I hope it’s been a great start to the week for y’all and that you’re enjoying the arrival of spring. My weekend close to home was exactly what I needed to feel set to take on this week. All day on Monday I felt this undercurrent of happiness and gratitude.

This is a day-in-the-life style of post that has extra dog love (and craziness) in it along with lots of sweet Finn!

SUNDAY

Finn and I ended up staying in our PJs until 1p on Sunday and then we got dressed to go outside. He opted to start in the backyard with the dogs so while he ran around and played I decided to tackle giving Zoey a very thorough Furminator and brushing session. I think I got enough hair off of her to make a coat for another golden retriever and she was still this fluffy! I think she’s shedding a little extra right now with the season change. She sure is pretty, huh?

The Furminator is a bit of an investment but 100% worth it. I’ve had mine for 8-10 years now and it’s good as new. Although now I linked to this one I think I need to upgrade because this Furminator has a release button for the hair you collect. It’s a really great grooming tool for dogs like golden retrievers who have an undercoat. It’s also helpful in preventing matting. The Furminator is my “every now and then” brush. My day-to-day choice for Zoey is a slicker brush. Soooo great for catching loose hair and all the leaves/sticks/pine straw/etc that stick like velcro to her fur.

Benji got a good brushing too. I’m a year into goldendoodle motherhood and I’m still trying to get a good grasp on the best brushes to use on Benji. His hair is MUCH more poodle-esque than golden with tight curls. I love the length he is now and would like to keep him around here.

Related! It’s time for these two to get a professional grooming. I’m considering a mobile grooming service because I think it would be easier on Benji. If you’re in the Charlotte area, I’d love to hear recommendations if you have them!

After a couple of hours in the backyard Finn asked for a snack and to walk over to the park. We started hanging out just the two of us. I ran all over the park with Finn “watching” and doing all the things he wanted me to do before we ended up on this swing. Finn isn’t really one for swings but we got on one of the big rounds one together. I laid back and was surprised when we laid back on me…and then stayed like this for over 10 minutes. He was so still and so quiet. In that moment it felt like time stood still and it’s one of my favorite memories of two years old. He wanted to keep swinging with me but I got too dizzy. I cannot hang with the swings as an adult!

A family that we’ve met at the park a few times before showed up about this time and Finn was over the moon happy to run around after their seven year old son. Finn seems to really like older children and everyone was cracking up at how overjoyed Finn was to be playing with him. He was literally running around and laughing out loud. I also got to meet and chat with another family that I didn’t know. We both had a great time and got a little social activity in!

Finn seems very into the Easter Bunny this year and was just telling me yesterday about how the Easter Bunny was going to hide eggs with candy in the yard so I think Easter will be fun. I need to get on putting a basket together for him! If you’re looking for ideas for your own Easter baskets, I will suggest this color and shape matching egg set. My mom got it for him last Easter and he plays with it more now than he did then.

MONDAY

I can’t wait to fill you in on Monday. It was an awesome day with a doozy of an ending.

My day started with a visit to my friends at Greenapple Sports and Wellness to get my back and hip worked on. It had been a month since my last visit and I was not feeling good. If I go every 1-2 weeks I am almost pain-free but if I push it too long things start to fall apart due to my hip impingement and labral tear.

Afterwards I taught a hot yoga class at Charlotte Yoga and then went for a four-mile run. It was my first workout after four full days off because I was feeling run down and my back was bothering me. Gosh, if felt so good to move and it was perfect weather to run.

Later on Monday afternoon Finn had his weekly swim lesson. We haven’t been in over three weeks because of a break between sessions and travel so it was good to be back. This is a favorite activity for us and he loves going. I was so proud of Finn for wearing his goggles for about 15 minutes straight in this lesson. I think we set a record!

Mom hack: since we always have our lesson towards the end of the day on Mondays, I put him in his PJs after he rinses off in the shower. Here’s a link to his PJs. The are our current favorite!

We have established quite the routine of going to the car wash after swim. Finn is obsessed with car washes and we found a big one near swim that has different colors like green, red and blue as you drive through and self-serve vacuums for just $6! Fun times with a toddler, haha.

And this is where Monday takes an interesting turn. I got Finn down for bed around 8 and came downstairs to eat dinner and relax. Well, there was no relaxing to be had. I opened the back door to let the dogs in from their post-dinner potty break and no one came. I ventured out to see where they were and found Zoey by the fence in a giant hole and Benji with his body halfway under it.

I got them both in the house and they were COVERED in clay, mud, dirt, sticks and leaves. I sequestered them into the guest bathroom and washed both of them. There was mud EVERYWHERE.

Like we are talking covering the vanity, all over the tile, up the walls, on the toilet and look at the state of the bathtub after I was done with them. It took me over an hour to get them clean and over an hour to get the house and bathroom clean.

I was so perplexed because my dogs are generally not diggers, especially of the escaping kind. I was in the backyard at 7:30a this morning with a shovel trying to repair the hole and it was our nanny that discovered that on the front side of the fence there was a dead creature. You guys, it was a bunny. I think these two had a great adventure chasing that bunny through our backyard at dusk and that the bunny tried to escape under the fence and they went after it. I’ll never know exactly what went down out there. Poor bunny. I did not enjoy disposing of it.

I am slightly less perturbed at these two knowing they were following their animal instincts and probably having a great time doing so. Hoping we don’t repeat that one any time soon!

I like sharing this kind of everyday life stuff from time-to-time because I think it’s relatable and creates connections. I asked for stories about crazy things that people’s dogs had done on Instagram last night and the responses made me laugh, cringe and want to cry but were great reminders that like all things in life, pet ownership has its highs and lows.

I hope you have the best week and that it’s free from any pet or toddler disasters! Sending you guys lots of love!

QUESTIONS 

I’d love to hear about your pets! Do you have dogs, cats, hamsters, fish, reptiles…? What’s your favorite part about being a pet owner? What’s the hardest part? 

What are you planning to put in Easter Baskets for little kids? Would welcome some inspiration.