MaternityShare

Photo taken March 19th — Will at 8 months old.

Dear Dulc,

Thanks for the note :}

We moved back into our place on March 13th. The construction company is doing some good work and a lot of poor work and is taking forever to finish. It has been so stressful dealing with them as well as everything with the being displaced these past months.

I am broke and feeling stressed still. BUT, I won’t let that get me down. I am working to get this place unpacked and organized when I am not caring for Will or doing other things. When I keep getting so stressed-out from day to day I realize this is no way to live and I turn my mind to things I have learned in yoga or from other people who deal with a multitude of stresses good and bad.

The greatest silver lining of it all in this flooding of our home is that we met some awesome folks in the sub-lets we stayed in as well as here in our loft building and for that I am very grateful. I have missed having a local supportive community of folks who are just good people.

I am so close to setting up my flower making station again and plan to create a bridal line. I am excited about that. So if you know of anyone who would be interested in some foxy flowers send ‘em my way!

I am also going to meet with this awesome guy, Lev, who creates his own kombucha (Lev’s Original Kombucha) in a even more healthy way than others do and the way you serve it is on tap to keep it as full of goodness as possible. I want to look into being a sales rep for him. He wants to set me up with one account to “see how it goes”. We shall see how that meeting goes.

I am also in negotiations with two moms who have children’s clothing businesses (one new, locally designed line in the Temescal district of Oakland, and the other a consignment used clothing store in Bernal Heights of SF. There may be some business and community building opportunities there.

How do moms do it? I feel like on top of it all I am a full-time housekeeper? Well, this grand adventure is pushing me hard and I aim to glide gracefully through it and not fall down… or, if I fall down to get up and keep on ‘ on.

I miss you on a regular basis. I miss the community and great times we had there in Portland. But I know you are still there… just a email, phone call, or plane ride away.

I would love to hear how you are doing, what you have been up to. I am curious how motherhood was, is and, continues to be for you.

Big hugs,

~Christine

I ordered a new mop in anticipation of when Will starts crawling.

Gawk at my new mop.

Will, why you being so lazy? Come on and help your mom out.

February is nearing its close and we are still not living in our home. We are on our 4th sublet, living with roommates, and were about to have to find a 5th because we found out our place will not be ready until March 5th. That is the construction manager’s estimate… and, that was before he heard our carpet is slowly making its way from Georgia via Canada. Ok.

We are currently staying a funky “house” that used to be a railroad station. It is shaped like a triangle. You can see it in this satellite google maps view. There are 2 units and we live upstairs with a housemate: Art. Art was a kind and brave soul to take us in. This place is so small it doesn’t have a living room or even a full kitchen.

The best thing about this place, other than it being safe and warm enough (with our space heater), is Art. As with the other sublets I am thankful to have met such awesome folks which is one of the best silver linings in this whole fiasco.

Our sublet here ends on Feb 28th. But I finally got a hold of the reportedly absentee landlady and offered her $25 a night to let us stay after our housemate leaves. She said yes. Phew.

Happy Valentine’s Day and, Happy Birthday Will… Will is 7 months old today.

Will’s first tooth popped out of his gums today on the lower right with the lower left soon to follow. I had noticed a few days ago that his gums were looking a little whiter in that area and suspected that we would see teeth soon. Oh, I feel them too… while he feeds! Oooch!

He is developing his personality more and more. His vocal chords are getting more developed too or, he his getting more control of them. His sounds are so cute.

I heart Will!

I heart Billy too. He made us breakfast in bed. Then we went on a marathon shopping trip at Bay Street Mall. We shopped some bargains and got some things we were needing. Happy Valentine’s day to us!

One of our finds today was a p.j. set for Will. It is a Spaced Invaders type of theme. They were only $1.99 triple 50% off or something like that. Score!

We also got a package in the mail from my mom. She made all three of us knitted socks! Wow! Those take a lot of time. We love them, they fit perfectly and we need them with this cold weather we have been having. And the place we are staying in currently is COLD! We have a space heater going nearly all the time.

Speaking of the space heater. It is loud and seems to help Will sleep for longer periods of time. They say that a fan or white noise is good for that.

Also we bought him a play yard that doubles as a temporary bed. He has been sleeping in that for the most part ever since we moved into our current sub-let. This probably helps him sleep longer too because he is further away from the smell of the “milk machine” (me).

It has been a while since I have posted because I haven’t had the heart to re-cap what has been going on since we were displaced out of our home. It has been a hard road but it looks like the end is in sight. We are hoping to move back by the end of February. All I’m saying is it better be ready because I am not moving to a 5th time unless it is back home. The sub-let we are in now ends at the end of February.

Cross your fingers.

Billy took care of Will on his lunch break while I had a filling replaced at the dentist office. My appointment ran longer than expected so Will sat in on a conference call with dad. Good thing for the mute button because Will was expressing some concerns about some milk and a nap.

Another fire alarm went off in our loft building on Saturday night. I was irritated. Not again. The last two were false alarms. One was due do a burned bagel in a neighbors toaster… they had opened their front door to air out their space and it set off the fire alarm but not the sprinklers. The second one I was told was due to someone dusting. Wow, they must be the Munsters. Dust? Oh my.

But this one, oh this one, Saturday night was a real disaster. But it wasn’t a fire… it was a faulty sprinkler head that was actually replaced two weeks ago in a sprinkler overhaul that was done on the entire building. Apparently some sprinkler heads in some of the units needed to be replaced for some reason. Well, that backfired.

So, while on the curb waiting for the firefighters to inspect the building I heard from one neighbor what had happened. I felt bad for the poor person that had their home sprinkled on. But the sprinkling went on for hours. I don’t know why but it took them a long time to turn off the sprinkler. Twenty units were affected. Many had to move out. We were one of the many families that had to evacuate.

So, long story short we are in a hotel at the tune of $85 a night out-of-pocket. I spent two days figuring out what to take with us while taking care of Will and being asked a million questions by the packers, investigators, inspectors, neighbors. My sinuses went crazy due to mold and dust from the demolition taking place. They wanted our stuff out asap so they could dry the structure and get to hacking it up so they could replace all the wet stuff.

Our mattress got rained on as well as bills, documents and other stuff. All in all it could have been worse but its bad enough. So we are homeless for 4-6 weeks. I am looking for a place to sublet because its cheaper than this somewhat skanky hotel. Again, it could be worse.

I am grateful that my family is ok and that no one was hurt physically. Well, except one of the workers on the packing crew who twisted their ankle on some steps. (I feel like I will miss a step or fall down ours sometimes too.)

I am so exhausted that driving around today I almost hit a pedestrian in the same way that I was hit in 2001. My heart nearly stopped.

So my plan to do the hair adornments to give pleasure to the wearer and some green to my pocket book is on hold. That stuff got packed away and now lives in a storage vault in Hayward.

Here I am on my newest adventure. Wish me luck.