Rubin Art Museum

Lest our girls start thinking that NYC is all legos and princesses, we decided to give them a little culture the other day.  I did some research and found a small museum down in Chelsea dedicated to Himalayan art.  It is not a children's museum at all, but they have done their best to make it as kid-friendly as possible.  Upon arriving, they give your child a 'yak pack' backpack filled with little activities like a scavenger hunt and drawing pencils.  The kids look around the museum, drawing faces, and looking for what's on their scavenger hunt.  So cute!  I was curious to see how Delilah would behave.  I knew she wouldn't act up, but I also didn't know if she'd be into it at all.  She was SO very into it.  We were there for almost two hours and she was curious about everything.  Ours were the only kids in the place and the other adults kept coming up to us and saying how well behaved our kids were and how great it was that we were already exposing them to art museums.  One of those times where you feel like you may be doing okay at this parenting thing.  Of course, after the museum we stopped at a French bistro to get some wine & snacks and Delilah threw an enormous tantrum for no reason.  We had to leave the restaurant before we even ordered anything.  Eh, not every moment can be a winner.  We ended up eating donuts at the little outside tables set up in Union Square and Delilah played at the playground there for an hour, so it all worked out for the best.

Here are some pics from the museum:

The first thing we saw was this recreation of a Tibetan shrine.  It was in its own little room and Delilah was mesmerized.  She just sat and leaned on the rail and stared at everything.

Running around looking at all the art

Hey, look, I made it into a picture.  I practically had to shove the camera into Chris's hands, but I was determined to not be behind the camera for the entire day. :)

Delilah ran over to this mask and started roaring and imitating his face.

"Look at this one, Daddy!"

Examining it closer

They had a table with different symbols often found in Himalayan art.  No, Delilah did not draw those pictures to her right...she's not that much of a prodigy. :)

"Draw this one, Mommy"

Drawing with my little girl.

Such a fun family day in the city.  Looking forward to more!

We Have Teeth!

Hurrican Irene came and went this weekend.  We were lucky that it had pretty much fizzled out by the time it got to us.  Lots of wind, a bit of rain, and not much else to report...
except for Noelle's teeth!  She cut her first tooth on Saturday, and it was, oddly enough, her left incisor.  Not a typical first tooth.  Then her top left middle tooth popped through yesterday.  I can feel about 3 or 4 more just under the gums, so I feel like we may go from no teeth to half a mouthful in a week or two.
Happy chomping, Ellie Bug!

10 Months Old!

Happy 10 Months, Noelle!!
We keep waiting for you to stop being so happy all the time, but you just can't seem to wipe the smile off your face.  Unless Mommy leaves the room.  Separation anxiety has definitely kicked in.  But as long as I'm around, you are all smiles.  I love taking you on our building's shuttle, or on the subway b/c you charm EVERYONE.  As we were getting off a bus one day, a lady commented, "your baby is beautiful. And she OWNED this bus."  And you did...every person on that bus was fighting for your attention and your smiles.
Still no teeth.  Your food repertoire has expanded to include yogurt, cheese, and sweet potatoes.  You are still very picky.  You are starting to feed yourself, which is a messy, but cute, endeavor.
I can squeeze you in to 9 month clothes, but 12 month clothes are much more comfortable.
The frilly stuff never suited Delilah, but you look perfect in frills.  The more ruffles, the better.
You are into everything, and seem to have a moderately sized death wish.  I swear I save you from choking at least once an hour.  I think balls are your favorite toy of choice right now.  You won't let me hold a book long enough to finish it...you grab it out of my hands so you can examine it yourself. 
You sleep from 7:30pm to 6:30 or 7am; take an hour nap around 9, and then a 2 hour nap around 1pm.
You wave hi and bye, but not in the typical fashion.  You sort of extend your arm straight out, and drop your wrist--you truly look like a princess extending her hand for it to be kissed. 
The pictures below show what a ham you are!

Playing with your sister's kitchen

You look like a doll in this pic!

"Look, Ma, One hand!"

Dancing with Daddy

Napping on Daddy.  You like to stretch out. :)

Cutest picture ever.  I don't know what to do with all your cuteness.
You are the cutest thing on the planet.

Disney!

I promise, a little culture is coming, but a week after the Lego store, I loaded up the girls and took them to the Disney Store in Times Square!  It was drizzling outside, so we needed an indoor activity and I thought this would be perfect. 

Here are the girls in the middle of Times Square. So fun!!

 "Look, Mommy! Rapunzel's dress!"

 Needless to say, Delilah was in love with this giant castle

 Here is Delilah holding Ariel and pretending to have her battle Ursula, the sea witch. This pretend battle went on for a good 5 minutes.

 Noelle was a little less than impressed with the whole endeavor

 They had a little gazebo on the 3rd floor with tables and crayons for the kids to play with

 Trying on a Jesse hat from Toy Story

We had so much fun looking at everything and I was so proud of how well Red behaved in the store.  I told her she could pick out ONE item and it was a hard decision between a stuffed Ariel and a stuffed Jesse.  So hard that she had to take both items down to the register and waited until the VERY last minute to make her choice.  Ariel hasn't left her arms since.

I Figured it Out...

I figured out why it breaks my heart to put away the clothes my children have outgrown.  With Delilah, I chalked it up to simple nostalgia.  With Noelle, I figured it was because I'm aware that she may be our last child so putting away her tiny clothes may be putting them away forever.  And while both of those feelings are true and valid, they don't tell the whole story.  Nor do they account for the immense sadness.  I truly feel like my heart is BREAKING when I pack away the clothes that no longer fit.  There are always tears--more tears than I feel are reasonable.  Not loud, sobbing tears, rather the kind of tears that just fill your eyes and then spill out silently.
But it became clear just now as I was putting away Noelle's 6 month clothes and pulling out Delilah's 12 month old clothes that have become hand-me-downs.  All sorts of memories flooded my brain as I was handling the clothes.  Delilah during her My Gym baby classes, Noelle in Rockport, Delilah chasing Runyon in the yard.  And it hit me: those girls are GONE.  Especially Delilah.  She is a different person now than she was at 12 months.  With adults, we change a bit from year to year, but we stay essentially the same.  Chris today is basically the same man I married 9 years ago.  But Delilah is a different being entirely.  And while I couldn't love her 3 year old self more if I tried, I miss baby Delilah.  And I know I will never see her again.  So, in a way, putting away the clothes our children have outgrown feels a little like putting away the clothes of a loved one who has passed.  As dramatic or macabre as that sounds, it is true. 
Now I know why I cry when I go through those tiny clothes.
And Chris will just have to do it from now on.

Wordless Wednesdays: Thank Goodness These Scissors are Plastic

Lego Store!

I think it's safe to say that the very best thing about living in NYC is that there is ALWAYS something to do.  And I vowed when we moved here that I would take lots of pictures.  My motto is:  if I would take pictures of it as a tourist, then I will take pictures of it as a resident.  So when my friend Jonna invited us to join her two kids on a trip to the Lego Store in Rockefeller Center, I made sure to pack my camera.  Sure she laughed at me, but she was really happy when I later sent her the pic of our girls. :) The store was actually a little small and not quite as fun as we'd expected. Luckily, our kids don't have high standards and they thought it was a fantastic way to spend an afternoon.

In front of the store

Wall of Legos

Investigating everything

Staring at the tiny Rockefeller Center made of Legos.

Here are Delilah and Alexa in front of all the flags at Rockefeller Center.  Alexa is five and Delilah ADORES her. They live in our building and Delilah must ask a hundred times a day to see Alexa.  Luckily the feeling is mutual:  Jonna told me that whenever Alexa and her other friends play make-believe, Alexa now always picks "Delilah" as her pretend name.

And, of course, the highlight of the trip wasn't planned at all.  We were underground at Rockefeller Center, and from about 30 feet away, Delilah spotted the Swarovski Crystal store and RACED to see this display.  She and Alexa must have stared at it for ten minutes (an eternity for a 3 year old).  Delilah just kept repeating: "Mama, it's sooooo beautiful!!"

And, thus, concludes our trip to the Lego Store. Who knows where we'll head next?

NYC!

We made it!!  This post alone could fill a novel, so I will try to be as succinct in my wrap up as possible.  It all started in the middle of April.  Chris called me one afternoon to say he was having dinner with his boss and that he had a sick feeling that he was about to be laid off.  Keep in mind that his company explicitly said that moving Chris to Houston was to give him experience he would need to be promoted to VP.  He was, indeed, laid off that night.  Luckily, they felt terrible about it, so the severance package was generous.  Since we had nearly a year's pay to cushion the blow, Chris and I decided that we could afford to take some time and really figure out what we wanted our next step as a family to be.  Since I knew Chris hadn't been happy at his job for years, I told him my biggest wish for him was job satisfaction.  He was contacted by a former boss who now works for GE Healthcare and she seemed to have the perfect job for him, but the catch was that the job was in Manhattan.  So Chris started the interview process and we started thinking long and hard about uprooting our family.  We started thinking about all the move would entail:  downsizing considerably, leaving our dog, and losing the proximity to friends and family.  The downsizing part sounded great.  We had already been feeling a little overwhelmed by all the STUFF in our lives.  The idea of selling our cars, getting rid of rooms of furniture, and figuring out how little we could whittle everything down to was very attractive.  But giving away Runyon and taking the girls away from so much family was heartbreaking.  It still is.  So why did we do it?  I don't even know if I can give a full answer to that question.  We did it because it was time for Chris to be properly challenged and appreciated at work.  We did it because we were afraid if we didn't do it now, we never would.  It really felt like God presented this opportunity and that we were supposed to take it.  It felt like a chance to rent an apartment for 3 or 4 years and re-evaluate our American dream.  We certainly won't live here forever, but what an adventure to have for the next few years.

    And now we are here.  The first week was the hardest.  The girls and I stayed at my parents' house the last two weeks we were in Houston, and we got very used to cousins and grandparents and siblings being around all the time.  Then we came to New York, where we had no phone or internet (and no cell reception in the apartment) for over a week.  To say I felt isolated would be putting it extremely mildly.  And Chris was working late every night, which didn't help.  As I said in an earlier post, Delilah seemed to be literally losing her mind.  One night Chris came home and I told him I was giving this 6 months to get better, or else.  I don't know exactly what the 'or else' meant, but I meant it.  Fortunately, it didn't take 6 months.  It took about 2 weeks.  :) 

We seem to be hitting our stride.  I've met some fantastic moms in the building who have taken me under their collective wing and the days seem to fly by.  There is always something new to do or see.  We've been to a Broadway show, tried out ten or fifteen different parks, picnicked in Central Park, gone to story hours, played at museum playscapes, seen a free Broadway variety show at Bryant Park, and may have even already found a church home.  Our double stroller is a delight, and I found a great grocery delivery so that I don't have to worry about groceries and two small children with no car.  Delilah started school two days a week last week and it's been great.  The first day I picked her up, she couldn't talk fast enough about everything she had done that day.  And Chris is LOVING his job, which is basically to overhaul the entire way Mt. Sinai operates and make it a profitable hospital again.  As for me...I have a thing or two up my sleeve that I will be sharing in a few weeks. (No, I am NOT pregnant)

Okay, I think that's the gist of it.  I took an adorable photo of Delilah's first look up at our building, but it's in my phone and I can't get it to my computer just yet.  So enjoy these pics of the first time we met Daddy for lunch in Central Park.  It's a 10 minute walk from our building (and across the street from Mt. Sinai).

Changing into a swimsuit

Clothes change interrupted: "Oh, there's Daddy!"

 Sharing a cookie with Daddy

Yes, we still miss our family and friends like crazy.  But with 9 visitors already scheduled for the next 3 months, a Curious George exhibit to see at the Children's Museum, and many more Central Park lunches in our future, I think we are going to make it. :)