Little Mommy

This is how Eden loves on her little sister (be still my heart...):

FOUR MONTHS!

Leah,

You are officially an infant. Nothing about you is "newborn" anymore. You are a full-on baby, and you're so perfect right now I can barely stand it! Your daddy and I keep knocking on wood that you stay so easy.

You so rarely cry. You occasionally get upset if it's past time to eat, or if you're tired and not in your bed, but you mostly just go with the flow, and smile and squeal and - lately - GIGGLE your way through the day! You love to sit in your exersaucer or your Bumbo seat, if you've got toys to keep you busy. You love to lie on your play mat, either on your tummy or on your back, and chew on anything you can reach.

You're consistently able to roll from your tummy to your back AND from your back to your tummy (just like your sister, you learned back to tummy first, and it would upset you when you'd find yourself on your tummy!). Over the last few days, you have started being able to sit for a few seconds by yourself, or "tripod" yourself for a few seconds (before you topple over head first!).

You think (other people) sneezing is HILARIOUS. You think fake sneezing is sort of funny, but real sneezing is HILARIOUS.

You love to be tickled, and you love it when we kiss your cheeks and neck and belly. I love to pretend to eat your jellyroll legs. Sometimes I can get some chuckles out of you for that. :)

Your FAVORITE thing, though, by far... is your sister. You always smile when you see her; you squeal when she looks at you; and you just love it when she gets down on the floor with you and plays. Just so you know, she loves you very much too. She loves helping Mommy and Daddy take care of you, she loves playing with you, she loves talking to you and telling you all about things she knows. It melts my heart to see that. I wanted so badly for you both to love each other, and I hope you continue to be close and loving sisters. There is no relationship in the world like between sisters.

You're the perfect baby. I want to freeze you here, but I know it keeps getting better. I'm just trying to be in every moment I have with this sweet baby-you. I love you so much, Leah, and I hope you always know just how cherished you are.

Love,
Mommy

Leaving Home

Some days it's just so hard to leave my house for work. Today, for instance. I had a dentist appointment for fillings at 8:45 so I had to go in late and my family had fully started their day by the time I was actually leaving for work.

As I was standing at the top of the stairs that lead down to our front door, Eden asked for an extra hug and a kiss. I complied, of course, and then she ran back into the living room and
I stood there surveying the scene. Bryan had started some music (Eden's favorite, according to him: Pete Yorn). Eden was twirling and dancing in a sweet purple gauzy summer dress. Bryan was sitting on the floor in front of the couch with Leah sitting on his lap, and they were both watching Eden twirl and smiling with their whole faces, dimples and everything (I couldn't see Bryan's, of course, because of the facial hair, but I knew they were in full force!) The windows were open, a soft breeze and sweet sunshine flowing in with the warm, 72-degree air.

It was such a perfect scene. I wanted nothing more in that moment than to freeze time, or to pretend it was Saturday and join the dance party with these three people I love more than i think my heart can even stand. My eyes filled up and it broke my heart but I turned around, choked out an "I love you guys! Be good!" and walked out.

Training Update

Training. Oh yeah. :)

My goal was to hit the gym 4 days/week, but with our crazy schedule, it just isn't happening. I am managing to make it at least once a week, and I'm doing well when I'm there, but it's difficult. Anyway, here's where things stand right now:

1. Running: I'm slacking on running because I hate it so much. I've gotten up to 2 miles but I'm really not motivated to do it again. Next time I hit the gym, though, I'm hitting the treadmill. And I'm going to try for 2.5.

2. Biking: Ever since I got my anniversary present, I refuse to work out on a stationary bike at the gym. It is SO much better riding outside. This past week was Bike to Work week or something and there was a convoy from the local bike shop to City Hall, and I joined in. Yep, I biked to work. I couldn't get Google Maps to cooperate to get the exact mileage, but my best educated guess is somewhere around 8-8.5 miles. So on Friday I biked 16-17 miles. And SURVIVED! :) I think I might start biking to work 1-2 days a week. Today I went to the bike shop and had the bike "fitted" and I bought clip-in pedals and cleats. I've only ridden home from the bike shop (about a mile or so) but I love them so far, and I think it's going to make commuting MUCH easier.

3. Swimming: last week I managed to swim the entire distance!! I didn't wear contacts so I couldn't see the clock and I think it made a huge difference. I wasn't pushing as hard, I was concentrating on getting breathing down, and I swam a whole 1/4 mile! ;) I know it's not that far, but I was excited to see that I can at least do the distance, and now I just have to build speed and endurance. And practice swimming in open water a bit.

The Big News

I've not said anything here because I am terrified of jinxing it, but I can't keep it in anymore. I'm too excited.

It was unexpected (as some of the best things in life are; see photo below for proof):
But it's exciting, nonetheless.

Folks, we're about to be homeowners. Yep. Team Thomason is moving its home base about a mile west. We're buying a townhouse-style condo here in our town. We got an amazing deal and managed to make the financing work with nothing down (it's complicated and the result of (1) a half-hour long conversation with one of my contacts at a local community bank full of "what if we..." and some really awesome creative legal thinking - it was so fun and (2) an awesome seller who was/is willing to work with us).

OK, so, we're scheduled to close on July 1, but we're probably moving before that so our landlord can get our apartment rented. I'm sad to be leaving this apartment. We've lived here for three years, we have amazing neighbors and an awesome commute, and BOTH OF MY BABIES CAME HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL TO THIS PLACE - BWAHAHAHA! - but we are so excited to be paying "rent" to ourselves. AND it won't be much more expensive than our current rent, even with taxes, condo fees, etc. Score. AND I'm saving a ton of money on attorney's fees by doing most of the work myself (rock on!).

Plus, the new place has a pool. :)

It's a two bedroom with a finished basement we'll be using as a third bedroom, and it's perfect for us. It's move-in ready, but we can still make some changes to make it ours. It's only got one major flaw (we'll need to replace the 50-year-old furnace) but given that we're getting such a great deal, we'll take it.

All that said, especially in my line of work, I understand that it's not done until it's done. So we're cautious. But we're SO EXCITED!!!!

So - want to come for a visit??

Our daily schedule

I always find these posts interesting on other people's blogs, and I love looking back on them on my own, so here's a summary of what my day looks like with a toddler, a baby, and a Biglaw job:

5:30 am - I wake up, feed babygirl (lying in bed, snoozing)

6:00 am - Leah sleeping peacefully in my bed, I nudge Bryan to keep a hand on her and I get up and shower, etc.

6:30-7:00 am - Eden gets up. We eat breakfast together (I stop what I'm doing getting ready and eat with her. I eat breakfast every day and she eats breakfast every day, and we both eat cereal 99% of the time, so I have made a priority to eat with her at the table. It's our girl time together and we often have our best conversations at this time.)

7:00-7:30 am - Eden watches a little TV, does her morning routine (hand massage, getting dressed, hair, teeth-brushing, etc.) Sometimes Bryan handles this, sometimes I handle it; it just depends on who has more time at the moment. (Usually it's Bryan).

7:30 am - I try to pump.* Sometimes I'm running late and end up missing this (which means that the first time I pump at work it's a little ridiculous...)

8:00 am - Out the door. Walk to bus, take bus to train, train to downtown, walk to work.

9:00 am - At work. [Yes, I get up at 5:30 am to make it to work at 9. This is crazy.] Bill as much as I can until

11:00 am - Pump. Sometimes I try to get some work done while pumping hands-free, but it's difficult because the room I use is on a different floor, there's setup and takedown time, and it doesn't actually take that long to physically pump. So I end up billing maybe .3 hours.

11:30 am - Back to work, eat lunch at my desk. Bill as much as I can until

3:00 pm - Pump again.

3:30 pm - Back to work, eat a snack. Bill as much as I can until

5:30-6:00 pm - Leave work. (I know, I am really blessed to be at a firm/in a group in which this is totally acceptable. And I'm not the only one doing it. In fact, if I'm there until 6:30 I'm often the last one to leave).

6:30-7:00 pm - Arrive home. Grab Leah from Bryan and feed her while Bryan and Eden have dinner (usually - sometimes Leah's schedule works out so that I can eat with them and then feed her).

7:30 pm - Eden takes a bath, Leah's playing. Then Eden's bedtime routine (hand massage, jammies, hair, teeth-brushing, etc). This is when I get some quality time with one or both kids. I either do Eden's routine or play with Leah (or both!), depending on the night. Bryan and I rotate who puts Eden to bed, based on the sleep consultant's recommendation, and it's kind of nice to have scheduled individual time. Usually at least once a week Bryan has something going on in the evenings so I end up putting them both to bed, but that hasn't been too much of a problem so far...

8:00 pm - Whoever is putting Eden to bed reads her 2 books, then we all read her Bible together and then pray as a family. (Eden always wants to pray for the same 4 people. So we do.) Usually at some point during this timeframe Leah goes to sleep as well. Her bedtime routine involves laying her in her bed. Much faster. She doesn't even really need a pacifier anymore except to show her she's tired. She spits it out and gets her thumb when she starts to get cozy in her bed.

8:30 pm - Both girls asleep. Hopefully. Time for relaxing, catching up with Bryan, etc.

9:00 pm - If both girls are really asleep, either log back in and work or watch DVR. Or Modern Family on DVD. (Why haven't we been watching that show all along? It is awesome.) Or just hang out and talk to my husband. You know, that guy that I had these two beautiful babies with? :)

(Love this picture so much - it's the background on my phone right now...)

It's a crazy crazy day, but it's also so amazing in almost every way and I wouldn't change it. Except maybe I'd spend more time at home and less time working, but who wouldn't? And, while I'm not married to my job for forever, for now it works for us and allows me to provide for my family in a way that pretty much no other job can. (That's my working mom mantra of the week).

Unsure...

I'm not sure how I feel about Osama bin Laden's death. Actually, I know I feel a little conflicted.

Mostly I feel shocked, stunned that someone who has had so much power over the psyche of this world for so long is no longer in it. I'm not sure what a post-bin Laden world looks like. Am I happy? That's complicated.

I feel relieved because his reign of terror is over.
I feel cynical because his followers will most likely just pick up the torch. And even more so because it is a reminder of the human condition apart from God - we are capable of terrible, terrible things.
I feel worried that this very event will spark backlash.

I feel glad because he was finally captured and is no longer capable of the mass destruction he caused, and hopeful that it will end even a little bit of the terror in the world today, even just in people's hearts, healing the victims of 9/11.
I feel sad that his life is over, because I believe all life is sacred and created by God (he was also knit together by God in his mother's womb), and knowing where he is now makes me uncomfortable rejoicing at his misery. I know that he caused misery for millions, but I'm not sure that makes me happy that he is in hell. Plus, as so many have pointed out, God does not rejoice in the death of anyone.

But part of me also is happy he's in hell. But I think that might be a tiny manifestation of the same part of me that makes humans capable of those terrible things he did.

I think I would have been a lot less conflicted, and almost entirely rejoicing, if he'd been captured alive. Out of the picture but not killed by human hands.

I know this is rambling but so is my brain. I've been having these conversations with myself for 36 hours now...