In Good Company

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Everyone take one big deep breath and let it out slowly. Now, go watch some mindless TV or bake cookies - or both, preferably baking the cookies first so you can eat them while watching TV. Even better, find a giggly one year old you can borrow for an hour. You and your baby friend can fret over the Runaway Bunny and then bang plastic blocks on the tile floor and laugh at the loud sound it makes. Then go home, fill a glass with crushed ice and diet coke (or hard liquor, your call) and continue on with your studies. You will be fine. We will all be fine.

Texas Bar Exam Primer

There are a lot of non-law people around me who don't know much about this exam that has taken over my life (or should be taking over my life, but as I sit here watching So You Think You Can Dance with plans to watch the premiere of Project Runway Season 5, it's um, not). I actually graduated law school without knowing what was on the Bar, and I was several lectures into my review course (that's what barbri is - the big monopoly of a review course for the Bar, like Kaplan and Princeton for the MCAT or LSAT) before I knew the MBE was multiple choice. So for those of you living in blissful ignorance of what this horrible exam entails, here's a little Texas Bar primer* for you:

The Bar is given twice a year in every state (July and February) and lasts from 2-3 days. This summer's Texas Bar is 2 1/2 days on July 29-31. In general you must take the state's bar in which you want to practice. Some states have reciprocity with others (they accept other state's bar exam scores) but most only allow that if you've practiced for a certain number of years in the state which you originally sat for the exam. Washington, D.C. has the most liberal reciprocity rules and will accept any other state's bar exam immediately after you take it (assuming you pass of course). All this is why we are not leaving Texas for at least 5 years and even then we're only going somewhere with reciprocity. I refuse to take this exam again. Unless we can move to Colorado. I suppose I'd retake it if I could live near ski slopes, but it would be a close call. After all, that's what vacation homes are for.

Texas Day 1 consists of two 90-minute morning sessions. The MPT is the Multistate Performance Test. According to the TBE website it is "designed to test your ability to use fundamental lawyering skills in a realistic situation" (yeah, super realistic, you usually only have 90 minutes to start and finish a memo and you always get exactly the cases and statutes you need from the assigning partner). Anyway, you get an exam booklet with a File consisting of an "assignment" for an attorney, client, or judge and a Library with cases, statutes, memos, and anything else you may need to research and write the assignment. There will be stuff you don't need, of course, and it's up to you to figure out how to structure and phrase your work product, keeping in mind the particular audience you are given. It's pretty much like the first thing you had to do in your law school writing class and I'm ignoring it until maybe the day before. The MPT is 10% of your overall score.

The second part of day one is the Texas Procedure and Evidence Exam, which consists of two, 20-question short-answer booklets- one for Texas Criminal Procedure and Evidence and one for Texas Civil Procedure and Evidence. They are a combined 10% of your grade. Both will have a fact pattern that will take you through the initial filing of a criminal and civil case and ask you questions along the way - what motion should be filed (and where, when, etc), should this evidence be admitted, is jurisdiction proper, what should the judge say, what's the appeals process, etc. Even though you have like 90 seconds per 5-line fill-in the blank question, they all say "explain fully" so that should be fun. Despite my fear of facing questions I have NO idea how to answer, I'm also ignoring this part of the Bar. It's the only area where Civil Procedure is tested and that is such a complex subject that it's not worth the effort for only 5% of my grade. I did spend some time on Texas Crim Pro and Evidence rules so I'm hoping I'll remember enough Civ Pro from 1L year to not leave anything blank.

Day Two consists of 6 fun-filled hours of multiple choice questions. It's the MBE or Multistate Bar Examination and it makes up 40% of your grade. It covers the federal and common law of Contracts and Sales (including UCC Article 2 for the sale of goods), Real Property, Torts, Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure (Modern Penal Code and common law crimes), Constitutional Law, and Evidence. This is all I've studied so far. I've dedicated 1 day to each topic and just got a 67 on my first real practice test since the workshop. That's what I need to pass (kind off, all your scores are given their appropriate weight and added together, if you're above a certain number you pass, so there is no "minimum" score on any section), so it's time to force myself to move on. The hardest thing about the MBE is the questions are absolutely ridiculous. You are never tested on the law- you are tested on the exception to the exception to the exclusion and often are told to pick the "best" answer, which means all of them suck and you get to choose the one that sucks the least- and all the while you want to yell, "I know the freaking rule, and all the exceptions, can't I just write them down for you?!!". But you do get to bring in your own special #2 pencil and I already have mine carefully selected from the firm's supply closet. Sometimes it's the little things that keep you going.

Day 3 is the Texas Essay Examination- 12 of them over 6 hours for another 40% of your grade. You can type or hand write this section, and I of course will have my computer. I wrote Landon's birthday thank you notes the other day and my hand crumpled into itself and went on strike by the end - there were only 7 and I wasn't exactly writing novels. The topics to be tested include: Bankruptcy, Business Associations (agency, corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, professional associations), Consumer Law, Family Law, Community Property, Real Property, Oil & Gas, Trusts & Guardianships, Secured Transactions, Commercial Paper, Wills & Estate Administration, and Tax (income, gift). You have 30 minutes per essay and many of the topics will be tested together (like bankruptcy and tax mixed into family law or business associations). I fear this section the most because almost all of these topics are completely new to me and I'm terrified of reading a question and having nothing to write down. At least with the MBE you can pick a letter and be done with it. You'd think this fear would have me working hard, but no, I haven't done anything for these topics. I'm starting tomorrow bright and early on agency and partnerships. Hopefully my tired little brain has room for all the information I'm going to try to cram into it over the next 12 days (note to self: more topics than days left before the Bar, holy crap, why am I watching Bravo?)

So that's it. We get our scores sometime in November so I'll start work not knowing if I passed (there's of course certain lawyerish things you can't do until you find out you've passed). I think I'm still in denial over the whole thing. I spent a lovely few hours this evening playing with Landon and pushing him around in his new cozy coupe. We're also knee-deep in dog research and are traveling to San Antonio on Saturday to possibly adopt this dog. I know, I know, this is so NOT the time to do that, but how can you look at that face and not want to bring her home immediately? Once you start looking at doggie profiles online it's very hard to stop- in three days I've lost hours of study time, but I'm rescuing an animal here. It's a higher calling. Although if I don't pass this exam, I won't be able to keep our newly rescued pup in the lifestyle in which he or she will become accustomed.

If my dad is reading this and freaking out about my lack of preparation, don't worry. I really am dedicating many hours a day to this thing. My brain needs breaks, especially breaks filled with a certain giggling 1-year old, and I'm sure our new dog will help me study. I'll get it done. I think. I hope. If I have to do this again I will cry, a lot, and no one wants that to happen- especially not me.

*do you pronounce that "primmer" or "prymer"? My Sexual Orientation and the Law professor said "primmer" and as much as I loved him and the fact that one day he left his cell phone on during class because he was waiting for an important call from the vet about his cat, and it rang proudly with a Cyndi Lauper song (could a sentence have more gayness in it?), I'm still not sure he was saying it correctly.

Happy Birthday Landon!

Dear Landon,

Today you've been with us for one year. From the moment you were born (4 weeks early) you showed us that planning and predictability were a thing of the past. You've taught us so much already- how to laugh through stress, exhaustion, and fear, how to love each other through anything, and how to soak up the little moments in life. I'm never going to pretend like our first year with you was easy, but there was a lot of happiness in there too: the night you started getting better in the NICU, the day we took you home from the hospital, your first smiles, your first noises, how nuts you'd get when we turned on your mobile, your newborn snuggles, your special smiles for clocks, your obvious pride when you finally rolled over, the first time you figured out you could chase Lilly, splashing in the tub, and so many other memories that make me smile.

Now at 12 months you love your Lilly cat, walker wagon, books (well chewing on them anyway), chewy bath toys, and anything that makes a crinkly sound. You love to carry something in your hand while you crawl and especially like to bring your blocks over to the hard tile to make loud noises while you bang them on the floor. You've discovered stairs and crawl up them so fast and then wait patiently at the top for us to find you. You and your dad have growling contests and it's one of the funniest things I've ever heard- it's apparently a manly bonding ritual. You like to help your dad with all power tool activities and you love to play with my hair products from the cabinet under the sink. You're turning into a pretty good eater and prefer mac and cheese, spaghettios, yogurt, watermelon and apple pieces. You recently discovered the fun noise pasta makes when you squish it in your fists, so now at dinner you place a noodle in each hand and squish them while I shovel noodles into your mouth with a spoon. It's working pretty well and you seem pleased with all the squishing that goes on. You have such a personality and funny expressive faces, you keep your daddy and me laughing even when you're also making us very, very tired. The best part of my day is when you two come wake me up- your daddy launches you onto the bed and you crawl over the mounds of blankets with a giant smile trying to find me, and then we all snuggle.

We love you so much, happy birthday big man!

Love,
mommy

A Bar-Free Celebration

We enjoyed a nice visit from my parents this weekend. They arrived Saturday morning, eyes swollen, having driven straight from putting Molly to sleep at the vet. My brother and his girlfriend rode with them, my sister drove over from San Marcos, and everyone arrived at the Lag Liv house around 2. We had a group cry and hug over our beloved dog but felt surprisingly at peace with what happened. Even to the end she made things easy for us, it was so obvious it was time for her to go.

The boys unloaded our furniture from the U-Haul. We're now the proud owners of my parent's beautiful old kitchen table and chairs, a solid oak hutch and side board (now we can finally unpack the 12 place settings of china that have waited patiently in their boxes since the wedding!), and two twin beds for an empty guest room (that will someday be Landon's room). We decorated the back deck with my $10 of carefully selected party supplies from Target and enjoyed a cookout with hot dogs, pasta salad, coleslaw, baked beans, and fresh watermelon. Landon enjoyed all the attention and spent much of his time crawling back and forth across the wood deck. We made him a little high chair birthday boy throne and as you can see, he approved:

After dinner Landon got his own wee "baby cake" (HEB throws one in free if you order a 1/4 sheet cake), and while it was probably the cutest thing I've ever seen he was completely unimpressed with the sugary goodness. He did however LOVE the fresh watermelon so he went to town chewing on that while my dad rubbed icing on his face for the proper "first birthday" effect.

He was such a mess that we stripped him down, put him in the grass, and hosed him off. He adores water and considered this to be a special part of teh birthday celebration. Unfortunately the icing had a lot of dye so despite all our efforts to clean him off, he had a blue nose until this morning.

After cake we opened presents. Landon made out very well with a big Radio Flyer red wagon from my parents, a Little Tikes cozy coupe from his godparents, a lawn mower from his dad so he can help with the yard work, a Mr. Chatter telephone from his chatty mama, clothes, books, a little tikes piano, and bath toys from his other assorted admirers. He already loves being pushed around in the big wagon and cozy coupe, and I'm so glad he got such classic, sturdy, non-battery operated toys.

It ended up being a very nice day and I'm glad we had an official party. His real birthday is tomorrow and we head to our new pediatrician's office at 8:30 AM for his 12 month check-up. We haven't been to our spoken with a doctor in over 3 months!! That's a personal best for the Landon and it has been very nice for all of us. I got up with him this morning and we were very productive with all the piano playing, cozy coupe cruising, baby book updating, and thank you note writing.

Now it's time to get back to studying, a topic on which I have much to say (whine) about, no time to write (lucky for you all). I woke up at 2 AM completely panicked yesterday morning- the kind of sit up in bed, heart pounding, OH MY GOD WHY I AM SLEEPING THERE IS NO TIME, type of panic. But in the daylight hours I'm pretty composed and plugging through outlines and practice tests. Two weeks, one day, and about a dozen subjects left to go. But oh this face, this face makes me smile even in the midst of reading a 126 page Texas Criminal Procedure outline.

I can't believe my little man is turning 1!

In Requiem Molly

I woke up this morning to a text from my mom saying, "we're taking molly to the vet now". I knew what that meant, that Molly, our family's beloved yellow lab of 13 years, had taken a turn for the worse in the night and couldn't make today's car trip to Austin so we could see her one last time. I knew my mom wouldn't make that decision unless it was necessary- unless Molly was truly suffering and it was only selfishness on our part to make her wait until Monday just so we could say goodbye. I cried as JP and Landon came in to cuddle with me, JP thinking of the day his childhood black lab died, and Landon smiling and wriggling between us.

To describe Molly as a family dog isn't accurate - she never thought of herself as one and only barely endured interactions with the other dogs who said hello during our walks on the greenbelt. She'd look up at us with big eyes and implore, "why do they always sniff me? how long do I have to stand here?" Little dogs one-tenth her size would chase her- she had absolutely no idea how big she was, it was almost embarrassing when a little pouffy dog smaller than her head would have her running away at full speed, tail tucked between her legs. She vastly preferred people and was sure she was one. Her loves were her family, water and swimming, long family bike rides, family car trips (she'd sit on the back seat with my brother and get up and walk through the van to check on everyone with a little nose push every 30 minutes or so), camping trips, the lake house, scrambled eggs, and baked beans. We were spoiled with how well behaved she was. We never needed a leash- she always stuck close by and had no interest in other people or dogs. She was beloved by our friends, extended family, and neighbors and was just a solidly "good" dog. Her fur has been matted with tears from all three of us over the years- break ups, disappointments, the perceived meanness of our parents, and the fact that growing up just makes life harder and more complicated all sent us to Molly's solid, furry body and she'd sit up and endure all the hugging and sobbing like the best friend she was.

Up until the investigation the absolute worst day of my life occurred during spring break in 8th grade when I was out walking Molly, sans leash of course, and she took off after a squirrel across the street right as a car came racing around the corner. The car ran directly over her, as I watched in horror. Our wonderful vet took her in with little optimism, she had a shattered hip and possibly other injuries, but thanks to God and his skill she made a full recovery. He wouldn't even charge us for all the work and always called her his "miracle dog". He's the one who told my mom on Wednesday that her refusal to eat and drink was her way of telling us she was done, that the pain was too much and it was time to let go, and because he's the one who said it, we accepted it with little resistance.

My parents are still driving over with our furniture for Landon's little birthday celebration tonight. It feels subdued, but it will be nice to be together. We've been blessed in having almost no experience with death - all four of our grandparents are alive and healthy and the only other pet we've lost was a cat my mom got in college who lived to be over 20. It's going to devastate my little brother - Molly was his very special friend. But she lived a long time for her breed and her injuries and no dog could have had a happier, more love-filled life. She had summers of car trips and camping, weekends of running around the lake house lot, chasing off birds that dared land on her property, and nights being petted and coddled by all five of us. We're going to bury her ashes under her favorite pine tree at the lake. She will be missed acutely and remembered fondly.

Rest in peace, Molly.

The Bar Exam Is Dumb

I have been studying, REALLY studying for 2.5 days now, and after reading a few outlines and doing a handful of MBE problem sets I have concluded this exam is stupid. Not just stupid because I have too much to learn and too little time to learn it or because it's keeping me in the office for 14 hours a day instead of chasing Landon around the downstairs- it's stupid because it's a TERRIBLE way to license lawyers. I now know contracts and torts- really know those areas of law. I could write you a small treatise and give you the exceptions and yet I still can't get more than 75% of those practice questions right. I come to questions where I recognize the issue immediately, I know the exception they're trying to test you on, and I read the answers and find either zero or three that appear correct. And even if you ignore how horribly written the MBE is (I know nothing about the MPT, Texas essays, or Procedure & Evidence exams because I haven't looked at any yet, but I'm sure they're badly written too), I still can't get over the fact that this has basically nothing to do with practicing law. I will not be a physician in the ER who needs to have facts and medical terms just sitting on the tip of my tongue. No corporate client will call me yelling "get me the answer to this corporations question STAT". There will always be time to double check, ask a colleague, or run a quick Westlaw search before calling them back. And most lawyers specialize - I will never need most of what is being crammed into my head (I'm looking at you, civil procedure and evidence).

But, despite the fact this exam is stupid, I'm plugging along fairly well in the studying for it. The office at the firm has been a godsend. It has floor to ceiling windows with a beautiful, calming view of Austin, no computer, and a door I can keep closed. I raid the diet cokes and hot tea from the kitchen, get lunch from the cafe downstairs, and grab hand fulls of chocolate from the employment office. When I'm taking a mini trip to get more food or caffeine, I am studying - reading outlines, reading the CMR (a very helpful little book!), doing practice sets, yelling at the answers in the practice sets... But I think I'm learning things - or at least memorizing things. In four hours I went from getting 8/18 in evidence to 15/18- and I still don't really understanding what hearsay is (I just know the rules that govern it).

I'm plugging through the MBE topics until Tuesday, and then I guess I'll tackle Texas Procedure and Evidence, and then the essays. The essays still scare me. I'm good at writing and making stuff up, but I feel like on the Bar the questions are so short and focused at one particular issue that it's hard to BS. You have to know things and know them quickly.

Tonight my sister came to babysit Landon for a few hours so JP and I could go on a date (Chuy's - very delicious). I had to limit myself to one margarita so I could keep studying afterward, but as always it was nice to sit and enjoy each other's company. My schedule is up with Landon at 6:30, soak him up until 9 when I go to the office, come home around 4:30 to play with him while JP goes to swim, go back to the office by 6:30 and stay until 10:30. I'm so happy that in stressful times like now I can completely rely on the strength of my relationship- I may worry about failing the Bar, but I don't worry about us one bit. Now I'm headed back to the office to finish Evidence. I hate ending each day knowing I won't get back to the topic until maybe the day before the Exam, especially because I don't feel any mastery of them, but there isn't time to give any topic more than one day of review.

So I'm pressing on. Not feeling great about it, but not feeling terrified either. At least not yet.

Happy 5th!

It's been a wonderful and relaxing holiday weekend for the Lag Liv family. On Thursday I became Master of the Universe when we finally broke down and ordered DVR for the TV. Now that we have it I can't BELIEVE that we went without for all this time. The purchase became necessary when neither of us would leave the couch to put Landon to bed during the swimming Olympic Trials. They air from 7-8 PM, Landon goes to sleep at 7:30 PM, and this was causing great marital strife. I knew that once the real Olympics began (and most of our friends made the team!) it was going to be an all out war. I called Time Warner, canceled our $10 movie channels and added the $10 DVR box, and now we can RECORD TV, TV which we can then fast forward, rewind, and pause. Obviously, I'm still drunk with the power.

After gaining control of the digital media world, the rest of our 4th of July weekend seemed pretty mundane. We spent yesterday hanging out with friends, grilling hot dogs, and watching a mini illegal fire works show in our cul-de-sac. We met a few more neighbors and thoroughly enjoyed our little piece of suburbia (I didn't think I'd say that without sarcasm for months, look how well I've adapted!).

Today I decided to postpone my Bar Exam studying for just one more day (July 6th is really the same thing as July 1st and don't tell me otherwise) and ran to Target to pick up a few things for Landon's 1st Birthday. Despite this stupid exam, I'm determined to give him a proper celebration. My parents are coming July 12 to deliver some furniture, so my sister, brother, and his girlfriend are also going to come over for a cookout and cake. I spent nearly 30 minutes in the party aisle agonizing over my paper plate and napkin selection. Landon has such discerning taste. I also ran over to the mall to buy him something patriotic to wear to our party tonight- I mean, it's not really a holiday unless you've dressed up your baby in something festive. While there I made the appointment for his 1 year portraits on Monday. I get the feeling I'm purposefully sabotaging my Bar preparation...

Tonight was our big neighborhood party at the country club. We met a lot of new people, all with young kids, and enjoyed the beautiful setting and unusually cool breeze. Landon fell in love with a 19 month old girl (and her mother- he actually leaned out from my arms into hers, he doesn't even do that to JP!). Here he is showing her his juiciest tongue flap and looking very handsome in his new shirt:

Seeing his new lady friend all independently vertical and walking seemed to motivate Landon to stand up on his own for the first time! He was up for over a minute- until his chubby little legs started to shake and JP helped him sit back down. He looked a little perplexed by his new trick and couldn't figure out why everyone was clapping and cheering around him.

Later he mistook her big Radio Flyer wagon for his little one and walked it all around the fairway.

He looked very pleased with himself and she even looked a little impressed. Later, she handed him part of her tortilla chip. This could be a serious relationship - luckily we've already met her parents and like them very much. There was a big fireworks show at 9:30, but we had to take the little man home (and watch those Trials we had recorded). We're now sitting on our back porch watching the bursts through the trees. JP is strumming his guitar and I'm taking advantage of the wireless router I finally installed. I have to admit, I'm absurdly happy here.

Happy Fourth (and Fifth) of July to you all!

Decidedly Not Suzy Homemaker

I woke up hungry this morning and decided to make something for breakfast. I don't do this often because I'm generally not hungry before noon and no matter what all the nutrition articles say, eating breakfast does not boost my metabolism or make me feel energized throughout the day. In fact, it usually just gives me a stomach ache. Apparently my intestines like to wake up slowly.

Anyway, this morning at 9 AM I decided I was starving and turned to our new Community Cookbook that the realtor gave us in our welcome basket. I've found these to be the best kind of cookbooks because everyone contributes their simplest, tastiest, most fool proof recipe for all the world to enjoy. It's been fun to flip through and drool over the Southern cooking buttery goodness- there's a recipe for "Riane's Mashed Potatoes (Rich and Full of Fat)". Now doesn't that sound delicious? But not for breakfast. In the "Kid Friendly" section I picked one called "Big Puffy Pancake." I love pancakes (despite not usually eating in the morning, I adore breakfast foods and make them for dinner all the time) and a big puffy oven-baked pancake sounded divine. I rounded up all five necessary ingredients only to find we had no eggs - you know you don't bake or make breakfast often when you don't routinely keep eggs in your fridge. JP and Landon volunteered to get some for me and I listened to a Bankruptcy Law lecture while impatiently waiting for them to return. Once things were started up again I followed all three lines of instructions, set the timer for 25 minutes, and listened to more Bankruptcy while my pancake became "puffy and golden brown." When the timer went off, I went and pulled this out of the oven:

Well... it was certainly puffy. It actually had a higher peak in the center but I was laughing so hard when I pulled it out of the oven that I hit it on the rack above. It looked like a pie-sized popover gone wrong and it most definitely did not look like a pancake.

Landon and JP had gone down for their morning naps (JP had to get up at 5:15 this morning because Landon decided sleeping in until 6 is for suckers), so I decided not to judge on looks alone- surely something with flour, milk, butter, and eggs couldn't taste that bad. I pulled out the sections that were fluffy, put them in a shallow bowl, and added powdered sugar, syrup, fresh strawberries, and whipped cream. It now looked like this:

I think it could now be classified as a dessert, but is there any better two meals to combine? Breakfast and dessert? Mmmmmm. And it was delicious! I took the picture above at 10:01 AM. I took the picture below at 10:05 AM.

It was very good, even if not very pretty. I kind of hope I screw it up again next time.

Update: Apparently others want to partake in the big puffy popover pancake goodness:

Big Puffy Pancake

Ingredients: 3 T butter, 1/2 c. flour, 1/2 c. milk, 4 eggs, 1/8 tsp. salt.

Instructions: Heat oven to 425. Place butter in pie pan and melt. In a mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Beat until smooth. Mix in melted butter. Pour mixture into pie pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until pancake is puffy and golden brown. (Or until mountainous peaks are formed. Either way, top with delicious dessert-like toppings and enjoy!)

It's Really Happening

I received my admission ticket for the Bar Exam in the mail today. Apparently, four weeks from today, I will be two days down, with one to go. I think I should start getting scared, but four weeks sounds like an awfully long time- I only graduated law school 2.5 weeks ago and we were in Chicago 5 weeks ago. So I continue to plug along with the lectures and little else. My goal is to finish the lectures tomorrow, which is about 6 days ahead of the Austin barbri schedule. Then I'll make my "July Study Schedule" (oh yes, all caps, it's serious stuff now) and start going to the office.

At home, this is my study space:

That is one of our new couches. It is the perfect level of softness and support and I know it is the reason I was able to take that nap last week. It is also not anywhere near my laptop, which means I've been terrible about returning emails, but really good about staying up with my lecture catch up schedule. This is how I spend every minute Landon is napping, every evening after he goes to bed, and any time JP takes the little guy out of the house for errands or to splash in the pool: I place one large pillow behind me for back support, sit cross-legged in the corner, place another large pillow on my lap, put the snazzy clip board on top of that, put the iPod on the coffee table (amongst the baby carrots, blue cheese vinaigrette dressing, cup of water, diet coke, house phone, cell phone, and stack of MBE workshop notes I still plan to type up), pick up my blue pen with comfort grip (my snazzy pen had no comfort grip and has been banished after leaving a bruise on my finger from all the frantic note taking at the workshop), press play and enter the magical world of Texas civil procedure. Sometimes I like to throw in a big stack of chocolate chip cookies or a box of Nilla Wafers. Ah, preparing for the Bar, it is so glamorous.

On The Move

Landon's first birthday is two weeks away, a fact that pretty much blows my mind. We have modest plans, thanks to the Bar Exam (luckily he's too young to know that his birthday is already being impacted by mommy's career), but we are going to have a mini party with my parents when they bring over some of our furniture on July 12. JP's grandmother wanted to get Landon a present and asked us to pick out something for about $75. I knew exactly what I wanted to order: The Radio Flyer Classic Walker Wagon. Landon has been power cruising for weeks now, even using blank walls for that little bit of support he still needs to be vertical. I knew he'd love the chance to "walk" across the middle of the room. When it arrived last week, we put it together and gave it to him right away. I figure he has no idea when his birthday is, so why make him wait- and we were so excited to see him get excited! And as you can see, it was a big hit:

Holy geeze I can move!

Great for chasing my cat!

Perfect for making loud noises when I plow into the cabinets!

I can ride in it too!

We've been really impressed with how solid, heavy, and well made it is, and it doesn't let him push too fast because the wheels have a bit of resistance to them. Landon adores it and I know that even after he can walk on his own he'll use it to push his treasures around the house and yard.

Here's a video of him on the move yesterday. The outfit is his father's doing, and even though I have an adverse physical reaction to things that don't match, I find it impossibly adorable.

On the Bar front, I feel really good after the MBE workshop that ended yesterday. It was infinitely more helpful than I expected and I'm very glad I went. I've decided to forgo the Procedure and Evidence workshop- thanks for your advice. I think I just need to trust in my exam taking talent and my determination to study enough on my own. I'm on track to finish the lectures before the people taking the class will and then I'll take off a day or two for the holiday and commence official studying after the 4th (or maybe after the 5th, we have a neighborhood party that day). Now if you'll excuse me, it's my turn to go protect our walls and cabinets from Landon's repeated crashing into them until someone turns him around.