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: Magic Cookie

Five years, part 2

Part 1 left off at K's birth. When I think about it now, life with a newborn seems sort of awful, but apparently at the time I didn't think so (except for the C-section recovery part). Which is good because we may just do it again one of these days. I did spend most of my 29th birthday in tears, but they were wiped away when my baby gave me his first smile.

After a few months at home, I went off to my summer jobs at two different firms. My mother came to stay with us for the summer to look after K, and I learned about the joys of pumping at work. I made several career decisions that summer: I picked a firm, turned away from patent law, and discovered that maybe I did want to be a corporate lawyer after all. And reaffirmed that I do not have what it takes to be a stay-at-home mom.

In the fall, K started daycare and I returned to school. (And CT got married!) K was a tiger for his first Halloween, and got his first haircut a few weeks later. Despite my chronic sleep deprivation, which made me feel like the semester was going to be a washout, it turned out fine in the end.

Life seemed to accelerate once K finally started sleeping through the night (at 10 months old, god help us). Winter term. Spring semester. K turned 1 and started walking. I turned 30 and decided life was good.

I returned to The Firm for the summer and pondered being a tax lawyer. They let me take a vacation day to pretend-graduate with my class, but it wasn't much fun. I had my last summer vacation, during which I sprained my ankle twice, did too much work, and met my niece.

During my last semester of law school, I interned at the AG's office, took some fun classes, and fed K butter. K said "Mommy" for the first time and dressed up as a bat for his second Halloween. K took his first shower. Oh, and history was made.

I graduated from law school (more or less) and, after a few weeks off, went back to The Firm for real. I learned a lot in my first few weeks, but also found the lack of autonomy a little frustrating. The first few months have worked out well in terms of work-life balance, possibly because I haven't been terribly busy. But, along with my fellow MILPs (WILPs?), I continue to struggle with assumptions about women and part-time work both at The Firm and in the profession.

Meanwhile, K turned 2 and dressed up like a duck for the Mother's Day parade.

And now I'm studying for the bar exam, which is less than two weeks away. I should be studying, anyway, instead of taking this trip down Memory Lane.

I started writing this blog because I wanted an outlet to write about law school, but I love that I've also found a community and friendships. So if you've read this far, thanks for sticking with me!

Full post as published by Magic Cookie on July 17, 2009 (boomark / email).