Dog Daze

I always wanted a dog. My father's response to our repeated demands for a dog was always, "there are only 24 hours in a day. When do you expect to take care of a dog?" He was an eternal pragmatist, that's for sure. I decided that when I was in a place to get my own dog, I would, and after I bought my house in June 2004 and Thad moved in October 2005, we decided to get some animals together. Thad is a cat person and I am a dog person so the compromise was 1 dog and 1 cat. Simple, right?

We adopted the cats from Cat Castle Rescue in Fairfax Station. We visited Neville, aka 'The Cat Lady' and foster mom to our cats, with the assumption of only adopting one of the gray fur balls we saw online. Once we saw them, however, we fell madly in love with the two roving furry kittens and we decided to keep the brother/sister pair together.

As far as the dog goes, we did a lot of research on what would be the best breed for our lifestyles and allergies (truth be told, I'm quite allergic to animals) and we decided on the Tibetan Terrier. It's a sweet, companion breed that doesn't eat a lot, doesn't need a lot of exercise, and ultimately just wants to be loved (sounds like me except for the eating part!). We found a local breeder, Lori, who had a 6-month old show dog that she needed to place in a home since she was having some personal issues and wasn't going to be able to show him after all. We visited him and he had me at the first sniff. I love this dog.

Fast forward a year after getting all the animals in Fall 2005. Thad and I were just engaged/married and knowing that we wanted to start a family sooner rather than later, we thought that getting a second dog would be a great idea to help with Scout. He's incredibly attached to me and we thought that if had a playmate, he would feel less "left out" once the baby came. We called the breeder and she luckily had a girl dog, the exact same age as Scout, that she needed to place in a home. She had been a return to Lori as the first owner didn't think she was "affectionate enough" and after talking with Lori about her, we decided to bring Scout to meet her and see if sparks flew. We brought him to her farm and sure enough, within minutes the two were running around like they were long time friends, and so entered Paige into our lives in December 2005.

The first 6 months were rough. She hadn't been house broken before and it took a lot of work to get her to stop peeing all over the house. We also were trying to figure out her best situations- crate, no crate, when to eat, when to walk, etc. We thought she'd just "fit" right into our already very regimented day with Scout but it didn't seem to work out that easily. Scout, also, never really took well to having her around. They haven't become the 'best of buds' we were hoping they would, nor do they seem to have an attachment to each other. If anything, I think Scout preferred being on his own and Paige was confused about another change of home. Tibetans don't have that strong pack mentality that a lot of other breeds do.

She is an incredibly sweet dog, though. Very playful, likes to eat, and loves to chase the cats. We thought this situation was going to be great for when the baby came but unfortunately it hasn't worked out the way we hoped. Scout is still incredibly attached to me, if not has become more so since Julian was born. While Scout has become much more tolerant of Julian, letting Julian climb on him and pet him and touch his nose, Paige still runs in the opposite direction if Julian approaches her. Neither dog has ever shown any sort of aggression towards him, if anything, it's total indifference on her part.

Since Julian was born we have had so many visits to the vet I can't even count, not to mention trips to the doggy ER all because of Paige. She will get into any food that's left out while we are gone, and this was NEVER an issue before Julian arrived. We have come home to find trash all over the house, Thad's work bag pulled apart with the food inside eaten and the papers shredded, Julian's books shredded, and the worst one- Julian's diaper bag (which was on the kitchen table when we left) was opened, and his used diaper pulled out, along with his lunch bag eaten through and all its contents destroyed/eaten including 1/2 a cup of raisins. Thad took the dogs to the doggy ER where they had their tummies pumped and the results confirmed our worst fears: Scout had an empty stomach, and Paige had EVERYTHING in hers.

When we leave the house now, here is my process for leaving:
1. Pack our diaper bag and put it by the front door
2. Get 2 treats for the dogs for when we leave the house
3. Put away all of Julian's toys so nothing can be chewed on or swallowed
4. Put up the baby gate at the kitchen, put the water bowl in the dining room, and move the trash can away from the gate.
5. Take out the dogs to pee
6. Give dogs their treat
7. Hit the road

Is this normal for any of you with dogs and children? I feel like I have to factor in like 30 extra minutes just to get out the door, forget the prep work it takes to be that ready. My fears are what happens when I have another child and I am trying to get me, plus Julian, plus a newborn, out the door? And what about when Julian has more toys? It's only a matter of time that Paige chews up one of his figurines and then it's another trip to the ER.

We've tried everything. We've tried adding a walk for the dogs, new chew toys, hiding treats to play games, doing more obedience, playing more outside, and taking them for runs. None of it seems to matter...when we leave, we have no idea what state the house will be in when we get home.

Last night, after cleaning up diarrhea/vomit for the third time, Thad and I sat down on the foot of our bed and discussed the future of these dogs in our home. Maybe our story here doesn't do a good enough job of encompassing just how hard it has been for us to the point where we are seriously considering finding Paige, maybe even the both of them, a new home, but I assure you, as a devoted dog owner I am at my wit's end and I am starting to resent the dogs for it. It used to be such a loving, two-way relationship where we gave to each other just how much we got back but lately, it just seems like all I do is give-give-give to these dogs. I'm on empty.

I love Scout and Paige and I just want them to be happy. They deserve a home where they get the attention they want without any of the hazards of life with little children. What now?

Planes, planes, everywhere!

Our good friends, the Ingledews, have been visiting the past couple weeks and today we visited the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Dulles, VA. I have never visited and drive past it all the time so we decided to check it out. We met our British pals when my father was stationed at the Naval Aviation Supply Office (now the Naval Inventory Control Point) and my father sponsored Vic since he was a visiting officer from the British Royal Air Force. It was 1990 when we met, if I'm not mistaken, and we have kept in touch ever since. We even got out there to visit a few years ago for Christmas.

It was a GREAT day to visit since it was rainy out and the museum wasn't very crowded at all. If you have a walking toddler that desperately wants to just GO, take them to this museum. It's the PERFECT location for kids!

Grandpa Vic had a great time pushing the stroller around the museum and Grandma Sue had a lot of fun trying to get Julian to laugh. Julian really loved the planes, too. What a day!

One Year Check Up

Woo! We made it! We returned to the peds for Julian's check up and for some blood work. We are still waiting for the results but I had them do an allergy panel for him since he had a reaction to both eggs and strawberries and I'd rather know before I give him anymore. Anyways, without further ado, here are his current stats:

• Height- 30 3/8 inches. 75% percentile. Look, folks. Of course he's going to look really tall when I'm holding him. When Thad holds him he looks like an actual baby.
  
• Weight- 23 lbs 11 oz 70% percentile. He's slowed down quite a bit despite eating everything in sight these days.
  
• Head Circumference- 18 1/8 inches. 50% percentile. Put him next to daddy and they have the exact same head shape. It's crazy.

No, he's not walking yet. He'll walk if I hold his hands although the past couple of days he has refused to do even that. He likes pushing his toys or walker across the floor, but when it comes to actually trying to WALK, heck no, he'd rather crawl. When I was at a friend's house a couple weeks ago for a play date, he did take 2 steps and I about fell over. He raised his hands up in the air and was so proud of himself! Thad's mom comes back from New Zealand in exactly two weeks and I was hoping he'd be walking by then so he could walk to her at the airport but I don't think that's going to happen. Only time will tell, right? I keep telling myself that he's a big boy and his legs have to be quite strong to hold him up...but I don't think that argument really holds any water.

In true Filipino fashion, this kid likes to EAT. Favorites? Grapes and cheese. He loves them so much that we have taken to referring to them as "G" or "C" if he is around so as not to make him too excited. He loves noodles, bread, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese....so basically anything starchy and heavy. That's my boy! He does love his sweet potatoes, carrots, and pineapple, though, and he loves salmon. The more flavorful the food, the better!! He loved some curried cabbage I was eating as well as some gyro meat. Go figure.

He is also a talking machine! Endless baby babble interspersed with actual words makes for very entertaining days. Following words/phrases spoken by Julian:
-Mama
-Dada
-Dog/Doggy
-Cat/kitty
-Touch it (says this when he points to things he wants to touch, like the leaves on trees, or possibly our glasses)
-Glasses
-Brian (as in 'Uncle Brian')
-fountain
-cheese
-more
-shirt
-what is it?
-what's this?
-sun
-turtle
-horsey
-birdie
-some
-danger
-dirty
-truck
-train
Now, I can't guarantee that you'd understand him when he says these words, but we sure do and it's just great. Amazingly, he does not know how to say "no." Included in this list are words that he may have only said once or twice but quite clearly.

Part of our night time routine since he was about 5 months old is the viewing of a "Signing Time" DVD. It has been WONDERFUL. He currently signs "More," "Milk," "Dog," "All Done," "Hat," and has done "Fish" but not consistently like the others. He definitely recognizes more signs than he can do which has been very helpful in asking him what he needs/wants.

He also is a tidy boy. He loves to brush his hair, brush his teeth, and put toys away. Oh, and shut doors. And open doors. And drawers.

He continues to awe us everyday and we are just so excited for the next steps in his development between having clearer words and walking. We're so lucky!

Happy Birthday, Julian!!

Wow! A year is passed and our little dude turned one this past saturday. We had a blow-out bash at Ratcliffe Park in Fairfax City where the park was over-run with kiddies- and parents chasing after them. My mom and aunt brought some yummy pancit and lumpia and there were enough blue and green cupcakes to make everyone look, well, painted. It was a deliciously fun day and despite Julian's crankiness (due to 4 teeth erupting at the same time), he was a trooper and enjoyed the festivities as well. Here is a picture of Julian trying the green frosting! Thanks to everyone for coming out and helping us celebrate our son's first year on planet earth. It was a great day!!