Wally "Concrete" Cronkite

Walter Cronkite, the black and white Boston terrier puppy came into our lives suddenly the 1st weekend of October 2010 and things have been more chaotic everyday.  So why in the hell did a lady with 2 young kids and a husband who's gone all the time get a puppy? Well it's complicated, sort of, a dear friend Wade Pittsford died in a tragic car accident November 2003; he was survived by Buddy his Boston Terrier adopted by his parents', Judy and Terry.  They decided that Buddy needed a wife and they need a puppy as they realized when Buddy was ready to "go home" they too would need to follow, so Buddy got a wife and a wedding and had their 1st litter last May, at the time we had 2 dogs and were unable to take on a puppy.  August 5, 2010, 6 little puppies were born and the lucky parents' were Zoe and Buddy again, I was notified by Wade's sister and my friend Traci that there was one pup left and they wanted me to have him if we were willing.  Well we had a painful summer as my 1st son, Nomadicus "Nomad" Maximus Gautier died this past memorial day at the age of 13, it was a complete shock as he passed in his sleep in fact Jaxon my oldest 4.75 yrs is the one who discovered him.  I did not think twice about the pup, I called Rich and all I said was Wade, and puppy, "get it" he exclaimed.  The rest is history- oh that name well we're huge Longhorn fans but did not want the typical names like Bevo, Major, Earl, Ricky etc...so I thought well Walter Cronkite went to UT at Austin and he's an icon, plus Wally is a cute name and there ya have it Walter "Wally" Cronkite was born.  Now Walter Concrete came from our very funny son, Jax as he was raising his voice one day trying to get Wally out from his bed he said in a stern voice "Wally Concrete" listen to me...lol, I love it and I think it's catchy it also made me realize--wow my kids do listen to me!!

This dog is beautiful with a ton of energy, and overall he has done wonderfully as I have been able to kennel train him and he is doing well with potty training.  He has going outside to "pee" with zero issue but he still enjoys to "poo" under the breakfast table!! UGH, it would be so much easier to deal with Wally if I didn't have 2 adorable little antagonizers or if Rich was home.  However it's impossible for anything to change right now so we're just moving, rather I am moving forward ;)

I mentioned sweet Nomad passing but I forgot to mention that our 2nd doggie, Mazzalito "Mazzy" passed away on October 25, 2010 she was 1 1/2 mths shy of her 14th birthday, but poor thing likely suffered a stroke per the vet.  Mazzy was showing signs of senility she was already suffering from being deaf in both ears so now here we were watching her stand up and just stand there not remembering where she wanted to go.  It was painful and the decision to end her life was horrible, luckily I was not alone Rich was home for a whopping 24 hrs and he stood next to my side one hand in mine and the other petting his sweet Mazzy. 

Wally has definitely helped the hole in my heart yet a day doesn't pass when I don' think of Nomad and Mazzy.  They were precious animals but more than that they were the biggest part of our family.

Adjusting to Wally aka Crazy Butt but we do love him dearly even though he loves the kids toys and marking on objects is beginning to be fun times but he's super cute when he's throwing his little bed around and it's fun watching him sleep, it's also extra quiet ;)

Yes there are days I think I am a complete nut bag for telling Wade's parents' yes but for often then not I know Wade is looking down on me from heaven cracking up at how frazzled I am.  I also know that with Wally next to me that I myself, Jax, Holden and Richie are all going to be loved and protected more then ever, after all Wades' calling the shots.

Raspberry Mocha

So this morning Rich woke us up and said that we were having breakfast out at IHOP before he had to return to the rig ;) wee haw the boys were excited, so was mama.  So we're at IHOP, eating and listening to the buzz of the crowd, when I look over and notice a little girl and her dad enjoy a breakfast out.  I immediately think how sweet to see the 2 sharing some time together and then I over hear the little girl, who honestly cannot be more than 10 yrs old order her drink, you got it..."Raspberry Mocha" I am 1st like what?? IHOP has flavored coffee's and then I am like "what in the hell, did she, I think she did, she's 10, why is she ordering a coffee drink and why is her dad, OKAY with this???  Then it gets better she grabs her cell phone and is shocked to see she only has 2 bars of WIFI available--I mean seriously IHOP, only 2 bars??

Call me crazy but shouldn't this little girl be reading a book, a magazine, store ads, something...chatting about the mall, polly pockets, I don't know maybe a tween heart throb or a Disney show.  I totally get why the girl wants to be older, I always wanted to be a teen when I was a little girl but why is her dad okay with her growing up so fast?? There is plenty of time for raspberry coffee and wifi...why do parents' nowadays allow so much more then they use too, I truly don't get it and I am going to go ahead and apologize for me getting up on my soapbox.

Seriously, so many things that occur now have a lot to do with what we allow as parents', why can't we spank, why can't we tell our kids no, why can't we tell them to wait until they are older?? If we did more actual parenting and guiding versus being their friends then maybe we would have kids who enjoyed playing outside, kids with manners, kids who enjoyed being kids.

Have my boys tasted coffee, yes, will they get to have their own cup at 9, Hell No, they can do what I did, order hot chocolate and pretend it's coffee, which as I think back to my childhood it was always fun to play pretend and I am blessed that I had such a great imagination, that could be why it's so much fun for me to play with Holden and Jaxon now and it's always easy to come with ideas when they are in the "imagination mood" 

I am sure people think I am getting a little wack a doo about flavored coffee and the Internet but be honest that's how it starts, you break the one rule you never thought you would break and it makes it easier to continue to break your rules, why?? because we always have reasons for why we changed our mind, "I always work late"  "they get good grades" "we just divorced, it's hard on them" "just this once" believe me there are things I have allowed that I never thought I would allow but then I witness something that I am sure this dad believes is innocent and it reminds me to make sure I tell Jax and Holden "no" and mean it!!!

Until tomorrow....

Crappy, Sweet, and Exhausting Friday

This morning started out horrible it was 8:20 am and Rich was busy getting the boys ready for day care as well as his 3 hr drive to Conroe, TX to visit with his bosses.  This oil field business is tough, I knew I was signing up for him to be on call and out of the city/state for 14-21 days which has really turned out be more like 23-35 days.  He was then supposed to be home for 7-10 days but the longest he's been home has been 14 days and that was vacation time prior to that he's maybe had 5 days at home.  Well Rich and I have it our limit as he came home on 10/24 at 11 am literally 3 hrs prior to Holden's 3rd bday party, Monday morning at 10 am he was called to go back out.  I would love to say I was the sweet, understanding wife, but I was not, I was NO, NO, NO, Fuck NO, YOU ARE NOT LEAVING!  I knew he was leaving, Rich was mad, I was mad, both tired we had so much to discuss and zero time but the good news they said he could come home for Halloween which made us all happy.
Fast Fwd through his week from hell where he did not get to come home for Halloween as well as the fact that he almost walked off the job, but that's not my loyal, hard working husband.  Due to Halloween not happening he had been promised 10 days beginning the evening of November 1st.  During this time off he had several things to discuss with the bosses, well they never responded to his email so now that going back to work was upon us he had texted the bosses who then stated he could make the 3 hr trek to Conroe and speak with them today of course this was after he inquired about answers to his email.  So his trip this morning had me bugged as they could not confirm nor deny if he was needed for a job, the thing about this business he's always on call and you receive very little notice so I knew he would have to take all of his gear with him in case he had to go directly from Conroe to a rig.  I am sure you are all thinking why so pissed, well now that the holidays are upon us it's a super busy time for the oil field as jobs need to get completed prior to the new year when leases are up on oil rigs.  So reality is we may not see him unless we make the trek to where he may land prior to 2011.  I was also pissed as we again had blown 9 days off, he had put the xmas lights out but 16 were blown out, 2 light bulbs still needed to be changed, the xmas stuff was still in the attic, he had not told the boys he may be leaving for work again, our 15th anniversary is Thursday, we had yet talked about my job, or the hiring of a nanny, the boys have teacher/parent conferences at the pre school, we still needed to have one more date, and the most important thing I was not ready to turn back to a single mom.  As usual I was my supportive self which means he left the house with us both being unhappy.

Fast Forward to the afternoon when a dear friend came by for a surprise visit and she allowed me to vent, it felt wonderful to whine.  I also asked her for advice, as I wish I knew how to always be supportive and not pissed off that his company has zero respect for him.  I do know what I signed up for but we were promised time off not to mention the fact that there is zero advanced notice, I mean he's been called at dinner time and asked to be in another state within 2 hrs which is impossible if you live in Central TX.  Rich is paid very well and he loves what he does but the pressure his job has placed on the family has been something I never quite imagined.  I really wanted this for Rich as he has always supported my career but I will tell you it's tough when you are unable to speak and make mutual decisions like we have done our whole marriage.  The visit with my girl friend was great and she held me tight and told me she loved me which helped a lot.  Rich called too and he sounded great, he does go back to work this wknd but he was able to come home tonight.  The company is also making a lot of changes and they do understand all of Rich's frustrations, which made him feel great.  I was feeling good about him coming home as I hated the way we left things.

I really wish I could learn to be more supportive, what I mean is to really embrace the fact that this job for a few years will put our family ahead of the game, it really will make it to where one of us can retire or part time, but basically we will be in place to where we can live the same life but with options.  I just want to be more than talk and that is all I currently am is talk, I do mean well but I get so overwhelmed and exhausted not to mention when he comes home the transition is so rough.

If any of you have ideas on how I can start to handle his job better I would love to hear your advice...

Y'all will learn I usually go around the barn to get to the house ;)

Hoping someone will listen

So here I am finally sitting down and beginning my first post on my new blog, and all I can think of right now is "I hope someone reads my ramblings" I had a friend ask why I was doing a blog? Well so many reasons, 1st my husband, Richie is gone 25 out of 30days and I am trying very hard to not bitch, moan and whine to the hubs all the time. Yes, he'll listen to me complain but when it's about me being overwhelmed with the boys etc. it begins to wear on him so I have decided to bore the internet with my crap.  I am also at a stage in my life where I am in self discovery mode, had a friendship of 20 yrs come to an end this summer so I have really been trying to work on myself and understand what happened and why I allowed myself to believe we were best friends (stick around for this saga to unfold)  I have been reading and listening to Dr. Phil therefore decided that I needed to journal which made me choose blogging.  I am ready to write all my thoughts and I am currently looking forward to comments, I am sure I will have days where someone hurts my feelings, you all will soon learn I am a sensitive sally.  I too welcome questions.  I am also using this blog to learn so if you all ever have any awesome parenting tips, lemme know, I am always open to hearing how other moms and dads juggle careers, relationships, kids, and staying true to yourself.

Until tomorrow.....