OT: Need recommendations for Bay Area

[ralu]

We will be moving to Bay Area (south of San Francisco, somewhere around Palo Alto/Mountain View) and would greatly appreciate any recommendations or insights about the area. I am interested in baby-friendly neighborhoods, doctors (ped, family practitioner), day cares, finding nanies, and anything else you might think useful.

TIA,
Raluca

[kwc]

Raluca,

I grew up in Palo Alto and did my peds training at Stanford while living in Mt. View, so if you have any specific questions (esp. ped recommendations :) ), PM me through the boards. I don't know much about daycare/ nannies, though...

Karen

[brubeck]

Hi Raluca!

There are a few BBB Moms in the SF Bay Area. We do a get-together every so often. I'm in the East Bay (Fremont area) so most of my recommendations on doctors and parks are probably too out of the way for you but I'm happy to give them to you if you want (you can email or PM me).

Generally with a small child you want a neighborhood park so you would just have to keep an eye out in whatever area you buy a home to see if there is a park within walking distance. Once you are comfy taking kids longer distance there are some nice LARGE parks in the South Bay/Penninsula area, and many of the ritzier malls have nice indoor play areas too (such as Valley Fair mall in San Jose).

Welcome to the area!

[miki]

We just moved from there to NC so that we could buy a huge house. We lived in Mountain View for 3 years. I thought the nicest park there was La Cuesta and the neighborhood around it was very nice. There is a YMCA adjoining the park. There is a mom's group in that area called Las Madres (www.lasmadres.org). I'm sure if you got in touch with them, there would be plenty of people willing to help you out and give you info. The daycare that I liked the best was the Children's Pre-School Center in Palo Alto (www.cpsccares.org). I saw their facilities but we moved before enrolling. Further north, the Marin Day Schools have many locations and has a comparable program. For nannies you might check www.craigslist.com or post your own ad. But I warn you that I did a posting, I found that the people who responded did not even follow up when I provided my phone number and asked them to call so we could discuss. I took my daughter to a ped at Camino Medical Group where my OB practiced also. I've also heard good things about the Palo Alto Medical Group. I thought they had a very professional, well-run office in Mountain View.

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions. Good luck with your move.

[C99]

The only thing I can think of is Blossom, which is a birthing center and also provides classes and a meeting place for SV moms. http://www.blossombirth.com/

[Mom2Miri]

Raluca,

I PM'd you.

Helen & Mirielle 2/25/03

[ralu]

Karen, I pm'ed you.

Thanks,

Raluca

[ralu]

Thank you everybody for your suggestions! I can't stop being amazed at how helpful and friendly this community is! I'll probably pm some of you again with more questions as we progress with the move.

Thanks again,
Raluca