23 weeks

sunday marked 23 weeks. funemployment officially ended this past week for me, sad to say. but my first week at the new job was really good, if not, eye-opening. it was basically a lot of "whoa, this place is so different from a law firm!" going on in my head. it makes me realize how conditioned (brainwashed) i was the past four years working at a law firm. some key points that i wanted to mention (in no particular order, though i suspect it will be clear which ones are more important to me): 

- no gmail. :( :( :( :( :( 

- the floor clears out by 5:30. i was asked by random people why i was still here at 6:30. i mean, the night is young at 6:30! 

- i was put on a project, and when i asked the compliance person what the timing was, he chuckled and said "just keep it on your radar." ??? does. not. compute. 

- i don't have a secretary anymore. there's an admin in our department but the poor guy supports 30 people so no more "please print this for me thx" emails. i know, boo hoo. leave me alone. it's very annoying when you have to print dozens of documents and figure out where one ends and the next begins!  

- every friday is casual day. i came in last friday and noticed it wasn't just jeans day, it was a legit casual day. i mean, people in t-shirts and sneakers. i'm so excited! not that i have anything to wear. i hate maternity clothes. so much. 

- the corporate lingo is so new to me. thank goodness i have HR guru jane cha to help me figure it out. but orientation is called "onboarding" and conferences are called "offsites" and all these other confusing words i've never really heard of? 

- my office has a glass wall. no more naps, random stretching/yoga and changing clothes in the secrecy of my office. :( i'm guessing this also means i won't be able to pump here, so that's kind of sucky. but i think the pumping room is across the hall so i'll have to check it out (that is, if i even end up pumping - with lana, i lasted 3 days...). 

- I. DON'T. HAVE. TO BILL. i keep wanting to write down the time i spent on things and then catch myself with a stupid grin on my face because I DON'T HAVE TO! 

- i'm the CLIENT. :D we had an internal meeting to discuss a project, and we barely even looked at the document outside counsel prepared. while on the conf call, my boss mouthed to me "i didn't even read this." afterwards, she said "ok we'll call outside counsel next week, tell them to tell us what's next." it's so weird to not be the one who's drafting all these docs...and so awesome. 

- the business folks want answers quickly and, as my coworker said, "you don't have time to be perfect." that sounds a little scary, coming from a firm where you are expected to be perfect, find the answers and anticipate the client's follow-up questions and have those answers as well. i suspect it involves a lot of getting context and disclaimer/cautious language so the business folks don't run off and say "the lawyer said i can do this!" -_-

i'm sure these revelations will keep happening for a while before i settle in, but overall things have been good. learning a lot about the company, the business, refreshing my memory about capital markets deals since it's been a while since i've worked on them. 

another big event to happen this week is lana is potty training. after hawaii, grandmama park has revved up the potty training efforts and i think lana is almost trained now. she still has accidents here and there (usually we just don't get to the potty fast enough) but the past two nights, she didn't pee once in her diaper and woke up in the middle of the night to go. we even went to church diaperless this past sunday. we tried to put on a diaper but she refused, so we went to the potty once upon arriving at church and once before leaving to go home, and she was completely accident-free the whole time. i am SO relieved to get even 3-4 months of diaper freedom before the onslaught of 12-20 diapers a day starts again for stello. i've noticed this past week that i'm eating a lot better. i'm still picky, but a little less so, and i actually want to eat sometimes. and my appetite for desserts/sweets has skyrocketed. -_- my next OB appointment is wednesday and i suspect i am definitely in the positive weight gain range now, so that's good. 

no bump pic bc i am typing this up on my phone...but i am feeling huge. i can't believe I am this big already - i have 17 weeks to go!!! the worst right now is that pain right below the belly, where the legs meet the torso. i don't remember that well but i do feel like this sorta pain is happening earlier than it did with lana. -_- is this baby gonna come out ginormous?