Hour 15 Of Parenthood

Wow.  Baptism by fire.

I brought Juneau home around 8:30pm last night.  My friend, Sarah "hot thing" Bell, and I took Juneau for his inaugural walk.  It was a good 30 min walk (which included some wind sprints with his Mommy to help wear him out), which seemed quite reasonable at night's end.

He did great.  Sweet baby, as expected.

After his walk he roamed my place a bit to get familiar with his new surroundings.  Poor thing has been moved around so much he must not know what the heck is going on.   I gave him lots of reassuring love and attention.

Juneau plopped on the floor and seemed done for the night.  Awesome.  I popped an Ambien and went to bed.

3:48am:  *HOWL*  If you've never heard a Husky howl, it is the cutest, most primal thing.... except at 4am.   LISTEN!

3:49am:  I jump out of bed with the urgency of a new mother and go to console my baby.

Carole:  "SSSssshhhhh!  What's up, Juneau?  You can't sleep, honey?  Here, I'll be with you."  I grabbed a pillow and blanket and plopped down on the kitchen floor with him.  (Huskies typically prefer floors to beds because the floor is cooling for their thick fur coats.)   Still, he howls and heavily pants.

I roll my eyes.  It's effing 4am!   But, ok, he must need to go out and it's good he is letting me know.  Housebroken is a good thing.

I leash him up, throw on a jacket (yes JZ, Lara and Billy - with the ducks!) and take him out in pitch darkness.   He pee's (a lot - Good Lord he is like his mommy) and after 20 min or so, we come back in.

I'm ready for sleep.  It's only 4:30am.  But I don't want to be too far from Juneau so I plop on the couch and try to close my eyes.  30 seconds later, another HOWL.

4:27am:  "Dude, WHAT??  You just went out!!   Sssshhhh.  Let Momma get some sleep."

More howling.

4:31am:  "Shit.  Dammit, Juneau.  Ok, I'll take you out again."

Juneau and Carole go for another walk.  Maybe 15 minutes or so?  I am sleepy.  Juneau is ready for a dog sled race.

4:55am:  We're back inside.  I plop on the couch again and in a gentle, soothing voice, I try to coax him down to the floor.

4:58am:  Heavy panting at my face.  A soft howl.

Carole:  Ugggg!   Juneau!!   Lie down!!!

4:59am:  *HOWL*

Carole ignores.

5:00am: *HOWL*

5:01am: *HOWL*

Carole:  "Dammit, Juneau.  WTF!!!"

We go for walk #3.  I am texting my friend Leigh during all of this.  She is laughing and encouraging me to give the dog a Xanax.  (She was joking)

5:30am: We are back at house.  Juneau laps up what seemed like 4 gallons of water and plops onto the floor.   PRAISE GOD! 

5:33am:  *HOWL*

Carole:  "Mother F*cker!"

I get down on the floor with him.  Gently I try to sooth him to a state of calm.  Not happening.

Carole:  "Really, Juneau?  I know there is an adjustment phase but we're not getting into this habit of 10 walks before 7am. Go to sleep!"

Juneau: *HOWL*

Carole:  "Uggggg."

5:49am: Walk #4.  My sweet disposition has turned sour.  I am cussing Juneau out the whole time and telling him I can't wait for snow season because he is sooooo going to be pulling my fat ass in a sled as my revenge!

6:17am:  We're back again.  I am exhausted.  I need to sleep for a couple more hours.  Please Juneau!

6:19am:  *HOWL*

6:20am: *HOWL*

I almost cry as I get up to take this 'effing husky out for another walk!   I can't get it to shut up and I won't let this dog howl through the night and wake up my neighbors, etc.

6:26am:  I don't think I said much of anything during this walk.  I just sort of shuffled like mile 23 of Ironman.  Juneau strutted.  No sign of wearing out.  Super.

7:01am:  We are back and I'm going to my own bed.  I pet and kiss Juneau and say firmly, "Go to sleep, Juneau!" and then hid in my bed with a sleep mask and ear plugs.    I faintly heard howling again but I just couldn't deal.  I ignored him (and expected to get death threat notes from my neighbors later).

8:29am:  I wake up.  Juneau is asleep.

Carole:  "Ha!  Oh no, it's not sleep time.  No way, kiddo.  Time to ROCK!"

Juneau sleepily lifts his head and drops it back down.

Carole:  "Oh you want to sleep, do you?  Nope.  We're going for a run.  Get up!"

He sleepily gets up, laps some water and we head out.  As if I am trying to make up for races lost, I haul ass.  Juneau is huffing but he is staying close.  Huskies are running dogs, they need to be worked, so I was on it.  I paid attention to his body language so I didn't kill the poor guy (I need to learn what his current threshold is for distance) but we cruised at a good clip for about 15-20 minutes.

We took a detour so Juneau could meet his Auntie JoJo and Juneau's new best friend, Diesel.  Diesel and Juneau went for a light jog with me and I swear I couldn't stop laughing at the irony.  Talk about pet imitating owner.  Diesel was taking the lead, looking strong, not fatigued at all.....Juneau was behind us both, running, but clearly outmatched.  Diesel would look back and I swore he was saying, "Seriously Juneau?  I can't run any slower than this?"   All I could think of was runs/rides I've had with JZ where I am getting my ass completely kicked and she is barely out of breath.  Perfect.

After the run with Diesel and getting some love from Auntie JoJo, we walked home.  Finally, Juneau was pooped.   VICTORY!!!!!!

Within 5 minutes, he was passed out...

Motherhood ROCKS!!!! :)