My Two Kids - Dog is Baby's Best Friend

I wasn't so sure how Clarence would be with a baby sister. He's a dog (shhh!) after all. 

When AO came home from the hospital, he was automatically a good kind of protective. He'd get between anyone new and her baby bed. (But not in a mean way..In a good, "let me check you out" kinda way.) 

He'd go up and lick her face when she'd cry. (And it worked...she would stop.)  That doesn't work now, but they've moved on.

Now they play together. 

Meet Clarence. Also known as Arleigh's favorite chair. 

 

He's the first one to wake her up in the morning. He plows past me pushing open the door and gate into her room and starts huffing, whining and spinning in circles until she wakes up. He also licks her face and feet or whatever body part he can reach through the crib bars. (He's REALLY happy to see her.) This little trick is not so adorable when Clarence thinks she's napped or slept long enough, and HE decides it's time to wake her. It happens, too, unfortunately for Mama. His parents aren't exciting enough now that AO is in his world.

AO kisses Clarence and gives him real hugs. Probably 10x as many as she gives her Mama and Daddy. I wish I were joking, because I would LOVE some of that TLC from my kiddo.  And they are just sporadic. She randomly goes up and plants a big ole kiss on his shiny wet nose. The hugs are pretty precious, too. Maybe I should spend more time down on her level. (I'm jealous, can you tell?)

They play a mean game of keep away. Clarence keeps something and runs from AO, AO gets something and runs giggling hysterically from Clarence. This goes on for what seems like hours.Sometimes concluding with a tug-a-war game and the parents intervening. Bless it.

AO is concerned about Clarence's nutrition, so she feeds him from her highchair. Sometime he even wears the food because she's flinging it so fast. She also shares her snacks. She doesn't understand why she can't play in his food or water, though.  We've even caught her licking her tray like Clarence does. Yuck. Not much for southern manners and grace, there, honey. Cuts down on the silverware, though.

We take her toys away from Clarence, AO immediately gives it back to him. Same way with him. We take his toys from her, He picks it up and drops it at her feet.  At least she is really learning to share. They have a "what's mine is his" kinda friendship.

She rubs his belly. He nuzzles hers and makes her roll over. And PUSHES her over while she's laughing.  He gooses her with the big black nose. Again, she giggles hysterically.

He lays on the bathroom floor when she takes a bath and gets ready for bed.

He's the last one out of her room when she goes to bed at night. (EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT.) 

Did I mention they were best friends? Like, Seriously.

From the beginning, we let them find their own way to mesh together. We haven't pushed it. And we haven't discouraged it. There are times when we have to tell Clarence to be gentle, or slow down. Same goes for Arleigh O. (HE LOVES running beside her in the hall and goosing her into the wall. And she HATES it. That's her least favorite game. The "Clarence is so excited to see me he knocks me into the wall" game. She's not a fan. Neither is her Mama. Just like she has to be closely watched rubbing the belly, because she's pulled parts that shouldn't be touched on ANY creature.)  But the majority of the time, they mesh so well together, they don't need intervention. Of course we watch them very closely, because he's still (gasp) a dog.  That's the best advice I can give on the dog-baby relationship. Let them do what comes natural if it's safe. Even the (icky) licking and kisses. Just let them be. Clarence is a very gentle-natured dog. And we do trust him. But safely monitoring the trust.

I never thought I would be an inside-the-house dog person. But he's Clarence. And he's the best rescued from a gutter-mutt-black-dog-child-brother on the planet.

New Mini Backyard Garden - DIY Style

 First step, a daddy who loves you.

Second, treated lumber and a way cool pneumatic nail gun and a willing Daddy as a teacher.

Third, a loving mother who has mad skills with a shovel and rake. (We took a 4' x 8' corner of the yard and turned the ground to loosen the soil.

Fourth, newspaper. Hopefully this will kill the grass underneath.

Fifth, lots of garden dirt and black cow manure. (And a strong Daddy to dump the bags.)

Sixth, a cute baby to crawl and walk all over new garden bed to pack it down.

Seventh, scrub down above mentioned baby and sit back and admire the work. ;-)

Hopefully now AO can learn more about her southern "roots" and take up gardening! Her NanO is a certified master gardener, and her Poppy plows and plants acres and acres each year.  AO has to have a green thumb in there somewhere!  The way she likes the dirt....I think we are off to a good start!

We grew up gardening each summer and composting. I want AO to see how food is grown so she understands it isn't just unloaded off a truck at Publix. Important life skills that are dying with the generations.

A little redneck

My sweet bow and smocked dress wearing baby got her redneck on today.

Gotta love the south. And bum-it Saturdays. ;-)

Arleigh's new Corner - Work in Progress

Do you remember those massive rose bushes? Well....we said bye-bye to those. Priss-pot has her very own corner. Not bad for a 14 month old. ;-)

Sticky old rose bushes gone. New kids corner in progress.

We used the dog-child Clarence's old summer wading pool for a sandbox. (Just don't forget to drill holes for the water to drain!) We did dig a bit of a hole to put the sand box (old pool) down into so it's easier for her short little baby legs to climb in and out.

Old pots got a few dollar tree flowers. An old wire planter is now a toy holder. And a mismatched board found for FREE in front of the Habitat Restore...Becomes an adorable little chalkboard.

Reuse, reuse, reuse. Upcycle, and then Upcycle some more. I want new floors, remember? :-)

Back Porch After

And here's after elbow grease and spray paint. Still a work in progress. But it's much improved! We reused almost everything. Including our old rug from indoors. The only things we purchased was spray paint, mulch and play sand for AO's corner, and a flat of sweet potato vine for FOUR DOLLARS at the Habitat Thrift Store.

Artsy Kid Friendly Corner of the Living Room

There is a valid reason why your Mama wouldn't let you play ball in the house. John and I both tend to like to to make messes. And we tend to be a little free spirited. When free spirits play ball in the house...You get holes in the wall. Which lead to this....  A Sunday wall patch job -

Turns into a Pinterest inspired art corner using the wasted space behind the front door. This door opens into our living room, and the threshold has tile. Which makes chalk clean up easy breezy. 

Main reasons? 

1. The holes HAD to be fixed. 
2. I already had the chalkboard paint
3. AO needed an Art Corner. (Mama wanted one.) 

  I'm wanting to trim out the top with a bit of molding. But I'm waiting on the Habitat for Humanity Restore to finish their remodel before I buy any. (Do you have one of those in your area?) It's MY FAVORITE place to shop. We make donations there, too. You are putting money back into a great cause, and their price are usually very reasonable. Plus the look of salvaged goods is so much cooler than buying new.

Thanks Pinterest for the Masterpieces idea. And yes, the front door is getting a face lift. And the hubs doesn't like the color AT ALL. Stay tuned. :-)

Laminate Flooring - Living, Kitchen, Dining, Hall

The great floor debate for 2013.

It's no secret I want new floors. We moved into our house new, but I didn't get to choose the flooring. The living room and kitchen open up to each other in a great-room type of way, but they are separated by a cheap linoleum in the kitchen and carpet in the living room. Three months ago, as AO was learning to crawl and walk, I thought carpet was the way to go. But now that she's up and running, and hauling mess and stomping bananas into the carpet, it's gotta go. My biggest reason is probably allergies. I've always been anti-carpet because it holds every little dust-mite imaginable.

But we're still debating what we want exactly. We're sure a laminate hardwood. But that's as close as we get to the same page.

Have you seen laminate lately? It's come SUCH a long way from the fake oak inexpensive stuff of years ago. This stuff really looks like hardwood. And it's 10 times as durable. 

If I had a message to flooring stores and to Lowes - it would be to PLEASE put different full room flooring pictures on your websites. It makes it so difficult to visualize without those pictures. I'm a very visual person, and do a pretty good job picturing the space. But picturing it off a tiny chip doesn't do much justice.

I'm thinking I want something in the middle of the specturm, but more on the dark side that looks like hand-scraped flooring. But not so dark it shows every spec. And we a fairly certain we (Well I'm sure) don't want a gloss finish just because it will show everything as well. But we are not on the same page with tone. John likes light and I like mid-dark. Decisions, decisions.

We're also leaning towards having these installed instead of DIY. It's such a large space, and I would be heartbroken if it didn't do right.   (These images are courtesy of google search. Hickory Laminate flooring.)

It's not cheap either.... We're still discussing budget...Because of course we're on different pages as well. :-)
Decisions, decisions, decisions.