E hearts NYC

Sorry, where was I? Ah, yes, we were landing. Well, the flight landed in one piece and for the 5+ hour flight Emmett slept for about 4 hours of it. People in the nearby seats said that he was a pleasure to travel with. The only person that might have complaint is the person who was sitting on the aisle who had to get up about 4 times during the entire flight.

We landed in Newark, NJ (Emmett's fourth state) and our bags arrived just fine. It was pretty hard moving around with all of our stuff, but we took the NJ transit to Penn Station and then subwayed it to our hotel at Columbus Circle. Besides having to move around with so much stuff, the transit wasn't that bad. We got into our room about 7:something to find that they hadn't put in the promised crib and that the refrigerator that was supposed to be in every room was not present. The former was necessary for obvious reasons, but the latter was needed as we had flown across country with 13 5-ounce bags of frozen breast milk to keep Emmett nourished while Andrea conferences. I should mention how we got the milk here as it worked really well.

Andrea has been pumping milk and freezing it for times like this. A couple of weeks ago John and Carlos had a garage sale where they were selling a lunch-sized plastic cooler which we bought for a very reasonable rate. I was able to squeeze 13 containers of milk in the bottom and then a couple of gel ice packs on top. I loaded the whole thing the night before and stored it all in the freezer until the next morning when I packed it in our luggages surrounded by cloth diapers for insulation. When we unpacked the milk about 12 hours later it was still rock solid and opening the luggage felt like opening the door of a freezer as there was cool air inside the bag. It all worked really well.

We got some food while the fridge and crib were installed. It was about 9 by this time and Emmett had a minor meltdown so I waited outside while Andrea did some food shopping for the room. While waiting a nice, older lady sat next to me and chatted me up about Emmett, informing me that Emmett means "truth" in hebrew and giving me a whole lot of other NY insider info. Such a friendly town.

Sleep...this is the best part of the story so far (not saying much). We didn't get Emmett down until about 10pm here time, which is 7 CA time (a little earlier than his regular time) and we went to bed not long after as we were pooped. At 7 am the alarm went off (a first post-Emmett's birth as he has served just fine as an early alarm) and all three of us had had our first 8-hour plus night of sleep since Emmett popped out.

Andrea fed Emmett and headed off to her conference around 8:00. Emmett and I took off for the park on our first day in the city together. We walked around with him in the stroller and he ate in the park before coming back to the hotel for a nearly two-hour nap. Afterwards he and I headed off again for a long walk through Chelsea and Greenwich with him spending most of the time passed out in the ergo. It is hot here, but not too hot, and when he came out of the Ergo we were both pretty drenched. We rode the subway back to our hood and waited for Andrea to return where she fed him in the park. I think she was a little horrified when she found us as it was pretty hot so I had stripped Emmett naked and had him on top of his changing mat. As it was a little small and he kept digging his hands and feet into the dirt, I laid out the huge subway map that we had as I forgot to bring I blanket (I will learn these things), so Andrea arrived to find her naked child sprawled out naked on a subway map in central park. I bet she revokes permission for me to be stay-at-home next year.

Emmett is passed out again, Andrea is back, and we will be seeing our friends who live here soon (Laura, Lesley, Sal, etc.). I will try to put pictures up next time....Andrea had the camera at the conference and apparently didn't find anything worth photographing there.

Oh, I can't believe that I forgot to include the most exciting parts...Emmett and I were hanging out on the bed doing a little tummy time and I got to witness a front-to-back roll (Andrea has seen three or so). The other big news is Emmett did his first poo in the big person toilet. Andrea caught a poo the other day in the Baby Bjorn Little Potty and this was my first since the days of yellow mustard poop (months for those not up on your baby poo consistency). So on our first day in the city Emmett didn't have a single soiled diaper. Thank you NYC.