swirthy13's Profile

Nice to see a post with a little humor and personality. Bravo, and enjoy those family pot-lucks!

I ditto what nellymom says. Put the $100-150 towards your rug fund. We've worked with the cheap $20 alphabet foam set from Costco for about 6 mos (son is now 11 mos old). He's so curious now that he's all over the house and no where near the padded oasis we set up!

As for the reading materials - guilty indulgences of trash magazines (People, US, etc.) area always appreciated for that mindless reading while nursing!

Remember to partner with all the people in the room...you're all on the same team, with the same ultimate goal! Setting up an adversarial relationship with any of the professionals in the room is not going to be good for your friend in the end. Yes...stand your/her ground, but do it with sugar and spice :) I am a previous doula, current RN (not L&D), and new mother to a six mos old delivered without any meds :) My L&D RN was my biggest advocate in the room...I give her the props for helping me have the birth I wanted....

As an RN, I have to log in to post that this idea makes me very uncomfortable. To have your little ones' toothbrush sitting where you wash your hands after you go to the bathroom is infection waiting to happen. I can see putting it in the medicine cabinet and bringing it down within reach for morning routine, putting it away, then bringing it down again for nighttime routine. But to have it sitting there all day makes me cringe.

I just had some asparagus with lardo over at Delphina's Pizzeria. It was delectable! Never having had lardo before, I was mightily impressed. It was like eating asparagus withe the loveliest taste of salted butter. Divine.

I once lived in Santa Cruz and loved it! I'm now in San Leandro, and absolutely love it here as well, but for different reasons. Try the 94577 zip code, right behind the police station (they call it the Pond district)...bordered between E14 & San Leandro Blvd, Davis St. & Bristol Blvd. A collection of cute little post war bungalows. You can walk to either the little Mexican market or the big Safeway, Longs, Post Station and banks. There's a collection of small independently owned restaurants/cafes 1 mile away in our 'downtown', and BART is a 20 minute/exactly one mile walk away (and a 30 min. BART ride to SF). It's close enough to hipster Berkeley/Oakland that if you want a great dinner it's a short 20 minute drive, but far enough away from Berkely/Oakland that you get a smaller town feel...and when you own a house it's easier to deal with the smaller city gov. than it is with the big Oakland mess (permitting for new windows, etc.) I feel safe in my neighborhood, the neighbors are fantastic, and we still have parades and cheesy community happenings like that :) The houses have come down considerably, and my fabulous new neighbor just got a nice three bedroom just down the street for $309,000. It's also a great physical location...smack dab in between 580 and 880, and close enough to the San Mateo bridge that if you ever need to commute to the peninsula you won't be forced to move again. If you want to get a feel for San Leandro, go hang out at the Zocalo cafe on Bancroft and Dutton...a great socially minded business...reminds me of Santa Cruz in so many ways! And it's only 20 minute walk from my neighborhood! Best of luck in your search.

Does my submission count if we're going to inseminate this month? Hopefully I'll be needing one of these soon :)