Happening. Very. Fast.

I know that this blog was supposed to be about my experience moving to the big apple and everything in between, but life has gotten totally hectic and I haven’t had the extra hour to document it. I manage to shoot off one line emails, text my beloveds and Facebook during the ten minute hiatus from the insanity. If I figure out how to blog via iPhone, I’ll be all over it. I’m proud of myself for doing this now as a matter of fact, especially considering my monitor and keyboard are sitting on top of cardboard boxes. You should see the amazing amount of stuff laying around me screaming at me to box it up. But I digress.

Shortly after my last post about swimming, Dr. J and I flew to New York City to find a place to live, an apartment in Manhattan. I was so nervous about merely landing in NYC and feeling overwhelmed, but quite the opposite happened. I was so excited to be there. The feeling only increased when we drove into the city. Apparently I am a city girl! I lived in San Francisco during college, and while I lived in the pretty, yuppie area (Pacific Heights/Marina), I spend a good deal traveling around and I adored it. We were staying in a nice hotel across from Madison Square Garden, and were able to walk to SoHo and Murray Hill- where we found our home.

We checked out the first apartment at 10AM, the morning of our arrival on a red eye. By noon it was ours. We found the most perfect place, a building that couldn’t have been more perfect in my dreams. No kidding. It has everything: grocery store, dry cleaners, PRESCHOOL!, gym, (mini) pool, kids rec areas, huge courtyard. We fell in love immediately.

We spent the rest of the time in NYC tooling around, checking out our neighborhood and the surrounding neighborhoods.

I think my head nearly exploded when we got to SoHo. What a fantastic, darling, artsy, wonderful place! Stopped and had lunch at an adorable restaurant, Cafe Habana.

Checked out Tortilla Flats and what a positively fantastic place that was. 80’s Madonna tracks, margaritas and Mexican food? Cannot wait to go back.

We learned the Subway system the hard way sort of, thanks in HUGE PART to CityTransit, an awesome iPhone App. I spent most of my time trying to figure out where the mother’s go, and how they get there. I saw mostly nanny’s, however, but it served a similar purpose. There is a pretty sharp learning curve for mother’s of young children and making it work in NYC, I’m nervous but cannot wait for the challenge.

We came home, sold one of our two cars (the other one is still for sale), our BOB Duallie stroller that I loved so much, and most of our furniture at a huge yard sale two weekends ago. We bought a lot of new stuff too though, including our new Phil & Ted’s Sport.

This was the best stroller ever. Just not practical for NYC navigating.

We threw a going away party for ourselves this last Sunday, and said our goodbyes to many loved ones. This is so bittersweet, one of the hardest things I have ever gone through. I feel it strengthening me ever day though, especially through the difficult times. I know that this is empowering me as a woman, a mother, and a wife, a daughter, a sister and friend. Our oldest, J, is really struggling however. He is clearly affected by the vanishing of our furniture and the stress that is pulsating through my husband and I. His nervous tick has resurfaced, a quick blinking that we saw shortly after Z was born. He is aware that we are moving, he knows that big things are happening but he doesn’t really quite get it. It’s killing me. I don’t know what to do for him or how to make this transition easier for him beyond what I have already done and do every day. I just keep telling him that we love him and that everything is going to be OK, it’s just a little strange right now. It just happens to be my own mantra as well.

The moving van is here and we’re packing it up tomorrow. My husband and his best friend will be driving it to our new home all the way on the other coast. J, Z, my mother and I will be leaving a week from tomorrow on a plane and part of me can’t wait… I just want to get there and start our new life.