We got a puppy! She's cute as can be. And a bundle of trouble, and joy.
She's getting easier though.
She's stopped chewing up everything in sight, we don't have to watch her every single moment, and she actually plays by herself sometimes.
Still, she has totally messed up my routine. However, I'm recognizing that it might not be a bad thing.
1. Exercise: I cannot do cardio with a puppy around. She thinks it's playtime when she sees me doing burpees and jumping jacks. She jumps on and around me, and runs between my legs. But I discovered she's okay with me standing still as I do weights. I used to avoid strength training; cardio always felt it like I was accomplishing more in a shorter amount of time. I'm still devoted to Yvette Bachman and her step and cardio-kickboxing at least once a week, but I've also found Caroline Girvan, and can exercise without getting my hair ties pulled out or my pants pulled down. And, the best part is, the gushiness on my inner thighs is disappearing and my biceps are toning up!
2. Writing: I used to get up between 4:45 and 5:15am to write. Since getting Gigi, I get up and take her out to the bathroom and play tug-o-war and fetch until it's time to get ready for the day/work.
Now, I write in the afternoons, after work and while the kids are doing school and Gigi naps. Or, just as often, I write in the evenings after dinner when the kids are fully in charge of the dog and husband is watching his home design show.
It's made me realize that I wasn't all that productive in the a.m; I mostly ended up checking emails and Instagram. Now that I have to snatch moments, and those moments are after my other obligations for the day, I can more fully concentrate.
3. Social Life: There's not much positive I can spin out of this. The few times we've left her I've been preoccupied with worry at how she's faring. The last time we left her, we watched on the nanny cam as she jumped out of her pen to run free through the house until the neighbors could get over.
The lack of social life has kept my cupboards, closets and drawers neater, as I have had more time for those little projects. I suppose it has also helped our family to bond in a different way. We laugh, and play with Gigi together. We bond over dog training videos and work on how best to train her.
And when we do get the opportunity to see our friends, we have a whole lot to catch up on, and it's that much sweeter.
It's good to shake things up. Sometimes, we find the routine we were in, maybe wasn't the right one. Sometimes, we find out it was but we just have to adjust.
As we used to remind ourselves when our kids were little, this is a phase, and it will end...so don't get used to it!
No comments:
Post a Comment