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Year in Review 2017

What a year 2017 was for me and the family! It was dubbed “The Year of Hard Things” and I’m so happy to start a new year. We had lots of changes and growth but came out stronger and better off in the end.

The year started out in San Francisco and we were looking into private school options for KK. We were still on a house hunt but inventory in Alameda had decreased to almost nothing after Trump was elected president.

 

After waiting another month and changing our search criteria, we found a cute little townhome on Bay Farm that was facing a greenbelt and playground. It was in good shape, had plenty of space, and the price was right. So, we placed a bid, won the bidding war, and moved in on March 13th.

KK continued to go to her Pre-K program in SF but Peanut had to say goodbye to Mirian and Andrea and started his new school on the same day we picked up our keys. It took some time for Peanut to adjust but he seemed to get used to drop-offs much quicker than KK did at the same age.

At our new home, we learned that we were living in a circle of houses containing other families with kids around the same ages as ours. KK became good friends with Gavin next door. He would come by the house everyday afterschool and KK also started playing with all the other kids in the neighborhood. It was also nice to have so much outside space for the kids to enjoy on the weekends and evenings.

In April, we repainted and staged the SF condo. It was so sad to say goodbye but we sold it for a great price. We actually made a hefty profit and ended up with a surplus to pay down some of our new mortgage, pay off the Irvine house, buy a minivan with cash, and put some away for a kitchen renovation.

This was also the year that KK turned FIVE. It felt like such a big milestone to us. She had her Pre-K graduation and seemed ready to take on Kindergarten like a boss.

In addition to life changes, work was not getting any easier. Teresa decided to go to Kaiser Oakland and stay at Children’s for one day per week.

Later Stephanie moved to New Jersey and life at CHO was just not the same anymore. I was also feeling overworked, underappreciated, and just plain lonely.

We also gained another family member this year. In May, Leela was born and she is such an easy-going baby who seems to have read the baby textbook because she’s plowing through her milestones one right after the other.

In the summer, I started looking at my work options since KK would be starting Kindergarten in August and drop-off and pick-up logistics would become more complicated. I decided to make a major change and accepted a new job at Kaiser Oakland after working at Children’s Hospital for 10 years.

KK started Kindergarten in August and my hope was to be able to volunteer at her school and be more available to her this school year.

In September, I said goodbye to my work family and took two weeks off before starting the new job at the end of the month. During that time, I studied, volunteered at KK’s school, took care of my new-hire business, and took some time to myself to reset my work brain.

With this new job, I switched from 40 hrs/week down to 32 hrs/week with a promotion. I also got to share a cubicle with Teresa. It was a hard change but a good one in the grand scheme of things.

I also took an exam in October to become an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). I didn’t find out the results of the exam until end of December and was relieved to see my certificate and a passing score in the mail.

In October, we also started a major project at home. We hired contractors to remodel our kitchen from the ground up. Demolition started on October 9th and they didn’t finish until early December. That was a painful 3 months of eating out a lot, washing dishes in the backyard, and basically living like we were in a hotel. Luckily the kitchen turned out great and we love the new space so much.

In November, Jes and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary by taking a trip without the kids for the first time. We decided to go to Kauai since we hadn’t been there since our honeymoon.  It was hard to just relax and do nothing for the first day or so but by the end, it was so nice to have absolutely nothing to do or worry about. We took naps, we ate whenever we felt hungry, and I got to watch so many movies on the plane! Thanks to my parents for watching the kids during the while we were away (also in the middle of the kitchen remodel!).

The grand finale for the year was having 3 weeks off in December. It started with Hong Kong for Kelly and Alvin’s wedding and it was so much fun for the whole family.

We also made it to Disneyland for Christmas Eve once again and this year was one of the best so far for us. The kids were tantrum-free, we had short wait times for rides, and KK was big and brave enough to ride Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain for the first time!!!

What a year…here’s my “bestnine” compilation on Instagram.

Hoping 2018 is smooth sailing for us.

Saying Goodbye

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It’s my last day at CHO and I tried to be as present as I could in order to appreciate the place I called my second home for the past 10 years.

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The week started on Tuesday after the Labor Day weekend and Teresa was there for her one day of work there. We got to do one final co-treat together in the morning and it was like old times.

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I’ve been taking home one bag of stuff home each day for the past two weeks but somehow my desk still looked intact that day.

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On Wednesday, I had my last All-Staff Meeting and got everyone together for a group photo. I’m missing some key people in the photo but loved having whoever I could all at once. My manager also took me out for lunch as part of my exit interview.

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On Thursday, I had one last bowl of the trusty steel cut oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins from the cafeteria. We also went out for our usual Thursday lunch and Mai joined us with Cece.

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We ate at the cheese shop and then went across the street for Pete’s as usual.

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Ranee also worked that day and we had our last official work day together.

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Waaaaah! I also said goodbyes to some key people who would not be working on Friday so it was the start of the end for me.

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On Friday, I snapped a few photos of what I saw everyday. This is the red light that I would often have to wait at before going into the parking structure.

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This is the stairwell that I climbed day in and day out. I had gotten pretty good at climbing up at least 2-3 flights at a time over and over again.

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I arrived pretty early and got a photo of the entrance to our gym/office. It’s a pretty nice place to work.

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This is what a typical morning also looks like. We were all crammed into his one long staff office working side by side. It was crazy at times but so nice to have everyone together in one place.

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I was lucky enough to get assigned a corner desk with a view of the courtyard and 100-year-old magnolia tree outside. This is what my desk looked like 10 years ago back when we didn’t have our own computers and still wrote notes by hand. By Friday, my desk was cleared out and all I had left to take home was an orchid and a binder that I had left so I could finish some paperwork.

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I brought in donuts one last time and made sure I brought enough for everyone. My caseload was pretty light that day and I had enough time to pack up some last minute things, deliver thank you cards.

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I also went to say goodbye to the Clinical Nutrition department at lunch. I worked so closely with them on so many feeding cases and made some good friends along the way.

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By the end of the week, I received and gave numerous hugs and words of encouragement.

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The last person I said “see you later” to was Nicole. She is the last remaining friend that has been with me full-time for the past 10 years. I handed over our pet beaver for safe keeping and we got one last photo at work together.

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I turned in my badge and keys at the end of the day and walked out with a huge weight lifted off of me. Here’s to a new adventure in the big big world of Kaiser!

Time for More Change

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I’ve been working at Children’s Hospital Oakland for the past 10 years and it has been a wonderful learning experience.

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I also made some very good friends along the way and they have become family to me.

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Over the last 5 years, my life has become more complicated with the addition of not only one but two little kids. I’ve been doing my best to continue working full time but sometimes I’ve felt like I’ve had to make compromises either as a therapist or as a mom. Regardless, I haven’t felt like I’ve done well in either lately.

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To make matters more stressful, we went through some staffing changes that have impacted my work life.

  • The caseload /schedule that was given to me this past year has also become more of a grind. I was no longer given opportunities to learn or work toward my professional goals.
  • Close friends, Teresa and Stephanie, left this past year for different reasons and the office had become increasingly lonely.

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Thankfully, Ranee consistently works on Mondays and Thursdays and she has been my source of sanity at work. We’ve also grown up together and are enjoying seeing our kids grow up together as well.

With KK starting Kindergarten this fall, I’ve had to think long and hard about what my priorities are and what changes we need to make this coming year. Last year, we started looking for a house outside of SF, which started my re-evaluation process.  Once we moved to Alameda, I made the decision to start looking elsewhere. After a few months at Kaiser, Teresa gave me the scoop on how her life was now with her new work schedule. She was clearly happier and felt that the decision to leave CHO was worth it.

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I had some conversations with the director at Kaiser and other people on her staff and learned that maybe there was a position that would be more agreeable to my family’s  need.  After a long period of consideration and negotiations, I decided to make the leap and resign in order to take a 32-hour position at Kaiser.

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My last day at CHO will be on September 8th and my start day at Kaiser will be on September 25th. I took this photo with my OT team last week after my last staff meeting with them.

The new position will give me some flexibility with my schedule, one day off per week, a slight salary rate increase, and a promotion to Clinical Specialist.  Although the decision is bittersweet, I know that this change will be an opportunity for our family and for me to have a reset. I also know that the friendships I’ve made were built to last. To make the deal just a little sweeter, Teresa was told the other day that she will be sharing her cubicle with me at Kaiser.  It’ll be nice to have a familiar face at such as new place.

This coming week will be my last at CHO and it will be a busy and emotional one.  I hope that it will go smoothly and I’ll be able to say goodbye graciously.

Kindergarten!!

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Today was the first day of school for KK at Amelia Earhart School. She turned 5 in April and now she’s a Kindergartener!! I had to hold back tears when we walked her into the class but she did great with the transition.

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In June, KK had her Whale Class graduation, which was well done by her teachers.

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She enjoyed her last summer in SF at her Whale class and said goodbye to the ferry crew last week.

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She was very excited to meet her new teacher and had a fun day. We are hopeful she will love her new school for years to come.

SOLD

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I took this photo on 2/10/17, the day after our offer on the Alameda house was accepted. It looks like a mess but we made it work.

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Once we moved everything out, I cried.  Then it was time to have the condo cleaned, painted, and staged. We listed on 4/6/17 and we sold it on 4/13/17 – exactly one month after we moved out. Crazy fast.

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They did a nice job. I’d live here. I’m happy that others wanted to as well. We got 4 offers with one guy making a counter to match the highest offer ($86,000 over asking!!!). We are so happy and relieved that it all worked out well so far. Hopefully escrow will close smoothly and we’ll be able to move forward with our new life in suburbia.

Too many changes

Today was definitely a day of changes. First, we finalized our loan and title for the new house. We gave them our down payment and signed a big stack of papers. The purchase will be recorded with the county on Monday morning.

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Second, it was Mirian’s last day with us. In the morning, KK gave Mirian a big hug and Mirian said to her “tell your Mama to take a picture of your new house and send it to me, ok?”

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Andrea and Peanut had their last day together and Mirian got this really cute photo of them together at the playground.

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Third, I had my own goodbye today at work. My long-time PT partner, dear friend, and fellow trouble-maker had her last day as a full-time employee. She accepted a part-time position at Kaiser Oakland and will be returning to work only on Tuesdays. Although I know she will be back once per week, it will be sad to look over at her desk on the other days and see no one (or someone else!) sitting there. At least I know we’ll still see each other outside of work.

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After work, we did our usual meet-up in the garage and we had to say our final goodbye to Mirian. We’ve been blessed to have such a consistent person in our life for both kids. She has taken such good care of them, taught them Spanish, and gave them such fun experiences around the neighborhood. We wish her the best of luck in finding a new family soon.

With so many changes happening at once, it’s hard to really process it all in the moment. We’ll see if I have a meltdown in a couple weeks when it all sinks in.  We get the keys on Monday and the movers come to take our stuff across the Bay on Tuesday. This move is really happening!!!

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