Life With Charles

I am a lot of things in life: sales & marketing professional, proud Wisconsinite, girlfriend, daughter, sister, coffee snob - the list could go on and on. I'm all those things and so many more, though one that I by far find the most rewarding is being a mom. Now I know exactly what you're thinking, "This chick is one of those wack jobs that actually considers pets to be human children." COOL! We're on the same page. Moving on.

Guys, he's great. And he totally qualifies as a human child because he does all of the same things that babies do (or don't do). He doesn't talk, he doesn't take himself to the bathroom, and he smiles/drools when you rub his belly. Sure I didn't carry him around inside me for 9 months and birth him into this world, but I did carry him up and down the stairs to pee for a solid 2 months of his life and I can't even begin to count the number of times I came home from my 9-5 to find pee/poop/combination of both on my wooden floors. Usually the result of my loving boyfriend feeding him whipped cream as an afternoon snack (again, bless him), but I digress. Charlie was a handful just like I assume babies are to new moms & dads. I can still hear the sobs and screams that echoed from his crate the first few nights we had him. R actually had to sleep on the floor next to his crate to get him to stay quiet through the night since we weren't really in any rush to get kicked out of our apartment building.

Life with Charles has been anything but boring. Coming up on his 1st birthday next week, I've really spent time thinking about where we were a year ago and where we are now. A year ago Charles was just an idea I had cooking up inside my head - hoping to find a breeder close by to spring on R. Within the matter of days we had found a breeder, put down a deposit, and gotten the email that Charles had been born. Life moved in fast forward from then on. Late night trips to the pet store, staying up late deciding on a name, and puppy proofing...a lot of puppy proofing. Before we knew it, Charles was in my arms with purple rhino, ready for the drive back to Madison. From that moment on I knew that something had changed. It may seem crazy, and you may be right, but I felt like a mom. This little guy needed me. Looking up at me with those chocolate brown puppy eyes the whole way home I knew we had made the right decision. R and I grew closer as we spent late nights and early mornings with our new golden offspring. People thought we were crazy for buying a puppy so soon in our careers and in our life together, but looking back I wouldn't change it for the world. My only regret is that I didn't use those two months between Charlie being born and us bringing him home to park in the "expecting mother" parking spot at the grocery store. Sigh...next time.

Here's to you, Charles Reginald. May the next 1,000 years of your life be everything you hope they'll be and more (I'm using your birthday candle to wish for a way to make dog's live forever - sorry, maybe next year kid.)

10 things you don't realize until you buy a dog

1. poop comes in all shapes, sizes, & smells - sometimes all at once!

2. that alone time you enjoyed with your s/o? lol gone.

3. toys are expensive. like, "holy crap that's literally just plastic" kind of expensive.

4. and they'll ruin them. sometimes within seconds of returning home.

5. if you get a dog that sheds - nothing you own will ever really be clean. ever again.

6. remember all those people you saw kiss their dogs and how repulsed you were by it? welcome to the club. we have buttons.

7. the first time they break out of their crate/play pen/enclosed area you won't know whether you should be really pissed or really impressed. likely both. 8. a year or so in you'll find yourself sitting on the sofa on a Saturday night

looking at old puppy pictures and blubbering like an idiot about "how freaking cute was that puppy belly?" and "omg look at his/her butt wiggle!" or something like that. i haven't ever done it before.

9. life pre-dog (or as we say, bc - before Charles) seems like a distant, terrible memory

10. you really can love something unconditionally. even when they chew holes in your socks and steal the covers at night.

cold nose. warm paws. can't lose.

#dogs #puppies #birthday #moms #motherhood #firstbirthday #puppybirthday #goldenretriever