand new Canon dSLR. Wow. Jimbo had his old dSLR stolen (along with, over time, many other things) but he never replaced it. A couple of weeks ago I brought the subject up to him because I felt my point and shoot camera wasn’t sufficient. Well, we talked some more and then talked some more and Jim couldn’t stand it any more and he went and bought it. So he came over yesterday with his girl Cecille and his Canon and took some photos of Sebastian. Here are a couple that he snapped off with little to no effort:
Not bad, eh? In case you’re wondering (and I know you are), he used a 50mm f/1.4 lens. These photos were taken after the sun went down and with very very few lights on. The light capturing ability of the f/1.4 is truly amazing.
I was so impressed that I went out and ordered myself a new camera this morning. Unfortunately for Jim, I’m a NIkon fan, so I bought a Nikon D80, but I took his advice and ordered a 50mm f/1.4. I got mine on ebay from a buy who lives in Nunavik, Canada! And I know you’re REALLY not interested in this, but here is the town it’s being shipped from: Nunavik.
We took Sebastian home on Sunday, January 27, 2008. Here he is right before we left the hospital room:
It was cold and windy so we had to bundle him. In case you couldn’t tell the theme for the day was Frogs. His pants are a bit big on him right now, but so is most of his clothes. Apparently when clothes are labeled 0-3 months, they really mean 2-3 months. Sebastian was 9 lbs 3 oz when he was born, so he’s no little guy. Even the hats are big. Ah well, better too big than too small.
I know, another baby blog. But, really, is there an easier way to keep everyone updated on Sebastian?
So here is the first taste of the blog. The plan is for both Juli and I to post to keep people updated and to help us show off our new son.
Today, Sebastian had his first bath at home. Of course, by bath, we mean a cleaning with a washclothe since his bellybutton crud hasn’t fallen off yet. He wasn’t crazy about the washcloth rubbing all over his body but he really seemed to enjoy getting his hair washed (just like his dad) and rinsed. Here he is after his bath.
Juli and I also took him for his first walk today around the block in his fancy shmancy stroller. We bundled him up in about 4 different layers to make sure he was warm enough. I just wish he hadn’t slept his way through the entire walk, but he seemed to enjoy the all the bumps of our crappy sidewalks here in Oakhurst (City of Decatur, are you listening?).
