Erin Akin Carroll

Back when I opened up my blog for questions, the most commonly asked question was about Boudreaux, our Golden Retriever, and his relationship with Hudson.

photo by Kelly Moore Photography

Y’all wanted to know what we did to help them have such a great bond. The truth is, we didn’t do a whole lot of anything. Boudreaux is a Golden Retriever, so he’s naturally a very loving, very loyal, very obedient and very gentle dog.

He totally has his wild moments, but they’re never based on aggression. They’re just a result of his excitement.

photo by Kelly Moore Photography

TC and I got Boudreaux when we were dating. He was really my dog because he lived with me and I trained him. But he has always loved TC so much. They have such a special bond.

I had a hard time every imagining that we could love anyone the way we loved Boudreaux. And I refused to believe that our dogs could take a back seat. We were going to be super parents and our dogs were going to be in our lives like they always had been! (ha!)

photo by Kelly Moore Photography

When I had Hudson, my labor and delivery nurse was talking to me about how to introduce Hudson to the dogs. She and I had many, many hours of labor to discuss this and she gave us her tips. She suggested we save the blankets that first held Hudson and take them home for the dogs to smell. So we had a big plastic bag with blankets in it containing Hudson’s smell.

February 2010

Boudreaux always lets Hudson climb all over him. Hudson will line his toy animals up on Boudreaux’s back. He has tried to climb on Boudreaux while saying “horsey ride” a few times, but we quickly put a stop to that. And Boudreaux just tolerates it and shows so much patience. He sees how much we love Hudson, so he’s going to love him, too. Every night before bed, TC will lie down on the floor with Boudreaux and they’ll cuddle. That’s their male bonding time. But I do think it has been really important for Boudreaux to get that time with TC.

terrible iPhone photo!

Boudreaux has always been super sweet with Hudson and now also with Hayes. The worst he has ever done is lick him to death. And now, Hudson treats Boudreaux like a sibling. If Boudreaux tries to come sit near Hudson while he’s playing, Hudson will start screaming for Boudreaux to get away because he thinks Boudreaux is going to steal his toy. He tries to fight with him like a brother.

But he also will open the gate to his room and say, “Come ‘ere, Dreaux.” He wants to invite Boudreaux in to play. He’ll pet Boudreaux and talk about how soft he is. He follows him around to give him a hug and wants Boudreaux to be near him as often as possible.

It’s a very sweet relationship. I don’t see it when I look at him, but I notice in pictures that Boudreaux’s face is getting whiter. He’s almost seven years old. I don’t really know how that is possible. Fiona is also almost seven years old.

Fiona tolerates Hudson and only snaps at him when he terrorizes her. And he is such a boy. He totally gets a kick out of chasing Fiona around the house. We try to explain to him that he has to be sweet to her and that she is very small. But he has recently started to love on her the way he loves on Boudreaux.

Boudreaux has also been really sweet with Hayes. I’ll catch him licking Hayes’s foot sometimes and I try to get down on the floor to let Boudreaux and Fiona sniff Hayes if they want to. I want to protect my babies, but also let my dogs feel involved. And in this crazy house of sometimes chaos, my dogs are definitely the family members that have been forced to take a back seat. That makes me sad.

But I love these sweet boys of mine and my old boy, Boudreaux. I’m proud of the way he has embraced Hudson and Hayes and I love the bond that the three of them share. Hopefully, they’ll let little Fiona in on their fun every now and then.

When I was at the movies with friends the other day, I saw the trailer for the new Sarah Jessica Parker movie, “I Don’t Know How She Does It.”

It’s about a successful working mom who is trying to find the balance between her home life and her work life. And both of those lives are amazing.

Now, I’m not a working mother and I’ve never experienced motherhood while going to a job every day. I’m not going to pretend like I know the stresses of working mothers. But the whole theme of the movie really got to me and I can’t wait to see it. I’ve said it many times, but I am in constant awe of the mothers who have amazing careers and amazing home lives.

But even though I’m not a working mom, I’ve heard people ask me, “how do you do it all?”

I don’t feel like I do it all. I have volunteered as a nursery worker, I’m a Junior League member and enjoy having large responsibilities there, I’m a choir member, a blogger, a mom, a wife, a daughter, and friend. Sometimes I do feel stretched.

I have blogged many times about finding that balance. I’ve blogged about my fear of saying “no” and letting people down. I’ve blogged about my fear of losing my “talents” if I don’t use them. If I always say “no” will I miss being involved? But what if the involvement stresses me out and pulls me away from my family?

My goal every day when I’m at home is to treat our home environment as a fun, loving, learning environment. We don’t have a regimented schedule for Hudson every day, but he also doesn’t have the run of the house. I want him to learn while he’s here and get the benefits of a classroom setting until he goes back to preschool. I want him to learn to play alone and also have some play time and learning time with me. I want to establish independence, but also learn how to work with others and listen to others. I know that what he learns now is my responsibility.

(I feel sorry for Hudson when it comes time to learn any basic math skills besides counting. Hopefully he’ll pick up a lot of that at school! His mommy is seriously lacking in that area.)

I have a “goals” section of my home management notebook and it includes things that I want to accomplish daily like making beds, our laundry schedule, my quiet time, teaching Hudson and Hayes, going to the park or going for a walk, making dinner every night, cleaning a different room of the house every day. Then there’s the long-term goals section and it includes things like cleaning out the basement, organizing things for a garage sale, and cleaning out our closets. The lists just never seem to end and I know that the majority of these things are my responsibility because I choose to work in the home.

When I’m invited to lunch, people don’t always understand why I either (a.) can’t go or (b.) why I have to hire a babysitter if I want to go. Or why I can’t just run errands in the middle of the day for some volunteer work. News flash: shopping with a toddler and an infant is hard when you have help. It’s even harder when they’re both crammed into a buggy at the store and screaming. My work is at home. I honestly thought, and some may find this funny, that when I became a stay-at-home mom I would be able to get so much more done than I could before. I’ll let you all laugh now!

I love the beginning of the trailer for this movie where SJP’s character is going over her to-do list in her mind in the middle of the night. How many of us have been there? How many people are we trying to make happy every day while still trying to maintain happiness for ourselves?

Okay, this may be my favorite giveaway ever! Mostly because I truly believe in it and I’m so excited to help out 3 (yes 3!) moms who are looking for some help.

I’ve written about Moms on Call before, but in case you missed it, here is the post.

And here’s the link to their website which can tell you lots of information about the organization and what they stand for and what they do.

Today, I am giving away (with the assistance of the American Safety Council) the following from Moms on Call:

• 1 free Moms on Call 0-3 month online class
• 1 free Moms on Call 3-12 month online class
• 1 free Moms on Call Toddler online class

Each winner will have access to the online class for 6 months. This is a $30 value, but it is truly priceless!

In the comments section, just leave a comment stating which of the three you would like to watch. It’s important that you let me know which age range you need, so I can make sure that I give the winners the correct online class. There can only be three winners and each winner will have access to a different class.

I can tell y’all right now I need to watch the Toddler online class as soon as possible! The terrible twos have entered our home.

I am asking, though, that only those that are seriously interested in the program enter the giveaway. I am just so excited about it and hope this can help other moms like me!

Though he seems a little bit “off key” right now, Hudson really does love to sing. He gets a little shy at first, but when he hears a familiar (or unfamiliar) tune, he starts bobbing around and singing.

Some of our favorite music is all the Praise Baby music (CDs and DVDs) and an album called Sing Over Me that includes music from contemporary Christian artists singing praise songs and some classic Christian children’s songs.

Another singer/songwriter that we love is Elizabeth Mitchell. Her style is folksy and fun, but still really soothing when you’re sitting in the nursery rocking your baby and listening to her sweet voice on the iPod. She has a few albums and in one of her albums she collaborates with Lisa Loeb. Remember her?

image via here

Most of the music would be familiar to anyone, and my personal favorite is her arrangement of “You Are My Sunshine.” I used to sing it and just boo-hoo while rocking Hudson.

Hudson’s favorite is “Oh Susanna” or “Oh Sus-nanna” as he says. We filmed this last night to send to KK and Poppie.

(I was not compensated to endorse any of these artists. I just really love all of this kids music that is fun for adults, too, and wanted to share it with y’all!)