Two weeks ago our little family was changed forever. On a cold and rainy Saturday Mac popped over to the neighbouring town and came home with Mac’s and my best-kept secret!
Previous to this Saturday afternoon, the terrible trio has for months been asking, pleading and slyly pointing out that we need a pet.
Bean told me she would pick up the poo. Bug told me she would love it. Beastie told me she would brush it. Mac and I rolled our eyes – it would be us who did all these things I told them.
I suggested a gold fish.
They weren’t interested in my compromise….
What about adopting a panda or a tiger through one of the zoo programs? I asked
Well they were super keen to do that too but they really felt that a cat or a dog or even a hamster that ran around the house in a ball would be much better.
So Mac and I started to talk about it. At first half-heartedly and it became a bit more seriously.
And now that the kids are just that little bit older and wee beastie is in kindergarten, and since I work mostly from home, and Mac is about to become more flexible with work, it kind of seemed like now could be the right time to go for it.
So we did.
Mac took his trip to Bathurst that Saturday and returned with a very large bundle of fluff.
Shadow Baxter the very cute but not so little eight-week old German shepherd became part of Casa Mac.
Overwhelmed by the girls, Mac’s sheer size (and his boots) and the chaos of our household, Baxter decided that I was going to be his safe haven.
He was my shadow – always at my feet, he’d following me from room to room. When I went upstairs he would cry, when I closed the door to the toilet he cried, when I tried to leave him outside by himself he cried.
Suddenly I remembered the time when wee beastie grew out of that totally co-dependent stage of her childhood. That period where I had to keep a constant eye on her because she was that child who would climb to the top of the bookcase and jump off it. And I remember thinking once we made it over that hurdle that I would never, NEVER have to go back to that co-dependent hyper-vigilant state.
Well I have.
Baxter has since decided that the terrible trio aren’t all that bad – he loves to play with them, but now he is comfortable in his new space nothing is safe – not our feet, not the girls toys, not the metal stools, or my paintbrushes.
But despite these teething (haha! #sorrynotsorry!) issues our lives have been irrevocably changed.
And my workdays have dramatically changed too. I take breaks now – I don’t sit at the computer or work desk for hours at a time anymore.
I don’t procrastinate as much – because I have to take these breaks and have less time to get things done!
I am up earlier (and therefore asleep earlier) because I don’t want Baxter’s howls to wake the girls and I have loved taking advantage of that extra half hour in a quiet house.
And I no longer make excuse to get out of my morning walks because if I don’t walk him he is a very unhappy little pup!
Would a gold fish have been easier? Yes probably.
Although you don’t get morning kisses from a gold fish!
Wait that may be a point for the pro’s column…
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