Mama down.

I. Am. Sick.

I haven't been this sick in years, probably. Luckily Drew and I are still at my parents while Rob oversees the remodel in Austin, so I have extra hands to help.

I am about to head to the doc to rule out the flu (I did get a flu shot), because that can be really bad for pregnant people. I just hope whatever this is can be fixed by meds-- I don't have the energy to let it run it's course!

Concrete Jungle

Hello from NYC! I am currently sitting in a coffee shop in Times Square enjoying a latte and a chocolate croissant after a stroll through Central Park and down 5th Ave. It's been a pretty fab Valentine's day! Tonight we are getting Italian food (Carmine's) and seeing Book of Mormon, so I know the day will only keep getting better. Then we head home tomorrow. I am sad to leave (so much we haven't seen!), but I miss that stinker of a son-- who may or may not be getting a special something from FAO Schwartz.

My only question so far- who told the late teen/early 20s population that it was ok to wear tights, or worse HOSE, as pants? No, not leggings- sheer hosiery. Honey, I think that is the reason you are (a) freezing and (b) being stared at. Obviously this is a trend, because I have seen it multiple times. Bizarre.

Full recap later!

Why we have to go and make things so complicated?

I have come to the conclusion that Rob "nests" too- just in a totally different way than I do. I clean, clean out, and organize. He remodels. Or, more accurately, hires someone to remodel.

With Ellie on the way, we realized there will never be a good time to remodel our kids/guest bath, so a week ago we hired a contractor, Monday we picked out fixtures, Tuesday we picked out granite, and we are starting a week from today. Luckily it should be about a 3 day job, so I shouldn't come home from the hospital to a partially remodeled house like I did with Drew. (you know an appliance helpful to a new mom? A microwave. We didn't have one.)

Here is a before picture. Goodbye original knobs from 1972.

Next up will be building a patio to replace the one we ripped out several months ago. Obviously that project took a back seat once we discovered something that would work for the meantime when we ripped out the deck.

Not to be outdone by Rob's building efforts, I have hired a decorator for some help on my living room.

I wonder how much the Callegaris can accomplish in the next 10 weeks.... Hopefully quite a bit!

Big shoes to fill

Someone has entered the "if there are shoes around, I will put them on my feet" phase.

Personally I think my black flats look better than Rob's boat shoes.

Mamaw

I thought waking up at 4AM yesterday was bad.... Then I woke up at 3 today. Despite doing everything I can think of, it doesn't look like I am going back to sleep. I guess it does give me some good time to cross things off my to-do list (blog- check).

Not only am I waking up well before the crack of dawn, but I am going through Tums at an alarming pace. Simply looking at a citrus fruit or salsa can send me searching for chalky, "fruit flavored" relief.

My feet have been hurting more and more, so I am about to get into wearing running shoes (aka: mom shoes) daily.

Essentially I am a 99 year old stuck in a 29 year olds body.

And if I don't start sleeping more I am going to have that tell-tale exhausted "new parent" look 10 weeks before the baby arrives.

(this picture has nothing to do with anything other than me thinking my son is adorable and posts being better with pictures)

Sunrise, Sunset

Not long ago I posted about going to court to see opening arguments for "my" case.

Last Thursday morning, the OAG announced a settlement in that case of $158 million dollars. :)

It's strange to me, because even though I hadn't been working, this case was still in litigation and thus I still felt like I had my finger in the legal profession.  While I plan to keep my law license up-to-date, this case settling closed the door to that world just a little farther.

This settlement was long since coming.  My old boss told me that she spent SIX AND A HALF YEARS working on nothing but this case.  Makes my 3 years of service to the case seem like nothing.

I am proud of my work on this case.  I think there were aspects of the pharmaceutical world that the general population needed to know.  And the way this settlement played out, the OAG was able to deliver almost their entire case to the jury (and thus to the media) before the settlement.  As I caught up with the media on the trial, I saw the outrage in reporters and readers that we felt all along.  So the story is out there AND the State of Texas will recover money they spent unnecessarily on a drug that was not as great as advertised.

I know at least one, if not two, books will be written about this trial.  They will never become best sellers, but I am so glad I was able to contribute to (hopefully) making this world a more transparent place to live.

And so closes the door on a huge chapter of my life.

Blue plate special, please.

Apparently my body clock has changed to the "80 years plus" mode. I have to eat dinner in the middle of the afternoon so I don't sit up with reflux all night. Then I fall asleep at 8:30PM and wake up at 4:30AM.

Hopefully I fall out of this super senior citizen plan soon.