Alexander Daniel

The Bulldog Brigade has a new member. Alexander Daniel was born on October 2, 2015. He was 6 weeks early and weighed just 4 pounds 14 ounces, but he is strong and healthy and we think he's pretty cute.

On the day we brought him home, Olivia was at daycare, so Grif saw him first. He wasn't particularly interested and didn't really understand what the baby was. When Olivia got home, she basically lost her mind. She was VERY curious and wanted to smell him for a long time. For the rest of the evening, she wanted to be where ever he was. She followed us around and when it was time to go to bed, she was NOT having it. She barked and cried and wanted to be right next to his cradle. I was a little surprised by her reaction- I didn't expect her to care at all.

Now that he's been here for a while, both dogs have calmed down and mostly just ignore him. It will be interesting to see how they react when he starts to grab things, crawl or walk! We've got a little time before that happens, so mostly we just spend a lot of time snuggling. 

Olivia and Griffin Turn 7!

At the end of September, Olivia and Griffin both turned 7. This year, we combined their 7 year photos with some shots of all 4 of us before the baby arrives.

The New Chair

One of the first baby gifts we received was a beautiful glider chair for the nursery. It is currently in our living room because I am too fat to sit on our couch. The chair is very comfortable, but is only big enough for an 8 month pregnant woman and that is causing issues in our house. We have a perfectly comfortable couch (that is nicely covered to accommodate two dirty, hairy bulldogs) and the new chair is next to the couch. But it is a separate piece of furniture and thus, is VERY upsetting to my beloved babies.

Both dogs stand on the arm of the couch and cry, attempt to climb into my lap and generally carry on as if they are being abused. When I lift them into my lap (not an easy task at this point), they don't last very long, because it's not comfortable.

Olivia is particularly upset by the chair. Although, when I get up, she is quick to make herself comfortable.

And then yesterday... THIS-

Olivia is not a chewer. She has a lot of bad habits and is naughty in a LOT of ways, but NEVER chewing. Not once in 7 years has she chewed something up. When I heard the scraping/chewing sound, I nearly fell over from shock. She didn't even appear to be enjoying herself. She just looked at me like, "so?" and I said, "are you joking?" and she got up and moved.

I assume the chair has a future of baby vomit and other wear and tear ahead, so I'm not going to get too upset. We may have a long road ahead of us with this baby and these dogs....

Summer Recap

It's the end of August and I haven't posted anything since May! The bullies enjoyed their summer at camp and are in their typical end-of-August funk. I need to get Olivia back to daycare ASAP because she is bored and crabby and if she doesn't go to daycare soon, she's going to end up at the pound, because she can be such a miserable little animal to be around when she doesn't have something to take up her energy.

Here are some highlights from the summer-

I drove the camp van (filled with donations and random supplies) to camp. There was PLENTY of room for the dogs to sit comfortably, but Olivia climbed through all the stuff and sat like this for about an hour of the drive.

Happy to be at camp...

 

In early June, we found out that we are expecting a baby boy. This is an adorable photo I found on pinterest that I wanted to re-create with O & G. I found the ONE store in town that sold helium balloons and made a special trip to buy them. I crafted a very cute sign. I enlisted the help of one of my dear friends/co-worker who is wonderful in every way except that she isn't even the least bit charmed by the bulldogs and thus, mostly rolls her eyes at anything related to them.

I got the sign and the balloons set up and got the dogs posed. I let go of them for half of a second, which was all it took for Olivia to LEAP through the air, pop all 5 balloons (midair) and come crashing down, ripping the sign and destroying the entire scene. My jaw was on the ground in shock and horror as Megan tried her hardest not to fall over from laughter. I have never (not in 7 years of being a bulldog mom) wanted to strangle Olivia more than in that moment. I took a deep breath and as calmly as I could, led her home, where I promptly burst into tears of RAGE. She is lucky I love her more than anything because I could have KILLED her in that moment.

Megan came to the rescue and returned an hour later after I'd calmed down and encouraged me to try again (minus the balloons). I re-made the sign and we decided a blue bandana and a bow would be sufficient. They cooperated nicely and I got this photo.

Olivia spent a lot of time playing on the field and a lot of time showing people where she falls on the staffing hierarchy. This is Olivia walking very deliberately (and VERY slowly) down the path.

It's hard work being a camp dog, so there was a lot of snoozing....

 

 

I'm not sure if they realize that something is different with me, but it's getting more difficult for my 60 pound babies to sit on my lap. 

 

 Grif made it through the entire summer without ANY health issues at all. Not even one trip to the vet. This might be the longest stretch we've ever made it...

And now we're home and missing life in the woods...

 

We start "preparing dog for baby" classes in two weeks. The trainer is the same woman who taught Olivia's puppy kindergarten and Obedience 1 classes. I love her and she is a wonderful dog trainer, but I ignored literally everything she said in those classes ("treat the dog like a dog, not a baby", "don't reason with the dog", "be the alpha and lead the dog, don't give it anything it wants"....) which is how I ended up with the most high maintenance dogs in the world. I am a TERRIBLE dog owner and I know that (the first step is admitting that you've got a problem, right?!). But I am going to try to listen to everything she says in these classes. Nate will be with me, so there's some hope we could end up with (slightly) better behaved dogs who are ready for a newborn....  

Announcement

Well, we thought about a third bulldog, but ultimately, we decided it was time for a human baby. We think Olivia and Grif are going to love their new baby sister or brother.

"So this thing is going to drool, poop, and cry for attention constantly?" Olivia and Grif are a little skeptical, but we think they will be the perfect big sis and big bro in November!