I HEART being a mom in NYC

My tribute to NYC goes a little something like this...1. I stand on Lexington Ave. and 28th st. in Manhattan dumbfounded because I have lost baby's only binky. I stand blocking ped. traffic and look down the block to see if I can see anything white that I dropped. I decide I will go back for it if it is within my sight. I can't see it, I am dismayed and all of a sudden this food delivery guy pops out of nowhere holding it up for me. Thank you! I say...as if he had just given me a diamond ring.

2. I walk up my stairs with baby in the bjorn and my bell rings. A woman says: Did you just walk in your house with a baby? Yes. And instinctively my right hand goes to her right foot to find it is bare...I knew the woman had the bootie. I went downstairs and she was so friendly, she had seen me drop the boot, run after me and then when she turned the corner I had dissappeared. She was going from house to house ringing bells and she found us.

3. I am just about to break my back (again) to walk my stroller up the subway steps, and a guy just grabs it and books it up, leaves it at the top and doesn't even wait for his thank you. I love the guys that ask first and accept the thank you as well...and I especially love the guys who aren't even going that way, and help me up the stairs, only to go back down again.

4. I love the amount of times I hear "God Bless" while walking down the street.

5. My favorite is when the most ghetto/gangsta/whatever you wanna call it guy is on the subway and LIGHTS UP when my baby smiles at him. Classic.

6. I love the joy that my children bring total strangers...every day, every hour, every minute. Seeing a happy child changes peoples energy.

7. I love walking with them.

8. I love that when I pick up baby #1 and start running she immediately says: "Are we catching the bus?" Usually we are.

9. I love that being a mom is my workout.

10. I love that in the workplace I am unique. I always get: Are you the nanny? You have two kids? You look so young... How old are you? Yesterday someone said: How is that you have two kids and you are 26? I replied: Did you not take health in high school? I am worried though that I won't have friends with common interests when I am in my forties... because all the girls will be starting their families just as mine are leaving the house. Maybe I will just have to have another batch in about 15 years. Just kidding DH.

11. I am sitting on the subway and a woman observes me and my two kids for several stops. As she exits she says: "It's nice to see kids with their MOM" (instead of a nanny).

12. I am on the subway with baby #2 on my lap. A man sits nice and close to us and pulls out his playstation and watches "are we there yet?" starring ice cube. Baby leans over and rests her cheek on his arm, settles in to watch a film while we ride. Nothing like your beautiful innocent baby cuddling with a perfect stranger.