Insanity

I’m convinced that Roger and I are insane. We get married and say we want to travel, have fun, and adventure. We dream of a life where we go out, do all the crazy things we love, and then come home to a calm, serene environment (ok the calm, serene dream is mine…but he agreed). Then we have a baby. And even though we didn’t necessarily plan her, we weren’t trying NOT to have her either. And now, our lives pretty much rotate around her. Travel and adventure. Sure, but it comes with a lot more planning, coordination, and money than we originally planned. Calm home. Yeah, I guess. Having one child is nowhere near as chaotic as having two or more, but still, she’s active…and messy. I spend more time chasing after her, picking up toys, cleaning food off the floor and out of her hair, than I spend relaxing. My laundry multiplies daily!


And when I finally get into my groove with developing a routine I can handle…between Roger’s and my job, the distance to the babysitter, and an active 15 month old, the routine was tiring…but, I got there. I got to where we can all manage it and be happy and functional. Just when I get to that point, I say to Roger “We should get a dog!” And not just any dog. The dog I fell in love with is a Jack Russell Terrier puppy. In other words, the opposite of calm. And Roger, being equally as insane as I am, reasons that he loves me, and therefore gets me the dog I want. And here she is….our new family pet!

Now, I love this dog. She is so darned cute and really really sweet. But, she is active and easily excited. Calm is not something she does for too long. But, we can get her there. We were lucky that she came to us crate trained and even luckier that our friend, Vickie, had an extra crate she was willing to give us. Unfortunately, the best place in the house for the crate is my library. My beautiful, serene library…the room that is just mine. I try my best to make the crate look like a table…I’m only sort of successful. (My solution is temporary and Roger will help me with something more permanent soon). But, for now, the sheet that I used as a temporary “table cloth” get’s chewed up a little more each day. It’s a wrinkled mess. It no longer fits the atmosphere I was going for in my library. I digress.

Buckeye is destined to be a great dog…but, she has added a bit (no a lot) more chaos to our household. Here’s how our evenings at home go:

I get home with Kaelyn and take her to her room to change her diaper. Itty Bitty (the cat) is normally sleeping on the changing table (she is not allowed there) and gets angry when I make her get down. Kaelyn wants to play with Itty. She doesn’t sit still long enough for me to change her. I distract her with my blackberry, but Itty, who pretends not to want the attention, insists on hanging around, in Kaelyn’s line of site, but just out of reach.

I can hear Buckeye moving around in her crate. She wants to join us, but I’m not ready for her yet. I take Kaelyn directly to the kitchen and put her in her high chair. Buckeye is going downright crazy by this point, and Itty has decided to further defy my rules and jump on the kitchen island to continue to harass Kaelyn (who loves it). There’s barking, meowing, and squealing. I take Kaelyn’s dinner out of the crock pot and leave it out of her reach to cool off. I put Itty outside so she won’t eat Kaelyn’s dinner when I’m not looking. Kaelyn is still squealing and Buckeye is still barking.

Then, I take Buckeye out of her crate. She is so darn excited! She’s shaking with delight, running all over the house, and within 30 seconds has made it to the kitchen door. She has to make sure that all the other neighborhood dogs know she’s outside. I try to shush her because I hate it when I can hear the neighbor’s dogs and don’t want to be one of “those” houses. I leave her outside to give Kaelyn her food. Kaelyn is a calm eater (thank you Lord!). Buckeye comes back inside and is ready for her treat, but this makes her so excited! She has to run from room to room to find the exact right spot to eat. Itty now feels the need to discipline Buckeye, so she hides behind furniture so she can jump and attack when Buckeye runs by. I try to concentrate on Kaelyn, but this is impossible, so I make the pets come back to the kitchen. I force Buckeye to sit still. She’s a good dog, so she listens, but I can tell it kills her. Itty gets bored with us and leaves the kitchen to go relax on the window sill in the family room.

Roger comes home! Yeah! We’re all excited. Kaelyn squirms in her high chair, Buckeye and I go to the garage door to meet him and give him our kisses. But Buckeye cannot calm down. She’s so happy that he’s home. I am too. Itty leaves the family room to see what’s going on. She loves Roger the best and mews at his feet and rubs against his leg. Roger gives all of us the attention we’re asking for. He doesn’t mind the excitement even though I’m ready for everyone to calm back down. I send him outside with the dog while I finish getting our dinner ready. Kaelyn goes back to eating. Roger manages to get Buckeye to calm down and they come back inside. Buckeye eats her dinner, while we eat ours. Roger and I try to have a conversation about our days, but Kaelyn wants to talk too. Buckeye just wants to be near us and Itty wants to be as far away as possible.

Finally, dinner is over and the kitchen is clean. We all go upstairs to the family room. Roger wants to watch ‘Two and a Half Men’ and I want to read. Instead, we turn on the TV and both get on the floor to play with Kaelyn. Buckeye joins us and Roger is pretty good about keeping her and Kaelyn both happy. Itty resumes her “attacks” from earlier. Then Kaelyn’s bedtime hits us. She’s tired and rubbing her eyes. She no longer finds Buckeye amusing and Roger scoops her up to kiss her goodnight. I take her down to her room, change her clothes, and read her a book. I close her bedroom door so the animals can’t get to us. Kaelyn snuggles with me; I put her in bed, say a prayer, and kiss her goodnight. I walk out of her room and Buckeye is there…she is sad and has the “why did you leave me?” look on her face. My cold heart melts and I tell her to follow me back upstairs.

Itty is asleep. She’s done with us for the moment. I sit down beside Roger and lean into him. Buckeye jumps on the couch with us. She calms down and closes her eyes. Finally, the house is quiet! Roger and I pick up our conversation from earlier. We have our hour of “us” time. This isn’t the life we said we wanted, but it is the life we purposely created. We are insane…but, we are also happy.