Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a Monday and we were both off from work.  We had a very relaxing morning filled with family cuddle time, naps, pancakes and roasted pears before heading to Midtown for visiting Santa.

I decided that for the first Santa visit we would go to the enormous flagship 34th Street Macy's, its home since 1902. 

Their Santaland was very well done.  The line was crazy of course - we were winding through the office corridors and waited about 1 hour 20 minutes to see Santa.  But once we got into the main section it was very pretty with lots of decorations and winter scenes to keep you occupied while you wait.  This is NYC, go big or go home.   

By the time we got to Santa there were no smiles left from Jaime and he looked a little shell shocked.

After visiting Santa we strolled up 5th Avenue to start walking home. 

We stopped by Rockefeller Plaza for another peak at the tree, grabbed a light lunch and walked home through Central Park.  That is 56 blocks.  We then took the dogs for a quick walk as we felt guilty about getting them exercise.  Then it was just relaxing family time.

Jaime got to open a present.  We ordered dinner and enjoyed a quiet winter evening dreaming about what Santa might bring us.

It was a very good day.

Becoming a morning person and a working mom

November and December were one big huge enormous time of transition.  Moving into Manhattan was a big change by itself and becoming a working mom was added right on top.  To be honest, it was a little overwhelming. 

The first day of my new job, walking out the door with my new apartment in complete disarray and not nearly looking like home... and leaving my munchkin with the freshly hired nanny... and jumping into rush hour commute in NYC.  It was surreal.  And scary.  I had so many conflicting emotions and thoughts going on it was enough to drive me batty.

It was so bizarre to be sitting at some strange office desk while my baby was going to storytime at the library or to the swings at the park.  I felt a little bit like crying when I received a text from the nanny with a picture of Jaime swinging with the biggest happiest grin on his face...  Of course I was happy that he was happy and that he has a great nanny.  But I immediately emailed a friend who is a working mom asking her if it gets easier.  Those first weeks were rough.  There was a lot of change to deal with.

{at baby gym class while i was at work}

Jaime is a morning person.  He was a morning bird before he was born.  He would be happy to get up at 6:00 but I try to keep his sleep schedule closer to 6:30am.  It was tough to adjust to only seeing my bug for such short amounts of time each day when I had been spending all day every day with him so I quickly realized that I would need to pull a little bit of camp counselor 101 out of my back pocket and 'fake it till you make' on being a morning person.  I am not a natural morning person.  But I this is the time I get so I want to make the most of it and for Jaime to know that I am happy to be spending those early morning moments with him.

Those first couple of months I tried to get up before Jaime and Dan to get my shower and a large portion of my getting ready routine done before they woke up.  Then I could soak up those morning minutes of family time.  Back in November and December he was still pretty chill and we would just hang out, read books, nom on a banana, listen to music on pandora, play peekaboo, sip on our beverage of choice, etc. (mornings aren't quite as calm these days but more on that to come)

Weekends became a bit more important as well.  Trying to make sure that the time we have is quality time.  Jaime still gets up at 6:30 regardless of whether it is Monday or Saturday and somehow this has become my favorite time of the day.  The kid is just so cheerful in the mornings it is hard to not cheerful along with him! 

So that is how this cranky old lady became a pseudo morning person.  And as December ended and we moved into January, we fell into a pattern.  I still wish I had more time with my little bug but we make sure to savor the moments we have.

Fun in December

In December we had the apartment liveable so decided that we didn't want to spend anymore time out of our weekends on organizing and wanted to start getting out and enoying our new city.  So what if the office corner was a total disaster, the city fun could not be put off any longer. 

We tried to do one fun afternoon of exploring per weekend and the other day would be a rest/chill day.  Sunday mornings are the farmers market trip so it is usually Saturday afternoon when we are out running around.  In December we did a lot of walking.  By Sunday evening our little legs were tired. 

We visited the Chelsea Market with shakes at Ronny brook (delicious) and from there ended up in Times Square enroute to the holiday shops at Bryant Park (lame- the Chicago Christkindlemarket is better) where lasted only a few minutes and then through some interesting subway navigating ended up in Rockefeller Center.  We had a blast even though every where was packed.

We visited the Brooklyn Flea Gifted.  It was fun but not as filled with the treasures I was hoping to find.  The building was gorgeous.  Then we had bbq, the little buddy thinks he is pretty cool dining out.

We visited the Met.  It was pretty cool to just walk across the park and be there.  We went kind of late in the afternoon and just explored a portion of it.  We definitey will be going back.  It was a perfect outting for the little as he loved checking out the art but it wasn't too crazy loud (but still extremely busy) to be over stimulating for him.  Some woman just loved Jaime.  She kept clucking at him and telling me how beautiful he is... it was funny. We also learned how excellent strollers can be as you have a mobile coat rack.

Besides weekend adventures I also worked from home a bit and had some afternoons off.  I loved the extra time with my little bug.  We would do walks in the park before I started work or run errands.  It was nice.

Oh, we also got Jaime a highchair and got a tree.  We weren't going to get a tree, we left all of our Christmas ornaments in storage in Chicago.  But they had these little itty bitty trees and I really can't skip getting a tree when it comes down to it.  So we had a mini tree that sat on our heater... good thing it wasn't cold enough to need to run the heat.  I never did do something about a tree skirt... good thing Martha wasn't planning to visit.

Thanksgiving 2012

When we decided to move to the east coast and started tallying up how much this move was going to cost us we decided that we wouldn't travel for the holidays this year.  While we didn't get to share the holidays with the rest of the family, travel-free holidays and being in NYC was pretty okay. 

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun.  We kept it simple and enjoyed quality time as a family. And on Wednesday night we became thankful for not needing to travel as it was a complete madhouse.  I mean completely nuts.  If we were trying to get anywhere I would have been a total ball of stress.  Instead we picked up cookies at City Bakery for dessert during a family walk and made butternut squash soup for dinner.

(we usually keep Jaime away from screens, but an exception was made so that he could help create his Christmas wish list and skype over the long weekend)

Thanksgiving morning we woke up to find marching bands lined up down our street.  We live near the staging area of the parade.

With it being just us and Jaime's first thanksgiving, I wanted to be sure to plan some thing fun... So we went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Dan was not sure about this plan but I insisted.  And it was a lot of fun, totally worth it.  I let go of trying get there at 6am to get a tony spot.  Instead, we waited till after the first the nap. And made our way down to Midtown to pick up a later leg of the parade route. 

It was of course packed and we were very far back.  But you could see the balloons and feel the excitement.  It was such an experience to be there.  Jaime's favorite balloon was Papa Smurf and he loved the people watching.

The rest of Thanksgiving day was filled with naps, a walk in Central Park with a stop at the swings, a dinner consisting of veggies from our neighborhood's farmers market and turkey, and a nice bottle of wine with a movie.  I totally botched the dessert... it was pretty pitiful but we had ice cream from the corner store.

We also did get to see family with a skype call.  Gotta love technology. 

Thanksgiving weekend included starting Jaime on solids.  Banana was his first solids meal but he had been sneaking bits of everything from roasted red pepper hummus to the juice off my apple and greek yogurt for weeks.  He thoroughly enjoyed the Harry and David pear from Grandma and Grandpa U.  It also included practice sitting up and standing.  He thought he was such a big boy that he also had to try out a highchair for the first time at a neighborhood diner as well as drinking water from Dad's glass.  This kid wants to grow up!

 On our Sunday trip to the farmers market the Christmas trees were out.  Time to get ready for Jaime's first Christmas.

November flew.  As would the rest of 2012.

Moving During a Tropical Storm

*this is a very long post but I don't feel like breaking it into two parts.  and clearly there were people that had and still have their lives turned upside down by Sandy.  we were only inconvenienced, please don't read my whining as not being thankful for how minor our inconvenience from the storm was - we were lucky.*

After months of dreaming and scheming about finishing our move and finally being in the city, the big day was just about here.  And as it approached, we started to watch the news on a tropical storm that was swinging our way.  No level of denial could allow you to not see that being prepared for the worst was a good idea.  Even Dan had to finally agree to pick up a few supplies.  But we still had hope that  everything would be back to normal for our move.

Sunday, the day before Sandy was supposed to hit we dragged ourselves out to pick up a few things should we lose power.  Target was completely pillaged.  There wasn't a flashlight, battery or water bottle to be found.  We grabbed some granola bars, canned pineapple, and a pack of disposables diapers (can't wash cloth ones if no power!).  Then we went for a walk.  The streets and the park were totally dead.  Everyone was already in hiding.

Monday morning it was raining and there were very strong winds.  Dan went in to work and alternated between watching out the window and checking on the progress online.  When I saw that parts of Brooklyn were already flooded and Dan told me that there were enormous branches down on his commute I said, "uh, you really should get home."  So he was home well before lunch.  We finished laundry, dug out a few votive candles that didn't get thrown away in the move, and made a big pot of lentil soup.  We also watched the trees in courtyard get blown around like they were toys, that toy that collapses when you push the button on the bottom.

As evening approached, I moaned on facebook that the hurricane better not ruin our move.  We shut off our cell phones to save battery power.  Jaime settled down for bedtime.  And we sat down with bowls of lentil soup to watch the hurricane coverage.  After few minutes, the power flickered and then went off.  Like an idiot, I thought how fun!  I haven't had the power go out during a storm since living at my parents... but they have a generator so it isn't off for long. 

We grabbed our kindles and started read.  Which was boring and lame when there is a hurricane swirling around you.  The building was doing massive creaking and it was pitch black with not a streetlight or a moon to add any light. 

Then we noticed flashing lights outside in the courtyard.  It was creepy so of course we had to see what was up.  People were standing infront of their windows shining flashlights into the courtyard - I imagine to see if the trees had snapped yet.  Of course Dan had to join in.  We had some pretty funny to us jokes - like since we have been watching the tv Revolution we are prepared to take control of the eastern seaboard.  And I might have asked if the toilets would flush with no power. 

Dan got the joy of taking the dogs out potty in the middle of a tropical storm.  Ha.  Apparently it was very creepy with not a light to be seen, no traffic (cars or people) and the sound of the wind was unreal.  And he had to go down the dark stairs.

Finally we tried to go to sleep.  The next morning, the fun of having the power out lost its appeal.  No coffee.  Lame breakfast of granola bars.  Bored.  The apartment had only two windows, facing west and within a deck that had walls.... so even in the daylight it was very dark with no lights.  We only had a few candles.  No internet on the phones and very delayed texting.  So we decided to get out and drive west to see if we could find a dunkin donuts open to get coffee and try to communicate with the outside world.

Going down a completely pitch black staircase of cement carrying a baby and a flashlight and with dogs milling about your feet is stressful.

Outside our apartment building beyond the lights being out you didn't really see a lot of damage.  Once we got a block away you saw the trees smashed into the middle of houses, power lines down the middle of the street, the line for several blocks at the gas station.  It was truly a mess.  We finally caught a signal, Dan communicated with a friend on storm duty at the power company and found out that our town would likely not have power for a couple of weeks.  We texted our parents to let them know were were okay.  We scurried home to not waste anymore gas.

It sucks to not have power.  Big time.  The day ends around 4:30pm when it is too dark to do anything and you need conserve candles.  After a couple of days we found out our new apartment had never lost power.  We begged them to let us move in early.  We needed a hot shower. Obviously we were lucky to not have out home smashed by a tree... but it was wearing on us none the less.

Obviously we couldn't take everything down an unlit staircase, not like UHaul was functioning.  (The only stores open were Home Depots.)  We loaded up the jeep with clothes and drove to the city.  The streets were creepy, nothing was open, lines forever at gas stations if they were open, gray, trees everywhere. Dan dropped me off with Jaime and the dogs and headed back for another load to get Jaime's bed, our air mattress, and more clothes.

It was pure luxury to have lights and take a hot shower.  That night the air mattress slowly deflated so that I woke up on the floor.  The next day we spent walking our new neighborhood.  And getting the internet set up (Yay!).  Once we had internet, I went back to my nanny search - I started my new job in like four days.  We pushed back our movers.  We bought deli food at Zabars and made a table out of a box. After Jaime went to bed we watched tv shows on hulu while sitting on the air mattress.  The air mattress died a slow death.  That night we were on the floor within a couple of hours, we had to refill it a couple of times with the loudest air pump ever. We interviewed nannies and I stressed about hiring someone to leave with our kid and going back to work.  And we went out for Indian food.

Finally, the power came on in our building.  We confirmed the movers and the truck.  There was still packing to do.  Dan left me and Jaime in the city and went back to pack things up and ready for the movers in the morning. 

Monday I took Jaime to his pedi appointment.  Around noon, when Dan was supposed to be in the city with the truck I heard from him that the movers never showed up.  I felt like a jerk just sitting the floor with Jaime while he packed the truck by himself.  After he got to the city, I headed out to tour a daycare for Jaime.  Yeah, no.  Back at the apartment I heard from Dan, he said he was driving by some event at Trump Place with the UHaul and was going to pick up my phone.  Our apartment no longer looked very big as nearly every inch was packed with boxes.  When he got home from his adventures in returning the truck (which he already posted about), we ate some pizza while sitting on boxes and Jaime gave his dad some love for moving our stuff by himself.

Tuesday we unpacked as quickly as we could.  I finished the nanny reference checks.  I tried to figure out what trains were working to get me to my new office.  And we tried to make sure there was a clear spot for Jaime and the nanny to play on my first day of being a working mom.  On to the next chapter of getting settle in the city.