Thursday, April 22, 2010

My babies.

Tuesday, I watched New Moon for the first time. I am a fan of the books, but I thought the first movie was pretty bad. NM was better... in part, I think, because there was a lot of Jacob and not a lot of Edward.

TL is a much better actor (from what it seemed in the movie) than RP, IMO. But I've been Team Jacob from the first book.

Which I shared on my FB page. One of my former students replied "You sure it aint just the dog thing? im pretty sure youll always side with the dogs,"*

Um... it's true.

I'm a dog person.

In fact... I'm that dog person.

I just spent almost $300 on a bed for M-Dog. What? Yeah. He has bad knees, and at 7 (his birthday was last week- happy birthday, my boy!) is starting to have trouble. III will no longer let the pups sleep in the bed (booooooo!), so all he's got is the lumpy pillow dog bed on the floor. It makes him very limpy. :(

Peanut is wearing a pretty new collar from etsy. She's also currently scar-faced from wrestling with M-dog, and I have all my fingers crossed that my pretty girl will heal and not be left with any scars.

I pout when they won't sit with me on the couch. I sulk if they choose to sit with III over me.

I kiss my dogs. On the mouth.

I know I've said it before, but I still miss my B every single day. I have a big portrait of her on the wall, where a print of a park in Boston, taken by a professional photographer, used to hang. I have a picture of her next to my bed. I still send in my favorite snapshot of her to those silly dog photo contests. Before I go to sleep at night, I reminisce what it felt like to pet her and cuddle her and rub her silly ears.

My dogs are my babies. I have wanted a dog my whole life, but never got one until I was almost thirty. People tell me "God, you need to have a baby"** or "Just wait 'til you have a baby... then things will change." But... is it wrong or weird of me to hope it doesn't?

I know that a baby is a lot of work and time and that, even if I wanted to, I know I won't be able to give the kind of attention to my pups that I do now. But I do hope my strength of feeling for them won't change. I don't think it does for everyone. I have an old coworker who has 2 daughters now, who- in her own words- she is so in love with. But when her pup died- her dog she'd had since she was in college? She couldn't even talk about it, she was so devastated. So I don't necessarily think your feelings have to change.

Another coworker lost his dog to lymphoma about six months before we lost B. He was so, so sad. He told me "I feel weird being so upset... I mean, it could be worse. At least it's not one of my kids!" I told him that I don't think you can compare it. I think how we feel about our dogs are on a totally different plane than how we can feel about another human being- a parent, or a spouse, or even a child. It's not more or better... it's just, and always will be, different.

So, when I finally do have babies, I hope to be totally and utterly in love with them as well. But I also hope that my dogs are still my special sweeties and that I'll still wish that I could take them everywhere I go and that III would let them crawl into bed with me every night.

*I would like to add a disclaimer here that I was not his English teacher... (No offense to her...)
**Yeah, thanks. I'm trying.

6 comments:

Amy said...

You are normal, in my book. I totally kiss my dog on the mouth (Just did, in fact), and have been known to sing him a lullaby at night. I even made up his own song - he likes it.

Jana said...

congrats on your pregnancy.
sorry to hear about your dog B :(
sometimes I wish my hubby and I were dog people. I would buy a little hot dog and put sweaters on him.

happy iclw

Mama K said...

My boxer is totally 100% my baby! The love I have for him is overflowing. He's definitely my buddy. He follows me everywhere I go. When I take a bath at night, he knows immediately afterwards it's bed time ... and there he is with one paw on the bottom step waiting for me. He is such a good snuggler! The love I have for him, it's a different kind of love, one I can't really explain. But I can totally relate to you on this. He is the love of my life, aside from my husband. I can't imagine life without him, which really scares me.

P.S. -- He hates it, but I give him kisses on his mouth ALL the time!!

"Jay" said...

I kiss my doggies on the mouth too!
I don't think you will love your dogs any less once you become a mom. They will always be special to you. They may not get as much attention once the baby comes, but you will love them just as much. Heck, they have seen you through the bad times and the good times.
That alone makes dogs special.

Amaprincess said...

After growing up in a house with three dogs...my husband and I decided for now we want no pets! I am sure once we have a child that will change! I'm a big PUG LOVER!!! I hope to get one of those!

Anonymous said...

I'm a fellow ICLW'er and also a big boxer lover! I just love my Shumi to bits. There will never be a better breed of dog for me.

Congratulations on your pregnancy, and I wish you a healthy pregnancy and a beautiful, healthy baby in 34 weeks time!