Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Meet Woodhouse



We got a new dog last weekend. I should say Seth got a new dog last weekend. I wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea of a new dog, because I'm the one home all day taking care of Patrick as is, and soon a little baby, but Seth has been wanting a big dog to run with since we moved to Washington. I kept telling him no because we lived in the townhome, didn't have a backyard and I was not going to be responsible for walking a small dog, a big dog and loading up an infant multiple times a day to go for potty breaks (likely in the rain). I was perfectly content with it being me, Patrick and soon to be baby. It was quiet, we cuddled a lot, everything was going fine and dandy and Patrick is well behaved.


Enter Easter weekend when we go visit my aunt and gramma. They had found a stray puppy a few weeks prior. My aunt had contacted the animal shelters around her to see if anyone reported a missing dog. No one had. He's pretty young, probably 4-5 months, looks to be a mix of Australian Shepherd and Collie, very clumsy, still has baby teeth and is potty trained. Seth fell in love with him immediately and spent most of the day playing with him. He even named him Woodhouse shortly (we call him Woody for short) after meeting him when he wasn't even "our" dog yet. My aunt knew Seth wanted him badly. The Friday after Easter, we drove to my aunt's house and oh hi, we have a new dog. YAYYYYY.


Today, all I've done is listened to the dogs bark (3 solid hours this morning), shut the office door to tune them out, but it's not nearly enough. I give them treats to reward them for being quiet, and then they resume barking. The neighbors are installing a fence today so there is a lot of extra, new noises and that's what's causing all this commotion with them. They get along well about 85% of the time, but Woody knows Patrick HATES his ears nipped at, so that's the first place he goes and it gets Patrick riled up. Then Patrick gets all feisty and snarls and chases after him, but Woody likes it. Deep down Patrick loves it too, and he loves a playmate, but frequently I hear a little yelp from Patrick and have to tell them to calm down. Then they don't. And I get frustrated. Woody gets running so fast in the house, they chase each other up the stairs, down the stairs, around the table, in circles in the living room, in and out of the office into the hallway, up on the couch...I'm just waiting for Woody to fly through the living room window (he runs so fast he can't stop in time so he jumps on top of the couch which is right in front of the window) or for something to crash and break to the floor.


I would be lying if I said I didn't miss the quiet days of Patrick napping and quietly playing with his toys all by himself and being all cute and quiet and calm.They don't share toys too well right now so toys are off limits and I'm slowly incorporating them back. (I gave them one over the weekend and Woody broke it within seconds).


I hope this dog turns out to be good for our family. I have no idea what he's like with kids, but I hope he is good with them, especially infants. We definitely have to work on his rambunctiousness, because he certainly can't be running around the house like he currently does when a baby is playing on the floor. He seems like he'll be protective, but I don't want him to be too protective that no one can get near us or the baby without him getting angry. He is definitely Seth's dog (he usually pees an excited pee when Seth gets home from work), but he doesn't leave my side throughout the day. He lays right by my computer chair, if I go to the bathroom, him and Patrick follow me and watch me pee and when I shower, he's on the bathroom floor. 


There is so much testosterone running through our house these days, Lord help me.
 (don't let these pictures of them being calm fool you. they are very rambunctious together)


Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Husband of the Year


Can I just say I have the best husband and if I knew where to nominate him as husband of the year, I would?! He is always so full of surprises. I like to think I usually know when he’s got something planned, but I was pretty damn clueless this time. However, looking back, there were a few signs between him and my parents and I didn’t really think too much into them. Silly me!

So it’s no surprise that I really haven’t made any friends here (yet). He kept asking me if I was going to have a baby shower here and I kept telling him I really don’t have friends to have a baby shower with.

Back in February (FEBRUARY!!!!!), he emailed one of my best friends from home, Molli, and asked if she would want to help plan/coordinate a surprise baby shower and he would buy me a ticket. Being the super good friend that she is, she agreed to take on this task! (She started a new job in the fall and has been insanely busy with that AND she’s planning her own wedding for July, so I know she’s super busy). I don’t know if it was her or Seth that got my two other favorite coworkers/friends involved in the planning of this, but the same girls that threw me the wedding shower last year are now throwing me a baby shower!! I am soooo excited and literally cry…like right now…when I think of all of them planning this for me. I get to go home to see all of my favorite people in about 2 weeks to have a baby shower.

My parents and brother came up last week from CA and my sister came up from Oregon and spent a few days at our house. We had a bbq with some family friends and my cousin on Saturday and little did I know, it was also a little baby shower then too! They both brought gifts, which I wasn’t expecting. We got a baby bouncy seat (that Patrick just loves!!!!) and a baby swing (which Patrick sooo doesn’t love!!), some clothes, socks and other little toys!


On Saturday night, we all drove down to Oregon for Easter. I was adamant on having an Easter egg hunt with my siblings and our significant others – we colored eggs and stuffed plastic ones with candy. My dad and Seth hid the eggs and off we went to hunt for them. After they were mostly found, Seth was patrolling the yard to see if we missed any and he gave me a plastic one. I figured it had the wrappers of the Cadberry Crème Eggs that I bought specially for him, and didn’t open it right away because I thought it was trash. He told me to open it and I saw it was a piece of folded up white paper and then I figured it was the hotel receipt from the night before. I unfolded it and it was a plane ticket itinerary to go home to Michigan. I was very confused because it was for two weeks away and I didn’t know why I was going…I was seriously clueless. Then he told me that he had been planning a baby shower with Molli and Sarah’s help and he bought me the plane ticket to go home! Damn pregnancy hormones, I’m literally bawling right now! I’m so so so excited that I get to go home and see all these people AND it just so happens to also be a baby shower for me (us). After the Easter egg hunt, we went inside and there was another mini-baby shower with more gifts from my parents, brother and sister, aunt and gramma. And we had delicious cake that I may have had a few bites too many of. 

It was a very good Easter and nothing at all of what I expecting. I'm a very, very lucky girl. :)