Michaela

On Sunday we took the girls to a park to play.  To get to the park you have to park in a gravel lot and walk down a path (a slight hill - not many big hills in these parts) to a lovely large park that not many know about (a/k/a "the secret park").  We were returning to the car and as per the norm Ava ran to the "top" of the path and Michaela dawdled.  She looks at rocks, sings to herself, etc.  She was going REALLY slow this time, and I said to her:  "Michaela.  Pick up the pace or I'll carry you."  She looked at me with her big blue eyes and innocently says, "I don't see the pace, mom." 

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Apparently I didn't feed Pete enough for dinner last night (pasta primavera, garlic bread, salad) because around 9:30 or so he made himself a few pancakes with pancake batter left over from that morning's breakfast.  The girls had been upstairs, getting ready for bed - Ava was already downstairs having her last pre-bed snack.  Michaela come downstairs - comes up to me in the office - puts her hand under her nose and says, "What do I smell?"  I said, "what" because I thought she was smelling her hand.  She repeated, "What do I smell?" and then "Whatever it is...I want some."  Too bad, daddy ate all the pancakes so she had to settle for cherrios.

Reinvention of Law

I do realize that I never posted about "law day."  The truth of the matter is that after 10 years of dreaming about being a lawyer, 3 years of law school, and almost 15 years of practice, I had never even HEARD of law day until I read about it on another post.  If it was a huge deal, wouldn't someone have mentioned it somewhere along the way?  I mean, at least Hallmark could have come up with a new greeting card.  Happy Law Day to my favorite lawyer.  Right, as if anyone has a "favorite" lawyer...well, except maybe my adoring husband and children.  The law is good.  It's important to have some law to maintain order.  God gave the first law - don't eat the forbidden fruit followed centuries later by the 10 commandments.  Those are some pretty basic laws.  Now we have laws about everything - when and where you can talk on your phone, how fast to drive, what you can and cannot say about certain topics, etc. Ignorance of the law is no defense, so if you did not know that in Sycamore, Illinois it is illegal to eat green m&m's within 10 feet of the courthouse that is just too bad for you.  Do I think there are too many laws?  Yes, but that's another story for another day.

Anyway, I don't quite know why, but when I was about 13 or so I decided that I wanted to be a lawyer.  I didn't know any lawyers.  I had no lawyers in my family.  None of my friends parents were lawyers.  I hadn't seen any "law" shows on tv.  (Which, by the way, is the WORST reason to go to law school.  Being a lawyer is absolutely nothing like what is portrayed on tv.)  I waivered occasionally,  but always returned to the dream of the law.  Then I went to law school.  I loved the reading and writing...hated the brutal socratic method...loved essay exams...despised multiple choice.  Hated property class since our "teacher" couldn't teach her way out of a hole.  What "they" don't tell you before starting law school is that once you get past the first year, you are pretty much stuck. You are in debt enough that only a career as a lawyer will be able to pay back the monstrous loans that are fastly accruing.  Well, theoretically anyway.  Another delusion of "non-lawyers":  all lawyers are rich.  SO untrue.  The only lawyers that are "rich" are the ones who are stuck in the law library of some big law firm doing menial research any first year student could do...and doing it 100+ hours per week.  I have never been one of those "rich" lawyers.  My friend Colleen's mom used to say, "Colleen, you are the poorest lawyer I know."  That's more of the reality for most lawyers.

My delusion with the law is that somehow I could mesh lawyering with mothering.  How did I know that lawyers don't like women with children trying to be lawyers.  Oh it's all well and good if you can go to work and pretend you don't have any kids for 10 hours  a day(this, of course, does not apply to male attorneys who can populate the earth without a thought or concern for their job).  But for me, that's pretty much an impossibility as I discovered after I tried to return to work after baby #1.   I had a somewhat decent gig for a while after that, but that is now just not happening.  I can't commute 3 of the 5 hours I have a babysitter just to get some work that I'm getting sort-of paid for.  Nor can I jump back into a firm because now I'm not a "partner" as anyone out of school for 15 years "should" be.  I don't have $1million of transportable business either, so   scratch that.  I also did that daily grind for a really long time, and it just does not interest me.  I LIKE working in my home office in my comfy clothes listening to my girls playing or reading in another room.  I LIKE getting up at 5 or staying up until midnight to work so that I can spend time with them during the day.  I'm pretty good at it, and I get a lot done.  I'm also pretty good at being a lawyer even though it's not my most favorite thing at the moment.

So, now I find myself in the position of reinventing myself and my career.  I have to work - if I didn't I'd be the happiest woman in West Dundee, Illinois.  I've incorporated myself (Stikovich Legal Counsel, LLC) to allow myself to do a variety of different things - counsel corporations, represent corporations, participate in arbitrations are just a few things I'll be doing.  But, I've got to think of some other "stuff" to pay the bills.  My undergrad degree is in writing (which I love - especially of the technical variety).  So it would be great to freelance somehow....

And going back to "law day" just one final note - not all lawyer are bad, crooks, liars, cheats, etc.  In fact, most lawyers are just the opposite.  Just like there's "bad seed" in banks, hospitals, corporations, there are bad lawyers.  And just because you lose a case does not mean the lawyer is crooked or bribing the judge.  If
you are accused of a crime - the prosecution probably has some evidence because if not the judge would throw it out.  If the judge rules against you, it's not because the prosecution paid him/her off (prosecutors are the poorest of the poor lawyers, so they would not have the money....) And one more thought - if you ever do find yourself embroiled in a lawsuit, it will NOT be resolved in 40 minutes like you see in tv.  It will take years.  Yes, years.  Usually at least 3 - sometimes more.  Just don't be surprised.

Maybe I'll start a "Love your Lawyer on Law Day" line for Hallmark.....

Ava:  "Mom, have I ever had the chicken pox?"

Me:  "No.  You had a shot, so you probably will not get them."

Ava:  "Well, Josh has not had the chicken pox.  Miss Jilly had the chicken pox, so did Miss Jacki.  Cami Koo-Koo has not had the chicken pox.  She must have had vaseline."

{Miss Jacki = the girls sitter; Miss Jilly = Miss Jacki's daughter; Cami Koo-Koo = Miss Jilly's daughter; Josh = Miss Jacki's teenage son.}

Interrogation

I am a lawyer.  I ask questions for a living.  I know that most 3 and 4 year olds can ask more questions in a day than an attorney asks in 5 years. (I am also a walking dictionary, but that is another post for another day.)  I am in the third year of answering questions.  Ava likes to talk.  She starts as soon as she gets up in the morning and does not stop until she falls asleep.  Sometimes she even talks in her sleep.  I guess she has a lot to say.  {My sister says it's payback because I talk a lot...anyone talks a lot compared to my sister.}  So, putting together the questions with the non-stop talking, you can pretty much guess how my day goes. I must also add that Ava begins EVERY question with "Mom..." or "Mom...mom...momma...."  or "Mom...can I ask you something?"  She says "Mom" at least 1000 times per day.  If she hasn't met her quota, around 8 p.m. or so she starts saying it a bunch of times in a row..."Mommy, mom, momma..." I also have to say "What?" or she repeats the "mom, etc." Here is a sampling of questions asked over the last few days:

• When are you going to be 60?
• When were you 16?
• Why can we only breath on earth?
• How many planets are there? Me:  9 Her:  Well, Olivia says there are 8. A discussion of poor planet Pluto ensues.  (She knows how many planets there are.  This was a question to trick me, or just "filler."  "Filler" is repeat questions when she doesn't have a new one or nothing pressing to say.)
• What's the tallest mountain?
• What's the smallest hill?
• Why doesn't Jill-Jill have germs?  (Jill-Jill = Auntie Jill.  Ava made up the name "Jill-Jill" when she was about 1, and now that's what most of the nieces/nephews call her.)
• Does God have germs?
• Do Satan and his angels live in a lower part of heaven?
• Why did angels go with Satan?
• Is Satan a snake?
• Why is Satan invisible?
• Can we take a rocket to Neptune?
• Is Jeni's baby coming out of "here" [pointing to the v-j-j]?  Me:  Yes, she will push out the baby.  Her:  You mean like this [grunting ensues].  Jeni = Auntie Jen  Side-note - about a year ago, Ava was asking how babies "get out."  I gave her an answer that I thought appropriate for a 3 y.o., but she did not accept it. "No, really.   How?"  So, I had her call Jill-Jill (a certified nurse midwife), who explained it with medical precision.
• Does God have a body?
• What does 'yoy' spell?
• What does 'ajlkemi' spell?
• Why are my eyes grey?
• Why do earthworms live in the mud?
• What would I do if I were an octopus?
• Do you know what the biggest number is?  30569!
• Will you be dead when you are 100? 
• When I grow up and go to court, will you drive me?  I will sit in the back in the middle seat.  Will you drive me to Costco, too?
• Are there spiders in the Maui Rainforest?
• Do you think that black spider is still under the couch?
• Do all spiders bite?  Do the spiders in the Maui Rainforest bite? Do tarantulas bite?
• and the list goes on....
 

Yesterday she took a nap (she doesn't nap anymore, although the 2 hours of peace is enjoyable, the late night is not), so she didn't go to sleep until almost 11.  She woke up at 12:30 to go potty - in our bathroom of course.  After advising me that she was not going to flush the toilet, she says, "Did you know that there are 4 planets with rings?"  And then I spent the next 1 1/2 hrs lying in bed trying to remember which planets actually had rings....on to the next day.

Coming tomorrow:  my tribute to law day. 

 

Beautiful second daughter

If I wouldn't have seen her come out of me with my own eyes...I would never believe she's mine (from looking at her, at least). :)  She's been saying to me, "I'm not a baby.  I'm a girl."  Sorry, but you'll always be my baby.  (That is, unless her father changes his mind. . . .)

No more ringing in my ears

God does sometimes like to bless us with "non-essentials."  I am SO excited that we finally have a new tv!  It doesn't even weigh 300 pounds like our former tv.  Nor does it have a high pitched ringing that started a few weeks back.  The only person more excited than me is my boy.  He's spent the last day scanning for basketball so he could watch it in HD.  Yes, we finally have an HD tv - flat screen. 

The ringing started a few weeks ago - seriously.  It gave me numerous headaches (and, no, our tv is not on all the time).  I was thinking that maybe we'd use a little of our tax refund to get a small tv until we could afford a big one with all the bells and whistles that my boy dream[ed] of having.  Adding to the mix is the fact that our awesome cable/tv/phone package expires in a few weeks, so we either had to convince our current company to give us something equally outstanding or go elsewhere.  I ended up in a "chat" with a customer service rep from a company that provides all three.  He didn't know what hit him.  (This is why I love the on-line "chat."  Take your time - can do it with kids screaming - can go to the bathroom if needed.)  After 2 hours I had obtained new service AND a HUGE Visa reward card!  Enough for a grand tv.  Now, to make this even better, my boy (who had begun researching tvs before "v" even came out of my mouth when I mentioned the possibility that we may be able to get a really little new one) went to Costco to "get gas" during the cousin sleepover (more on that later).  While "getting gas" he happened to see some tvs.  Uh-oh....Costco accidentally put the wrong price on a really big tv. Not just a big tv (according to Michaela it's a "big huge tv," which is what she calls it), it has the really cool stuff he was looking for...the best pixels, the best screen, the best remote. (Well, just kidding on that last part.)  So, our new tv is courtesy of Costco and our new cable/tv/internet provider.  And, I thank God for blessing us with this because...well, He knows why.

Party at The Cozy House

I recently stumbled across this blog party - looks like fun and a great way to find new blogs and new readers!

I am Amy, and I am a stay-at-home-mommy-part-time-lawyer.  I have been married to my awesome husband for almost 6 years years.  We have 2 girls ages 2 and 4.  We like to do a lot of things, but most of all, we like to be COZY.  Hence, the name of my blog.  The girls love jammies, and they typically ask to change into jammies around 10 a.m. each day.  Since I myself am a lover of all things cozy, I happily oblige...within reason.

I blog about a lot of different things - mostly tales of my girls.   My 4 year old is quite verbose and says some pretty hilarious things.  Check out the tale of Chicktable. Since I love to read (and recently discovered that I can get books for FREE to review), I'll be doing book reviews - fiction, non-fiction, kids books, Christian books, cook books, etc.  I also occasionally blog about homeschooling, which will greatly increase since we start Kindergarten curriculum in the fall.  I'm sure it will be an interesting adventure. 

Prizes I would LOVE:

Toshiba Laptop (grand prize)
hand-stamped necklace (US6)
Goodie Basket for mom (US18)

I know there are a lot more great prizes, but it's happy-nappy time, so I must go.