so we got our puppy last Monday. I love him sooo much already, but I'm telling you, it is HARD WORK! We are trying to crate train him, he is just too adventurous and troublesome to let him roam around the house while we sleep. I was expecting him to cry all night long the first night, but that wasn't the case. We (and by we I mostly mean I) have to take him out generally around 3am and then again at 6am. The 6am time is the hardest, all he wants to do is play and all I want to do is go back to sleep. So I put him in his crate and he screams and cries for like 10 minutes before I give up and get up with him. Needless to say, I'm not sleeping much. Luckily, Mark will be on vacation next week, almost exclusively for the puppy so I will at least have a few days where I don't have to get up, I hope. He is teething so I have to leave my shoes on the stairs (oh my god, he's so small he cant climb the stairs yet) and he's starting to enjoy biting our feet and any other extremities that come near his mouth. Just yesterday he was able to bite my nipple threw my shirt, those tiny puppy teeth hurt! But at the same time, he's a total love, with Mark working he's become a total mamas boy, snugglin and sleeping with me on the couch and giving me stinky puppy kisses, ahhh he's so cute. I guess the most difficult thing has been the potty training. You have to take him out after he sleeps, after he plays, after he eats, pretty much after he does anything because of his small bladder. he's still having quite a few accidents in the house but for the most part, every time we take him outside he at least does something. Although, he does like to hold in his poops, which is so annoying. One day I had fed him breakfast and lunch and I followed him around for like 7 hours because he would not shit! It was only after Mark came home from work and took him outside that he did.

Aside from that, I've been a bit stressed, with my back still bothering me and Mark working extra hours to cover me being out of work, so I'm a full time puppysitter. I had a really good session with my new chiropractor on Friday, and it's sunday and I've had only a bit of discomfort all weekend. it wasn't until about 10:30 last night that I had to take my anti-inflammatory which is very good. And even though I have to get up early every morning, I am finally starting to sleep. I have a little over a week left of my disability and I am truly not looking forward to walking back into that pharmacy. My pharmacist was such an ass he got one of our best techs to finally throw her jacket down and say, "I quit." Nancy was my rock, the person I could turn to during any stressful time, the person who stood up for me, with that gone, I really cant see myself working that job much longer. I don't know how they are even getting by, at this moment, with Nancy quitting and me on disability we only have like  2 fulltime techs, that is ridiculous. I'm just so worried that after a few days back all the stress will build up and my back will hurt once again. I just need to get out of there, I need something stable, something that doesn't have me ripping my hair out and cursing the human race everytime I leave. This two weeks off has really given me some insight on everything I've been missing in life, how rarely I actually take the time to enjoy and laugh and love. I was incredibly stressed out over my quack chiropractor and the pain I was in and getting paid while being out of work and I found my self thinking about infinity, will all these problems bother me in a month from now, or a year, or when i'm 55? No, these are short term issues, things that will one day be in the distant past with no anxiety attached...and somehow that really helped me to start letting go of that anxiety, and let me sleep at night and concentrate on healing. It's something I've never been able to do, I always let this anxieties and issues and evil things people say and do fester in my mind, I can never truly let them go, even after someone apologizes of the issue is resolved. I'm hoping I figured something out that will benefit me once this leave is over.