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Today’s guest post is from my friend Caryn, who you first met a few months ago when she shared her potato latkes recipe for Hanukkah. She’s back today (by popular demand), to give the rest of us non-city-dwelling folks a glimpse at life in the Big Apple with two little kids. I must say, even though Caryn and I grew up together in Virginia, we could not live in two more different places now.
I’m raising my boys in rural Central Virginia, at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, surrounded by cattle and rolling, open hills. I drive about 25 minutes to get to the nearest Target (in Charlottesville), nothing is “in walking distance” (other than the neighboring farms), and the local tractor pull is some of our only evening entertainment. We love it here, and wouldn’t trade our life for anything.
That said, I’m incredibly fascinated by Caryn’s exciting, big city adventures and how she makes it all work with two little guys. She’s the yin to my yang! And the truth is, no matter where we live, parenting our children is largely the same. That’s something that Caryn and I will always have in common, regardless of where we’re located on a map. We’re both doing the best that we can at this mom and marriage thing! Enjoy…
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You live in Manhattan? Oh wow! You have kids? And then I get the look of look of disbelief as if someone was saying “Why? and How do you do it”?
HAH. We often wonder that ourselves…Having a child in general, as many can attest, isn’t cheap. But NYC has many “built in” conveniences that make it easier. Okay, truth is NYC is still really effing expensive. And don’t start me on pre-school…
But I have a 12 minute subway commute and my husband has an 18 minute walk to work. I have a 2.5 year old, Reid and an 8 month old, Max.
This is the only way I know and we love it.
Below are some of the most common questions I get from people.
reid in snow
Kids in the city enjoy the snow too…
How do you get your groceries? 
Delivery
Huh? 
Well, sometimes I order them online but often times we go to the grocery store and if you spend more than a certain limit they’ll deliver for free.
But like what about big things that you want to buy in bulk… like paper towels or diapers? 
Oh definitely delivery.
Dry cleaning?
The cleaners deliver it to our doorman.
Laundry? 
Delivery.
Packages – sent to our doormen, check!
You see where I’m going here? Clearly you can order any food item/cuisine you want for any meal of the day. It isn’t limited to just Dominos* (or wherever people out in the burbs are ordering Pizza these days). I checked mySeamless account and there are literally 415 restaurants that will deliver to us in our neighborhood alone for ANY MEAL OF THE DAY.
Wait back up. You don’t have a washer/dryer?
Oh what I wouldn’t give for a washer/dryer. But there are lots of easy ways to cope with it.
Drop it off at the dry cleaners and they’ll wash and fold it for you, ready the next day. Even give them your special detergent (ie Dreft) and they’ll use it. It’s a minimum of 10 pounds of laundry for roughly $10. We suck it up and do our own laundry in the basement of our building and just have more clothes for the boys so we only need to do it once a week.
How exciting is this post by the way… learning about my laundry habits?? 

Hold on, you WALKED HOME after giving birth to both your kids?
Granted it was slow but yes, we truly walk everywhere.
When I need to take the kids to the doctor, it’s just down the block.
I have 5 parks within walking distance.

We walk to the grocery stores (note this is when a big stroller comes in handy)
Restaurants, playdates, preschool… just take the stroller and go.
Our friends with kids are all within a 10 block radius. I have a friend that moved from our area, Murray Hill to the Upper West Side. In suburb talk, that’s a 15 minute cab. In Manhattan talk… I’m not sure when I’ll see her again.
Uh, HOW many strollers do you have?
Um… Five. And 2 kids. In a 2 bedroom apartment. (Luckily, I have good closet space.)
I can’t tell you how important a good stroller in the city is. Sure, you don’t need to pay lots of money for it… but you need a couple different options. You know, for when you go on the subway/taxi, or walk long distances… or gd forbid go for a jog with your stroller.
And yes, all of these are in “circulation”.
  • One fancy schmancy stroller that rides “smoothly” over the ohso rough streets of the NYC terrain (slight sarcasm there, this ain’t hiking).
  • One good umbrella stroller for when you put it in the back of a cab or take on the bus. (I got mine on the Martha Stewart show… that’s another story)
  • 2 snap n go’s (so you can take the baby around the corner easier with the car seat- and 2 because one is a friend’s and has a cup holder…Mama needs her coffee)
  • A fancy double stroller- I went for the front/back “minivan” that has a lot of space for my oldest and will fit in between narrow NYC doorways. No really, it’s huge.
Only in NYC are there businesses that will detail/clean your stroller. At first I laughed but now I kinda get it. Not that I’ve done it. Yet.
stroller
It has 16 different positions you can arrange the seats. Sigh… 
But you don’t have a backyard?? What do you DO?
 
There are plenty of fun activities for kids in the city that are free… and many more that aren’t.
We rack up memberships. They often aren’t that expensive (okay, some are more than others…) and if you go more than twice it usually pays for itself. These are some of the memberships that we have:
2 indoor play gyms- one that has stroller “valet parking” (I get a kick out of that)
The Central Park/Bronx Zoo (gets you into a bunch of other stuff)
My boys also take a music class by someone who writes music for Sesame Street. Now that’s kinda legit…
And these aren’t even the “crazy” classes. There are classes in NYC from yoga, to cooking, to Japanese immersion to Broadway shows for babies, to an indoor ant farm.. it’s a bit nuts and you can truly get carried away.
museum
At the American Natural History Museum. I call this the taxidermy museum… 
Okay, but what do you do if it’s too cold out?
Yes, these polar vortex days have hit us hard too. No problem, we’ll text the folks down the hall or a couple floors up for playdates in our apartment or in the hallways to tire them out.
Wow, okay what else is it like to have “city kids?*”  
Max and Reid’s first time in a car was in a taxi.
Reid calls out the Chrysler and the Empire State Building as we walk by.
He can identify an ambulance, fire truck, or police car just by hearing a siren– trust me there are many here…
We went trick or treating to our friend’s doormen and to apartments in our building.
Reid knew which apartment was ours by age 16 months.
Reid knows how to hail a cab and shouts taxi!
Construction is plentiful here in NYC so sometimes it’s just parking the stroller on the corner to see the excavators.
I live close to the East River so Reid gets a kick out of going on a ferry to Brooklyn or Queens- and we may even get off to explore another playground!
There’s a heliport near me as well so you can get close and watch helicopters land. (Which is actually really cool for the adults too).
excavator
One of the attractions in NYC for my kids
PHEW! I could go on… but I think you get the point. Living in NYC with kids… super easy right?
Who’s ready to move? And what other questions do you have?
Just good luck with those pre-school interviews…
swings
empire state bldg
max
Note- this picture of Max at 8 months old has nothing to do with NYC but I thought it was cute and had to share.
blair

Hey, I’m Blair!

Welcome to my farmhouse kitchen in the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Inspired by local traditions and seasonal fare, you’ll find plenty of easy, comforting recipes that bring your family together around the table. It’s down-home, country-style cooking!

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Overhead image of a bowl of chili mac on a dinner table with cornbread
Hands serving a platter of sheet pan sausage and potatoes

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