Runaway Chaos Continues!

If you couldn't tell from my LACK of postings, life has resumed to its lightening speed.  I do feel like I've got things under my belt again...until Junior decides to join us...then I'll be trying to figure everything out all over again!  As for an update on Jacey and Dublin.....

The bond between Jacey and Dublin continue to grow.  Just this morning, I had to go in and wake Jacey up to get her fed and ready for school.  Dublin usually comes out of her room in the early hours, otherwise he wakes her up with his wagging tail smacking into things or from jumping on and off her bed.  Dublin came in the room with me to wake her up and he immediately jumped up on her bed with tail wagging like mad.  He'd jump down just to get back up again.  Jacey giggled to have such an enthusiastic greeting from Dublin.  I'm sure he was just thinking, "Hurry up and get out of bed so you can feed me my breakfast!"  Either way, both were excited to see each other!

Tonight we somehow lost our minds by taking ALL FOUR KIDS to the mall.  We stopped by Little Caesar's for a gourmet dinner out.  We took the pizza and ate it in the mall's food court.  Jacey was thrilled to be out and about.  Judd just wanted to get into the mall (it was about 4 degrees out) so we went without the stroller and opted out of taking Jacey's harness and tether in with us.  Eating our specially prepared dinner went fairly well.  Bailey and Carsten got to sit at their own table with their own box of pizza.  I think they felt like they were living it up!  :o)  Jacey attempted to sit in my lap to eat her slice of pizza but just couldn't find the right comfy position to sit in.  She really wanted to be kneeling in my lap but considering the size of my Buddha belly, it was a little difficult for her to get into that position.  Kenna had her own chair and enjoyed eating only the crust.

Judd took what was left of the pizza back to the car while I attempted to contain two little girls that wanted to go in two different ways while also handling Dublin.  Go ahead and imagine that one!  Yep, it was interesting!  Add the HUGE belly and I'm sure your imagination can run wild with what it looked like!  :o)  Needless to say, Judd couldn't get back fast enough!  Jacey decided to run down the mall towards him.  While we stopped to decide how we wanted to go about practicing tracking, Jacey took off down towards the doors.  We figured we'd start with that.  Judd took her off to the side where there was a family restroom.  Judd held the door to it open while Jacey went and played with the child size sink.  I talked Dublin up and away he went.  Okay, so I am now nine months pregnant with the baby having dropped extremely low.  Dublin would have gone A LOT faster had I allowed him.  I was pretty good this time about leaning back against the leash to keep him from pulling me face forward into the ground.  Dublin paused by the entrance to the mall before taking off again towards the restroom.  He found his girl - NO PROBLEM!!! 

So we walked back to the main walkway of the mall and had Judd take Jacey down a different way and into a game store.  Poor Dublin had to drag the prego again.  It was amazing to see him want to pull so hard.  When we first started off, his front legs went off the ground when he got to the end of the leash.  Good thing the leash was attached to his harness and not his training collar!  He would curve into towards the store entrances along the way and then head back down the main walkway of the mall until we made it to the game store.  Yet again, he found his girl without a hitch.

We were close to the entrance of Sears so this time I carried Jacey to Sears and around to the right of the women's section and waited.  The reason I carried Jacey - there was no way I'd ever be able to catch up with her running, which she was enjoying greatly tonight!  Judd headed up the track with of course the three other children with him.  He carried Kenna.  Dublin again found us no problem and he was rewarded with yummy Pupperonies.

We did one more track with him as I walked off to the infants area with Jacey (yes, carrying her).  Again Dublin did awesome, but we decided to give him a break from sniffing for a little bit as Jacey torn down the aisles of Sears.  I carried Kenna with Bailey and Carsten following behind as Judd kept up with Jacey.  At this point in time, after completing four tracks (waddling/running half of them), trying to keep Jacey with us, and making sure that we didn't leave behind Bailey, Carsten or Kenna, I was POOPED!!!  Add the fact that as I mentioned before, it was only about 4 degrees outside so we were layered up with our coats on. 

We continued our fast paced walk through the mall trying to keep up with a running, giggly Jacey.  We made it to one end of the mall (it's really not that big) and went into Herberger's for one last track.  As Judd was beginning to tell me where he would go with Jacey, she took off running, so off he went to catch up with her and hide somewhere.  I picked up Kenna and told Bailey and Carsten to stay back with me as I talked Dublin up for this track.  Talk about distracting with three kids by my side...or should I say that two of them wanted to be up by Dubbie which doesn't work well with tracking at all!!!  I had to continually remind them to get back by me as I try to keep Dublin going.  He got to entrance doors to the store and went cold, so I had to back him up a bit where the aisle had "Y'ed" to get him back on track.  Of course, it was a lot easier to get him to back up than it was for two kids!  The track didn't go as great as I wanted it to.  Dublin did find his girl but it was a bit frustrating having kids in tow.  I told Judd that next time we'll be getting a babysitter to practice some tracks.

Overall, the kids did fairly well for the chaos that it was.  We left the mall with all four kiddos which was definitely a plus....I think?!  :o)  We rewarded them with an Orange Julius of their own (Kenna and Jacey got to have sips off of their brother and sister's drinks).  By the time we made it back to the car, Judd and I were exhausted!!!!  As I sit here, I can feel my body slowing down further and further!  Hopefully, I'll be able to go to sleep easily.  I'm guessing Judd isn't going to have a problem since I haven't seen him come out of Jacey's room yet!  I'm pretty sure the two girls and daddy are fast asleep.

I was greatly relieved after going to the mall tonight in knowing that Dublin still knows the game.  It has been too long since we've tracked with him.  It's been too cold outside and evenings have flown by.  He did a great job finding Jacey.  I hope that the last track was my inability to stay focused on him and what he was doing. 

Needless to say, tonight was a success.  Bonding continues to go well and I am practicing with Dublin on behavior disruption techniques while Jacey is at school.  I'm also pulling his tail and ears and fur a bit with lots of rewards to help him get used to Jacey's "love".  I think it is going to take some time before I am able to use all of the behavior disruption techniques on Jacey because she has been a bit aggressive and pushes him away when she has her meltdowns, etc.  I want to keep it positive and upbeat for Dublin so that he doesn't shy away from her.  For now, she loves "kisses"...on her terms of course.  She loves to put her hand in front of his mouth so that he will lick it.  She attempts to do the same to Sasha but with no results!  :o)  I continue to say "kisses, good kisses" as he licks her hands.  However, I must say it is a bit gross with what Jacey has decided to do afterwards - she'll lick her own hands.  Bleh!!!  I figure if it doesn't killer her it will only make her stronger...right?!  :o) 

Well, my pillow calls to me!  I hope you enjoyed the update.  Hopefully I'll have more to report soon and will find the time to do so.  I do have on my list of things to talk about is how we manage with Dublin's potty when traveling and that sort of thing.  This was a question that I have been asked that I thought I might as well do here on the blog...just not tonight! 

Until my next comical act of juggling Dublin, Jacey, and her three siblings....

Amy