Mazda CX9

Recently we purchased the Mazda CX9.  Before we decided on the Mazda we closely looked at the Nissan Pathfinder and the Toyota Highlander.  The following is why we decided on the Mazda:

1. The Drive
Initially, we were pretty convinced the Pathfinder was going to be our next car, but once we drove the Mazda it became the front runner.  Unlike the Pathfinder and the Highlander, the Mazda drives like a sedan. I couldn't believe the pick up the Mazda exhibited, the way it felt around turns and overall handling.  The Pathfinder and Highlander were great cars, but to get going it took awhile, and both felt like trucks.

2. Price/Options
As we really looked at all three cars we felt like they were very similar in appearance, but prices were very different.  In order to get a moon roof or GPS, you had to buy packages that contained pointless other features and jacked the price up almost $5,000.  To stay in our price range of $30,000-32,000 we were going to have to buy the lowest model of the Toyota and Nissan and sacrifice wants such as moon roofs, GPS, Bose Speakers and nicer wheels.  The Mazda allowed us to get our wanted features and stay below our price point.

Overall, after having the car for almost three months I've been very happy with the Mazda.  The way it handles has continued to be my favorite part of the car.  I love its acceleration and smoothness on side streets or the highway.  I also love the blindspot option - which causes a light to show up on your side mirrors every time a car is in your blind spot, and also features a beeping noise that engages every time you put your blinker on to change lanes, which again tells you when a car is in and has left your blind spot.  I have to admit, I've become a rather lazy driver depending on this feature, but with a baby in the back and running errands it's a great addition to my driving.  Also, I love the size of this car.  I am continually surprised on what I can haul in it.  I've hauled carpets, large pictures, bikes, suitcases, people etc. with absolute ease.  And lastly, I love the Bose speakers. These would never have been an option with the Pathfinder or the Highlander with our price range.

Zipadee-Zip

Over the past couple of weeks our daughter, who is six months old, has been waking up after a few hours of sleeping because she has decided she is finished with being swaddled.  To remedy this new development I tried to follow countless websites' advice on how to wean your baby off swaddling - only swaddling one arm in or swaddling from the waist down, but nothing worked.  I thought about the option of the baby sleeping bag, but again, with my baby's active arms, I knew leaving her arms out wasn't going to cut it.  So, I decided on the Zipadee-Zip because it keeps the baby nice and snug, takes the arms out of the equation, but still leaves them room to move around.  It's also great because it keeps our baby warm, and it stops the problem we had before of putting a blanket on our baby, which invariably ended up over her head.  The last feature I love, is the the little flap that hides the zipper.  Our baby loveesss zippers, so this is great feature that allows a  tight fit, but doesn't allow our little one to find a zipper to suck on.

We went with the light weight option because it's generally 65-67 degrees in our home and found a small fit our 13 pound 24 inch long baby.  Also, it shipped rather fast and I had no problem with their paypal or credit card options for payment.  I would definitely recommend this to anyone trying to wean their baby off swaddling.  Our little girl has become a champion napper and has been great at night.

St. John's Hospital Santa Monica

I recently delivered a baby at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica.  The following are the positives and negatives of my experience at this hospital.

Positives

1. The Tour
A few weeks before I delivered my baby I took an hour tour of the hospital.  I definitely recommend doing this with any hospital you choose.  It's nice to do a dry run through while you aren't in labor pain.  Trust me you'll retain a lot more and enter the hospital a lot more calmer.  The tour really sold me on St. John's.  They showed us the delivery rooms, the postpartum rooms and informed us about the services offered before your labor (breast feeding classes, parenting classes) and the information you'll be given once you deliver.

 

2. Facilities

St. John's was recently renovated and offers an incredible maternity wing.  The birthing rooms are very large and offer plenty of room for family, the husband to sleep and for the birth of your child.  I was amazed at the size of the room.  Larger rooms are offered at a slightly higher price, but from my experience, unless you are having a grand audience, the rooms are big enough to accommodate everything. 

Fortunately, this wasn't an issue for me, but St. John's also offers, on the same floor, rooms for C-Sections and has a very expert Maternal Fetal Medicine Team on site to help with high risk pregnancies. 

3. Staff for Labor/Delivery

I can't say enough about the staff during the delivery process.  I was admitted at night to begin inducing and found each nurse to be welcoming, calming and easily accessible.  When it came time to get my epidural, the anesthesiologist heard my concerns about a botched spinal tap a few years before, and did a perfect job in administering my epidural.  I literally didn't feel any pain when the epidural went in, and that is saying something because I also experienced my worst contraction at that moment.

During the actual delivery my nurse, Lori, was fantastic.  She helped me through almost 90% of the pushing and I found her to be incredibly calming and supportive.  I could tell my doctor and the nurses had a very good relationship, which made the whole experience very peaceful.

Once the baby was delivered I absolutely loved the newborn nurse, who cleaned my daughter, weighed her and checked her out.  I felt like all the nurses were generally concerned about my daughter and excited for her arrival.

Negatives

1. Postpartum Nursing Staff

Talk about night and day. Once I was wheeled over to the other section of the maternity wing I felt like I was entering a totally different hospital.  As opposed to the attention I received during the delivery, I felt like the nurses during my postpartum were busy, neglected to inform me of anything and were very hard to find.  For example, I didn't know if I could shower, if we were supposed to change our daughter's diaper ourselves, I didn't receive breakfast the following day until 11 and at one point we had an orthopedic nurse helping us, who really had no idea what was going on.  I understand they might have been busy, but as a first time mom, I was hoping for a little more attention.

2. Getting Information on Breastfeeding

On our tour of the hospital we were informed that lactation specialists would be coming to our room, after we had our baby, to help us with breastfeeding.  Unfortunately, the lactation specialist only showed up once we were checking out, and that really only felt like the hospital was just sending someone in so we didn't complain that we never saw a specialist.  I was rather angry when the specialist asked me, after I had had my baby for three days, and was sitting in a wheelchair waiting to leave, if I had any questions about breastfeeding.  Um, yeah, I did, about three days ago.  I guess fortunately the hospital did have videos on breastfeeding you could watch on TV while you laid there waiting for a nurse to show up, but I didn't really find those videos helpful. I guess, I didn't really enjoy looking at engorged breasts of strange women.

3. Parking
All I can say is ouch.  Be prepared to drop some cash to valet your car or to deal with moving your car every two hours on side streets near the hospital.

Overall, if I was having a baby tomorrow I don't think I would go back to St. John's.  It's considerably more expensive that UCLA, which was the other option for me, and I don't think I really got a better experience because of it.  The birth was excellent, but the care you really need after was seriously lacking.

My Fertility Journey

For about three and a half years I attempted to get pregnant, and finally, after working with California Fertility Partners in Los Angeles, was I able to get pregnant.  The following is my story and my advice to women who are trying to get pregnant.


Don't Waste Time With Your OB GYN
When I first told my doctor that I wanted to get pregnant, but wasn't having a hard time, I was referred to the "fertility specialist" in the office.  Other offices might be different, but this doctor was only the "specialist" because he threw different drugs at me.  I was first started on Clomid, which is typically the first drug doctors will start women on if they are having a hard time ovulating.  Each month I was given a higher dosage of the drug, but I was never able to ovulate.  After a few months, no one ever asked, "Why I wasn't ovulating?" but just assumed I needed more drugs.

I was then put on Menopur.  Menopur involves injections each night into either a fatty part of your leg or abdomen.  My first take with Menopur felt like someone throwing darts into the dark.  Every few days I would go in and have an ultrasound to see if my ovaries were responding. When no response was seen my doctor would just have me increase the dosage.  I began with 1/2 a vial and was injecting almost four at a time.  Again, there was no real monitoring going on or awareness that this amount of Menopur could be harmful.

After two weeks of the injections I began to experience an acute pain in my ovaries, which then became unbearable.  One night my husband took me to the Emergency Room and I was informed my ovaries were enlarged and had the potential of twisting.  The reason for this dangerous enlargement was because of the over dosage of Menopur.  Basically, my ovaries were freaking out.

After the trip to the hospital I was placed on bed rest for three weeks to ensure my ovaries didn't twist.  Once I was off bed rest I returned the doctor's office for a follow-up and learned I was pregnant.  Now, I wish this was the end of the story, but unfortunately, three weeks later, we were unable to see a heart beat and I suffered a miscarriage.  At this point we decided to stop working with this specialist and find out why I was not ovulating, why I did, and why I had a miscarriage?

How To Find The Right Specialist:
When I finally decided to consult with a fertility specialist I wasn't sure where to go. I was given a few recommendations, but probably the best advice I got was to do some research on my own and determine the answers to the following questions:
  

• How long has the fertility clinic's medical director been there?
• How long have the doctors and technicians been there? High staff turnover can be a sign of bad management and can contribute to mistakes.
• Which procedures do you do, and how often? Be sure the clinic has a wide range of infertility remedies available and is familiar with the latest technology, such as something called blastocyst transfer.
• Do you have age limits for treatment? If so, it's a good sign that the clinic is concerned about ethical issues.
• When you do an advanced procedure that involves fertilizing the eggs outside the woman and then planting them inside her, who decides how many eggs go back in -- the doctor or patient? Wisot recommends steering away from a clinic that gives complete control to the doctor. This is important because the more eggs planted, the greater the chance for multiple births.
• How many cycles per year do you do? Wisot notes that some clinics handle so many patients -- each of whom may be treated for multiple menstrual cycles -- that patients end up feeling like a number.
• What does treatment cost? While you don't want to choose strictly on price, it's good to know costs ahead of time so you know what you're getting into. Beware of clinics that offer a money-back guarantee if you don't get pregnant -- the doctor may have a financial incentive to treat you more aggressively than you want.

All these questions can either be answered on clinics' websites or with consultations. 

California Fertility Partners: 
Eventually, I chose California Fertility Partners because of their success rates, the facilities they had on site, the number of patients and because of Dr. Kelly Baek.  From my initial interview I felt like Dr. Baek was going to approach my case as methodical as possible, and was going to find answers to my ovulation and miscarriage questions.  

As before, Dr. Baek started me on Menopur, but with a small dosage and more visits to truly track my progress.  Eventually, after a few rounds she was able to see that my body took a long time to respond to Menopur, therefore, upping the dosage wasn't the answer, but longer periods of the medication.  Three times were able to get to the artificial insemination points, but each time I was unable to get pregnant.  

Dr. Baek then tried a combination of Clomid and Menopur, which got me a little faster to ovulation, and then used Progesterone, after the inseminations for added hormone therapy, or as an attempt to stave off a miscarriage.  Again, no success.  

At this point Dr. Baek was troubled because she couldn't fully diagnose me.  My blood work showed I was ovulating, but something was missing in communication from my brain to the ovaries.  Consequently, Dr. Baek ordered a MRI.  This decision was met with a lot surprise from her partners, me and my ob gyn, however, Dr. Baek was convinced I had a tumor in my pituitary gland, which was causing all my problems.  And she was right.  Apparently, the tumor was secreting a large amount of prolactin, which can cause you to experience headaches, which I did, not ovulate and can cause miscarriages. 

Initially, Dr. Baek tried the drug Bromocriptine, but we still saw high levels of prolactin in my system.  I was then referred to Dr. David Geffner, an endocrinologist, who put me on Cabergoline.  This drug finally brought my prolactin levels down, and for the first time, without drugs, I was able to ovulate.   Once I saw ovulation, Dr. Baek performed an artificial insemination and four weeks later we found out we were pregnant.  
 
I understand my story is not like everyone's else, but what I can say from the experience is this: 

1. If you are serious about being pregnant - go to a specialist.  They'll have you do blood work, perform x-rays to see that your fallopian tubes are working and open, will closely monitor the process and get results.
2. Don't give up. Unfortunately, with infertility each test, each round takes weeks, months - don't give up.

San Francisco

A few weeks ago the husband and I traveled up to San Francisco for a long weekend trip.  If you haven't had the opportunity to explore this city I recommend making the time.

First, transportation around and inside San Francisco is incredibly easy.  We flew into SFO and then took the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) directly into the city.  Buying tickets was very intuitive and stops were very clearly marked.  Then, while we explored the city, we utilized the public busing system.  For two dollars we were able to travel across the city, and because the initial tickets are good for four hours, we were able to jump back on the bus and cross to another part of the city.  I found the buses to be extremely clean and again stops were clearly marked.

For accommodations we decided to stay close to Union Square because there's a BART stop there, a trolley that travels all the way to the Wharf starts there and its close proximity to all tourists sites in the city. (ex: Chinatown, The Wharf, Market Street etc.)  We ended up staying at the Sir Francis Drake.  This hotel was built in 1928 and offers a great view into the glamorous history of San Francisco.  The lobby is absolutely gorgeous and the room, though small, was elegantly furnished.  In retrospect, I do wish the rooms had been slightly bigger for the price we were paying.  The sink, though very cool, offered no space for a toothbrush and if you wanted to use the bathroom there wasn't much space between the sink and the toilet.  However, again the location was fantastic.

As for sightseeing San Francisco offers an incredible wide range of sites.  Here's what I recommend:

Alcatraz: 
Alcatraz Cruises is the official ferry provider to Alcatraz and back. Departures start at 9:30 AM and are available every half an hour throughout the day. However, please note that these cruises frequently sell out, so as much as possible, plan and book your cruise in advance, especially in the summer and on holidays.
To purchase tickets, view the schedule and/or for more information, visit the Alcatraz Cruises web site at www.alcatrazcruises.com.

Golden Gate Bridge:
Pedestrians including wheelchair users and bicyclists can go on the sidewalks of the bridge during daylight hours but roller blades, skateboards and roller skates are not permitted. There are vista points on both north and south sides of the bridge with parking lots.

We decided to rent bikes through Blazing Saddles, which we were able to rent right at Union Square and ride across the bridge to Sausalito and then back through Golden Gate Gardens, Haight-Ashbury and back to our hotel.  Sausalito is a great little town and we had a delicious Italian sandwich at Venice Gourmet.  After a long bike ride it was great to enjoy a good sour dough sandwich and watch the town go by. 

Ultimately we ended up paying a little over seventy dollars for the day, and was definitely the best way to explore the city.  There are a bunch of bike companies around the city and all offer a daily rate, a great comfort bike, a detailed map and the option to take the ferry back once you reach Sausalito.  I would recommend forgoing the ferry because riding back is easily marked and the gardens are definitely worth seeing...and the ride back is mostly downhill.

Fisherman's Wharf/Ghirardelli Square:
The Wharf offers fishing boats, sea lions basking in the sun, seafood stalls, steaming crab cauldrons, seafood restaurants and sourdough French bread bakeries.  It also offers souvenir shops and historic ships with detailed signs detailing the history of the Wharf. The historic F-Line streetcar and two cable car lines terminate in the area and sightseeing boats and boat charters link to Alcatraz ("The Rock") , Angel Island and other points around San Francisco Bay.

Ghirardelli Square is worth visiting for the free samples the Ghirardelli store offers, or if you want to wait in line, you must try one of the many concoctions of goodness the Ghirardelli kitchen prepares. 

Haight-Ashbury / Chinatown:
Both of these areas can be easily reached through a public bus, through renting a bike or walking.  There's not a lot to do in these neighborhoods, but they are worth exploring to just see the different sides to San Francisco.

Lastly, I recommend coming up with a plan ahead of time for food.  There is literally amazing options on every street and it can be slightly overwhelming.  A few things we enjoyed were:

Crab at the Wharf:
Right along the Wharf you can buy a whole and very much alive crab.  They'll steam it right there for you and offer a loaf of bread along with the meal.  The husband went down this route and was blown away by the taste and size of the crab.

Cafe BaoNecci:
Located in the Italian district of San Fran, this was an outstanding dinner.  We started with a light Italian salad that literally tasted exactly like the salads we enjoyed when we traveled Italy and then chose two pizzas with prosciutto and fresh basil.  All the servers spoke Italian and the food was fast and hot.

Super Duper:
This casual burger place was fantastic.  I got a chicken sandwich with an amazing aioli sauce and the husband went for their classic double patty burger.  I loved the laid back atmosphere and only regret not trying their shakes.

Overall, this was a great trip and I will definitely be back. 

Century City Mall

Last weekend the husband and I went to Century City to grab some dinner and see a movie. Sadly, this was my first trip to Century City after living in LA for five years. What can I say, Santa Monica is just that cool - and I'm just that lazy.

I got to admit that I found the mall at Century City to be a very cool alternative to Santa Monica. First, there is an incredible amount of parking, and they have great deals with movie validations and allotted times of free parking. If you have lived in LA longer than a week, you know parking situations can be deal breakers - so rest assured this won't be a problem.

Second of all, outside of the great options for shopping, the outdoor mall also offers great options for getting food. Compared to the new mall at Santa Monica, the restaurants available at Century City are considerably better. For example, Gulfstream Restaurant offers an awesome menu of seafood and a very cool ambiance, and if you are feeling a little more casual, but still want a great meal, the mall has the Counter and Pink Taco.

The Counter is probably one of my favorite restaurants. Instead of dictating an order to the server, you are given a clipboard of options to build a meat or chicken burger with endless toppings and sauces. It might take two trips to get the order just right, as I learned with the mountain of grilled onions, but once you got your groove this will become a favorite. The Counter also offers a huge platter of fries (sweet and regular), onion rings and some of the most creative milkshakes. Each month they feature a milkshake. I recommend October for the churro milkshake.

As for Pink Taco, last weekend was my first try of the iconic LA establishment. To begin with I found the salsa to be just right. (For me, this can make or break a Mexican restaurant) and the service was awesome. I chose the Mexican cobb salad. I got to admit, it wasn't the best thing I've ever had. I was feeling like a traditional Mexican salad, but I found the blue cheese to be a little overwhelming. The husband chose some chicken enchiladas with a verde sauce, and I'll admit I was a little jealous. As for portions, it wasn't your typical Mexican restaurant. Things were slightly understated and not covered in cheese and grease - which I prefer. Overall, I would like to try Pink Taco again, but just order something different.

After dinner we headed over to the movie theater, which offered a lot of options and very comfortable seats. (What, I have strange levels of criteria.) We ended up seeing The Hunger Games. Our friends had reserved seats ahead of time. I might be doing this from now on when buying tickets for the movies. It was so nice to just walk in and know we had some seats. As for the movie, I was a fan. I had read all three books and had very low expectations for the movie, but I found the adaptation to be spot on. My husband even turned to me and said, "I'm actually liking this movie." For someone who hates all "youth books made into movies" I think that was saying something.

So, if you are in the LA area and you want a cool night out check out Century City. You might even be lucky enough to see some celebrities.

Nook Color

For Christmas I got a Kindle, but returned it because I found it hard to read without really good light. Therefore, I decided to get the Nook Color from Barnes & Noble, which I've found to love and hate. Below are my pros and cons of the Nook.

Pros:
1. Great screen size and very easy to read.
2. Internet connection is fast and loads pages well.
3. Good amount of storage for a lot of books and apps.
4. Compatible with files I can download or buy off Barnes and Noble.
5. Creates bookmarks for you without indicating them.

Cons:
1. Battery life is not great. If I read the Nook for most of the day I'll be out of battery. I think I've found I can get about six hours out of the thing.
2. I haven't figured out how to go back on things. For example, I was writing an email the other night and by accident I pressed something that presented options to cut, paste, select all etc. I had no idea how to get back to my email. Instead, I had to press the home button, go back into the internet, log into my email and find the draft.


Overall, I really like the Nook, but if I was making the purchase again I might think about the Kindle Fire, or wait for the Nook to work out its first edition glitches.