I survived the last 2 weeks!

My husband Tony got back Friday morning from being in Manila for 2 weeks. He was only able to call part of the time but we e-mailed a lot. And he made videos for Riley before he left and he sent videos for us directly from Manila to the home computer one day. We still missed him though! Mom and I took photos of Riley during each day and sent Tony an album each day so we didn't feel like he missed anything. The time went by faster than a I thought. It helped that that the first week was a short work week because of the 4th of July and that the second week was jury trial week so it was very busy at work.

I had my first jury trial at my new job! And I was successful in getting a conviction. It was my first straight misdemeanor trial, my first DUI, and my first trial in Cherokee County. The same result happened though as when I was a PD - someone went to jail after the trial. The difference is that it means I won instead of loosing!

Riley is doing so much now and growing fast. He got a second tooth that came in recently. He eats tons of food! He is starting to eat more table food now. He eats anything and everything we give him. Tony and I will have to change our diet when Riley goes to all table food because the boy is used to tons of variety and he'll get bored with our diet! Riley will be 10 months old soon. I don't know where the time went! It is so fun watching him grow and learn new things but I definitely miss the little baby stage too! But it is cool that we can take him to restaurant and be able to feed him some of what we eat. He ate a couple of bites of a pancake but I don't think he was too thrilled with it. He definitely really still likes his rice cereal and oatmeal because when he is really tired he just wants to eat a lot of oatmeal for dinner and he gets sooooo excited when he sees that you have made oatmeal for him. I guess rice cereal and oatmeal are his comfort foods!

The best thing with Riley that happened recently is that he twice waved bye to me as I went to work. It is so cute! But it definitely makes it harder to leave! We neither need to win the lottery or we need to use technology to conduct a jury trial from home via webcam! Wouldn't that be cool - the lottery cooler but webcam would be awesome. With the price of gas these days, even the 8 mile roundtrip to week really adds up!

I am tired so I think I'll go to bed now. Here's to hoping my son doesn't wake up before 6 am tomorrow morning again.
Until next time...
-Lawyer by Day and Mommy by Night

Father's Day and Cutting Teeth

We had a pretty good Father's Day. I took my father out to breakfast (our favorite meal together) and we had a good time. My husband liked the gifts I have him - a new float for the pool, tongs for the grill, and candles for the patio table. Riley got his father a cool t-shirt (it's too small but all Wal-Mart had last minute so it will just have to do). Riley gave my father a t-shirt too and he liked it.

The best part of Father's Day, though, was realizing why Riley had been so fussy the last couple of days and hadn't slept well for two nights in a row. It's because he's teething! One tooth broke through the skin and you can feel it in his mouth! And we can see where the next one might come in soon! No wonder he woke up two nights in a row crying, seemed hot during the day, was fussy, won't eat much, and had a little bit of a runny nose! It finally hit me Sunday morning that maybe he was teething and a little while later we could see/feel the tooth! So my poor baby was trying to tell us for 2 days that hit mouth hurt! After all, he's almost 9 months old, it's about time those teeth started coming in!

We have about a week with my husband before he goes on a business trip for 12 days. He goes to Manila, Philippines (not Milan as previously posted - I can't spell!) It takes forever to get there. He'll be exhausted! And we will certainly miss him. No telling what Riley will look like or what he'll learn to do in 2 weeks time. He is starting to make more sounds - adding for constants to his vocabulary. He seems to learn a new task and then master it very quickly. He can sit up from lying down in about 2 seconds flat!

Well, that is about all for now. I am trying to get to bed at a decent time. I am always so exhausted everyday. We have jury trials again starting on July 7th and there is much to do at work. So until the next time...
- Lawyer by Day and Mommy by Night.

Long Week.

We just finished a long week of jury trials. I didn't try one but I came close! We had 3 attorneys out for various reasons so we were all expecting to be pretty busy. There were 7 trials, I think, this week. And lots of pleas and other dispositions. I worked late several days this week. Hopefully this upcoming week won't be as busy. Tomorrow is Father's Day. I hope my father and my husband like the gifts I purchased for them.

In other news, Riley (our son) has gotten on all fours a couple of times this week. He might start crawling soon. He also learned to sit himself up from laying down. So he is pretty mobile now. We've already lowered the crib mattress to the lowest sitting because he is siting up in the crib now and it will only be a matter of time before he learns to pull himself up on the railing. He turns 9 months in one week. I can't believe it has been that long. Where did the time go? We have his 9 month old appointment a few days after his birthday. We can't wait to see how much he's grown. We think he'll be about 20 lbs. No shots this time!

At the end of the month, my husband leaves for a long business trip to Milan. He'll be gone for a total of 13 days. I am NOT looking forward to it. It's the longest he's been gone ever that I can remember! And certainly the longest he's been away from our son. We will miss him dearly. My husband is such a great father. Just today he said that he'd rather eat at home instead of going out to dinner for Father's Day because he wanted to spend time with our son and although Riley is pretty good at restaurants that going out wasn't any fun for Riley. So we'd rather stay at home where Riley could play and not have to sit in a high chair being a good baby for a long time! I never thought I'd see the day my husband voluntarily gave up an opportunity to go out to eat!

Well, I better go and get some sleep so I can help the fathers in my life celebrate Father's Day.
- Lawyer by Day and Mommy by Night.

Assisted Walking and Other Fun Activities!

Last Friday when I was at work, Tony called to tell me that Riley started walking when you hold his hands. So when I came home, instead of Tony meeting me at the garage door with Riley in his arms, Riley walked to meet me! He was really unsteady at first but he is getting better at it everyday. He still isn't crawling yet so we are beginning to think that he won't. He'll just be a roller and a walker! You really should have seen how fast he walked once when his father put his bottle down on his exersaucer, pointed it out to him, and then asked him if he wanted it! He speed walked then! My child doesn't let anything come between him and his bottle!

He is getting so big and growing up so fast. I can't believe he is already 8 1/2 months old. Where did the time go? We weighed him on his 8 month birthday and he was 18 lbs and about 12 ounces. He just weighed him again tonight (he seemed bigger and we were just curious) and he weighed in at about 20 lbs! (This was about an hour and a half after his dinner, though). So it's no wonder that his new pjs seemed a little small!

He is still such a good baby. I had a few things to pick up at Publix today (sale ended today) and Tony had an appointment so Tony meet me after work at Publix and left Riley with me. Riley slept part of the time and sat in the car seat in the cart the rest of the time. It ended up being a much longer trip that I thought it would be and he was good the entire time. But when I came home, I had a surprise waiting for me on the family room floor. Last night, you see, I straightened up (I know a shocker!) and put most of Riley's toys back in the basket, with only a few toys left on his blanket. Well, when we got home from Publix, the basket was empty and all the toys were on the floor! I asked Riley what happened and explained that it wasn't this way when I left for work! He just grinned from ear to ear, though! Finally his father explained that Riley was playing this morning by the basket and he went down the hall for something and when he came back Riley had tipped the basket over and then one by one in the 20 minutes between when I left for work and the Nanny arrived he pulled every toy out of the basket! My child was grinning at us the entire time his father told the story! What a cutie! At least it was his toys and not the DVDs again! There are only a few DVDs that were pulled down from the shelf today. I guess Riley didn't want to pull them all down. All this from the child that can't crawl! It is amazing what you can get to when you can roll well! Last weekend he rolled unto the kitchen and had fun for a long time opening and closing the drawer underneath the ovens that holds the pie pans. He also tried to help unload the dishwasher. I had a plastic bag on the floor of plastic baby food containers waiting to go to the basement. He took them out one by one and then a few at a time 'til he good pick the bag up and empty it completely. He loves playing with plastic or paper or anything that crinkles. And a plastic bag won't crinkle when it's full! Silly Mommy!
He is always such a happy baby. Each day with him is such a joy! I am so blessed to have him in my life and to have such a wonderful husband to assist me.

Well, I guess I better sign off for now so I can try and get a little sleep before Traffic Court in the morning. Until then...
- Lawyer by Day and Mommy by Night

Great Week!

The day after Mother's Day we left to go on conference with my job. Luckily, my husband and son were able to join me. We drove down on Monday and came back on Friday (a week ago). It was great week. We played together on the beach and in the pool. And my husband and son got to hang out all day with some of my co-workers while I went to the conference. The conference started Tuesday afternoon and was on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for a half day each. Each night we ate seafood - my favorite! We stayed on St. Simons Island and I really enjoyed it. The house we rented was pretty spacious and very comfortable. It was right on the beach. There was only a protected sand dune between us and the beach. The views were really nice. There were lots of good restaurants on the island. There were several shops near the pier, which also had a great playground. It really was a great time. I am so lucky to work somewhere that not only sends me to a conference at a cool location but also allows me to bring my family with me! Everyone had a great time. It was a fun, relaxing week, and it was one that was much needed. Our son was so good at the house and everyone time we went out. We'd been there about half the time when someone said that they finally heard that baby cry. Someone else said that our child was deceiving - that everyone would have lots of babies if they were all as good as my son. He is such a cutie pie. We just love and adore him. I'll have to post some pictures later from the Beach Week. Until then,
- Lawyer by Day and Mommy by Night.

Happy Mother's Day

Today was my first Mother's Day and I had a great day. My husband "helped" my son fix me breakfast in bed. And then we just hung out most the day and prepared for our trip that we leave on tomorrow. We've put a big dent in the preparations for the trip and hope to be finished in not too long. We finished the Mother's Day celebration by eating dinner at a Mexican restaurant up the street - my favorite food. All in all, it was a great Mother's Day. I got great presents too - my husband gave me a Mom locket where I can put a photo inside and my son published a note to me in a local newspaper. It was a great relaxing day, even though we have been packing off and on all day.

In fact, the entire weekend was pretty relaxing. We rearranged some furniture, mostly the stuff we had at the loft [we got a renter in finally on Friday so we brought up the furniture that was in the loft. After a year of double mortgage payments, we finally have some help on the financial end]. After rearranging the furniture, we walked to the clubhouse and swung on the swings and slid down the slide and walked on the trail that leads to the reservoir. Later, Grandmommie kept our son so my husband and I could go out and run several errands and eat dinner, celebrating the arrival of a renter. So, overall all we had a great Mother's Day weekend. I better run now and finished preparing for our trip. Happy Mother's Day to everyone.
- Lawyer by Day and Mommy by night.

Good Night

We had a good family time this afternoon after I got home from work. My husband feed the baby while I got ready to go on a walk. Then we went on a really long walk. We walked down to the clubhouse where there are swings and a playground. I think it is about 1/2 a mile away or a little more (and 2 big hills away!). We swung in the swings and Riley just laughed and laughed. We also slid down the slide together. He liked that. He also laughed when we walked on the swinging bridge. It was a very nice time together. We were gone about an hour and a half. I love it when I have good Mommy time like this.