Dog Fights, Family Friends that Won't Leave and Weight Issues

As I type this, I am listening to the angry sounds of two dogs playing.

Aly waits patiently to pounce on Lily when she least expects it...though she usually can't wait that long!

See her ribs? Apparently, she is NORMAL AND FINE. I mean, she could be a little bulkier, but the vet said she's the picture of health and to keep doing exactly what I'm doing. Boxers are, evidently, very different dogs in that they are much leaner than other breeds and you are SUPPOSED to see the ribs on most of the healthy ones! It's just so odd to me that she is already proportioned so much like a full-grown boxer, only much smaller!

No baby fat here!


Live action shot. Just like watching The Discovery Channel, isn't it?
*giggle*

Eventually, they both get tired and the playing tends to be much lazier. The noises simmer down a bit and turn into more low grumbles, but they still keep their angry, evil-looking faces! In fact, they just lie there next to one another kicking, slapping, and chewing on each other's faces, for the most part!

What's most amusing to me is that, if anyone is sitting in the floor, the instantly become 'home base' and much of the scuffle takes place on the lap of the person dumb enough to sit in the floor. (Okay, it's usually me!) At any given time, I can put my hand into the angry jaws of either animal and not even get a scratch. They are really just playing, though it sounds like they are ready to kill one another! The only thing that really sucks is if you sit in the floor wearing shorts your legs WILL get scratched by their nails as they run over the top of you. And they WILL run over the top of you.

We took Aly to see her new vet yesterday. She got her second shot, one last dose of worming medication (for now) and an exam. She already weighs ten pounds, but I am convinced that she is 75% legs and paws. Like I said, she is not too thin. At least, not in their eyes! They advised me to keep her off the ground in public until she's four months old, basically another five weeks. We can take her places, we just can't put her down on the ground. A part of me really wants to get the old pack-n-play out put her in when we go to softball games. But, I probably won't since David would tease me to no end! I guess I can hold out another five weeks. I do need to start putting her on a leash and walking her around the yard. She doesn't quite understand the leash and resists quite a bit. She's only going to get BIGGER and the sooner we master the leash the better.

She actually did fine in the car, though. She hadn't been in the car since the night we brought her home. She wandered around the back seat for a little while, fell into the floorboard once when I had to hit the brakes, and decided to curl up in the back seat and doze the rest of the way. 3YO was with us and gave me CONSTANT UPDATES on the situation. But, she didn't notice when the dog THREW UP IN MY BACK SEAT. We were ALMOST THERE, too! With all the curvy roads and turns we had to make, she throws up AROUND THE CORNER from the vet. Of course! That's the first time she ever threw up for us. I took a different route home (with less turns and curves) and she was fine for the rest of the day.

On another note, we have a houseguest. Though, I'm not really sure I can call him a guest. He's pretty much always lived her in some room or another and he seems to live in a lot of other people's houses as well.

Have you met 'Chuck?'

I've known 'Chuck' practically all my life, though I did not know his name. I was formally introduced to Chuck by my next door neighbor. She has a spare room in her house that turned into the place that they 'chuck' things when they wanted to tidy up the house in a pinch. They now just call it 'Chuck's Room.' I then realized that Chuck lives here, too. He lives in my closet amongst the clothes that I want to donate and could so quickly bag up...but haven't. He lives in my file cabinets next to my computer desk. Do they contain actual files? Heavens no!!! They are where I 'chuck' the stuff that ends up on my desk for various reasons. What should contain files and folders actually holds a variety of junk that was usually deposited on my desk by myself and the rest of the family. Chuck looooooves my computer desk! He has so many nooks and crannies to reside in.

Frankly, I'm not sure Chuck will ever really leave. Does Chuck live at your house, too? Even if you just have a junk drawer or a closet that you need to clean out, then Chuck lives with your family as well.

Chuck has a lot of places to stay in our house!

Where does he live in yours?

I almost forgot to mention something that really got under my skin the other day. Did anyone else hear THIS STORY? Now, I'm all for positive role models for girls and everthing. I have three daughters myself and would hate to think that any of them would develop an eating disorder based on someone else's expectations. That being said, I have a thirteen-year-old daughter who is five feet tall and weighs 75 pounds, soaking wet. I can assure you that there is no secret purging or anything like that. In fact, 13YO has a very normal, varied diet. Her growth rate has been steady. She is just petite. Nevertheless, you can see her ribs and her shoulder blades stick out in a crazy way when she moves her arm just so.

I would really hate to think that someone might judge my daughter for being so thin when it's just the way she's supposed to be. Now, it may very well be that this woman from Australia has an eating disorder. It's not like it's out of the realm of possibilites or anything. Even so, who are we to judge her? Is criticizing someone for being 'too thin' really any better than criticizing someone for being 'too heavy?'

I must admit that I am guilty of both myself. Who hasn't been? First impressions are everything and we can't help but question the mom at the school who is just TOO THIN to be normal. Or the friend who complains about her weight but can put away ice cream sundaes like it's nobody's business. (Okay, so sometimes they could be talking about ME there.)

Even still, it's a real eye-opener when you look at it from the perspective of your own child. I don't want my girls to grow up in a world where they are forced to try to fit into someone else's idea of 'good enough.' I hope they always know that they will be good enough no matter how much (or little) they weigh. I've even started noticing some of my daughter's friends comparing themselves to her, pointing out how THIN she is only to turn it around and point out how FAT they are. (The ones who have done it aren't even fat, nowhere close!)

I wish I could sit down with all the teenage girls in the world and help them find SOMETHING that is good about them. The grass will ALWAYS be greener on the other side of the fence. But we might have prettier flowers in our own gardens that we are completely overlooking. The girls who are envious of my daughter's thin build need to keep in mind that they are almost GUARANTEED to have boobs WAY SOONER than she will. It's just a fact. I could spend hours upon hours typing out all the 'flat chest' jokes I heard during my own adolescence. I was teased for being too short and too thin. I guess everyone gets teased about something, even though most of us don't realize that at the time.

I guess I should get off my soap box now and straighten up this house. It's going to be another crazy night where I'm supposed to be two places at once. Dinner is in the crock pot. We're having Cream Cheese Chicken. Again. It's one of my absolute favorites! I actually just toss the frozen chicken breasts into the crock and set it on 'low'...then I use the Homemade Chicken Broth and make up my own 'cream-of-something soup base' that I snagged from THIS RECIPE....then I add all the spices as called for in the recipe to the soupy stuff and pour the whole mix over my chicken. AND IT'S DONE! I still have to add the cream cheese later, but that's no big deal. It already smells AMAZING in here! I'm starting to think that the Crock Pot Lady could have her own line of candles based on her recipes! Mmmm....cream cheese chicken candles. Okay, maybe not.

Have a great night!