Is my head still attached?

I feel like I've been running around "like a chicken with my head cut off." As it turns out, moving to NY is back on the table for us. Danny decided to take the job in NY (which starts July 1st!). This means we are selling our place here in SF and hauling all of our shit, errr precious goods, across the country. Danny was in NY this past week looking for apartments and had little luck. That meant that Max and I had to fend for ourselves this past week. It was lonely and Danny missed his First Father's Day. So this week, we have to finish packing our place and be ready for the movers who are coming on Monday to pick up everything. Max and I are going to stay with mi madre in the Haight until Danny has been able to find us an apartment. Needless to say, Max and I will be living out of suitcases for the next month. He's just 6 months old (on July 4th) and already he's living out of a suitcase.

For all my cheap ass bitches out there, I found this 15% off coupon at Kohl's which I just used tonight! Yeah...you can thank me later. Max has been getting so big that he has nothing to sleep in. I feel like I'm doing a load of laundry every night just so he has something to sleep in. I finally broke down and bought his some 12 month old Pj's. He might be living out of a suitcase, but at least he's got his pj's!

So much more has happened recently and I will have to elaborate more on it very shortly. I hope to have more free time coming my way very soon.

Looking forward to seeing my bestie DesNeiges this week and next weekend at her brother's wedding up in Calistoga.

Max's First Meal...almost

I swear...I'm really trying to blog more often

I can't believe how time has been flying by. Work has been so busy and I have been working on a big project which was completed today. Whew.


My life has been like this: (I know - its SO exciting.)
- Wake up at 6am to pump for Max's day at the sitter.
- Feed Max when he wakes up around 7am.
- Get him dressed and ready for the day.
- Entertain and play with him for a little bit. Get online for work, calls and emails.
- Run Max two blocks to the sitters.
- Come back, work and not lift my head up until an alarm appears reminding me to pump.
pump.
- Back to work. Eat lunch. Work. Pump. etc etc until 5pm.
- Run over to Paula's to pick Max up.
Let the good times roll....

Here's a cute pic of Danny and the little man on 24th Street, after having dinner at Sushi Bistro. Love love love this pic of Max wearing my sunglasses.

So today I went to Whole Foods determined to get Max some rice cereal. Danny and I have been debating when to start him on solids. At his pediatrician's office, there are 2 doctors. One said to wait until he was 6 months and the other one said we could start now. Gah doctors always contradicting each other. He's just turning five months. The reason to wait, would be that it gives his body a little longer to develop more digestive enzymes. However, I feel like a good indication that he's ready to start on "real" food is that he always is chewing on his fingers/hands. Also, when we eat dinner, he sits on the table in a bouncer and stares at us while we eat. Max is already almost 20lbs (roughly) so he's not starving :) I say 'roughly' as I weighed him last week on the Wii Fit Plus and he was 18 lbs. 5 months and 18 lbs - he's going to be a Big 'Un Ok getting back to his "first meal" - We weren't able to give it to him tonight as he was too sleepy and almost falling asleep at dinner. Tomorrow night it is. I got the Earth's Best Rice cereal - anyone use this before? It seemed to have gotten good reviews. Look at me - I'm such a mom now - I am fricken reading reviews of rice cereal! Cmon now! as Sawyer from Lost always says, "Son of a Bitch" Actually, I am secretly addicted to reading reviews of EVERYTHING. I live and die by reviews....and coupons.

As the Cheap Ass Bitch will agree, I am a deal finder. I found Max a Jumperoo this past weekend on Craigslist. I've been on the thriftstore circuit finding lots of great clothes and books for Max. He's growing out of clothes so fast, I just can't see spending alot of money on them. However, I have found some darling stuff at thrift stores. Thrift Town on Mission Street is my favorite so far. I am very careful not to get any older clothes as some of the zippers or buttons can contain lead. So no cute vintage Levi's jean jackets for Max. Only Gap jean jackets from last season. He's still styling. H&M has some absolutely darling stuff too...and its not too costly.

I've noticed that I have no time to shop for myself - and when I do - I end up shopping for Max. This has really put a damper on my deal finding of designer goods. This means that I have been doing alot of shopping online. Actually I do a lot of shopping cart filling online. I never seem to be able to convince myself to purchase. I monitor the items that I like such as this cute cardigan... But once again a slave of reviews, read the 1 review and was deterred from buying.

ahh I forgot just how good Hoegaarden beer is. I'm having one while I blog and Max's sleeps. This is the life.

Ok MM is going to look for some bargains while enjoying the rest of this Hoegaarden

xx

Maternity leave is awesome.

Ok so maybe I'm not missing my job all that much. The first few days after I had Max, I did sneak a few peeks at work emails but now nothing. The sad part is that this 12 weeks maternity that I get off is going to come and go so quickly. tear tear...

So aside from bonding and caring for Max, I need to find a few other things to occupy my time.

Here are some ideas:
1. Go thru closet and get rid of stuff I have been holding onto since the 90's (It's not going to come "back" into style not matter how much I want to convince myself)
2. Make a light up costume
3. Learn a new craft - Crocheting? Knitting? Screenprinting?
4. Sell stuff - clothes, bags and other stuff I've been hoarding. Now I know where the Cheap Ass Bitch gets it from. I blame myself. And her.
5. Read more. I am starting Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle (which I borrowed/stole from Richard G. The reason I know this is his book, is that he made me write on the inside cover with a Sharpie "Property of Richard G.") D just finished reading it (in 2 days!) so hoping that we can have a chat about it when I'm finished. I need to find a book club. I have books I just ordered from Amazon on their way. I haven't read the latest David Sedaris book - so looking forward to that one coming. Also thought I would give "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" a chance. Any other books/authors out there that I should check out??

Rain Rain go away come again another day. I really wanted to take Max on a few walks this week, but its been raining non-stop.

Max goes to the library...

"Steve Holt!"
- Steve Holt, Arrested Development

Max has had a busy week. Sleeping all day and wanting to play with mommy and daddy all night. Who knew newborns just want to paaaaaaarty? ok who am I kidding. Its exhausting. But we are finding that fine balance between "lack of sleep" and a "fuctional amount" of sleep. We've got toothpicks holding our eyelids open right now.

Wednesday D threw the little man in the Ergo Baby Carrier (best thing ever!) and headed to the library on 24th street to get D's first ever SF library card. It was a nice quiet time, so I was able to get a few hours of shut eye. Well needed and deserved, if I do say so!

Max has been getting the hiccups very frequently. When he was in my belly he used to get them 2-3 times a day. They don't seem to bother him all that much, but he won't sleep when he's got them, so we've just been staying up with him waiting them out.

I haven't yet got my Mission Madre ass out on a walk with Max yet. My DR told me to rest up and limit my walking for 2 weeks. 2 weeks! I think I might have to venture out before that. D and I went "out" for lunch yesterday and took a drive to our fav burger joint, Tower Burger near West Portal. Max was good and only fussed a little on the car ride back. I'm just dying to test out the Quinny stroller (see one of my first posts). D got to use it when him and Grandma and Grandpa took Max for a walk in Mission Bay. I took this opportunity to get some shut eye. On this walk, Max saw a few firsts - Sea Lion... Birds... Homeless man.

God, I even hate to mention it, but I'm going to. It been 11 days and I'm back in my regular pre-pregnancy jeans. Go ahead and hate me. I'm in utter shock myself at how quick I shed the baby weight - but like a nurse told me right after I delivered "You're just all baby! That belly will be gone soon." I did wear a abdominal retention Ace bandage sort of thing - which may have helped things retract. Also, I religiously used Palmer's Cocoa Butter stretch mark cream, which did the trick. However I hear that its truely genetics which determine if you get stretch marks or not. My mother, for instance, got no stretch marks. Back in the day, one if her fav sayings to validate that she was my mother was to tell people, "I gave birth to her - want to see my stretch marks?" (this was used one time I didn't have my ID on me and we were going out for Happy Hour - needless to say, we were able to get our drank on. Ahhh the good old days.)

Auntie came over yesterday for a quick visit. It was her bday and we gave her "I love Auntie" and "I love Uncle" bibs. We talked a little bit about the "Cheap Ass Bitch" and her decision to possibly move back to SF. But I'm not sure she'd be moving back - as she's been in NY for a long time now. She went from Boston to NY - I think SF had a summer in between. I'd selfishly love to have her in SF. And I'm sure Max would love to see Auntie Morg all the time. She can teach him all about getting cheap or free shit. That's how us girls roll.

So, I wanted to mention a few baby items we love: (I'll review them in greater detail when time permits - I'm one hand typing now as Max is snoozing in my other arm)
- Kiddopotamus (fleece, and cotton) Swaddle Me - we got the yellow one as we weren't sure if we were having a boy or girl
- Giggle basics - cotton hat, cotton tee and a cotton Halo sleep sack with Swaddling goodness
- my Diaper Bag (LeSportSac w. Diaper changing pad and loads of room for baby gear)
- ErgoBaby carrier (Black with Infant insert )
- Graco Pack N Play - with bassinet and changing table - absolutely the BEST thing we registered for.
- Diaper Dekor garbage pail - totally eliminates stinky diapers. But will review agian at a later date when we start to get really smelly ones.
- Fisher Price Bouncer - not only is it an adorable bouncer, it works great.
- Burp cloths (thanks Mel!) Never knew how handy these would come in. Plus they are home made w crocheted edges and pretty adorable. Your mom should set up an ETSY.com store! Ok I will stop using the terms "adorable" as I think I've used it a million times in this post.

Ok Max is rustling....Mission Madre out!

Name change, Pregnancy, and the DMV

I never thought I would say it - but I actually had a plesant experience at the DMV last week when I was there. Don't get me wrong, there were 500 people in line and a handful of SF's own elite "freakfest". Thankfully, I had made an appointment to get my name changed on my driver's license. Otherwise the wait was estimated to be 1.5 hours. I was in and out of there in roughly an hour - and 15 minutes of that was standing in the wrong line! I spotted a few other pregnant women waiting but had no idea how "connected" we really would be. I took a seat just in front of window 8 - where they appeared to be calling all the numbers starting with J. I figured I was in a good place, and pulled out the iPhone to play a little iFarkel. They call another J number and a Asian woman (about my age) goes up to the window. She's there for about 10-15 mins. I still play my game as my number is a few away from the current number. Pregnant asian lady is done and walks away. "J somehing or other (i.e. my number), Window 8" I head up to the window and tell the guy (who is really pleasant) that I need to change my name as I have gotten married. He says, "Ah you're the 2nd one in a row!" and then I mention "Yeah AND I'm pregnant too (pointing out that the Asian chick in front of me was pregnant as well). We have a good laugh about it - as he rarely gets name change request back to back, let alone from pregnant women. I joke around that there is One more on the way, Third times a charm! and we laugh. He gives me paper work and tells me to stand in the nearby line to get my photo taken. I mosey on over to the picture line and casually look over to Window 8 - ANOTHER Pregnant Woman!. The clerk that I had just left - runs over to me - "Jennifer, its another name change! AND she's pregnant!! This IS my lucky day"

I guess Pregnant women at the DMV are like celebrities dying - we come in 3's!

Last night, D and I went to a baby shower for the Wada's. It was at one of B's friends, who has a huge house in Oakland - it was a cocktail party tinged with a hint of baby shower. I'm glad that T and B came out as we wouldn' have known anyone there otherwise.

I'm looking forward to our Baby shower in a few weeks. People at the Wada's kept asking me "So, are you all ready?" My reply Define Ready? I feel like we should be ready after the baby shower and certainly ready by the end of the year. Its hard to "get ready" when we don't know if its a boy or a girl. Our money is riding on boy - so we'll see. Economically, I think it was a very wise decision to not find out the sex, as this would have given me wayyyyy too much time to spend shopping on gender specific clothing. The "Cheap Ass Bitch" in me is excited to go shopping after the baby comes in Jan, as there will be lots of stuff on after Christmas!