Pooches: Mr. B's Stuffy Confusion

People usually know Mr. B as the one that loves his stuffies so much.
Even "Creepy Baboon".
While we try to keep his collection neatly stored away, he is always unpacking them to surround himself with his best friends in his lair by the fireplace.

Now with Baby K, (who Miss M still thinks is our new foster dog), our biggest concern was figuring out how to teach Mr. B the difference between his stuffies and Baby K's stuffies.
Pre-baby, we met with Rendy from Anything is Pawnable to learn a strategy.
Since dogs can't reason, the biggest difference is by scent. When Baby K gets new toys, we can mark them with a dab of Listerine so the pups can start to recognize there is a difference.
It's also a good idea to get stuffed toys that are different than Mr. B's typical stuffies.

Though we would like to say that the giant dinosaur and the giant polar bear were for Baby K, I admit that I have been eyeing these giant stuffed animals for awhile, especially the giant dinosaur.
We never had a reason to have these in our house, until now. They were actually our first few purchases for Baby K's arrival, even before the crib, bassinet, clothes and diapers.

Though we didn't expect Mr. B to do this when we unboxed them.
Which also happened with the dinosaur.

Also:

How we taught Mr. B not to destroy his stuffies

This really happens.

When this one used to be the biggest.

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Daily Walk: The New Family Walk

Now that we have Baby K, life has become a bit more complicated.
We have heard horror stories of how people's beloved pets were pushed to the side when a baby came into their lives and even read blogs that went from a lifestyle blog to a baby blog.
Though we knew that babies changed people's lives, we were not prepared for how much our lives have changed with Baby K.
Luckily for us, the pooches are patient and amenable. We had met with a trainer and prepared for how  to make the introduction to the pups, but the moment we walked in and handed them their high-value treat, they went on with their lives.
Mr. B will still run around the house like usual, and we never leave Baby K on the floor.
Miss M will still whine and cry in the morning for her breakfast despite waking up Baby K.

We have tried to ensure that most aspects of their lives remain the same: the morning breakfast, the mid-morning dinner and the long family walks on the weekends. It is during these long family walks that we realize that nothing has really changed.

Though on our very first family walk we attempted to use a stroller with the pooches, and it was quite difficult to nearly impossible. Despite training Mr. B to walk nicely on leash, Mr B still didn't understand the concept of walking on one side and spent much of his walk trying to dodge the stroller.

A and I had a pact that since she carried him for 9 months, I would be carrying Baby K on all of our walks sans stroller after birth. Now that I tote Baby K in a carrier, our daily walks are pretty much the same as they have been before birth. The pooches are back to being the center of attention.

It is funny how often we hear "what cute babies" on our daily walk.
It's really meant for the pooches, and a lot of people don't realize we have an actual baby with us.

On one of our walks, someone commented how it was nice of me to carry the dog's stuffed animal, not realizing that it was an actual baby in a bear suit.
Despite taking a lot longer to get ready for our walks, the walks have provided some normalcy to our now hectic life. Plus we ran into Marcus Kruger and Bobby Hull in the Wicker Park field house while changing Baby K 's diaper.