Through a Whisper

Something I don't look forward to is losing my cool and yelling at my kids... I am hoping and praying that I will never do that, but I know that I am one to lose my patience and raise my voice sometimes. My husband is the same way... except he does it more with Mudgett (LOL)... and yes, my husband can talk loud believe it or not! Lo and behold..... guess what tonight's devotion was about?

From I Kings 19:12, "And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a sound of a gentle whisper."

I'm going to make this short and sweet tonight.... whether you are dealing with your children... your spouse... or a crazy mutt like Mudgett. You do NOT have to put fear in them by raising your voice... be that gentle firm whisper. I know it works on Mudgett! ;-)

"A gentle voice, rather than loud yelling, often effectively produces desirable behavior changes."

-Carol Hatheway Scott

Successful Saturday

First of all... we took Snickers to my inlaws house. They are going to keep her until further notice, and I know she is 100% happy there... before Elah came along, Snickers was Jerry's (my father in law) girl. She ADORES him... so yea, very happy with that! But get this... Snickers leaves and now Mudgett is an ANGEL. He is being so good! So we're going to give him a chance, and see how he does as a single dog in our household. He will get to see Snickers when we visit Nana and Papa Grey... so all is well in doggy world.

Last two nights with Elah sleeping in the bassinet have gone fairly well. I don't get as much sleep as I did with her sleeping on my chest in the recliner, however, I sleep deeper with her in her own bed, so I feel more rested! Success!

I also tried one of Elah's cloth diapers on her today... and they are still kind of big, and she's still wearing it... so I don't know if it will leak with the bulkiness just yet. I will update on that soon however! Here are a few pics:

Tough Situation

When Justin and I had been dating for about 4 months he got me a puppy... the cutest, sweetest, tiniest little thing. She fit in the palm of my hand, she was so well behaved, and such a cute little booger. We named her Snickers.

Fast forward 4, almost 5 years laters. Snickers, my well behaved, loving little dog has turned into a jealous, peeing everywhere monster. Ok... that's a little harsh. She's not a monster, but she is definately jealous, and she's definately peeing everywhere. I wasn't worried about Snickers when we brought Elah home, I was worried that Mudgett would freak out and go bonkers (well... more bonkers then he already is). Boy was I wrong. Seriously... Snickers will look right at you, squat, and pee. EVERY FREAKING DAY. But wait, it gets better. Today, as I sat down to put my shoes on so we could take Elah to see J's nanny... she squats beside and PEES ON ME. Yea, really. She peed on ME. I'm done. Really. Done. I love this dog, she was my first baby, she moved from place to place with us... she was there when we lived in Tennessee, she was there when we got married... she's been through it all. And I'm done. I can't do it anymore!

Mudgett isn't as bad, but with him being so hyper he is just so hard to deal with right now. I love that little stinker, but I'm done.

I don't want to see them go, I will probably cry a flood of tears to see them go... but Elah is my priority now. I'm tired of the peeing everywhere, I'm tired of stepping on soggy gross rawhide bones, I'm tired of hair EVERYWHERE... I'm just tired. I want to bring my daughter home to a clean house without dog hair, dog barking, dog pee, dog food, dog anything. I'm DONE.

Cleaning Spree

Thank goodness for Nene & Papaw... they came over today and loved on Elah so I could nap... except I didn't nap. LOL! I ended up taking a shower, doing laundry, and doing some cleaning. And we NEEDED to get some cleaning done! School starts back on Monday, I only have 2 classes that actually start on Monday, but with a new baby in our lives it will be interesting to see how I handle school, housework, and Elah!

We do have a bit of a dilemma in our household however. Snickers. Snickers is jealous. She's not mean to Elah or anything like that, she actually likes to watch her and sniff her... but she is definately annoyed with how much attention the baby gets compared to her. I've tried my best to show her love and affection when Elah isn't in my arms and JUSTIN needs to do a bit better with that and be a bit more patient with the dogs. Do you hear me honey?!?!?! She is peeing on everything. She NEVER does that. We've had a few incidents where she'd pee on the carpet when she'd get mad or if (shame on us) we took to long to take her outside... but what she is doing now is just being downright ornery. She peed on the couch last night, and that wasn't the first time she's done that. She KNOWS better. And you know she's doing it on purpose because she looks RIGHT AT YOU when she's doing it. UGH! We've tried rewarding her for good behavior, setting aside special playtime with her and Mudgett... I don't know what else to do. I can't just drop what I'm doing to play with her all the time, especially when Justin isn't home and I'm the only person to care for Elah. Hopefully over time Snickers will stop being ornery and realize she's not being replaced!

Other than that, there's not much going on. Elah's umbilical cord stump fell off yesterday... it was gross. She still has a bit of cord left inside her belly button, but it's not completely dried out yet, so we're still waiting for that. She isn't sleeping much at night, which makes for a pretty sleepy mommy... but like I told my mom, it doesn't make much of a difference when she sleeps because I'm home with her all the time and can sneak in naps when she sleeps. However, switching my sleep schedule around is a little tough!

Tomorrow we hope to venture out to the Flint's house for lunch if the weather isn't too bad... Elah has met her godmother (obviously considering Janelle was in the L&D room lol) and all 5 of the monsters... but she hasn't met her godfather yet! So hopefully we'll get to go over there and hang out for a little while.

Like I said, classes start Monday, so I'll have 2 classes to work on starting next week. Then Wednesday is Elah's 2 week checkup, I have my 2 week checkup with Dolly (the midwife), and at some point I have to go out to AB Tech to see my academic advisor. Elah's not even 2 weeks old yet and we haven't slowed down! Justin is off for vacation starting on Wednesday, and I believe he has 9 full days off... that will be wonderful! Hopefully we won't drive eachother completely crazy ;-)

Project 365: Day 80

If you can't tell... this is the dog crate that Snickers & Mudgett sleep in at night... somehow Mudgett managed to get one of their blankets tucked into the top of the cage.... how he did that... I have NO idea.

Project 365: Day 77

This is my father in law and Snickers..... she LOVES her Pawpaw obviously lol!

Project 365: Day 76

Can't help but love them... even when they're ornery...

Project 365: Day 74

Let's just say that Snickers HATES snow... and HATES being cold... she was perfectly content wrapped up in my blanket, LOL!

Project 365: Day 73

It snowed last night... and I did NOT want to be stuck in the house like last year, so we ventured out to my inlaws house.... here's a picture out the back door....

Here's a picture out the front through the sliding glass doors....

And here is Snickers pouting because her pawpaw wasn't here to spoil her... POOR baby! And yes, we put sweaters on our dogs... you would too if you saw how badly they shiver out in the snow :(

Project 365: Day 58

Yesterday was a lazy day in the Massey household... I took these pictures at 3pm...

Project 365: Day 46

Project 365: Day 38

Project 365: Day 36

Project 365: Day 33

Project 365: Day 28

Project 365: Day 19

Today was a lazy day in the Massey household :-D

Project 365: Day 17

Mom made meatball subs for dinner, so we loaded up Snickers and headed over to her house to eat... would've been great except Maggie (my brother's lab mix puppy who looks like a horse) terrorized poor Snickers :( . So Justin picked her up and cuddled with her but she still looked distraught lol.

In other news... yesterday I was 29 weeks. I really can't believe how fast this is going! Janelle is throwing me a baby shower on Saturday, then the next weekend is Halloween. Pretty soon Thanksgiving will come and go and then Christmas... and Elah will be here sometime around then! I can't believe it. I'm ecstatic and terrified... I want to do this completely naturally, I don't want any drugs or pain relievers... I just want to do it the way God created my body to do it. I don't have a lot of people supporting that endeaver, but I know I can do it. And now I want to PROVE that I can do it. I'll be honest, I'm not good with pain... but I'm terrified of needles. I would much rather get through the pain and avoid needles. May sound crazy, but I'm going to try my darndest to do it the way I WANT!

Also, I changed up my blog a bit... I found a cute owl layout :)

Project 365: Day 8

Mudgie is home! Justin went to pick him up early this morning, and he said that when he got there they had to take Justin to the back to get Mudgie because my poor little man was afraid to come out! He did really well otherwise, he's his regular perky self! He's still a little tired from the anesthesia and meds they gave him, and I'm sooooo glad he's home! Snickers is staying with Nana & Papaw (my inlaws) while Justin cleans the carpet... so Mudge and I are getting in some naps and cuddle time :)

Project 365: Day 7

I already knew what I wanted to write about today, however I wasn't able to take a picture...

That's Mudgett about a year ago! He was such a sweet little puppy... then he grew up to be a rambunctious, hyper, ADHD dog. Yea. When he was this small he would curl up in my lap and snuggle... now he can't sit still when you try to pet him. Kind of reminds me of a little peanut I know named Jonathan.... used to be super cuddly and STILL, now he's moving all over the place and can't sit still! EEK! Well... we decided that today was the day to get Mudgie fixed. Poor Mudgie :( He's probably going to be all drugged up and not feeling well tomorrow, but maybe I can get in some sweet cuddles and some cute pictures to share for Day 8.

Miss you Mudgie, we're praying for you! See you tomorrow! <3 Mommy