Day 1383: Twenty-nine weeks and counting
Check-in:
Spirituality! So much better this week. I think I have come to terms with not being able to do super rigorous practice every day but still making what practice I do meaningful. I've been better about praying - poor Dingo continues to be my prayer buddy, but that's at least a solid minute of guaranteed pets for him, so there you go. Also I started meditating again. Someone recommended a nice meditation app that's also got a built-in mood tracker. I like that feature because I am pretty nervous about postpartum depression, and I hope the tracker will keep me self-aware.
Fitness! I...am slower than ever. For reals. I managed to hustle...one time? Otherwise everything goes at a slow waddle. I'm pretty good about taking the stairs at the courthouse still, but I am slow. The other day my husband looked at me and said, "It's still you...but like with a beach ball under your shirt."
Tidiness! My husband continues to be better at deep cleaning while I am the maintenance tidier. We shall see how that goes. Apparently having dogs will be a boon down the road when we're getting our kid on solid foods and half of it ends up on the floor. The dogs will clean it up for us. I didn't get any packing done this week like I'd hoped, but oh well.
The good:
I rocked writing that legal brief this week. I was annoyed when that parental defender not only asked for time above and beyond the statutory limits to write his brief but to SHORTEN the response time the prosecutor and I would have, and then he basically did mini oral argument when he made his motion, but...I got the entire thing done by Thursday. I ran it past my intern (thus saving my fic betas the horror of reading yet more legal writing) and also past the prosecutor (since she did the last round of stupid briefing put upon us in this same case by the same parental defender) and they both agreed it was good, so I sent it to my paralegal...with instructions to file it on day 14 (which is the very last day to respond haha).
I went to training for staying certified for the family drug court team. It was nice to be indoors and off the roads when it was snowing so fiercely. The snow was coming down so hard it wasn't snowflakes anymore - it was little slushy snowballs. Also instead of giving us those lame box lunches, they gave us vouchers to use at the university food court, so I had Panda Express for the first time in forever, which was awesome. Any money left over from the voucher we could donate to the children's hospital. I also stopped by the campus ice cream parlor and got a "single scoop" of delicious ice cream. It was amazing. Apparently a "single scoop" is two scoops and a "double scoop" is six scoops. The ice cream was delicious and also the girl serving me made sure to fill the cone as well as give me a massive double scoop. Baby was very pleased. The keynote speaker was amazing. Hearing stories about recovery always gives me hope. The speaker who talked about social media and its effects on teen brains was fascinating (but what she had to say about social media and video games and smartphones and their effects on kid brains was horrifying and thus solidified my desire to only ever let my kid have a dumb phone till she can pay for a smartphone herself). I learned a lot, and also I got to sit with caseworkers I like, so that was fun.
Cody and I went to my bio uncle's birthday party on Saturday, which was awesome. My aunt said she'd been cooking since Wednesday, and when we showed up, a full Filipino buffet was ready to go. Half of the people there were people we didn't know or had only seen once before - at my uncle's birthday party last year - but they were super friendly (even if they kept forgetting that I only speak English). The food was amazing and also I got to meet one of my bio cousins! He flew in for his dad's birthday, and we sat around talking about traveling, video games, and K-pop (an affinity for which my husband is now convinced runs in the family). Overall, we had an awesome time, and it was really good.
We also had dinner with our sweet elderly neighbor again - made taco meat, took it plus a bunch of taco fixings next door, and had a meal and a good conversation. Cody asked for some advice about being a first-time parent, and also we just talked about...things. Our neighbor grew up in a town just beside my husband's hometown (with about a 50-year difference, but oh well), and they have a lot in common. He's such a nice old man, and I'm going to miss him when we're gone.
The bad:
Work continues to be...endlessly aggravating. Once again I had a parent try to argue with me about drug test results. Being married to a scientist who knows how to run the kind of instrument that's used to analyze drug test results has helped me avoid a lot of BS people try to pull. Many drug addicts manage to be amateur pharmacologists, but none of them have managed to be amateur GCMS techs. Also crazy grandparents continue to be the bane of my existence. Sitting around listening to other people rehash long-standing family grudges over and over again is only slightly less annoying than sitting around listening to other people blame me for their life's problems. I am SO READY to quit. So ready.
On the other hand, I have heard who's taking over my caseload, so I've started telling people with glee.
Two of the parental defenders continue to be annoying as all get-out, and I am secretly pleased that the attorney taking my caseload is one who is generally feared, because she will put them in their places. For reals.
That glucose test was lame. I had to fast for twelve hours beforehand, then get my blood drawn, then drink that gross sugary drink, then sit around for three more hours without any further sustenance besides the occasional drink of water, and then get my blood drawn on the hour every hour for four total pokes. Granted, once I'd had the sugary drink I had the oomph to get some work done, including that legal brief and some studying, so that was good, and once the test was done I could get food, but I was still kinda sluggish and grumpy for the rest of the day. Also, the see-sawing weather has not been helping me feel good, but oh well.
Dingo continues to be a menace to society. He hopped the fence in under two minutes when I let him out to do his business the other day. Luckily Ivy alerted me to his escape so Cody and I chased him down. One of the houses down the street has a cat, and Dingo likes to hang around there, so I caught up to him and put a leash on him and got him home, but now he has to be supervised pretty much any time he's outside lest he make a break for it. We need to repair the radio system for his collar, but the weather hasn't been nice enough when we're home for it to happen.
Cody has been suuuuuuper stressed out about his dissertation defense. I've gone to the lab with him a bunch of times to just keep him company while he prepares his powerpoint presentation or to listen to him rehearse or to help him clean up his slides (like helping his colorblind self pick out colors). He's rehearsed it a bunch of times, we've talked a bunch of times about the kind of snacks I should bring (his labmates have a bunch of dietary restrictions, either due to health or religious reasons), and he's called people and told them the plans for it. He can only rehearse it so many times (to make sure he stays in his time limits) before his voice gives out, so he has to be careful. I am very worried about him, because I know he hasn't been sleeping well (and of course he's also kinda cranky when he's stressed).
But...this week will be okay. We've got this. Cody defends tomorrow, and we'll go to dinner with our parents after, and I plan on having lunch with friends on Tuesday, and going to a concert with another friend on Thursday night, and then taking Friday off since I get a random day off for having worked with the office for five years. So this week will be okay, for reals.
I hope.
Here goes!