Poetry

I have this friend.  She is a poet.  Every time I hear her read one of her pieces or read from her blog I'm inspired.  Then I wish I could write like her.  Her name is Amy Leigh Cutler.  You need to check her out.  Just click on her name...and be inspired.

So...with my inspiration, I wrote a poem.  I'm no Amy, but I haven't written in a while. (And by a while I mean over 15 years...HA!)  Here it is...










Emma Was Sick Last Night

Emma was sick last night

Vomit

Every 25 minutes from 12:45-3:45 and every hour after that until 8

I laid with her on the pull out in the living room

I cleaned out the bucket, fetched water and tied back hair

We tossed and turned trying to sleep until the next episode would have us up again

I cleaned out the bucket, fetched water and tied back hair

I rubbed her back and pleaded for the sickness to be gone

But like clock work

I cleaned the bucket, fetched water and tied back hair

I was up with the others early for school hoping to have had a more restful night

But as someone has told me before

A mother's work is never done

Emma was sick last night

The View

"Daddy, I don't really sleep at night night time. I just look out the window at the beautiful city." Kendall, age 4

What you see to the left is the view from Kendall's bed. The girls window faces east and during the winter you can see the river through the tall buildings across Avenue D.

These tall buildings are the Jacob Riis Houses.

The 19 red-brick towers of the Jacob Riis Houses lining Avenue D look much as they did when they opened in 1949.

1768 apartments make up those 19 buildings.

..."the beautiful city."

These are the projects. New York City Housing Authority low income housing.

Our girls have a view of the projects. But to Kendall, this is the beautiful city.

Here is what the New York Times says about this strip of Avenue D.

"Capped at the south by the bustle of Houston Street and at the north by the soaring smokestacks

of Con Edison's East River generating station, the 12-block artery remains largely a relic of the neighborhood's pre-hip past.

There is nary a bar in sight. Not a single boutique. The handful of restaurants serve tostones and chicharones, not goat cheese tapas or tuna tartare. Tough-looking boys hold tough-looking pit bulls at the end of steel chains, mothers push shopping carts to coin laundries, and wrinkled old men in newsboy caps putter in front of the grocery store, keeping a cagey eye on the street.

Avenue D may be the East Village's final frontier; the only thing further east is the river. The sprawling Jacob Riis and Lillian Wald housing projects, which house a total of nearly 9,000 people, have long acted as a sort of break-wall, toppling approaching waves of gentrification and keeping them pooled back near Avenues A and B."

To many, Avenue D is not where you want to live. To others it is where they have to live.

To us...

This is our neighborhood. This is our city. Our beautiful city.

This is our prayer:

LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD.
Renew them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy.

Habakkuk 3:2

Emma's Birthday video!

Emma Turns 7!

It is 2011! It has been a long time since you've heard from me but without a valid excuse, here we go with new information and happenings from NYC! HaHa!

On Friday, January 21 we celebrated Emma's 7th birthday! I can't believe she is 7 already. We went to Madison Square Garden that evening to see Disney's Princesses on Ice! They were both (Emma and Kendall) in awe as soon as it started and are still talking about it today.

Emma also had a party at home on Sunday the 23rd with her girl friends from school! We never thought we could fit 12 little girls in our apartment but were proven wrong! They had a great time partying like rock stars! There was pizza, snow painting and ice gems, microphone cupcakes and sing-a-longs, and maybe a little dancing too! Check out the video below of the party! And welcome back to Raising 3 In NYC!

It's about time!

I realize it's been a while since my last blog! This blog today is an attempt to change my sporadic nature. Today is my 32nd birthday...my first in NYC. My parents arrived yesterday and are here until Tuesday. We enjoyed breakfast at 7A this morning and I am now enjoying the smell of chocolate cake in the oven and time to myself to sit (I should be sleeping!). Tomorrow holds a Cubs vs. Mets game and Tuesday a taping of Martha Stewart with my Mama! (oh and lunch at Max Brenner's). Can you tell I like chocolate?
Anyhow, looks like I'll have quite a special first birthday in NYC! Happy Birthday to me!

Location:E 11th St,New York,United States

I have a READER

Emma started Kindergarten in September and is now a reader! Here is a quick clip of her reading the book "Father Bear Went Fishing". We are so proud her!

REALLY Raising 3

WARNING: This blog is terribly LONG!

You may need to come back when you have more time :)

Now that we are REALLY raising 3 in NYC I thought it was time for a new blog entry! If you are new, welcome and if you have been following (sporadic as they were) I'm glad you are still here and have followed me to my new address. Hopefully the new address will help me blog more often because I will not need access to Guy's laptop...Yippee!!

If you want news about our East Village plant you can still find that info here.

At Raising 3 you can follow what it's like to have 3 kids in NYC. Let me say...not many people do! Here is a quick snapshot of transportation!

Transporting 1 child in the city is difficult enough but 3...LOL...is a whole different ball game. Our normal set up is Emma walking, KP in a stroller and Carter nice in snug in the ERGO.

Difficulties: subway steps, KP jumps out and goes down or up the steps and I carry the stroller; catching a bus, stroller has to be folded and carried on, meanwhile helping KP up or down the giant steps and directing her to a seat before the bus leaves the stop and she crashes to the floor! Needless to say we get lots of funny looks, occasional smiles and greatly appreciated help carrying the stroller! I'm sure they ALL think I'm crazy!

Since my last blog 4 major events have occurred. Carter's birth, KP's 3rd birthday, Christmas, and Emma's 6th birthday. Sooo...here's the quick version of each! ENJOY!

Carter Lorraine Wasko

Carter was born Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 8:36pm weighing 7lbs 3oz. I had an appointment that morning with my midwife and entered the office asking "Can I please have this baby TODAY?" She said sure! I had been to the hospital Sunday night/Monday morning only to be sent home with this news; "Go home and walk around, come back when the contractions are stronger. It could be a few days." A few DAYS? I was more than ready have this baby! My midwife sent me home with these instructions; "Go home and eat then head to the hospital!" Yay!! We walked home from the appointment, ate, grabbed my bag and walked to the hospital (hoping the walking would help things go a little faster!) I had to wait a little while to be admitted but finally made it to a room around 1pm and the induction process was started. Carter was born at 8:36pm after only 6 minutes of pushing (I'm pretty proud of myself)!! She is amazing!

This picture was a few minutes after birth.

This picture was taken yesterday!

Kendall's 3rd Birthday

KP turned 3 on December 23. We had a small party at church with her friends. I asked her what kind of party she wanted and what she wanted on her cake. Her reply "Yellow". So we had a yellow party with a yellow cake! Check out a few pics of her celebration.

Christmas was spent here in NYC!

Emma's 6th Birthday

Living in NYC gives our girls exciting opportunities they will never forget. A new tradition that will hopefully last forever is a horse drawn carriage ride in Central Park for their birthday...only with Daddy!

This year Emma decided to have a Tinkerbell party. She invited a few friends from school and we had her party yesterday in our apartment. Our little place was full of little fairies. Afterward Emma said her party was "wonderful"!

Emma and her BFF Maya!

Well, I know this was VERY long but thanks for catching up with us! I know I've crammed a lot into one blog and hopefully won't have to do it again. Again, if you'd like to know more of what's happening here in the East Village please visit www.stumblingforward.net!