First Pair of Shoes

On December 20th, we took Harrison to the downtown Seattle Nordstroms to fit him for his first official pair of walking shoes. Nordstroms, being Nordstroms, makes a to-do of the momentous occasion which is why I chose to give them our hard earned cash. When we arrived, poor Harrison had already been awake through a morning of meeting Santa, checking out the Macy’s window display, his first ride ever on a carousel, lunch and his first experience eating french fries (the first truly solid food has ever accepted) – all of this needs to be documented on another post. Our babe was extremely tired yet sweet as we arrived on the 3rd floor kid’s shoes department. His whole body was limp and his eyes were practically rolling back in his head but we decided to take a risk and force him to stay awake and fit him for shoes.

The sales woman was surprised he was already walking at 10 months and when she measured his foot he came back at size 3.5. To give him room to grow we wanted a pair of 4’s in which they only had four styles in that size. Here is the pair we deemed worthy:

Harrison had by this time perked up and, wearing his new shoes, began walking around to test them out. I videoed the whole thing which isn’t exciting enough to post but the sales woman took a Polaroid photo, placed it in a little card with the date and a handwritten note. Harrison was then presented with a blue balloon and a stuffed “Nordy,” which is the Nordstroms kids’ mascot.

Just then, dear old dad remembered his Nordie and his experiences buying shoes there with his mom. Dad says, “mom always let me walk out of the store wearing my new shoes. It always made me happy.” Naturally, Harrison left the store sporting his new Stride Rites while mom and dad wondered why we didn’t check the price tag before agreeing to buy them. Ha!

2009 Fein Christmas Card

We have enjoyed sending a Christmas Card every year and we hope you have enjoyed receiving them. We always like to write a little something on the back and I stress about picking out the perfect photo. This year I was sure we had obtained perfection! I loved the blue and brown template, was satisfied with the write up on the back and quote on the front and most of all, we had the perfect picture.

This year, I strayed from my standard card which is usually thick cardstock with a glossy finish. I like the new matte, smaller card however the material must be more absorbent because the dark colors turned out really dark which unfortunately ruined the finished card. I would have demanded a reprint except I would never have been able to get them out to all of you in time (they did refund my money though!). That said, I wanted to show you the original picture so you can admire it in it's full glory. Thank you to Oma's nephew Ricky for taking this picture over Thanksgiving.

Handmade Christmas Gifts

Christmas 2009 included some very cool handmade gifts. Uncle Jonathan sent Harrison wood blocks that he cut, sanded and finished himself. Thankfully, he even coated them with walnut oil which is used in cooking so Harrison managed to evade poisioning. In fact, that walnut oil must be pretty tasty stuff becuase Harrison actually doesn't put many things into his mouth compared to most babies. I wish I could say he built the structure below but that was my doing.

For my little niece, who is set to make her debut in less than 3 weeks, I made her a quilt. Since her parents have more ecelctic tastes that what most fabric stores provide in the baby flanel section, I picked out some trendy Amy Butler prints and followed one of her patterns. Since it uses rectengles and squares, it was a bit more challenging than the average quilt and I certainly learned a lot along the way. I even filled it with Eco friendly organic batting which her parents will appreciate.

My brother, the self made carpenter, also built the crib. The front piece is removable so they were able to sit in it to take this picture. I am very excited for my niece to arrive! I have several other projects in mind for her but there is so much going on right now they are on the back burner. I was also finishing a quilt for Harrison (to match the monkey curtains) when he arrived 2.5 weeks early - I should literally tie up those loose ends before I start anything new. Never enough hours in the day!

Abstract Chistmas

Harrison finger painted this Christmas Tree for us at school. Needless to say, we are certain we have a future Jackson Pollack on our hands.

Family Resemblance

While we were in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving, we noticed some pictures of Uncle Jonathan as an infant and remarked on the strong resemblance. PoPo scanned these two images and... viola! A side by side comparison. Our kiddo is also on the tall and skinny side which are not adjectives people would use to describe either of us however Uncle Jon is just that. Hmmmm... maybe my soon-to-be-born niece will look like me! Aunt Audrey, I hope that is not the case!

Waving Good Bye

Harrison recently learned how to wave "goodbye" however he almost never does it when you really want him to. Perhaps it is because we look at him expectantly and wave and repeat "by-bye, bye-bye" for a long while, hoping he will wave back... I think he just stares at us and thinks what is wrong with these people!

Well, the other night we were testing out our new video camera and he gave us exactly what we had been waiting for:

Thanksgiving in Las Vegas

This year, we packed up the family and headed to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving week. And by "family" I mean everything and everyone, including the dog. We were unable to find a place for Winston to stay so we decided it would be easiest to bring him along (we promptly ate our words once we started packing). When we arrived at SeaTac, we pulled up in front of a police officer who was actually a good friend and dorm mate in college. As we set out our 3 suitcases, travel kennel with dog, collapsible sleeping kennel, baby, car seat, stroller and 2 back packs the officer asked, "are you moving to Vegas??" And once we arrived in LV, we had to rent a minivan to haul us and all our stuff around. Sheesh!

We enjoyed two Thanksgiving dinners which seemingly fulfilled Michael's wildest dreams. On Wednesday, Michael christened grandpa Dale's enormous new grill with New York strip steaks and two whole rotisserie chickens. Perhaps unconventional for a turkey day but oh so delicious! Oma's friend's brought her 9 month old daughter over and they promptly taught Harrison how to climb stairs. I was a bit weary of this endeavor at first but little Mia could cruise up them like nobody's business and it didn't take Harrison too long to catch on, albeit hesitantly.

To wrap up the evening, we un-wrapped our Christmas gifts since we would be in Washington for the Christmas holiday. Grandpa and Oma got mom and dad a Flip video camera; not only can we record memories but now I will be able to post video to the blog! With walking just around the corner for Harrison, it came none too soon. Master Harrison was showered with gifts from his grandparents as well as his great-Aunt Sharon. As you can imagine, he was greatly intrigued with boxes and wrapping paper and hardly noticed the new clothes and toys. The toy he did seem to take some interest in were a set of maracas that play music, count to ten and name off colors with corresponding lights - all of which can also be played in Spanish or English. I now know without a doubt that amarillo means yellow.

Thursday we had more traditional Thanksgiving meal but just as delicious. PoPo made her best pumpkin cheesecake ever and Chyna made a tasty apple strudel. Grand Hart's son Burke and his wife Judy came over and we enjoyed chatting while watching Harrison play and Winston beg for food. We ended the evening with a new family tradition of a Christmas tree lighting and helping Harrison hang the first ornaments on the tree. Oma's nephew Ricky is an aspiring photographer so he took some faily portraits in the back year. Here are some favorites with another in our upcoming Christmas card. Enjoy!