This.Is.Exhausting.

In two days we'll have been the proud new family blessed to love and raise our puppy Jax for exactly one month. ONE MONTH. Can that even be possible? In the past two days I have found myself utterly exhausted by the demands of being a fur Mommy, and the calendar says I'm all of ONE MONTH in. That can't be right.

So, because I've never done this puppy parenting thing, I liken Jax's "exhausting" behavior to toddlers having good days and bad days. I figure, maybe we're just having a couple of off days when he just.won't.listen. Or maybe he's tired? You know, toddlers behave terribly when they are tired - or have those tiring growth spurt days - heck, I behave terribly when I'm tired.

Well today has been exhausting with my little fur baby, Jax, and when I was just spent I put him in his crate and I took to my bed and an US Weekly Magazine. While I flipped through the pages chronicling celebrity divorces, babies, marriages, and fashion hits and misses, I thought, "Maybe I just have to keep him busy and he'll be better." So I hopped off my bed and grabbed my gym shoes and Jax's leash. A walk would do us both some good.

When I went to get Jax he got really excited to see the leash. I was hopeful we would get further this time than we did the last - he's doing really well over time in fact! - and we were off. We went a good four blocks without Jax stopping at every little sound and he even peed at the park - not on my carpet. "Yes, this is what we needed!" Then we got home.

Jax proceeded to eat random things off the carpet then run from me because he KNEW he wasn't supposed to be eating a cut-out picture from a magazine. He dug at the deck to pull tiny rocks out and eat them. Again, he didn't want to give up the rocks so I had to dig them out of his mouth. This.Is.Exhausting. So I left Jax with the rest of the family so I could get dinner started.  Jax started running around the house at a mile a minute then my son discovered a pile of poop. Inside the house. On my carpet. I took a deep breath and finished seasoning the meat. Someone else would be handling that crap. Now, Jax is in his crate, probably asleep on his back with his floppy ears splayed out. I on the other hand, could go for a nap but the day does not end just because Jax has exhausted me. No, no. All I can do is pray we have a good night and a better day tomorrow because this fur Mama is tired.