I got these shoes for Christmas, and they are seriously my new favorite shoes. I wear them all the time. I mean, they're easy to get on and off -- they just slip on. The 200g of Thinsulate insulation makes them really warm. And the stretchy material in the uppers makes them ridiculously comfortable.

I was a little hesitant when I saw that they were medium width. Since, like most people I consider my feet to be pretty wide. (Speaking of which, in the back of Smithsonian there's an ad for E-EEE wide shoes. Who wears shoes that wide?) But as soon as I put them on my fears were dispelled. They're comfortably snug. And even after wearing them all day, my feet never felt cramped.

I haven't really worn them in bad weather. In the dusting of snow we got this evening they performed admirably, but how will they hold up when I'm shoveling a foot of snow? Hopefully I don't find out the answer to that question any time soon.

Anyway, if you're looking for some new winter shoes, I definitely recommend checking these out.

Laura's mother and brother stayed with us as we celebrated Christmas. And last friday I pick Terry up at Alewife, and then head over to the supermarket while Laura had a little nap to help relieve some of the holiday stress. We didn't have too much to get, just some egg nog, sliced cheese, soda, ice cream, and other holiday essentials.

Being the middle of the day, the store wasn't too crowded, so we hop into a check out line, and start loading up the belt. Now, even though this is glamorous Arlington, the employees at Stop & Shop are your typical supermarket clerks. Nice, but not too bright. Anyway, the clerk makes a little small talk and asks about Andy, Where is he from?

I stare, slack-jawed, unable to comprehend the question for a few seconds.

I'm sorry? I ask.

Your son, what country is he from?

Um, he's not adopted.

Oh, he looks asian, I'm sorry.

That's funny, you're not the first person to say that. The nurse at the hospital actually said that right after he was born.

It wasn't until yesterday, nearly a week later, that I realized that perhaps he wasn't making such a huge assumption. Or rather, he was making the wrong assumption altogether. You see, I was at the supermarket with Terry. And a baby. In Massachusetts, if you know what I mean.

I totally skipped the NaBloPoMo last month. Which is probably for the best, considering I never really have anything to talk about. Plus, there's the whole Super Cool Baby thing. A man's only got so much blogging he can do in a given day.

This weekend Laura went to her annual Alpha Phi regional conference in Albany, NY, leaving me with the wee lad. This has really been quite an experience. Honestly, I'm not sure how single parents can possibly do this. Taking care of Andy 100% of the time takes a whole lot of energy. It doesn't help that he's been waking up on the early side for me. And then, last night, he wakes up at midnight to scream for half an hour. Thankfully, Laura will be home later today, so I can pawn him off on her. Of course, it sounds like she's had like 10 hours of sleep for the whole weekend, so I'm not sure how successful that strategy will be.

I'm writing about this on Super Cool Baby, as well, but I think it bears repeating. iPhoto rocks. I made this year's Christmas cards using iPhoto, and I think they came out very nicely. I wanted a double-sided card printed on card stock, and iPhoto was able to do that for $0.99 a card. Other places I looked at online were at least twice as much, and they didn't even let you customize the back of the card. So I was really happy with the card itself, and I think the photos that Jeff took were also awesome. (My favorite photo, pictured above, was one I snapped myself when I was just fooling around with Jeff's camera).

The card came together really easily. The hardest parts were choosing the design among the many options, and choosing what to say on the back of the card. Don't you just love our heartfelt saying? Anyway, those of you with Macs, I definitely recommend giving iPhoto a shot the next time you want to order photo cards. And those of you without Macs? Get with it!