The week before last was a tough one at the Meyer Manor…Joey recently came down with a case of Shingles, and has been pretty miserable for the last couple of weeks. Then factor in that our dogs who are pretty consistently troublemakers, turned into complete holy terrors for an entire week! The combination was enough to really throw me over the edge.

I’m not going to lie, there were a couple of points last week when I truly believed I was not cut out for dog ownership. Usually, their overall cuteness and moments of sweetness get me through these moments…but last week it was hard to see the cute and the sweet. That’s how bad they were…

I read somewhere that dogs sleep between 18-20 hours per day…this is not the case with Chief and Lady. Joey and I joke that Chief sleeps with one eye open, but the truth is that there are only one or two occasions when we’ve actually witnessed him sleeping. We just have to trust that he is sleeping when we’re not around because otherwise there is no evidence of him actually requiring sleep.

He really only has the attention span for laying down and relaxing for about 30 seconds, which is a vast improvement on his attention span as a puppy. Otherwise he is up and moving, and if you aren’t in the current act of petting him, then you can bet that he is likely getting into trouble somewhere in the house. Lady is not much better, but I’ll admit is slightly more content to just lounge in the living room or sunbathe in the backyard. It’s exhausting, and sometimes I feel my patience wearing thinner by the day.

Luckily, I got to go up to Atlanta for a girls weekend with Julia and Kris (my besties that go way back to high school…) and escape the terror that was Chady (our dog’s nickname when they’re bad). Joey of course was not so lucky to get a break, but he managed to keep from strangling them, and keep them from killing each other (which is a feat in itself).

A welcome banner from the girls 🙂

I’m a terrible friend, and rarely go up to visit them. So I was glad when Kris gave Julia and I the swift kick in the pants that we needed to actually plan a trip! And it was a lovely weekend! I so loved catching up with Kris, and bonding with her twin baby girls. Although I probably can’t call them babies anymore now that they’re walking and talking.

We went to a pumpkin patch in Cumming, GA that was really awesome! It had a petting zoo, corn box, bouncy houses, and hayrides! It was a perfect activity for the girls, and the perfect way for us adults to get a fun Fall fix!

I only have a couple of close girlfriends that have kids, which is kind of funny given my age that there are so few. Although I do anticipate there will be a “baby boom” if you will, over the next year or two for my circle of friends and hopefully for myself as well. But even though I only have two girlfriends with kids at the moment, they are longtime friends of mine, and I have to say there is something kind of awesome about watching your friends become mothers.
Kind of incredible really. Motherhood just seems to come so naturally to them, and I love to watch them interact with their little ones. The patience and tenderness I see there is so sweet, and gives me hope that those skills will come to me too when I (someday) embark on the journey of motherhood. It’s encouraging, especially when sometimes I feel I can barely keep it together being a puppy parent.
I always knew that Kris would be an awesome mom. She’s loves kids, she spent her summers as a camp counselor and babysat and tutored kids all through high school. She wanted to be a teacher LONG before I ever even dreamed of picking a career. But even knowing all this, I still marveled all weekend at the endless energy, humor and creativity she brings to the role.

It kills me that this is out of focus, I just love these smiles!

I know I’m getting a little mushy here, so I’ll wrap it up. But I’ve been thinking about this kind of stuff a lot lately, and it’s inspiring to see such wonderful examples of love and patience from my girlfriends. I’m grateful that they went ahead and navigated these uncharted waters of parenthood before me, and hopefully they will teach me their magical ways when I find myself immersed into motherhood.
Thank you Kris for being an excellent hostess, but more importantly for being an amazing friend and an awesome mom to these adorable girls! 🙂

I came back to Tally refreshed, and ready to face my own little “trouble twins.”

Sometimes they look like a two-headed beast

And magically, it’s like I came home to whole new dogs… They are becoming more and more loving toward each other, and are really starting to become content with just relaxing and laying around like normal dogs (instead of bouncing off the walls and looking for trouble). In fact, this past week they even laid down in the bed with us for a solid two hours! It was unreal!! Usually Chief spends his time in our bed trying to take the sheets off me, or eat my sleeping mask, or fight with his sister, but all of the sudden it’s like a light switch turned on and he realized its nice to rest and relax sometimes.
I don’t know what changed, but I’ll take it. I do feel like sometimes things get worse with Chief before they get better. I think this is a good example of one of those times, now if only I can just remember this the next time he goes on a reign of terror. 🙂