I am happy to report Bella and I both survived the turmoil of having a little one in the house again and though it has been rough going for us, she and I are now friends again. She was treating Paul as her adversary, nemesis, enemy incarnate - whatever you would describe it as. We have come to an understanding and it has been working well.
Bella is now five years old, fixed, less hormonal and bitchy and more open to accepting a toddler than an actual baby. They are starting to play together and working together to terrorize the household instead of just each other. I have seen a slow moving transition in Bella. She is finally coming around and accepting Paul as part of our family. At first she viewed him as a threat and something to be wary of. I was majorly concerned with her attitude towards me when I was pregnant but she is getting better day by day which in turn transferred to Paul as he started moving around and getting active. It has gotten much better and Bella has learned her place is a little below the tot and not equal to him.
We did go ahead and try about a year ago convincing Bella she is still important and part of the clan when we got her a subscription to Barkbox! She absolutely loves it. It is time to renew soon. She is to the point now, she hears the mail truck and gets as excited as she does when daddy comes home from work. She waits for the packages to be opened and sits there expectantly "OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY - IT IS HERE!" She is very disappointed when the box is from Zulily or Poshmark and is for mommy or the kiddos.
I swear she can tell the difference! Must be able to smell the goodies inside the Barkbox. When it is not for her, she walks away with her head down like she is depressed or something. Very sad to see. Brie always sets her up too. I guess that is the way of a 9 year old pre/pre-teen. "Let's get the dog all excited knowing she is going to be disappointed." 9 year old little girls have a very strange sense of humor! Going to have to keep my eye on that!!!
But back to Bella! She is as playful now as she was when she was a pup but the "No running in the house rule" really ticks her off. I figure I'd rather have a walking dog and a running toddler than a running dog and an endangered toddler. That is just my thoughts and they are not popular with the dog or the hubby. Why don't men understand the difference between an unhappy dog and an injured child!!! Very frustrating. Bella has a few more rules than she used to. It is part of adapting to life with little ones all over again.
I think sometimes, she has a better grasp on it than the big guy in the house. Bella knows that she has to walk in the house, she can run in her yard but if she didn't take off out of the yard every chance she gets and try to kill other four-legged creatures of all shapes and sizes; she would have more room to run. She is supposed to walk in the house and take her treats and go lay down with them. She still goes on all of the furniture but no longer sleeps in our bed! Thanks be to the LORD!!! I finally convinced Matthew that she is too big and I swear that dog kicks me in the back just so I will go sleep on the couch. When she was a pup, she would try kicking Matthew out of bed, but since I had Paul, I am the one with giant feet in my back pummeling me out of a sound sleep to get herself comfortable. Enough is enough! I used the excuse of the baby hanging out in bed with me watching TV and being afraid Bella would be snappy or step on him. It worked - she now sleeps downstairs on the couch. Trust me, I sleep on the couch often enough and it is one damn cozy couch!!! She should not be complaining!
Lately she's been spending more time with the baby - I did it again. He is 27 months old and I still call him "the baby". He is a big boy now and working on new things everyday. God forbid I try getting him to let go of the bottle though! He drinks perfectly fine out of a cup with no cover but if I try putting milk even in a sippy cup, it is the end of Paul's happy world! I am battling that one daily. Any ideas would be helpful - of course except the one to throw his bottles out the window driving down the road so he knows they are gone! I don't agree with that "all or nothing/all in/go big or go home" idea with toddlers and IT IS LITTERING! "Come on people - give me something I can work with." We are also working on getting Mr. Paul to sleep in his own bed without either me or daddy. That is a challenge. Reason being, I cannot open the damn baby gate to get out of the room whereas Matthew works it just fine! Go figure. Paul falls asleep and daddy gets to go in our cozy bed 10 minutes later. I try getting out of the room and after 3 or 4 tries, I give up and sleep in the tot bed all night. My back is so adjusted to the little kid bed that when I finally get to sleep in my own bed once every couple of weeks, I can barely walk because my poor back is not used to my own damn mattress anymore! I think there is something in the way of KARMA here regarding the dog! She got sentenced to the couch and this is somehow the Cosmos punishing me for doing that to Queen B.
Odie well! So there you have it. Bella is getting back to normal, my back will never be the same again and the kiddos are getting along well with the Big Blue Dane.
Check back soon for another installment.
Have a wonderful day all!!!!
