I come from a family of home movie lovers. My dad's been making home movies since the dawn of time. Or since my sisters and brothers were little (it's the same thing, isn't it?). Our earliest home movies are of my sisters taking first communion in the late 60s. It's wobbly, it's grainy, it's fabulous. As a Christmas gift a couple of years ago, my dad put all of our home movies onto DVDs. They're priceless, and I treasure them – bad haircuts, embarrassing moments and all.
You would think that I would have a treasure trove of videos of my own children, but sadly I do not. We've been utterly confused by video camera options. We bought a half-way decent camera a few years ago, but ended up hating the format it recorded on – those stupid tiny CDs. We recorded videos sporadically (someone thought it would be a good idea to just leave it running as I birthed Eli. A horror movie if there ever was one), but left them to languish on the computer. We could never quite figure out how to edit them and get them on a more viewer-friendly media. That camera ended up on ebay. Our old point-and-shoot had video capability. When we remember to put batteries in the thing AND carry it along, we get acceptable footage. It wasn't until I got my Mac, which came with iMovie, that I finally found an easy way to upload, edit and share video. Tired of bumbling with the so-so point-and-shoot, we invested in a Flip video camera.
Oh, the fun we will have with this thing. It's so easy to use all around, and it's just so stinkin' cute and little. Is it the highest-quality camera ever? Of course not. But we're finally capturing moments around here – mundane moments that will make us happy for a lifetime of viewing. I think these two videos capture both Elena and Eli exactly as they are right now. Elena, forever obsessed with cats, and Eli, forever obsessed with Sirius XM Hits One.