I am grateful that daycare has remained open during this time. I have had a mix of live classes and recorded classes. Without daycare, being present for classes would have been a real struggle. Honestly the lack of driving to campus actually freed up a lot of time. All the driving and parking and walking to class really does eat up a good portion of my time every day.
I'm not going to lie, the stress level in this house has been through the roof the last two months. The size of my apartment never really bothered me until these last few weeks. Frankly I feel like the walls are closing in on me some days. I'm ready to get out and about again. I have stayed locked up with my nose to the grindstone as my grandmother used to say! Thank God for church, family, friends, therapy, coffee and more coffee. A bright spot this last week was seeing my local Starbucks open up again. Never doubt a law students ability to consume coffee.
Since I last posted, we have been knee deep in potty training. Actually, I would say we are mostly day trained. Izzy still has an accident from time to time and if we go on any longer trips she usually wears a pull-up. At night time she is also still in pull-up's and diapers. I really let her potty train on her terms because she wasn't going to do it any other way. I'm once again keenly aware of where all the toilets are just like I was when I was pregnant. I guess pregnancy is just preparing you for potty training! Next up, big girl bed. Yes, she's still in a crib. No, she hasn't tried to climb out. Yes, I know I can't keep her in there until she's 18. She sleeps well in her crib, so I have been in no hurry to move over to a toddler bed. She recently started asking me about it though and I know I'm not going to get her to stay in her crib for another year. I figure while I'm not in the middle of class this summer we can work on staying in our bed. It wasn't something I wanted to battle while I was in class. Her sleeping times are my prime study times.
Outside of our potty training journey, we have been knee deep in the sass of toddler life. Let me tell you... the child has sass. The attitude, the melt downs, the tantrums; I was prepared for none of it. Add a stressed out sleep deprived momma to the mix and things get ugly sometimes. I'm not sure who has more time out's me or Izzy. Sometimes I have to put trains on the TV so I can sit in my room for a minute and get myself together. Izzy is a much different personality than I am in a lot of ways and she has given me a run for my money. I love the little sass pot to death, but I'm going to remind her of these times in the future. Especially if she calls to tell me her own kids are being a pain!
I told myself I wasn't going to take classes this summer. But, I lied. I'm taking two classes, but they are accelerated classes (two weeks for each class) and I think that will make them tolerable. My first class is June 1st through the 12th and my second class isn't until the middle of August. That gives me two months to enjoy summer. Before our current pandemic, I was supposed to be in Colorado at the end of June for a week. My first out of state trip of more than a weekend without Izzy. I have mixed feelings about it, but I also know I need a break. Two years of law school has given me a few gray hairs. Two years of law school with a toddler has given me about 50000 gray hairs. Right now, we are still scheduled to go on our trip. We will make the call on it in a few weeks.
In addition to class and vacation, I also have the MPRE scheduled for August. The MPRE is our professional ethics exam all law students (except in a few states) are required to take prior to sitting for the bar exam. Ahhh the bar exam. That will be the joy of my summer next summer. Studying for the multi day exam at the end of July. Can't wait.
I'm looking forward to the fall semester. I was accepted to work as a student attorney in our general civil practice clinic at the Drake Legal Clinic. I'm looking forward to putting into practice everything we have learned over the last two years. Sometimes I question what I have actually learned and then I pull some random law out of thin air and think, "huh I guess I have actually learned a thing or two". It's honestly been amazing to see how the classes have started to weave together this last semester.
So, that's the quick rundown of the last five months in our house. It certainly hasn't been without up's and down's, but that's life and you learn to just roll with the punches.
