What it means to have two young kids in NYC

When writing my last entry, I realized I should write a little bit about what it's like to have two small kids in the city. It is our greatest hope that in 2012, we'll be out of the city and into a house, so hopefully this will all be a distant memory soon!!!!

Having 2 kids in a 1 bedroom apartment is by no means easy. There are two benefits that I've been able to convince myself of, however. One... we don't have the space to have a lot of toys, so we haven't allowed ourselves to go overboard with that stuff. I never wanted the boys to have tons of toys, so I'm happy about that aspect of it. (Oh what I would do for a separate play area, though!!!). Second... I don't have to worry about what Eli is doing in another room because he's always here in the same room as me! :)

The biggest challenge in living in a 1 bedroom apartment is, obviously, the sleeping part of it all. It was difficult to coordinate with one child...but two is pretty tough. Here is the current routine. 8pm is bedtime for both boys, so the 4 of us head to the bedroom around 7:40 or so for stories. I feed Liam and the 4 of us read stories together. At 8pm, it's lights out for both guys. We lay them both down, turn on their night night music (which lasts 15 min or so) and leave. Eli is very used to this and only very occasionally protests (usually only if he really wants to keep playing). Liam, on the other hand, is not a fan, and usually cries (sometimes bloody murder, sometimes only half-hearted) for about 10-15 minutes. Miraculously, this doesn't seem to bother Eli too much and he never complains about it. I always hold my breath when Eli starts calling out to us long after Liam has been quiet, fearful that Liam will wake up, but that also doesn't seem to happen. Thank goodness. Liam generally sleeps until about 11 or so and then gets up to eat again. This, I will have to cut soon, but I've been happy to feed him since he is so underweight. I feed Liam in the room and then lay him back down in his crib (er...pack-n-play)... and he generally goes right back to sleep. Depending on the night, he'll either sleep through til 3 or 4 or 5. At that point, I get up and take him out to the living room, so I can turn on the light and change him. I can't really change him in the room at this point, cause he's screaaaaaming. I feed him and put him back to sleep in the pack-n-play in the living room and then sleep on the couch next to him. (Thankfully we have a VERY comfy couch). I tried putting him back in the room at this point and could very well do that...he'd still go back to sleep there... but he tends to wake up at 6:30 or 7 and while Eli is a very heavy sleeper at night, he becomes a very light sleeper from 6am on. I'd rather us sleep out in the living room if it means Eli will sleep til 7:30 every morning. This sleeping arrangement does make things very complicated in the morning, however. Mike has to get ready for work in the bathroom and when he makes himself breakfast, it always wakes me up (and sometimes Liam). If Eli wakes up before Liam, he generally wakes Liam up the moment he gets out in the living room. Sigh.

Naptime is a different beast altogether. Liam's first nap is horrible (I'm lucky if I get 30 minutes out of him), no doubt because Eli does not know how to be quiet. For the second nap, I always try to time it so they go down together. It usually ends up that Liam goes down about an hour after Eli does. I can't even think about putting them down in the same room because Liam ALWAYS take shorter naps than Eli and I don't want to risk him waking Eli up. So Liam naps out here in the living room. That means I can't eat crunchy chips, talk on the phone, watch TV. Sigh. One day.

Part TWO: Traveling.

Traveling around, running errands, presents a whole new set of difficulties. I'll use a few examples. One... going to the doctor's for either kid. There are two subway lines by me, but only one of them has an elevator (and it's about 1/2 mile away...not my usual stop). this wasn't a problem when I had just Eli, even when I was pregnant, cause I was able to carry him and his stroller up any set of stairs in the city. Yes, it was very tough, but I knew I could do it. that went out the window with Liam. It is impossible for me to lift my monstrous double stroller and couldn't do it if my life depended on it. So that means I have two options for when i need to get somewhere in the city. I can take the boys in the double stroller and get off at the TWO elevator stations available to us... 59th street or 34th street. The doctor's office is located on 84th street. The doctor's office cannot accommodate a double stroller. I'd have to leave it at the front of the office, which would mean I'd have to take Eli OUT of the stroller, which means I'd never ever get him out of the waiting room filled with toys. So that leaves us with option two.... Carry Liam in the front carrier and take Eli in the umbrella stroller. Still virtually impossible to use any kind of stairs, but it has been done twice... I carried Eli in the umbrella up a flight while squishing Liam. The benefit is, I am much more likely to get someone to help me lift the umbrella stroller than the double stroller. So I could actually go to the correct subway stop... but then I'm pretty much at the mercy of strangers to help me. So I'm still pretty much confined to the elevator stations...but now I have to walk a mile and a half carrying an infant and pushing a not so ergonomically friendly umbrella stroller. If I need to get anywhere in the city other than 59th street or 34th street, this whole scenerio plays out. Not to mention I wouldn't touch the subways during rush hour with a double stroller.

The post office:

My horrible post office has a set of double doors and then three steps (behind another set of doors) to enter. try doing that with a double stroller and packages. Once you make it in, try getting to the window when you're in a teeny tiny line that doesn't make room for a stroller. Do I take Liam in the carrier and Eli in the umbrella? Easier to maneuver, but then how do I carry the packages?

The Grocery Store:

One huge benefit to having a stroller at the grocery store is that I can use my mommy hooks to carry the bags for me on the way home. Milk/OJ/potatoes...bring it! I can carry whatever I want! Woohoo! The downfall? I can't push the double stroller with one hand...so I have to limit my purchases to what I can fit in a basket attached to the back of the stroller. At one of the grocery stores, where they know me (and where Eli is a celebrity), I can also put things underneath the stroller because they know I'm going to pay for them. At other stores, (FaMILY DOLLAR), when I try to do this, they come on the loudspeaker and tell me I'm being watched and will be persecuted for shoplifting. Lovely. Try negotiating tiny NY aisles when they are unloading food/boxes or when someone else approaches in a cart. Not fun. Try fitting the stroller through the teeny checkout aisle. Difficult. I Do recognize that it's a beautiful thing not to have to load up both boys in the car and take them to the store...but maaan sometimes that would be nice.

Parking: Sigh. If you live in a house where you can just pull your car up in front of your house when you get home, don't ever, ever take that for granted. Any time I want to move my car, it involves very careful planning. Alternate side parking (the side has to be clear on either mon/thurs from 8-9:30, 9-10:30 or 11-12:30 or tues/fri at those same times) is a mom's worst enemy. If I'm parked in a Tuesday 8am spot, for example... I'll try to leave the house at 8 and then go to Target (cause it's impossible to find a spot til 9:30) and time it so I'm back at 9:15. If I'm in a 9am spot, I'll get to the car at 8:55, drive around for a while (cause Eli doesnt' like to sit still) and then pull up in front of our apt at 9:15.... and have to wait til 9:30 listening to "I want to get ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuut"x1000. Today, I am driving up to visit Rachna when Eli wakes up.... I'm not parked too far away, so in theory I could carry the car seat and hold Eli's hand... but who knows how far away we will park when we get home. Alas, I must take the double stroller.

Laundry: Forget about it. If you have a washer/dryer and can do laundry whenever you want... or leave your clothes in the machine as long as you want...never, ever take it for granted.

Sorry to complain. There are a lot of perks to living in the city. I'm a block away from CVS, multiple restaurants, etc. There are 4 grocery stores within a half mile of my house, two of which are open 24 hours. I can get anything I want shipped to my house, including groceries. (I just might have to deal with the post office scenerio if i'm not here to get it!). Even though we live in a 1 br apartment, I have a pretty big open area, bigger than some of my friends who have houses. I live near 4 fun playgrounds and three beautiful parks. Even though it's a huge pain, I am close to many museums and I live only 2.5 miles from the Bronx Zoo. I'm very lucky.

But man, I'll be SO happy to have a house.

Liam's eating solid foods!

So on December 16th, one day after his 6 month birthday (so Daddy would be there to see), we fed Liam solids for the first time! He had been eagerly watching us eat for about a month or so, so I was happy to finally be able to feed him. I decided to go with the easy stand-by... rice cereal. He LOVED it. Gobbled up the whole bowl, despite everything I read that said he'd only want a few spoonfuls. After three days of that, we moved on to oatmeal, which he also loved. His first "real" food was carrots, and he also loved those. Sweet potatoes were next... he didn't love those as much, but I think that's more to do with the fact that I wasn't able to get it completely pureed than the actual taste. Today, I gave him bananas, expecting him to love them...and oooooh he made the worst face. Yay! That's MY boy! (I hate bananas!). After a few spoonfuls, he seemed to be tolerating it a lot more and might even like them. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. I'm having a lot of fun with the foods this time around and am really enjoying making food for him. He LOVES eating, so I think I'm going to bump him up to two solid feedings a day next week.

He DEFINITELY was going through a growth spurt last week, getting up every 2 hours at night to eat and eating a ton throughout the day. Now that that seems to be passing a bit, I think we're going to try to crack down on this getting up in the middle of the night to eat thing. It's really tough because physiologically, he's fully capable of going a whole night without eating. From everything I've read, by feeding him at night at this point, I'm just creating a night-feeder. There are two factors, however, that make it tough for me to just let him cry in the middle of the night. Number one, we're all in the same bedroom and I don't think it's that fair to Eli to let Liam wail it out for 20 min at 3am. And number two, Liam's still on the super little side, and I feel that I should really feed him as much as I can. I might start supplementing him with a big ole formula bottle at night, though, so that I can do away with that guilt.

At 6 months, Liam is still a super smiley happy guy. If you smile at him, he smiles back with a huge toothless grin. He loves when I kiss him on his chest or feet and always starts giggling. Hearing him laugh is just about the cutest thing in the world. He's very good at sitting up and can reach for things when sitting, but if we're not nearby, he'll plop backwards or forwards at any given second. He's a rolling machine and likes to roll around to get whatever he wants. He remains SO close to crawling and has really been getting up on his hands and knees a lot the last few days. He can get into that position and then push himself backwards...so oftentimes, he ends up with his legs underneath the couch. He LOVES watching his big brother do anything and now laughs and smiles at him ALL the time.

He's still a super little guy, but I really feel like he's gotten a lot heavier. I tried to weigh him on a regular scale (with me getting on first...then getting on with him) but it wasn't accurate. I could and should take him into the doc for a weight check (something she told me I could do since he was so small), but to be honest.... it's just too much of a pain to get both boys ready and all the way down to the doc office at a scheduled time, especially since the closest elevator to the doc office is about 1.5 miles away. So I'll just have to trust my instinct that he's at least remaining at the 3rd percentile mark and will hope for the best on his Jan 14th appointment.

He's still in size 2 diapers, which is where he'll probably be for another few weeks. He can squeeze into a few of his 3 month outfits, but for the most part, he's solidly into 6 month clothes now. Yay!

He's consistently saying DADADADA (not fair!) and is starting to really babble a lot more. He loves trying to put everything into his mouth...books, toys, my hands, etc, and is in the (long) process of getting three teeth in on the bottom. The one that looks closest to popping through is the one on the left side of his mouth...just left of his center teeth. I will be happy when they pop through so they stop causing him so much pain, but I'll miss the adorable toothless smile!

:)

Christmas in NYC

I decided that I really wanted to try to make the most of this Christmas season, attending tree lightings, concerts, holiday festivals, etc, so that I could really take the time to enjoy all of that with the boys. Ha. That's what I say every year, and every year, the time just FLIES by. When I thought to look up the tree lighting, it had already happened, and here it is December 15th and I've yet to attend any holiday concerts. Sigh. But I really feel like we're in the holiday spirit over here, regardless. Afterall, it IS Liam's first Christmas!

I hosted the 3rd annual Flores Christmas movie watching party on Friday the 9th, and we were joined by Tommy, Kathryn, and my friends Susan and Erika. We had a lot of fun and it was REALLY great watching Eli watch these movies for the first time. On the screen? Mickey's Christmas Carol, my favorite (which Eli loves and we now watch 10 times a day! i love it!), The Grinch, and Charlie Brown's Christmas. I had a really great time. The night after the party, Mike and I both sat down to watch It's a Wonderful Life. Completely shocking, but neither of us had ever seen it before! We both loved it! Earlier that week, we headed down the street to get our Christmas tree! Because I have two destructive cats and a destructive 2 year old, we had to (like last year) settle on a small tree.... but that's ok, cause when we put it in it's resting spot, on the table behind the couch, it looks like it's tall! It's a bummer not being able to put up any of my real ornaments (only cloth ones this year! Cliffy and Eli thoroughly enjoy knocking them off), but I know I'll get back to that in a few years! (When I have my own tree in my craft room when we have a house!). The night didn't go quite as I planned... dinner took longer to cook than expected and I took a lot longer making cookies than I thought...so we got out late... and when we came back our carbon monoxide alarm was going off. We had to call 911 (eli was THRILLED), but it turns out all is well....just an old alarm that needed replacing. But the evening ended well, and the tree made it up. :)

On monday of this week, Mike took off from work so we could have a true family day. Hard to believe, but the last time we all had a day together (not counting the week mike took off after liam was born, cause we didn't really go anywhere!), was back in May for Eli's birthday! It was SO great to be able to wake up and have breakfast together. We took the train down to Macy's (sooooooooooo much easier taking the boys out with another adult to help!) and let Eli sit in a regular seat, "like a big boy!" He loved it. Having a second pair of hands also meant he could walk when he wanted to and I didn't have to worry about how the heck I would get him back in the stroller while carrying Liam. (He's big into the flailing around on the floor and refusing to get up). The line to see Santa was huuuuge but we were told it would move quickly, and for the most part, it did. The whole winter wonderland theme they have going is amazing and we've never had so much fun waiting in line. I was expecting a total meltdown from both boys when they actually saw Santa, but to my surprise, they both did GREAT! Eli told Santa that he wanted a spiderman hat (check! santa is bringing him a whole spiderman costume!) and talked to him for a good minute. I thought Liam would be terrified, but he just sat there staring at Santa, trying to pull his beard, and flirted with the elf lady. The picture actually turned out great, with both of them looking! (Though I still think last year's picture of Eli pitching a fit was better!).

Santa: check! From there, we walked through midtown and went over to see the tree/skaters. Liam was asleep and missed the whole thing, but it was fun to do as a family regardless. From there, we walked up 5th avenue to look at all of the storefronts and went to 59th street so Eli could see "The horsies!!!" It was a wonderful family day.

Today, I survived a 4 hour mall trip with both boys! My favorite moment? When we went into Victoria's secret and Eli told me - Mommy! Look at all of the naked legs! :)

Liam's first word!

So on Tuesday, December 13th, 2 days shy of his 6 month birthday, Liam said his first word! Well...kinda. He clearly said DADA. Of course, he has NO idea what that means, but he definitely can say it now. He's VERY good at saying it when I don't have the camera around... and loses his ability the second I pay attention or put a camera anywhere near him. :) Tuesday night, he said it about 10 times in a row when I was changing him into his jammies. So despite all my MAMAMAMAMAMAs to him, Dada wins out. :) That's ok with me, cause I know it means a lot to Mike. (And yes, I realize that now it's just a sound and he's not associating it with Mike, but still... it's fun).

Today, he is 6 months old!!! He continues to be Mr. SUPER smiley for most of the day, especially when anyone looks at him, talks to him, or makes funny faces at him. He smiles at Eli ALL the time, especially when Eli is jumping. For some reason, Liam just finds that to be the funniest thing EVER. That, and when I kiss his chest/belly. There's nothing quite so wonderful as hearing a baby laugh!

He's still a small guy, though I feel like he's bulking up, weight-wise. I'm not going to take him in for a weight check as the doc had suggested cause I really feel like he's doing ok. His cheeks are getting fuller and he has teeny rolls on his legs and wrists. :) He can still definitely fit into 3 month clothes, but they're definitely getting a big short/snug. He's still in size 2 diapers and will be for a few more weeks, I'd imagine.

Liam spends most of his time on his tummy, which he clearly enjoys since he always ends up that way when we lay him down on his back. He is getting good at rolling around to get what he wants, which is usually the blue costco wipes (cause the package is crinkly). He has no fondness for Eli's Mr. Cow and continues to prefer Mr. Chicken. He likes looking at himself in the mirror, but that's getting a bit old for him and I've instead started putting books in front of him (especially a Nursery Rhymes book I have that has bumpy pictures).

He's pretty good at sitting up unsupported and can do so for a while (even without his own hands for support), but he is completely unreliable and will fling himself back/forward/sideways at any moment. On the rare occasion I have to leave him sitting up, I surround him with pillows. :)

He LOVES staring at us when we're eating and is clearly ready for food. Mike gets home late tonight, so we decided to make tomorrow Liam's first food day! He'll get rice cereal for dinner! :) I can't believe we're already at the eating stage! I'm looking forward to whipping out my magic bullet blender to puree some veggies and fruits for him (but I'm sure that will get old fast!).

Today, we went to the Palisades Mall to meet up with Rachna and the boys, and Nick's mom who was in town for a visit. It's fun to see Liam with Quinn and it really makes Liam look GIANT when they are side by side. :)

1/2 year old! I can't believe it!!!

More Eli Quotes

Yes, the fun Eli quotes keep coming.

My favorite was yesterday's. I was changing him out of his jammies into an outfit when he refused to wear pants, telling me, "NO, I am NOT wearing pants. I'm just wearing LEGS."

Today, when I told him that he couldn't do something, he yelled "DON'T SAY NO, SWEETIE." :)

When we're out, Eli likes to introduce his brother to everyone by saying "His name's with Liam."

Many, many times throughout the day, he tells us "I have an important job." I'm not entirely sure what he thinks this means, because it's usually totally out of context.

Whenever he gets really mad about something or doesn't want to do something we want him to do, he says (crying), "NO! NOT REALLY!"

He continues to say "I want to go with it" when he wants to eat something on the couch (a no-no) or his little chair.

Yesterday, when I came into the room, he told me "No. Don't look at me. Go away from me." I looked over to see what dangerous/bad/scary thing he was doing, but didn't see anything (which usually means it's REALLY bad). Two minutes later, though, I figured it out... he was over there pooping. Ha.

Eli has now learned to do a full flip on the couch and does it about 43,000 times a day. He's also big into scripting our adventures, and if I try to deviate from his script, even a little bit (cause sometimes, on the 47th time you're saying something, you want to change it up), he gets really mad and insists that I say it the right way. His bedtime of late has been between 8 and 8:15 (though who knows what time he really goes to sleep!) and he's been trying several different stall tactics these past few weeks. He fake cries and tells us that he's "scared of the little guy," something that at first FREAKED me and Mike out (but now we joke about it... last night, Mike was like - I think he's talking about Liam). Lol. He also lays there and super sweetly yells out "Mommy? Can I have a big hug? Please? Please? I need a hug." How can you turn THAT ONE down? And his ole favorite, the "I have a poopy diaper! I need a new diaper!" still gets me every time.

He's been waking up between 7:15 and 7:30 and will sleep even later on the days when I HAVE to move the car by 8am. He's still OBSESSED with Spiderman and is usually pretending to be spiderman for a good 70% of his day. When we go out, everyone gets webbed.

His favorite things to watch on TV (which I still let him do way too much of cause I don't know how else I'd survive in such a small place with two kiddos!) are: Spiderman and his amazing friends (especially the juggernaut episode), Diego (yesterday he wanted the Lion episode and I couldn't find it...God FORBID I instead put on the gorilla episode. Cue tantrum), "Arthur and the squirrels" (he likes the squirrel episode), with an occasional Fireman Sam, Wizard of Oz or Toy story thrown in. OH - and Super Readers. I love that show. He runs all around with his little sword (the top of one of his toys), telling me he has the POWER TO READ! :) Super cute.

He still doesn't fully understand it, but Eli's starting to get Santa/Christmas, etc. We tell him whenever he's not listening that Santa's watching (we always look up to the ceiling and then he looks up, shocked) and that he's not going to come if he continues to be bad. On several occasions, we've even called Santa/had Santa call us to threaten the same. I don't think he fully grasps Santa, but it's working for now! He loves the Christmas tree (and likes to have spiderman play on the branches) and likes seeing it lit up. When we first lit it, we counted to 10, so Eli thinks that we have to do that each time we light it... He then says "Ooooo!" :)

This past week, Eli's been an eating machine! He still doesn't eat that much at dinner, but just to give you an idea, this is what he ate for breakfast/morning snacks (he basically didn't stop eating....) this morning: a banana, a bowl of blueberries, two bowls of raspberries, a yogurt, some bites of bread, a fruit rope, some sun chips, an orange.... It's no wonder I have to keep going to the grocery store!

OK.... my glorious double nap is going to end soon, so off I go. I really should get something from my massive list done.

He-Man!

So Eli's new favorite thing this week (though we are absolutely still stuck on Spiderman) is He-Man. He likes to take little things (currently using the staff from the shepherd from our manger scene) and stick them in his waistband (his sword holder) and whip them out while saying "By the power of greyskull!!!!" It's 100% adorable.

I'm learning so much more about superheroes than I ever thought imaginable.

Getting close to crawling!

Every day, Liam gets stronger and stronger, and it's super scary for me. Scary because I'm not yet ready to have two mobile children. I'm still cherishing the fact that I can put Liam down somewhere while I go to the bathroom or start dinner....and when I come back, he's pretty close to where I left him. He's been arching up pretty high lately, but today, while on his belly he extended his arms fully, pushed up and lifted his entire pelvis off of the floor. He is SO close to crawling... and he's only 5 1/2 months old! Eeeeek.

He also learned how to blow bubbles today and I'm pretty sure I heard him do a raspberry yesterday. He still loves trying to fit all of his fingers in his mouth and is DEFINITELY getting two of his lower teeth in. He's also been sleeping a little better, sometimes giving me 5 or 6 hours of sleep! Consecutive hours of sleep are amaaaaazing.

He rolls from tummy to back and vice versa allll the time and has become my little steamroller. He now ALWAYS rolls over and sleeps on his belly. He loves rolling so that his face is like .5 centimeters from the side of the crib, making me freak out that he's suffocating himself. His favorite thing in the world to go after is the case of wipes (cause it's crinkly), and today I saw him do a mini-army crawl to pull himself towards them. He's also getting better at pushing himself backwards and I've found him half under the couch twice in the past two days.

My little baby (and I mean that...he's still tiny!) is growing up so fast!