Five years ago today I met Colin in a bar...for those of you who don't know the story, it all began when one of the people at his table (which was next to mine) left and turned to say good-bye, accidentally clocking me in the back of the head with his elbow then took off without even saying sorry!! Colin, forever the gentleman, offered to buy me a drink as an apology for his friend. I promptly said no...Colin had the chutzpah to buy it for me anyway and I was VERY impressed. We spent the rest of the evening talking and I fell in love with him that night.

Here we are, five years, one engagement, one wedding and one daughter later and I still love him more every single day. He is brilliant, funny, kind, generous, and an amazing father. I am consistenly amazed by his capacity for patience (I'm a serious pain in the ass), and thrilled by how he always, always shows me how much he loves me.

My love - thank you for all that you have given me, thank you for showing me what a good and safe relationship can be, thank you for letting me be myself all the time, thank you for becoming a part of our family, thank you for our daughter. I love you so very much, and am excited for all of the years to come.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day my love! Thank you for being such an incredible Dad and partner during this amazing time in our lives. You truly give everything you are and everything you have for your daughter and your family and I am proud to call you my husband.

To my Daddy - thank you. You have given me the world, you have shown four daughters what a man is and should be, you have taught us what it is to be a parent and how to treat those around us. I love you!

Six Months

Six months ago we brought Corrin home from the hospital. She was 8.5 lbs and 21 inches long. She slept all the time, smiled a little and made pretty good eye contact. She was amazing and my favorite part of every day.

Six months later she is thriving! She weighs 17.14 lbs and is 28 inches long!!! She's almost as tall as Colin and me!! She sits up on her own, plays with toys and babbles all the time. We're convinced we have heard her say "Daddy." Not to anyone in particular mind you, but she said it nonetheless. It's amazing to me how much she has changed and continues to change every day. She is so alert, she always has been, she is silly and playful. She has a gentle, sweet disposition with a smile that lights up her whole face.

Corrin loves to watch Ruth, and sits in her exersaucer regularly following Ruthie around with her eyes. She loves books and helps turn the pages!!!

I realize I am not the first woman, or even the first of my sisters to have a child, but all of this stuff is totally new to me and so much fun! I have no idea what I ever did without her. Sure, I was more able to just take off and do things but she more than makes up for it. She's funny and cute and it is incredible to watch her grow.

Random Updates

This is the reason that I both love and hate Facebook...the absolute ability to stalk people. I am "friends" with the son of my old best friend Tiff and through his page, I found hers. Yup, Tiff is on Facebook. She looks incredible and has been pretty active. She is "friends" with a number of people that I am "friends" with too. Ugh.

Blogging...I have found that I am not very good at updating this little endeavour. For the three people that read this, here's the rundown

(1) I have a new job! Woo Hoo!!! I fit in here and am respected. It's awesome. Before I left my old job my boos informed me that while she respects me as an attorney she did not value me as an employee. Yeah, now you see why I left;

(2) Corrin is five months and a half months old, weighs 16.4lbs and is the definition of awesome. That said I still have some serious adjusting to do. I have been responsible for only me for a very long time, and having a child changes that drastically. I know that this is sort of a "well DUH" comment, but you never really know something until you live it.

(3) The house fell through and we are not looking for a while. I'm tired of the whole thing. One year, two failed contracts and a lot of money out of our pocket is a sign to me that now is not the time for us to buy a house.

(4) I'm speaking at the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Annual Conference this year. There are over 11,000 members of this organization and so to be invited to speak is a huge honor. I'm terrified.

(5) I still miss Tiff and am wondering if there is any way for me to mend this relationship. On the flip-side of that, am I a glutton for punishment and just setting myself up for more hurt?

(6) Colin is still incredible and on June 9, 2010 will be turning 30!! I can imagine that this is not a big deal to many but since it is the first time since we met that we will share a decade it's pretty exciting.

Ok - I think that's it for the random updates to Random Thoughts. Hopefully this will come more regularly but considering my track record...no promises.

Awake

It's 2:22 am and I can't sleep. There is no particular reason why, I just can't. It's possible that it has something to do with the fact that I go back to work in a week and am pretty freaked out about it. It may be because I had a big dinner celebrating our two year wedding anniversary. It may be because it's warm in the house and I can't sleep like that. Who knows, all I know is I am up sitting on my blog when all normal people my age are fast asleep in bed. Oy.

The good news is the baby is sleeping well and cute as a button on her video monitor. She tends to wiggle a little at night and I love that I can see her squirming around in her little bed without bothering her at all :).

I'm sure tomorrow I will be miserable for this little bout with insomnia, and hopefully I can manage to get some good rest over the next week. Sweet dreams everyone!

Frustration

Yes...it's been months since I've posted but I have a good excuse. I have decided that one handed typing should be a resume bullet point and something that people are very impressed with.

Today's post is not going to be all sweetness and light. Being home with the baby has been amazing and she has taught me so much in the ten short weeks that she has been on this earth. The one and only dark shadow over this entire time has been my job. The first six weeks were wretched because me boss refused to leave me alone. Calling, e-mailing, asking me to attend weekly meetings, asking me to take on new cases while I am out, asking me ridiculous questions that she could easily figure out for herself and causing massive stress over money that I have earned and she is refusing to pay.

In two and a half weeks I have to go back to work. We cannot afford for me to stay home right now, as much as I would love to, and so three days a week I have to return to that torture chamber until I find another job. After seven and a half years of loyal service she has managed to lose all respect I had for her, and now I just hope to get out of there as soon as humanly possible. UGH!!!!

Corrin Dorothy Haggerty 12/02/2009

So this has been quite a week. Monday night I started having contractions and after about four hours we decided to head to the hospital to see if I was really in labor...no such luck. They sent me home at about 2:00 am with a pain pill and a sleeping pill and instructions to "get some rest." I thought that was pretty funny considering I was still having contractions! We went home and I did sleep a little, but was still contracting about once an hour.

Tuesday was restful as possible, we stayed home and tried to relax but it was very difficult. The baby was not moving, and we got really concerned and so made another trip to the hospital just to set me up on the monitors and make sure she was ok. As soon as we got there and got all hooked up she started kicking away like nothing was wrong. Ugh...7:00 pm and we are home again, exhausted and ready for bed already. Luckily our good friends Travis and Tracy had picked Ruth up and so we didn't have to worry about getting her exercise for the night, and decided to go to bed early.

At this point I am still contracting every hour, and have not had any hours of solid sleep since Sunday night. 3:00 am rolls around and I have a very strong contraction and decide to get up and take a bath, walk around the house, read and just try to relax. By 4:30 the contractions are coming more than four times an hour and by 5:30 am I was contracting about five to six times and decide to wake up Colin to start timing for me. We go along like this for six hours, me in pain, contractions getting stronger but never at regular time intervals. The doctors, books, internet, and everything else we have ever looked at says we have to wait until the contractions are at five minutes apart for an hour.

I decide in mid-contraction that I can't handle this anymore, and we call the doctor, who kindly says to come in. WOO HOO!!! We get to the Labor & Delivery triage and they check me out and HALLELUJIA - 4 centimeters!!! They are checking me in! I'm in LABOR!!!!! Wait...I'm in labor????? WHOA! They take me upstairs to the Labor & Delivery unit and we meet our team of medical professionals. Brad, the best anesthesiologist alive, Lea, the fantastic non-cheerleader nurse who reminds me of "Berta" from the T.V. show Two and a Half Men, and Dr. Kandal, my OB-Gyn.

Can I just say here that epidurals are miraculous. Six hours of labor at home that were supposed to be the easy ones and then another eleven at the hospital and the hospital ones were stronger and closer together and the hospital ones were not too bad at all (until I started feeling them and then Brad really took care of that). The problem was that while things were progressing, Corrin still was not dropping down to where she needed to be for me to deliver her. The doctors suggested we push for an hour to see what we can do. After an hour, nothing. She is still riding high and not wanting to go where she needs to for me to deliver.

This is where the doctor says medically, they do not think delivery the normal way is going to work, and recommend a caesarian section. This was a bummer to me, but I understood the risks to the baby and to me and this was the right way to go. We went into the room at 11:00 pm and by 11:55 Corrin Dorothy Haggerty was born and with us.

Colin, during all of this, was truly incredible. There with me every second, supporting me, helping me through contractions, supporting me when the doctors mentioned the dreaded “C” word, helping me feel like everything was going to be fine. He is amazing, and in the three days since she was born, he has proven every second that I could not ask for a better partner, and that he is an incredible husband and now, Daddy.