Hey, We Have a 6-Week-Old

Well, "lively" posting didn't exactly happen, but don't fret, it didn't take me 10 months to have the baby. He came in early November, a week after my due date, by induction. It all happened marvelously (albeit painfully) fast. Started on pitocen around 10:00; baby came around 12:00. Interestingly, I had one doctor start me on pitocin, one doctor catch the baby, and one doctor there right afterwards to stitch me up. So, in a sense, in this smooth, easy delivery, I somehow had three doctors rotating to deliver my baby. Kind of strange, and very different from last time.

For now, you only get one picture to whet your appetite. If you want more, check out Facebook. I just added a bunch of pictures there and I am pictured-out!

Seven Months Pregnant

My friend Kathleen complained about a lack of pregnancy pictures. Obviously, I'm lacking any posts or pictures lately since we have gone the way of ancient barbarians and given up our home Internet. I've had several friends offer to let me use their computers/Internet to do it, but I mostly keep it simple and check my email when I have the chance at their houses so that I can hang out and visit with them while I'm there.

In any case, while I have a moment and the access, I thought I would post a pregnant picture. If you can believe it, at nine months I have ballooned out even more so that I can't believe I can actually carry myself and this baby around. But, heroic little me, I am managing to do both and at the rate we're going and according to past history with the first kiddo, I may be doing both for another week or two. But perhaps we'll all be surprised and I'll have an announcement to make sooner than that. I hope so since my mom is only here for the rest of the month. Of course, even if I have an announcement to make, there's no telling when it will appear on here, but I'll do my best to be lively about it and keep you all (meaning, I suppose, all three of you or so) posted one way or another soon after the baby's born. Something to do in the hospital, I suppose.

Upon Request: Pregnancy II

Look at me, two posts in one day! Too bad I don't get paid for this.

In regards to this pregnancy, it has been quite different than the first. I felt MUCH worse in the first trimester. I have a friend whose misery during the first half or so of her pregnancy could be calculated at like a ten (as in, she is basically unable to function or she throws up). This second pregnancy was probably more like a three, maybe a four, where there were some days that I wasn't up to doing much but lying around and I threw up a few times. Though this is what other people simply expect, this seemed pretty unpleasant since my expectations were that this would be another one/two (on this very scientific scale I've made up), like when I was pregnant the first time. The biggest problem I had with Pregnancy I was that I was very, very tired most of the time. By the end, my back was uncomfortable, but overall, I felt very little nausea, and if I ate often, then I felt almost like normal. Oh, and I had to use the bathroom a lot.

Pregnancy II has now become very much like that, actually, now that I'm in the second trimester. I think I may be less tired overall, so that's actually an improvement. So, as far as it goes, the first trimester was just slightly worse this time than last time, but it's now about the same.

I feel like I ought to be able to say more about it, but that seems to sum up my experience. I don't have the munchkin's baby book at hand so I can't say at what point I felt each of them. This week (18 weeks according to doctor), I've felt the baby moving and it's stronger than the fluttery movement I originally felt with the first pregnancy. I expect that with how strong it feels that Patrick will even be able to feel the baby soon.

In any case, I gotta go. Munchkin #1 is feeling deprived. See 18 week picture below. (Sorry for all the extra space around me. Should have cropped it, but didn't have time.)

Ah hem... Upon Request: Law School

It amuses me to have suggested posts from friends. It makes me feel that I need to work on my communication. It's useful, though, because now I know where to focus my energy.

Law School

The first year of law school is finished with the second semester now completed. How did it go? Well, it tends to take a month or so for grades to get posted. The two grades that were posted are above average and this makes us happy and hopeful. The ones that aren't posted were the classes that Patrick enjoyed less, was less interested in, and was more challenged by. However, I expect that he will probably get at least average marks in those as well, so it will be good overall.

Before going to law school, Patrick was advised to watch the movie The Paper Chase and was told that was what he should expect in the realm of competition, even if he wasn't going to Harvard. We found that was not really true. Professors mostly want to help and are interested in the students. This university at least tends to be (I suspect) about as family-friendly as any school ever will be short of BYU. The students are mostly respectful and kind to each other, even if they are in competition with each other. It seems that while you hope that other people overall will do poorly when compared with you, you hope specific people will do almost as well as you.

The thing that causes such great stress in law school, I think, is the fact that the entire grade rests on one test. Bad test day? No sleep last night? No excuse. That test is the end all where that class is concerned. Patrick thought, "No problem," because he is a great test taker, but these are essays and not multiple choice (which is his particular strength), so they are eight hours (for one test, that is) of grueling, stressful examination. What that means is, you have to learn to keep up on your reading and outlining throughout the semester so that when you get to the end of the semester you can just review what you already know pretty well and you don't have to learn everything anew and organize your notes for the first time in that last stressful week. I think really understanding how to study and prepare is what makes the first semester so hard -- you don't get the system until the second semester. Patrick, at least, certainly improved at his efficiency in studying and organization in the second semester.

Internships

Students in their first year across the United States are required not to begin submitting resumes for internships until December 1. I think this is to keep them as focused as possible during the first semester since they really do need all the help they can get trying to understand how it all works and get into the legal world. This is why we spent some of Christmas break at mingle events with two Milwaukee law firms. Though those didn't pan out, it certainly helped give us a final goal perhaps for the law firm itself and particularly for the environment and culture we most enjoyed for a law firm. So we found it valuable anyway.

For his internship this summer, my dear husband is interning with a professor. This involves mostly doing research for books/supplements the professor is working on. Patrick really likes this professor, is interested in this area of study, and he is very glad to be working for this professor. Plus, this internship has the advantage of being paid, not high-paid, but it is paid, and since many of them aren't we are grateful for some income for the summer.

The disadvantage to this type of internship is that it is not very true to what he will be doing as a lawyer. It is much more difficult to get into the research when it is not part of a problem-solving puzzle. In the future, when he is working with clients, he will research previous cases to make a case for what to expect in his particular case with that particular client. Here, he is researching cases, but it is more make making a list than doing any sort of puzzle. It worried me at first when he wasn't enthused about this research, but when he explained why that made sense to me and I do think there is hope that he will still love being a lawyer. Phew! I was getting nervous there for a little bit.

Conclusion

Hopes this helps satisfy your curiosity, Cami. Let me know if you're dying for even more details. I suspect that I overkilled on your question, anyway, but now you know. Welcome to the wonderful world of law school. I suspect it is not any more stressful than doing a master's in accounting, in reality, especially with the low-stress husband I've got going through the process.

May Day Post

Okay, it isn't "May Day," but it is a day in May, so whatever. As though I wasn't posting too little previously, I am warning you that my posting frequency is about to decrease. Why? Well, we have made the BIG decision to go without Internet connection. We had been "sharing" with our neighbors, helping pay their bill or paying it off with a little math tutoring (Patrick tutoring, not me -- don't you worry about that), but we (I, actually) decided that I was wasting time with it -- after all, Facebook only changes so often. Furthermore, I've realized that everybody I'm REALLY interested in hearing about regularly, I am in contact with in some other form than Facebook, so that's been an interesting discovery. Someday, I'll probably have the self-control to put this knowledge into action if we had the Internet, but I'm actually sort of enjoying my unwired, disconnected freedom, as long as I get the Internet about once a week (which I can do while picking Patrick up on campus and at a few other locations in the area) and Patrick checks my email while he's on campus.

My dad told me that when I told my parents we were going without Internet, they looked at each other and asked, "Can they do that? Is it possible to not have Internet?" Then they commented, "Well, what did we do? We didn't have the Internet either." Of course, that was about thirty years ago, back when they drew pictures on cave walls to communicate and, as it turns out, the world has gotten more wired since then, so they may have some cause for concern, but we're not completely disconnected, so it's working out okay.

Progress

So this month marks 4 years of marital bliss. We tend to plan pretty low key anniversaries (for example, we watched the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on our first anniversary and then went and played games with friends in the evening), so we are celebrating this Friday by going out to Subway and eating some Edward's cake (which I got with a coupon). Sometime in the next couple days, we also intend to watch the movie Fireproof which my oldest brother absolutely insists we must see. I'll let you know what I think. It's crazy to think that we've been married four years, but we're both loving it and we have a lot of fun together. I'm grateful to be married to such a good man.

This is also Patrick's birthday month. We've been saving our dating budget for wherever he wants to go out for his birthday. He is also anticipating a good birthday breakfast. (This made me think that for my birthday, I may try my hand at crepes for a birthday breakfast.)

Also, we've discovered that there's a recall on the munchkin's crib (a Simplicity drop-down crib). We are planning to return it and get a new crib and a toddler bed with the money. Too bad because we liked the crib pretty well. We were kind of reluctant to worry about returning it, but I would feel pretty stupid if some fatal disaster happened with my kid because I decided not to take advantage of the recall system. I'm pretty interested in the idea of a toddler bed and a little nervous too, but it will have a big advantage of me not having to lift him high into bed when I'm nine months pregnant, and I already am looking forward to that.

Finally, I have had an epiphany that I am pretty comfortable in the kitchen now. After only six years of living outside of my parents' house, I feel that I can handle dinner (and even making a mistake with dinner) without having a panic attack or breaking down into a tearful frenzy. This, I feel, is what is known as progress. That and the fact that I can bake bread (though I've only done it twice), bake banana oatmeal chocolate muffins, cook waffles or pancakes from scratch, and make whipped cream and frosting from scratch (which I'll honestly tell you I didn't even know was possible as a child). My long-term project is figuring out this couponing business so that I can get a grip on how to make it work for us (which is one of those things that could possibly be helped by regular Internet access, but oh well). My next project is learning about gardening. I'm not interested in pretty so much as practical gardening. I would love to grow things I can pick and bring inside and especially consume. My plan is to study about it this year and dig into it next summer. I have also joined a classics book club my friend started and I completed The Brothers Karamozov for the first book. It only took me three months.

Anyway, gotta go take care of the family (namely a whiney little critter carrying on behind me), but that's the latest with us in Virginia. Over and out.

Quick Update . . . and Big News

I have about two point five seconds to write before the boy needs my attention, but I thought I was behind since I have now been back home for about two weeks. I had a wonderful time with our families. I got much more time with Patrick's family than mine this trip. We went to the museum, the zoo, and the Betty Bryn Children's museum while I was there. We also went out to eat at Baker's Square, the Cheesecake Factory, and another place whose name I cannot remember. Thanks so much, both moms and dads for spoiling us and treating so so great!

And finally, another one to follow . . . a child that is. Yes, the stork is delivering to our family for the second time. I mentioned this on Facebook and mostly it's a little bit of old news to everyone now, but this should get the last of the people who might even be remotely interested. We are twelve weeks + now and due in November. I won't give the date because, well, I don't anticipate delivering on that date this time anyway. I just plan to be late, late, late this time. (Just wait, this time the kid will be early. Ah well. If we have a car seat by the time the kid comes, we're good to go, right?)

Right. So my time is completely gone. The boy is feeling neglected, but, yes, that's the news. More later. (Sorry, Kathleen, no pictures. But, yeah, I know you'll read it anyway 'cuz you love me.)

Meanwhile, Back on the Farm

The boy and I have made a trip to help out on the farm and visit both sets of grandparents. We look forward to seeing Patrick's parents soon, but so far we've had a pretty big animal-focus on this visit. Here's a glimpse of what my parents call "The Funny Farm."

The munchkin adores the cat. Though the cat looks chummy sitting in his stroller, she is actually not all that friendly with him. Of course, I think part of her charm is her elusiveness, so he continues adore her.

When boy meets miniature donkey. He didn't like the donkey too close, but he was pretty interested when there was a little space. This donkey (named Moses) is one sweet little guy.

Petting the donkey. (obviously)

Meeting Porthos (one of the three musketeers)

Male emu laying on eggs for eight weeks without eating.

Seems to me the female emu eats enough for two. Not that she's chunky; she's just seemed to have an appetite the whole time I've been here.

Miniature horse: Aramis.

My llama greeting committee. Have to let the other female emu out of her enclosure and into the pasture and the goats crowd me, but the llamas were quite polite, just curious.

Clancy the wallaby. A bit of a shy fellow, but fascinating. He's a male, so there is no pouch -- just thought I'd say that up front.

Asimov, the umbrella cockatoo, is one of the oldest animals on the farm-- oldest in terms of duration on the farm so far, that is. Of course, his life expectancy is 100, so he will inevitably out-live the rest of them too.

Isaac, the African Grey, arrived not long after Asimov. Cockatoos supposedly have the intelligence of a 2-3 year old human child and African Greys supposedly have the intelligence of a 5-year-old. He talks quite well in the things he says. His life expectancy is 50.

Abish the Toucan is fairly new. She is not the same kind as Toucan Sam; she is a smaller breed. You can't tell in this picture but she's very pretty and colorful. Toucans are not in the parrot family and a significant difference between them is that toucans have soft beaks whereas parrots could bite your finger off.

These are prairie dogs: Meschach and Shadrach.

Hope you enjoyed my little tour of the farm. As the weather gets nicer, I will need to get the munchkin in more pictures with the animals, but as it rained and then snowed recently I wasn't all that interested in taking him out into the muddy cold. More to come.

Spring and Easter

My boys at the Jamestown River

Our wonderful friend had us over for Easter egg dying. Here she's coloring with the boy.

The results of our egg dying efforts. This is not a very flattering picture of me, but I love everyone in the picture, so I still posted it.

I got our friend (with a yard) to have us over for an Easter egg hunt. He found one: success! All in all, I think he ended up with three total.

So, our Easter activities included egg dying, an Easter egg hunt/brunch before Saturday morning session, getting invited to share a delicious Easter lunch with some friends, and inviting some other friends to have Easter dinner with us. And around all those activities, Patrick and I went on a Friday night date and we attended all the sessions of General Conference at the church on Saturday and Sunday.

Some notes on Conference: First, it was amazing! Second, the munchkin really did great. Four two hour sessions is pretty intense. He slept through two of them, I think, and the other two he struggled by the end of them, but he did all right. I hope that this will get us started on a pattern that I want to keep up. Going to conference at the church is something Patrick and I both grew up doing. I don't think we typically went to all the sessions when we were this young, but we both want to do it with our kids because it's so important. Going to the church helps us be more reverent and focused than we would be if we watched it at home and hopefully it will help set the tone for our children, too, that this event is a church event. I know lots of families do conference lots of different ways, but I'm excited to be getting ourselves into our Conference tradition. I love traditions.

March is Changeable

How could anyone ever get upset at this little cherub?
(Spoiler: I'm about to admit that I've done it.)

Parenting Woes
This month, our weather had not been very consistent: a week of sunny warmth, followed by a week of rain, followed by a week of hot, hot sun -- or at least that's what the weather tells us to expect next week. This reflects fairly well the temperament of the little man, as well.

He was sick for about a week. I took him to the doctor yesterday and she gave us a breathing machine. Since having a child (one who is sick way too often especially), I have come to the realization that the medical field is overly enthusiastic about "fixing" things that probably ought to be left to themselves. For example, around six months, the kiddo got bronchialitis (or something) and they gave us a prescription to go get suctioned out at the hospital. We went once and it cleared him out really well. However, they advised us to come back every morning and every night! We thought that did not make financial sense and clearly it wasn't that effective if we were supposed to go that often. We weren't sorry to have gone once, but we thought their advice to come two times a day was ridiculous. Though I took the machine they gave us, I suspect it's a very similar device. If they would just tell me, "Hey, there isn't anything we can do. It's just going to take two weeks for this to pass," I would be okay with that. I just go to the doctor in case he does have something that can be fixed quickly with medication.

Anyway, the kiddo did seem to be healthier yesterday before we actually made it to his appointment, with just lingering wheeziness and coughing. However, he had an early dose of what must be the "Terrible Twos" and I HATED it! Sadly, this little phase has carried over to today. It involves hitting and biting and throwing tantrums to get his way. I am not certain how to deal with this. I sometimes lose my temper (because I don't like to be bitten) and I dislike feeling out of control. That's not to say that I've actually done anything serious, but I end up yelling at him and being rougher with him and I just recognize that all in all it is NOT effective. I feel ridiculous losing my temper with a child of this age, but gosh darn it, I admit that I do. What's a mother to do?! Normally, my little boy is so mellow, pleasant, and even obedient, so it always exhausts me when his temperament seems to change so suddenly.

Help put a smile back on my face with any advice you can muster-- PLEASE!

In Other News
There are a lot of other events going on in our lives in the upcoming future. This next weekend we are celebrating Easter, of course. I long for good traditions for holidays, especially Easter, which religiously-speaking is THE most important holiday of the year when you think about it. I'm not very good at doing them, but I absolutely love the idea of great traditions. I have a great friend who is amazing at doing holidays right. I would like to be more like her. Leading up to this Easter, we did our Family Home Evening lesson out of the Primary manual on Easter and talked about resurrection. Obviously, not a concept that the kid's going to quite get yet since he has no idea even about death, but I still felt pleased with ourselves for focusing on the religious meaning of Easter. We are also planning on sending him on an Easter egg hunt because, hey, it's fun. It's yet to be determined what the little plastic eggs will actually contain.

Also, we will be attending General Conference this weekend for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love General Conference. The leaders of our church speak with inspiration and power and give us simple, clear doctrines to live by. They teach us from the scriptures and they testify of Jesus Christ. We hear from a prophet, called of God, just as in olden days like Adam, Noah, or Isaiah. And we hear from apostles, just as Jesus Christ organized upon the earth when he lived here. We also hear from female leaders who direct the Relief Society, Young Womens program, and Primary (for children) of our church. These are some pretty incredible people. The more often I hear them, the more I love and admire them.

Then, soon after, the kiddo and I will be heading to visit the families in good ol' Wisconsin. I hate to be apart from Patrick and we have rarely been apart in the entirety of our marriage (about three days being the extent of it). However, another of our friends will be leaving her husband for a bit too, so the men-folk have plans to study for school and play Wii.

When we get back, I am hosting a baby shower for a friend. I am so lucky to have great people who are helping me pull it together. So we will have a pretty busy next month. I'm sure there will be updates to follow, although I recognize that I am slackerish about it lately.

Um... Goodbye, February

Before our mystery dinner date.

I have slacked off on posting recently. I don't have an internet connection during most of the day, so that's part of the reason. This is mostly an apology to my grandma, who I suspect is the person who cares the most.

Anyway, February has been a busy month for us. It's so short it just flies by! This month Patrick and I went on a date outside of our usual Friday-night date rotation. We went to a mystery dinner date that my mom got us tickets to for Christmas. We enjoyed the company at our table and loved going out together. And we also knew that the kiddo was in the best of hands with our friends Timi and Eddie.

I also baked my first loaves of bread ever. It was sort of on my "list of things to do before I die." I was at a Relief Society meeting at our church with two friends where a friend of mine was teaching us how to make homemade bread. I told the two friends at my table that I would like to learn to bake bread before I die, and one of my friends exclaimed, "Oh, Keegan, don't wait that long! Let's bake bread before March." And we got together and did it. So there's one thing off my list, and now I plan to do it pretty regularly.

The kiddo helping my friend mix her dough.

My dough before I split it in two, and two of my bread-baking buddies.

Also, the kiddo used his kiddy toilet. Both times it was a fluke, but that's the beginning of learning right? It's nice because he is interested in it and he has now used it successfully, so as he gains the control he needs, I'm hoping these experiences will help encourage him in the process. I haven't read anything about potty training, so I don't really know what I'm "supposed" to be doing, and I'm just making things up as I go along. I'll let you all know how that goes as we progress.

I also made a funny discovery this month. I am always eager to help people, but I have realized recently that it takes someone else to help me to help someone. A good deal of the time, the help people need requires that I find someone to watch the kiddo, so it has amused me to be eager to help and then to be in need of help myself. Seems a bit ironic. Fortunately, I have some awesome friends who are very supportive and tolerant of my enthusiasm even though it makes more work for them.

I have also gone for lots of walks. I have two friends who recently had babies and I have enjoyed going with them and remembering what a life-saver it was for me to go walking with my friend Libby when I was a new mom. Sometimes when I am waiting for my friends or on days that they don't make it, I just go to Colonial Williamsburg and watch the kiddo run around. It's great because there are often people there (but at this season it certainly isn't crowded), and cars aren't allowed on the streets, so it's a very open place to run around and there are lots of things to notice and talk about.

And now we are concluding the month with me being sick. I am staying home from church at this very moment because I feel lousy. I already took a nap and I expect Patrick and the kiddo home any minute. The great thing about being sick is that it has made me grateful for all the things I can normally do and all the help I get, especially from Patrick. He has been so patient this weekend and lent lots of extra help watching the kiddo so I could rest. This will be the first time Patrick has ever gone as a solo parent to church, I think. And we both know it is not an easy thing because the kiddo is on a sort of nap schedule now that involves sleeping right around the time church is starting, but I am so grateful that they both went so I could lay in bed for the morning and sleep, as well as the fact that it's the best place to be, of course.

That's my not-very-exciting update on our lives this month. Though it wasn't riddled with laughs and entertainment, you can be assured that we are doing well and feeling happy.

Dad and the boy at the top of the slide.

My two favorite people in the world!

Ode to a Smart Mama

When I first had my baby, my mom told me to talk to him and read to him from the start . . . all the time. She told a story about how she took me to a doctor at 18 months and I didn't make a sound while they drew my blood to check it because she had told me the whole way there and for days in advance what was going to happen. She testifies that I was so calm about the whole process because it was familiar by the time it happened. I knew what to expect so I wasn't afraid. Recently, when a friend commented on how much the kiddo understands, I realized, "Hey, it worked!" So this is my new message to new moms: talk to your kids all the time. Even if you feel like you are sick of talking to yourself (since that's what it feels like); even if you hate your own voice, talk to your kids.

What do you talk about? Well, one thing that helped me when I was a new mom is reading. I read children's books to him sometimes, but I was reading books to myself all the time. Our home teacher told us at one point that while his wife was reading, she often just read whatever she was reading to herself aloud to her baby (who was only a day older than our kiddo). Of course, this was only during the day since I wanted to settle him down in the evening and at night, but I did start reading aloud whatever I was reading a lot of the time. The idea is just to inundate the munchkin with language. Also, talk about body parts and the process of cooking an egg or how you fold laundry or what you're buying at the grocery store or what you see while going on a walk, really anything you have done, are doing, will do, have seen, are seeing, will see. Life has an abundance of things to notice, and talking to a child about all the new things for them to see helps us adults notice it too.

I'm not saying I'm an expert. I only have one child and he is not even a year and a half, but from my observations of kids they understand a lot more than adults realize a lot of times, and kids who are spoken to early and often understand even more. Just passing on the wisdom I got from a pretty smart cookie, namely my mom.

Here's some language for you, Mom: "Orange"
(Note: the kiddo turned the page too fast, but they had just been on the orange page.)

Hello, January

Poor December only got one measly little post. I wasn't completely lazy, however. In fact, I was packing and traveling and visiting and returning and unpacking and playing. I also was posting, actually, just not here. I have taken on an alter ego. You can see my darker, more self-absorbed more feathery side here: www.geefunnyfarm.blogspot.com. (You may be wondering, "Is it possible to have a more self-absorbed side when every post in this thing is about you, your family, and you?" Actually, I think I can say yes.) This alter ego blogging is in behalf of my mom's new business GEE Funny Farm. The business is in the birthing process, but when it's up and running, it's going to be wicked cool. I mean, how many places do you know of where you can go and to see a wallaby, llamas, horses, a miniature horse, parrots, a miniature donkey, and more?

This is a glimpse of the utter coolness of the Funny Farm.

Anyway, we had a fantastic Christmas. We loved seeing our families, in particular. We did not, as it turns out, fall deeply back in love with Wisconsin cold. In fact, we felt a little frosty towards it. My teenage self shudders at my wimpiness; my adult self is actually not all that concerned with approval, as it turns out. It was cold. Period. Our families were awesome, though. The kiddo was showered with attention. If he weren't so cool, he would be spoiled for life. Fortunately, he actually hasn't seemed too obsessed with keeping it up at home. Phew.

Above: Dad's side spoiling the munchkin.
Below: My side spoiling the munchkin.

After the family time, we spent one day with Daniel and Michelle in Michigan. They were so nice to us and tolerant of how we shifted their normal routine by arriving at 1:30 am and getting up to go at 5:30 am the next morning. We played games and caught up and just had such a nice time for the day we were there. And we were so happy to meet their newest addition and see their first addition who is speaking in complete sentences and even says, "I fell and broke down and cried." What two and a half-year-old says, "I broke down"? I love it!

After three weeks away, we were really, really glad to get home to our own space. Our little apartment seemed absolutely charming when we came back to it. Also, we made it back in time to celebrate birthdays with our friends Kathleen and Rachel. So that was an added bonus to our return. Now, Patrick's had his first day of the second semester and he has a better idea of what he needs to do to be successful. It's fun listening to him organize his time, especially since his plans include a walk with me everday. We went on a nice walk in CW (Colonial Williamsburg) today and it was so relaxing, I'm thrilled at the idea of keeping it up for an entire semester . . . and maybe longer. Life, my friends, is pretty stinkin' grand.

Me and my darn good lookin' husband before we went shmoozing law firms on the hunt for a summer internship.