Mummy and Ethan do Yoga

I have found a great yoga place in Mamaroneck where I've attended prenatal, yoga for labour and Mummy and Me yoga. They also run fortnightly kids yoga classes for 1-4yos. I decided to take Ethan so we could enjoy some time together without Joshua.

He had lots of fun. The class was really innovative and kept him engaged for 45mins.

He even tried the relaxation at the end.

He had so much fun he didn't want to go home. So we went to Starbucks for hot chocolate and cookies.

And I came home to a sleeping baby :-)

Another advantage of the basement

We've decided to take advantage of the unfurnished side of the basement (the furnished sign being Ethan's playroom). After a purchase of some gym equipment from a local expat group member we now have a mini home gym! No charge for visitors!

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day fell today. The annual American tradition occurs on February 2 and features Punxsutawney Phil, a Pennsylvania groundhog whose shadow apparently predicts the length of winter.

Legend has it that if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, there'll be six more weeks of winter weather. If he doesn't, there will be an early spring.

And unfortunately he saw his shadow. So six more weeks it is! (This may be one of my favourite ridiculous superstitions!)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/02/02/groundhog-day-2015-punxsutawney-phil-sees-shadow-predicts-six-more-weeks-of-winter/

Juno, the great blizzard of 2015 that never was.

When the mayor of New York says the following:

"My message to all New Yorkers is prepare for something worse than we have seen before," "Don't underestimate this storm."

It's a little unnerving!

The blizzard warning was in place from 1pm Monday until 7am Wednesday. Meteorologists were referring to 1-2ft of snow and 65mph winds.

Schools closed at lunch on Monday, kids activities cancelled and facilities like the Y closed at 4. Non emergency vehicles were banned from 11pm.

It was difficult to know how to prepare. I rushed Bruno and the boys out for a run first thing Monday morning, unsure as to when he'd next get exercise. We had plenty of food but a friend picked me up some more bread and milk when she went to the shops. We had candles and matches. And since shops seemed to be selling out of water, we acted like sheep and filled lots of empty containers with water. Oh and I hard boiled some eggs!

We went to bed very nervous. Matt and I are in separate rooms at the moment as I'm with Joshua in his room. But I made the crib up in our (as in mine and Matt's) room as if it was as bad as they said I knew we'd all end up in the same room.

Matt didn't sleep well, I woke when the boys had me up. Every time I noticed on my phone that the start of the blizzard seemed to be getting later and later. And then morning arrived and we realised we had escaped the blizzard. The blizzard warning was removed although the winter storm warning remained. We had somewhere in the region of 6-8 inches of snow.

And as ever the country coped admirably. Snow ploughs were out all night. Schools were closed but this decision had been made on Monday. Public transport was all up and running by lunchtime.

Front door view

Snow day chilling

Snow fun

Christmas 2014

What a Christmas transatlantic trip looks like with a toddler and a newborn:

1 week to prepare;

1 week to recover, actually possibly 2;

2 weeks to get house straight and arrange all the new toys;

2 extra pieces of luggage for new toys;

2 full outfit changes for Ethan on two seperate vomiting episodes in car journeys (despite never ever having done this before); 

0 minutes of sleep achieved by me on either flight;

2 business class cabins drunk dry of milk by Ethan in attempts to get him to sleep

2 children tandemly carried off plane in slings (strollers are for wimps);

Endless 'jokes' about jetting off to a tropical beach for Christmas 2015.

But all totally worthwhile for two weeks with our family and close friends. It was great to allow everyone the chance to meet Joshua and even more exciting to meet our new nephew Leo.

Some photos below:

Who needs a stroller?

Ethan got his own business class seat for the first time (thankfully we weren't paying!)

Cousins, Leo and Joshua

Christmas Day at the Aspinalls

Lunch with the Newnes

Advent 2014

This year is the first year Ethan is starting to get Christmas. As a result, and as I'm excited to have someone to get excited with on Christmas Day, I'm trying to build momentum through advent.

This year the Elf has joined the family. Currently called 'Elf' as that's as inventive as two year olds get, he's here to help us get ready for Christmas. (Some people tell their kids the Elf is here to report back to Santa if they've been naughty or good but this is not a concept that we apply so our Elf is just here for some fun). Every morning Ethan has to find the Elf and then go and see what the Elf has put in his advent calendar overnight ( or the number box as he calls it, which is different to his chocolate box, a chocolate advent calendar given to him by a friend).

Here is our Elf waiting for Ethan on 1 December

And here are some of the things it has been up to:

Our Christmas tree also went up early and Ethan helped decorate it:

I took Ethan to see Father Christmas. However he refused to go anywhere near him so photographic evidence is lacking! Here is a photo of Ethan and Joshua after we got home:

We did go to the Mamaroneck village tree lighting to help us get in the Christmas mood:

 

Looking forward to flying back to the UK for Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2014

Last year we went to Boston for Thansgiving. This year we decided to host some friends; Caoihme, Dave, Lucy and Ben (our Irish friends) and Jo, Chris and Elsie (our Yorkshire friends). Impressively though we managed to have three Americans (Lucy, Ben and Joshua) and a South African (Elsie) by virtue of birth.

I'd intended on cooking a full meal until I finally listened to Caoihme who had pointed out many times this was crazy with a 5 week old baby. So I ordered a 'heat and serve' meal from a grocery delivery service. They made it very easy!

Which was particularly helpful given someone didn't want to sleep!

Matt had expressed serious concerns about the lack of food (in his perception). Thankfully the leftovers proved him wrong!

And just because it's cute, here's one of all the kids.

We had a lovely day, we are truly thankful to have made some good friends while here that make being far from home so much easier.