In Another Life...

Today I had a meeting on an elementary school campus. I love when I have meetings on school campuses rather than at a school district's main office. I like to see the kids, it reminds me of the importance of what I do and that my job isn't just about case law and statutes, it is really about the kids.

Everytime I am on a school campus or talking to the teachers, I wish I had become a teacher. When I first started college, my goal was to be an English teacher. Then I wanted to go to fashion school and even applied to and was accepted at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. Then I decided I would get my masters degree in something like social work. So I took (and bombed) the GRE. At some point, I decided on law school, signed up for an LSAT review class and I've now been an attorney for three years.

But every once in a while I go back to my original desire to be a teacher. I love education, which is one of the reasons why I love practicing special education law. I had a lot of anxiety about becoming a teacher. I worried that if I became a teacher right out of college (after getting a credential of course) I wouldn't have enough life experience to really get through to students. All of the teachers I had that I really respected had great life stories and experience and could bring so much to the table. I worried that a 22-23 year old really wouldn't have all that much to talk about. I also was nervous about talking in front of a class for an entire class period, an entire day. What if I couldn't remember my lesson? What if I couldn't remember the main point of the symbolism in the novel I was teaching? So I let my desire to be a teacher fall by the wayside.

I love being a lawyer, I practice in a great area of law, I work with great people, its interesting, and fulfilling. But it can be stressful. And I hate billing my time with every ounce of my being. One should not have to account for their day in six minute increments. It is near impossible. And while I enjoy being a lawyer, I don't know if I can do this for the rest of my working life. It is a very confrontational job. People are never in a good mood when they talk to a lawyer. The lawyer is only called in when something goes wrong. I know I am working to protect great educational programming in my school districts but I rarely get to see the positive side of the classes and programs I represent. I just hear the complaints. After a while, it is draining.

I worked very hard to get where I am and I don't plan on giving it up soon. But in a few years down the road, I would love to go back to school to become a teacher. Possibly a special education teacher. Iwant to see that I can make a difference in a child's life, not just that I can save a school district from some form of legal liability. It's nice to dream....

A Whole New World

I don't really mean for this to turn into a blog entirely about pregnancy. However, that is just where my life is right now. I could talk about my bulldogs, but I talk about them a lot. And they really just sleep a lot, they are not very exciting. I could talk about work but that would be pretty boring to everyone but the very small portion of the legal population who practice special education law. I could talk about Brady's work, but asbestos litigation is even more boring than special education law; and it's sad, people actually die in his cases.

So it's back to talking about being pregnant. One of the fun things about pregnancy is the shopping. You get to buy new clothes, buy lots of stuff for the baby, etc. For a shopoholic, it opens up a whole new world of shopping possibilities. Now don't say that I sound shallow. There are a lot of not fun things about being pregnant, like not feeling very good and the extreme amount of worrying about everything. Its only right that there is an outlet like retail therapy.

Last weekend I went shopping with my sister. We ran into my grandma and aunt at the mall who bought me shoes, clothes, and a cookie. I felt like a little kid again, it was a lot of fun!

I have not really started wearing maternity clothes because I don't really need to. With all the weight that I lost last summer, all my fat clothes have been fitting just fine. Plus I'm not really showing. But my grandma and aunt bought me my first maternity clothes.

I would totally wear this shirt not pregnant. In fact, I plan on wearing it well after the baby is here.

I thought this would be good for work, comfortable yet professional. The shirt has little black polka dots which I think are classy and fun, just like me, kind of.

The best thing about maternity clothes is how extremely comfortable they are. Seriously, I may never go back. Look at the stretchy panel on this skirt. I wish I had it for Thanksgiving. Every day I find another piece of clothing that doesn't fit. But now I have my skirt with a stretchy panel so I can relax and be comfy. I love shopping so I am definitely looking forward to buying more maternity clothes. I'm also excited to start legitimately showing because right now I just look like I'm carrying a spare tire around my waist.

And since I don't want to be completely consumed with talking about pregnancy here is Mickey sleeping like a little angel.

And my Frankie with his big, squishy face.

Holiday Wrap Up

The whirlwind of the holidays has come and gone. All the presents have been opened, some have yet to be returned, the Christmas decorations are put away, and we are back to our regular lives without the growing anticipation of the approaching holidays. Although, trust me, with being pregnant there is no shortage of anticipation in the Brady household.

Here's a small recap of my holiday season:

In the beginning of December we went to Las Vegas to celebrate Brady's 29th birthday. We stayed at theHotel and it was amazing!

It was interesting being in Vegas while being completely sober the entire time. I didn't mind it though. I just ate. A lot. In fact, I think I scared Brady with the amount that I ate. It was also funny to watch on the incredibly drunk people. Drunk people watching is the best. We walked around the gardens at the Bellagio which is one of my favorite things in Vegas.



Please ignore my huge roots. I was waiting to get out of the first trimester to color my hair. I have since colored and my hair and it looks much, much better.

I loved all the old fashioned ornaments. They reminded me so much of the ornaments my grandmothers always had on their trees. Now, I have many disco balls all over my tree. I need to find some of these old fashioned ones next year.



Here I am at 13 weeks pregnant. Not much to see, but I thought I would document it. Now I'm 15 weeks and there still isn't much to see. I seem to just be getting wider.



There were lots of other holiday events in December, work parties, luncheons with friends. All of it was fun. It was an interesting holiday season because we really told everyone about the pregnancy in December so it was fun to hear people's stories, congratulations, and advice. Brady and I even went to a Babies R Us to drop off a toy for the Toys for Tots collection. Babies R Us is a very, very scary place. We threw our toy in the bucket and got the hell outta there.

My grandma has started a new tradition the past few years. On Christmas day, everyone gets a matching sweatshirt. Here we are with our green sweatshirts (last year it was red, I'm hoping for blue next year).

We actually went outside and found a neighbor to take our picture. Yes, we looked like a crazy green sweatshirt cult. But you gotta love family. I just want to see my grandma carry 17 green sweatshirts to the cashier at Kohl's.



The holiday season was busy and hectic, but lots of fun. I got to see lots of good friends and family. I even managed to see my husband once in a while. I hope everyone out there had a great holiday season and I'm looking forward to a quiet January. And Brady is in charge of Valentine's Day this year, so I don't have any holidays to worry about for a while.

An Announcement

So it has been well over a month and half since I last posted something on my blog.

Here are my excuses (please note these excuse also apply to not doing the dishes/laundry, zoning out at work, and the general laziness of the last couple months):

1. I was tired.

2. I was hungry.

3. I was busy yelling at my husband for something he didn't do/had no control over, then crying inconsolably until he drove me to Jack in the Box for an oreo cookie shake.

4. I was asleep.

5. I was busy diagnosing myself with various maladies via Google.

6. I was busy lurking on online message boards.

7. I was trying to keep a secret and was afraid I wouldn't be able to resist blogging about it.

You might be asking why the above-described things kept me from blogging, well to sum it all up...I'm pregnant! I am due on June 23, 2009 and I am 14 weeks along. I haven't been blogging because for the first trimester I was literally in bed by 8pm and had absolutely no energy. Plus I spent all my internet time reading message boards, researching my symptoms, researching my lack of symptoms, researching symptoms I thought I should have, researching phantom symptoms, etc. Thinking about my pregnancy, worrying about my pregnancy, feeling like crap about my pregnancy has consumed me for the past couple of months. I also did not want to tell the internet world my big news until I was in my second trimester. So now I'm in my second trimester, I heard the baby's heartbeat on Monday, and I'm feeling a lot better. So there you go blogging world, I'm pregnant!

Empty Couch Syndrome

The corner of my couch is empty. The laptop is poised ready for use, but no one is using it. No one is squishing my good throw pillows. No one is letting the bullies up on the couch even though they are not supposed to be there.




All because Brady has become a slave to his law firm. Lately he has been working like crazy. I am usually in bed when he gets home. At first, this was kind of nice. I could watch whatever I wanted on t.v., I didn't have to watch sports and then watch the episode of Sportscenter recapping the game that we just finished watching. But now this is getting a little ridiculous. I miss Brady. I miss the sports! I miss him reading random news stories online with a "hey did you hear about...." every five minutes. I definitely miss having dinner with him. That is when we get to catch up about the day. We have pretty much no contact during the work day. There is the occasional "I love you" text or the occassional "hey pick up the dry cleaning or we'll be going to work naked" text. But we don't talk on the phone or email so I really don't get to talk to him till he gets home.

Don't get me wrong, I am extremely proud of him for his dedication and work ethic. He is working hard for our family (husband, wife, and bullies counts as a family) and I appreciate it immensely. Now he just needs to come home, I'll even put Sportscenter on, I promise!

Hello Again

I know I have neglected my blog lately. I'm not entirely sure why, my excuse was that I just have not done anything interesting enough to blog about lately. But then, in thinking about my blog, I realized most of the stuff I blog about is not really all that interesting. My blog is just snippets of my somewhat ordinary life with some pictures. It doesn't help that lately I have just been exhausted. Work has been crazy busy, Brady has been working a ton, most nights I come home from work, eat dinner, and go to bed. My house is a mess, my dogs have not been walked in ages (not that Frank cares), and all my little projects are in a stand still.

I finally got around to one of my projects tonight, mending dog toys. My bullies tear through toys in minutes, sometimes seconds. And they love their toys. They need their toys. The toys keep them occupied and keep them from chewing on shoes, couches, purses, etc. The toys are essential. I spend lots of money on toys, so much that I have started sewing up the little holes.



The bullies had ripped through all but one toy, so I finally busted out the sewing kit and fixed some of their toys. Yes, I realize that my husband and I are attorneys and we can afford to buy more dog toys but it is the principle of the matter, I just bought all these toys and I'll be damned if I'm going to buy dog toys every week!

Frank is so excited for his toy, he wants it bad. I probably should just give it to him instead of taunting him while I take a picture.



Look at my little angels, waiting so patiently for their toys. A moment of calm before there is stuffing all over my house again.



Aren't you glad I started blogging again? How else would you have heard that I spent my Wednesday night sewing dog toys?