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!)