Saint Patrick's Day Parade

On Saint Patrick's Day we headed out for our afternoon walk and my plan was to let Jaime run wild in the Mall. But once we got there I could hear marching bands and parade noise so continued walking just a bit further to find the Saint Patrick's Day Parade coming up 5th Avenue.

Jaime was mesmerized by the marching bands. He loved it. Ellie woke up but it was super cold she stayed tucked into her cocoon.

This is one of the things that I love about living here, the stumbling on fun little things.

Afterwards we scurried as fast as we could back home. Even though Jaime had mittens on and kept his hands tucked in bundle me he was still pretty cold. Time for the frigid winter to end all ready.

Grammy visits NYC

My mom came out to visit us and help me out when Dan went back to the office. I was thrilled to have my mom visit us. It is hard to live so far away now with wanting the kids to know their family. Also a side note, I think that this is the longest that I have had my mom all to myself.

She flew in on a Saturday afternoon/evening and we ordered Indian food and chatted up a storm staying up way too late. Sunday morning we picked up yummy breakfast treats and headed to the Ramble in Central Park for a stroll.

That afternoon we went down to Soho. We stopped at a yarn shop and a Pandora shop and a famous bakery (the cronuts were sold out but the other thing I got that is similar was super delicious).

I was a little unsure how Jaime would be with having an unfamiliar face staying with us but he fell in love with his Grammy. It was very cute. He would be so sweet for her and snuggle up and be nice and calm for doing craft projects.

We visited the dinos at the history museum. All of my pictures are blurry.

We went to lunch at my favorite cafe. We also went to our favorite sandwich shop a couple of times. We went to Starbucks often. Jaime got a hot cider and muffin and thought that was pretty special. He looks like such a baby here. I thought he was such a big kid at the time and now I can't believe how little he was!

We went to the World Trade Center but skipped the statue of liberty and lunch down there to power back home as it was freaking freezing!

We went up to the Bronx to see the Orchid show at the Botanical Gardens. It was a little bit more of a handful than I thought it would be but it was still a good time.

We walked alway down to Lincoln Center to buy Ellie and Jaime super cute clothes. Thanks Mom!!! We went to music class. We did tummy time and hung out and played with the dinos that Mom bought Jaime.

We had such a great time with my mom and I am so thankful that she was able to come out and spend a whole week with us.

We were all sad to see her head for home. I loved getting to have some bonding time with her and to see the kids get to spend time with her. Jaime would ask where she was when he woke up in the morning for a while, it was pretty cute. It was a very special week.

Indoors in February

February included a lot of time indoors. A lot of trying to come up with new activities for a very active toddler, feeding a newborn, trying to keep some kind of healthy meal that everyone will eat on the table, snuggling a toddler or a newborn and not enough sleeping for the adults. Two under two is a whole new (exhausting) ballgame.

At the time I was wishing it was summer so we could get outdoors to the playground for Jaime to run around. But now looking back, it wasn't so bad to be in our little cocoon/hibernation. A few snippets...

Ellie could snuggle!

Tummy time was chill out time. Put that girl on her belly and she would be the most relaxed little baby ever.

Jaime started every day with a banana, most often in the window checking out what was happening on our street. And he would share with Monkey, his best friend.

Little man loved to check out what little sister was up to. And he got introduced to tv (after all of those feeding through the night I needed a little more quiet time in the morning as he wakes up at 6 or 6:30am).

We also played in water, when Dad was at work.

And read books, tried on Dad's gloves, stacked boxes, painted many pictures, and played in boxes.

It was a good time.

Out and about during the winter months

Winter of 2014 was cold so we were indoors way more than we wanted to be. When the weather was nearly tolerable we hustled out and enjoyed the city and a break from our apartment.

Jaime had a weekly music class so we would bundle up and brave the weather to sing "Taxi" and play with instruments. The kids were tucked into the respective bundling gear and I would enjoy the little walk.

The morning of one particularly big snow storm I snuck in a muffin and coffee date with my little man before the snow was too heavy to get out.

The museum was visited many many times. Both Dan and I took Jaime for some solo kid time. I also took the two of them by myself for a visit and we went as a family a couple of times. Good thing there is a lot to see. And we only last about an hour.

If the weather was super nasty, the neighborhood grocery store or bodega might be the outting for the day. Jaime really loves those little trips though as the stroller can stay home so he gets to be a big kid walking the whole time.

On the rare day we would be able to do a nice walk in the park and check out the winter wonderland.

One day we braved the cold to head down to Chelsea Piers to check out the toddler fun room. Jaime loved the ball pit and the obstacle course stuff. Ellie slept like a dream the whole time.

We headed to Midtown East to check out the Sony Wonder Technology Lab. It was pretty neat but honestly Jaime will enjoy it more in a few years.

It was a tough winter due to the cold but we tried to get out and about as much as we could. Jaime had a very warm parka and was tucked into a sleeping bag that sits on the stroller seat with fleece lined jeans and big warm sweaters and fleece lined hats. Ellie was in her little sherpa bear suit and tucked into a little cocoon (seriously, the product name is cocoon but looked like a mini bassinet thing) for infants that completely blocked the wind and kept her toasty warm. These little snippets are mostly from February but January might have snuck in there.

The High Line in February

The day after our trip to the transit museum we headed downtown to the High Line.

Dan was headed back to work soon so we wanted to make the most of being evenly paired with littles to adults. And I needed to get my glasses adjusted. And it was above freezing (I think). That and...

A trip to the High Line is always a good idea.

I took my "big camera" with the thought of trying for some creative, for me type shooting. But I pretty much just took pictures of my boys. But I mean, how can you not. Basically Jaime has an enormous grin in all of them, he was happy to be out of the apartment.

There is even a photo with me!

 Jaime had to stop and check in on Ellie...

After our stroll we headed of in search of lunch. We passed by all the practical places and ended up at a fancy pants place with our two kids... I am pretty sure the waitstaff was annoyed with us for bringing in kids even though they made not a single loud/annoying peep. Jaime was on his best behavior got some exercise and now got to sit in a big kid chair. Ellie was content to just continuing to napping.

 

Notice the sleeping bag for Jaime to warm up in, he may not always keep his mittens on but he keeps warm with his little setup.

Dan was all about the subway art sculptures... he looked them up afterwards. I have to say, that one is pretty creepy.

A short but satisfying outting - the best kind when two under two are involved!