And so is my Dog.
I'm just kidding on the other children part, but I will say that large herds of children and the germs they carry certainly seem to do the work of the devil. We had a great playgroup yesterday....here is a pic of Luke, Ryan and Stella playing away and swapping lots of spitty little germs. Luke got to see all of his buddies while I got to have a fantastic lunch and chat with my girlfriends. No one was sick at playgroup, but by 6PM Luke was DRUNK TIRED, I could not even get him to stay awake long enough to get all of his food into him. I finally gave up trying, and just let him go to bed at 6. He was out like a light immediately. Highly unusual, to say the least. I knew something was coming. He was up twice last night, also unusual, and clearly had a fever the second time. By morning, it was at 102. Blast. We were supposed to go to bible study at 9 AM, then over to my friend Jennifer's for lunch after that.....but instead we changed back into our pajamas, made up some oatmeal, and hunkered down for a day in. Luke is sleeping, I am in my sweatpants lingering over coffee and using the computer as my excuse to not do some of the things that I should do. I got a HUGE stack of pictures yesterday from Snapfish, so I really need to get to work on the ole' family photo album. Combine that with the Halloween costume making that I did on Tuesday with my Mom, cleaning up for showings all week, food shopping, cooking, and its been quite a domesticated week for me! Huzzah. Playgroup is just so much fun nowadays ~ Its just crazy to see how far these babies have come since we started it ~ Luke was maybe 10 weeks old at that point, and they were little more than cute little moray eels that hung off of our chests nursing all the time while we chatted about deliveries, the babies weight gain, us being fat, and nursing issues......now they are almost all mobile, climbing steps, standing up, chattering and bopping one another in the head gleefully. It's just so much fun to get to watch Luke interact with other kids....and when he looks up and catches my eye and gives me a smile like the one in the pic above, it absolutely melts me.
Onto the dog. On Tuesday we had a showing at 1. I had to go to the fabric store before hand to get fabric to make Luke's Halloween costume with. That took WAY long, the store had relocated, so simply finding it was a frustrating and annoying adventure. Then Luke decided to take a giant blowout poop right before we were to enter the store....back to the car, parking lot diaper change....then a spit up all over me and the interior of the car......Note ~ Don't even bother going into a fabric mega store when already frustrated, annoyed, and behind schedule. I was sweating, balancing Luke on my baby bump, holding mad tall bolts of fabric in my arms, and generally wondering what the heck my problem was ~ All I could think about was how my Mom raised 3 of us, was always homeroom Mom, was always making costumes or clothes by hand, and baking, and taking care of sick friends, and making things for people etc etc etc.....and here I was, unable to find the fabric store and buy fabric with just one baby. Did she have more hours in her day? Or am I just totally inept? Anyway. I digress.
Finally got out of there.
Raced home because I had to pick up the Dog ~ God knows Captain Excitement can't be at the house during a showing ~ him and his "Wheaten Greetin'" would ensure that the people did not buy the house. Got him and went straight over to my Moms house. Fed LUke lunch, and decided that as it was such a beautiful day we should get outside and play in the grass for a bit. I am trying to love the Dog again, so I wanted to play some fetch, and have some fun with him and the baby. I took some pics (above), threw some sticks, and generally was just having one of those lovely Hallmark moments with the boys. In the last pic you see Luke crawling over towards Mully, who is laying in the grass. In the very next moment, Mulligan started rolling in Ecstasy in the grass, gleefully grinding himself into the ground......My heart sank as I instantly knew what was happening. He had either found something dead, or the poop of some creature, and was rolling in it in unabashed delight.
I freaked. Ran over. Sure enough, my shaggy dog was panting with deer-poop-induced lust ~ COVERED in it.
I started crying. It was nap time, but I knew that I had no choice but to deal with this immediately. He could not come in the house that way, and I could not leave him outside to continue to get more disgusting. With no real choice, I went into action.
1. Called Nate while crying. Told Nate that I was either going to kick, or give away the Dog. Asked him if he had a preference. Nate asked me to please not do either, but he was up in Boston and in the airport so he could not really talk. Hung up. Cried some more, told Mully that I really didn't like him, and generally felt sorry for myself.
2. Call the Dog Groomer, see if I could get Mully in for an immediate appointment. No, said the dog groomer, not till next Friday. Heart sank. Could not leave shit-encrusted Dog in that condition for a week.
3. Fake-kicked the Dog (Just to make myself feel better), and asked him to please run away wile I was inside setting up his bath. Please.
4. Ran inside, stole shampoo from upstairs, cleared out items from the dog shower in the mud room at my parents house.
5. Got quaking stinking dog into mud room.
6. Turned on shower. Lathered up Dog. Shamed him into standing still.
7. Dealt with baby. I would put Luke at one end of the mudroom, and RUN back to the dog shower to lather feverishly while watching Luke crawl as fast as he could towards us. Let Luke get right up to the edge of the wet, soapy, shitty mess, and then scoop him up, put him back at the far end of the room, run back to the dog, and repeat. Over and over and over. I was sweating, and wet, and smelly, and just PISSED.
Luke missed his nap and was relatively cranky for the rest of the day. I missed Luke's nap, and was relatively cranky for the rest of the day. Mully is still unsure of what his position in the household is, but he knows that he is low low low on the totem pole at the moment.
After tossing and turning that night, thinking about my literally poopy day, I came up with "Operation Mulligan".
Mully is a part of our family. I have been frustrated with him, and complaining about him, but not doing a whole lot to really make the situation better. Nate comes home tonight, and we are formally laying out the plan for "Operation Like Mulligan".
It involves a daily commitment to long walks and/or trips to the dog park, and a concerted dual effort to improve his behavior when people come over. Keep your fingers crossed for us.
(P.S, is "poopy" not a word??? Spellcheck says that it isn't. In my world, it is)
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