A Guest Post

Your tried and true blogger, ATR, is still back "home" for said wedding, and before he left he bestowed upon me the power to be a contributor to The Parker Chronicles. I'm not sure I can live up to ATR's witty, comical, satirical (and sometimes parenthetical voice), but I'll give it a go this morning during this respite of relative calm during what I'm referring to as "Puppy Watch--2010."

As ATR mentioned on Friday's post, we've had some ups and downs this week. We had a few accidents which were frustrating, and I took them a bit harder than usual as I'm sleep-deprived, more than a bit stressed at having had to basically take an impromptu week off work to be home with Parker, and feeling a bit sorry for myself at spending my birthday NOT celebrating my birthday nor having any time for myself. But overall, as I sit here on this Sunday morning with Parker napping in his crate and Ripken napping on the big-boy bed in the sunroom with me, I feel like we're moving forward. Since Wednesday, Parker has been in his crate every day for an hour or two, and more importantly, he has SLEPT IN HIS CRATE every night since then. Last night we had our longest uninterrupted stretch during the night--Parker went in at about 10:30pm and didn't cry to go out until about 2:45am. That is over 4 hours! Magic sleeping time for me--and I suppose Ripken and Parker, too, but really this is about me getting some sleep, I mean about Parker starting to sleep more through the night. So that is fantabulous progress. Parker is also doing fairly well on the leash for walks--he does better when he is following Ripken (he SO wants to be with Ripken), but is starting to get the hang of it sans Ripken, too. And then there is the total cuteness that is a puppy.

Additionally, for the first time in my life, I've had a glimpse of what being a stay-at-home-mom is like. HOLY CRAP! I've gone days without showering. I've gotten nothing really done in the hour or two during naptime when I feel like I should be getting something done. I'm behind in everything--work, laundry, email, phone calls, errands. I have moments when I feel like I can't even successfully do the *one thing* I'm supposed to be doing in taking care of the pup (see aforementioned "accidents"). I have also seen that I can possess NO patience at times and kinda scare myself with my reactions to Parker chewing, biting, eating everything in the yard, nipping at Ripken, etc. And yet, it somehow all seems worth it...most of the time.