Sam had his first date last week with pretty little Holland.

I didn’t do a good job chaperoning cause when I left to go to ladies room Sam already made his move.  Look at him sneak his arm around her:

He’s avoiding eye contact because he knows he’s not being the best gentleman: taking advantage of her while she’s asleep.  Not a good thing.  *sigh* I’ve got a lot to teach this boy.

The Urban Mom.  Yes, it’s fun living in such a hip city.  But trust me–sometimes it’s difficult getting around.

We live in a very hilly part of the city.  So hilly that when I’m pushing our stroller up the hills I’m at 45 degrees panting all the way up.  Needless to say my runs are quite difficult and pretty short.  After not seriously running for two months I’ve been itching to go out and just run.  I thought the Embarcadero was a flat enough terrain with no lights that I can just run my little heart out.  I’ve been wanting to do this for weeks now, but have been turned off from the thought of the stress of it.  So what do I do when I want to try something new?  I recruit a friend.  Smart move on my part because I don’t think I could have done this on my own.  At least not the first time.

I won’t go into the details of our adventure, but I’m sure glad we did it.  While I only went about half as far as I wanted to (I keep telling myself: “I’m a new mom, I’m a new mom”),  it was so nice to get my lungs working (burning) and legs moving (dragging like a ton of bricks).

Lessons learned:

While the Embarcadero is flat with no stop lights, there are a lot of people; and trying to maneuver with a skittish dog and a running stroller is quite difficult.  Although, my sweet friend took one or the other most of the time.  I was prideful sometimes and wanted to see if I could do it myself.

Pixi is cute when she is either very tamed on my leash or being held.  Otherwise she’s a nuisance when there’s so much going on.

Sometimes there are breakdowns while driving: the baby is screaming and the dog is whining and scratching -trying to get out of her carrying case.  But like my mom says, “If they’re fed and changed, there’s nothing you can do.  Stay calm.”  That’s a lot easier said than done.  It is, however, easier to take your mind off the situation when you have a friend to discuss last night’s Bachelor with.

All in all it was a fun afternoon.  It was a good run, and we even stopped by the farmer’s market to finish our adventure.  There’s nothing like a sweet, fresh peach after a sweaty run.

It’s no secret we like to dance.  It was, however, a secret to me that Mick was on the dance team while at school at Princeton.  Okay, maybe not a secret; but he was really nervous to tell me when we were dating.  When you think dance team you think leotards, pirouettes, and plies right? Me too.  Hence the hesitation from my then-long-distance-boyfriend; now husband.  Long explanation short: Mick danced hip hop while at school.

That’s not the point of this post.  Whenever I cook something new and/or good Mick does the happy dance.  I know I’ve done a good job when his feet start pivoting and his hips start swinging.  The funny part is he’s never known he does this.  Last night after broiling s’mores the happy dance came out I called him out on it.  Who knew something so simple would get such a reaction?

Hipsters, street performers, fresh produce, amazing sausage breakfast sandwiches.  Love me a farmer’s market down by the ferry building.  While Brother Ben and his wife Kati were in town we thought we’d get fresh produce for our BBQ later that day.  Let it me known the San Francisco farmer’s market is not cheap.  Not cheap at all.  We’ve made it a Saturday morning  adventure in the past; but only to get breakfast. Leave it to us to get sausage sandwiches over fresh, locally grown produce.  But my brother is quite the salsa maker and we thought it’d be fun to get some fresh ingredients.  After looking at the prices, our efforts made it as far as fresh greens for our summer salad.  We left the market with stomachs full of breakfast food, samples from vendors, crisp salad greens, and a bunch of lavender for my bedside table.  And then went to Safeway for our tomatoes.

When ended up having a very pleasant afternoon christening our grill, cooking in the kitchen, and watching the USA vs Gana game in the World Cup.

High of the day: spending the day with family.  Low of the day: USA loosing.  Which, really, isn’t that big of low when you have good company.  I love family.

This was taken from this photo shoot.  Four weeks ago.  It’s amazing how much he’s changed since then.  He’s getting to be just how I like them: chubby and bald.  Okay, maybe not bald.  But it is nice to finally see some meat on his bones.

It’s getting easier and easier to get this little guy to smile.  So fun!

Pixi is no longer my shadow.  She is now Sam’s.  Most of the time Sam and I are always together, but when I do have to leave him alone she’s there watching him for me.

Yesterday I came home, set Sam on the bed, and emptied the groceries.  I go in to peak on him and this is what I see:

Monday was a really rough day.  Sam was being difficult.  I think Pixi could sense my frustration cause she hops up on my lap and gives me loves.  It’s so nice having an extra set of paws to help.

Between our adorable son and fun city we get a lot of visitors…and we love it!  It gives us an opportunity to do fun activities and reminds us of how cool a place we live in.  A few weeks ago my brother Benjamin and his wife Kati came to visit us and meet little Sam.  The cool weather was a nice break for them from the Arizona heat, but I don’t know if they were expecting it THIS cold.  We pulled out our thick jackets and scarves and went to our first Giant’s game.  The stadium is a really neat stadium, but it’s right on the water which brings quite the chilly breeze.  Luckily we all bundled up and actually had a really fun evening.

Sam and Mick bonded at their first baseball game.  And Mick kept Sam nice and quite throughout the game by dropping him little pieces from his hot dog.  Kidding.