NYC Summer Survival Guide

NYC Summer Survival Style

The summers in NYC are miserable!!  Over the last 2 years I have found things  that make it bearable without having to look like a melted mess.

#1- Learn some updo's.  If you have long/thick hair like mine accept the fact that your hairdryer is not going to help you at all, so put it away till fall and the fact that you wont be wearing it in long bouncy curls either, it will be up.  Embrace your natural curl or waves and find anti humidity/anti frizz products to keep your up do looking fresh.

#2- Good light Facial Sunscreen- 

Good sunscreen, but light so it wont cause makeup to run off!

#3- Mineral/powder based make up

Honestly do you really think liquid foundation is going to stay on for more than a second in 90% humidity?  NOPE, not a chance!  When you can get away with it, skip foundation all together.  Stick to neutral colors as well.  Nothing looks worse if you can see it running down your face.  These are my Favorites, 

Nars Orgasm, best Blush EVER!

 Bare Minerals Foundation, added Sunscreen and sheer weightless, fresh look.

My favorite eye shadow pallet.  In The Light by Stila

Maybelline Mascara, waterproof

Happy Summer!!

Checking off the Bucket List- Brooklyn Bridge

This was such an awesome day!  We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and explored the Brooklyn waterfront for a while.  The Bridge was so much more that just a foot bridge.  What I found most interesting was to look at the writing on the bridge.  I found little messages and the usual so and so was here graffiti, but for some reason I found it more meaningful on this bridge. If you think about New York and the Brooklyn Bridge as destination places, it is usually somewhere on the bucket list of most people, and its usually a one time adventure.  People have written their favorite quotes, and messages to loved ones that have passed on.  I see it as someone wanting to leave a little bit of themselves somewhere meaningful to them.  These were two of my favorites:

I also came across hundreds of pad locks attached to parts of the bridge and along the Brooklyn Waterfront.  The tradition with these "love locks" is to go to a bridge with your love and lock your souls together symbolically by putting the lock on a part of the bridge.  It supposedly started in China, but it VERY popular in Europe.  I found these two on the Brooklyn Waterfront:

Loved this day, can wait to check off something else.

I Heart NY

     My attitude has drastically changed in the last several months.  As friendships have grown and fears have gone away I have truly fallen in love with this city.  Yes its still crazy and difficult, but I have learned to slow down and take my time and really enjoy all the city has to offer.  I so enjoy taking the kids out and playing in parks and going on adventures.  It certainly helps that I have one chill baby!  Dr. J and I are strongly considering settling in a nice two bedroom by the park once he retires from the Navy and the kids are gone.  I can't think of anywhere more that I'd want to live out retirement and play with my husband.  We get to experience so little here together.  He is so busy in his program and I am so busy with kids and school and the notorious Kindergarten process that we haven't been on a date in nearly 2 years!  We'll make up for it and then some, someday.

Here are some fun random pics

                                        Easter 2013

                                         Got my hair done

                                          snuggling in bed with my babies

                                      Mr. T growing FAST!!!

Introducing...Mr. T!

     We had a baby boy on January 13th 2013 at 11:55 pm.  His birth story has a lot of ups and downs and mixed emotions.  We are so thrilled that he is perfect and healthy, but we weren't sure things were going to turn out that way when we were in the middle of it.
      I previously posted about my decision to have a natural childbirth and I went into this process with that in mind.  I asked my good friend B, who is a doula to come and be with me and Dr. J throughout the process.  It was such a blessing to have her there!  I went into labor at church and after sacrament meeting decided to go home, but I had Little miss and Dr. J stay so LM could go to Primary.  Around 2:30 I decided I needed B to come over because the contractions were getting more intense and close together.  We all, and by this I mean ALL of us, me, Dr. J, LM, B, dogs, and my mom hung out on my bed or in my room.  At around 4:30 The contractions were so intense I wanted to go to the hospital, so we climbed in a cab for the most painful awful cab ride of my life across town to Lenox Hill.  I was so relieved to be in the hospital!  This is where I differ from the majority of people, the hospital is one of the most comforting places for me when I'm experiencing pain of any kind.  I guess it comes from working in the medical field for many years and knowing that if I'm hurting going to the hospital will fix the pain.  Working as a surgical tech provided a place where I could forget my problems and personal pain and focus on someone else and help them feel better, so I know they would do the same for me.

I continued to labor for 2 more hours and I reached a point where I started to panic and I couldn't be calmed by Dr.J or B anymore.  They checked me and I was at a 6.  At this point I cried uncle!  I looked at Bea and asked if she'd be disappointed in me if I got an epidural, she said not at all!  This was my birth and I was in charge.  I decided to get one and I am so grateful that I did.  As in my previous post, I hated the epidural because I was completely incapacitated.  At this hospital they gave me a walking epidural!  It was the best of both worlds.

The pain was eased but I could still feel my legs and the squeeze of the contractions.  At this point Dr.J went and got food for himself and B and I tried quite unsuccessfully to explain the complex plot lines of Once Upon a Time to B.   It was smooth sailing for a few more hours and then I was finding that the contraction pain was coming back with a vengeance.  My morphine cartridge had run out and it was pushing time so no more epidural at this point!  I pushed for 30 minutes and Mr. T came out!  Relief!  Or so I thought...

I kept waiting to hear the familiar cries of a newborn after he came out and for them to place him on my chest and nothing.  All I heard was the commotion of people rushing in and saw my son being rushed to the table with 5or 6 people around him.  With all of this, I wasn't panicking.  I don't panic until I know there is something to panic about and I could still hear the heart monitor going strong and the voice of a nurse calling across the room that his heart rate was good, his heart rate was good.

*** Side note:  When I was first pregnant I was terrified of having a miscarriage.  I remember so vividly standing in the bathroom and hearing a very distinct still small voice saying to me that this was my baby and he would be born.

While they stitched me up Dr. J went with T to the NICU and B stayed with me.  I was never more grateful to have her there than at that moment.  I'm so glad I wasn't alone.  Dr. J came back and said he was ok and the pediatrician came in to brief me of his condition.  T had suffered what they kept calling, "a traumatic birth."  They said he came out "stunned" and that's why he didn't cry.  He had to be put on 100% oxygen, but after 20 min had stabilized and started to cry, but it was very labored and what I call "froggy."  B went with me to go see him and again was so grateful that she was there to hold my hand.  All I got to do was hold my son's hand.  I couldn't hold him, couldn't kiss him.  I was so sad, I didn't fully understand what had happened or why he was having to go through this.

Dr. J and B took me back to my room and tucked me into bed with a percocet and a blanket.  In NYC the husband can't spend the night at the hospital because of the shared room situation.  So Dr. J and B went home and I was then left...alone.  The percocet kicked in and I wen't to sleep.  The following 2 days in the hospital I tried to rest as much as I could and see T as much as I could.  I finally got to hold him and nurse him, but I was devastated to learn that I would be going home without my baby.  I was terrified at the idea that he would be all alone with out his mommy.  I was terrified at the idea that he might not know who I was because we were immediately separated and missed out on that inital bonding moment right after birth.  Then Dr. J told me that the veil between heaven and earth is still very thin for him and that angels and our family members were watching over him.  I still left the hospital in tears.                    

The very next morning I got up and got ready, very slowly, still being in pain from childbirth and walked to the subway.  I remember how much it hurt to sit on those hard seats and how slowly I now moved.  I got off the train at 81st and Central park west and climbed many flights of stairs to the street.  The pain I was in now made me so exhausted I didn't think I could go any further.  I missed the bus because I walked so slowly, so I had to stand in the cold and wait for another. I took the bus to Madison avenue and walked 2 1/2 blocks to the hospital.  I spent all day with my son, nursing him and just sitting with him.  I was still afraid he didn't know who I was, I still had never seen his eyes.

For 5 more days I got up, took the train, took the bus, and walked to the hospital to spend a few precious hours doing as much for my son as possible.  It killed me to leave him everyday and I came home in tears a couple of times and just sobbed in my room, forgetting that I still had to be a mom to my precious little girl that was until now had been the center of my universe.  

Finally on Saturday the 19th we got to bring our baby boy home with a totally clean bill of health!  

NEVER have I felt more joy.  I finally felt like he was mine and that we could make up for all the time we had lost.  I am so in love and so in heaven with my little boy.  He and Little miss are and will forever be my entire life.  I want to strive to be a better mommy for the both of them.  I am very comfortable saying that my family is complete.  I am so blessed to have 2 beautiful and perfectly healthy children.

Slugs, Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails

That's what little boys are made of! We are so excited to announce that our baby due in January is going to be a little boy. We are so thrilled and I am already totally over the moon for him. I do have a name picked out, but we aren't telling right now, because I don't really care to hear peoples opinions about it. It's what his name is and it's not changing. I will tell you that it has something to do with an old friend and a ski slope. Ha Ha how's that for a riddle?!

Nearly a Year

My first year in NYC is almost over. It has been a really rough road with many breakdowns along the way. There have also been high points, but in all honesty I hope the next two are smoother. One of those high points is that Dr. J and I are expecting our second baby! We are SO happy and so excited to have another little baby in the house. I adore my doctor and wish I could see her more. Basically in New York, you see whomever is available in the practice and whomever is on call delivers your baby. Its such a contrast to Oregon, where I saw ONLY my doctor and the only reason she didn't deliver little miss was because she went on vacation and little miss decided to come 6 days late. I feel bad when I say that I don't love my neighborhood, because many of my friends at church absolutely LOVE it. They love the culture and diversity and they embrace the vitality. I don't know why I've been turned in to such a pessimist over the last year, but I'm tired of the drug dealing gang bangers outside my building door every day all day, I'm tired of no one understanding me...ever because I don't speak spanish, and I'm annoyed with the poor school choices in our area. There are areas of New York that I absolutely love! I adore the upper west side around Lincoln Center, its probably my favorite area in the whole city. I love Central park, the beauty of this place is unmatched, and the Upper East side is just a place to marvel at. At heart I am just a suburb girl. I always have been and I don't think I need to apologize for it. Living in New York isn't the right thing for everyone and after my first year I don't think it's the right place for me at all, maybe I'll feel different over the remaining two. I'm sorry for the people who would be offended by this that think that New York is the most fabulous city in the universe, but I find it highly overrated.

Pure Summer Joy

Take 1 4 year old + 90 degree heat + a super big fountain to play in= Pure summer joy! Little Miss and I went to Dyckman Park in Inwood to play in their big water feature. It's almost the size of the fountain at Gateway in Salt Lake City, and no where near as crowded. She was so happy we played there for over an hour and I knew there would be tears when we left, but a Happy Meal made it not so bad. She is totally passed out in bed right now giving a tired mommy time to veg out on the couch.