– love!
As the days go on…
So this is what happens when you are sick: the world goes on and you are on the catch-up. After a week and a half of oogies, I think our brood is finally on the rebound. Abi missed the bugs – thank goodness, for that kid whined enough busting in her two top teeth to drive anyone to the edge. Good thing I was drugged numb (kidding). But poor Matt received sick wrath – FOR ONE DAY- while Rachael and I are still on the up rise from our suffering woes (cue the violins). If I could just vacuum suction out all the mucus (viewer rating tanks). ANYWAY.
So life is happening all around us. It feels like years since we’ve been outside and in the meantime some kind of huge deep red flower popped up in our backyard planter box. Perty cool, people. Perty cool.
Dakota has found herself a new home – it was her or Abi so alas, we opted to keep our daughter over the dog. But Dakota is and will continue to be well missed for a while yet. And, as with any family pet whom you have invested in and incorporated into your world, our love goes with her. Saturday was a sad drive to Indianapolis, but it is good to know that while the breed-specific shelter finds her a home her life is not in threat.
So with that change has come some decluttering (or simplifying, eh Jess) of our home as well. I’ve put up a clothes line in the backyard in efforts to thoroughly brand myself a “woman of another decade”. No really, I just think drying blankets and sheets, etc on the line as well as those “we can’t seem to get the stain out of them” whites is beneficial.
Only in picking up Material World from the library and thumbing through it a bit yesterday I’ve come to realize that clothes lines are more common than we “stuck in America’s movement” people may have imagined. Talk about a book to readjust your worldview, people. The book goes about the globe and selects homes around the world to do a homestudy upon. They take a picture of all the material goods a family possesses after moving them to the front lawn or such location near their home. Then the book compares similar needs, like toilets, food, etc cross-culturally. Amazing to think of how little some can live on compared to how much we may convince ourselves that we need.
And thus, we’ve also been thinking and praying and hoping and talking about our efforts toward adoption. Matt and I enjoyed date night conversation walking kidless around the mall (loathe summer heat). It’s so wonderful to get us-time to talk about what all we have been praying about and hoping regarding our family’s future. I HIGHLY recommend date nights with your husband/wife. Crucial in any marriage to be on the same page.
So alas, that has been our life lately. And next week we’ll celebrate Abi’s first birthday (falls over dead). How quickly the time flies!
But alas, I must get going, it has been requested that I come read to the children while they soak the bathmat with bath time bliss.
Hope you are fairing well.
Cat Person in Big Dog World
So I am a cat person. I confess, I confess. And to me dogs can be good and less good. Our dog wavers between the two sometimes depending on if it’s tolerating the cat or not. See, I really like that Dakota is potty trained, listens pretty well (unless she chooses not to), and has not made it a constant habit of chasing Cheddar. These are good redeeming qualities. But this cat person is still alarmed by the sheer volume of our dog, the puppy-impulsivity, the big slobbery tongue that always seems to migrate toward your face, and a few other typical dog things. Are these things atypical of a dog? Heavens no. But for a cat person they take a little getting used to. But I think Dakota will soon learn that her best friend is Matt and her other caregiver is me. Don’t get me wrong, people, I really care about this dog. I’ll stand in that backyard and watch the dog pee because she whines when I leave her out there first thing in the morning. I’ll do the work, the whatever it take. But deep inside of me I have and will always be a cat person. And my husband? a dog person. So now our family is pet complete. =)
Regardless of my stance on dogs and cats, though, you can’t help but agree that we did get a really cute dog. And she really does have her shining moments (like right now as she calmly lays at my feet). New things we are trying to teach her: “settle” – not to be psycho in the house (we’re actually limiting chasing games and rough-housing to the backyard because we don’t want any confusion when baby comes), “sit” and “lay” – how to listen to us say them and then do them, “stay” – she really has a tough time with this one, and in general the lay of the land when it comes to this home. So far she’s not doing too bad. Some moments are better than others for me and her alike. And when it comes down to it, I have to remember that Cheddar as a kitten used to pee and poop in unwanted areas, attack the dishes at night, refuse to be touched, howl at the door and head-butt it, and other less than desirable things. But look at how far he’s come. That’s hope for Dakota right there.
Cheddar’s good when he’s at eye level, but the floor’s a different world
a favorite position
Fight or FIGHT
She paced around the backseat, restless from the middle of the drive. And then I looked in the rear-view mirror. And her ear and half of her face were pressed into Matt’s cheek as Matt held her in a bear hug. She stayed there for five minutes and stopped whining. – Instant buddies.-
“Let me go in first, ” we strategized, “and that way the first meeting isn’t a husky running through the front door.” I crept in to find my feline, purring and rubbing my legs.
“Oh buddy… how you’re going to be horrified.”
After a trip to the potty, I went back out to retrieve my husband and Dakota. Matt had found a neighbor to chat with and handed off Dakota to me. Since I consider myself to be of sound mind in most occasions, I decided to wait for the expertise of my husband before attempting the first meeting. With expectation of a hissing brawl followed by taring through the house and a dive under the box-spring, in we went. Matt had Dakota outside and I went inside first to find Cheddar wandering in the back of the house. With the normal routine of petting, he ran alongside of me as I walked from our room. “Buddy… you may want to go slower.” He ran under the table for a second, doing the regular rounds, as I stepped outside. Then we all came in. And when Cheddar caught sight of Dakota the hair began to rise, the back hunched high, and the pupils got HUGE. He wouldn’t take his eyes off of her as she pranced about the house on the leash. When she left the room with Matt, Cheddar followed, occasionally returning to me for reassurance through petting. But that brave little booger just kept right on following her down the hallway. But once we got to the hallway and she got too close…. HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
From then on, Cheddar backed himself into places (like under the table) and hissed at Dakota (which she interpreted as playing and bounced about) and Cheddar lunged at the dog 3 times his size. Flight was never an option in Cheddar’s book. It was fight or FIGHT!
So now, nearing Monica’s bedtime, Dakota finds herself “in bed” (her crate) and Cheddar is laying 3 feet away from her… in plain view…. just watching. With preparation to hunch up, hiss, and attack with little provoking.
Well, thus far no bloodshed. Now all we have to do is teach Cheddar not to lunge at Dakota and Dakota not to view Cheddar as a cheese-it. But as for today’s work… Cheddar remains loving towards Matt and I. And Dakota hasn’t outright attacked my kitty, so I’d consider it a success thus far.
We’ll see about tomorrow…
The one?
So this is the one we’re looking at and will get to meet sometime this week. If she is as good as the owner has spoken to us regarding being house trained, cage trained, kid and cat friendly, we’re highly interested. In fact, at this point her character would have to be a real downer to change our minds. But we figured with Matt 100 feet away she could play in the yard for 1/2 the day, be put in her crate for the second 1/2 of the day (3-4 hours) and then the rest of the time she’d be with us. We’ve even already had an offer for someone to watch her one our 4 day anniversary if we needed to get her sooner. But after talking with her current family, they said they’d keep her until after our anniversary if we can stand being away from her for so long. =) So yeah… we’ll see soon… oh and FYI, she’s 10 months old which is not exactly what we were going for in looking for a grown-up, but regarding the fact that she’ll be 1 soon and the average lifespan is 10-15yrs with very few owners giving away them prior to 8yrs, we thought we could bend the rules just a bit. Besides, having a young and moldable one right before baby comes is not necessarily a bad idea. My primary concern is that she doesn’t eat Cheddar. And Matt’s primary concern is that she doesn’t repetitively pee on the mansion’s carpet. Both viable concerns. So again… we’ll see after we go meet her, watch her interact with the family’s 4 yr old and walk with her. More to come soon regarding the outcome…..