Puppies, Babies and Running......aka The Usual!

It's been 7 days since my last post and there have been ZERO animal snafus for an ENTIRE SEVEN DAYS.  It might be the yearly record.  BUT I do go out of town the next two days for work....so since I'll be 4 hours away, I'm sure something is BOUND to happen.

About how I feel about going out of town.

If anyone wants to check in on Lucas between about 6:00 and 10:00 tomorrow evening while I'm gone, feel free to do so.  Call him, text him, Facebook message him......just to make sure everybody's all in one piece and that there are no medical emergencies.  Then call/text/Facebook message me.  I'd really feel better if you did.  :)

That being said, don't let my "good luck" fool you........I did NOT escape the last 7 days without a snag.  On Friday, while traveling to Knoxville for a work project, I stopped halfway in Sweetwater (an hour north) for gas and lunch only to realize that my wallet was in the diaper bag.  The diaper bag was with my child.  IN CHATTANOOGA.  I had no wallet, no money and no gas.  So my mom loaded up the baby and headed my way with my wallet.  I called the manager at my job site and told him I'd be about an hour and a half late, which he was fine with.  Then it was a race against the clock to get everything else I needed to do in Knoxville done before places closed for the weekend.  It was a crazy day, but it ended up being a success.  And Lucas even went and picked up the baby from my parents' house AND bought me a bottle of wine, which was a PERFECT way to end the day.

Ironic.....that's EXACTLY how my mother greeted me.

Awww they captured how my wine night was that night!  Just kidding.

It was actually more like this.  Again, just kidding.

It was actually more like this.  Not really, but this might be a bit more accurate.

Though this tends to be the MOST accurate.

Tomorrow I travel to Kentucky for work, which is going to be amazing because it's supposed to pour down rain ALL DAY.  Which means I get to drive in the rain, which I hate.  And work in the rain, which I don't hate as much as driving in the rain.  But it also means the dogs will be outside all day.  They have a giant barn to stay dry in with a dry floor and blankets to sleep on, but Daisy and Piper will still be soaking wet by the time Lucas gets home, because that's just how they roll.  Ollie, on the other hand, will be bone dry, because he is anti-wet.

It was raining out?  We totally didn't notice.

That's not a pic of Piper and Daisy, because I don't have any pics of them soaking wet.  But I should take one just to show off the magic that is a soaking wet dog.

So the animals have been carrying on with life as if nothing has happened the last few weeks.  As if they didn't just spend thousands of Mommy's dollars.  Ollie and Piper are still BFFs, and there isn't any sort of aggression towards the cats (there never has been anyway), and the cats aren't afraid of the dogs.  But given Piper's quick temper towards her canine siblings when there's a "trigger" (such as a strange animal outside the fence), I'm going to take her to see a local licensed behavior therapist as soon as I can afford to do so.  Dr. Elizabeth Shull is a therapist who comes down to Chattanooga from Knoxville twice a month to offer up her services.  I'm hoping she'll have some answers for taming Piper's short fuse.  I can deal with her being bratty, and I can work with her myself to not chase the cats (she's EXTREMELY treat-motivated).  But I can't have her losing her cool the way she did with Ollie (even though Ollie ended up kicking HER ass in self defense)!

The day after I brought Piper home, when she was about 6 months old.

Piper and Ollie the other night.  You can't really tell from this grainy pic, but Ollie's head is resting on Piper's back, as if they didn't just have a bloody battle the day before.  What fight???

On the baby front, Delano is doing excellent!  He's a wiggle worm to the extreme and can even pull himself up to a stand all on his own if he has his feet situated just right.  He's not crawling yet, but I'm actually not sure that he ever will.  He HATES to be on his belly, but LOVES to stand up and try his hand at walking.  But it's definitely going to be a while before he can take off on his own, as he is still super top-heavy (and totally non-coordinated) on his feet.  He's been sleeping 11-12 hour nights in his own room and typically takes 3 naps a day, the longest one being his morning nap, which has lately been around 2 hours long.  His afternoon naps are usually between 30 minutes to an hour long, unless we're riding in the car - then he might sleep longer.  We've been putting him down for naps/bed both while asleep and awake.  If he's awake (or wakes up) he might scream bloody murder when he gets put in his crib, but is usually fast asleep in less than 10 minutes.  The other day he screamed for 40 minutes during his naptime, but I knew he was overtired and in desperate need of sleep and that I just needed to wait it out......he finally passed out for a solid 2 hours once he gave in, and woke up a newly refreshed, happy baby.

What a happy baby looks like.

P.S.  Somebody please tell gdiapers to stop coming out with new, cute stuff.  I already have way more covers than I need.  But the thing about gdiapers is, ALL of their prints are always limited edition.  They don't last long and once the season or holiday is over, they're gone.  You can find them later on Ebay, but depending on the print you might pay WAY more for it (if you're willing).  The newest ones out now will probably disappear from the website in about 2 months when the summer prints come out.  So cut it out, gdiapers.  I cannot afford to keep up with you.

The just-released Spring print for boys (or girls could wear it, too!)

And of course there's a matching T-shirt.

Here's the Spring gpant for girls, called gFleur.  The boys' is called gWhat?

And while the boys have matching T-shirts, the girls always have matching dresses.

Just as an example, here's a USED gDiaper on Ebay listed for $120.  It has no bids on it, but that's what the seller wants for it and will probably get for it when the right buyer is browsing.

And I actually watched one of these covers, known as gCycle, sell for almost $300 on Ebay:

Some people have WAY too much money.

Of course, if I had loads of money, I would buy up ALL the prints I could (not for $300, but for the best price I could find) and then sell them in a few years when we're done with kiddos in diapers.  I'm sure that's what I'll end up doing with the covers I currently own (since I HIGHLY doubt either of my siblings will use cloth diapers down the road).  Hmmm......I wonder how much money I'll bank?  I haven't even thought about that until just now!  I'm thinking $200 per cover would be good, right?  ;)

This blog wouldn't be complete (according to Max Ault) if I didn't talk about running.  I've already hit the other two blog basics according to him: puppies and babies!  So let's talk briefly about running.

I have been doing a TERRIBLE job at running.  My main excuse is work.  Over the past 6 weeks, I have been offered 7 work projects.  And I have accepted every single one of them because I have a stack of vet bills to pay off.  Tomorrow I travel to Kentucky for 3 separate project orders (same client, just different locations).  But once all these project paychecks come in, I'll be able to pay off my vet debt completely and then start paying chunks on my student loan.  I would LOVE to make that disappear, as it just seems to be sucking money out of me. 

But back to running.......I ran the Color Me Rad 5k a week and a half ago, and I ran the entire thing without any issue whatsoever.  I even chit-chatted with Leah and Maggie the entire run.  It was good times.  But even though Delano has been taking 2-hour morning naps lately, I haven't used that time to pop on the treadmill because I've been using that time to work.  And up until this week the weather has been off and on crappy, so I haven't broken out the jogger during naptime (Delano will sleep like a beast in the jogger, which is a plus).  But after April 22nd, when my last current work report is due, I'm hoping to take a break from report writing and either hop on the treadmill or hit the pavement during his AM naps.  I really need to build my mileage back up.  Though I love 5ks and 8ks and even 10ks because they're the perfect workout, I'm a half marathoner and don't feel like I'm working up to my potential if I'm not training for a half.  I've even contemplated signing up for the Country Music Half Marathon at the last minute if I decide I can afford to, even though I am not prepared for it AT ALL.  Part of me thinks I could still do it, just like I did the New Orleans Half when I felt unprepared.  So we'll see.

I just might be there!

Time for bed.  I'm crossing my fingers that the baby sleeps until 8:00.  That would mean that I'd have between 7:00 and 8:00 to finish packing and loading the car without needing an extra set of hands.  So let's all cross our fingers for 8 o'clock!!