yes the deed is done

I TOOK THE BAR!!!

I finished on Wednesday at like 4:30 p.m. (yes that's twenty minutes early. I'm one of the ones that left like twenty minutes early...as I was walking to the parking lot I kept looking at the people around me thinking, "are we all the ones who left early and are now going to FAIL because we didn't take advantage of the last 20 minutes???" I hope not.....).

It is WONDERFUL to be done. It was definitely hard--the multiple choice I felt ok about..like I possibly did better than all of the practice problems I did because I really did try to slow down and focus and figure out what the question was asking me... I felt good about the essays too (well the afternoon, morning was another story don't even get me started about the disguised torts question and about the con law essay on the ELEVENTH AMENDMENT--I have taken SIX classes on con law related topics and they give us a question on something I'm sure everyone had nothing more than a sentence to say about--eleventh amendment, sovereign immunity, can't sue states..UMMMMM......) until I went out to dinner with a bunch of smarty pants friends who studied WAY more than me and realized many many MANY things I left out or got wrong....I know it doesn't do any good to think about all the issues you missed because everyone misses some and they don't expect you to pick up on everything in half an hour..but still....

About 75% of the people who take the bar in AZ pass. I think last year it was closer to 80% and the number is even higher for ASU grads. I am definitely (although not by much depending on how last semester grades panned out) in the top half/top forty percent of my ASU class...so statistically I should pass this thing. I worked hard, I honestly feel like I studied as much as I could given the circumstances, and I didn't freak out during the test.....so I should pass right?? I should.

But I may not. It's not unthinkable. I cringe when thinking about preparing for it all over again. For now I hope for the best and pray for understanding bar examiners who don't realize I talked about criminal case rules when discussing civil case character evidence.....

Since the test has ended I've been hanging around trying to do all the things I haven't been doing for the last two months (clean, do laundry, wash the rugs in our bathroom, oh yeah and RUN a lot--remember that half marathon in less than a month??). And my tax RA job has gotten busier and is going to fill up my time for the next couple of weeks. It's amazing how you think you are going to have all this time on your hands and you really just don't. Will I ever not be stressed out because I have a million things to do?? Probably not. But it is nice to have the bar over with. SO SO SO NICE.

And I do have to say there is no way I would have had even a SHOT of passing without my wonderful Sister in Law and Mother in Law coming into town during the final two weeks to watch Harrison so I could study. Harrison LOVED having them around to love him and play with him and I LOVED the chance to focus on studying. I AM SO LUCKY!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for taking the time out to come to AZ in the middle of summer!!!!

here is a slideshow of recent pics of Harrison and some pics from my trip to Sacramento a few weeks ago..you can come up with captions on your own right?? Be creative.

I LOVE MY SQUISHY MONKEY FACE!!!!

First of all, I don't know why this is underlined...just go with it..Anyway--my kid gets cuter and cuter by the day..I can't even handle it!!!

We force him into a swaddle at night because although he hates it at first, it makes him sleep better. I'm pretty crappy and swaddling at 2 am so I bought these blankets that are like a little baby strait jacket and allow you to velcro your child in..here he has managed to get one finger out to put in his mouth....
he LOVES to flail his arms and legs about
and pretend like he is going to punch me
Cory's family says he looks nothing like them so does he look like me?? (and don't worry..I have a hair appointment on tomorrow so maybe I'll look a little less like a really really worn out new mom..)
You know you'd try to eat him too!!!
Last weekend our friends lisa and nick finished this amazing TWO HUNDRED MILE relay with Nick's family. They are insane and ridiculous and awesome!!!
We took Harrison to come meet them at the finish line--look at his cute little green jacket--it has a car on it :)
when he smiles I just melt!! I can't help it!!!

OH BABY!!!

Harrison Kent Brown was born January 9, 2008 at 1:18 p.m (yes that's one incredibly long week past my due date). He was 8 pounds 11 ounces and 18 inches long. We had an appointment to get induced the night before at 10--after about 10 hours of dialating 1 cm on ptocin, the doctor broke my water, I had about an hour of completely heinous contractions, got an epidural and four lovely drug induced hours later I was at 10 cm and started pushing. It didn't take all that long and honestly aside from the really uncomfortable night not getting anywhere and the hour or so of awful contractions things went pretty well. We came home yesterday afternoon and I am SO happy to be home where Cory can help me all the time without being stuck trying to sleep in a horrible hospital chair. I was a bit worried because Harrison really didn't sleep much the first couple of nights (or days for that matter) but he has gotten used to things and has been sleeping ALL day. Cory and I have finally gotten a chance to relax and recover a little. I am feeling good and we are getting used to the up all night, feeding, diapering, crying newborn stage. He is SUCH a cutie and I just can't believe that he's home and he's ours. I'm so grateful that I have this chance to be a mother and that we have such great and supportive friends and family--thank you to Lisa for coming and hanging out with me at the hospital so I could rest and to my mom who was scrubbing our bathroom for like three hours this afteroon :) And thank you to my wonderful supportive husband who is JUST SO CUTE with our little guy!!!

As far as the name goes---his middle name Kent was my dad's name and we thought that was fitting for our first son. We chose Harrison because it fits with our theme of naming all of our kid's after the last names of presidents (william henry harrison, he's not named after harrison ford or george harrison of the beatles...) We had been tossing around other president names but I have been liking Harrison for about a month now--Cory was initially opposed because he does not want anyone calling him Harry--however ,I successfully convinced him that we could avoid the harry thing as much as possible--and when he was born we both just felt right about Harrison. (it's also a street near where we live and H. Kent Brown is just such a good general authority name, don't you think??)


He loves his daddy!!! We can't really decide if he looks like either of us...
What he has been doing ALL day today!!--Sleeping!! YAY!
Waiting to go home the hospital
When are we LEAVING????
Hospital volunteers gave us this cute little hat--and the binky---very helpful to quiet him down in the middle of the night :)
He found his arms!!! Harrison loves aunt Lisa--and she SO wants a baby now..right???
Right after he was born--I LOVE those lips!!!