Legal advice?

If you ever call an attorney to ask a simple question you may find that it's almost impossible to get a straight answer.  It was one of the things I hated the most about law school.  There are two reasons you won't be able to get a quick answer over the phone, 1) the answer to almost any legal question is "it depends."  It can become infuriating when you just want to know, but unfortunately the law is almost never straight forward.  If you ask a question that can easily be answered like "what is the statute of limitations for this?" You might get a response like 4 years, but even that can depend on the facts of the case.  If you ask something harder like "do I have a case" or "how long will this take" well then the attorney may need a crystal ball in order to answer your question. The problem is, some people look like they have a great case at first, but they fail to give us all of the information.  Conversely, I have a case that we originally thought was pretty worthless, but after some additional investigation (called Discovery - which is a very long process) we found the case is likely going to be quite lucrative.  It always depends.

2) If an attorney were to answer your question and only spoke to you that one time, without all of the information, your subsequent actions may set him or her up for a malpractice suit.  The problem is, the attorney-client relationship is whatever the client thinks it is.  So even if you never talk to that attorney, if you get all of your advice from a blog and act on it, you could technically sue that attorney later if it all goes wrong.

With all of that said, I have some knowledge, that I have discovered people should know, but don't.  I am going to start to share some of my knowledge on this blog (since it's private I can limit the exposure), but please understand this is not advice.  If you have a question, call me or another attorney.  But be prepared to get the answer "it depends" because that is likely to be the first thing out of my mouth.

Thank goodness for family

It's so fun to have Wyatt home again! I hope Erik grows up to be just like him, he's such a good kid and a great example for the rest of us.

I also have to say that I am SO grateful for my wonderful family.  They have saved us many times this month.  All summer my mom has had one goal, to paint her bedroom.  Finally the weekend before school was starting back up she was determined to get it done.  Of course that was the weekend we asked if we could leave Erik overnight with them (the day after he got his 4 month old shots). From her reply you would think she had nothing planned.  We drove all night to get back as soon as we could and it was obvious my parents were EXHAUSTED.  I took Erik out of their room to feed him while Mark gathered his things.  It wasn't until Mark hit their door with Erik's swing that my parents woke up and realized we had been wandering around their bedroom, kidnapping their grandbaby.

It has been the same all month, whenever we have a need they figure out a way to help.  Sometimes the twins pitch in but if they can't and we're in a bind, my mom is there for us.  She has taken Erik to work with her a couple of times and she has taken him to the doctor, even though she was going in to get an MRI.  We couldn't have survived this month without all of their help but especially hers. They are the best and I love them for it!

Addendum: I realized that in my blogging life I haven't posted anything about my most wonderful husband.  He is amazing and the best part of my new family.  He is the most talented, wise and wonderful man and I love him lots and lots and lots.

Sleeping

This picture was taken a couple of months ago before our move.  Almost nightly Erik would freak me out because I would wake up to check on him and his face was pressed against the mesh on the far wall of his co-sleeper. One night I watched as his little two-month-old mummy-wrapped body wiggled its way over to the edge, it was only then that I realized he was looking at the night light until he fell asleep.

Mark and Erik both like to sleep with their eyes a tiny bit open, which doesn't work well when they need to sleep during the day.  Luckily Jennifer had a mask they could borrow.

Last week our doctor told us it was time to teach Erik how to fall asleep on his own and how to sleep through the entire night.  Mark insisted that I let him cry for five minutes before going in to check on him.  When the five minutes were up I rushed in, calmed him down then put him back in his bed. He fell right to sleep.  Ever since then, I wrap him up, read him a book, give him a kiss, lay him down and he doesn't even whimper, he looks at his night light until he falls asleep.  

Best baby ever... Not the best parents. 

We're trying to get better about putting him to bed at the same time each night.  Sometimes we're a little late and he passes out on his own.

 

San Diego

A little late, but I didn't want to put too much into the last post.  We had a great time in San Diego and Erik did a great job on his first mini-vacation.  He couldn't have been better on his first flight, he was so happy it was quite a relief, but I made Mark fly home with us because carrying all of his baby stuff and him through the airports was not my idea of fun.

He had lots of fun in San Diego visiting my Aunt Pat and Uncle Steve and especially going to cruise night (okay, maybe Mark had a little more fun cruising around in my uncle's matching Cudas)

 

Mark went for the bike auction, and (for once) found a bike that he didn't want to buy:

August already?!?! A little update

Okay, so I'm officially very bad at blogging.  Since my last post we moved (back to Orem), bought an old-school nine-passenger suburban (for real), welcomed my brother home from his mission (Wyatt, SC spanish speaking), survived a week without Mark (he went camping and left me to figure out who would watch Erik while I was at work), bought me a mini-chopper (pretty sure this is another baby step towards a full size motorcycle for me), went to San Diego (cruise night!), bought Mark another motorcycle (yes, another!), said goodbye to Paul and Erin (we'll visit you in Grenada), bought a new car (biggest purchase of my life), went to Las Vegas (for 4 full hours to see Rawlaw get married), returned our new car (apparently getting married did not resolve my commitment issues) and looked for another new car (this is getting ridiculous).  It's been a busy month and we have had quite a few new vehicle registrations.

So now for the cute stuff.  Erik is adorable!  He is in the 25th percentile for head size and weight and the 75th for height.  The little guy is growing up fast.

He is now a pro at rolling over... He was doing it for days before I happened to catch it.  Mark would give him tummy time 3 times a day so usually it only takes a couple of seconds for him to flip.  After a few times in a row he got tired and slowed down enough for me to catch it on video:

He also has started to laugh all of the time.  I tell people all of the time what a great baby we have, but I don't think they believe me until we ask them to babysit.  He truly spoils us (even when he is tired or hungry).

It has been a good month.  Now let's see if I get any better at keeping up with this now that things have calmed down!