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

...as my Maternity leave comes to an end.

Its been a wonderful three months that I've had off work. I don't know how mothers have a baby and then go right back to work. This three months has blown by and I'm going to be so sad not spending all day with Max. There is a guilty part of me that is excited to get back to work and have a little "free" time during the day. But there is a larger part of me that feels nervous about leaving him at a nannies house all day. We've found an abuelita around the corner (thanks to Jane!) who will be able to watch Max for us. She doesnt speak any English (but her daughter does) so it will be interesting trying to communicate with her - as the Mission Madre knows very little Spanish. Tomorrow is the first day that Max will be with her all day (and I'm bound to be a nervous wreck) I'm also back to work tomorrow - so I will be a hectic, nervous wreck)

I wish we had moved to Canada awhile ago - as my Uncle tells me that Canadian women get 12 months maternity off! I'd be up there popping kids out every 12 months. ha!

So aside from having to go back to work, we'll be pretty busy with some important life altering decisions (I'll blog more about this later as I don't want to jinx anything!!)

Ok back to Max...He's getting bigger (or maybe it just feels that way!) We weighed him a week or so ago on the Wii Fit Plus and he was 14 lbs. I then was out with another Mission Madre the other day and stopped by Natural Resources and plopped him down on the scale there (which he barely fit length wise) - 15 lbs! No wonder I've lost so much weight - this kid is sucking it out of me!

After Natural Resources, we hit up Salvation Army where I scored a super cute vintage OshKosh B'Gosh jacket for Max. He's going to be one stylin dude - I'm going to make sure of it! Here's a cute little hat I got for him at H&M (Danny has a grown up version)


We will be busy taking Max on trips the next 2 weekends. Going to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Orange, CA (driving) and then the following weekend we are heading to NY(flying!). It will be interesting to see how he handles the car ride and flight!

Ok I want to squeeze as much Max time as I can out of whats left of my weekend...MM out

Happy days are here again! Sun in SF

We've been having some really sunny and warm days lately (fingers crossed they continue!) They are LONG overdue with all the muggy rainy days we've had this year. It's nice to throw Max in the stroller and go for a little walk in the hood.


This past weekend was certainly trying with the absence of the Padre. Thank God for my mom and brother, who came over every day and hang out and help with Max. Its amazing how much work I was able to get done this past weekend. Cleaning, vacuuming, laundry....all that fun stuff! I was so relieved last night when I sat down and thought of all that I had accomplished that day. The accomplishments of the day, matched with a glass of Nigori sake - and I was in heaven. Thanks to Grandma Bootsie for helping me out by watching Max. Sorry he Shat on you :)

Danny got back last night (after having been gone since Thursday) and he was astonished how much Max had "grown" in that short amount of time. He said that his face was filling out (maybe because the little guy EATS all the TIME!) and his neck is getting very strong, thus no more "infant floppy head"

One thing I have really noticed lately is how much I've been "standing out" for the past year. I feel as if I can no longer just blend into the crowd. For those of you who know me, I am a definite extrovert - but I do have a little bit of a shy side with the public. Maybe I'm just not use to all the extra attention I've been receiving from strangers. If you think about it, I was pregnant - thus people stared at me and strangers offered advice while trying to touch my growing belly. Now with a child, I still feel like people stare and offer advice while adoring "His Highness" :) At least they aren't trying to touch me anymore.

I lay in bed at night and think about all the things I want to discuss in this here blog - and I come up with some great stuff - but when I actually have the time to sit down and blog, I feel as though my well is dry. I guess I understand what women mean by saying they have "mommy brain." First it was "Pregnancy Brain" (forgetful, can't remember shit) and now its "mommybrain" (worn out and exhausted, trying to do 10,000 things at once - while only successfully completing one thing) Wonder whats next...

MM out

La madre pierde el padre (I totallly Google Translated that) who am I kidding, I know very little Spanish...

The Padre has only been gone a short while but I(we) miss him terribly. Danny is on business until Sunday. I had a talk with Max and he agreed to be a good boy in his absence. Today was a good day, lets see how the night transpires.

Grandma Bootsie and Uncle Erin came over for dinner (which was a godsend as I dont know how I could have made a full meal without a little help) Looks like I will be living off El Metate(restaurant, literally across the street) for the next few nights. Ah who am I kidding, I can totally cook a full meal and have Max in the other arm. Its all about "hands free" sling.

I got to meet another Mission Madre today and it was so great. Having not really put myself out there, I haven't really met any other moms in our neighborhood. I feel like finding new moms/babies is a lot like dating. As my brother says, I should just go onto EBabyHarmony.com ha! Its just seemed to me like all the moms out there that wanted to meet other moms seemed too "Suzi Homemaker." But perhaps it is just me over thinking things.

Ok Max is asleep now, which means I should be asleep too. Having the Padre not being here means we will have to go and get coffee for ourselves tomorrow morning. It won't be sitting on the nightstand waiting for me when I wake up. Yes, I am spoiled. But I've work damn hard for it.

MM out

So my sympathetic cold is gone...mostly

I didnt really elaborate on "why" it was a sympathetic cold that I got. I was guessing that Max would feel a little under the weather from the vaccines (which he did not) so I am the one that got sick. Thus the sympathetic part. I think him getting the vaccines was harder for me - I nearly broke down crying in the doctors office.


Max had a serious of "firsts" Thursday.


- BART Ride - (The Pic below is not us, but I simply wanted to illustrate how hard it is to hold a stroller on the escalator, while people are whizzing by)

We went to go visit Grandma "Bootsie" at her new office at 45 Fremont. I honestly don't know how handicapped people get around using BART. The elevators outside the 24th street station are like walking into a men's urinal. I've made the mistake of taking them before - and they are so slow. Your trapped in this elevator with fumes of ammonia/piss looming all around you for a good minute. Its honestly one of the longest minutes of your life. I made the wise choice this time to take the escalator. I chose a time when I knew that it would not be too busy as I would be blocking people from walking down the escalator. Getting there was not the hard part, but the coming back was. It was 4pm Embarcadero station and the elevators are broken. There is a big sign on them saying, "If you need an elevator go to the Montgomery station." Yeah that helps me alot. I decide to brave the escalator with the stroller in the rush before rushhour. Most people were sympatic when I would say "Sorry, Elevator is broken" as they squeezed by us to make their way down the escalator. There was one A-Hole (a balding older man with thick framed nerdy glasses - think Stephen King) who was in a huge rush. First of all, he could barely squeeze by the stroller (Which I was holding onto with a deathgrip to ensure it didn't go flying down the escalator). Well this A-Hole squeezes by us, and then his bag gets stuck on the stroller - so he yanks at it. Honestly. I yelled at him, as I was trying to hold onto the stroller for dear life and here he was yanking his bag making the stroller inch forward. Some people just need a good smack upside the head. Good thing my hands were full, or I would have certainly delivered it to him.

- Large scale Protest - We round the corner of 23rd and Capp and I see Mission street is closed down and filled with people holding signs. They are protesting a school crisis here in the city. There were a good 1000 people marching along. Luckily, we were able to sneak into BART with no problems.
- Vaccines - this wasnt a fun "first" - Max got 2 shots the first visit and then I took him back yesterday to get his other 3 shots, getting him up to date for his 2 Month old immunizations.

Last weekend we were blessed with 2 nights of Max sleeping thru the night. It was nice to get ~ 8 hours of continous sleep. However, the nights of sleeping thru the night have passed as he's been up a few times the past 2 nights. Last night was the roughest. I am not sure if he was sleepless/hungry because of his vaccinations or maybe because his leg was achy. Hopefully tonight will be better?

I got a sympathetic cold

So the Madre has a touch of a cold that came on Thursday. Padre has been helping me get back on track with lots of sleep and chicken noodle soup.

Max had a serious of "firsts" Thursday.
- BART Ride (see Pic above)
- Large scale Protest
- Vaccines

Notice I list Vaccines last. That wasn't a fun first. Max had his 2 month well baby visit yesterday which went well. He's gaining weight (13 lbs now!) and in the 90% percentile for height (He's going to be TALL).

Ok must go take a nap...I'll blog again later. x

He knows when I'm just about to start a posting...cause he wakes up!

So Max and I were out in the Mission the other day walking around. We ventured into Therapy to look for some new clothes for the Madre. And the essential stop by Shoe Biz to check out the latest kicks. Heading back home we stopped by Thrift Town and Goodwill. Along our travels we found a new restaurant which was soon to open, Gracias Madre. I thought it was fitting for the long walk I had taken him on :)

BIG NEWS!! Max slept thru the night!!! Oh my. My life is grand.

Ok he's waking up...doing his Grand elaborate stretches...Madre out (to post again at the next nap)

What a nice weekend we had!

Danny took Friday off so we had a nice 3 day weekend. We got a lot of chores done which had been put off - vacuuming and laundry in particular.

I want to start this post by saying that Max now has a girlfriend. Our friends, the Au's came over for dinner/catchup on Thursday night. They have an adorable little 5 month old. She took an immediate liking to Max :)
We had our meal and set the kiddos on the table in front of us. It was adorable when she reached over for Max's little hand. (Ok maybe she had a little help) Anyways Max was in his fav bouncy chair looking like a little prince. It was a fun evening and so great to meet their little on as well as catch up with A and T.

Saturday we went over to Alamdeda. We needed to take some dishes back to the Ruports - so I looked on Craigslist to see if there were any good estate/garage/rummage sales. I found one posting that boasted a lot of vintage designer stuff (Cha ching!) and it was supporting helping seniors find affordable housing. I thought for sure it would have been a jackpot of goods. Which it was not. We walked into the community center and it was nicely organized piles of clothes. Nothing vintage - nor designer. Well, I shouldn't say nothing - there was ONE pair of Ferragamo heels which were so fugly that I'm sure Imelda Marcos wouldn't have them in her shoe collection. Danny was strolling Max around the Community center and getting nothing but ohhhs and ahhhs over Max. It was cute to see him as the doting dad. I shouldn't say the rummage sale was a total bust - I did find one thing - a Talbots silk top reminiscent of something Marc Jacobs would make. I paid and was out the door as Max was fussing. I certainly would have been greatly disappointed if we had ventured over to Alameda just for this sale. I am looking forward to the next Alameda Flea Market which is this coming weekend I think

We then stopped by the Ruports and had a great time hanging out with them the remainder of the afternoon. Andrea was trying her hardest (again) to get us to move to Alameda. We walked around their neighborhood and looked at a few houses for sale. To be honest, I'm not all that entirely opposed to moving over there. Great schools, safe neighborhoods, lots of families with kids. It was great to see the Ruport clan again, and A gave me her Kangaroo sling as her youngest had outgrown it. The sling works quite well.

Danny and I had to be back in the city in time for our babysitter(Grandma Bootsie!) to come over and watch Max for a few hours that night. Danny and I went and saw Avatar. It was in the Imax theater and in 3-D. It was a WHOOPING $17 a ticket too! geeebus. I haven't paid that much for a movie since I lived in England. Aside from being completely packed (we had to sit literally in the front row) the movie was great. After the movie we jumped on BART and ended up at Rosamunde Sausage Grill at Mission and 24th. We had sausages and beer before heading home. It was a good night..Max had been easy on Grandma Bootsie so everyone was in a good mood.

So it's now March and I am going to officially start freaking out about having to go back to work. Granted, I don't have to go back until the end of this month - but it scares me to think of how quickly that will fly by - as this past 2 months has been a blur. I've had some trouble finding daycare with any openings for Max, so I am now evaluating other alternatives - work Part-time? Sharecare? Hire a Nanny? God, childcare in SF is so bloody expensive.

This coming Thursday we take Max in for his 2 month doctors visit - which means he gets vaccinations. I'm not looking forward to it. I hate shots and I am sure he's going to cry bloody murder when he gets his. I know I will be crying inside for him.

Ok Mission Madre out.