I Hate Velcro

On some days, even Velcro annoys me.

I thought I had done it, I thought I had captured the mysterious “sleep window” with T-Bone this morning. At 10 a.m. I put her down after seeing the subtlest of sleepy signs, and magically she didn’t protest. She lay cooing in her crib for a good ten minutes and I really thought we had made a breakthrough.

At 10:10 I peered through the bedroom door and saw her staring off into the distance — sleep was imminent. She still had her last few grunts and fusses to get through though. At 10:15 she sounded mildly distressed, but waaaay too sleepy to really make a fuss. Next thing I hear is Chris’s voice bellowing from the bedroom “Mooooooooom!” ARG. I give him an angry “Shhh” sign through the crack in the bedroom door, he returns a dejected look of shame and T-Bone responds with a louder fuss. I go in to explain the strategy to Chris, but by this time T-Bone is in full abandoned cry mode and I must pick her up. [Side Note: does anyone notice in this story that my husband is still trying to sleep in the bedroom while I’m up and about?]

Into the stroller she went. I angrily pushed her around the apartment - or as “around” you can get in 650 sq feet — all the while fuming at Chris and thinking to myself “this must be what it’s like to have two children, a baby and a toddler, Chris is my toddler. and we wanted three or more?” hmmmm

T-Bone sat grumpily slouched in the stroller fighting her yawns, and fighting the closing eyes, but eventually she was asleep by 10:50. Only a 50 minute process. This is progress right?

Once she was asleep I tried to quickly tidy the apartment for my friend Donna’s visit. Packed the diaper back — g-damn loud Velcro could wake an elephant.

My return to work looms over me now. I think it makes me that much more sensitive and angry about not having T-Bone precisely “scheduled.” What if she melts down with the nannny? Will I be able to work while that happens? Will T-Bone be permanently damaged? I just want to know that she can be made happy while I’m not around. Is that too much to ask?

Lawmomblog

I have to set aside the UI issues here and just start writing.

Tess is almost ten weeks old and I’ve already lost precious nuggets of knowledge to a squishy sleep deprived memory. By the time anyone reads this I’m sure I’ll have Tess on a precision schedule (yeah right!). I’m sure I’ll be churning out witty entries on a daily basis, while meeting all of Tess’s needs, all on top giving 110% to my full time job. No Problem.

I’m here to share my observations as a new mother. I’m also here to create a much needed outlet from my “chosen” profession of the law.

You see many years ago, back in 1992 I realised I hated the law. That was my first semester in law school. I wanted to drop out even then, but various forces (mostly the horrid job prospects of the early nineties) kept me in school. I made another break back in 2000 when I quit my first legal job and attempted a career change. What I ended up doing was traveling for six months, taking a couple creative writing courses, losing motivation and taking the first job offer I got back in the legal profession.

I can’t complain. In the process of navigating my hated profession I’ve also learned many useless peices of information mostly pertaining to the business world and contract negotiation. I can sling business jargon like the best of them. I’ll spare you and “outside the box” jokes here, so 2001 anyway.

So where was I? This blog isn’t about law or technology, it’s about being a mom. But if it weren’t for my legal career I would not have met my husband, and ultimately would not be here as the Mom of Tess. So for that I’m thankful I finished law school.

The first order of business is to find a suitable name for the blog. I’m thinking lawmomblog, with a nod to Arrested Development, but do I really want to anchor myself with the law association that I’m so desperate to lose? We’ll see.