Mommy & Jaime Trips to Manhattan

The week following the brunch in the West Village I took the train into the city three more times all in a row... given that it takes 1 to 1.5 hours to get somewhere from our apt that was a lot for me.  It made me fully realize how much living in the suburbs was going to suck after being able to get to work in 20 minutes from our last apartment in Chicago.  After that initial trip into the city Jaime and I went on several city adventures just the two of us.

The first was a lunch with some other July 2012 moms in Battery Park.  I missed the train I needed (of course) so almost didn't go and was very late.  I am glad that I went.  After the lunch we did a nice slow walk back to the World Trade Center PATH station with a stop for iced coffee and a cookie and a photo with the Wall St bull.  I felt like myself walking city streets.  And my goodness did Jaime attract attention bringing smiles to people's faces.

Our next trip in was the very next morning for Jaime's pediatrician appointment in Tribeca.  The pedi office totally makes me laugh as it is trying to be chic and totally different from the one I picked out in Chicago.  The office itself is very cool with a typical storefront for the neighborhood and a big entry for stroller parking.  The infant rooms have the scale built into the exam table which is round.  The nurse practitioner that did the exam was in this organza dress which was very pretty but the type of dress that I wouldn't know where to wear... Anyways we found out that Jaime is a total beefcake and then took a little time to wander the surrounding streets getting an iced latte and old fashioned donut before heading back to the train.

The train stations at rush hour are insanely busy.  I have been commuting in downtown Chicago for what seems like forever and it is a whole different level of busy here.  I was a little bit wide eyed.  I tried to sneak a picture at the WTC Path station but was intimidated by the guys in fatigues carrying rifles.  So yeah.

Another trip took Jaime and I to Soho so we could pick up some items for goodie box to mail at Dean and Deluca's.  Soho seems to always be intense around Broadway and I found myself wishing that Dan was with us.  Once we started to head a little further into the neighborhood it was a bit more calm.  This was after Jaime's first vaccine shots and he was completely out the whole time... still getting attention from people on the street and in check out lines.  "Look at that adorable little person!"  Side note - at this pedi appointment as I went to put Jaime's diaper on after they weighed and measured him he peed all over the place.

Jaime napped a lot during most of the those early mommy and baby trips to the city.  He would wake up and look around checking things out but it was so hot and during those first eight weeks or so he would sleep like it was his job when in the baby carrier. 

I learned a valuable lesson in suburban travel to NYC with a baby.  You can plan your PATH train to make the NJ Transit train in Newark but that PATH train will inevitably be late and will be sitting in Newark's station for 30 minutes with a hungry bored baby.  Now I often just take the subway to NY Penn Station and take the NJ Transit straight to our little town as it is easier and quicker for me.  And I have no problem nursing the baby on the train but Newark's station is not the place for nursing nor is the PATH. :/

One Friday morning I planned to take the train into the city to hit up a few sites and take my big camera (instead of just camera phone shots like the above) but as I went to load the baby into the baby carrier I got massively puked on so we missed our train and I scraped the trip. (I wanted morning light for the sites I was planning on visiting).  Later that day it was in the news that there was a crazy person shooting a previous manager and then getting taken down by the police at on of the sites I was planning to visit and it happened at the time that I was trying to get there... good thing the kid puked!

Even with almost being at the scene of a crime and baby vaccines... We love our trips into the city!

Brunch in the West Village

Our fourth wedding anniversary was just two weeks after the move to NJ and right after Jaime's first growth spurth/fussy phase.  Finding a babysitter that we could trust was just not in the cards so we decided that we would celebrate with a trip into the city.  Brunch in the West Village sounded like just the right kind of outting for us.  It was Jaime's first trip into the city and he did awesome.

We took NJ Transit and two Path trains to land in the neighborhood.  We all were happy to be in the city.  It is funny how a certain type of neighborhood in any city instantly feels more like home versus the tiny suburb neighborhood... I guess that is what 10 years of living in the city does to you but that is a whole different post. 

We got in about 30 minutes before the restaurant opened so took our time walking around and then nursed and changed Jaime's diaper on the chairs in front of the restaurant.  We learned that when you are out and about on public transportation or city streets with a newborn people want to chat with you about the baby.

Brunch was at Little Owl which was so cute.  I loved the charm at this place. Jaime slept the whole time oblivious to all the smiles he was causing at other tables.

Then we did more neighborhood walking - heading north, chatting and dreaming about our move into the city.  It was a perfect first trip into the city.

Head East on I-80

The morning of the move we did our quick photo and picked up my parents bright and early at the airport.  While Dan supervised the loading of the truck, Jaime had a little time to meet his Grandma and Grandpa V (my dad alternated between being the truck monitor and baby whisperer) and I finished throwing the odds and ends in boxes and wiped down the kitchen.  Next thing we knew we were headed east on I-80.

It is a long drive from Chicago to edge of NJ with a baby that is just under two weeks old.  According to my doctor I wasn't supposed to drive... I did drive for the first couple of hours to get us out of the city and I missed a turn in Indiana adding some time to our first day of driving.  Jaime did great for the first half of each day and by the second half wanted us to know that he really was sick of being in a car seat.  Poor little guy. Thank goodness for my parents being there to keep me sane... we swapped stories and I was able to nap a little bit and they reassured me that Jaime's fussing was mild (not sure I believe that - they were probably just being nice).  But the little one did do a pretty good job of amusing himself and napping for a majority of the drive.

Poor Dan had the job of driving the moving truck.  He received offers for a copilot but ended up doing the drive solo with only his trusty plant as a sidekick.  That plant started out in the office of his first job after college and left with him when he quit - sticking out of a backpack as he zipped up the highway on his motorcycle.   He caught up with us in Ohio thanks to me missing the last vear for 80 (he finished wrapping things up in Chicago so had a later start) and we coordinated stops so that he could have a little human interaction and time with Jaime. 

We stopped somewhere in Pennsylvania for the night.  We were all exhausted - my parents had been up since extremely early for the flight and we didn't get much sleep the night before as we had last minute packing to take care of... the hotel was a total dump.  But we all crashed anyways.

The second day was just as long as the first.  We had some crummy weather and just a lot of highway miles.  The scenery was notably different as we had left the midwest behind the previous day.  But it was not without good moments too.  After following Dan for some time my dad decided that he was going to pick up Dan's driving mannerisms and scared the crap out of my mom... that was pretty funny.

My parents and I were following Dan who was driving the moving truck and right as we hit the important navigating time point his GPS failed.  We thought maybe he was going a different route so we all drove right past the easy route to our temporary apt.  Next thing we knew navigating was handed off to the three of us in Jeep and we did our best but missed a few turns as the turn lanes are totally set up different here and separated out much further in advance and so we freaked Dan out with how close we got to heading into Manhattan.  But eventually we made it.  To find that the movers weren't there yet even though we were late.

And then we found out that the electricity was turned off.  Apparently the person that set up Dan's account did something wrong in the new account set up so they just shut it off.  It was in the upper 90's and all of us were so tired from a full day of driving.  As a new mama bear I was freaking out about having an infant in that hota$$ apartment.  The power company said they would have it on by midnight. 

In the morning I woke up with my butt on the ground... our inflatable mattress had started to deflate.  And there was no energy yet so no AC and a freezing shower to start the day.  The power company said they would have it on by 10am.  We had breakfast and took my parents to the airport.  We took the scenic route to the airport through the most depressed neighborhoods.

At noon still no power.  I took Jaime to the lounge area by the elevators and he napped while I read.  Dan sat with the door propped open in our dark, hot apartment and tried to start finding the most important boxes and threw out everything he had in the fridge and freezer. 

It was 3:30 before we had power.  We were all pretty much at our breaking point by then and it was quite the welcome to New Jersey.

But we were all together.  I was grateful to no longer be living in two different regions of the country and to get started on the east coast family adventures.