The Wheels on the Bus, Ping Pong, and Other Life Metaphors: An Update

Okay, so it’s been awhile.  Almost a month.  Yikes.

Funny story: Before I started this blog, I wondered why I couldn’t find any blogs to follow written by Catholic moms engaged in the full-time practice of law. 

Ha!  There just aren’t enough hours in the day . . . .  The shame of it is that I have a list of blog post ideas and half-written blog posts that total, no joke, 9 ½ pages, single spaced!   One of these days . . .  I need to commit to something like Jen’s “7 Posts, 7 Days”, but for like a year.

Good news: I’m not going to stop trying, even if it feels like I’m waging a losing battle.

So, an update?  Yes, that’s probably in order.

Since I last blogged, I have been barely keeping the wheels on the bus.  February began on a high note.  I gave a presentation to a group of lawyers on balancing parenthood with the practice of law.  If I ever get around to it, I’ll post a summary of that presentation and some of the highlights.  I got some great feedback from that presentation and even went to lunch with a new mommy lawyer friend!  Then . . . well, the month started to go downhill.  Hubby and I were so excited because we had planned a 4-day trip to Disney with the boys to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary.  And then it rained for three of those days.  We still had a good time, but managing three kids under 5 in the rain was not quite what we had planned.  Since then, the month has dissolved into one great, big ball of sickness (and here I was thinking that January’s illnesses were bad; the fun was just beginning).  Hubby came down with the flu (thank God the flu shot appears to have protected the rest of us), which then converted into a nasty case of pneumonia.  The pneumonia battle continues to rage.  In the midst of that, I managed to get a nasty case of mastitis.  The only good thing is that, once I had the antibiotics, I was back to functioning pretty normally.  The baby has been unable to shake one giant, long ear infection, which has resulted in multiple day-and-night trips to the doctor (I’d personally like to thank and recognize the genius that came up with nighttime pediatric hours as an alternative to the ER).  He is now on the last-resort oral antibiotic, and we are hoping/praying to avoid the last-last resort nasty round of shots in the leg.  The older two have had one cold or another for virtually the entire month.  Oh, and I have been in therapy for my knee (short story: had surgery when I was 12, but periodically still have problems with it).  Because, apparently, I have time for therapy and all of the little, daily exercises that come along with it . . . .

In the midst of all of that, I have been trying to keep up with work.  But, suffice it to say, my billable hours are abysmal.  That’s two months in a row, and it scares me.  Did I mention that my saint for the year is St. Cajetan, who was originally a lawyer and now is the patron saint of UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE!?!??

Sigh.  Which makes me feel guilty spending time on the blog when I really need to get caught up on my hours.  But apparently not guilty enough to give up my TV shows in the evening.  Speaking of, is Juan Pablo irritating everyone else too?  We all have our vices, I guess.

My New Year’s resolutions are in the toilet too.  Although, I actually have been entering my hours on a daily basis for the last few weeks.  So, I guess all except one are in the toilet.  Good thing that Lent is right around the corner, and I can start anew.

In sum, this whole mommy lawyer thing has just really been tough on me.  I feel like something needs to give, but I don’t know what or how.  I feel like I’m barely holding it together and that, at any moment, the final ping pong ball of life is going to come crashing through to knock my tenuously-constructed house of cards into oblivion.  It’s tough . . . (and my kids aren’t even in extra-curriculars or sports yet!!!).

Do all moms feel like that?  Like the wheels on the bus (or the conversion van, as the case may be) are about to come off at any moment?

Anyway, that’s my update.  Sorry if it’s a bit of doom and gloom, but hopefully you at least enjoyed some of the metaphors!

Let’s end on a positive note.  Remember when I mentioned that our January Disney trip (not our anniversary rainy one) netted my new most favorite kid photo of all time?  Well, here it is, featuring Jake from “Jake and the Neverland Pirates”:

Two Excited Boys . . . and One Ambivalent, but Unabashedly Hungry Boy

Enjoy and Happy Weekend!