Day off post

Update on Ollie "Trouble" Mays: yesterday he ate a pacifier. Well, not ate. He did separate the hard plastic part from the part Eli sucks. I got to him before he managed to ingest either piece. Agh. Add it to the list of things Ollie has ruined/ate. (List includes several socks, 3 finger puppets, a comforter, his dog bed and now, a pacifier. Eli's Sophie the giraffe teether has almost been a goner twice, but, luckily, I rescued her from her impending doom.

This has been a crazy, up and down sort of week, as well as a week of firsts. There's no real "theme" or one story to this entry, it's more just a recap and update on what's been going on.

1. Eli has regressed in terms of sleep. He's always been very difficult to get to go to sleep, but would usually sleep pretty well (~6-7hr stretch) once he finally went to sleep at night. He was also taking some good naps during the day. For some reason, starting last Friday, he has been struggling with naps during the day and has gone back to wanting to eat every 2-3 hrs at night. His mother is NOT loving this.

2. We've been trying out cloth diapers since last Saturday and are LOVING them so far. We are pretty sure we are going to make the switch over and do cloth full time! Right now we are working on building our stash and are trying out several kinds. It's been nice to use the disposables we were given, but I'm looking forward to saving some money with the cloth ones. A HUGE thanks to my mom who has gotten us quite a few. Such a blessing!

3. Last night was our first night out, just the two of us. My parents watched Eli and we took advantage of a $50 gift card to Bonefish Grill! So yummy! It felt super weird to leave Eli at first, since I had only left him twice to go to Food Lion (like 2 miles from my house). It was like I had left something at home and I kept looking in the back of the car, which felt so empty without the carseat. Anyhow, once I got over the feeling of leaving something important at home, I really enjoyed the time with JP. It was nice to be able to drive without listening to a crying baby or static on the radio, and it was also great to be able to enjoy a DELICIOUS meal without rocking a carseat, replacing a paci, or worrying about a kiddo needing a diaper change or feeding. We enjoyed dinner, walked around Target, and then got some Sweet Frog. It was a good time. (Though, I was super ready to grab my little baby up and give him tons of kisses when I got home!).

4. Today is a "all to myself" day. For Christmas, JP gave me a pedicure gift card and a homemade coupon for a "day to yourself" to do whatever I want. (Yes, I do have the BEST. HUBS. EVER). I had to use it before returning to work (per coupon guidelines. Also, it has a value of 1/100 of a cent. Yes, JP made it look like a real coupon, lol). Anyhow, so JP took today off so that I could use my coupon. After the aforementioned sleep issues and two VERY fussy days, it's much needed. On the agenda for today: lunch out (with JP, Eli and our adopted Hoos from church - exciting!), pedicure with my momma, shopping (with JP and Eli), time at home to order a few things I need (including cloth diapers/supplies and photos for Eli's baby book/calendar), work on his Shutterfly photo book, do my Jillian Michael's workout for the first time post-baby (kill me now!) and last but not least, SLEEP. For the first time ever we're going to do a bottle in the night time so that I don't have to get up. I'm super excited. I realized though, that as much as I look forward to a little time to do some things on my own, uninterrupted, I really wouldn't rather do much than be with my two very favorite boys in the world. I got up this morning and still wanted to play with my little man for a good long while before starting my "me" time. He is (they are) the best!

Marley and Me, and life with a dog and baby

So, this month JP and I are taking a fast from most electronic media. We're not going on Facebook (well, I'm not - he doesn't have one), reading blogs, news websites, watching TV or movies, playing games on the iPhone (that would be him - I'm the one without the iPhone), etc. This is largely due to a conviction I've had for a long time: we spend way too much time WASTING time doing these things. I also recently read 7 by Jen Hatmaker which was a fantastic book, and helped inspire the fast. Anyhow, electronic media that doesn't count includes:

-email/gchat

-ordering

-blogging

The point of the fast is to fill our time with more edifying, life-giving activities instead of wasting it. We want to be purposeful with our time. We're praying that after a month of media-fasting we'll know what should come back (and in what quantity) and what can stay gone.

Anyhow, that's a tangent and the media fast isn't even what this post is about. I just wanted to clarify that the reason blogging (ie. writing posts) stayed on the list is because writing is often how I process. I'm able to think through things more when I write about them. So, on to the topic of this post: Ollie.

I'm not a natural animal lover. I don't have a burning desire to run up and pet every dog I see on the street. Really, I don't think I've ever had a desire to pet ANY dog I've seen on the street. Ever. (Ok, maybe a puppy once or twice, but it's a rarity). And don't even get me started on cats. I'm not a fan. I really just don't understand wanting an animal that requires a poop box, it's never made too much sense to me. (To each his own - I recognize that some people feel this way about dogs - they don't want an animal they have to take out in the cold/rain/morning/noon/night, etc.).

Well, not too long after JP and I got married I decided I wanted a dog. An inside one. This surprised my parents, who had never had inside pets in my life, and I think it surprised JP. It definitely surprised me. I'm not quite sure where this desire for a dog came from. My theory is that it was my biological clock longing to care for something but us not being ready for a baby.

Anyhow, we were in an apartment that didn't allow dogs, so it didn't happen. Until we bought our house. Then, JP agreed to go to the SPCA with me one Saturday "just to look" and suddenly, we were dog owners. "We're just looking. We're not coming home with a dog" were his famous last words. Our car turned into Avon Park with a crate, bowl, leash, dog food and a new 75lb member of the Mays family.

I was smitten. I LOVED this creature so much. I promptly decided that we needed to watch dog movies. Like, every one ever made. We didn't get to all of them, but we did watch several, and Marley and Me was my favorite. I laughed, I cried, and wondered how in the world they handled Marley, and why they didn't send that dog back where she came from.

Well, I've recently wondered about doing the same with Ollie. Sending him RIGHT BACK WHERE HE CAME FROM.

Ollie was a great dog. Sure, he ate a sock every once in a while, but no real harm done. Until Eli was born. Now, he's driving me nuts. True, he's a little bit neglected. He doesn't get quite the amount of attention he used to. But he's acting out in ridiculous proportions.

In the past two weeks he has:

- woken Eli up (barking at any and everything) several times after I FINALLY got him down for a nap

- shredded a dirty diaper

- pulled out the contents of the bathroom trash

-pulled me and Eli all over the place on walks

-eaten 3 of Eli's finger puppets

and today, he put holes in my comforter on the bed. Like, in the comforter that we JUST put on it yesterday.

I was/am SO mad. I immediately thought of Marley and wondered why they liked that dog and why I ever liked that movie. What's to like about a dog that drives you crazy and makes a mess of everything? Like the frustrated Jennifer Anniston, I've threatened to get rid of the dog....

However, we're not getting rid of Ollie, and, after a bit of thinking, I realized why I loved Marley and Me. It's such a good picture of a great, messy life. Life doesn't go according to the plan Jennifer (what is her character's name again?) makes when she gets married. It's crazy and messy and hectic. But it's beautiful. It's their life and though it won't fit in a neat little package, it's better for the bumps and swerves along the road.

It's the frustrating, chaotic, wild adventures of Marley that make for the great column that John Grogan writes and that become sweet, hilarious memories later on. Life isn't supposed to be neatly packaged or go according to plan and dogs don't behave perfectly all the time.

SO - we'll let Ollie hang around. Eli will LOVE playing with him when he gets older, and one day we will look back on these crazy days and laugh or smile. One day. NOT today.