Facial Recognition

For those that don’t know, all Apple computers—Macintoshes—released in the past four or five years have come with the full version of iLife pre-installed. Building on the near-ubiquitous iTunes, the iLife suite includes iWeb (which I used to use for the Drakelings site), iPhoto (to catalog and edit digital camera input), iMovie (like iPhoto, but for movies), iDVD (for exporting it all to DVD), and the somewhat curiously named GarageBand (for musical instruction and creation).

While this suite has always been awesome, the feature of iPhoto ’09 that really compelled me to upgrade is “Faces,” its facial recognition engine. Faces does its best to recognize where the faces are in each photo, then checks each one against its database of faces you’ve already labeled (as at right). When it finds a face that seems to match, it places a temporary label on the face, e.g. “Is this Leah Drake?” and options to confirm or deny the identification.

Anyway, I’ve been going back through our various libraries (which I’ve broken up by calendar quarter; having them all in one library would be crazy slow over a wireless connection) and labeling the faces. Eventually, I came to last year’s Christmas Eve trip to the mall, where the kids got their picture taken with Santa. I don’t know if it’s just me, but this struck me as particularly humorous:

Hopefully you’re laughing with me and not at me. ;-)

An Innocent Misunderstanding

Just a quick post before bed: I had just gotten the kids out of the tub, this evening, when David said he wanted Mommy (who was in another room, reading). This led to the following brief conversation:

“Mommy?”

“Yes?”

“The children are requesting your presence!”

“Okay!”

I then walked into David’s room to find Leah, wide-eyed and visibly excited. She looked up at me and repeated expectantly: “Presents⁈”

Poor kid…. Only three years old and already getting burned by homophones.

The Simple Answer for Everything

Our family made a shopping trip to Meijer on Saturday, to take advantage of their awesome deals. Among the items on sale: Teddy Grahams, which make a great morning snack for the kids. Strangely, there’s a new kind of Teddy Grahams that’s shaped like Disney Princesses—wouldn’t that be Princess Grahams?—so of course Leah noticed that immediately and just had to have it. (No, we don’t give in often, but Graham crackers are a pretty good choice, so I let her have that one.)

Yesterday after lunch, Leah noticed that Mommy was in the pantry and made a beeline for her, in hopes of getting some of her Princess crackers. Unfortunately for Leah, Mommy isn’t so easily swayed and informed her that no, she couldn’t have any right then, that she’d just had lunch and it wasn’t snack time. So our little girl, with all the indignation she could muster, placed her hands on her hips and responded:

“So change your mind!”

Wouldn’t it be great if life were that simple?

“A” Is for Apple

Last week, Leah and David started preschool! It‘s actually just a small group: three Latter-day Saint moms in our neighborhood—hopefully, soon to be four—have decided to hold class each Wednesday morning. They take turns hosting, with the host mommy teaching. Mommy Drake went first, setting the theme with a lesson entitled “ ‘A’ Is for Apple.” They talked about the letter A, but also discussed apples in great detail: where they come from, what colors they are, etc.. They also played “Pin the Apple on the Tree” and dipped real apples in finger paint, to make cool apple-inspired designs. (They did not, however, discuss Mommy and Daddy’s computers.) ;-)

Since the Drakelings are visiting Grandma and Pop, this week, they obviously weren’t able to attend this week’s class, but we did decide to build upon last week’s lesson: we all headed up to Warwick, New York, and got to pick some real apples! We got McIntosh, Gravenstein, and Gala—ironically skipping the Cortlands, which Pop for some reason didn’t want to bother with. The coolest part, though, is that the particular orchard was very young, so the kids were actually able to pick some low-hanging apples, all by themselves—no adult assistance required! (We did pick them up for some of the higher apples—not to mention a few pears, in the adjoining orchard—but even that is pretty impressive, compared to the apple-picker rentals required, at most orchards.)


Finally, an interesting aside: last night, while Mommy and Daddy were relaxing in the bungalow, the kids started playing school. Leah was “Miss Drake” and David was her student, “Cortland.” They closed themselves in the back bedroom for class, and when class was over, the door opened as Leah called out, “Goodbye, class!” David emerged, and Leah called after him, “You can leave your jacket here!” and slammed the door behind him. :-)

Little Conversations

David has officially entered the “why” stage. You know; the one where many statements will elicit a response of “Why?” from the child? Well, here’s a conversation we had yesterday, as best as I can remember.

To set the stage: we’re currently on vacation at Grandma and Pop’s house, but specifically, to attend their retirement party. As things were winding down, last night (there were like 80 people here, at the height of things), the kids asked to get in the pool. Unfortunately, it was just a little too chilly for that, by that point, so we compromised and got in the hot tub.

While Leah, David, and I (Daddy) were “swimming” in the hot tub, my aunts, Barbara, Janice, and Mary Lou, sat down with Mommy and talked with me and the kids, from beside the tub. One by one, the aunts took off for their respective destinations, which eventually led David to ask what was going on.

David: “Where’s Janice?”

Daddy: “At the hotel.”

David: “Where?”

Daddy: “On Route 23.”

David: “Why?”

Daddy: “So she can sleep.”

David: “Why?”

Daddy: “Because she’s tired.”

David: “Why?”

Daddy: “Because it’s night time.”

David: “Why?”

Daddy: “Because the sun went down.”

David: “Why?”

Daddy: “Because the Earth rotates on its axis.”

David: “Why?”

Daddy: “Because if it didn’t, we’d fall off.”

David: “Why?”

Daddy: “Because there’d be no gravity.”

David: “Oh.”

…which apparently explained everything, since that’s where the conversation ended. ;-)

Rock on!

First of all, a subtle petition to Blogger.com:

BRING BACK LUCIDA GRANDE!

Thank you.

So anyway, it’s obviously been quite a while since I (Daddy) last posted, here. First I was in Kentucky, then I was in California, and then I was supposed to be in Georgia. And of course, because of the nature of the Internet, that’s absolutely no excuse. But I thought I’d at least upload this picture of the kids, rocking out. How cute is that?

Since my last post, we’ve had a visit from the kids’ uncle Eddie and his family, a visit from Leah’s birthdad, Danny, and his mother and sister, and are now preparing to head out to New Jersey to visit Daddy’s family, plus the kids’ uncle Ben and his family (who recently moved there, as well).

I’ll probably fill everybody in on the last month (or some of it, at least), a bit later, but for right now, just know that I haven’t abandoned the blog. I’m still here, rocking on, just like my kids. :-)

Oh and by the way: you can also check out my own, new blog, The Empty Soda Can. It’s frigoriffic!

Daniel’s Due Date

Daddy’s been out of town again, for most of the past week. This time I was in San Francisco, for the annual FileMaker Developer Conference—the same conference I was at four years ago, when iChat allowed Mommy and me to really get to know Auntie Kellie. Because of this, this post is being published a bit late, but hopefully it still retains its poignance.

8 August 2009 was Daniel’s due date. Yes, we know that the doctor wouldn’t have let his mother go past 38 weeks, so he probably would have been born in late July. There’s a certain finality to the actual due date, though—an acknowledgement that, had all gone well, our younger son would be with us by now.

I know we can’t dwell too much on his death or we’ll miss out on the joy that we do have, with the children that are with us—and I don’t think we do dwell on it, unnecessarily. The kids know that they have a little brother that’s back in the spirit world and that he’ll be back someday, though they don’t know exactly what that means. Heck, Anna and I don’t even know exactly what that means. Did he stake his immortal claim on that body, before he passed? Our prayers seem to indicate that he didn’t, but that answer hasn’t been particularly resounding. There’s a difference between believing and knowing, and this one currently resides on the side of belief. The best we can do is to keep on hoping, keep on praying, and keep on loving our children—all three of them—and let the Lord work out the rest.

Early that afternoon—the afternoon of 8 August—we headed over to Daniel’s Mawmaw and Pawpaw’s house, to visit his grave. Leah and David, of course, didn’t know exactly why we were going there; they don’t even know that his body is there (nor probably even that it’s buried anywhere; I doubt they would even have made that connection, at Great-Grandma’s funeral). But just as I do, each time we visit, I stood by his graveside and talked to him—and cried. While our living children visited with their grandparents and played in the sandbox, I took a few minutes to once again express my love for my little lost baby boy, and to express to him and to Heavenly Father just how much I want him back, and quickly. (I kind of doubt Daniel can hear me, but hopefully Father passes on the message?)

After a while, Anna brought Leah and David over with some little watering cans, to water “Daniel’s flowers.” They don’t know what that means, either, and hopefully he’ll be back soon enough that they never have to. They enjoyed themselves, though, and if they understood anything, I expect they felt it was something they could do for their little brother that’s not with us, right now. As we left, I again bid adieu to my beautiful little boy, and headed back to the car, back to our lives that are now so obviously without him.

Sorry for the downer, but I trust you’ll understand. And if you’ve got any prayers to offer, please pray that we’ll have our baby by Christmas. We don’t know if Daniel will be our next baby or if he’s had to go to the back of the line, so to speak—nor even if we’ll have him in this life, at all—but there’s an emptiness that we so desperately want filled, and through the miracle of adoption, we know it can still happen by then.

Thanks for reading. Now let’s get back to the happiness and joy of our living children. :-)

Dear Birthparents

Dear friends,

Thank you for taking the time to look learn more about us. We know your minds and hearts must be full as you consider all of the decisions and possibilities you are facing. We wish you peace and comfort at this time. Maybe we’ll have the opportunity to get to know you better in the future, but for now here is a little about us.

We’ve been best friends for nearly 19 years, married for almost 12, and have a relationship based on love, respect, friendship, and an overdeveloped sense of humor. We enjoy having fun together: playing board games, reading, watching movies, mini-golfing, writing silly songs, and just basically making our own entertainment wherever we go.

Jeff

First of all, I own my own technology consulting firm, and to be perfectly honest, I love my job‚ not only because I enjoy what I do, but also because I can work almost exclusively from home. Kids going to a friend’s or the park, to play? l help load them into the car or stroller. Mommy has an appointment? I keep an eye on the kids. Someone’s sad and wants Daddy? I pop downstairs for a hug. It’s a wonderful way to live, and I hope I never have to give it up.

The family I grew up in doesn’t live nearby, but I keep in touch with them via phone and e-mail, so I rarely go more than a few days without talking to Mom, Dad, or my sister. The kids love to videochat with Grandma and Pop, and being the crazy grandparents that they are, they usually make the 1,600-mile round trip, about 5-6 times per year‚ perhaps more, now that they’re both retired.

When I’m not at work or church, most of my spare time is spent with my family‚ Anna, the kids, my in-laws, etc.‚ but when I get that rare chance to have some time to myself, I usually do a little web surfing, watch some TV, or lie down and enjoy a good book. (My favorite fictional author is Douglas Adams, but I’ll read just about anything that’s lying around.)

Anna

While it is the most challenging job I’ve ever had, I feel very blessed to be able to stay at home with our children. I treasure being there for all of their imaginative play (and it’s fun to join in with them, too!). I enjoy seeing them learn and grow. I am rich in hugs, kisses, and snuggles.

When I get a quiet moment, I like to spend a little time developing my hobbies and interests. I enjoy reading, so I usually have at least one book on my nightstand at a time, and I participate regularly in a book group. I also enjoy trying new recipes and spend a fair amount of my free time browsing recipe databases and websites. I am a member of a couple of "mommy" websites and enjoy posting and blogging there. One of my favorite activities is working out. I like to walk, run, bike, and hike. I recently completed my first 5K. Though I don’t consider myself a crafty person, I do try crafts from time to time. I have found a few I enjoy and am actually pretty good at including jewelry making and making felt hair clips for our daughter.

We spend a lot of time with my parents and siblings. Many of them live nearby, and we get together at least every other Sunday for dinner. My sister is really my best friend. We talk or instant message on an almost-daily basis. Our children play together a lot, especially when we trade baby-sitting for date nights and other appointments. Our families have been there for us through all of our triumphs and struggles, and we feel blessed and proud to belong to such wonderful people.

Leah

Leah has always been an interesting mix of independence and love. She likes to do her own thing‚ especially if she can get her brother to do it, with her‚ but she’s so sensitive to others’ feelings: “Why are you sad?” “Why are you happy?” “May I hug you?” etc.. She really is an incredibly sweet little girl, and we’re just as incredibly blessed to be her parents.
Leah loves to run, dance, sing, and watch Dora the Explorer; and she especially loves being a big sister to her favorite little guy in the world. Leah is currently interested in anything and everything to do with princesses. She regularly holds pretend princess parties and something she invented called “dance outs.”

Through adopting Leah, we developed a deep love and respect for her birthparents. We love to see how proud they are of her. We love sharing stories about how her talents are developing. We love how happy they are with how she is doing. We love that they love her. We love that they love us! We truly feel we gained more than a daughter when we adopted Leah; we gained an entirely new branch of our family, and our lives have been enriched by this blessing.

David

David is an incredibly sensitive little boy, always hugging and kissing and thanking everyone around. He seems to have inherited Leah’s love of singing, though we’re a pretty musical family to begin with. He also enjoys running, jumping, and climbing. While at play, he is quite active and is all boy. When it’s time to settle down for a quiet moment, though, David shows more of his sensitive side and is quite happy to snuggle with the closest family member.

David’s current passion is a Lego set that his aunt got him, for his birthday. Whenever he’s not running around and/or getting into things, we know to take a peek in the toy room, where he’ll be stacking them up, building a house or‚ more likely‚ a tower (or "towee," as he says it).

As Mommy and Daddy, our children are the center of our lives and we can’t imagine anything more wonderful than having them with us forever. We love watching them learn and grow: reading to them, playing with them, making their favorite meals, tucking them in at night; all this and more make for a life so beautiful that we sometimes can’t imagine what we’ve done to be so blessed. Yet at the same time, there’s a special place in our hearts just waiting to be filled by a another special little boy or girl.

We hope this letter has been helpful in getting to know us a little better. Again, we wish you peace and comfort as you plan for your future and the future of your child.

Sincerely,

Jeff and Anna

Dear Birthparents

Dear friends,

Thank you for taking the time to look learn more about us. We know your minds and hearts must be full as you consider all of the decisions and possibilities you are facing. We wish you peace and comfort at this time. Maybe we’ll have the opportunity to get to know you better in the future, but for now here is a little about us.

We’ve been best friends for nearly 19 years, married for almost 12, and have a relationship based on love, respect, friendship, and an overdeveloped sense of humor. We enjoy having fun together: playing board games, reading, watching movies, mini-golfing, writing silly songs, and just basically making our own entertainment wherever we go.

Jeff

First of all, I own my own technology consulting firm, and to be perfectly honest, I love my job‚ not only because I enjoy what I do, but also because I can work almost exclusively from home. Kids going to a friend’s or the park, to play? l help load them into the car or stroller. Mommy has an appointment? I keep an eye on the kids. Someone’s sad and wants Daddy? I pop downstairs for a hug. It’s a wonderful way to live, and I hope I never have to give it up.

The family I grew up in doesn’t live nearby, but I keep in touch with them via phone and e-mail, so I rarely go more than a few days without talking to Mom, Dad, or my sister. The kids love to videochat with Grandma and Pop, and being the crazy grandparents that they are, they usually make the 1,600-mile round trip, about 5-6 times per year‚ perhaps more, now that they’re both retired.

When I’m not at work or church, most of my spare time is spent with my family‚ Anna, the kids, my in-laws, etc.‚ but when I get that rare chance to have some time to myself, I usually do a little web surfing, watch some TV, or lie down and enjoy a good book. (My favorite fictional author is Douglas Adams, but I’ll read just about anything that’s lying around.)

Anna

While it is the most challenging job I’ve ever had, I feel very blessed to be able to stay at home with our children. I treasure being there for all of their imaginative play (and it’s fun to join in with them, too!). I enjoy seeing them learn and grow. I am rich in hugs, kisses, and snuggles.

When I get a quiet moment, I like to spend a little time developing my hobbies and interests. I enjoy reading, so I usually have at least one book on my nightstand at a time, and I participate regularly in a book group. I also enjoy trying new recipes and spend a fair amount of my free time browsing recipe databases and websites. I am a member of a couple of "mommy" websites and enjoy posting and blogging there. One of my favorite activities is working out. I like to walk, run, bike, and hike. I recently completed my first 5K. Though I don’t consider myself a crafty person, I do try crafts from time to time. I have found a few I enjoy and am actually pretty good at including jewelry making and making felt hair clips for our daughter.

We spend a lot of time with my parents and siblings. Many of them live nearby, and we get together at least every other Sunday for dinner. My sister is really my best friend. We talk or instant message on an almost-daily basis. Our children play together a lot, especially when we trade baby-sitting for date nights and other appointments. Our families have been there for us through all of our triumphs and struggles, and we feel blessed and proud to belong to such wonderful people.

Leah

Leah has always been an interesting mix of independence and love. She likes to do her own thing‚ especially if she can get her brother to do it, with her‚ but she’s so sensitive to others’ feelings: “Why are you sad?” “Why are you happy?” “May I hug you?” etc.. She really is an incredibly sweet little girl, and we’re just as incredibly blessed to be her parents.
Leah loves to run, dance, sing, and watch Dora the Explorer; and she especially loves being a big sister to her favorite little guy in the world. Leah is currently interested in anything and everything to do with princesses. She regularly holds pretend princess parties and something she invented called “dance outs.”

Through adopting Leah, we developed a deep love and respect for her birthparents. We love to see how proud they are of her. We love sharing stories about how her talents are developing. We love how happy they are with how she is doing. We love that they love her. We love that they love us! We truly feel we gained more than a daughter when we adopted Leah; we gained an entirely new branch of our family, and our lives have been enriched by this blessing.

David

David is an incredibly sensitive little boy, always hugging and kissing and thanking everyone around. He seems to have inherited Leah’s love of singing, though we’re a pretty musical family to begin with. He also enjoys running, jumping, and climbing. While at play, he is quite active and is all boy. When it’s time to settle down for a quiet moment, though, David shows more of his sensitive side and is quite happy to snuggle with the closest family member.

David’s current passion is a Lego set that his aunt got him, for his birthday. Whenever he’s not running around and/or getting into things, we know to take a peek in the toy room, where he’ll be stacking them up, building a house or‚ more likely‚ a tower (or "towee," as he says it).

As Mommy and Daddy, our children are the center of our lives and we can’t imagine anything more wonderful than having them with us forever. We love watching them learn and grow: reading to them, playing with them, making their favorite meals, tucking them in at night; all this and more make for a life so beautiful that we sometimes can’t imagine what we’ve done to be so blessed. Yet at the same time, there’s a special place in our hearts just waiting to be filled by a another special little boy or girl.

We hope this letter has been helpful in getting to know us a little better. Again, we wish you peace and comfort as you plan for your future and the future of your child.

Sincerely,

Jeff and Anna

Bedtime Routine

David has fallen into a fairly predictable bedtime routine, as of late. After Mommy and Leah have departed for Leah’s room, he gets into bed, generally asks Daddy to read him a story, and then requests that Daddy sing Soon It’s Gonna Rain/Rain, Rain Go Away; Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star; and Rock-a-Bye David (the last being Daddy’s take on the old classic)—not necessarily in that order, nor necessarily once each.

Tonight, after all seemed to be quiet, David started calling for Mommy. Knowing full well that Mommy is a pushover and would probably wind up placing David in Mommy & Daddy’s bed (his favorite place to sleep), Daddy responded first and eventually allowed Mommy to join him. Together, we were able to convince him that he needed to stay in his own bed, then sang him the first verse of I Am a Child of God and prepared to leave. Daddy, knowing what was coming, brought up the rear.

As expected, David requested that Daddy sing another song—specifically, Rain, Rain Go Away—before I left, which led to the following conversation:

Daddy: “I will do that, but when I’m done, I’ve got to leave and you’ll have to go to sleep. Okay?”

David: [silence]

Daddy: “David, is that okay?”

David: [silence]

Daddy: “Well, okay then; I guess I’ll just have to leave, right now.”

David: “It’s okay, Daddy!”

So I sang, just as he requested. (I actually think I’m teaching myself some good techniques, getting my diaphragm going, etc., but I digress.) And just as I got to the final syllable—…way—David talked over it. His observation?

David: “Get out, Daddy.”

What a little dork. ;-)

Pictures!

First of all, you’ll be happy to know that Mommy, Becca, and the kids arrived safely at our home on Wednesday evening, just in time for Becca to get a good night’s sleep and then take off (with her mother) for home in Wyoming. Mommy and the kids, on the other hand, get a few days with Daddy before I (Daddy) take off for a three-day teaching gig in Frankfort, Kentucky—so we get to miss each other again. :-P

Secondly—and more to the point of this post—I’ve discovered how incredibly integrated iPhoto ’09 is, with Facebook. Thus, following the runaway success of moving the blog here, I’ve decided to launch Photos.Drakelings.com. I’ll be uploading the old photos bit by bit, but the site already features all Drakelings photos from Q2 2009. How’s that for an improvement?

Hope you enjoy it!

A Lone Man in Indiana

Today is day two of me being alone in the house. Becca’s home from Wyoming for a few more days, and since Beryle isn’t currently up to going with her, Anna decided to pack up the kids and accompany her kid sister to visit family in West Virginia. I really wish I could have gone along, but there’s just no way. We were in New Jersey for Great-Grandma’s funeral, in May; in West Virginia to visit these same family members, in June; I’ll be in California for the FileMaker Developers’ Conference, in August; and we’ll all be back in New Jersey for Grandma and Pop’s retirement party—plus a much-needed vacation—in September. I mean, seriously…. How much more work can I miss? Being my own boss is great, but there comes a time when I have to really be my own boss and put my own foot down, else there’s no way we’ll be able to live!

The nice thing about being home alone is that it’s given me lots of extra time to work on some long-overdue projects (e.g. cleaning up the iPhoto Libraries), and I can even get a good night’s sleep! The bad thing about being home alone is that I really miss my wife and kids.

Solitude is fun, to a point, but I thank goodness they’ll be home, tomorrow! ☺

Thoughts for the Day…

It’s only 7:38 AM, and already the kids have made me laugh, several times!

There’s a song that Primary kids in our Church sing, about faith. In fact, the name of the song may actually be Faith, and I’m guessing it even predates this one. The song begins with the lines: “Faith is knowing the sun will rise / Lighting each new day.” Well, faith also tells me that once the sun has risen, Leah will eventually wake up and yell, “Daaaa-dee, it’s good morning time! Daaaa-dee, it’s good morning time!” ad infinitum, until I get to her.

Well, this morning was a little different: both kids woke up at 6:00 AM—almost on the dot—and wanted to come into bed with us. We allowed them to do so, so by the time we were actually getting up, Leah had noticed that it was particularly lighter, outside. She asked me to open the blinds, which I did. She gasped, smiled fro ear to ear, and declared, “It’s starting to get morninged!”

* * * * *

David, on the other hand, is going two very contradictory stages: an empathy stage and a hitting stage. Thankfully, the hitting stage hasn’t reared its ugly head, this morning. The empathy stage, however, was quite apparent when I came back downstairs from getting a coin to flip (more on that, in a moment) and I banged my foot on the gate, at the bottom of the stairs. As soon as he realized I was in pain, he asked if I wanted him to kiss it—just like Mommy and Daddy do, for his boo-boos. What a great kid!

So back to the coin flip: when Leah and David both want to do the same thing, but only one person can do it, I’ve started flipping a coin. This morning, I let David call it:☺ “Heads or tails?” I asked him, to which he replied, matter of factly, “Heads.” (As it happens, it came up tails, so Leah got to say our prayer, at breakfast.) The more important part, though, is that David seemed to have missed the point of what we were doing: as soon as we were moving on from the coin flip to our prayer, he looked at me, rather hurt, and said, “Daddy, want head!” ^_^

(Even now, I’m not sure what kind of head he thought I was going to give him, but of course we had a little talk, reminding him what “heads or tails” means.)

I’m So Glad…

Sorry for the lack of a picture on this one, but I’m still busy merging my iPhoto libraries and can’t get to one. Soon enough, soon enough.

I just wanted to mention an experience I had with Leah, this morning: I was sitting in my office, hard at work, when she came into the room. She ran up alongside me and, having gotten my attention, looked up into my eyes and said, “I’m so glad you adopted me!” The smile on her face said it all, and I grabbed her and held her tight. “I’m glad we adopted you, too,” I responded, and let her down. With that, she ran away, back to whatever she’d been doing.

Do I have a great daughter, or what?

Some Highly Technical Stuff

First of all, a disclaimer: this blog is about my kids. The fact that I am about to go off on a rather technical rant should in no way be construed to mean that this blog is no longer about my kids. It’s an aberration, but one that I think certain readers deserve, being that the old web site has now gone over four months without an update. If you don’t care, feel free to skip this one. I won’t mind. ;-)

For the long-time reader, it probably shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that I haven’t updated things, in a while; I’ve never been particularly good at it. However, the astute reader may remember that, as of March 2, I was completely up to date and had rededicated myself to keeping it that way. And almost immediately thereafter, it happened.

It was a hard drive failure, which really shouldn’t have been a big deal. (Note: here comes the technical stuff!) My main computer—the one I use for just about everything—is stocked to the max, with hard drives. The system and applications are on a RAID-1 set, the files are on a second RAID 1 with a hot spare, and each RAID is backed up to a separate Firewire drive. LIkewise, our dedicated iServer—which stores all of our iLife stuff—has a RAID 1 for the system, a RAID 1 for the files, and a Firewire backup for the files. (The system is so basic, I’ve never bothered to back it up beyond the RAID.) So when one of my main machine’s drives failed, it really wasn’t a big deal. In fact, it was nice to have an excuse to upgrade the system drives, which I did by removing the old 500GB RAID from the iServer and replacing it (and its associated backup) with a brand new, 1500GB RAID 1 and Firewire backup. All I had to do was transfer the files, and I’d be set.

Or so I thought.

I’m not sure how or when this happened, but at some point, the header block on the iRAID had become corrupt. What’s more, since I was doing block-level backups, the backup was corrupted, too! I can’t even tell you how much time I spent, repeatedly repairing the header block and combing the three drives for every last bit of information. Thankfully, I think I got all of the kid stuff, and since I regularly share photos with my parents, a lot of them are on their machine, too. But now I’m left with dozens of iPhoto libraries and am in the long, drawn-out process of trying to merge them all. (Thank goodness for iPhoto Library Manager and Duplicate Annihilator!)

So there’s my equally long and drawn-out excuse for not updating everything, in a timely fashion. Thankfully, I’ve finally given in and decided to use this site instead of iWeb, and the next step is to move all the photos and movies (new ones first!) to a more streamlined web experience (probably Facebook or Flickr, since they’re completely integrated with iPhoto ’09, anyway). In the meantime, though, I’ve learned a couple of very important lessons about hard drive maintenance:

1) Don’t do a block-level backup unless you absolutely need to (e.g. the drive has a functional system on it, and you’d like to have a bootable backup).

2) Run Disk Utility’s Repair Disk feature (or something similar) on all of your drives, on a regular basis. The early stages of corruption are still reparable; the later stages are not.

3) Don’t knock offsite backups. Sure, they’re annoying, but wow are they nice, if you need one! ☺

I shall now step down from my soapbox and allow iPhoto Library Manager to continue creating a brand new library, while I get back to bed (which is really where I belong, atm). Next time on Drakelings, back to the kids! ☺

The New Drakelings blog

Welcome to the inaugural post of the new Drakelings blog. I’m hoping I’ll be able to upload some of the older posts, but basically, I’m doing this for one reason: simplicity. For years, I’ve been trying to create my kids’ entire site in iWeb, and it just isn’t working. Granted, iWeb ’09 has an essential new feature—you no longer need a .Mac account to upload only the changes to your site, instead of the whole thing—but the site is still absolutely huge, what with all the pictures and stuff. (To give you an idea, our iPhoto library is up around 80GB, these days!)

So I guess I’ll start by telling a story about last night. Leah’s friend Miranda and her little brother Jacob (who is sort of David’s friend, except for the whole “I’m only eight months old” thing) were over for a while, and we went out back, so they could play on the new swing set. As they were playing, I started talking with them about what an absolutely beautiful day it was. (I don’t remember the last time July was so comfortable—as of right now, 9:50 AM, it’s still only 67˚F! But I digress….) The following conversation ensued:

Me: “What do those clouds look like, Leah?”

Leah: “I dunno” (her favorite phrase, atm).

Me: “Well, what do you think they look like?”

Leah: “I don’t know!”

Me: “Please don’t yell. Just look. What do any of the clouds look like?”

Leah: “I… don’t… kn—oh, that one looks like a horse!” ^_^

David, on the other hand, has recently started speaking a lot more clearly: forming complete sentences, expressing what he really means, etc.. A couple of days ago, I was leaving the room after putting him down for his nap. He absolutely loves it when I sing to him before he goes to sleep, and generally requests one last song, just as I’m going out the door. On Sunday, however, he had an extremely different request:

David: “Daddy?”

Me: “Yes?”

David: (says something unintelligibly softly)

Me: “What was that?”

David: (says ostensibly the same thing, unintelligibly softly)

Me: “What do you need, bud?”

David (smiling): “Nuffin.”

…and that was that.

Great-Grandma is gone.

I’m actually posting this to the blog a couple of months late, since it’s a major event that happened during the four-month hiatus, but am dating it appropriate to when I should have mentioned it: on 11 May 2009, just before noon, the kids’ Great-Grandma Drake passed away. She was 85 years old—just a few months younger than her own mother was—and her health had been failing, for a while. After multiple hospital and rehab stays, she passed away at home, in the apartment where she had lived for over 35 years (twenty-something of them with the kids’ Great-Granddad, who passed away in 1995).

Our family rented a minivan and were heading out to New Jersey, in hopes of seeing her one last time. Unfortunately—or fortunately, judging by my father’s description of how she looked—that was not to be: we got the call as the kids and I were sitting in the van, waiting for Anna to lock the front door to the house. Pop (my father) was pretty broken up about it, but the rest of the week—though hectic—was actually quite nice. Great-Grandma was buried with Great-Granddad, behind the First Reformed Church of Pompton Plains, where my parents (and, occasionally, grandparents) attended. The church’s new pastor, Kathleen; my parents; and I all spoke, at the funeral.

It’s funny…. I do miss my grandmother—there have been plenty of times I’ve wanted to call her, to tell her something funny the kids are doing, and then remember I can’t—but it’s the same peace I had when my grandfathers died, in 1995 and 1997. I know where they are, I have a basic idea of what they’re doing, and I know it’s possible for us to be together again. She was a wonderful woman in life, and I expect she’s still wonderful in death. We miss you, Great-Grandma, and we love you more than we could ever say.

Three and Two

As of about 26 minutes ago, David Cortland is officially two years old! Of course, he’s been acting like a stereotypical two-year-old for weeks, now—probably even months—but now he’s finally got the number to go with it.

In some ways, it feels like only yesterday that we were in the hospital in Noblesville, waiting for him to come out and then finally bonding with him, once he did. In other ways, it seems like an Eternity ago and we can’t even believe it’s been a mere two years.

Whatever the case, we’re incredibly grateful for our beautiful, little two-year-old and all the joy he brings into our lives. Happy birthday, David!

Scheduling

With Church at 11:00 this year, we generally get home at around 2:45 and start on a very late lunch. (Yes, the kids get snacks on the way there, and David gets another in nursery.) So needless to say, even the earliest we can get done with lunch is already into naptime. This past Sunday, Leah never went down—nor even bothered to get re-dressed after her Spaghetti-Os!—and David napped very shortly, so we had some playtime left between his waking up and extended family coming over, at 5:30—and Daddy actually thought to get the camera!

Check out the photos!

Finger Painting

There something about the death of a child that really makes you reevaluate your priorities. Even if you think you’ve been doing pretty well, up to that point, you start to genuinely take stock of things and make a point of spending time on the essential things, instead of just the important ones (or even the unimportant ones).

Case in point: last night, Mommy told Daddy that when he got off work, we would be finger painting, as a family. Daddy was absolutely ecstatic. We’re together as a family every single day, but how often do we actually do something really special, like that? As it happened, circumstance rendered the session a bit later than expected—we actually did it, after supper—but wow, did we have a great time just being together, a family like our Father in Heaven intended. ☺

(more pics)

Daniel

Today was one of the hardest days we’ve ever had to endure: it’s the day we buried our beautiful little boy. We named him Daniel Carey Drake, following the Drake family tradition of giving the second son a maternal-line surname as his middle name.

Daniel was approximately four inches long and was buried in a tiny, satin-lined casket donated by his mommy’s visiting teacher Patty, wrapped in a white handkerchief and tucked in under a remnant of a blue baby blankey with a parent/child pair of giraffes and the words “Sweet Baby.” (Both the handkerchief and the blanket were from Mawmaw.)

Pawpaw dug the grave in Mawmaw and Pawpaw’s backyard, and the elements were greatly tempered as Daddy dedicated it under a beautiful, sunny sky and a surprisingly warm 35˚F. After the dedication, Pawpaw placed the coffin inside a metal ammunition box that Papaw left him, then placed that inside two plastic bags, to keep out the moisture. Parents and grandparents then each tossed some dirt into the grave and Daddy and Pawpaw filled in the rest. When Spring comes, we’ll be adding a plant to attract butterflies, in his honor.

Thanks to all those that have expressed their love and gratitude during this obviously trying time, and also to those that have remained silent for not knowing what to say. We love you all, and your prayers have definitely been felt in this, our time of greatest need.

Butterbean

We lost our little baby this morning. Butterbean was at almost 13 weeks gestation. We don’t know what happened, but Anna is of course blaming herself and her body’s supposed incompetence. July 25 and August 8 (our realistic and estimated due dates, respectively) are going to be really, really hard to face, but thank goodness for our two other, beautiful children.

Rest in peace, little Butterbean. We love you. ☹