Emotional Weekend

For me, parenting is not particularly enjoyable.  I know there are highs and lows - blah blah - and while it's not really acceptable to say out loud, it's been a tough journey for me.  I love my children to the moon and back, but at the end of the day, I still don't enjoy parenting.  I see all the Facebook posts about how someone's child was the bestest and most amazing thing that ever happened in their lives and I think, hmmm.... that's just not me.  I love my children, but I'm not all googly eyed when discussing being a mom.

But - I still am ferociously protective and want nothing but the best for my kids.  It's weird.  I should probably see a therapist to discuss further...

So, I found out that Atticus was purposefully NOT invited to one of his "friends" birthday parties last Friday night.  My heart was crushed.  Atticus considers this boy to be a friend.  Atticus would never think to not invite him to our parties!  The silver lining is that we were in Boston and couldn't have gone anyways -- but just knowing that he wasn't invited was a blow to the chest.  I may not enjoy parenting, but I still want to shield him from the cruelty of the world and mean kids.  I know we can't always invite everyone to our parties, it's not practical, it's not the real world, it's not always financially optional -- but to exclude someone on purpose hurts.  It hurts when you're 9.  It hurts when you're 40+.

But the weekend continued...

We drove back to NY so that Atticus could race on the 12th in a qualifier race.  To qualify, Atticus needed to be in the top 30 finishers (out of 107 runners) or his team needed to be in the top 5.  Neither of those things happened.  Atticus had a good time of 15:51 in his 3k which put him in 77th place out of the 107 runners.  Tailwind B Team of 9-10y Boys came in 10th overall.  Tailwind did absolutely amazing as a whole.  45 out of the 49 athletes competing on the 12th qualified for the meet this weekend in Rhode Island.  Which meant that 4 kids didn't make it.  How absolutely gut wrenching.  This travel meet in Rhode Island was going to be Atticus's last hoorah with Tailwind.  He was looking forward to the camaraderie much more than the actual race -- but we just assumed that Atticus would qualify!   And then he didn't.

News came today that one of the other 9-10y boys can't make it this weekend to the race which has opened up a spot for Atticus.  He's going to be over the moon excited when I tell him after school.  I don't really have the time to be jetting off to Rhode Island at the moment - but it would have been crushing to not go.  Atticus is looking forward to swimming in a crappy hotel pool.  To having a team dinner.  To sleeping at a hotel.  To racing with his friends...

So, here's a toast to being a good parent -- and to Rhode Island.  I've never been to Rhode Island.  I suppose we can check that off the bucket list now...

Road Rage

Wow.  I was just on the receiving end of my first bout of road rage.  I was returning home from Target where I had just exchanged our Toilet Trouble game (more on that later).  A fire truck was backing up and doing something in the middle of the road - and the firemen stopped me and another car so that the truck could do whatever it was doing.  During this time, the light for me turned red and then turned green for the oncoming traffic.  A man, I won't call him a gentleman, drove up within inches of my car, rolled down his window, began screaming at me and waving his arms.  I smiled and pointed at the firetruck blocking my way.  This did not amuse him and he continued screaming and laying on his horn.  I smiled.  I waited for the firetruck to move and I kept heading home, singing to the radio...

I hope someone pays him a random act of kindness because goodness knows he could use it.

Perspective people.

Apple Picking For The Win

On a whim, after seeing some photos from friends - I decided to take the kids apple picking.  I mean, who doesn't need 15 pounds of apples?  There are so many amazing farms within 30-45 minutes of our house, it seemed silly not to go.

The plan had us headed to Harvest Moon Orchard.  I knew the traffic would be a bit crazy, so we took the prior exit and used Waze to wiggle over.  And well, after following a line of cars, we ended up at Outhouse Orchard!  Eh - that worked out well too.

 

The map of the day said that we'd be picking Macintosh and Idared varieties.

The kids were smarter than me and both wore baseball caps for the day!  

He dropped the one he had been eating!

The highlight of the afternoon was using the 10 foot long apple picking stick!

Hayride?  Sure!  We were able to see more of the orchards this way.

Singing cowboy, Orville Davis was along for the hayrides.

I just did a quick google on Mr. Davis and it seems he's done a right plenty in his time here on earth.  Here's an article on him in the New York Times.

Now it's Monday morning and I'm staring at a huge bag of apples.  The kids each took an apple in for snack today and they each brought one for their teachers as well.  I've also spent about an hour peeling apples and tossed them into the crockpot with some sugar and cinnamon to simmer for the day.  Hopefully we'll all be having applesauce for dessert.  Tomorrow, I'll branch into apple cakes and apple muffins...

Yankees v Tigers

Verlander is scheduled to pitch. 

Tigers are coming to Yankee Stadium.

Neighbor is selling 5 tickets for $100.

DONE!

 That was pretty much the thought process for how we ended up at a last minute Yankees game.  I told Atticus he could invite a friend since we had an extra ticket, and away we went...

There was a direct train from our local station right to Yankee Stadium.  Awesome.  We hopped off the train and headed over.  

It was a hot and humid and literally a moment after we entered the stadium it started raining!  But, we waited it out a mere 5 minutes or so and were treated to a rainbow right over the field.... it was brighter but it took me a moment or two of watching kids to grab the phone for a picture!  See it there in the distance? 

We wiped off the seats and the game began.  There were buckets of burgers, more hotdogs than I can count, beers (adults of course) and a round of cotton candy too!  It was a fun night...

Enjoying the game.

 


Here are the tired and happy kids on the train ride home...

Bad Customer Service...

Michelle, myself and Wren stopped in yesterday morning to Barking Dog on York.  We were the only customers inside.  There may have been someone outside... We ordered, were eating and Wren was getting restless and wanting to leave.  Michelle and I each were drinking coffee - neither one of us had even finished our first cup.  When the waitress brought us our check, I asked if I could get a cup of coffee to-go.  I could have asked for a refill and chugged it, but thought a cup to go would be more enjoyable.  She took my mug, poured my remaining coffee into a to-go cup and topped it off with fresh coffee.  Then the manager said something to her.  She brought the cup over to me and then informed me that she would have to charge me for a to-go coffee and asked if I still wanted it???  Seriously?  No.  So... I then watch her walk back behind the bar, dump out the coffee and throw away the cup!  Good freaking grief.  So - now, instead of spending 10 cents and giving me a coffee refill in a paper cup - you've got one really peeved former customer!

Broadway - been there, done that.

Well, yes... that much is true.  But it's about to be more true.  Truer?  Hmmm....

Since my dear friend, Michelle Flynn, is on her way out to NYC again... and I was falling behind on my "at least one show a month" self imposed rule -- we decided it was high time we get back to midtown.

So... we're headed to see Orphans and Macbeth.  I'm also trying to convince her to go see Sleep No More as well.  If you recall - Greg sent me to see that last year and it was AWESOME.

AND - wait.  There's more.

Only a week later... Greg and I are headed out to the NYC Ballet again.  Woot woot.  May will be a stellar month for the arts!

In between all this glitz and glamour -- we've also got Wren's ear tube surgery, Wren's birthday and travel.  Oy vey.  It'll definitely keep me busy!

Central Park Zoo

Wren and I joined Melanie and Imogen this morning for a jaunt over to the Central Park Zoo.  I still think the girls (and Atticus) love riding the bus just as much as any activity we go to within the city!!

But -- the girls were on relatively good behavior today and having a ball running around looking at the polar bear, watching the seals, checking out the birds, ducks, and the Children's Tisch Zoo part too where you can feed the sheep, cow, goat, alpaca, etc.

I haven't uploaded the photos yet - but you can see the ones on Facebook where Melanie tagged me.

Checking things off the NYC bucket list!!  :)

Scootering About

Well, it's finally official.  Both kids now own scooters and helmets and I've allowed them to scooter down the busy NYC streets.  Oy.  Trust me, OY.

Atticus had his first shot at outdoor motoring this past Saturday while Wren was sleeping.  Wren got her chance this morning while Atticus was in school and we had a brief showing of sunshine.  I didn't get any pictures of Wren... next time!!

I think they're catching on fairly well.  Wren is still having some issues with steering - but hey, she's not even three years old yet.  I'll cut her some slack.  Yes, some of these born and raised NYC kids have been scootering for years (ha)... but maybe their parents are Jewish mothers??

The good news is that we've got time to practice before our next adventure.  And... from what I hear, the kids should find scooters quite handy in London too!  I'm not yet sure which is easier to manage on the subway/bus/tube -- scooters or strollers, but we'll keep the discussion going.  The biggest drawback to the scooters is the lack of storage space.  I must admit, it gets a tad handy having a basket under the stroller where you can stash stuff!

Built To Amaze Indeed

Yes.  I feel terrible about all the animals traveling by train all across the states and being asked to perform for crowds of people.  That said, it still was a great show and I honestly don't know how it's possible that I didn't run away to join the circus in my youth.  I still think that had I known about Cirque when I was still a young and limber woman - I would have dropped everything and moved to Canada to train.  Without a doubt.

But I digress.

The kids absolutely loved every minute of the show.  The elephants, the horses, the tigers, the magician, the goofy clowns, the dogs, the trampolines -- it truly is the greatest show on earth.  Wren says that her favorite part was the elephants.  Atticus is torn between the elephants and the clown who lit the other clown's tush on fire.  :)  Go figure, boys....

Me... I loved the horses and the trampoline act.  And the arial acrobatics with the cool ribbon things.  And, well - the tigers are still pretty damn cool too.

It was a late night, and I suppose technically our first trip to Brooklyn -- but all in all a great night.

P.S. 158

Yes - I'm talking you.  The foul tempered and overly mean and rude woman who works in the office on the second floor.  Yes, it is your responsibility to post "acceptable" times to drop off kindergarten applications.  There is a flyer downstairs with the police woman that clearly states we can come by today, February 20, 2013 between the hours of 9 am and 12 noon.  Do not tell me otherwise.  I have a picture of the flyer and it still resides downstairs in the "official" binder.

First off, nowhere on THIS page does it say that you can set your own hours on when you choose to accept applications!

Second, I understand that you're dealing with a mountain of paperwork.  I am in no way oblivious to the fact.  However, that is YOUR JOB!!!  You take the applications, you enter them into whatever system you have.  Let me repeat - my application in no way changes the fact that your job requires you to enter all the paperwork into the system.  Whether you take my application yesterday, today or tomorrow - it still must be entered.  Forcing parents to come when it's convenient for you is a total farce.

When I follow the HOW TO APPLY directions from the DOE, you should be capable of accepting a stack of papers and incorporating it into your existing stack.  It's not rocket science.  It's your JOB.  I chose a different career.  You chose to work within the infrastructure of the public school system.  Yes, without a doubt, registration is a pain in your yearly job details - but so be it.

Oh look.  Fantastic.  It looks like you did actually update your actual school's page to remove today's date from your list of acceptable times to drop off an application.  For those of us that are new to NYC -  we visit the DOE website,  not each individual school's website.  No where on the DOE site does it indicate that you should visit each school's website on the off chance that they've decided only to accept applications during 42 hours over the course of 6 weeks.

Seriously, 42 hours.

I'm livid.  There is absolutely no reason for you to be rude or mean tempered.  It's not exactly a walk in the park to get your child registered for kindergarten and even less pleasant of an experience when the staff is behaving worse than the children they're supposed to be teaching.

To Park or Not To Park

Sometimes our schedules get a wee bit off kilter over the weekend.  Today is an off kilter day.  Greg has an all day training thingy so I've been on my own.  By the time we finished gymnastics, got home, organized lunch and convinced Wren to nap it was nearly 2pm.  So, now I find myself at 3:37 wondering whether or not I should wake her so we can meet friends at Central Park, or just let her sleep.  By the time I wake her and get the crew organized to go, it'll take at least 30 min.  The sun sets somewhere between 4:30 and 5 pm and it's already an overcast day.  If we do make it to the park, we'll only have a few measly minutes before it's dark.  And... they're meeting on the west side of the park, which extends the commute.  Hmmmm...

But, staying here doesn't sound that appealing since our neighbor's daughter is turning either 15 or 16 this weekend and it's been a non stop teenage music/scream/drama fest.  The biggest thing is the slamming of the front door.  It's enough to drive me batty.  Greg thinks it's terrible to let the teenager have that many friends over to the apartment.  I think it's just a different way of life.  If all you've ever known is high rise living -- then, it's totally normal.  At least the birthday girl came by earlier today and gave me her phone number.  She said to text if things were getting too loud since she probably wouldn't hear me knocking!

Decisions, decisions...

I was also planning on cooking tonight, but I think I've canned that idea.  I think the new pizza joint around the corner is calling our name.  Plus, this gives me one more day to organize and check in with my cousin to see if he wants to swing by for dinner.  :)

Oy... the screaming.  I thought I remembered being that age, but apparently I don't remember it all that well!

Happy New Year!

So far we're off to a great start.  We completed the year with a tad of down time -- if there is such a thing as "down time" with two kids.  :)  I took the kids to see the tree at Rockefeller and to watch the folks ice skating.  We then walked over to Greg's office and took the subway home with him in the late afternoon.

Atticus and I had a fun little adventure on Christmas Day.  He and I went for a chilly walk and ended up stopping at a fun little bakery for some coffee, orange juice and a slice of cake.  Wren and I have gone on a few small adventures here and there recently too -- I think her favorite was FAO.  She wasn't such a fan of the Apple store, but then again, it was just prior to Christmas and a wee bit busy!

Atti and I also spent last weekend at Bryant Park.  We shook off the nerves and hit the ice.  There was a tantrum or two when he first stepped onto the ice, but after our second try, he really took to skating.  Truth be told, I was impressed.  We stopped several times the first go around the rink -- but the second trip went pretty smooth.  We even went large distances where he was only holding my hands and not onto the rail at all!  I'd say pretty good for the first time EVER!  I'm going to try and take Wren soon and hopefully get back with Atticus again too.  Atti and I were lucky that we made it the very last day of the "shops".  After an hour or so on the ice, we packed up and watched the zamboni clean the ice.  That was a highlight for sure.  Next up, snacks.  We tried some grits and had one of the BEST wafels (yes I spelled that right) ever.  Seriously, I'm still dreaming about the wafels.  Of course, no day would be complete without a street vendor hot dog!

Thankfully, we're in a bit of a warm spell right now, so we've been able to spend quite a bit of time at the two closest parks.  The kids love these gigantic swings.  They're made from a heavy duty plastic and they're set up so the kids are reclining at a pretty steep angle.  Who knows... they love 'em.  And, as a result of pushing them constantly - I think I'm getting a decent upper body workout in every time we go to the park!

We're also stopping into the library at least once a week.  Some current favorites include I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont and Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker.  I really need to see if the kids school has a Scholastic account so that I can order those two.  We've checked out many books lately, but those are definite favorites.

Everything else is holding steady... the kids are loving their gymnastics classes at MyGym.  I'm also considering adding in some classes at the 92 Street Y... but we'll see.  I know how easy it could be to overschedule the kids.  They have so much fun, it's hard to not let them try everything out!

Window Displays

I had high hopes for this evening's entertainment... we (ok - mostly me) wanted to go see some of the holiday window displays in the fancy stores.  So, by the time we finally got all our ducks in a row and made it to the bus stop, it was 4:40 pm.  We made it to 57th and Madison about 5:30 pm.  YIKES!  Good thing we were on the bus and not trying to take a taxi, it would have cost a fortune!

I was going to give you a rundown of some of the displays, but it's been covered by so many other folks who say and describe it a bit better.  HERE is the site we went off of to start our mini tour.  We managed to see Louis Vuitton (cool gold displays), Bergdorf Goodman, Barney's, some of Tiffany's -- and of course the big giant snowflake that looks like it's suspended in the sky over the intersection.  I think the snowflake was the favorite of the kids.  I really wanted to see Electric Disney display at Barney's but alas... my children (maybe they're not really mine?) weren't nearly as excited as I was.  Bummer.  Who doesn't love Mickey Mouse?  I mean, come on for Pete's Sake!

And, after all that - we still didn't see the big menorah, which is part of why we went down on the first night of Hanukkah.  Well, I suppose this means I'll just have to take the kids one day this week when it's hopefully a tad less busy?  Let's hope.  We also missed Bloomingdale's which I'd like to see too... And, if you read to the bottom of the Mommy Poppin's article, there are some great ideas for things to do by Bryant Park.  :)  Smush anyone???

So many cool things, eh?

Miracle on 80th Street

It's taken me a while to type this up because it still moves me to tears.  It's a bit of an involved story you see.... I wrote about Pennies From Heaven before.  My Grandpa Mike (and quite possibly a few others) have been sending me pennies from heaven quite regularly lately.  Immediately after Hurricane Sandy - I was finding several a day!

Then my best friend, Nicole, came to town on a business trip.  We'd been planning our outings for weeks - including a Broadway show.  Greg was all set to leave work early so that Nic and I could head out to a show.  Then came the random "nor'easter" that brought 40 mile an hour winds and wicked sleet/snow to New York City.  I wanted to be sure that I got the kids early so that everything would be in place for my outing in the crappy weather.  I went to the school, packed up all our things and made sure that Wren was bundled up underneath the plastic rain/snow guard in her stroller.  She was insisting that she hold her wooby for the walk home.  I didn't want to give it to her, but in an effort to avoid a screaming toddler meltdown, I agreed to let her hold it.  About halfway home, I peeked in to make sure she was holding tight.  So far so good.  We made it back to the apartment and the kids went running to check the mail (totally normal).  Except... for Wren to do so required undoing the rain guard and rearranging the bag of school stuff so that the stroller wouldn't tip over!  Of course on this day, there was a notice in our mailbox that we had a package.  Atticus ran over to the doorman to deliver the note and then, in addition to all of our hats, scarves, jackets, school lunch boxes, umbrella, rain guard and stroller, I now had a large box and dry cleaning to try and wrangle onto the elevator.

Now we make it inside and I'm trying to get all of the pieces put back where they belong.  Sometime during this process it becomes known that we can't find the wooby.  Ummmm... are you kidding me?  Where could it be?  Did it get shoved in the bag with the lunch boxes?  No.  Under the stroller?  No.  Already put away in Wren's room?  No.  Anywhere in the house?  No.  Holy panic button.  I grabbed the kids and headed downstairs figuring it must have gotten dropped in the mele at the mailboxes.  No.  No one had seen it.  No one had turned it in.  It wasn't anywhere in the immediate vicinity.  Uh oh.  UH OH.

Atticus asked if the paci fairy had taken the wooby to a new little girl.  Good one, little man... maybe that's what happened.  Wren didn't seem terribly concerned at this point, but I was FREAKING out.  Greg got home and began to silently freak out and curse me for giving it to her while walking.  G'ahhhhh.  Oh, and at this point I had to leave or risk being late for the show.  (More on the totally awesome show in a later post!!)  I decided to walk the same road we'd taken home from school with the hope that maybe, just maybe the wooby would magically appear.  I paced 5 blocks in the sleet and snow to no avail.  I saw three mittens, a scarf and two hats -- but no wooby.  I was holding tightly onto a penny from earlier in the day that was still in my coat pocket.  Rubbing the penny, I kept saying a prayer to Grandpa Mike.  Please Grandpa - I know you're there -- you can skip the pennies, just help me find the wooby.  PLEASE!

Freezing, I finally made it to the subway and jumped on the 6.  I got off to transfer over to Times Square ish with seconds to spare.  Being that I was still freaking out about wooby and I was still half frozen and that I still don't quite know which train is on which side of the track... I ran down the stairs and hopped on the train just before it pulled away.  A few minutes pass and the train isn't stopping when I look quizzically at another passenger and ask exactly WHICH train I'd boarded.  Ummmm... oh crud - I'm going where?  Yeah, I got on the wrong train and was now underneath the East River headed for Queens.  Broadway is NOT located in Queens.  Poo, poo, poo.  We finally get to a stop and I leap off to try and return the opposite direction.  Thankfully the very very nice passenger got off the train we were on to tell me that I was still on the wrong side of the tracks and that I needed to go up the stairs, over and then back down.  OY VEY.

So, now I'm headed in the right direction, but I have no way of telling Nicole that I'm underground and running late.  Freaking A dude.  Finally make it above ground and start weaving my way to the theater.  Thank goodness when I came above ground I knew where I was -- ha -- I was right next to Greg's office and our old apartment from the summer of 2009!  I start calling Nic like a fiend (8 times I think it was) but she wasn't answering!!  Eeeek.  Turns out that we were both at the theater, just in different parts of said theater.  We finally figure it out and get inside where I'm trying to regale the story of the wooby before the lights go out.  I'm not joking when I say that we sat down with less than 60 seconds to spare!

Show ends, we grab dinner and then go our separate ways.   Again, I decide to take the longer route home so that I can walk the route from earlier in the day.  Again, no luck.  Greg assures me that Wren cried a bit, but did relatively well sans wooby.  I even fire off an email before bed to the woman who made the wooby 3 years prior hoping that she might be able to "recreate" it... In the morning, we're talking about how Wren has to be a big girl now and that wooby has gone to a new baby with the paci fairy.... she's a tad more upset in the morning and I'm not sure how well this story is going to hold up.  Wren gets tears in her eyes and asks if we can call the fairy and ask her to return the wooby.  It's not looking good.

Greg leaves before us by about 10 or 15 minutes.  I'd promised Atticus that we could take the bus this morning, but I was hoping that he'd forget because I really wanted to walk the path ONE more time.  But, alas -- before we can leave the apartment, he's begging for the bus.  I agree, but think to myself, maybe we'll just walk to the second bus stop so that we go a bit further by foot?!?

Now... here's the miracle.  And I mean MIRACLE.  The three of us walk outside of our building and begin to cross 80th street when right there in the middle of the street - less than 50 yards from the front of our building - is the wooby.  It had been run over quite a few times and wasn't in the best shape, but it was there.  Seriously.  Right freaking there in the middle of 80th street.  I had walked past that intersection half a dozen times since the night before....but there it was.  I think I literally jumped for joy.  Wren on the other hand saw the state of the wooby and burst into tears.  I managed to convince her that wooby was back and wooby was safe and sound, but all she could see was that wooby was almost black and was "dirty".  We returned to the building and I deposited the black soppy wad of a wooby with the doorman and then we went to school.

When I returned home, I donned my kitchen gloves, turned up the water to as hot as it would go and filled the sink with hot soapy water.  I was now praying that some Dawn degreaser would work magic on the wooby!  I'm happy to report that with some serious sink scrubbing, wooby was ready for a trip to the washing machine.  A couple times through the machine - and wooby was almost back to normal!!  I had to do a minor stitch repair to one of the ribbons, but otherwise - we are back in business.

And... Wren is no longer allowed to hold wooby when we're walking.

Prayers and thanks to Grandpa Mike and all our other angels that had to work overtime to make this miracle happen!!!

Halloween 2012

Batman and a Strawberry.  We weren't sure if the full festivities would really happen in the wake of Sandy.  But -- even with a cancelled parade at school, the kiddos in our building rallied to have a successful evening.

The kids helped me fill up our two big bowls of candy and set them outside of our door.  Greg was supposed to be home to great the little ghouls and gobblins - but... well, he was still in Chicago!!  So, once we were all dressed and the candy was set outside it was time to rock and roll.  I took a picture of the "map" downstairs that showed which families were open to having Trick or Treaters and we headed to floor 21 with the thought that if we made it to top, we could walk the stairs down.  As luck would have it, on one of the top floors, we ran into a 5 year old Robin (real name Jack) and his Dad who was dressed as Batman.  I figured out that this was the son of the woman I'd recently met in the elevator.  Jack lives on the second floor and I think we now have a new friend!!  The boys and Wren had a ton of fun running around and knocking on doors.

And then... of all things, when we were on our floor, Atticus saw a young tween dump both bowls of candy from in front of our door into his bag.  I walked over to our door and sure enough, both bowls were completely empty.  Atticus burst into tears saying that the boy had taken all of the candy.  I was so surprised and busy trying to console Atti and Wren that I didn't grab the kid.  I went inside to get the second bag of candy to set out while trying to calm the littles down.  In the mele, we lost Jack and his Dad.  But, with our bowls back at 100%, we set off to finish the floors.  When we got to the second floor, we found Jack and his family.  Robin, the mom, invited us in and then we managed to have a wonderful evening!  The kids played so well together, I had a couple glasses of wine and met some neighbors.  We ordered Pad Thai and had a lovely evening.

I'm thrilled to have some new friends in the building and so are Atticus and Wren!  This isn't the best photo - but I couldn't get both of them to look at me at the same time!!  :)

Oh Sandy...

Wow.  Wow.  Wow.

I can not believe the path of destruction you left in your wake.  This is terrible.  In so many ways...

We were incredibly lucky.  Our immediate neighborhood is fine.  Totally and completely fine.  Greg managed to fly out on Sunday afternoon before the ordeal began.  He packed a couple extra days of clothes knowing that he wasn't going to make it back home for a few days... And, before he had even taken off for Chicago, his return flight was cancelled.  Ha.  But... we're hoping he makes it back late tonight.  We'll see.

Back to the story... as all the news sites have reported, the city began shutting down in preparation on Sunday night.  Subways stopped running.  Buses stopped services.  Sand bags and taped up windows began popping up... The kids and I went across the street to get dinner, thinking that we might be eating power bars and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the next few days.  (Thankfully, again - were lucky and didn't lose power!)  For the majority of Monday we just watched some increasing winds and a bit of rain here and there.  Even Monday night when the brunt of the storm was hitting here - our neighborhood was spared.  Kinda nuts, but we got really lucky.  My Dad reads a blog and apparently the author lives only a couple blocks from us, closer to the river.  Actually, she/he must live right next to the park where we take the kids... they posted pictures of the river covering FDR.  Insane.  Literally two blocks from us and yet we were fine.

By Tuesday midday we were starting to go a bit stir crazy indoors.  One of Atticus's friends Liam lives pretty close to us.  After Wren woke up from her nap, Liam and his mom came over for an impromptu play date.  That was helpful!  Atticus and Liam are a bit like tornados though -- the two of them were running around like crazy whirlwinds!

All throughout however, we've been watching the news.  The effects of this storm are devastating.  I can't believe how such large chunks of the area are without power, still underwater, etc.  It's going to be quite a while before life as we know it is back to "normal"...

Frankenstorm

For Pete's sake.... can I not get away from the freaking hurricanes?  Now they're following me to New York City?  Good grief.

Busy Bee

It would be quite easy to forgo the job hunt and still stay busy in this town!  But... I've found a few great opportunities that are getting me excited about work again.  I'm still going to keep them secret for a while, but one in particular has really got my curiosity peaked and really has invigorated me if that makes sense!?!

I've also been quite busy entertaining... having Rainbow in town for a day and then my friend Michelle has been great fun.  I've been to Ess A Bagel for some bagels and lox, Veneiro's in the East Village for some cannolis and tarts, Shake Shake for burgers and a peanut butter shake, the boathouse in Central Park, strolled Madison Ave, the Waldorf Astoria, caught a Broadway musical seeing Newsies, and I've walked approximately 10 miles in the past day and a half alone!  Whew.  We actually walked so far yesterday that I got a blister while wearing my sneakers!

I now have a couple hours to myself before heading back to pick up the kids.  I have a million phone calls to get through regarding preschool for next fall, trying to find and get appointments with new doctors (because of course our new insurance plan is TOTALLY different from our old one), still need to call a few companies and make sure our address has been updated...and I really need to get to the store and figure out what in the blazes I'm feeding my family for dinner tonight!  Oy.

Tomorrow is lunch with one of my BFFs other BFF.  It'll be good to see Nancy, I haven't seen her since Nicole's wedding in Tel Aviv!  And...Rhonda and Brian are due into town tomorrow, but I think they'll be staying at a hotel or in a VRBO.  It'll be good to see them and catch up again.  And, it'll be nice because Greg is already full swing into lawyer mode.  Apparently he has to go into the office on Saturday and on Monday (even though it's a holiday) and he may have his first business travel as soon as next week!  Ugh.  That I'm not so excited about...

Ok - I'd best get moving.  A ton to get done in the next few hours!!

Surviving

Well, we've made it just over a week without the sky falling.  There was some rain (and some very wet wet Badens) -- but we're hanging in there.  We've done a ton of walking.  Now I know why there are nail places on every corner -- your feet really take a beating living here.  (And I haven't even tried doing a ton of walking in anything other than sneakers!!)  I did order rain gear for the kids today.  I'll put in my order for some rain "wellies" in the morning... let's just say that walking 10 blocks in the rain while pushing a stroller was NOT fun.  I have also now figured out which bus will pick up closest to the apartment and drop off just caddy-corner from the daycare!  That will be coming in handy, I'm sure...

The house is mostly unpacked.  Still have some work to do in the bathrooms and closets -- and there isn't a thing on the walls, but we're making progress.  We have to decide how much we want to hang on the walls -- since they're concrete, hanging anything is a much more intensive adventure!

The kids are settling into daycare.  They still are pouting a bit at drop off, but it's going fairly well.  That's a huge relief.  They need some consistency back in their lives!

Stress

Can't a girl catch a break?  I know I've said that many times over, but come on...

We left my folks house about 7:40 in the morning.  We finally arrived in White Plains, NY (no... not even Manhattan) somewhere around 1:30 am.  It was a LOOOOOONG day and I swear on my life I will never ever ever ever travel alone with two toddlers on connecting flights.  Never Ever.  Do you read me?  I don't care what event or celebration or tragedy is/has occurred.  I'm not going to do it.  The kids did great on the flight from DFW to CLT.  After that -- the day just went downhill.  Our flight to LGA was cancelled.  We tried to get on a flight to DCA that was then going onto LGA.  We ran quite literally to the gate where the gate agent was a wicked witch and told me that the jet bridge was closed and that we were not getting on the flight despite what we'd been told - and that we should go back to see who ever had told us that we were confirmed.  UGH.  Nice, eh?  So, we caught a ride with a buggy and went back to the US Airways club.  The very very nice agent then rebooked us on the next flight to DCA and then onto LGA.  Then that flight was delayed and delayed and delayed.  We finally landed in DCA and then learned that our next flight was delayed.  Then it was cancelled.  There were some crazy storms going on in NYC -- but I was determined to get to the city.  I was down to our last couple of diapers and the kids were cranky as all get up.  We hadn't really eaten anything but snacks all day and it was time to get HOME.  We were finally able to secure three tickets on a flight into White Plains which is about 45 minutes north of the city.  The club closed down for the night and we made our way over to the gate.  Then we went downstairs.  Then we got on a bus.  Then we got off a bus.  Then we tried waiting by some chairs next to where we were to board the bus and someone had the nerve to tell me that the area where I was standing was for people with disabilities only.  I looked at him and asked if my two screaming toddlers weren't a disability/special needs then I wasn't sure what else I needed to do to qualify.  I moved the kids two feet to the left and then proceeded to break down in tears.  Some very nice Scottish gentleman (who happened to be dads) took pity on us and helped me calm the kids and then carry all of our gear onto the bus, onto the hopper plane and then off the hopper plane.

It was a LOOOOOOOOOONG day.

Oh. So now we're in NYC.  Fantastic, eh?  Not so much - there are still a ton of boxes everywhere and the kids are totally freaked out about everything.  It's loud.  They can't find certain things.  There are people everywhere.  There are dogs everywhere.  There are a LOT of NO touches for Atticus.  There is a ton of tension to say the least.  We were able to visit the new daycare a few times last week and then today marked their first day on their own.  Surprisingly, today was our smoothest day yet.  Go figure.  Until tonight... Wren has been freaking out at bedtime.  I'm not sure if she got used to sharing a room with Atticus or if the noises are bothering her - but she has been having a tough time at night.  She's crying that she doesn't want to sleep in her room that she wants to stay with me.  :(  Atticus has been waking at least once a night from the noises.  I think I'll stop by the drugstore across the street tomorrow to investigate ear plugs for the kids.

Greg and I did manage to unpack the better part of the kitchen today which will be helpful.  Maybe it's just our upbringing, but I think I cook more than I realized!  Eating out in this town is easy, but it's not cheap.  Granted, neither is the grocery store -- but it has to be better than all the eating out!

So yeah, stress.

Oh... and then today... while sitting outside of the daycare (making sure all was going okay) I thought I'd clean up my iPhone.  Everytime I clicked on my email, I was prompted for my Hitachi password (since my account is no longer active).  I thought I'd be all crafty and delete the account since I don't need any of the emails anymore.  Sigh.  That was the WRONG choice.  I inadvertently deleted all of my contacts too.  8 years worth of contacts that had been entered via my work laptop are GONE.  We've checked my Mac, but apparently they weren't backed up there.  Damn, damn, damn.  It's not even the basics like cell phones and addresses -- it's all the notes, the spouse information, the birth dates and anniversaries... it's all gone.  All the info I saved just before I left the company... gone.  All the doctor referrals, general life contacts, gone... If I had more energy I'd be pissed as all get up, but I just don't have it in me.  I'm just sad.