Buy George- I Think We've Got It!

This past weekend, Jeannette came to visit and look for houses. We were so excited to help her look for a house. They'll be moving here in May and their baby boy will be due in June. I can't imagine being able to find a house in a weekend. I guess it's not that uncommon. Laura and Alex did it last year too. I think that maybe if we were looking a house in another city we would be able to do it too, but it does seem quite stressful.

She arrived on Friday night and we picked her up from the airport and had dinner in San Mateo. She told us that she had already looked at some houses online and had a favorite. On Saturday, I had a baby shower to attend, but saw the first house with her in SF. This is the second weekend in a row that I attended a baby shower and with Jeannette being pregnant, I feel like I've been surrounded by pregnant people the past month. I really wanted to buy Corinne the hooter hider off her registry just so that I could say that I bought one. I guess it's used for breast feeding, but I just thought the name was so funny. I was telling another guy friend about it and he said that he wanted to buy a "hooter finder" instead of a hooter hider. Apparently, it is made by "bebe au lait." It sounds French. I've seen other women just use a blanket.

After the baby shower, I went home and cleaned the house a bit. We're still not done unpacking, but the house is finally at a stage where we aren't tripping over boxes and covered in dust. We still haven't organized everything either and our bedroom still needs to be painted, but the rest of the house is in decent shape. After we cleaned a little, we met up with Jeannette and her friend and had dinner in Oakland.

Today, we went to the Alameda antique fair again. They only have them once a month and this is the third time we have gone. We still haven't bought anything yet, but I guess it's only a matter of time. The thing about these things is that they are huge. We still have not been able to go through the whole thing.

After the fair, we went house hunting again with Jeannette and her realtor. Everyone knows how crazy the SF housing market is. It's a lot of money, but even a lot of money doesn't buy you everything you want. We saw 6 houses with her today and we all agreed on which one was the best (according to what they needed) and luckily it wasn't the most expensive. They're making an offer, but we don't think that they will be the only ones.

Seeing these houses, it also reminded me how SF is not the most kid-friendly place on earth. There were several houses that we saw that had beautifully landscaped backyards for entertaining, but no grass for kids to play in. More than that, it would be dangerous for kids because of all the rocks, cement, or steep hills. Though I miss the ability to walk to great restaurants, that's one thing I don't really miss about SF. We have a small backyard, but it's a backyard that could be kid-friendly. I say "could be" because we need to fix a few things like the overhang next to the garage and fix the gate a little, but it has the potential. We now live in suburbia, but we love it.

We're also just so thrilled to have more family around. We definitely enjoy having my uncle and cousin here. Since we're not able to convince Laura and Alex to join us in the insanity and move into a much smaller house for a lot more money, we're glad that we will have Jeannette and Jon around. Matilde was telling me how it was just so much easier to have family around with kids- especially ones with kids. Everyone cross your fingers and pray that they get the house that they want. Even if it doesn't work out with this house, I just know that they will find something that suits them. Everything happens for a reason. It would just be more convenient for them if this house worked out.

I was exhausted after looking at houses this afternoon. By the end, I could not remember what we had looked at and had to take a nap. The only thing that I do remember is that many of the houses we saw had the same stove that we have. I really did not realize how popular our stove is. After running some errands, we met up with the Banerjees for some Zachary's pizza and went home to relax. One week before taxes are due. Guess I need to get around and send those in... :)