Puppies

So when people used to tell me having a puppy was like having a baby and I'd scoff because babies are PEOPLE and puppies are DOGS.  I still see that distinction, but I can now also totally see the parallels.  Let's explore:
Babies get you up at night. They need to eat and be changed.  You sleepily feed them and change them and if you are reallllllly lucky you can sleep for a few hours before waking up again.  I still remember this phase and it is very very hard, and completely harder than puppydom, so if you are in the middle of the newborn phase please don't take this the wrong way.  Puppies get you up at night.  They have to pee.  You have to get up, get shoes, meander outdoors and stand there while you wait for them to do their business, and then if you are lucky, they fall asleep and you can do the same.

Actually, I never ever thought I'd be so in tune with the bathroom habits of an animal. It's all consuming.  I was never actually good at potty training.  It eventually got done.  Right now we do pretty well, as long as I am very nearly OCD about what the dog is doing.  We spend a LOT of time outside.  Figuring out how to get her to "ask out" is eluding me.  I have several doggie training books on hold at the library. If books can't fix it I don't know what can!  It's not bad but I am a very type B personality, and if I have to obsess about stuff for too long it takes a toll on me. 

The rest of living with a baby dog is more like having a two year old than a newborn.  They like to chew, they love to get into stuff. Just when you thought you had everything picked up, you find them chewing on something that you missed (this may be exacerbated by the 4 boy factor.) And the energy! She runs like lightning. Then two seconds later she's out like a light. Yep, much like a little 2 year old.

But despite it all she's CUTE! And we are all a little smitten with the new little creature in our family.

Summer Time. Day 3

We are on day 3 of summer time and thank goodness it looks like it might stay dry long enough for us to get to the pool! 

Yesterday, we had some friends over because our very close friends are moving to Texas. I've known it for a while, but what I hadn't realized was that the kids were leaving yesterday to visit their dad (in Texas) and wouldn't be returning to Florida.  The kids had a great time all together, and had sandwiches, played wii, and had a water balloon fight in the rain.  (It was just a sprinkle, and they realllllly wanted to. I'm trying to be less rigid on these things and just let them do stuff. I'm glad we were able to have some fun with them before they moved away.

Today, I am sleep deprived.   When we got our cute little puppy, I forgot about the part where they have to go pee in the night. I figured, it wouldn't be a big deal though, I made it through 4 newborns after all!  I think the difference is that I could feed and diaper my babies while still half asleep. Little Clover (Cloe) has to go outside and in the process I become fully awake and it's proving difficult to go back to sleep.  Hopefully this will all resolve.  At least it's summer and we don't have to be anywhere early in the morning.  Also, she is the cutest puppy EVER so this makes it all worthwhile!

I'm not quite where I want us to be as far as summer schedule goes. I want to get up, work hard, and then play just as hard.  We are doing some work, and we've played but it's not very smooth just yet.  Hopefully we'll get there before time to go back to school.  If not, flying by the seat of my pants usually works out ok.

My goals for the early weeks of summer are:
  
Getting the kids to sleep past 7.
Getting certain ones of them to listen and do as they are told the first time.
Getting certain other ones to stop pestering their brothers.

I have a few other goals, but I need to get past these 3 first and then the others will (hopefully) fall into place.

School's Out. Day 1

The first day of summer we  have - played with our new puppy, made spy cars out of boxes, made chore charts and gone over expectations, made a "boredom jar," had lunch, and drawn the first stick out of the boredom jar. This sent Eric and Mark on a quest to draw a map of the neighborhood and hide some item for me and the little kids to find (and mark it on the map.) 

Now this little quest took some letting go on my part.  I have issues letting them out of my sight.  I did send a phone with them, so we can keep in contact.  And they just walked in so I am breathing a sigh of relief as I type. The first time they went out, Ben followed them.  I called them to see if he was with them, just as they arrived to bring him back home.  Out they went again, and then they called me to say it was raining and ask what they should do. I left it up to them, if the rain is bothersome come home, otherwise stay out. A few minutes later it was pouring and I was gathering up Zack and Ben and our tiny puppy to go pick them up.  Right that minute they walked in the door.  They put on hoodies and headed back out again.  So, now they are once again home and just handed me the map. I'm off to hunt for treasure!