Potholes can suck it!!

So in my last post, I mentioned that I wanted to talk about:
- Potholes in SF
- Graffiti in our hood, no more Bart Simpson
- Max! Sleeping more, updates on 4 mo old visits, to vaccinate vs. not vaccinating.

Potholes can suck it: On Mother's Day we are heading back from Palo Alto after having a great meal with the family. I exit the Potrero exit and head up Ceaser Chavez, which I have done a thousand times before. This time however, I hit a MASSIVE pothole which popped our front tire. Thankfully, I was able to make it home before the tire went totally flat. What a great way to end my first Mother's day! I was fuming. We had extended warrenty which covered problems such as popped tire/bent rims and was able to get it fixed no problems. I went onto my fav local blog, Mission Local and filed a ticket with the city. They have a Google map where you can tag and ticket issues in the hood. Little did I know, that in filing a ticket it submits it to all the government agencies. I made a snitty little remark mentioning that I'd like to see some Tax Dollars at work for a change - and the pothole was fixed 2 days later! To quote He-Man, "I have the power!!"

Graffiti: On Alabama and 22nd, the corner is continually tagged with our local gang insignia. They cross one out and write another - which goes on for ages and it only covered up when the building owners paint over it. The reason I see this every day is I walk by it to drop Max off at his babysitter Paula's house. The graffiti that never seemed to get painted over was a character that looked like Bart Simpson. I loved seeing this "tag" with stand all the gang tagging. So the other day, I turn the corner and felt my heart drop. Bart had been covered up. Noooooo! But it was covered up by a group of guys commissioned to cover up the entire wall with art. The wall is still being worked on but looks amazing. I mentioned to one of the guys that I was sad to see Bart Simpson gone and he mentioned that he was going to try to work it into the piece. Yay! Bart lives on!!

Last but not least - the little man has been sleeping so great. Happy Days are here again! His 4 month old visit went very well - He's getting so big at already 17lbs and 27" long. He did well with his vaccines, which is the most painful thing for me. The first time he got a shot I made the mistake of watching. The needle was so long going into his little leg. It was traumatizing for me! But he was a champ.

Max has been able to almost sit up - thanks to the Bumbo. He's getting stronger so fast.
Quite the happy little guy - always smiling and laughing. His new thing is sucking on his fingers. Does not like pacifiers whatsoever.

MM out. Be back soon. xo

Feliz Día de la Madre!

The Madre had a great first Mother's Day. We got up early and hung out with Max for bit. Those morning cuddles, smiles and laughs are the best thing. Being that we were up early, we decided to head over to Berkeley (as it was raining in the city). I had never been to Tilden Park before so we decided to take a drive. By the time that we made it to the park, which is nicely tucked behind the Padre's alma mater, it had stopped raining and the sun was peaking out.

Auntie Morgan was in town so we got to hang out with her a bit. She got to "wear" Max around the block.

The best part was watching her blatantly check out a cute hipster on a bike. I think she forgot that she had a 17lb darling little baby strapped to the front of her. Classic.

rarrr. I was going to write a bit more tonight but Danny just started "Moon" and I want to watch!! Ok stay tuned - I need to blog more about :
- Potholes in SF
- Graffiti in our hood, no more Bart Simpson
- Max! Sleeping more, updates on 4 mo old visits, to vaccinate vs. not vaccinating.

MM out - be back soon my trusty readers. x

Oy Vey! Has it really been a month since I have last blogged?

Geez. Madre's been busy. Hopefully my faithful readers (Renee) can cut me some slack. So... as I alluded in a previous post about making a big decision - well we've made it. What was the big decision you ask? Packing up our entire life and moving across the world. Ok, so it would have been only across the country, to a tiny village known as New York City. The Madre y Padre were excited about the possibility of moving to NY but its just not in the cards at the moment. And by not being in the cards, I mean that the Real Estate market in San Francisco right now is the shits for sellers. Its a true buyers market. Unfortunately, we wouldn't be able to rent our place to cover the mortgage...booo.

So when I learned about the chance of living in NY, I was flabbergasted. It was never really a possibility, but then things changed and the offer was on the table. From there, it was a whirlwind. Call realtors, get their opinion of what we can sell for, determine if we could sell and not loose everything, scour CL for apartments, look for childcare.

The Realtors we met with were all super positive about our place and not loosing all the money we had put into it. Great, we thought, we'll be able to sell with no problems! We then decided to go to NY and check it out for a weekend. I had heard that Park Slope ala Brooklyn, was a great place for kids and for making a transition from SF. Great, Park Slope it is. I found a broker on CL and lined up a few places to view. We flew in on a Wednesday night red eye (Max slept the whole flight, phew!) and were so tired when we got into JFK. But we were short on time and needed to squeeze in as much apartment hunting as possible. So, we checked into the hotel, fed Max and then headed over to Brooklyn to see a number of places. Before meeting with the broker, I was very clear in the types of place that we were looking for - not more than a 2 flight walk up(hello, lugging a stroller and baby!), Washer/Dryer (Max creates lots of laundry) and 2 bedrooms. Maybe a little too precise. He took us to a few ok places and a few shitholes. Honestly, if the place has no drywall up and we have to walk across a ladder to get into the apartment - I don't want to see it. I've only read about brokers trying to rent out dumps as the ones we saw, so it was interesting to see it in action - however time consuming it was. Seeing the shitholes, gave us a better perspective of WHAT we were looking for. I found another Broker on CL, who had a great posting and a wonderful price for an apartment that sounded right up our alley - prime Park Slope, W/D in unit, 2 bedrooms, 2nd floor. The Broker was so rude on the phone but I thought we'd give it a shot. She agreed to meet us on a corner near the apartment. She was late and had her dog with her. At first sight, I thought "this person can not possibly be the broker - she's so unkempt." Red jacket, pink shirt and furry boots. She looked liked the hairball a polar bear would cough up after eating Cotton Candy and Hot Tamales. Honestly, I was afraid of what the apartment was going to be like. The apartment was nice and we agreed to put a deposit down on. The Broker was a rude bitch (apparently most brokers are) and I should have known then that we were going to have problems with her incompetency. There was a lot of back and forth, but needless to say we got the apartment, after the owner of the apartment called me to clarify a few things the broker had said. Anyhow, it and she were a disaster.

So we have the apartment all lined up. Our trip to NY was a success - in light of the fact that I didn't get to go shopping AT ALL. Uniqlo was a block from our hotel. I'm crying inside still. I also did get a clogged milk duct bordering Mastitis (Yes, TMI) the first day, which was no fun at all. I was hurting bad and feeling worse.

We get back to the Mission and have follow up meetings with Realtors. Things have taken a dive - the market in SF has been bombarded with properties for sale. People are cutting deals left and right. Our heart melts. But, I still have a smile on the outside. The Madre was so sad to think about leaving this life we've carved out. Also, having family(mi madre) nearby made me ill when I thought loosing that in moving to NY. So all and all, it was a stressful few weeks, but I think we made the right decision by staying put.

Ok, I'm a little rusty at this blahhging, as its been a month. But I think it will be like learning to ride a bike again. I just got to get back on it and give it my best shot.

Here's the one pic we took of Max in NY - so sad, as its in the hotel! I hope to go back soon and get some real good touristy shots of him :) Yay for bathtime in the world's smallest sink - welcome to NY!

MM Out (be back soon, I promise xx)

One more thing...

Max has a new bad habit - courtesy of Daddy. He loves to stick his tongue out all the time now!

First day at work and daycare: great success!

Today was a pretty good day. I must admit I was stressed out about returning to work and taking Max to daycare. I tossed and turned last night. Thankfully I had a nice glass of wine before I headed to bed and it calmed me out enough to fall asleep. I read a little bit of this horrid book I am determined to finish - 'A Reliable Wife' - Honestly, its like reading a softcore porn. I dont know what I'm more ashamed about, that I'm actually trying to finish it or that my mom is reading it at the same time as me. Eww...Weird.

Again, my A.D.D. kicks in and I digress. Today work was ok - had 7,500 emails in my inbox. Honestly. I even took a screenshot and was going to show you - but I got busy and forgot to save the screenshot. So yeah work was a-ok. The day seemed to fly by and before I knew it, it was time to pick Max up from Paula's, his new abuelita. She is such a nice lady and I feel so lucky to have found her on the last day of my maternity. Its such a bummer that she doesn't speak English, as she seems like a chatty kathy and I love that. She was telling me stories this morning for a short while, but my Spanish is so bad that I just caught a word here and there and nodded and smiled. I searched high and low for about 6 months for childcare and had come up dry. Danny and I were going to try to juggle him while attempting to do our jobs. Thank god we were able to find someone to entertain Max and keep him happy. It was such a relief to get him home (Danny picked him up) and see him smiling and happy. Sure leaving him in the morning was a bit difficult, but I got back home and jumped right into work. Its so great that she lives only 2 blocks away. Yes, we are SO lucky.

Here's Max smiling after a fun day with Paula

Last night we went to Auntie and Uncles for dinner. It was fun to see the family and to have a great meal.

Ok the Mission Madre has lots to do before we head down to Orange on Wednesday afternoon. Hope to blog again soon