Finishing Out the Week With Thankfulness

We finished our first full week back at work!  YAY!

Yes, there were things that were hard:  

• Junior still went on a partial hunger strike, which meant that she didn't eat much during the day and instead just slept/fussed a lot, and then when I came home, she ate like CRAZY (every hour) and three times per night (so much for sleeping through the night).  

• I'm already seeing new changes in her behavior in the evenings when I come home and I say to Mr. Squire - "she does [xyz] now! She didn't do that before!" and he'll say "Yup."  I'm missing the changes as they happen.  

• She's not used to me being gone, so she cries more during the day.  She was even hoarse from the crying this evening.  Poor girl.

But then, there were things that were great, and for all these things we are so thankful:

• No one is sick anymore! At the start of the week, both Abuela (the nanny) and I were sick.  Now we're all well.  And Daddy and Junior both survived without getting sick at all.  Thankful for healing!

• Junior started taking the bottle, at least a little... until last Friday, she wouldn't take ANYTHING.  Ever.  For real.  I was so afraid that she would lose a bunch of weight like her cousin AJ.  But thanks to her patient and persistent daddy, she has been taking increasing amounts of milk (from 3-4 ozs Mon-Thurs, to 7.5 ozs today! Go Bathands! Go Daddy!).  So we still have the hunger strike thing going on a little bit, but it's not a total disaster. And while she had a couple very sad low-diaper-count days, I'm no longer worried about her losing lots of weight. She will be all right.

• The first couple days were quiet at work. Things picked up a lot today. But I'm working with great partners on an interesting case, and it feels good to work the brain again. And I love representing people; this fact-finding stage is one of the most fun stages in a case.  :)  

• I work for a compassionate partner. I had a full day of meetings at the client's office today, and needed to pump.  This can be a tough situation, because you don't want to interrupt everything for the sake of pumping -- but you kind of have to.  And if you aren't working for the right people, that can spell all kinds of awkward disaster.  Thankfully, in God's mercy, I'm working with a compassionate dad who made it his business to find a place for me to comfortably pump and even stood watch outside the door to make sure no one walked in on me.  You can't really ask for more.  Thanks so much, John.

• Mr. Squire is home all the time, which makes everything easier. And he is such a wonderful dad.  Every day, he comes up with more ways to make Junior laugh. Most recently, we caught a video of Daddy the Blue Lion eating "zebra ribs" (Bathands was in her zebra suit today - she really only wears three outfits: her white "polar bear" outfit or her pink and blue zebra outfit by day, or the yellow ducky suit by night).  Their relationship is super-special, and we are all very lucky.  I feel blessed just watching them.

• I also didn't feel like my relationship with Bathands suffered over this week.  Every day I have still gotten smiles and grins... funnily, I found out that she finds it HILARIOUS when I tell her, "A subpoena is where you say, 'Gimme all your documents!' and you say, 'No no no no no no no! Did you ask for them the right way? Are they relevant? Are they described with reasonable particularity? Are they not privileged? Are they within a confined period?"  I also found out that she loves it when I sing the Pink Panther theme.  We also started a couple nice traditions, including me reciting the "I Love You When" book at the beginning and end of every day; me playing piano with her every evening; and dancing and singing "Your Grace Is Enough" together (something I've actually been doing ever since she was really really tiny).  We still get our Mommy and Junior time, and she doesn't fuss much when I'm at home.  Feeling that she still feels attached and connected to me is the biggest gift of all.

• I enjoyed happy reunions with my coworkers.  The place changed a lot while I was gone, and that made me nervous. But then I came back and saw so many folks - from the staff up to the partners - and I realized again how happy I am to work here.  And that was a gift in itself.

We are thankful to God for His continuing provision.  The days will get harder (indeed, I'm working my first weekend back!), but I just keep reminding myself -- God will provide where He has called. And it is here that He has called us right now, and He will be faithful -- as He was this week!