Small House Love: When a Baby Moves In, the Dog Moves Out....

Well, not exactly, but sort of. These wise words are spoken to Lady ( from Lady and the Tramp) as she inquires about what a baby is. Her new pal, Tramp, lets her know the hard truth.

About a week after we brought Hazel home I finally got why so many people re-home their pets when baby arrives. Now Joe and I are by no means thinking of re-homing our fur babies, but I can understand. I don't think it has anything to do with no longer loving your pet when baby comes, but just trying to make life a little easier while adjusting to becoming a new parent. Our pets are not even as needy as others are, it was more the "extra" work, like making sure they were fed and let out to do their business, which seems like a lot more when you're slightly sleep deprived. Hazel's been such a good baby, that I can't imagine how much harder it would have been had she been extremely fussy or hard to sooth. I can be sure I would have gone slightly insane trying to make sure the pet's needs were met as well as hers. The sad thing is, I've hardly dealt with the pets in the past 3 or so months because it was just too tiring to walk them, or down stairs to feed them, in the final months of pregnancy. Now every time they need something so does Hazel, so poor Joe has been a single pet parent in recent months. We are slowing getting back into the swing of things, and the pets are getting back to becoming members of the family again like they used to.

And yet even with our frustrations, Joe and I found out today that we are still quite attached to our beloved pets. Poe, who is Joe's shadow and buddy, has always had stomach issues. He's on special food, he's always emaciated looking, and he can barely look at people food without yaking all over the place. Well he has been quite a mess since Little Miss came home. Oh, I forgot to mention he is also one energetic stress ball! If he's not walking around the house whining, he's trying his hardest to get you to play. His anxiety about being second best got the better of him and we woke up to a pup who was throwing up blood. He's very dramatic, I know. So off to the vet we went, to find out he's pretty much fine. We were sent home with some meds to get him, and his anxiety, under control. In that short time, Hazel became second best. We made sure she was well fed and content and then our attentions turned to Poedidly. Even though I knew everything was going to be just fine with Poe, I couldn't help but worry the whole way to the vet that we were going to get the worst news. I even commented to Joe that I've not been the nicest to Poe this past month, and how bad I felt about that. I was quite relieved that everything was OK.

The thing is no matter how frustrated I get with the pets, or how many times I think how much easier our lives would be if we didn't have any, I would not be a happy camper if they weren't here. Not only do they give unconditional love, support, and company, they are what makes our little family complete.

I am so looking forward to Hazel growing up with the pets. I look forward to Sweetums stealing food from her highchair, and Poe making sure the floor is spotless underneath where she sits to eat. So for now the pets will have to endure this adjustment period, and I know they will because that's what pets do. They stick around for the long haul when we can't.

Cheers!

Here's Hazel with her new fan club :)