Day 4: Never have I ever... made a home video

This post could also be titled "Never Have I Ever Had SO MUCH Respect for Stay-at-Home Moms", but i'm really trying to avoid clichés here. But seriously... to all the parents out there: RESPECT.

I just spent the past three days with my adorable, hilarious nephews and I feel like just ran a marathon. Oh fuck, the clichés. I'm too tired to think. You people seriously do this every day? Come on. Surely you must lock them in the closet or tie them together from time to time. Child abuse? Please. That's sanity. They.never.stop. 
(Before anyone gets all worked up and calls CPS on me, let me be 100% clear: I'm kidding.) 

Taking care of young children all day long isn't exactly challenging. But damn, it's hard. It's exhausting, repetitive, ridiculous, and is the greatest exercise in patience I've ever had... and I only do it on snow days.  

Carter, Oliver, and their Jammie, Pop-pop and I were snowed in for two days while my sister had to trudge into work. (She works in healthcare, and sick patients don't take snow days...) In this childcare scenario, I try to make it easy on my parents so they can enjoy the kids rather than tire at their merciless energy. I usually handle the most annoying duties like meals, diapers, discipline, chasing. But I'm not delusional. This caregiving situation is easy-peasy compared to the typical day for most parents. I can say "Hey Dad, please watch Oliver for a minute. I really have to pee." The alternative if I actually was a stay-at-home mom? Oliver stands there looking at me quizzically as I drop trou, and I speculate permanent damage to his perception of normal family boundaries. 

I could go on and on about how much patience and love it takes to raise children well, but I don't want to overstate the obvious here. Plus, what the H-E-double-hockeysticks do I know? I'm not raising these kids. I'm just the babysitter. I aim to be a nurterer, but I know I'm only toe-dipping in the vast ocean that is Parenthood. And man, that bitch is deep. 

Today's New Experience: Shoot and edit a short home video. That's it. Simple? Tricky? Fun? Tedious? I didn't know. 

Six months ago, I got a new MacBook Pro, but I have barely scratched it's capabilities. I haven't even cracked iMovie, and just started with iPhoto last month. I'm surprised the folks at Apple haven't knocked on my door and taken it away to go live with a foster User.

Between iMovie and Flip, homemade movies so ubiquitous that it's almost embarrassing to admit I've never made one. There are elementary school children learning how to edit videos right now in their "TechnArtology" classes. But making good homemade movies require a dash of skill. My friend Christie, in particular, has demonstrated her Edward Scissorshands-like editing talents on multiple occasions. She hits all the right notes: Appropriate music, humorous captioning, clever timing. I aspire to make a piece that's a fraction as cute as her works. 

So, I spent all day Wednesday casually shooting the boys in their daily activities with a Kodak HD mini-videocam.  After the goslings went to bed, and after wiping the floor with my Dad in a few games of of Jotto, I began to upload the footage to iMovie. I didn't want to watch the stupid tutorial; winging it with iProducts is usually effective thanks to their intuitive UI. It took me about an hour to figure out how to import the footage, basic editing, music, text, and transitions. About 2.5 hours of actual editing and creative experimentation, and I was done. Unfortunately, starting this project at midnight was a bad idea. I was up until 4:00 a.m. binging on the meaningless details before forcing myself to shut down and get some rest. A mere four hours later, I woke to a tiny little hand pushing my door open. "ReeRee, are you awake? Let's go play games." 

Results: A cute little ditty* that the grandparents might even forward on to their AOL friends. Please keep in mind, after two days with cabin-fevered boys, things got a little wacky at Casa Bruno. And yes, we know that hand trucks aren't toys. 

Status: Success! 

Notes:
- I showed the video to the boys this morning. Carter thought it was the most hilarious thing he's ever seen. He laughed uncontrollably, danced around singing "i'm crazy like you!" and exclaimed "Play it again!". Oliver began to wail as soon as he saw the close-up shot of his own face. Upon the second viewing, Ollie made it a little further into the video,  and then again had a meltdown.... at the sight of his own face. Kids are so weird.  
*Warning: Contains nudity. Video not intended for children and pets under the age of 18.