Little Man in the Big City!

Well, I think Felix is liking his time in NYC!

He gets a kick out of operating the elevator (including pushing the bright red emergency button twice so far, that they strategically place at his eye level), enjoys the sounds and lights in the subway, is entranced by the views from our windows at home, and loves the parks--especially the water features!

Felix and Manny, 26th floor buddies!

He's made some new friends too, like Manny, Graham, and Penelope.

Felix and Graham spinning in circles! Cuties :-)

He's also enjoying nursery, with minimal parting tears (well, in the two weeks he's gone so far!).

Oh, and like any true NYC kid, he loooves FAO Schwarz!

Brian and Felix on the famous FAO Schwarz Giant Keyboard

Love this pic--like father, like son. :-)

Home Sweet Home in Gotham

So we're in nyc for the summer! There's a ton to catch you all up on, so I'll waste no time.

On the employment side of things, Brian's loving his work at Steinway & Sons. He's working at Steinway Hall in midtown, which is the company's flagship piano showroom on W. 57th St. It's a quick (20 min) jaunt on the express A-train from where we're living in Washington Heights, which is on the upper-upper-upper west side. He's working on an institutional sales project, and from his descriptions of the work he does I can tell he's putting what he's learned at Ross to use, so it's exciting to see those tuition dollars pay off!

In news of everyday living, it's been a bit of an adjustment for me learning to get by in this big city. New York is so complex that I can't truly say that I feel any one way about living here so far, but I've had some fun experiences to counterbalance my list of daily complaints (the constant smells of garbage and urine, the grime that's inevitable in a city with 8 mil inhabitants, the cost of living, the noise, blah blah... let's not dwell on the negative!). For one thing, the neighborhood we're living in has the biggest Dominican population outside of the DR, and there's definite familismo charm here. I sense it when men and women of all ages talk to Felix (and sometimes me) as I pass, or when they block me from crossing the street cause a biker is coming, or strike up non-small talk conversations anytime, anyplace. Perhaps a better example of this "instant cousin" feel I get here is the maintenance man who came to work on the sink, and had Felix hand him tools while he sang him a song about the "little pipe that made a BIG mess". That experience was the first to really soften my heart to the genuine humanity that lies just beneath the deceptively tough exterior of many New Yorkers. (On that note, after getting back from interviews in both LA and NYC, Brian and I were discussing the cultures of the two areas. He felt that people were "nicer" in CA, but in NY once you develop a relationship with someone, you're like family, and they respect and look out for you. He asked me, wouldn't I rather know that people's smiles and words meant something? Hmmm, I'm still chewing on that.)

Oh, and I love our apt. We're subleasing a 26th floor apt. in the Columbia Med Student housing (thank you very much, Dan!). The laundry down the hall, hardwood floors, spacious (by nyc standards!) layout, and million-dollar views of the Hudson River, tri-borough and tri-state areas are definite perks to being a stay-at-home mom this summer!

View to the northwest from bedroom window

George Washington Bridge to New Jersey over Hudson River

So, although I'm still not used to $5/gal milk and other outrageous grocery prices, I have adjusted to some of the smells, noises, and miles upon miles of daily walking that characterize domestic life here. I have met some incredibly nice people in our building and ward, and the playdates and trips to the parks have been soo nice!

Well, this post is too serious for news on the little tot, so I'm going to do a separate, livelier post for him.

Ciao!

Funny Tag Post

I've never actually been blog-tagged, but I saw this one on a friend's blog and decided to put it up here since I thought it was funny. Skip this post if these bore you!

1 . YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Snoopy Celica
2.GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Vanilla Bean Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chip (mmmm...)
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of last name) Lhal
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Periwinkle Mouse
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, street where you grew up) Grace Bryden
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Halla
7.SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Lavender Propel
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Kurt Robert
9.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Melinda Bruce
10. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 6th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Fenshaw Fairbanks
11. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Summer Sweet Pea
12. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now+“ie”) Nectarine PJs
13. HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Mini-Wheat Dogwood
14. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Sleeping Thunderstorm
15. YOUR CELEBRITY COUPLE NAME: (half of your name, half your significant other's name, mixed together in whichever order sounds best.) BriLa

Ha! OK, now I've satisfied that burning desire, I tag... whever else puts on PJs at 8:00pm... or earlier if they can get away with it.

:D

Nauvoooo!!

OK, this post is entirely past due, which fact I could blame on a 5-day hospital stay (for asthma)with Felix, (during a simultaneous 5-day, 3-child babysitting job)...

...or family coming to visit...

(we love Grandpa Hall! Oh, and yes, Felix is in the mastedon display. Yep, I'm one of those parents.)

... or the general frenzy associated with moving...

(not actual photo)

...but I'll just opt to blame it on the procrastination bug.

At any rate, we went to Nauvoo, IL with our pals the Shakespears, and had a BLAST! I would do it again in a heartbeat, as long as gas doesn't tip $12 a gal or anything.

The drive was great, including the run-around breaks (oh, except for the little tornado experience an hour from Cedar Rapids. Welcome to Iowa!)

We stayed for one night in Cedar Rapids with beloved and generous Grandma Hall (it was definitely sad to leave in the morning...)

And then soaked up Nauvoo culture and scenery!

ok, and Felix just LOVED the temple! I'd been looking forward to getting a few shots of him at the Nauvoo temple since he was just a twinkle in my eye, but I was blown away by his enthusiasm to climb the stairs, run around in the portico, and touch the walls and doors. So sweet!

So fun! (oh, no comment on the slightly less-than-ethical method of entry there...)

Felix was really sad to leave the grounds though, which made for a grumpy-looking baby in the family pic... Oh well!

I love Nauvoo!

MS in Photojournaling (with an Emphasis in Felix)

I'm considering switching my degree. Then I could do what spend a lot of time doing anyhow, and not feel so guilty about it.
Well, at any rate, here are the latest montages of Felix's life! Now that these are done, it's back to my real thesis, the one in Marriage and Family Therapy...

Fun with Felix:

Crawling, Cruising, and Walking... An Evolution in Mobility:

Happy Spring!

A Video!

You look like you need to kick back and watch a montage of pics from the life of Felix Hall. Well, I have just the thing: Pics from when Felix was 4-6 months old. Honk the green clown nose to start!
(Note: it's about 8 minutes long, so you might want to run and grab the laundry out of the dryer to fold while you soak in Felix's adorableness.)

Some Funny Observations

Ever since Felix has been eating solids I've been feeding him all kinds of strange vegetables, like edamame and cabbage and brussels sprouts, and he's been eating them without a fuss. Each time he swallowed without making a face it reinforced my belief that I had really struck it lucky in getting a *special* baby who liked veggies. He would eat peas by the cupful, and snack on broccoli spears like they were a treat. Only I knew that it wasn't normal...

But then a week ago, when we were babysitting overnight for a friend, he changed his mind--and at a very inconvenient time too. We had just sat down to dinner, and I unveiled the vegetable: brussels sprouts. YUM. The two little boys (ages 5 and 4) let me know right away how they felt about the small cabbages, and so I said, "You only have to eat one each. But you might like them. Here, watch Felix, he loves them". I served Felix some cut up sprouts. He dutifully picked one up, put it in his mouth, and then, (gasp) made a face, took it out of his mouth, and deposited it on the floor, where it apparently belonged. Somehow I did get the boys to eat a few, with some help from Mrs. Salt and Mr. Pepper.

But Felix has kept up the newfound aversion, much to my dismay. Luckily it isn't all vegetables though. He'll still eat a little sweet potato and green beans, and other veggies when they're mashed up and mixed into stuff. And for some reason, he'll still eat mountains of peas, and fruit too, so I'm not too worried about him becoming vitamin deficient, just annoyingly picky...

But the funny thing is that he'll still eat any kind of vegetable when he can beg it off of me, no matter the form. It seems like he likes the treat of eating some of mom's food. I thought this was funny until I realized that I kind of do the same thing: For example, I'm a big fan of Whole Foods. OK, to be honest, I'm more of a fan of their ridiculously generous sampling policy. (Secret: sometimes Felix and I pretty much eat lunch there. Don't tell.) But I eat samples of things I probably wouldn't eat on my own, because things seem to taste better in small bites I guess. So I guess Felix is just becoming more normal. Really, I need to face the truth: normal kids do NOT like cabbage!

Another thing I've noticed is that he's a snacker. I've been a little annoyed by this, because it seems like he barely finishes a meal before he's begging for something I'm eating. How can he be hungry so soon?? But did you catch the clue? He wants what I'm eating, because I'm a snacker. I'd rather eat six or eight (healthy) snacks a day than have meals, especially because Brian hasn't been home for any meals for a couple of days now. (Betcha didn't know that part of the objective of business school is to fatten the students up with lavish meals, but apparently it is. It doesn't work on Brian though, probably because he uses recruiting events as lunch. And dinner. Then brings home the extras for me!) Anyhow, I've decided that if I don't want Felix to snack his life away, I'd better stop doing it.

OK, one last funny observation: I finally went running this morning, the first time in about a month. I've been itching to go ever since Ann Arbor became a tropical paradise (ie, reached 34 degrees), but today was the first day this week that Brian didn't have to be at school at 8:00am. This morning as I was jogging, I thought about how as a mom I need to find more efficient ways to exercise, because it's not always convenient to wait for the one day Brian has some time off. So I decided maybe I should stop driving to Kroger (it's all of a quarter mile away), and hovering around parking lots for 10 minutes trying to get a close spot, as if I'd die if I had to walk 20 more feet to the entrace of a store. I'm sure I could think of some other ideas too, like going on more walks with the Fe Man, and maybe even walking to the business school to meet Bri for lunch once in a while. Wow, those wheels are starting to turn! Now let's see if I can turn those thoughts into action.

Anyhow, that's enough rambling from me. Here's some pics of the Little MAN!






More soon!

One Night in The City That Never Sleeps

For Brian, job-searching hasn't followed the typical MBA routine: 1) resume drop, 2) interview on campus, 3) second round fly-back interview 4) offer. Since he's bound by his dual Music degree to complete an internship related to the arts, he's been working on expanding his network. Fortunately, this January he had the opportunity to meet hundreds of people in a fascinating industry, Music Instruments. It was the NAMM show in Anaheim that gave Brian an introduction to two companies he admires very much:and

Having never visited the office of either company, Brian was really excited to see Yamaha Corporation of America's headquarters in Buena Park (just up the road from Anaheim). It seemed as though seeing Steinway's factory headquarters in Queens, NY would have to wait, perhaps in the form of a drop-in visit over Spring break in conjunction with a promised visit to Brian's brother Dan, who lives in Manhattan. A few weeks later, though, Steinway & Sons invited Brian to go out to NY. The timing and arrangements didn't quite work out for a family adventure, though, which was a little unfortunate because Dan is just crazy about Felix!

So Brian flew out by himself yesterday afternoon, and comes back this afternoon. Since my phone wigged out (again) I haven't talked to him since last night. So we shall find out shortly how it went!

Update from Brian: I did get an internship offer from Steinway & Sons and I am very excited about the prospect of working closely with one of the world's leading luxury brands.