2012 Our Year in Review

Another year flown by and it was a great year for us overall on several fronts.


After working from home grading assignments for teachers getting their MA's at Hunter College, I stopped working entirely after the spring and became a full-time stay at home mom. It was a lot to manage to get work done around Laila's nap schedule so it was a welcome change that gave me some freedom to pursue some other projects - like relaunching of my Etsy store Urban Baby Knits - and planning some local selling events with other local vendors and mom sellers that turned out to be a great success. We are planning two more for the spring and participating in local pop-up shops as well. Always knitting something theses days - bags of yarn have taken over the house. It's fun!




We took a great trip to Paris in April with Brian's sister and family - Maya's cousins, Anna, Noah and Nathan. We had gorgeous warm spring weather and even took a day trip to Disney.


We became the proud owners of Toyota Sienna minivan in May (don't knock it!! we love our swagger wagon) and did some early summer trips to Wellesley for strawberry picking at Drumlin Farm, and a great weekend trip to Rocking Horse Ranch outside of Poughkeepsie. Riding, pools, marshmallows and more riding. Highly recommend. We'll definitely be back.

Pony rides at Rocking Horse

We spent the bulk of the summer in East Hampton and Maya started taking riding lessons. I did too - which was won-der-ful after about a 10 year hiatus from the sport. It was a great thing to be able to do with Maya and she took to the sport like a fish to water - loving everything from the horse care and grooming, to giving treats to the actual riding.




And she's pretty cute in her riding boots and hat if I do say so myself. We will certainly make this a permanent part of our schedule now that we are planning to move to Westchester and there are lots of barns and riding programs for kids (and moms too!!). It will be fun for Laila to be old enough in a few years to participate in our equestrian adventures, for now she enjoys petting and pointing at the horses.

Which brings me to another point - we sold our apartment! Bittersweet to let it go, we loved our 2BR apartment that brought us to LIC in 2008 right after Maya was born and that Laila came home too as well.

Last night in our apartment.

We decided to stay local for one more year and moved into a rental apartment building a block away so Maya could finish her pre-k year at the preschool that she had been in since she was 2. But the time has come to make our move to the burbs especially with Brian working and doing well at his mutual fund company in Purchase, NY. So with Maya entering kindergarten in the fall it was a good natural break to make the move. We sold quickly which we were not totally prepared for but decided it was best to sell and give ourselves the time and flexibility to look for a house.

Laila turned 1 in July and we celebrated with friends during a freak hail storm at Malu a local 

ice cream shop. The next month Maya turned 4 and celebrated at Jane's Carousel in Brooklyn. 

Abuela's birthday in July.

Picnic tables outside Jane's Carousel

 The fall came and so did pre-k (big stuff) and lots of mommy time for Laila which I am really enjoying especially as she got her sea legs and started on some words it's been great to get together with our many friends in the area and their toddlers. Favorite words/phrases: all done (all daaa), hiiii, socks (sos), eye (while sticking her finger in her eye), diaper, mema (milk), agua, apple and 'cheese' on her own whenever someone points a camera in her direction. Kind of hilarious.

Yearly trips to Hank's Pumpkin town and the Renaissance Faire (Laila hated the darn camel) were of course in order too.  And then the storm hit. 

Renaissance Faire

First day of pre-k with friends Henry and Sophie. 

Hurricane Sandy (and not our broker this time) hit LIC hard but we weathered the storm alright, watching the whole thing unfold in front of our windows from the 12th floor and it was quite a show.

The street below us flooded and totaled all the cars parked on it, 48th avenue was completed flooded 2 blocks in and along with it Maya's preschool which took on 3 feet of water. Somehow the pre-k class frogs whose tank was on the floor survived and we took them home and kept them going for about a week while a team of volunteers and contractors furiously put the school back together - stripping, floors, cutting out drywall building new furniture and redoing electrical. The kids were back in 6 days after the storm and life started to get back to normal. Our playground was heavily damaged but re-opened last week after much chopping and hauling of tree limbs and trunks. We didn't lose power or our cars so really we were very lucky. It was nice to see the neighborhood come back together for the annual Halloween parade, only 2 days after the water receded.

Halloween: Jesse and Little Red Riding Hood

Decided to break with tradition this year and headed to Cancun with friends for Thanksgiving. We stayed at the Moon Palace where we vacationed last year when Laila was just 3 months old. It was a great break, with lots of fun shows, good dinner options, some golf and several trips to the spa for all the parents. And who can ever get tired of weather like that.

Brian became a portfolio manager at Alpine Woods capital this December where he has been for 4 years, and has been busy meeting with management to spearhead new strategies and procedural changes in the way they manage the funds. An exciting opportunity for him for sure and he will appreciate having a shorter commute to work in the next few months with these added responsibilities.

We headed to Wellesley for Christmas with Brian's parents and took advantage of colder weather there to take Maya skiing. Her second time on skis - not sure you can call what she does skiing, more like hanging on her dad and floating down the hill. Laila and I watched. Maya also participated in the kids pageant as an angel which she was really proud of herself for (so were we, she's not the type to volunteer for these things and be on stage). We woke up to a white Christmas and the kids had a lot of fun with their gifts. Big ticket items included a 3 story Barbie townhouse and a plush rocking horse that gallops and neighs. We celebrate Christmas #2 with my parents tonight.




And now for 2013.... drumroll please.... we are expecting baby #3 (no that's not a typo, yes we may have lost our minds) in early July. So between moving into a new town, buying a house, starting at a new elementary school, making new friends and adding a newborn to the fam we will be ohhhh a little busy. But all good and welcome changes that we have been looking forward to.



Wishing you all a wonderful 2013 filled with love, friends and family. Happy New Year!




- Verena, Brian, Maya, Laila, baby #3, Bailey & Burger (sheeeeesh! someone find us a house quick!)

6 yrs, Pre-K and knitting!

September! Indisputably the best month of the year - although this year we've had more of a humid hot month than usual - STILL! The weather is cooler, the farms are busting with the best produce  of the year in my opinion (can you say pumpkins!?!) and it marks the milestone of my wedding anniversary - 6 years now to be exact. We celebrated by going to see Once on broadway - based on the movie which I highly recommend (both movie and show) - excellent! Also happy birthday Grandma Lynn!!

Maya started Pre-k - her third and final year at her preschool in LIC, we are anxiously awaiting the completion of their new space which has faced some construction delays that will hopefully be sorted out in the next few weeks - not that the kids have noticed, they are having a blast in the same space they have known for the last two years - doing more with letters and numbers and the classroom science project of the moment - tadpoles! Actually totally amazing. They have also done classroom interviews of their peers - here's Maya's:


Lia: What’s your favorite thing to do?

Maya: I like to make a tea party. I invited Sophie and Henry. I like to cook my cookies.

Nicole: Do you like Barbies?

Maya: I like to play with Barbies and brush their hair

Henry: What’s your favorite ice cream?

Maya: Chocolate chip cookies

Evan: What do you like at school?

Maya: I like to bring my pony book and show it.

Emanuel: What’s your favorite Barbie?

Maya: She has a horse to ride. Just a girl who likes to ride horses

Eva: What’s your favorite kind of music?

Maya: Sleeping Beauty

Eva: What’s your favorite book?

Maya: My Mermaid book and my Sleeping Beauty Book

Avelene: What do you like to write?

Maya: I like to write and draw bunnies

Nicole Czajkowski: What’s your favorite fish?

Maya: Sweet fish when they taste like carrots and look like lobsters

Jessica: Where do you ride real horses?

Maya: In a stable. I have to take a car.

Cat: Who’s in your family?

Maya: My big daddy and my little sister Laila

..... and Mommy gets thrown under the bus and totally forgotten - AGAIN! And I can only assume that 'sweet fish' was swedish fish not sure about the lobster reference except that she thinks it's funny.

We also made it to the NY Renaissance Faire this month - always an interesting experience  - where we rode a camel, saw some shows, jousting (yes, really, horses and all, one guy actually fell off - oops). It's quite an event.



And finally - my fall project has been to re-launch my little knitting shop on Etsy - Urban Baby Knits. I am really enjoying it and it keeps me busy. You might recognize some of my models.

This weekend we are headed to Hershey Park in PA with Roshni and family who have relocated to Delaware and are therefore much closer. Maya is looking forward to seeing her friend Liam... we'll see how they both do with the rides, but we seem to have lucked out with the weather :)

Happy Birthday Maya!

4 years old! Maya and her classmates celebrated with her at Jane's Carousel in Brooklyn Bridge park with an Olivia themed event, lots of Uruguayan specialties and a piñata and lots of mini cupcakes.

She is very excited to be four, and asked me all summer when her birthday was, and if she was four yet and if she could now go to pre-k. Going to pre-k is a big deal apparently because it means she will be in her separate classroom and be the oldest group in her preschool.


On that note, pre-k thankfully starts tomorrow for a half day of school. I am ecstatic at getting back into a routine. Although our summer was lovely - most of it spent in East Hampton with time divided between YMCA camp, beach, pool, yoga and horse back riding! Maya started taking lessons and we went together to the barn once a week and both rode - it was nice to get back into it having not ridden regularly since college. And Maya loved the whole experience from getting the horses ready, to her lesson, to the sponge bath she treated her horse to afterwards. Merrylegs is the name of her white pony by the way and she talks about her frequently.

  We've spent the last several weeks taking advantage of all those fun city family amusements that we hadn't gotten to all summer - Natural History museum, Bronx zoo and I think there is a Renaissance faire trip in the future - any excuse to be outside in a medieval princess dress and eat a turkey leg. Some pics from her birthday party. Happy September everyone!

Closed

Our first time in our apartment....

... and our last.

These pictures have the same orientation. The space behind Brain in the first picture is the kitchen, you can make out the doorway also behind Lynn that became the door behind me in the second picture. There are also a few more people in the picture that didn't exist before. We will miss our cozy 2 BR, our first experience as home owners and the place where we became a family, having moved from Murray Hill when Maya was 3 weeks old, and welcoming Laila home to it the day after she was born. Where we said goodbye to Kahlua, and welcomed Burger. Maya started school, we both changed jobs and I transitioned into full-time mommy hood. Couldn't imagine packing more into 4 years then we did while we lived there. But it's all in the planning for the next big change sometime next year. Onwards!

Happy 1st Birthday Laila!

 Awwww.. little girl turned 1 year old. The year was a crazy blur managing two kiddos, part-time work and planning for our future moves, but she is at an adorable age if I do say so myself - has already taken several steps on her own before hitting the 1 year mark but doesn't trust herself, only two teeth (bottom) but we're working on that and already a dessert connoisseur (did Maya have sugar before a year old?). Hey it's the second, you're a little more relaxed and probably so are they.

But we had a little celebration for Laila (albeit in the middle of a hail storm!! no seriously hail the

size of peas crashing to the ground as we stared
 out the windows in the lobby of our new apartment building wondering when we could make a run for it!). Laila had herself an ice cream party at Malu, local shop with several brave neighborhood friends who came out with their kids despite the end-of-the-world summer thunderstorm we were experiencing.

It was super cute - ice cream for everyone and strawberry ice cream cake for Laila. Of course when we got home the storm was over and the clouds parted, I'm sure rain (and hail?) are good luck on your birthday in some cultures.

After her party we packed it up and headed to East Hampton to celebrate again with Tata and Abuela for a double whammy re-do for Laila and a happy birthday to my mom who turned 45 +/- the next day.

Nice dinner, and two cakes of course for a double singing. Happy birthday Laila! Happy Birthday Mom! What should we do next year? :)

Swagger Wagon

Oh yeah! We went there. The NYC Hennessey clan is now rolling in a minivan- 2012 Toyota Sienna XLE to be exact. Here we are checking out our new wheels on our first day. We are loving our new car now that we have figured out how to get in and out of our tight fitting garage without hitting anything - and took it for a little road trip to Wellesley this weekend. Maya loved her widescreen DVD player and we all loved the storage and general ease of being in a new car.

And if you're still not convinced.... don't be a hater!!!!

Spring Training

9 months old!

Laila the menace

The little crawling speed demon is now pulling up on everything and anything that might get her even an inch off the ground, and before really mastering the whole balance thing and getting herself back down she likes to show you how she can hold on with one hand, or no hand at all. This has quickly led to her learning how to bend at the hips and throwing herself back to land squarely on her tush. She is quite the busy body, evan tackling the playground steps this week for the first time. Very motivated to move perhaps to try and keep up with her sister. Favorite activity right now seems to be pulling clothes out of the laundry basket and sometimes taking the bully stick away from the dog for a taste herself. Delish. A little video catching her red handed.

Belle Paris

We did it! Trekked 5 kids through the streets of Paris for a whole week. We met with the Breits and cousins Noah, Anna, and Nathan for a family reunion in the belle city.

Our itinerary included lots of walking, the big sites (eiffel, arc de triumph, Notre Dame, Tuileries, Seine, Sacre Couer, ...) several playgrounds and carousels (they're everywhere!) a day trip to Euro Disney, the science museum, lots of ice cream eating, cafes, crepes, delicious goodies from local food shops, bread, pate, croissants and more bread, a parents dinner out night and several family meals together at home.




Laila was a total trooper, taking all her needed stroller naps. She really started to crawl while there and is now obsessed with pulling up on everything - we often find her standing in her crib waiting for someone to rescue her because she's not great and getting herself back down. Totally untrustworthy.

And would you believe that we had sun and 70 degree weather the entire week! It was marvelous, and quite cold when we returned to NY. We did get bumped off the flight on the return but they put us up at a nearby hotel and almost completely reimbursed our ticket, so no complaints.

Maya had a total blast with her cousins, especially big cousin Anna and she was sad to leave them. Overall a great trip that will hopefully be repeated in the future.