We've had a couple big changes happen to our family this past month, and I'm the one that brought them on. First off, as you can see from the above picture, we got a puppy! I don't know what I was thinking? I went to my friend's for her daughter's birthday party and I came home with a puppy!! He's just soooo damn cute I couldn't help myself! He's a beagle mix and is now about 12 weeks old, he's brown and white and his name is Baxter. I forgot how exhausting having a puppy is!! It's like having a baby all over again. I've pretty much handed all the doggie duties over to Dwayne and the boys. They were the ones that wanted a dog in the first place! I figured I did my time taking care of babies and I've always done the cat duties so they can handle puppy patrol!! It's been an adventure and a learning process for all of us. Baxter is a funny little guy with a big personality. Calvin and Zach really love him. He and Zach chase each other all over the house and roll around and play and when Zach gets too rough with him Calvin jumps in to rescue him. We have yet another daddy's boy in the house as Zach and Baxter both compete for Dwayne's constant attention. My boy Archie has adjusted to Baxter just fine.....MUCH better than I expected him to. He just glares at poor Baxter and let's him know he was here first and there's only room for one furry king of this castle and it's not a dog! I know Archie wants to play with Baxter as he's always lurking above him cocking his head from side to side and stretching his arms out as far as possible over the edge of the couch. Baxter REALLY wants to play with him bad, each day they do quite a few laps around the house. Every night when we get home from taking Baxter for a walk Archie is sitting on the buffet table in the entry way waiting for us to get back. I hope that one day they will be pals. While all of this has been an adventure and quite amusing at times I am constantly reminded why I am a cat person! I love Baxter but Archie will always be my baby! The next big change that happened is I finally got a job. It isn't a dental assisting job or anything fabulous like that. It certainly isn't my dream job by any means but hey it's a job, it gets me out of the house for a while during the summer which I GREATLY need!! I work with Sandi at Victoria's Secret in the Fashion Show Mall down on the strip, as a cashier. I can't believe I work in a MALL! I've never been a mall person, I've always avoided them at all costs but I gotta do what I gotta do. It's not too bad, it's nice to actually talk to grown ups for once. I was having a hard time finding any kind of job because I hadn't worked in so long. I came to the realization that in order to get a job I'm going to have to know someone and she had offered a while ago. I finally figured what the hell? I have nothing to lose except miss a few dozen fights between Calvin and Zach and those I can certainly do without! It actually works out better for our family because I can work opposite shifts than Dwayne so we don't have to pay for day care. If I was working as a dental assistant almost all of my money would be going to pay for day care for 2 kids and that would suck. Once school starts I will switch to days and if something comes of it then so be it. I will also pursue jobs more along the lines of what I want to do....office work or perhaps dental assisting. Or lately I've been thinking I would really like to get my foot in the door at Fresh & Easy. I LOVE that place and all it stands for and with my ABUNDANCE of grocery experience I could probably run one of those stores if I put my mind to it! It's just soooo damn hard to get your foot in the door there! I need to get my rear in gear and aggressively apply there.
Our exchange student Mara went home last month, she left on June 11th. It was bitter sweet to see her go. It was nice to have her here, she's a sweet girl and she really helped a lot with the boys but it was also nice to get our house back to ourselves. It was a good experience but I don't know if I will do it again? Teenagers eat a lot, even when they're vegetarians! I dread the day that Calvin and Zach are teenagers and eating us out of house and home, I couldn't imagine adding another mouth to feed!
Our backyard has officially taken on a white trash look. We set up an above ground pool for the boys. It's 10 feet across and 3 feet deep. It's not pretty or fancy or even really nice but it is refreshing! The boys really like it, especially Zach. He actually got to have a birthday party this year. As soon as we set up the pool he started asking everyone he knew if they were coming to his pool party. The party was a hit, it seems everyone had a good time and he even let us all sing happy birthday to him. That was a first, he's always freaked out when anyone has sang him happy birthday. I guess you could say our little man is growing up. Sniff sniff =0( Well, I suppose that's it for now. I'm really sorry I've been kind of slacking on updating this lately. I guess our lives just haven't really been that exciting! I hope all is going well with all of you. Until next time....Love you, mean it.
Happy 4th Birthday Zachadoo!!
Baxter
