Day 35

Good:

What's {almost} as good as becoming a Mom? Becoming an Aunt. (In some ways it's better because I get to hold, snuggle and love a brand new baby and then leave him with his Mama and go home and sleep through the night.) Today my Sister-in-law (Aubree) had the cutest, sweetest, tiniest baby boy Macoy.... and I couldn't be more excited for her. No really. I'm not quite sure I have been more excited for someone that I know to have a baby. He was a long time coming and will make a perfect addition to their family. And did I mention how cute he is?Seriously. Oh the cuteness. And so stinkin' tiny. He weighed 5 lbs. 13 oz. and is a perfect little bundle of bliss. And I'm going to admit something.......for the first time since I've decided to be done having kids.....I got a little teary about it. Not that I regret my decisions or anything, but it made me think back to having my own kids. Kylie weighed exactly what Mac weighs and for a minute it made me think back to the tiny little baby girl that she was and reflect on how quickly she has grown and how fast time is passing.....And now I'm getting all weepy and depressing. Let's just say this: I am glad to have baby Mac join this crazy family and look forward to watching him grow. Enough said.

Bad:

Here is an ode to my poor, pet- less children. They are deprived of any joy and happiness that a pet can bring them because their Mom (and Dad.....I'm not taking all the blame on this one) just don't want pets in the house. I'm not quite sure what's wrong with me (I mean, us.) I mean, my parents let us have any and every pet within reason. Mice, gerbils, birds, cats, dogs, rabbits.....you name it, we had it at one time or another. I'm pretty sure that if we could have gotten a hold of a few hippogriffs we would have had those too. (Shout out to all my fellow Harry Potter nerds.....holla.) Alas, I am a pet Scrooge. And today that was made abundantly clear.

This morning while the kids were outside punking around and waiting for the school bus, they noticed a stray dog laying on our lawn. The dog was white.....(was being the operative word.) It was very, very dirty and very, very calm (which is a big plus in my kid's books as they are slightly terrified of dogs that are crazy or jump up on you.) and all it proceeded to do was lay around on our lawn. The kids tried to pet it with a stick. (Like I said.....dirty dog.) Then they proceeded to try to give it a bath with the hose. This is where I caught them in the act.

Calling Zach and Kylie over to the front porch.....

Me: " WHAT are you guys doing to the poor dog?"

Them: "Giving it a bath. It's dirty. See how dirty it is?"

Me: "Yeeeesssss. I see. However, are you a little bit chilly waiting outside for the bus to come?"

Them: "Yes."

Me: "Well.....how would you like it if I tried to wash you off with the hose?"

Them: Silence.( And point taken.)

So, thus far the poor dog had been pet with a stick and washed off with cold hose water. Lovely. (This is the exact reason I am not prepared to be a pet mommy. I have to babysit my own children.) Then, as Zach and Kylie get on the bus they yell "Mom....make sure you take care of Marshmallow!!!"

What the? Now they've named it. Oh crap. I may be up a creek with this one. So I wait and wait for the dang dog to leave. But it doesn't. All it wants to do is lay in the sun on my lawn and look so pathetic and hopeless and hungry and I can't do a dang thing about it! I am very hesitant to feed it because 1. I don't have any dog food and 2. I'm not quite sure I want the dog to think this is home. So I wait some more. Mostly I am waiting until the people who just moved in get home from work because I am thinking that "Marshmallow" belongs to them. So the kids get home from school and they are beyond overjoyed to find their dog still here. Marshmallow is starting to become a family name. They spend the afternoon outside petting the calm as calm can be dog (without a stick this time....I guess they got a little more brave) and plotting as to how they can convince me to the keep the dang thing! When the neighbors get home from work they quickly run over there only to find out that the dog DOES NOT belong to them. Crappity crap. Now their little brains start plotting. And at dinner time it becomes abundantly clear what they want me to do:

Them: "Mom....can"t we just keep Marshmallow? She's a good dog. We'll take care of her. We'll love her. Just you wait and see."

Me: "No you cannot keep Marshmallow. That dog belongs to somebody else. What if you guys had a dog (when hell freezes over) and that dog ran away and some other little boys and girls decided to keep your dog? Would you like that? I don't think so. And while I'm at it: Marshmallow? Really? Is that the best you can do? It's real name is probably something normal like Sam, or Max.

Braden: "But we love Smarshmallow."

(And right then and there I had half a mind to keep the dog so that I could listen to Braden call it "Smarshmallow" every day.) But I had to be strong.....

Me: "Kids....we need to find out who that dog belongs to. If it's not gone from our lawn by tomorrow morning I'm going to have to call the police and have them come and pick her up."

Them: Silence. (No really. Pure Silence.) And Oh.....were they MAD at me.......

Kylie didn't talk to me for the rest of the night. There were moans and groans of course, but mainly silence. And super mad kids. Mad at a Mom who just won't back down and let them keep the dang dog already. Mad because they wanted a pet and "Smarshmallow" fit the bill. Mad because the police would come and take their beloved dog away and who knows what would happen to her from there.

Like I said......I'm up crap creek. And those paddles? They're LONG gone.

09.08.09