Life Update

I wish I could do what he’s doing in this picture – sleeping soundly in my comfy bed.

Thought I’d check in with a little life update today.

Just came off an extremely busy four day weekend. Brad and I took off Thursday and Friday to get the house ready for the party. We also had some work done to each of our cars (Brad needed a bunch of things done, I needed new tires). I had to finish making the decorations (I was furiously making cupcake flags on Saturday morning). Plus we had some very special houseguests Saturday evening, so I was preparing for their visit as well.

The party went fantastically. Austin had fun, for awhile, but then got very tired and cranky, and burst into tears when everyone sung Happy Birthday to him. Luckily, smart mama got a bunch of photos of him before everyone showed up, so I have happy baby photos to share too. Speaking of photos, I have a ton of them (but none of the actual party – you would think Austin was the only person present), but I think my friend Laura got a bunch of good party photos. Anyway, I need to upload and edit my own pictures. Hoping to do that tomorrow night so I can get them posted here, but in any case, I promise to have them for you at some point this week.

I won’t be able to put up this week’s Project Life tomorrow, because I haven’t even started work on it. I have insert ideas in mind to include the birthday party, and need time to get all of that together. So my plan is, to share two weeks next Tuesday. I’m also not sure I can have a freebie ready for you guys this Friday. I’ll try, but no promises. I am exhausted, and each night this week is already booked solid. I am looking forward to having ZERO plans next weekend. I want to do some organizing, and maybe some crafting, and just relaxing.

I’m two months behind on my One Little Word. But I do hope to catch up on at least February this weekend. I was writing in my daily gratitude journal until maybe two weeks ago, when I got so busy with party stuff and life that I simply forgot about it several days in a row. I’m sure I’ll go back to writing in it once I can get my feet on the ground again. Right now I just feel a bit overwhelmed with everything. I’m relieved the party is over, but I still have his actual birthday on Wednesday and presents to wrap for that. I have to order up groceries and I have puppy training each week (more on that later), and Austin’s come down with another cold so we’re dealing with that, too.

I haven’t worked out in a couple of weeks because I’ve been swamped with party stuff, so I’m hoping to get back on the treadmill over the weekend and continue with my couch-to-5k program. I’ve still been checking my weight and am exactly the same, so I’m happy. All the weight I have lost so far has stayed off. That’s a victory, right there. :) But being at 162.5 leaves me with still another 17.5 pounds to go to my goal weight, so I definitely have to get back on track and keep working.

 Can't believe how big she's getting!

So, puppy training is going really well. Sadie is super easily trainable in everything she has been taught. The things we do have issues with – still some housebreaking. She’s much better than when we first got her but she still has accidents in the house. We bought puppy bells to hopefully help that problem. She doesn’t nip as much as before, but she still jumps, and her barking drives me batty. And she hasn’t learned how not to pull when on a leash yet. However she’s learned “sit”, “lay down”, she’s fetched even before the class started, she does “focus”, and I taught her “come” this past week. Brad was able to teach her to sit nicely when she gets her food at night, until he gives her the command to go ahead and eat. She knows “leave it” (where you drop a treat on the floor and tell her to leave it, she won’t touch it). I’ve noticed that all the training on this good stuff is helping us control her better with regard to the bad stuff, so that’s great. (Like with the sitting nicely before eating her meal). The trainer is amazing. Last week I asked about the leash pulling and she took the whole class to the leash aisle to teach us about proper training collars and gentle leader harnesses. We already signed up for the next set of classes. Brad and I agree that we want her to be as trained as possible, and we are learning so much with the class that it’s worth it to us for the $20 a week to continue as far as we can. There are I think 2 more levels after this next one so we will be training for awhile.

I’m still in therapy every couple of weeks. I chose to swap to every 2 weeks instead of every week because I just don’t think enough happens in my regular week, plus the copay is $20 a visit and I can’t spend $80 a month on therapy appointments. I don’t think it’s actually taking away my anxiety disorder, but being able to open up and talk to her each week and get her advice and opinion on situations is very helpful to me, stress wise. I look forward to my visits. In general I am still feeling a bit chaotic and stressed. I suppose that’s something I just have to deal with as a parent. I’m working on it. I have made steps, big steps, to making choices that will lead to less stress for me, here and there. And I’ll just continue to work on that.

Ok, I have to run, but I’ll have pictures for you from the party soon, and on Wednesday there’s a special treat that I made a couple of weeks ago in preparation for Austin’s first birthday that I hope you’ll all enjoy. I’ll try to get a couple of other posts up if I have a chance. That may be what I spend my lunch hours doing, ha ha! :)