I don’t really like to say we are a mom or dad to our dog Oli, but we do take care of him and parent him in lots of ways. I didn’t think I would ever be a “dog parent” but I’ve been finding myself glad that it happened.

And I don’t want to be one of those people that posts everything on their dog, haha, but I can’t deny the fact that he has brought me some joy this week that directly relates to my marriage, so I’m gonna write about it!

Oli truly is preparing us for parenthood in 2 different ways that have brought me joy this week.

1. I’ve been able to understand more about why parents do the things they do, haha. Let me explain. I now understand why people really love staying home playing with their kids because I kind of look forward to that with the three of us, even if I don’t do as much taking care of Oli, or interacting. I’ve found myself feeling content in this over the last week. I’ve been able to understand how having a child can help your relationship grow, because it’s nice to have something else to focus on, instead of focusing so much on your relationship in unnecessary ways. We’ve also had a moment this week where we disagreed on something that had to do with Oli, and so we got to see what we can do to improve how we tackle those “parenting” disagreements.
2. I think Oli has helped us feel less anxious about this baby journey we are on. Yesterday I got discouraged over it again (I feel like this happens every month!), and through Trevor’s encouragement, he sent me a funny and cute picture of Oli, reminding me that we have Oli right now to fill our hearts :) I don’t think Oli could ever fill that void fully because it’s different raising something you created yourself. But I’m grateful for the smiles and cuddles he brings us right now.

This is us taking him on his first trip to Maverik (yes the gas station where I get a fountain drink every day), haha. He is always so entertained by what’s happening around him when we go on car rides. It’s fun to watch him. Though he didn’t actually come in and get a drink with me like our family usually does on these drink runs, he was able to get ahold of the straw to Trevor’s drink, hahaha. So I can tell he enjoys this tradition :) WHICH ALSO BRINGS ME JOY! (happy tears emoji times 3!)

P.S. I know I said I would share my thoughts on being half-way through this year-long project, but I’m gonna save that for next week because this is the joy I found this week :)

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