Technology

A few weeks ago, after a stretch of a few hard nights with Boy A and his night terrors, we broke down and bought the Lully to help him sleep better.

At first, I was a little skeptical, because in theory, I should be able to continue to reduce the number of night terrors by adjusting his sleep schedule. But for a stretch that wasn’t the case. I was sticking with our normal nighttime routine and nothing was working.  My wife was in a Mom’s group on Facebook and another parent posted about the Lully and how it had reduced the night terrors down to 1 a week. I figured what the heck, it was not cheap, but if it helped him sleep and me too, then it was worth it.

So the first night that we got the device, I immediately charged it and got it setup but I somehow misread/misunderstood that the device had to be charged up. My bad. So, yeah, I took the Lully device and put it back downstairs and wouldn’t you know it, he had a night terror that night. The next time and since then, I was able to use the device and so far it seems to be working.

Last night, I knew before putting the boys down that Boy A was going to have a night terror. All of the typical patterns of behavior of being over exhausted were there, so last night was going to be the first true test of Lully. It took him a few minutes to get settled and 50 minutes later, I was back up ready to use the device and try to wake him slowly out of his sleep. Within 5 seconds of turning on the device, he moved his legs, 5 seconds later he was stirring around.

Well, it worked! No night terror. He was able to sleep through the night and I was able to have a good night sleep. Thanks Lully!

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Hearing is something that most of take for granted. Hearing sounds for the first time or a new sound, is just a fleeting thought.

But for this little boy and his family, hearing is became really important, because for the first time, their son could hear.
Take a moment and watch this YouTube video – there are a few gross scenes, so turn your head.

But seeing that moment, when the little boy heard his father for the first time is just an amazing this.

I take for granted so many things, like hearing or seeing, but through a medical break through, their lives are forever changed.

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Stop. Take a moment to think about all of the interruptions that you experience in a day. Phone calls. Text Messages. Emails. And the list goes on.

But what do you do about those interruptions as it pertains to your children? Do you let those interruptions come between you and the time that you have with your kids? I am guilty of it.  As are probably most. Our society has become so dependent on technology, that it is hard to break away from it. We are trained to check our email every 5 minutes. We know that by certain sounds, a new text message has come through or email.

But what is more important, checking your phone or playing with your kids? And it should be an easy answer, right? But is it?

I am challenging both myself and my wife, to put down the phones when we come home and just be with the boys. I am challenging myself, to stop checking email every 5 minutes or responding to text messages, work and friends can wait. Nothing is that life pressing and if it is, they will call back.  I realized last night that I am too connected and yes, I am a Web Developer and I am saying that I am too connected to technology. Funny right? Well, it isn’t and here is why. When I am focused on responding to emails or text messages, those are minutes that I am not playing with my kids, showing them how to throw a ball or play with blocks.  I don’t want to miss a single moment and I feel that I am allowing too many interruptions to do just that.

So starting today. When I get home, my phone goes on the night stand until the boys go to bed.  And the boys get my undivided attention and no more interruptions.

Check out this website – The Quiet Place and just relax for a minute.

Are you allowing interruptions in your life to stand in the way of your kids?

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I have been thinking for a while now that I wanted to get a new camera and today, I finally pulled the trigger and made the purchase. After a lot of research, talking with several friends, I finally went with the Canon T3i.  After a lot of discussion with my wife, looking at finances, etc. it came down to two simple things:

1) I don’t want to miss any moments of my boys growing up and this camera would not only allow for simple point and click photos, but would also allow for us to video tape them as well. And the camera if very easy to use, but more importantly,

2) If you look at what we were paying our photographer, $150 for the sitting fee, $300 for the prints and we did this 3 times their first year, this camera will pay for itself in the  2nd year.

I am really excited about getting this camera and ready to start taking photos of the boys on a more regular basis. And after a lot of research, going to stores and holding the camera, I really think that I am going to enjoy taking photos again. Maybe a new hobby?

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I’ve been developing websites now for over 10 years and I’ve wanted to try something new, developing an app. Nothing crazy. Nothing that I would ever try to sell through  either the Apple Store or Android Store. So, the time has come.

I have started laying the ground work for the first app that I am going to develop.  It will be children focused and hopefully can help parents. The idea behind the app is whether or not your child should go to the Emergency Room or not.  I am currently in the phase of planning out the development and what topics that I want to go in at launch and the basic look of the app.

The first major decision that I did make though for the app, was that I was doing a web based app and not one that is native to the phone. This was actually a pretty easy decision after looking at trying to develop two separate apps for the Droid and iPhone and iPad. So now that that decision has been made, the process becomes a little easier.

Once I get further alone in the development, I’ll share the app here.

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Recently my wife encouraged me to download and install My Fitness Pal app and I must say, I have been blown away how easy it is to use, but also to track what I am eating. The app not only works on the web, but also on multiple smart phones as well.

As most, I set out to lose weight, but after the 1st of the year, I normally just continue my eating habits. Now, I am more conscious about what I am eating and when I am eating, because I am tracking my calories. And to even got a step further with the importance of this app, my wife is able to see what I am eating and help encourage me to make better decisions when she sees that I have slipped and eaten a cheeseburger at lunch, instead of a salad or fish.

So far, I am on schedule with my weight loss and it is in large part due to My Fitness Pal.

 

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Have you heard the latest buzz, Pinterest? If not, you are probably a guy or not connected to the web very often. Well, my wife has started to as she would say, become obsessed with it. At first, I was a little skeptable, but after this weekend, I am all for it. She found 2 recipes that she made today, a Sourdough circle pizza bread and an apple baked apple. Once I get the recipes I’ll post the links, but these were two that she will definitely be making again. No, I will not be joining Pinterest, but I am all for my wife looking at it more if she is going to keep finding recipes like those.

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As with everything else with our society, there is an app for our smart phones for almost everything. Here are a few apps that I wanted to share that I have either read about that I wished that I had used or that I have used in the past/currently.

Out of Milk – This app is perfect for people with ADD or that just forget because they have so much going on. It allows for lists, which I use for grocery shopping, to be created either on the phone or on a computer, which is then synched to the phone. I probably use this app once a day.

Baby Tracker – I have not used this one, but with twins, it could have come in handy.

Baby Sign Language – This is something that we have started doing, so I can see were this could come in handy.

It is amazing how technology is creating apps to make our lives easier as parents.

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