Johnny and I have a lot of VHS and mini-DV tapes in drawers in our house.  We have video of high school basketball games and graduation, our wedding, college graduation, and LOTS of home video footage.  After our first baby was born, we of course did a lot of videoing.  We bought some software to convert the mini-DV tapes to DVD.  We then proceeded to reuse the mini-DV tapes.  That means we recorded over the original footage.  NEVER to that.  And I repeat, NEVER do that.

For some reason, we didn’t actually watch any of the DVDs to find out the quality of our conversions.  It was VERY poor.  And we no longer had the originals because we had recorded over them.  It still makes me sick to think about it.  We’ve been trying to find a better way to convert these VHS and mini-DV ever since.  We mainly want to have them saved on our hard drive so that we can back them up and keep them safe.  So if our house were to burn, or something else tragic, we do have the copies saved somewhere else. We use Mozy and would recommend it to anyone!

So needless to say when I was contacted about trying out VHS to DVD 3.0 Deluxe by Honestech, I was very hopeful and excited about what this program could do for me.  Here’s what we thought about using it:

• It was very easy to install



• The included hardware was also easy to use.  It comes with a small video capture device that connect to the computer via a USB 2.0 cable.  I allows both RCA and S-Video input connections. We used the RCA cable that came with our video camera.
• We used Advanced Mode because we wanted to save it on our hard drive.
• The max recording time is 24 hours, which is PLENTY!
• We put in our mini-DV tape that we wanted to copy and pushed play on the camera, and the record on the computer.
• The default options were all right where we would have put them; best quality, split size (seperate, smaller files, instead of one huge one), and DVD format.

The quality of the video on our computer is great.  So, we burned it onto a DVD, which was super simple.  It took an hour or so to burn, but the results…..oh, the results.  We put the DVD into our player to watch it on the TV.  The quality was terrific!  I thought it looked like the uncut footage on a documentary.  Johnny compared the DVD to watching the footage directly from the miniDV through our video camera.  He says the quality straight from the miniDV may be a little better, but only slightly.  

I’m so excited that we finally have a reliable way to make copies of our home videos!!  If you’ve been looking for something to help you put your home videos onto DVD, I highly recommend this VHS To DVD 3.0 Deluxe. 

Some of the other really cool programs this company makes are Audio Recorder 2.0 Deluxe and Claymation Studio V2.0.   The Studio Recorder program is for converting analog music such as cassettes, LPs, and 8-tracks to MP3s and audio CDs.  Claymation Studio is a fun program to create your own stop-motions movies.  Sounds like it would be great for older kids who are interested in making videos!

Have you  heard about this great SmartMom jewelry yet?  I have been coveting it since I first saw it several months ago.  I wanted some Teething Bling for Nathaniel who was chewing my non-chewable necklaces until the finish came off.  (That can’t be good!)

So when I saw these products, which are made from silicone that is phthalate, BPA, PVC, and lead free, non-toxic, and dish-washer safe, I was VERY excited!  I never bought myself one, though I should have.  Their current line includes necklaces with either a donut or heart shaped pendant, bangles, and keychains.  And they have plenty of colors to choose from too!

Anyway, I acutally just won a set that includes a donut shaped pendant and bangle in their new holiday color sugarplum, which is on sale right now!  If you purchace the sugarplum pendant, you get the bangle free! This is a December special, so you better head over there and get one if you want it!  Or, if you’re interested in a different color, Mom4Life has all of their SmartMom products on sale 20% off, and they always have free shipping!  Just search for Smart Mom and the products should come up.

My set came in a pretty little purple organza pouch, ready for gift giving.  The products are high quality and VERY cute!  This could be a great stocking stuffer for either a pregnant mom, or a mom who currently has a chewer.  Or maybe even put it in the chewer’s stocking!!

I thought I’d do a stocking stuffer/product review post since I know several people who are trying to get all their stocking stuffers done.  Here are a few of our favorite small toys that would fit just right into a stocking.

First up – The First Years Stack n Count Cups.  These cups are cheap and my kids have loved them.  We have played with them in so many different ways – stack ‘em up, nest ‘em, spin ‘em around on our wood floors, play with ‘em in the tub, cover your eyes, cover your ears…you get the picture.  Cheap fun!!  These are about $3.99 at Babies R Us.

If you haven’t already bought some of these little Tonka Wheel Pals, they are another great item.  Our boys have a ton of them and love to play all over the house with them.  They have police cars, fire trucks, tow trucks, race cars.  And they come in a small or medium size.  The smaller ones come in packs of 5 for around $8 and the medium sized ones are about $4 each.

Looking for a couple of good little books for a stocking?  Here are a couple of our favorites.  Open the Barn Door by Christopher Santoro or Cars and Trucks from A to Z by Richard Scarry.  Open the Barn Door has a little door to open on each page, and it’s a great book for learning which sounds go with which animal.  Cars and Trucks book is just a book of silly types of cars and trucks from A to Z.  These are chunky board books and would slip into a stocking very nicely. Burt’s Bees Bubblebath is another favorite around here, and it’s phthalate and paraben free.  

And, if you’re looking for a treat, Fruitabu is a good option.  The twirls are easier to chew than the smooshed fruit.

Hope this gives you some ideas for your little one’s stocking.  I love stockings and can’t wait to put all the goodies in them this year!

When Gabriel was a tiny baby I felt like I needed an instruction manual for him!  I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who feel that way with their first baby.  I really like to know what is best and try to do it if I can.  I read attachment parenting methods and didn’t like all that I saw, I read Baby Wise methods and didn’t like all of those methods either.  I can’t remember how I ran across the Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child book, but I can tell you, it helped me SO much!

This book is based on much research, so I know it is not just an opinion or idea, I think that is what I like most about it.  All of the things I wanted to know about how much and when Gabriel should sleep were in this book.  Now, I knew…

• the signs to look for when Gabriel was getting sleepy
• the times of day when it’s most easy for babies and children to fall asleep and stay asleep
• how to help him get quality sleep, not just quantity
• that it was okay to rock him, or nurse him to sleep if I wanted to
• that it was okay for him to cry sometimes to learn to self soothe (after a certain age)
• the nap schedule he needed to be on
• what an acceptable bed time was

I can’t begin to tell you how much this book helped me.  My life suddenly felt so much less chaotic than before.  And Gabriel was SO much happier and well rested.

I will tell you though, we’re some of the only ones I know that put their children to bed at 7.  Yes, I said 7.  What time do they wake up?  Well, 7.  Yep, 12 hours later.  Gabriel has started going to bed at 7:30 now that he is a little older, and if there is a special circumstance he can stay up later, but that is his normal bedtime. They also both take about a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.  The early bedtime is probably harder for people who have 2 working parents, or like to do a lot of night activites.  We are neither of those, and we enjoy our time together in the evenings after the kids are asleep.  It gives us time together everyday to talk, which is really nice.

Nathaniel hasn’t been as good of a sleeper as Gabriel until lately.  I was able to start using the methods in this book earlier with him because I already  knew what I was doing.  He learned to go to sleep on his own very early on, without crying too much at all.  I can tell a big difference in their behavior when they don’t get the sleep they need too.  They are much whinier, their attention spans are shorter, and they’re just generally harder to get along with.

Another thing that I really love about this book is that it can fit so many different styles of parenting.  He mentions how to use his methods with co-sleeping and the family bed as well as baby in their own crib in their room.  I’m also so very thankful for his gentler approach to crying it out.  He tells you when a baby is too young for that, and then he also tells you how long you should let an older baby cry, and when.  It is hard to let your baby cry it out sometimes, but we’ve found that when we continue to answer their cries endlessly, the crying is also endless.

If you’re looking to put some order back in your life, and your baby’s, then I highly recommend this book.  It has been a huge help to me in knowing what to expect, sleep-wise, at every age of my children.

I know that people are buying Christmas gifts at this time of year, so I thought I’d give you my take on a few products we have around our house that we love.  I’m starting out with some of my favorite Boon products.

We bought the Frog Pod maybe a year ago after all of our mesh bags with suctions cups had fallen of the wall, yet again.  (Those bags always fell off the wall.)  There are 3 different ways of attaching the Frog Pod to your shower wall.  You can use screws, the adhesive strips that are included, or the included suction cups.  The suction cups didn’t work for us, and you can’t put as much stuff in or on the Frog, so we ended up using the adhesive strips.  It has been great!  You can store LOTS of toys in the large body of the Frog, which also serves as a scoop, for scooping all the toys out of the tub.  You can also store soaps, shampoos, and bubble bath on top of the Frog.  We really like it, and even though it’s a little expensive, it’s worth it, I think.

The Squirt is another great Boon product that I love.  It’s a baby spoon, and here’s the way it works.  Fill the handle with baby food of your choice, (chunky stuff doesn’t really work well),  screw on the spoon which has a little hole in it, and squirt food into the spoon.  It also comes with a little cover for the spoon tip to keep it clean and to keep it from spilling out on the go.  I really loved this spoon for dining out, or away from home.  I warmed the baby food up at home before putting it into the spoon. Then, I would pack it into one of the insulated baby bottle pockets in my diaper bag to keep it warm.  Then when we got to the restaurant I could whip it out and feed my baby very easily.  It never spilled in my bag and I even tried to squeeze the handle with the cover on to see if I could make it leak.  I think it would take quite a bit of pressure to cause a leak though, because I couldn’t get ‘er to blow! It comes in pink too!

The Flo is probably my least favorite, but I do still like it.  My husband however, is not that fond of it.  Our old soft spout cover was pretty gross looking, and I got a really good deal on the Flo, because it was open box.  I like that it protects little heads from hitting the spout, and I like the water fall effect.  It’s also a bubble bath dispenser, but not intended for storage of bubble bath.  In other words, don’t fill the thing up with a ton of bubble bath, only enough for one bath.  My husband doesn’t like that if you turn the water up full blast – like you normally would – the water fall effect becomes the “douse my bathroom” effect.  The water can spray out pretty far over the side of the bathtub, really.

I would recommend any of these products as a Christmas gift, or buying for yourself. I’d love to hear about any other Boon products you love, too!

After my post about digital scrapbooking, I was contacted about trying out this new software, Digital Scrapbook Artist.  Have you seen it or heard about it yet?  Well, it is a really great software program that seems to have everything you need for digital scrapbooking!




Here are some of the features:

• High Quality Embellishments
• Page Size Selection
• Crafting Tools
• Photo Paintbrushes
• Shadows & Effects
• Built-in Digital Photo Editing
• One Click Share

Without further adieu, here is my take on Digital Scrapbook Artist….

Installation
I installed this program myself, and it was a piece of cake.  I just put in the CD and followed the instructions on the setup wizard and had no problems at all.  I also installed in the included DaisyTrail digikit which had 10 VERY cute design packs.  The design packs include coordinating backgrounds, materials, alphabets, brushes, frames, and embellishments.  Everything you need to complete a page or album with the same theme.

Using the Program
The first thing you see upon opening the program is this Startup Wizard…

I began by clicking “Start with a Theme”, and all of the included DaisyTrail digikits were right there for me to work with.  I made a 12×12 practice page, and chose a page  layout that I liked.  What’s really cool is that even though this is a pre-created page layout, you can still move anything or add anything you want!

Here is the page I created:

Next I created a page from scratch.  I started with a blank page and chose everything I wanted to add. The left side bar had everything I needed; backgrounds, frames, pictures, embellishments, etc.  The only difficulty I ran into was with cropping and then framing a photo.  I had to email and ask for help on that one.  I found out that if you crop a photo, you have to make a frame from scratch to fit.  Which would be easy to do with either the shapes tool, or use some of the very cool brushes.  I added some embellishments and a little journaling, and my page was done.  Here it is:

Some of the other cool features that really impressed me were the glitter dust and that you can cut free form shapes with all sort of cool scissors – think pinking shears, zigzag, wavy and many, many more.  You can even use your existing digital scrapbook supplies, (backgrounds, embellishments, etc.),  with this program!  If you’d like to save your file differently than the default, you have to export it as the file type you want, which is a little bit of a pain, but it is possible.

What I Think
I thought this program was very user friendly.  I had the User Guide handy and it was pretty easy to figure it all out.  There are lots and lots of fun options to choose from for making pages, and I can even use all of my other digital scrapbooking kits.  I love that I can create pages with this program that can be saved as a JPEG, TIFF, or HD photo, or as a PDF and then burned to a CD, printed or shared online.  So I can still upload my pages for printing a photobook at Shutterfly, or anywhere else,  when I’m done. If you have a digital scrapbooker on your shopping list for Christmas, I think this would be a great gift idea!  It’s available for purchase at Serif.