Monday, August 29, 2011

My first lay off

Not me, I wasn't laid off. But today, at 3:30 pm, I had to sit in on a lay off. I've known since I came in today that this was happening at 3:30, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I barely got anything else done because I was too busy wiping the sweat from my palms. Sitting in my office and overhearing the staff planning someone's birthday lunch tomorrow was awkward. I wished I could warn them that they might not be in the mood for a party.

As In House Counsel, I don't have much to do with the day to day operations of the company. All I do is sit in my office and give advice, which may or may not be followed, to those who do make the big decisions. The fact of the matter is that almost every company is suffering right now. Those who said that jobs in the healthcare profession were recession proof were dead wrong. Medicare and private insurance companies are giving fewer and fewer reimbursements, which means that either medical services are being given at the patient's own cost, or, most likely, at the healthcare provider's cost. I should probably be keeping better informed on what's going on politically with all this, and I will spend most of the day tomorrow doing research.

How it translates to my company's everyday life is that we are barely meeting our payroll (My payday was the 25th and I haven't seen my check yet..., but I'm not complaining, at least it's coming), and that came down to laying one person off. For now. My company hires a lot of foreign workers, being fully honest, for positions that we cannot fill with U.S. citizens because of shortages of Physical Therapists and other professional positions. It's really expensive and pretty complicated to be a company in the kind of situation of having so many foreign workers, hence the need for an In House Counsel.... I swear, if I wasn't here to listen to the decisions being made, they'd be in violation of the Department of Labor's rules a thousand times over). One of those rules does not allow a company to lay off US citizen workers if there is a foreign national in the same department, with a similar function. So, this lay off hurt even more, because it means that at the end of her two week notice, she'll either have to have found an alternate company to sponsor her visa, or she'll have to go back to her home country. Starting to lay people off was inevitable, and the decision to start doing so should have happened months ago, but the execs pushed it off as long as they could. The decision was made on Thursday.

Watching someone cry in front of you and ask if I knew that she has a son who is started first grade yesterday, and if I knew that she was the only person in her family with an income was seriously painful. She seemed totally shocked. It can't be a surprise that layoffs had to happen, but I guess you never think it's going to happen to you. I hate that the Company has to put her in this position, but the DoL's rules are clear and make tons of sense. I can only imagine how much she is going to have to scramble in the next few weeks to find someone who is in the position to hire anyone, let alone someone who will be willing to go through the process and cost of picking someone's visa up. Not to get technical, but a visa petition costs anywhere between $750 and $3200, depending on the company, not to mention the legal fees that most companies will have to pay because they don't have an In House to handle their petitions.

My workday is technically over, but I have to sit here in my office and be the last to leave, because someone has to make sure that her departure goes smoothly. No matter how often I wish I could stay home and take care of Mia full time, right now, I'm really glad to be coming back to this office tomorrow morning.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Mommy Group!

This weekend, in addition to attending Tybalt's first birthday party, Mia and I also attended our first Las Vegas Mommy and Baby outing! I was actually pretty nervous about going out and making friends with total strangers, so I picked a pretty low pressure event, a farmer's market at Tivoli Village. It was also pretty low-key since there were only 2 other RSVPs besides my own.

I met the two women other women who attended the Farmer's market outing, and they were both friendly and not at all intimidating. Neither of their children were able to attend, but Mia isn't exactly at an age to be very social anyway. I'm not going to rave and say that I've made lasting friendships, but it's certainly a start!

Going to the farmer's market made me feel like I was living in a city again. Yes, it was in a mall made to look like city streets. Yes, there was only one vegetable vendor. But, still. I got to walk around, outside, with my stroller and look at pretty arts and crafts and taste dried fruits, freshly made donuts, handmade soaps, etc. It felt really good to look around and see more than just Wal-mart as a shopping option. The city of Chicago has ZERO Wal-marts within city limits, so to have it be the closest major store to my apartment is very strange. There were lots of kid-friendly attractions, such as a face painter, a couple of mimes and I think I spotted a magician out there. So, definitely if you have walking-age children in the Las Vegas area, I would recommend attending on Saturday mornings. I think I'm one step closer to accepting the fact that I am a Las Vegan, although I'm still sticking to being a Chicagoan who lives in Vegas.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

First Birthday

My son turned 1 today. And honestly, I'm just not sure how I feel about this. I'm digesting it slowly.

I think I'm supposed to be completely and utterly excited and perhaps if anything allowed just a twinge of anxiety. Instead I seem to be feeling the opposite, meaning mainly anxious with just a hint of excitement or joy.

It's not that I'm not happy he is growing and thriving. I am! I am extremely proud that my son is a healthy and well-adjusted now-1-year-old child.

But where most other moms amidst a time that is primarily celebratory might allow themselves only a moment of reflection at the loss of their child's "baby-hood," my reason for anxiety is much deeper than that. And that's why I think I have more of it.

When Tybalt was born I got sick. VERY, VERY, VERY sick. He was born via emergency c-section and my heart failed on the table. I was diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy (aka postpartum cardiomyopathy) and was an inpatient in the hospital for 3 months. The doctors and nurses couldn't even assure my husband initially that I would live through the first 24-48 hours. That's what I mean by VERY, VERY, VERY sick.

I will write more about my health/heart problems and the hospitals and rehab centers when I'm not so exhausted, I promise (the birthday has proved to make for an extremely long weekend). But the cliff-notes version you need to know in order to understand why my son's birthday is so bittersweet to me is this: Because I was in the hospital for 3 months once my son was born, I missed the first 3 months of his life. My mother-in-law basically raised my son as a newborn. It's 3 months I will NEVER get back.

AND I'M ANGRY. I'M MAD. I'M PISSED. If there's another word for it...miffed, hurt, etc., I'm it.

Where some mothers would be glad that the sleepless nights are behind them by the time their child reaches their 1st birthday, I spend my own sleepless nights ravaged with sadness and depression that I missed his mewing cries to be fed, his desire to nuzzle my neck at 2am, and yes, honestly, probably many moments of feeling "I JUST WISH THIS BABY WOULD GO TO SLEEP NOW, BEFORE I LOSE MY MIND!!!!!"

And it's not just the midnight feedings and sleepless nights that I was denied and miss. There's also everything from poopy diapers, to his first pediatrician appointment, to even getting to dress him in all the little tiny outfits we were given at the baby shower. Sleepless nights are just one example. I missed EVERYTHING. So many things that most other first-time mothers take for granted.

So, now, when my son is 1, I am exuberant he is healthy and that I am as well. And while it's not a year I would want to live over again in the sense of difficulties and fighting for my life, it is however a year full of experiences I missed and wish that I could be granted somehow. It makes me so incredibly sad that I only got 9 months of his first 12.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Swimming Pools & Accepted!

I’ve been feeling infinitely better since I last posted. It seems like I really did just have to get it out of my system. Although I have yet to get out of bed the half hour early that I vowed to in order to get a quick workout-dvd in, I did go to the pool on Sunday and swim a few laps. When we were apartment hunting, one of the items that were on the “must” list was a pool. As I mention in “About me”, I lived in a few warm places growing up. In Manila, we had a house with a pool in the backyard. In Thailand, we lived in apartment buildings and hotels that always had a pool just a few floors down. I distinctly remember coming home from school and basically running down to the pool area every single day (when it wasn’t raining) for a couple of hours before settling down to do homework. A part of me thought that would basically be my life for the 9 months it’s warm in Vegas, but it hasn’t been the case at all.


B and I took a full week off to move from Chicago to Las Vegas. B insisted that we drive for 14 hours per day for two days in a row, rather than take the 3 days and make it a bit more leisurely, so by the time we got to our apartment, we still had 5 days before we were to return to work. I imagined that we would spend this time at the pool, and we tried, but Vegas is a funny place. Even in October it was about 95 degrees and sunny, which I thought was perfect pool weather. But, unless you’re in the heart of summer, the temperature actually dips into the 60s overnight in the spring and fall, which makes the pool water super cold! I would go in when I was 9 months pregnant, since it was already hot at the end of May, and Mia would kick and squirm from the temperature drop. Another strange symptom of Vegas dry heat is that if you go into the pool and come out, the water evaporates off your skin so very quickly that you are freezing!
With that said, a pool is still on our “must” list when thinking about buying a house, or more realistically, renting a house in the coming year. When it’s the heart of summer, there is nothing like lounging in the sun by the pool after having taken a dip. I absolutely love the feel of the sun on my skin, and every time I come back into my apartment after lounging by the pool, it feels like I’m coming back to my hotel room at a resort. Until I have to make my own dinner, that is. Even with my neighbor kids running around and splashing, Las Vegas beats Chicago 100% in the weather category.

I already told you about how I applied to join a Mommy meetup group here in Las Vegas. I applied on Wednesday, and when I hadn’t heard anything on Friday, I got nervous and looked around for others. I found one that also required an application, so I figured, I’d apply to that one too. The questions were a lot more basic, so I was a lot less worried. On Saturday, I got notices that I was a member of both. Oops! Now, I have to choose. I have RSVP’d “yes” to events at both meetup groups and will decide after that. I'm leaning towards the group that is based in the neighborhood that we want to eventually want to buy a house in (which we are on the outskirts of right now). Dress for the job you want, not the one you have, right? I’ll keep you updated.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Apologies and Retractions

So, I took down the postpartum description post. It was overly whiny and insensitive to those who have complicated pregnancies and labor. Nothing happened to me that doesn't happen to every single woman who has a vaginal delivery, so who I am to whine about it? A million women wish they had my postpartum experience. Although I don't believe that just because someone has it worse than you, you're not allowed to feel badly too, I think I probably went too far with that one. In person, I am super sarcastic and if you heard my postpartum spiel out loud, you would know not to take it too seriously. But this isn't out loud, so yeah, I took it down.

In the spirit of what Juliet Cap was saying about owning up to having mood swings, I'll admit it. I have been feeling pretty frustrated with life in the past week or so. Looking back on the past few days, that post was just a symptom of how I've been feeling since last week.

I'm reluctant to blame this 100% on PMS, but since I haven't had it in almost a year, I'm guessing that it's going to come back with a vengeance. I'm going to describe my irrationally depressing week to you, and watch for the parentheses, because those are the thoughts of a rational person poking through.

I had a lazy weekend, not even bothering to run the vaccuum, which I usually do obsessively thanks to Swarley. (Get off you're ass! You're not going to feel better if you leave dog hair on your carpets, and you're not going to get more energy by sitting around all day!) I wanted to go to the pool and do the one thing that you can do in the Las Vegas summer heat, but Mia was fussy on sunday and was worse when B was holding her, so I couldn't leave them alone. My stomach cramps were baaad on Monday and I ditched work (even though really, I could have dealt with stomach cramps at work, grow up!). It was B's day off on Tuesday, and he dropped Mia off at my office for an hour so that he could get his hair cut. That upset me because I can't do that with his work, why does he get to go to the barber for an hour when I haven't been able to get a pedicure since she was born? (Because, dummy, that's the kind of job he has, and you've got an awesome one that lets you do this kind of things! At least he's working!) Wednesday, Brian woke up early and tended to the baby, but as soon as I was awake, he handed me the baby and said he was going to the gym. Hey! I want to go to the gym, why can't you take the baby?? (You don't get to lounge in bed, and go to the gym. Wake up earlier!) It was also my day to bring Mia to work for the week, and she slept for a total of 45 minutes, fussed for the entire afternoon when she usually takes her solid 3 hour nap, and had 3 poopy diaper blowouts! We went through all but one diaper, all but one baby wipe, and every single spare outfit in the baby bag, that she was left wearing a plain while Gerber onesie that I usually use as an undershirt by the end of the day. (Shit happens!) It all culminated when B came home from the grocery store with the wrong carpet cleaner and I totally lost it. (Over carpet cleaner? Really?) I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed the carpet with the stupid carpet cleaner he bought and worked myself up so much that I couldn't even look at him when I finished. I told him to leave me alone for an hour, and I went in the bedroom, closed the door and felt sorry for myself.

The hour helped a lot, and I came out, we had a good talk and I told him about how frustrated I was feeling. We ate dinner, Mia took a bottle, and slept from 9:30pm-7:00am. So after a night's sleep, I woke up feeling much better about everything. On my way out the door, I grabbed one of my many weight loss guides and a bag of almonds. It's time to stop being passively upset about everything (because it leads to breakdowns over carpet cleaner), and start taking charge. I WILL start working out. I WILL stop telling myself that breastfeeding is all I need to do to lost my baby pooch. I WILL communicate with my husband! I will also stop at Target and get that darned carpet shampoo.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Currently accepting Mommy applications.

In the spirit of getting to know this new city of mine, I created a membership at Meetup.com a while back. A few of my friends back East suggested that I do this. Initially, I joined a group for New/Expecting Moms, and the events they organized were mainly for story times at a local library. While I was pregnant, I clearly had no use for this so I never went. Now, I have a 3 month old and really still don’t have any use for story time. So, I went back on and looked around more until I found a group that seemed to have a lot of activity. It’s for Stay at Home Moms, but it said that they make some exceptions for Working Moms. So, I clicked “Join” and expected to see where the next event was, etc. Instead, I was sent to an application page. It asked basic information, for me to write a bit about myself, etc. It also asked: “What can you contribute to ____ group?”. I was pretty surprised, so I wrote something about being a good friend, that I liked to read so I would be a good addition to their book club, stuff like that. I also had to swear that I would never, ever, ever bring anything with peanuts anywhere near any person in this meet up group. EVER. And, if I don’t come to an event within 14 days of signing up, I’ll be kicked out.
I was pretty surprised with having to fill out an application, since I was really just browsing through these groups and joining interesting ones (I also joined Sin City Knitting). Normally, I would be all, seriously? I have to apply? But thinking a little about it, I realize that if this group is so serious about admitting members, it might actually have real organized and fun activities, so what the hell. So now, I’m having total application to college/sorority recruitment flashbacks. I keep trying to think back on what I wrote, and coming up with new and better things to write about. (Accept me! I promise to always wear contact lenses and makeup! I’ll give you free legal advice! I’ll look up recipes for peanut free gluten free lactose free cookies!)
I’m not actually freaking out, but I have been keeping a bit more of a vigilant eye on my email to see if there is anything from this all-powerful-mom-group-founder. Are these meet up groups worthwhile? Anyone out there actually try them? I’ll keep you updated. If I don’t get in, I’ll tell myself that it’s because I am not a SAHM. I’ll just do like a bunch of girls at my college did and make my own sorority without calling it a sorority so that I can serve alcohol. I mean, my own Momrority.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

???

So, I know I haven't posted since my introduction. And I swear it's not because I haven't wanted to. In fact, I have wanted to sooooooo much. I've logged on every day, if not twice most days. Hovered my mouse over the "new post" link, and then...just lost my courage. I just don't know what to post about! I wish I could say that I want to write about so many things that I actually just don't know where to start, and, perhaps, that is partly true. But in all reality it's also about not knowing what readers will find interesting. Sure, I honestly do have a million things in my brain on an hourly basis. But how much of that is interesting to the outside observer?

Then there's this fact: I suffer from depression. I was diagnosed in college but have known something was "wrong" much earlier in my life than that. And while not everything I think about and do revolves around the pessimistic life views that plague me, much does. Many of my musings are frustrations and disappointments. And I REALLY didn't/don't want anyone's first impression of me to be, "Oh my gosh, what a freak!" So, yeah, that eliminated a few of the topics I could have posted about in the last few days. I just didn't have anything super happy and upbeat to say. I go through swings.

But, all of this has gotten me thinking. I can't be the only mom, (or woman, because I believe some of our readers may not be mothers, at least not yet) that suffers from depression, right? Please, say "Right!" :P

So, while I plan on keeping most of my posts as upbeat as possible, perhaps I NEED to share when I'm having a bad day too. Perhaps it will help someone else to know they are not alone. Whether it be postpartum depression, or "plain old" clinical depression, maybe even just one reader out there needs to feel validated and know that someone else can relate. Maybe if more women and moms on more blogs shared their mood swings, their depressed moments, I wouldn't be so scared myself to begin with! Because I would know I wasn't alone as well. So, perhaps, just perhaps, being real, being myself, would be a good thing. I know, what a shocking realization, right? LOL.

[And a final note, maybe you who are reading this right now have never been depressed a moment in your life. If so, congratulations! Seriously, I wish I was you. But if that's the case, then it's definitely not about making you feel less alone in this world. But maybe sharing with you my sometimes fragile emotional state will make you see that not everyone feels great 100% of the time like you do, and open your mind to the trials and tribulations of at least this one mother.]

Lots of love to all out there! Sweet dreams!

Friday, August 5, 2011

Quick Note

I wanted to quickly point out how much more creative Juliet Cap is than I am, since I call my husband "B" and she calls hers Romeo. I briefly considered changing my nickname for him to "Italian Stallion" after I saw Juliet's post, but couldn't stop laughing for long enough to actually do it. So that creativity is exactly why I said she was a better writer!

Also, I added an "about me" page which has an expanded bio, so take a look over there, too!

Worky Work

I am lucky because I work in an office so casual, that my bosses comes into my office looking for the baby. When she's not here, he asks, in a worried tone: "Where is the baby?"

When I was pregnant, I stressed and stressed about what I would do about being a working mom, and how I and the baby, would deal with being apart for so much of the day. So, after talking to my boss, and a few co-workers, all of whom suggested that I forget about daycare and bring Mia to work. Yeah, I know me, and I've been around babies before, and I know enough that if I ever want to get anything done, that is not an option. Most weeks, B works on saturdays and gets a weekday off, so that's 4 days. I still wanted her to spend a majority of her time with us, so I decided that every friday would be my take your daughter to work day.

Guess what?? Todays' friday!


My co-worker took this when walking by my office and laughing. I agree, it's funny that Mia is just happily sitting on my papers while I take notes. I am actually able to get a few things done, as long as she is sleeping, or awake and in a good mood. Admittedly, I have yet to be in the office from 9-5 on a day that Mia comes with, but today, I stayed until 3:30, and that's pretty much the time that I start to daydream anyway.

So, it's not terribly glamourous. My desk is messy. I have a bouncy chair on my shelf. I even put up a curtain so that I can close my door and pump a few times a day. I used to fantasize about working BigLaw, and getting the BigSalary. During law school, I pictured my future self walking into work with a purpose in my heels, a giant coffee and my blackberry. I got something else entirely, and on days when it's acceptable for my baby to be sitting on my files while I work, I can't imagine anything better.

Hello There!

Hello, and welcome. I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do. Frenchie started to introduce me, but I finally found myself with a few moments to sit down and type my own first post. Before I begin though, let me just say that I think Frenchie gave an overly flattering description of my writing style. To say I'm that good makes me more than a bit nervous! So I beg a little wiggle room if the first handful of posts seem a bit scattered, due to said nerves. I will find my groove, that's a promise.

For the purposes of this blog, my name is Juliet, or Juliet Cap. Why? Well, let's start with this fact, I suppose-- I LOVE theatre. I LOVE literature. I LOVE my husband. And he LOVES theatre and literature (and me) as well. In fact, talking about theatre and our common interests in it was how we fell in love. I suppose I could have then chosen any theatrical or literary pseudonym, then, correct? Well, does it help to know that my son's real, actual name is Tybalt? Yes, Tybalt, from Romeo and...wait for it, wait for it...Juliet. Yes, my husband and I are THAT big of theatre and literature fans (aka geeks) that we named our son Tybalt. So, when pondering my pen-name for this blog, why would I choose anything other than Shakespeare and, ultimately, Juliet? :) Oh, and you guessed right, yes, my husband will be referred to as Romeo.

One final note about pseudonyms before I move on: I would just like to touch on what Frenchie started to mention in her Inaugural Post. Many readers will honestly only know us as Juliet and Frenchie, (and our husbands as Romeo and "B", respectively), because you only know us from our blog. However, some readers may know us personally. If you fall into the latter category, please respect the fact that we have chosen to have at least a big of anonymity. So we politely do ask that all comments refer to us by our pen-names, and not our real names, even if you know them.

Thanks! Now on to the fun stuff.

A Bit Of A Bio:
I was born and raised in the greater Chicago-land area. Western suburbs to be more precise. But I consider Illinois in general my home, not just Chicago, because my grandmother lived in Springfield, and I visited her often, and I attended college in Decatur. For those of you who are not IL savvy, Springfield and Decatur are about 45 minutes away from each other, and both about 3.5 hours outside Chicago. I greatly appreciate having spent significant amounts of my life in every area I did, because it gave me an appreciation for a "big city" (downtown Chi-town), suburb life (Downers Grove area), and the more slow-paced farming and agricultural scene (Decatur).

I moved to Las Vegas, NV upon graduating college. Doing the math, that means I've been here 5 years now. Shortly after moving here I met the love of my life, Romeo, who was born and bred here in Vegas. We dated for a tad more than 2 years and were married in 2009. Romeo and I decided to start our family immediately, and Tybalt was born in August 2010.

For now, I feel that gives you all a pretty good beginner's idea of who I am. Undoubtedly I've forgotten things, but you will learn more as you read my posts.

Oh, and some adorable pictures of Romeo and Tybalt coming soon!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

28 going on 40?

Last Friday, I went to the Benefit brow bar to get my eyebrows done. Even though we’ve been in Las Vegas for nearly a year, I still haven’t found a eyebrow lady that I like enough to go to regularly. My hair salon doesn’t have an esthetician, so When we first got here, I tried threading, but wasn’t a huge fan. Once, I got my eyebrows waxed at the same place I was getting a mani/pedi, but I walked out with painful burns under my brows. So, I thought the ladies dressed all in black with colorful makeup at Ulta would be a good option. Plus, I’ve always really liked Benefit’s products.
My wax-lady, or whatever the technical term is, was probably hovering around 20, friendly and talkative. I had Mia with me, so we talked mostly about how crazy cute she is (since she’s crazy cute). She talked about a baby shower that she had just thrown for a friend of hers, and told me that she got her the Bumbo chair because she thought it was “such a fun and trendy thing that a young mom would like to have!”. I replied to her that I have a Bumbo chair, and that it was a good choice for a gift. She said “Oh! Yeah, I guess you’re a young mom too, sorry.” Wha…?
#1, I don’t know what she’s talking about a young mom wanting a Bumbo chair vs. a less young mom not wanting a Bumbo chair. Those chairs are adorable and excellent for babies. But that’s not the point.
#2 HOW OLD DO I LOOK?

A not-so-flaterring, but recent picture.
Also, Mia looks like a boy here, because she's wearing her cubs onesie without a hairbow.

Admittedly, I had not washed my hair that day, but I had showered! And put on contacts and make up! Didn’t I just started working?? (No, that was 2 years ago) OK, but I just graduated from law school!! (Nope again, 3 years ago)! I swear, I just moved out of my parents house (Even further… 6 years ago)!
It occurred to me that I might just look my age, which is 28, and that 28 doesn’t qualify me as a “young mom”. There’s no show called “27 and Pregnant”, or “Late 20s Mom”. So, OK. I’m just a regular-aged “Mom”. If that means that I pay my own rent, drive a safe car, provide my baby with health insurance, and can still spend $25 to get my eyebrows done, then I’ll take it. So don’t worry Benefit girl, you didn’t insult me after all. I’ll come back! At least until I start getting gray hairs, then, I might have to move on.  

New Additions!

So, I spent about a week or so designing this blog's template, reading a few articles on BlogHer, and contemplating my goals before "going live" yesterday. Once I put it up, I realize that adding a second perspective to Mommying in the Sin City might just be exactly what the blogging world needs. So, I asked my friend, who we will call Juliet Capulet, if she wanted to partner up for this.

Juliet is a much better writer than I am, and has been in Las Vegas for a few years longer than I have, but also originally comes from Illinois. She is also married and has a soon-to-be-one year old son, and takes care of him 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and my Mia three days a week so that I can play lawyer. She'll give everyone a different (yet similar) perspective on Vegas family life. I'm sure Juliet will tell you more about her in her first post.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Introductions

First, I think it's important that you all meet my little Mia, who in all objectivity, is awesome.

She started here:



Then, turned into this:



Came out looking like this:



And yesterday, sat up in her Bumbo:

Inaugural Post

In October of 2010, my husband (B) and I packed up our Lakeview apartment into boxes, loaded up our city-sized hybrid car with our two dogs and drove West for two straight days. We were newly married, I was newly graduated from Law School, and most newly of all, 8 weeks pregnant.

Back in Chicago, after months of being unemployed, I was hired as an In House Counsel for a healthcare company owned by old family friends. Lucky them, their President left the company, and I had a law degree and could fill her shoes, and provide legal advice all in one underpaid position. Lucky me, I desperately needed a job. B was not so lucky to find a company that could use him as a lawyer, but was lucky to start a good alternate career as a Banker. My company expanded and bought some Physical Therapy clinics out in Las Vegas, offered me a less-underpaid position, B got a transfer with his bank, and off we went!

My first impressions of Las Vegas were lukewarm, at best. My pregnancy went as smoothly as any pregnancy could go, but I was not the glowy pregnant lady everyone else is. I was grumpy, tired and achy. A few friends came to visit, and we took them to the strip as dutiful hosts, but my feet got swollen, I was wearing elasto-waist pants, and I couldn't have the footlong margaritas in the shape of eiffel towers everyone else got. So, I'm saying, it's not Las Vegas' fault! I do love the warmth, the pools, the 50 degree winter, the lack of snow, and the little to no traffic that this city has to offer.

On May 25, 2011, our little Mia was born. Although the first few weeks of constant feedings, lack of sleep, crying were very difficult, Mia is now just over 2 months old and is a snuggly smiley bundle of joy that I am more in love with than I ever imagined.

Now, I begin the next chapter: accepting the fact that I live here, rather than my beloved Chicago, and making the best of it. I want to raise my daughter so that she doesn't spent 90% of her free time in front of the TV, so it's time to start exploring.

Also, I won't be using my real name, but will call myself "FF" and my husband "B". I'm guessing it would be pretty easy to figure out my real name, etc, but I ask that you please refrain from using it in any comments. I will write about Las Vegas family-friendly activities, being a Momttorney, living far away from family, losing baby weight, and anything else. I'll use the Labels to categorize each post, and go from there!