Thursday, January 6, 2011

Biting the Hand that Feeds You

[Diego feeding Qori delicious food]


When I first found out about my pregnancy way back two years ago I went through a few psychological stages:
  1. Denial - after seeing so many negative tests, this test couldn't possibly be right.
  2. Fear - My life is going to change! How am I going to handle this?
  3. Acceptance - OMG I'm totally preggers!

  4. Fear again - What if my aggressive-to-other-dogs-dog is not just aggressive to other dogs?

Throughout the entire pregnancy while I was a flurry of emotion and hormones, the topic of my dog came up time and time again by family members and my husband. I felt like the odd woman out, always defending my sweet dog, yet not trusting a single bone in his mouth body. He had so much to prove, and I had so much to protect now.

After the baby was born, my dog went through a few psychological stages:

  1. Denial - what baby? I don't see that a baby even exists

  2. Fear - doesn't that wheeled walker have brakes?

  3. Acceptance - OMG, that's totally a miniature human

  4. Fear - OMG, the miniature human is TOUCHING ME! I gotta blow this Popsicle stand!

This month, Diego has displayed the fine art of sharing his belongings whatever is in his hand at the time. It all started when he wanted to feed me Kix cereal. He cracked up each time that he put a piece of cereal in my mouth and I followed with an over-dramatic "CRUNCH!" Now he feeds me other delicious items such as:

  • the remote control
  • his shoes

  • mail
  • my cellphone

To my dog's heart's content, he rolled this practice over to the dog and began feeding him crackers. Now I believe that the dog has reached the final stage of acceptance, and of course it happened with food. I've noticed lately that Qori doesn't scurry off when Diego wobbles on, crawls over, or even smacks on him anymore. I guess it's true that dogs don't bite the hand that feeds them.

At least for now...




[Diego feeding Qori delicious paper]

Monday, January 3, 2011

Resolutionist?


I never was much of a “Resolutionist” (that’s what I’m calling it) until I met my husband: Mr. Self Employed, Self-Motivated, Goal-maker extraordinaire [Mr. Awesome for short]. So, years ago, I decided to give Resolutions a shot. And in my typical list-making fashion, I not only made the list, but planned how they would be achieved through the year. Guess what? C’mon. You guessed it. I never kept a DAMN resolution which included things like: Learn to play the guitar, floss on a regular basis, take my multi-vitamins, etc.

Two years ago, morale and motivation were low. My husband was literally drowning (OK not literally) in the failing real estate market, and things went downhill fast. We ended up moving in with my sister and her fiance in a house that I bought with her prior to my marriage. My husband did not want to inconvenience anyone so we stayed in the basement. It was hard for some time, since the basement was not up to the best living standards. Luckily halfway into the first year, my husband used his awesome construction/remodel skills and gave us something more comfy.

We trudged our way through the failing market, and began making our goals to heal into a new life. We were going to save to buy a small house and continue to try to have children and my husband was going to establish his company. Establishing my husband’s company took a toll on me for some reason. There were a lot of things to do like paperwork, tests, building a website, building a brand, ordering business cards, thinking of a name, etc. I helped with everything minus taking the tests, that was ALL Mr. Awesome.

During this time, we unfortunately experienced 3 failed inseminations. My husband’s company was officially established late last year and business has been going well I’m happy to say. On the baby-making front, when all hope seemed lost, nature took it’s course and I was blessed with my now 11-month old and “More-awesome-than- Mr.Awesome” son the beginning of this year! After he was born, I found that I was naturally completing my resolutions of the past (flossing because the pregnancy made me have more plaque, taking vitamins to try to do something/ANYTHING about the hair loss, etc. ) I never did pick up that guitar though...

Since Diego was born, my husband has put a hard date on that last resolution (oops I mean GOAL): buying a house before the year is over. We’ve been going to open houses for the past 4 months at least looking for a humble (aka cheap) house. We’ve put in a number of offers on properties 1/2 hr or more away from where we live now. I must admit I was a little put off by the increased commute time; What?! I know, I’m spoiled. So? I’m sooooo glad those offers didn’t go through, because after getting my hubby to agree to increasing the budget a smidge, we finally found a property only 15 mins. away and if you've read my previous posts, you know how that story ended.

It was nice living with my sister while it lasted. She helped me out with Diego when he was a crying, pooing machine, and quite frankly she knew so much more about babies than I ever knew, and finally it’s just nice to have company when your husband is a work-aholic. However, I’m also excited for the mere fact that I will not need to traverse a staircase to get to the kitchen (which it became apparent that is a room in the house that I travel to and from TOO many times in one day).

And there’s just nothing like having your own house, ya know? Maybe I’ll pick up the guitar and play a little something in the house to baptise it. Maybe not.... with MY guitar skills, that would be more like an exorcism vs. a baptism! What should my new resolutions/goals be? Hmmmmm. I think I've earned a free pass for 2011, since I started 2010 with a new baby and ended with a new house!


[Qori at the stroke of midnight on New Years 2011]

[Diego at the stroke of midnight on New Years 2011]