Good News Mama!

I've got a confession: Homemaking is unnatural to me! It is REALLY hard for me to staying at home! I mean, I am really happy to be spending time with my baby at home. Playing with her, holding her, feeding her, doing her therapy exercises... I can do all that. But the truth of the matter is I'm not used to taking care of the home. The kitchen. The bathrooms. The bedrooms. The empty walls! I am so used to going to school and getting good grades. I was bred to do that. I was taught at young age that getting good grades led to making lots of money and that was the definition of the "good life." There was very little emphasis on taking care of the home. How was I supposed to know about the importance of cooking wholesome, nutritious and thoughtful meals? Cleaning until there's not a spec of dust in the house? Artfully decorating a home and accepting visitors, making them feel welcomed? If someone could grade me on those things, I would definitely get a bad grade...

So it's been a little less than 2 months since Dipper's passing. I think of him often. I still get really excited when I see other people walking around their shibas. If I really immerse myself into memories of Dipper, it REALLY hurts. It's like a void that can't be filled again because I know I won't see him anytime soon. Or anytime in this lifetime, anyway. As a way to help me grieve, and with some advice from other dog owners who have dealt with loss, we adopted a 1.5 year-old doggy. While this new dog will never replace Dipper, he is really helping me through my grieving process. It's also a good distraction! He's a Newfoundland (the only dog who's a popular Newfie is Na-Na from Peter Pan!) We found him online and the family who lived with him said they couldn't keep him anymore. We didn't want to introduce a newborn puppy into our house (That is too much work! I already have a baby I take care of all day!) so we thought that right under 2 ...

This past year has been exciting because we just went to 3 weddings, back to back! It's hard not to reminisce on the days leading up to our own wedding day. As we approached March 3, we would often hear marriage advice...mostly focusing on the negative aspects of being married. There were statements made such as, "After the newlywed season, it will get harder. Trust me." or "Don't forget, you're going to married to a sinner!"  Kevin and I were warned so often that we really thought marriage would be a tough thing to deal with. I thought there would be a lot of fights, screaming at each other and tears streaming down our faces. I thought there would be days where we would question if getting married was right in the first place. I thought that I would look with longing back at the days before I got married...and 3.5 years later, we look at each other baffled and both agree... Marriage really isn't THAT hard. When we tell other couples that, they u...