True Confessions

You may be wondering how we are adjusting to having a puppy. So far, so good. Charlie is a doll and Shadow is a good model for him.

I do have a confession for you.

I'm not doing so great with the potty training. I bought little bells for Charlie to step on and ring when he wants to go out, but he is fond of carrying them to his (Shadow's) dog bed and chewing on them. Ding. Ding. Ding.

Because we spend most of our time holed up in the kitchen, hemmed in on both sides by baby gates, we don't have too many accidents during the day, and he does very well in the crate when I'm out running errands.

This puppy loves his water almost as much as he obsesses about food, and a few times a day he's particularly prolific in the pee department: 5-8 pm, and 6:30-8:30 am. While a baby might have witching hours, this puppy has PEEING HOURS.

I tell you this because I have a confession to make.

It's a well established fact that I'm not a morning person. What I haven't told  you is that for the past year and a half, Tim and Margaret have gotten up and out of the house without my seeing them. Yep! I am not down in the kitchen in my ruffly apron giving kisses, flipping pancakes, and lovingly handing out sack lunches. I'm upstairs asleep. A few weeks into Margaret's 7th grade year, I was suffering from shingles and needed to rest. Eventually, I got better, but we realized that the mornings went more smoothly without my being involved in the equation at all. Running late? Clothing woes? Not my problem.

After so many years of waking up early and being in charge of getting everyone up and out, this schedule is a GIFT.

I was worried that having the puppy would mess with our little morning routine, but it hasn't. Tim gets up with the dogs. When he and Margaret leave, they shut them back in the bedroom with me while I sleep. The thing is, pretty much every day, in the 7:30-8 am range, Charlie pees in the bedroom. We have a pee pad there, even though we know it isn't something we want to encourage forever. I've removed the pad, but then he pees on the hardwood floor.

Given the choice between living in a pee palace and waking up early, I'd choose pee every single time.

Ok, I'm glad I got that off my chest.

Fellow night owls, what would YOU BE WILLING TO DO to get a little extra sleep in the morning?

What Have We Done?

It's day 2 with the new puppy.

Tim, Margaret, Shadow and I are in the "What the heck have we done?"stage. Let's hope it passes quickly!

We do NOT like change, so it takes us a while to warm up to new situations.  Good thing Charlie is the CUTEST PUPPY EVER. He is playful, cuddly, and charming.

But...

The poo!

The pee!

The sleeping in our bed because we are too tired to crate train him, even though we want to/intend to.

The chewing on my shoe while my foot is in it.

For me the hardest part is waking up so early. Shadow and I had the whole "Let's go back to sleep thing" mastered. Getting up two hours earlier than usual means I'm extra crabby and extra hungry.

I've set up shop in the kitchen all day so Charlie can feel safe and contained. Funny how I am such a homebody, but when I can't go anywhere, I want to go somewhere.

Shadow has quickly gotten tired of Charlie sitting on her head, peeing on her bed, and my favorite: chewing on her toenails. Here's a pic of the toenail situation in action:

Do you like Shadow's, "I am not amused" face?

Shadow just wants to be left alone, and at this point has chosen to hide in the foyer on the other side of a baby gate. I think she just needs to give Charlie one big growl to let him know how she feels, but she's too sweet for that.

When Margaret and I were talking about our adjustment yesterday, it made me realize this is much like bringing a second child home from the hospital.

Remember this?

Your first child suddenly looks like a GIANT in comparison, and you wonder how he/she grew up overnight.

You are tired and you don't know the new baby well enough to know what makes him/her tick, which stresses you out.

Family routines are disrupted, and you sometimes wonder 1) If you have made a huge mistake 2) If you will possibly be able to love and care for the second one as much as the first 3) If the age gap is just too great for them to ever bond and play together 4) If you will ever leave the house again.

So that's where we are today, and my experience with mothering Jack and Margaret tells me that it will ALL work out.

Many, many more cute puppy pics to come!

Puppy News!

So if you follow me on Facebook, you have heard that we are getting a new addition to the family in a few weeks. 

Meet Charlie:

Charlie is a King Charles Spaniel, and our first puppy ever (all of our other dogs were adopted at at least a year), so any advice and encouragement is appreciated! Margaret picked the name "Charlie"-- get it King Charles? I'm hoping it's not too weird to give a puppy the same name as my Grandpa and my late uncle. Margaret says it's perfectly acceptable because it's spelled differently, so okay.

A King Charles puppy has been a life-long dream for Margaret, that started when she and Jack were given this beanie baby by our friend Barbara. Meet Regal:

Regal has been Margaret's lovey since birth. His wayward ear is from a very sad year in which he was missing. I scoured the internet to pay a premium for a new Regal, quickly spurned as "Fake Regal" by Margaret, despite my attempts to muss his hair and make him looked loved-on. Fortunately, Shadow found Regal lodged between a dresser and a wall at my in-laws house in CT, and mommy and dog were reunited. 

I even have two brand new "Regals" and "Fake Regal" tucked in a dresser in my bedroom, in hopes that I will have a chance to give them to any grandchildren we have (Please, God, Please!). I haven't told anyone that until just this second.

So I guess you would say we are mildly excited about Charlie coming into our family. It's funny, but I'm having a lot of the same feelings I had while awaiting Margaret's birth. I was so worried about how Jack would take the new addition! We had her "give" him a new train in the hospital to soften the blow. I'm wondering how to help Shadow not be traumatized by the puppy. 

Anyway, the countdown is on over here! It will be sometime in the next month. Please remind me how excited I am when I'm dealing with pee pads and puppy-ness, okay? Okay.