Photo by Shadi Garman
Dress: Club Monaco Heels: Sam Edelman Charlee’s Dress: Jacadi Charlee’s Shoes: Amazon
I can’t count how many times I am asked about our life as a family in New York City. Friends, family and followers seem to be curious as to what life as an urban dweller looks like, especially now that we have a baby in the mix. I thought I’d share a peek into our lifestyle in NYC with our baby girl and also why we choose to live here :).
Living in a big city is surprisingly convenient 80% of the time. Everything you need is right outside your door. I take a left out of my apartment building and the grocery store is on the south right corner of the block. I take a right and there is our pharmacy. Buy Buy Baby is an avenue away, and Charlee’s daycare is leased out of the same building as our apartment! These reasons are the main reasons that we not only live in NYC, but why we choose to live on 6th avenue in the Flatiron district. These amenities are really life changing. If I run out of diapers, I pop Charlee into her stroller and run to the pharmacy…and I’m back home in 10 minutes. Living in the city also keeps my family and I super active. We walk EVERYWHERE and don’t own a car. We think of our stroller as our car and we go for long family “adventures” every weekend as we like to call it. There are so many places to explore in the surrounding Burroughs and cities. This summer we spent time in Brooklyn, Rye, the Jersey Shore, and upstate NY which are all about 1-2 hours away by car. I was also super active during my postpartum experience because I COULD be. I didn’t have to strap Charlee into a car seat to drive her to a park to go for a walk. I could literally just walk outside and down the street to the playground in Madison Square Park. The amenities and experiences for Moms and children is amazing in NYC!
Anther fabulous reason to live in NYC, and don’t laugh at me when I say this, is because of Seamless! Seamless is a meal delivery service that partners with local restaurants to deliver meals to you on demand! I remember when I was pregnant, the idea of going out to dinner or even going out to pick up dinner sounded exhausting ha! So, we really took advantage of Seamless! You can order basically anything you want! It’s amazing!
Matt works for a bank that is only 5 minutes up the street from our apartment. He is home every night between 5:00 and 6:00 P.M. If we didn’t live in the city, he most likely wouldn’t get home until closer to 6:30 or 7, meaning he wouldn’t get to spend as much time with Charlee (she goes to bed at 7.) This is a huge factor for why we decide to live in the city.
Matt and I are also really social and living in NYC makes it easier to keep this part of our lifestyle. We used to go out multiple times a week before baby. We have definitely cut back on how much we go out these days, but because of where we live, going out and on date-nights is actually pretty convenient. We have a few amazing babysitters who have been with us since Charlee was a teeny tiny baby! We go on a date-night at least once a week and love trying new restaurants and going to new places. Just the other night, we went to a comedy show together as a date-night. It was so fun! I love that these types of experiences are always at our fingertips!
As wonderful as all of this is, NYC does pose a few challenges. It is really expensive! You definitely pay a premium to live here and spend a lot more on rent and living expenses that one would in the suburbs. It’s also very busy and loud which weirdly I have gotten used to and it’s almost like white noise to me now. And, the city isn’t for everyone. I have had family members come visit who say to me ‘I don’t know how you do it?!” when they return home from a weekend visiting us. If you aren’t used to this lifestyle it can definitely feel exhausting! We walk everywhere, are always on the go and to be honest, we prefer it that way! Since I was a little girl, I knew I wanted to live in New York. I just had this calling, as silly as that sounds. I feel so lucky to get to call this incredible city home :).
To learn a little more about how I navigate the city with a baby, you should check out this post!
xoxo-J