{update: the giveaway is now closed and the winner will be announced tomorrow/saturday morning!}
O, poor Pearl. (That’s our dog’s name, by the way.) You wouldn’t really know that we had a dog based on this blog these last 11 months, what with the exorbitant number of adorable baby pictures and all, but she’s been here*. She’s a 3 year old, 5.5lb Maltese-Poodle mix. We got her a couple of months after getting married.
*Ok, most of the time she’s been here. When we’ve had company or when mama needs a break (which has happened on, O, a handful of occasions) she gets sent packing to O My In-Laws house to be loved on and given far more attention each day than I manage to give her in a month.
Poor Pearl. She’s been upstaged since the morning I saw two little pink lines. I try to care, I really do, but most days she’s just one more thing on my to do list. Is there food in her bowl? Has she been let outside to do her business? Are OBaby’s toys picked up before we leave so she doesn’t chew them to bits? Have I cleaned up the spot where she peed on my new Pottery Barn rug?!?
Let’s be honest, if she weren’t painfully cute and an excellent vaccuum service for those pesky under the high-chair messes, she’d have been given to another family long ago. (I wish it weren’t true, but it is.)
I know, I KNOW. Our ‘first born’ (only she’s not really and I kind of hate it when she’s referred to as such) now plays a backseat role in our lives. It’s sad. She is nothing but loyal to us and no less than elated when we come home, and yet we hardly have time for her. In retaliation, she pees places like on my expensive rugs. Which makes me… O, there are no words to describe what it makes me (that would be appropriate to publish here). It’s a vicious cycle.
Well, just this once – and honestly I think it has only been this once since OBaby was born – we’re doing something special for the O My Family dog:
Pearl is getting a brand new handmade collar and leash from Bird.E.Studios. I know, it doesn’t *quite* make up for the lack of affection and attention she’s received these last 11 months, but for right now it will have to do. Plus it will be by far the cutest accessory Pearl has ever owned.
{So what do you say, Pearl? Truce on the whole urine on my wool rugs thing? Burry the hatchet, old pal? M’kay?}
Even more exciting than Pearl’s new duds is this: Please give a big warm O My Family welcome to my two new sponsors! Erika of Bird.E.Studios and Erin of The Vintage Pearl. We are absolutely thrilled to have both of them because not only do their shops contain lovely handmade items, they are both lovely people!
To celebrate their sponsorship of O My Family and in a little shout out to the poor, neglected O My Family Dog, we’re having another O My Giveaway! I know, RIGHT?! What’s it been, AllisonO, like 3 awesometacular giveaways back-to-back?
(Yes, in fact, it has. Thanks for counting.)
This time you can enter to win any handmade dog collar of your choice from Bird.E.Studios by leaving a comment (any comment) on this post!
O My Overachievers: Tweet about this giveaway, then return and leave one additional comment containing your twitter username. Here’s the twiveaway tweet (you like that? twiveaway? I made that up just now. Don’t act like you’re not impressed.):
Love your puppy O so much? Enter to win a handmade collar by @simplerika on @OMyFamily’s giveaway! http://bit.ly/bdFQBw
Disclosure: Erika of Bird.E.Studios has provided the spoils of this giveaway today, as well as Pearl’s concessionary collar set. While both Bird.E.Studios and The Vintage Pearl are now paid sponsors of space on this blog, their money buys them ad space, not my opinions. Those are priceless.
This giveaway closes at 10:00pm CST Friday. The winner will be announced Saturday morning. Good luck!
Do you have a spot bot? It’s the most ingenius machine – you put it over the stain, press a button, and *walk away.* it does all the scrubbing! Henry had some digestional issues as a puppy and we would not have survived without it. Also, make sure you’re using pet cleaner with enzymes so that there’s no lingering signals to tell Pearl to keep peeing in that same spot.
Mommy feels bad that Henry gets ignored now sometimes, too… but I give him plenty of attention – and food!
Hi, could you give the name of the pet cleaner you are referring to? I have been unable to find anything that
keeps my dog from going on the same spot. I bought something at a pet store that is supposed to have
enzymes in it, but have had no luck. Thank you, I would love to hear what has worked for you.
We use Bissell 2X Pet Stain and Odor Advanced Formula with our Spot Bot and it works really well… but I will also give the caveat that our dog was much easier to train than dogs we’ve had in the past…
Awww! These are too cute! My husband’s dog would look great in one of these! ;)
I tweeted, but I had to shorten it. I just rook out the words before “puppy” to make it tweet length; I hope that’s okay! (@ColeEmmett)
Oh so excited! I checked out their website & I love the collars!
@armsopengrace tweet!
I HAD totally forgotten that you had a dog!
SEE! I think that is a reflection of the fact that I kinda have too.
Well, poor Pearl may have gone down a few notches on the totem pole, but on the flip side — she gained a really cute playmate, right?
That would be awesome!
Hey there! This is an AWESOME giveaway. I’ve been lusting after her dog collars for a while now. So stinking cute!
My dogs would love a new collar! One may be jealous so I’ll have to buy a second one:)
I also tweeted about it! @KatherineKlegin
I love great dog accessories! Thanks for another giveaway.
I agree about the spot bot it is an amazing machine and well worth the money. With 2 dogs and 4 cats in our household it gets a lot of work done!
This totally happened with us too. Just saying. We got Tia Maria (dog) RIGHT after we were married (upon my insistence) and then I was pregnant a month later. So I cared about her until Miles came home and now…thank God Ryan is so good to her, cause even though I’m not mean to her, I often forget to give her love.
The End.
Don’t worry about Pearl getting ignored. I used to worry about the same thing, then when my son turned 2 all he wanted to do was play with the dog. Now he is 4 and our poor dog gets played with so much, she has started to hide her ball so she can lay down and rest. I’m sure OBaby will be the same way.
My poor, poor dog is in the same boat as Pearl. Would love to give her a new collar at least!
OH MY WORD. I want. Badly. Those collars stinkin’ adorable!
I tweeted! I tweeted! @cindygermann
My little (well..big) puppy fell from number one in a big hurry–I hate it..but Holden already is fascinated by him so I know that in time he’ll get more attention than he wants. But I’d love to spoil him with a new treat!
I would please like to win a cute collar for my Lucy’s best puppy friend, Willis the Schnauzer. He is a long-suffering and adorable little guy, and he also cares very much about his looks. I know he would be deeply appreciative of one of these beautiful collars!
I tweeted and my fashionable dog would drool over a new collar! ::pun intended:: @casadewilson
Aw I love that polka dot one. We just got another dog miss priss and she would look super cute with that on.
O so cute! My Darcey would L-O-V-E to have something so adorable to wear!
Oh, our pretty-but-stupid golden retriever Jack (the girl dog with the boy name) would be so deserving of a nice new collar. Considering she’s had the same, raggedy blue collar her entire life and we suck at doing anything special for her, a little collar sprucing up might be just what she needs! And since I’m currently in the midst of a polka dot obsession for the little dude, I think Jack could use a matching polka dot collar!
These collars are so cute! What a great idea! I completely agree with a couple of the other commenters, that before you know it, OBaby will be making up for all the neglect Pearl has received in the past year. My kids are 8, 10, and 12 and they play with our dogs constantly!!
Our little 4-legged friend doesn’t GIVE us the opportunity to not pay attention to him. He is on me from the time I get home, until I go to bed. I sure do love him, though, so it’s okay.
He would look great with a new collar, especially since once Bebe Cline arrives, he probably won’t have my full attention. ;)
Wow, our Lily can totally relate to poor Pearl. Especially now that Chris is gone for the summer and I’m caring for our sweet boy AND her. It’s tough, having two babies around!
We finally just got a puppy (well, he’s 5 months old now and he’s a lab, so not so little!) and our kids are 7.5, 6, and 2.5. It’s hard having pets with kids! I totally know what you mean about the whole “they’re just another thing on the to-do list” feeling, but when OBaby gets bigger he’ll probably be more into the dog and she’ll be getting lots of attention from him as well. :)
At the risk of sounding completely middle school-ishly cheesey I’m going to say that I LOVE your blog. Thank you for being so candid and honest about well, everything–PPD, your faith, your family— you are so relatable, it’s great.
Those are SO cute! I especially appreciate that they come in manly colors for my boy dog. He doesn’t know it yet, but hes a fashionista!
Hi, with my first child my dog that I’d had for years suddenly became a big burden. The shedding, the “going” on the carpet, all that overwhelmed me while trying to care for a baby. So I gave her away, and it is a decision I have regreted ever since, and it has been 13 years now. We’ve just had another child (21 months) and we have another dog that we’ve had for about 4 years before he came along. I am doing things differently and determined not to let the same thing happen with her. She still goes everywhere with us, and my son just loves her. Unfortunately, my two cats are in the same boat as your dog. Cleaning the litter box and dealing with a ton of cat hair is really getting to me. My son has had non stop allergies and sinus infections due to all the mess in the house. I need to find them a home, and hope I don’t have the lifelong regret that I have with the dog. Sigh.
My little puppy would LOVE one of those stylish collars!
I feel your pain and I don’t even have kids – just two giant bernese mountain dogs. I love them but sometimes wonder what I was thinking. I can’t imagine juggling babies and puppies. You are a far better woman than I.
I missed Pearl! She’s just so cute. :) I’m worried that same thing will happen to Dakota when the new baby comes in a few months. I know he will take a backseat and I’m worried about his behavior since he’s quite spoiled now. He might have to live with papa and gramma for a while (which I would HATE but what can you do?). Anyway, I can never find cute collars in a small enough size for Dakota which is why I NEED to win this giveaway! :) He deserves some fresh flair!
I tweeted :) @abselli
These are really cute – if I were a dog, I would love to wear them…
Pearl is absolutely adorable ;)
very REI…love them
Those are adorable!
I won’t lie… My Chorkie (Chihuahua Yorkie mix) is 100% spoiled rotten, but that’s because I don’t have any babies yet to take his place. It honestly worries me sometimes about how much a baby could affect him… He’s spoiled that much!
AND a handmade collar would look fabulous on him. Goes well with the spoiled attitude he has.
Check out my tweet as well.
@LynzieLee
I know what you mean! My dog Riley looks so sad these days, now that my baby demands all my attention. I can’t even figure out how to walk the dog and the stroller at the same time, so guess who loses out?
I am worried about my dog feeling left out after our baby is born (4 weeks left). I really hope he doesn’t, because right now he gets so much attention!
This is one post I can Soooo relate to (among the many others.) Our dog has So gotten the backseat- and if our son didn’t love him so much he would be gone by now, because mamma does Not need extra work every day. But he does love the pooch so he stays.
And since this is my first time commenting I feel the need to say that my future brother in law will be a Sr. at Wheaton next fall and I remember reading that that is where you guys met!
I’d give one to baby goat’s Dog cousin! Our cats feel left out too, except for the fact that baby goat loves them (almost literally) to death.
W have a whole house of rescues that are now our children’s playthings. They could use some love too!
Poor Pearl! :( She can come play with my pack when she needs some love. The collars are super cute!
My dogs are riding in the back seat too. Even after I said that they wouldn’t. Oops! Cute collars.
Love the collars, so cute :)
The best thing about dogs is that they forgive easily, you may feel terible but dogs love so easily! Don’t beat yourself up, soon enough OBaby will be loving on her like you wouldn’t believe!!!
I completely understand!! We had 4….see that 4 cats when our first was born, then I was like “WHAT, why do we have 4 cats!! This is insane!” So my baby cats went packing…:( I feel bad about it now.
BUT we have 2 dogs now that still don’t get enough attention, so we’d love to win a collar!
My pup needs a new super cute collar!! **she has as many collars as I have shoes!** :)
So many cute collars to spice up Zaxby dog’s summer wardrobe!
Tweet tweet! @houseofhege