Blogging and a Birthday

Well, I've been saying lately how busy it's been and how I haven't had much time to write, and all of the sudden this morning I realized how much I've missed it! I'm sitting here and I have the feeling like I forgot something and I realized, it's my writing.

Writing is very cathartic to me. I have a tendency to bottle things up and not talk about it, but sitting down and writing gives me the opportunity to express my feelings and let things out. I think I've been kind of stuffed up lately and it's giving me a headache, so I need to start getting things out. I'm making a mid-month goal for myself today: to write a post everyday for the next 7 days. I'm not sure if I'll stick to that or not, but we're going to give it a shot.

And there are so many things that have been going on lately that I can share! Just to name a few... I just spent a wonderful weekend in Asheville with my sister for her bachelorette. Her wedding is now 10 days away! I've decided to make a couple lifestyle changes recently. And finally, and where we'll land today, it's Rylie's first birthday.

You first met Rylie last September when Jarrod and I brought her home from the SPCA. Well 9 months later she's doubled in size and she's just as much a pain in the behind! But she's my sweetheart and keeps me on top of my cleaning and makes our little twosome a family. Hopefully now that we've made it to the 1-year mark, she'll start to grow out of some of her puppy-ways and become the well-behaved dog I know is in there... somewhere.

Jarrod and I will celebrate by sharing a delicious meal this evening in her honor. Sorry, Rylie, no people food for you. We tried giving her a special treat on Christmas (and by "we," I mean Jarrod. I was against it from the beginning) and the poor dear spent the afternoon throwing-up in the yard.

So Happy Birthday, Sweetie. (Don't piss me off today!)

Meet Rylie!

So Jarrod and I decided to expand our family this week with the addition of Miss Rylie Hughes. We picked her up on Sunday from the SPCA and she just turned 3 months old on Wednesday.

So we've only had her for 5 days now, but wow has it been a lot of work! We've both had puppies in the past, so we're well aware of how much work is involved and we went into it knowing it wouldn't be easy, but I swear you forget just how much is involved until you actually have a puppy peeing all over your formerly clean and nice-smelling house. I haven't been this exhausted in a while because every moment once I walk in the door after work I have to have my eye on her. There's no time for napping! or really just relaxing in general. And yes, I've already had a nervous breakdown and shouted at the sky, "what have i done?!" but we're learning and I can proudly say that yesterday we were officially "accident free" for the first time! And like I said, it's both of us. She's learning what she can and cannot do, but I'm also learning better how to keep an eye on her and making sure that she gets outside VERY often.

 

And she's been a lot of fun so far, as well. She definitely keeps me busy once I get home and we've been taking walks through the neighborhood and I've already met a couple of neighbors that I'd never talked to before. Plus, it's encouraging me to get up and get outside and get some exercise.

 

I'm excited about the coming weekend and having all 3 of us together at once, because during the week that's not exactly possible. But that's a big reason why we decided to go ahead and do this now. We have a unique opportunity for someone to be with Rylie almost all the time, so she doesn't get cooped up all day while we're gone. This way, if Jarrod's or my schedule ever change, we've already made it through the toughest training part.

 

I feel like I'm already learning a lot from her, like patience and not sweating the little things, such as not getting any sleep all week or the fact that my house is a wreck and I haven't had a chance to clean it. So I'm also working on better time management and trying to not let messes pile up before I get to them. It's going to be quite an adventure, and I'm so excited to be doing this with my husband. And I'm getting my mommy-skills in check!