...you trip over a fluffy black mess of energy while preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner, because that fluffy black mess of energy loves you a whole lot, even after you step on her tail.
...you find yourself saying, "Sadie, don't bite!" ten thousand times a day, and as you pry a dirty sock from her mouth you find yourself wondering why you spent big bucks on chew toys and rope toys and kong toys when for the most part, they're ignored.
...you watch from your dining room window as your kids build a boat out of the playground set and the dogs follows them around the yard, wagging her little tail.
...you end up with a huge dog crate in your bedroom and another dog crate in the school room and still search Craigslist for another one to go in the family room. You look at the family room, which doesn't have a couch, but has a a large, circular dog pillow from Costco, and wonder why the dog has more furniture in the house than you do.
and of course
...you never blog, because you have a brand new baby to take care of, and unlike human babies, puppies can walk and bite and chew and need constant - CONSTANT - supervision when they're not in their kennel to keep them from piddling on the floor.
* * *
So we've learned a lot since getting Sadie two weeks ago. Puppies are a lot of work! Between Sadie and the kids and home school and household chores and being in charge of Activity Days at church, I don't have a minute to spare. I'm currently writing this blog post while the kids are having read-aloud time, and now they're actually done and I need to do Phonics with the boys while Alyssa reads silently.
Having a puppy is not all bad, though. Sadie is down to waking up just once or twice a night to go potty, and Brian takes one shift and I take the other, so I'm not as tired as I was last week. As you can tell from our multiple dog crates, we've gotten more serious about kennel training in the last week or so, and it's cut down on the amount of accidents in the house, and it's also helped Sadie to be a part of the family when we need to concentrate on things other than her (like breakfast, lunch, dinner, and school) while keeping her from wandering around the room, chewing on things she's not supposed to chew on. The last couple of days, she's slept happily in her crate while we do a little bit of school, then she and the kids take a recess in the back yard, then we're back to school for a while, then another recess, etc. The kids are enjoying it, of course, because they never got so many recesses before Sadie came along.
I love watching Sadie play in the back yard with the kids. I love cuddling up to her when she's sleepy before bed time. Even though I trip over her, I love that she follows me around the kitchen, because it means she likes me. Overall, we're really enjoying the new addition to our family, even though she is a lot of work.
1 comment:
I don't think I could possibly handle it! But you make it sound fun. :) I emailed you yesterday at an account I hope you still have... let me know if you didn't receive one from me! You know, in your spare time. ;)
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