Prepping Our Furry Friends for Baby

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the mamas out there! I hope you all had a beautiful weekend! This weekend was so incredible for me, and I'm still left speechless from it. Saturday we spent the afternoon in the city celebrating a good friend of ours graduating law school! We're so proud of you Jackie! Sunday was such a special day. It was my first Mother's Day and I couldn't imagine having a better day. Caleb, Kai, and Wrigley really spoiled me this year! Kai and I slept in and Caleb made me brunch at home which consisted of orange ricotta pancakes, avocado toast, bacon wrapped dates, extra bacon, and a mimosa. He put it all together on this cute little serving tray with this precious I love you sign. He and Kai also surprised me with the most thoughtful gift, a new robe and the Magnolia Table cookbook! In the afternoon, we headed to the Chicago Botanic Garden and walked around and took some Mother's Day photos. Then that evening, my parents came over and we celebrated the end of Mother's Day having dinner with them at home. It was the best day and I will never ever forget it!

Wrigley update: He's doing so much better. By Saturday he was acting like nothing was even wrong, so we're really confused as to what was going on with him. Every once in awhile he seems to be a little bit bothered by the sprain, but for the most part he's back to his peppy self!

Since having Kai, we always get asked how Wrigley has been doing with him and what all we did to prep him for Kai's arrival. Well I'm happy to report that Wrigley loves Kai just as much as he loves me and Caleb and did right from the beginning! It took a couple days for him not to get worked up when Kai cried or squirmed, but he caught on so quickly. Wrigley is a very gentle and loving dog to begin with but I do think the things we did before Kai was born helped tremendously with the transition for Wrigley. So here is what all we did in order to prepare Wrigley for us adding to the Cabrera Crew:

Showed Wrigley all the Baby Stuff

We showed Wrigley every single little item we got for Kai before he was born. We allowed him to sniff everything and would tell him over and over again this is for the baby. There was only a couple of things that he tried to take for himself like Kai's Mickey and a blanket (Wrigley's 2 favorite things in the world, so no surprise there), but we gently told him no and kept explaining to him that these things weren't his. After telling him just a couple of times he caught on and stopped trying to take anything from the nursery.

Talked about Kai & Showed Wrigley the Bump

Wrigley is the biggest snuggler in the world, so it was a little hard for him to adjust not being able to lay on my chest/belly. As he saw my belly grow though he started to understand. We would tell him all the time how his little brother is in there and even one time when I put Wrigley's paw on my belly, Kai kicked him! He was 50% full of wonder and 50% scared ha! Dogs can sense things though like when you're sick, so I truly believed Wrigley knew exactly what was going on with me being pregnant. In fact, he started getting extra protective of me right around the time I did get pregnant, so there's some scary stuff for ya!

Let Wrigley Sniff a Baby Blanket from the Hospital

I was a little nervous about this one because it didn't really go how I had pictured it would go. Wrigley ended up staying at my parents' house while I was in the hospital because Caleb stayed with him overnight in the hospital. We don't feel comfortable leaving Wrigley by himself overnight, so my parents graciously took him in. However, the downside to that was that Caleb wasn't able to bring a baby blanket home to Wrigley prior to us coming home from the hospital. We improvised though. My dad dropped Wrigley off at our house prior to us coming home from the hospital so that when we got home, he would be there. When we first got home, I went inside first, by myself, and brought in a blanket that Kai had been wrapped in the whole time at the hospital. I let Wrigley sniff it for a few minutes and spent some quality one on one time with him while Caleb waited in the car with Kai.

Caleb Brought Kai In for the First Meeting

Wrigley is VERY protective of me, even with Caleb. While I was pregnant it was 10 fold on the protection. Wrigley would get upset even when Caleb was trying to help get up off of the couch. So we decided it would be best to have Caleb bring Kai's car seat in to show Wrigley that it's ok for Caleb to be holding the baby. So if you have this problem, as well, we suggest having whoever the dog is less protective of bring the baby inside.

Brought Kai inside in his Car Seat & Put it on the Floor

Like I said above, Caleb brought Kai inside in his car seat and set it down on the floor. We let Wrigley slowly approach it and sniff it out. After a few seconds it clicked who it was and he was very excited. We didn't allow him to jump on the baby of course, but we did our best to allow him to be as excited as he wanted to be as to give Wrigley the happiest of experiences with his first meeting with Kai.

Allowed Wrigley to Form A Bond on His Own Time

We've allowed Wrigley to form his bond with Kai on his own time. We didn't want to force anything on him, but it really didn't take that long. Within a couple of days he was comfortable with sitting close to Kai and would even come over to give him some kisses. It has gradually turned in to now he always wants to be in the same room with Kai and won't stop giving him kisses if we let him keep going. We've tried to implement a one and done rule but Wrigley is a lover and tends to ignore the rule. Wrigley's favorite thing to do with Kai right now is tummy time!

Put a Dog Bed in the Nursery

So I've actually read things that are against this but we felt doing this would actually help. Like I said, Wrigley really loves to be around Kai, especially if we are with him. So if we are spending time in the nursery with Kai, it's nice for Wrigley to have his own place to snuggle up, too. When Kai was smaller, Wrigley could fit in the rocking chair next to me, but now that Kai is bigger, it's not as comfortable for Wrigley. So, Wrigley will go lay in his bed that we have in the nursery so that he can still be spending time with us. Just remember though, a big no no is allowing them to go in to the baby's crib. You don't want them to ever have the association that they are allowed to snuggle up in there as it is not safe for pets to sleep with infants. If you have cats or large dogs that can easily jump in the crib, it might be best to keep the door shut if you are not in there so you can easily monitor this behavior.
If you want to see the DIY post I did for how we made Wrigley's teepee bed for Kai's nursery you can see it in this post!

Spend Quality Time with Wrigley

We still try our best to spend as much quality time with him that we can. It's of course less than before Kai was born, but honestly not much less. Wrigley does a good job at just fitting in wherever we are and we always try to let him know that he is welcome. We include him in our little photoshoots that we do with Kai and invite him to follow us wherever we go with Kai. It's important to help them get their energy out so that it doesn't build up too much and they don't unleash it on you or the baby. We still try to take Wrigley out for daily walks (weather permitting) and Caleb takes him to the dog park about once a week. We'll still play fetch with him and give him all the snuggles he wants!

I think the most important thing for pet owners to remember when they are having a baby is that our pets are still a part of our family and they need us. I remember reading this one thing a while back how we have lots of people in our lives that bring us love and joy but when it comes to our pets we're it for them. They long to see us and spend time with us. We are their whole world, so we can't just forget about them when we add something like a baby to our lives. If you're anything like us, you view them as one of your babies, too!

Follow me on Twitter for all my ridiculous #momlife moments! Have a great week, everyone!