It’s been one week since we arrived in NYC. We suffered from jet-lag for a few days, but it wasn’t too bad. The worst part was Lillian getting sick and vomiting in our bedroom that first night. We expected it to be a rough night, but it was way worse because of her sickness. Because they didn’t sleep much, the kids were not their most cheery selves for those first few days. We pushed through and had pretty good days anyway. I found them to be pleasant about half the time. The other half was trying. It was only a few days. We survived.

The kids each sleep on a pallet between a side of the bed and the wall. Stefan and I share the bed while my mom sleeps on the couch. It’s cozy. But it actually works.

We saw a lot of the city this week. On Sunday, the morning after our arrival, my mom and I took Lillian to a musical, 1001 Nights. My mom wasn’t excited about the puppetry aspect of it, but it impressed us all. It was great to do this immediately upon our arrival because it’s something I absolutely love about NYC and look forward to doing regularly here.

We spent a couple days in Brooklyn, checking out neighborhoods. I’m really interested in finding a hood we love in Brooklyn. Our impression is that it’s pretty trendy, but sooooo far from Manhattan and so many of the things we enjoy about the city.

We ate Mexican food (guacamole and margaritas!) several times this first week as I think it’s the one thing we had the least in Europe.

We visited the Met, the huge playground in Central Park, and Stefan took the kids to the Museum of Natural History. We walked through Central Park several times. I even got to meet up with a friend from Dallas who was visiting NYC for the weekend. 

We eat Shake Shack and maybe the best bagel I’ve ever had. It’s all so New York. Stefan is much happier to be back than I am.

We push ourselves to experience New York the way we would another great city. This way we hope we’ll be more excited to stay here. For now though, the beautiful aspects are overshadowed by the filth and stink of the city. Seriously, I think I smell pee all the time, even in Central Park! I know this is just a phase, and I will emerge from the other side happy to be here and seeing the bright side again. But for now, it’s all pee.