We love the Brodas

Our dear friends flew in for a fun-filled winter weekend in the city.  We hit the major holiday hot spots and did the top of the rock tour.  A taste of New York was also enjoyed by all (however, the roasted chestnuts were not a favorite)!
While on top of the rock, we had amazing views of the city.  All of central park to the north and lower Manhattan to the south.  It is always a bit difficult to get my 17 month old to stay still for the photo op.  The Rockefeller Center Tree is gorgeous!  Television does not do it justice, nor does my photo. 

Holiday Festival

On Saturday the 13th, we had a Holiday Festival at Jackson's school.  It was a wonderful set up with food, games, crafts, and Santa!
Margo had a wonderful time in the toddler playland with balls, rings, and noisy toys.  They even had face painting!
Both Jackson and Margo received presents from Santa.  Much more than expected!  Toys from FAO Schwartz and new books too.  I think they really like Christmas in the city.

Christmas time in the city!

Christmas time means decorating, and my college roommates may remember my love of holiday decorating.  Now that we are in the city, I was so excited to created our own "When Harry Met Sally" moment and buy a live tree from the Manhattan street!
A little tree market is on the sidewalk right outside the park where Jackson and Margo love to play - just one block away.  We went with my mom and once again experienced Manhattan sticker shock!  I'm almost embarrassed to say how much they cost, but the 7 footer (that we did NOT buy) was about $135.00.  This is a far cry from cutting them down ourself in the Hamilton woods!
Even so, our slightly cheaper tree is gorgeous!  Jackson was a big help in the delivery and decorating process.  Margo, of course, enjoys playing with and replacing the ornaments.   

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Margo and I wandered down to Rockefeller Plaza after dropping Jackson off at school Tuesday. They are working on the infamous Christmas tree and this is the day the Swarovski crystal star is placed.  A picture of it is below.
We will update the blog with more pics when all is set up (and we have time to wander that direction!)  We are getting excited for the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade.  However, we are not excited about finding our spot at 6AM in the chilly weather!  Happy holidays!

Naughty, and loving it!

Our happy little girl has found her "little dickens".  She loves to play with the dishwasher, clean out cupboards, closets, and bags.  The toilet is another source of interest.  It seems to be a great place to throw a clean washcloth as soon as mommy flushes - forcing me to quickly grab things out of not-so-clean water.  Empty toilet paper rolls, the toilet paper holder, toys, paper...they have all met the bowl.  

Perhaps the greatest experiment thus far was aided by her big brother.  Mommy walked in on her toilet paper rolling swiftly off the roll and down the toilet hole as it was flushing.  I was actually amazed that it could just keep on rolling by itself.  You may remember how precious each square is here in Manhattan. 

Belated Halloween

Our newest superhero - Iron Man!  Thanks to grandma and her post halloween deals, Jackson and daddy are now a fighting team!  You will certainly feel safe if you come to visit NYC now.

Run Run Run

The ING NYC marathon was Sunday, November 2.  What a great thing to watch.  I was post call and met Matt and the children for breakfast at a local bread/coffee shop.  We could watch the runners right outside the window from our table.  Above you can see the leading group of men.
The marathon begins in Staten Island and goes through all 5 boroughs.  They travel through Manhatten on 1st avenue after crossing the queensborough bridge (59th Street)  This is only one block from our apartment!
Here are the women - I think the winner is the blonde with white wristbands who also won last year (six months after giving birth?!?)
I know all the photos appear the same.  This is probably something better experienced in person!  Next year come to watch Matt run.

Halloween Mania

Our little lioness is ready to trick or treat!  Our apartment building had its own trick or treating - we just had to hang a Halloween item outside our door if we wanted to pass out candy.  23 floors of possibilities.

Clark Kent here was certain he wanted to be Four Arms, an alien force character from the cartoon network series Ben 10, for Halloween (see below).  However, in usual JJ fashion, he stopped his "obsession" with ben 10 the week before the holiday.  This was after mommy had to pay extra shipping to receive the requested costume from the UK.  Oh, and the exchange rate is not that great either!
In addition to our own trick or treating, Jackson's school had a little family costume party.  He is seen above, with his classroom door in the background, posing with 2 of his best friends from class.  Shane the power-ranger and Jayden the hot dog.  Yes, Jackson is the tallest in his school!
The final party came on November 1 with the Play Area Association.  This is a group made up of families involved with Cornell, Sloan and HSS (Hospital for Special Surgery).  Most parents are attendings, residents or fellows.  Over 200 people were at the local gym for the party - lots of food, fun, dancing, and activities!

A day on the Farm (in Queens)

For most of you who follow this blog, cornfields and farm animals become a backdrop to your everyday commute.  We actually had the opportunity to take a school bus from the city to a family farm in Queens.  The children wore their halloween costumes and were able to see many farm animals, ride ponies (one trip around the circle = $2), watch a magic show, dance to live music, and pick pumpkins (only $4.50 each and small).  We could have done the hayride, corn maze or haunted house, but did not want to spend the money for that which we can usually do for free.  (Still dutch folks!)
Children under four need to be in an approved car seat on NYC buses, so Margo had prime seating!  They had a great day and Jackson loved riding in his first school bus.

It's Off to Work...

Welcome to my new place of employment.  I am now an official attending physician employed by Jamaica Hospital.  So far I have had the usual ups and downs of a new job - fear, excitement, missing the old job and coworkers, and making new friends.  It will take some time.  I am learning the New York Way (CYA) very quickly.  Perhaps the best training I had for this was at Saints.  For those of you who know - it feels very similar with size, staffing, bazaar cases, and the sheer speed of the OR (ha, ha).  I just had my first 24 hour call and survived - of course it was an unusual busy day in labor and delivery.  A partner had a surprise c-hyst for a percreta and I had to call in the other doc on call to help with my first ever surgery as an attending.  I will continue to learn a lot and still wish I could walk out of the room and discuss the patient with Dr. Bradley.  

Below is a photo I took of the outside of my office building.  It is a women's health center and has ultrasound, NSTs, mammography, and DEXA scanning available.  It is just around the corner from the main hospital, so I still take the E train to work every day.  I love the staff and the patients so far have been great and appreciative.  I am not a fan of the charting system and am trying to learn all the small differences in care standards for New York.  I have stepped back in time by about 10 years here.  They just stopped doing the conventional (slide) pap smears the beginning of this year.  We do not have access to FFN here and L&D has no microscope?!  All in all, I am happy to have this experience to see and learn how to practice medicine outside of West Michigan.  We should always look for opportunities for personal challenge and growth - at least that is what I try to convince myself of daily!

Caught in the Act

Our adorable little helper loves to open and clothes doors and her diaper pail.  Now, every time we take out the bag it must be closely inspected for non-trash items such as pajamas, socks, underwear...
Somehow, all of the "trashed" items belong to her big brother!  Now we have moved on to helping mommy unload the dishwasher right into the garbage can.  More home proofing to be done.

First Day of School

Despite how it appears, Jackson was very excited about starting school.  Mom's camera, on the other hand, was nothing to smile about!
Jackson attends Lighthouse International Pre-Kindergarten Program.  It is five days a week for five hours per day.  This is an integrated class of sight-challenged children with full sighted children all of his age group.  He will be learning to read and write Braille along with his alphabet.  He has one teacher and two wonderful class helpers for 12 children. 
Every classroom has a computer, and Jackson was right at home playing on the keyboard.  He has already made very good friends and we look forward to an exciting year.

Balloon

Balloon is a very difficult word to say for a four year old who puts a "spanish" twist on his L sound.  So when Jackson told me he could not use our bathroom to go potty because there was a "bayoon" in there - I had to look for myself.  Sure enough - the balloon (a present from the children's haircut palace) had somehow found its was to the toilet.  Any guesses?

Squirrel Humor

Coming from Michigan, squirrels are a dime a dozen.  A noted part of nature that draws very little attention.  In Central Park, however, groups of people will gather to watch a little squirrel run around.  They take pictures and point and laugh at how cute he is (much like I would do with pandas or koalas in a zoo).  I couldn't resist snapping a photo of one such group above.  To the credit of New Yorkers, the groups tend to be made of tourists and not natives.  Just thought everyone would enjoy the humor.  

Our Little Monkey

Although I am happy Margo likes her stroller, it is now the newest jungle gym in the house.  She keeps me busy as she is climbing on everything!
Perhaps a more cautious mom would swiftly remove her child from danger, but we live on the edge here in the city and snap pictures.

Take a seat

Finally, after a month of sitting on the beanbag, our couch has arrived.  This piece of furniture has racked up a lot of mileage over the past month.  It arrived in GR two days after our moving van left for New York, so to get the cheapest delivery fare to New York City, the couch went back to its origin in North Carolina and waited until the next delivery to our area.  (Just three weeks or so.)  

I must say it was worth the wait.  We think it is beautiful and so very comfortable.  The wall above is waiting for our new pictures from Kari.  You can see them on her website www.karidouma.com.  Our password is margo.

Prodigy?

This week our little Margo tested her skills at shoplifting.  As we walk everywhere in the city, strollers (carriages as they are known here) become our shopping carts and are at the perfect height for hot little hands at the check-out counter.  She managed to lift a candy bar, and not a small one either.  I couldn't resist snapping a picture.  Of course, mommy did not notice the extra passenger until 3 blocks away.  Jackson fell as we were trying to get the stroller thru the doors to exit the drug store and that commotion caused quite a distraction.  If you were wondering, we did bring it back!

Superman Sighting

Perhaps one of my favorite things about living in the city is Central Park.  We are a twenty minute walk from this amazing place.  We have a family pass to the Central Park Zoo and go often to see the polar bears and penguins.   There are lakes and many tranquil spots to sit and listen to numerous musicians.  There is no shortage of playgrounds either.

Well, as many of you know, Jackson is obsessed with Superman and the rule in our home is that no costumes may be worn outside.  (As you can see, Superman t-shirts are accepted as outside attire.)  While on one of our park adventures, Jackson met another Superman and his big brother red power ranger.  Matt and I felt a bit better knowing that our child is not the only one "Super" obsessed.
Each playground around the city has wonderful fountains to cool off during the hot summer days.  Jackson takes this to the extreme and goes for a full soaking.  Margo too enjoys a little time to play in the water.

Margo Turns One!

Our little princess had her first birthday on July 27th, the day we moved into our new apartment.  Thankfully, we were able to celebrate with family and close friends at the Charnin's home that evening.  She absolutely loved her ice-cream cake!

The Photos

The above room is the hallway leading to the children's bedroom.  My favorite room in our apartment.  Everything was painted apartment white (I mean everything) and with the college laminate flooring I felt that I had been committed.  Well with a little decor and a lot of help from my parents, it feels more like a home.  Pictures always help too!  It is small, but very cozy and awaiting visitors!  Below are the new full over full bunk beds.  As you can see, the ladder is kept far off to the side as I have TWO climbers!
I was pleasantly surprised by the closet space.  our ceilings are at least 9 feet tall, so there is room to go up, and the closet shelving is wonderful.  I even have room left, for now!  Here is a quick view of the closet wall/dressing table.
We have great windows to look out over the east river.  We were very fortunate to get the best view in the building.  We have trees and short buildings across the street giving us a few glimpses of the river and Queensborough Bridge.  It is wonderful at night with all the lights!
This is one of two full bathrooms!  Jackson calls this his bathroom - it is just off their bedroom in the first hallway you saw.
Our kitchen defines cozy.  Only room for one cook in here.  Good thing I will be the only one who is ever home!  We really hide a lot of essentials above the cupboards.  Thank goodness for high ceilings!

Here is our bedroom.  It still needs a few more "softening items" but I am trying to figure out how to hang curtains with corner windows.  Any thoughts?
The living room and dining room are all in one.  We are waiting for our couch to arrive - long story.  We can see into Matt's hospital right outside our living room window.  Literally, we can see directly into patient rooms!  Cornell medical center is just across the street.
Our view!  Hope you will come see it in person.  Of course, if you iChat, I can give you a real time virtual tour!