Harrison's First Birthday (Part I)

The week before Harrison's birthday, I started getting sad thinking about my little guy turning one year old. The night before, I cried like a baby and got it out of my system so that when they big day finally arrived, we were ready to let the good times roll!

I took the day off of work so that momma and baby could spend the whole day together. Fueled by birthday pancakes, we kissed dad farewell as he went off to work then we drove to downtown Seattle and visited the Pacific Science Center's toddler area and tropical butterfly house. Harrison loved the water trough, splashing wet stuff everywhere and playing with the water wheels. In the picture below, he is flanked by twin 15 month old girls.

Harrison also enjoyed the music room, filled with drums, xylophones and many other instruments that makes noise by banging on them.

He also enjoyed following another little girl into the thing below (what do you call these things?). Note the door on this cube... at home, he discovered how to open and close cabinet doors (which now all have safety locks!) as well as standard doors. In fact, he likes to close the door on me and when I ask "Where's Harrison?" he will swing the door back open and greet me with a wide smile and a giggle.

Lastly, we visited the Butterfly House, which is basically a giant green house filled with hundreds of butterflies flying free. To ensure he didn't accidentally step on any that occasionally land on the ground, I carried him the whole way. At one point, he was on my left hip and a butterfly landed on my right shoulder - he was totally fascinated and just stared at it for the minute it rested there. Another landed on his leg (which he couldn't really see) and another landed on my leg which flew away when I leaned Harrison too close to it. 

Since it wasn't quite nap time when we left and I didn't want him to fall asleep in the car on the way home, we drove across downtown to my office and had lunch with my friends Nancy, Carol and Jessica. As expected, Harrison wanted to get down and explore so I followed him around the lobby and when we came back to my friends, he walked into the glass wall (on purpose) but then decided to stay put... long enough for me to grab the camera and take several pictures while the four of us laughed hysterically! He literally held this position and his eyes darted back and forth at us while we laughed! What a ham.

Harrison and mom drove back towards Mill Creek and he fell asleep in his new big boy car seat (facing forward finally!). I love this picture, he just looks so sweet and peaceful after a fun birthday morning.

At 2pm, we arrived at his Day Care with blueberry muffins so we could celebrate his birthday was his new classmates. Once inside the room, I asked why there were only 4 kids instead of the usual 10 and I was informed that the day before, several had been throwing up and had diarrhea and had stayed home today. Needless to say, I didn't even put Harrison down and we high tailed it back to the car.

Daddy came home a little early and we decided to take Harrison out to dinner at a kid friendly pasta place that would meet his limited list of acceptable foods (he only likes soft stuff, like noodles or crackers because they kind of melt in his mouth). He started getting kind of cranky while waiting for food so we fed him some applesauce to tide him over. Just as our food arrived, he suddenly vomited everywhere... repeatedly... things from breakfast showed up... he didn't hold back at all. The poor bus boy had to bring out a bucket and mop (he said it happens all the time but if I were him, I would seriously consider busing at some other place!) and I took Harrison into the bathroom to change all his clothes. This photo was taken just moments before the incident.

In short, he had the bug from daycare. Evidently he caught a stomach flu that was going around and he already has a bit of a weak gag reflex and will go through bouts of throwing up, even when he is not officially sick. He threw up all over me every day for 5 days or so until it finally subsided only to be replaced by a hacking cough (a separate chest cold) which would also initiate some vomiting sessions. Super awesome. And to top it off, the doctor found he had a "raging" ear infection. Poor little guy. Ten days later, he is finally in good spirits and nearly back to normal. Not the best way to kick off year two, but he was actually pretty sweet most of the time despite being so sick.

Happy Birthday Harrison! We love you!

Monthly Milestone

Here is Harrison's progress report at school:

A Monthly Milestone (1/29/10)

This month your child has developed their social skills starting to say words - when teachers say something to him he copies or mumbles something back!

Your child has also accomplished walking and learning to control small motor skills.

Harrison has worked hard developing his emotional skills by showing his teachers what he wants by pointing.

Your child has also excelled this month in his cognitive development by learning to eat real food! He seems to enjoy a lot more foods! Yay Harrison!.

12 month stats

Harrison had his 12 month old check up today; here are the results:

• Length: 30.75" (80th percentile)
• Weight: 21 lbs, 8 oz (30th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 18" (30th percentile)

Movin' On Up!

As promised here are some photos of the new house, pre move-in. Mill Creek is very, very suburban as you can see below. I love that two sets of neighbors have come by with brownies/a bottle of wine already, just to welcome us and say hello. In Kirkland, we actually never met any of our neighbors for 2-3 years until we got Winston as a puppy and suddenly all the neighbor's kids wanted to play with him.

I was a little disappointed that we ended up with dark green trim again, but at least there is less of it.

View from Harrison's room; the park is literally across the street!

The Deck, which is behind the kitchen and family room. You can see from our neighbor's yard that there is a steep slope which is our "back yards." Basically it is barely suited for the dogs to roam in and not really for kids. With the park across the street, we decided it wasn't a big deal. The green belt behind us is big, tree filled and owned by our community so no one can build on it. Our bedroom windows are directly above the deck so we have a nice view.

The Kitchen. Big and bright. Love the bay window over the sink and ample cabinet space.

Funny side note: before the house totally went into foreclosure, the owner tried to sell us the refrigerator through the Tutrows, but we already had a new one in the Kirkland house so we declined. Doh!

Above & Below: The Family Room, which is partially separated from the kitchen by a short wall.

The Entry Way. LOVE the banister!

The hinges to the right are double doors leading into Michael's home office.

Master Bedroom. We have since painted it a light blue and made the huge main wall a deeper blue. We got some awesome bedroom furniture to fill up the space.

This is the smallest bedroom which will eventually become the next nursery.

There is a Jack 'n' Jill bathroom and a big bonus room on the other side.

We made the bonus room into a playroom - most all of the toys are contained!

Just beyond the doors is a teeny-tiny balcony. It is just big enough to stand outside,

shut the door behind you and get locked out, as the alarm installer found out.

Ode to the Kirkland House

Goodbye, sweet Kirkland house.

In the outskirts of Kirkland do thee dwell.

How we will miss thee and look back fondly

at our memories so swell.

May thy lush, green grass

continue to entice passers by.

The deck that Michael slaved to build -

we fare thee well, good bye.

Thy granite enhanced fireplace,

a beauty in this land.

New flooring that took three weeks to lay,

a mantel carved by hand.

Dear Master Bath! Thine heated floors

and jetted tub cause mine eyes to fill!

Never fear, we keep thee near to

reproduce in Creek of Mill.

Many trips to SoDo did

we make for cabinets, counter tops.

Glass tiles and accessories

so much time spent at the shops.

Six long months we slaved to

perfect thee, kitchen we hold dear.

Stainless steel appliances,

for thee we shed a tear.

Thou will always be found in our hearts,

dear first home of ours.

Renters will take good care of thee,

Thine walls will not be marred.

Argenta Mapel-Lee

Argenta Mapel-Lee was born on Friday, January 15th to proud parents Jonathan Mapel & Audrey Lee in Cambridge, Mass. Argenta weighed about 6 lbs 5 oz and is a healthy baby girl.

I am so excited to be an aunt, although Argenta has FOUR aunts and I need to figure out how to be the favorite. Jon and I Skyped with our kiddos in our arms, his sweet baby girl swaddled and sleeping and my normally cool Harrison squiggling out of grasp, trying to grab the camera and screaming when I wouldn't let him have it. Luckily Argenta won't recall this first meeting with her cousin.

My cousins lived the next street over for most of my childhood and we spent nearly every weekend together, sleeping over, playing with Barbies, travelling the additional four blocks to swim at grandpa and grandma's house, etc. Michael and I talked about how I was sad that Harrison and Argenta will likely always be separated by many miles and he came up with a great idea. When they are older, we think it would be great to send one to the other's house for a week each summer. Not only would we get time with our neice, but hopefully it would be like summer camp for her and a fun time hanging with her cousin. Plus we could have a kid free week to ourselves every other year. It's a win-win if you ask me.

Aunt, Uncle and Cousin...

Uncle Jonathan's wife Audrey is in labor! It sounds like their baby girl will be born on Friday January 15th... Uncle Mike, Aunt Raina and cousin Harrison are eagerly awaiting her arrival! Auntie Raina had a dream last night that they decided to name her "Amelia Ann Mapel," although i don't think this name was anywhere on their short list! Stay tuned!

Monthly Milestone

Here is Harrison's progress report at school:

A Monthly Milestone (12/29/09)

This month your child has developed their social skills by baby talking!

Your child has also accomplished walking - yay!!!

Harrison has worked hard developing his emotional skills by showing how much he loves to play with other friends.

Your child has also excelled this month in his cognitive development by pointing at what he wants to have.

Where is Mill Creek?

Good question dad. Maybe this will help:

We currently live at the orange dot. Mill Creek is the Yellow Star. I work in Downtown Seattle at the green dot. Michael works in Canyon Park which is the purple dot. To drive from Kirkland to Mill Creek it takes about 17 minutes. As you can see, it is much further north, however my commute to downtown via bus should only be about 5 minutes longer becuase the bus will take only one freeway in the express lanes. My current bus has to take 3 freeways and is only in the express lanes on one of them. Michael's commute will basically stay the same.

Team Fein is Moving to Mill Creek!

Alas, I am very behind on my posts which I fully blame on the holidays. That and the fact that we bought a new house the first business day after Christmas!

While we were in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving, a realtor we had contacted months ago called Michael as we had asked him to keep an eye on one particular house. The Tutrows, good friends since college and members of our wedding party, live in Mill Creek (a suburb of Seattle) and informed us that the house next door would be going into foreclosure in the fall. The realtor followed the house as it was sold from bank to bank and put up for auction. When it did not get picked up in auction, our realtor found out that it would be put on the market the week after Thanksgiving at well below value.

Luckily, our return flight from Las Vegas was the Friday after Thanksgiving so we landed and basically drove straight to the new house, where we found another realtor leaving with a prospective buyer. The house wasn’t on the market yet and these were basically the only two realtors who had the information so it was obvious that this house could be in for a bidding war. After the walk through and a second visit on Sunday, we decided that we loved the house (the layout is great, the space is beyond copious, the neighborhood is lovely, safe and has awesome public schools) and that we wanted to make an offer.

I am proud to say that Michael and I are very fiscally prudent and have saved money and kept our credit spotless so when I called my mortgage rep and said “I need a mortgage NOW!” we were approved quickly and able to get an offer in that afternoon which the bank accepted (although they did dilly-dally and we think they were waiting for another offer from that other person who had looked at the house). We got our keys just after Christmas and began feverishly packing last weekend and prepping the new house for our arrival this Saturday!

I will miss our Kirkland house. Harrison was born into that house and took his first steps there. We have an amazing new master bath and closet that I had barely a year to enjoy (can you guess which room will be the first to remodel in the new house?!) in addition to all the renovations through the years (complete kitchen remodel, new carpets and floors, fireplace overhaul). Our Kirkland neighbors are truly wonderful and have been very giving to us over the years and we will miss having them next store.

We are keeping the Kirkland house to rent for a couple years… let us know if you or a friend are interested.

Pictures of the Mill Creek house are forth coming as I haven’t had much of an opportunity to blog and take the time to upload photos…

December 25th

Baby's first Christmas was celebrated in our little house in Kirkland, partially packed to make the move to Mill Creek. Since he was crawling and walking, we opted out of a big tree and did a little one on the table and strategically placed present in a blockade type pattern so that he couldn't get to them and tear them apart. We turned on the tv to a network that play Christmas music and shows a scene of a fireplace burning and enjoyed some snuggle time and opened a few gifts before making the 10 minute drive to Zaidy's and Grandmama's house.

 

Grandmama has these stockings for all her kids and told us she was ecstatic to walk into Macys and find one in their holiday lane... I think she mentioned that they are made by one specific company and they hadn't carried in them in a long time - what a find! Now Harrison has his official stocking with his name to enjoy for years to come.

One of Harrison's gifts included two monkeys with velcro on the hands and feet so that they can wrap around each other or even a toddler in a hug-like-fashion. This is extra special becuase Michael also had a pair of monkeys growing up which he called his two-two's (becuase there were two of them) and carried they with him everywhere!

A little alone time with dad

An awesome truck from Zaidy!

Later that evening, we went to Uncle John's and Aunt Shivonne's house for a family Christmas feast and... more presents! Of course, Harrison arrived in a sweater vest and was the life of the party.

December 24th

Zaidy Steve had to work on Christmas Eve so we drove 30 minutes to the firehouse and enjoyed Christmas Eve dinner firefighter style. Since there were three families for the 3 on-duty fireman, they set up folding tables in the "garage" ( or maybe it's a bay - i am sure i will hear about my improper use of lingo) near the engines and medic trucks. Harrison had much fun with Uncle Stephen checking out the rigs and gear. When we left after 9pm (well past his bedtime) he surprised us by staying quietly awake all the way home. Although staying up later never equals sleeping in, as a Christmas gift to us he slept in past his usual 6am internal alarm clock and woke up at 7:30am! Merry Christmas indeed!  

 

Downtown Christmas Magic

I failed at my blogging duties... although I uploaded all these photos in January, I am typing this in September. This frustrates me becuase I remember that I had a lot to say but now I only have some fleeting memories...

Every year Grandmama takes all her kids to see Santa Claus for portrait so this year we made a family morning of it and enjoyed some time downtown to take in some holiday magic and cheer. We all agreed that the Old Saint Nick was most excellent and had a real beard! I caught these photos of Harrison via the video camera so as stills, they are not super sharp and I was actually pretty far away. He was actually kind of confused as to who he was sitting with but this shot of him looking up is just priceless!

Afterwards baby rode the carousel in Westlake Park with mama (who still gets dizzy just thinking about it). To be honest, he did not look that thrilled but maybe that was because mama was clutching him perhaps a little too tightly to avoid dropping him and also to keep the urge to vomit under control.

After viewing the giant gingerbread houses made by local chefs and architect firms, the three of us went with Aunt Alexis for lunch and something amazing happened... Harrison voluntarily took his first bite of solid food! We had been baiting him with all sorts of things but he would always spit it out preferring the perfectly blended veggies and fruit mama makes for him. This Christmas miracle occurred with the aid of soft french fries. While he spit out anything remotely tough (fried to a crisp), he would eat the soft middle if I broke them in half and smooshed out the insides. Harrison, for the record mama really did not want to feed this to you but dad insisted and overall it was an important step for you towards mastering your chewing abilities!

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!