A lot of you (absolutely no one) has asked for a glimpse into the highly coveted stay-at-home dog mom gig. As you can imagine, it is a gift and Millie adores me. Our days are highly structured. It is within routines we can truly squeeze every last ounce of joy and play time out of our day. When routines are followed, Millie thrives.
The day begins promptly between 6:45-8:00am. An alarm goes off every 15 minutes within the hour and fifteen minute wake-up zone. I typically sleep through every one of them and just wake up naturally at 8:00am, but sometimes I don’t. The eternal question: “when is mommy going to wake up today?” is a surprise that is vital to our morning routine. Afterwards, we go outside, Millie does her thing. Come back in, get food and water in Millie’s belly. At this point, she’s ready to go and it’s time for us to head out on our first walk.
We head over to the front door where I take the harness off of the coat rack hook. As soon as Millie catches sight of it, she whips around, runs as fast as she can and slides underneath the coach that she just barely fits under. We’re great at communicating and I take this to mean she’s excited. I fish her out, harness her up and we head out the door.
After about 5 minutes of ankle-biting and “hugs” (jumping on me excessively) in the front yard, we are officially ready to hit the pavement and go on our morning walk. We stop and look at farm animals and appreciate the cool morning air. Silly Millie, she thinks horses are “big dogs.” We’ve tried to tell her the truth but she won’t accept it.
Once we return home, it’s go time. Being a stay-at-home dog mom means every day is “Bring Your Dog to Work Day.” Millie and I are really hard workers. We’re highly focused individuals and don’t like to be interrupted much. There’s so much we have to get done during this time of Quarantine. Below, you’ll see the look Millie gives when anyone asks her to do anything. She tells me at least once a day: “Quit interrupting me, I don’t have time for tricks!” I’m extremely proud of her work ethic.
After we grind out all of our work for the day, we are both in dire need of a mental break. Millie’s favorite way to spend this time is birdwatching. She’s watchful. Calculated. The birds taunt her with their effortless swoops and dives in and out of her eyesight. She’s confident she’ll catch a bird one day. I’m doubtful, but what kind of mother would I be if I actually told her that. So I watch birds with her and encourage her dreams.
Jacob finishes his work day, which means we’ve made it to the evening. My and Millie’s day has come to a close, and we get to spend the rest of the evening cooking, going for an evening walk, spending time as a family, and catching up on Netflix. Millie begs us nightly if we can re-watch Tiger King. Every time, we have to explain that once is enough.
Like all good days, our days end with a good snooze so we wake up refreshed and replenished, ready to do it all over again.
Kelliemarie Mash 