random, tired report

I billed 13 hours yesterday, even with attending an adorable in-class bridal shower in the morning for Landon's daycare teacher, taking a summer associate to a non-billable lunch, and leaving work early to pick up a feverish Clairebear who could NOT have picked a worse day to get sick.  And then, in a virtual version of failing to knock-on-wood after my last post, I did not get to tuck my babies in to bed (and thus I did not feel lucky, at peace, or warm in my heart; in fact, I felt quite the opposite by the time I went to go to bed at 2:15).  But even though all I wanted to do was sit on the couch with my sick, snuggly baby, I forced myself back to work after dinner to write a brief that was due in the morning.  I had a lot of case law research to do for it and I just can't read long IP cases on my tiny laptop screen.  It's a little freaky to be at my isolated office building at night, but I was very brave and pushed through the creepiness of being the only light on for what felt like miles. I finished around 2, right when Austin FINALLY got some rain via a very noisy thunderstorm.  And even though it kept me from falling asleep until almost 3, I was still more happy for the desperately needed rain than I was stressed about my impending a.m. exhaustion.  Though when my alarm went off at 6:30 this morning, I was a little less pleased with the precipitation...

Due to Claire's mysterious 2 hour illness that consisted of a relatively high fever and nothing else, I arranged for a nanny to come to the house in the morning.  When I called the firm's back-up service (the best perk we have, by far), I told them to be at the house by 7:30 a.m., still thinking I'd be getting enough sleep to go to work early.  I didn't, but the threat of the nanny knocking on the door while I was still in pj's got me out of bed to throw on some grey lightweight tweed pants, a cuffed men's style white dress shirt, black platform pumps, opted for glasses, and threw my hair in a wet messy bun.  I thought I was slumming it, but my co-worker told me I looked like a sexy, nerdy superhero's girlfriend.  I love her.  Then our extraordinarily obnoxious opposing counsel, who filed THREE more motions between 11 pm last night and 1 am this morning while I was drafting our response to their last motion, called me "vituperative" on a meet and confer conference call.  According to Google, this means I am "bitter and abusive" which, while new for me, is probably a badge of honor when dealing with these people.

So, work, it's crazy.  I keep telling myself it's a compliment to be the busiest person in my section (and it is) but I'm not sure how much longer I can keep it up.  I miss my couch, I haven't responded to a personal email in over a week (sorry to everyone who's sent me one), I can't leave comments on blog posts (though I do still read them!), and I'm just so tired.  Luckily Claire is completely cured- no idea what the fever was about, though I suspect teeth.  She heads back to daycare tomorrow which is good because Landon's teachers and Claire's teachers all commented on how concerned Landon was that she wasn't in the building.  He wasn't jealous she was at home or anything, he just didn't like that he couldn't visit her.  I haven't yet told him that this future land of "kindergarten" that he talks about incessantly will not include a Clairebear.  I designed the invitations for his "Breakfast with Batman" birthday party during a midnight break from my work last night- it's going to be so awesome!  I also read an article about how the Texas drought has eliminated wild birds' drinking water, so everyone should buy bird baths, and now I wonder about the birds I see around our neighborhood and worry that they're thirsty.  JP is good, though also super busy.  He likes his job, and really likes his boss and co-workers, but his work is pretty demanding- he's typing away on his work laptop across the table from me as I write this post (and wait for comments on another brief).  He's home for dinner every night, but he's seeing the kids for half the amount of time he used to and he misses them like crazy. 

So, the adjustment is still ongoing.  We did have a wonderful weekend we did do a much better job of preparing for the week.  Lots of food was prepped and prepared, so we've had healthy and delicious family dinners every night this week.  That's something right?

Sigh, back to work.