Hectic Days

As I sit down to start writing, Little J is attempting to make his way past my road blocks to get to the electric wall socket. I had to baby-proof the house in a hurry this week, with him starting to crawl so suddenly.  For the most part I've been able to strategically place furniture in front of sockets and lamp cords, but I'm not sure what to do with the nearly 400 tempting toys we store in alphabetical order on a bookcase in our family room.  I doubt very much that the baby can do any damage to our DVD collection, but when left on the floor anything becomes a chew toy for the puppy...

And once one babe starts getting into trouble... they all start getting into trouble.

Caught in the act!  This little stinker caused quite a stir in the household.  This...

Led to this...

Which turned into this...

And...

 

Jared and I had a good laugh when I stacked up the movies that the Little Peanut picked out.  Mature taste, if you ask me...

Every hectic day somehow includes some sort of potty/poopy/vomit related incident.  This day was no exception - Little J opened the potty floodgates as soon as I removed his diaper, then laughed about it (so rude!).  Amid all the chaos, I have to consciously remind myself that not all days are this crazy.  Seriously, didn't I just write a post about the days we spend lounging in our jammies?  Gotta keep some perspective I suppose...

Doggie Sweater

Zooey is such an itty bitty pooch, that she gets chilly if our thermostat drops below 71 degrees.  Earlier this winter I made her a girly dog shirt from an old top of mine that I had stained (which only happens to 80-90% of my clothes).  This shirt is fancy - with scalloped accent fabrics!

I wanted to make her something a little warmer (now that winter is almost over? genius...) so I dug through my scrap box and found...

Perfect! A sweater that I had cut up for Christmas decorations. Half of the bottom is missing, but the other half is juuuuuust the right size for my micro-pup.  I used my previous dog shirt as a template, but here's how I measured for a custom fit:

my zooey doodle.  see the resemblance??

I really just used my measurements as a rough guideline for cutting my fabric.  I also made sure to allow an extra 1/2 inch for seams.  Here is the shape that I cut (you can see my measurement drawing too!). After hemming the neckline, the only seam I had to sew was the "tummy" seam because the "back" seam was cut along a fold in the sweater.  Notice how I made sure the bottom edge of the shirt would not need to be hemmed by using the original ribbed bottom of the sweater. 

"neck" hemline.

still a little out of sorts after the arrival of sisterpup, leia.

 I'm not going to tell you how much Zooey loved her new doggie sweater.  Because she hates wearing anything other than a collar.  But she does look lovely wearing it! And if we get another late March snowstorm, she'll be toasty warm! 

If I had chosen to add any embellishment to this sweater, I would have done so before sewing the tummy seam (to make my life a little easier). 

Good Girl

When I was 19, I moved into an apartment with 3 other girls.  The first week was frightening with all the new, "grown-up" responsibilities we were getting used to.  Setting up our own cable and internet, grocery shopping, dealing with an inconsiderate landlord...  The breaking point for me was just a couple of days in:  My roommates had the brilliant idea for us to each take a turn cooking dinner for the whole apartment one night per week.  That meant cooking a meal to feed 4 people.  Every week. At this point in my life my cooking expertise included cheese enchiladas and tuna salad.  An overwhelming feeling of dread swept over me as the rest of them excitedly discussed this "adult" meal plan.  I hid in my room for several hours trying to manufacture a valid excuse to get out of my cooking responsibilities.  I never found one.  And I never needed to, because the plan ended up only lasting one week... But the stress I felt about cooking a big meal every week was utterly crippling and caused me to spiral into an unreasonably long period of depression.

Last night I hit a similar breaking point.  For the past two weeks I have been the primary caretaker for a sick baby and a sick husband - and now a puppy with infant-like sleeping patterns and a fearful, clingy Zooey.  I was drained, on the verge of catching Little J's cold, and the stress of all the recent changes in our lives got to me... That same overwhelming feeling of dread filled me to the brim and every part of me wanted to curl up in a dark hole with my blankie and never emerge.  But I couldn't do that .  And I didn't.  The overwhelming anxiety I feel during times of stress is the same as it's always been... but the difference now is that I have people (and puppies!) who depend on me to stay strong.  So I snuggled my little babe, tucked him into his crib for the night and poured myself a big glass of cheap wine.  I may have shed a tear or two, but this morning I woke up refreshed and ready to tackle anything my new hectic life has to offer.  I can handle my responsibilities to my husband, my baby and my doggie.  So I have to have faith that I will be able to handle one more sweet, little puppy... even if she continues to terrorize her big sisterpup. 

Zooey is one big fraidy cat.

Princess Leia

 

I'm sitting down to write about our new baby, and as I look around the room my heart melts a little.  Little J is snoozing in his bouncer (giggling in his sleep, like a ham), Zooey is curled up on her favorite afghan, and our newest baby, Leia, is flopped in the middle of the floor.  I love our sleepy little family.  

At 5:15 this morning, however, some of us weren't very sleepy... Having a puppy is similar to bringing home a newborn in so many ways.  We were up every two hours last night to care for our little Border Collie mix.  And by the time we finally gave up on sleeping at 6:45, Leia was beyond ready to play.  These are the days when I worship my coffee maker.  

 

A History of Our Love for Dogs

My brothers and I were raised alongside several wonderful doggies.  We had a dog that continuously dumped the kitchen trash and ate all of my Halloween candy one year.  We had another dog that would sneak out the front door and race down the street.  Another dog would eat Legos and bees and lick moths right off of the walls.  Our favorite pup, Coco, would let me dress him in baby clothes and carry him around the house on my back.  The only "family" dog left is Dusty.  Just utter the word "squirrel" in his presence and he will scurry to the back door and stand alert, waiting to chase off any furry intruders from his backyard.  The three of us kids often reminisce about childhood dogs.  They may have been rascals, but they were part of the family and we really loved them.  I want to offer my own children that same kind of family-canine companionship. 

After Jared and I got engaged, I was aching to adopt a puppy of my own.  I shopped for my own dog for years before I even met Jared, but I never found "the one."  When I met Zooey... I felt like the planets aligned.  I knew instantly that she was my soul mate dog.  Trust me, it exists.  Coco was my mom's soul mate dog in every way, and I could tell that Zooey was mine.  I still feel such an intense love for this 6-pound doggie - even as I write this I'm welling up with sentimental tears!  She is smart, sensitive, friendly, affectionate... but when we brought Little J home from the hospital, Zooey felt so betrayed.  She stopped snuggling with us and started breaking all our rules. She has finally warmed up to the babe (they adore each other now), but I think it may take her just as long to warm up to her new sisterpup...

We can already tell that Leia is going to keep us on our toes.  She is brilliant and responsive, but extremely playful and inquisitive as well.  I fret about the fact that someday she may be 10 times bigger than Zooey... but for now she is treating Zooey with a gentle tenderness that I hope will carry over into her interactions with our future human babies.

Star Wars plays a major theme in our home decorating :)

Jared's nerdiness emits an almost visible radiation - he makes no effort to mask it, which I utterly adore about him.  The name Leia was his pick, and I love it. 

Future BFFs

I look forward to sharing our adventures with this new little squirt.  Timing is a funny thing... you see, Little J is thiiiiiis close to crawling, which means I will have three tiny creatures tearing through my house and sticking unsafe objects in their mouths.  My life is about to get beautifully, unconditionally hectic.