A stay-at-home mommy – duh. It’s been something Angela and I have discussed for years and years and years, but we never thought it’d be a reality. But alas, Angela comes home from work for good next week, aside from a few hours a week at our church nursery.

I’ll be completely honest with you – I never imagined we’d be a single income family, especially with my name on the paychecks. It’s not a bragging point because truthfully, we’re blessed to be in the position we are right now.

My business, Ontempo Ideas, has gained tons of steam since January, serving the digital marketing and communication needs of a handful of local and regional clients, and there’s enough work that a five-month-old just won’t accommodate during the day. Plus: I’m in need of some help in the visual media department, so my lovely wife is headed home to aide in the matter.

What does that all mean? It means more family time, more ministry, more hugs and kisses, more out-of-town trips to see friends and family, more lunch and coffee get-togethers with local friends and colleagues, more productivity, more business ventures, more side-projects, more stories, more laughs and, of course, more blog posts to catalog it all. And maybe the witty and talented @angelaromack will share her viewpoint, as well?

Buckle up, friends. The Romacks are about to become a stay-at-home family. We’re those people now.

If you remember, I had a corneal transplant last September that restored a pretty significant amount of vision. We were all certain that seeing my son Tyson’s face was all but a done deal, but sadly, a couple of days before he was born, I started noticing a drastic shift in my eyesight, and within a matter of three weeks I was back to unusable vision. There were a couple theories as to why this was the case, but ultimately none of the noninvasive treatment options touched it, and my corneal transplant ended up rejecting in January.

The problem isn’t so much that the corneal transplant rejected, but really the cause of this rejection. A few years ago, I had a string of retinal detachments and, at the time, the only way to remedy the issue was to inject silicone oil into the eye in order to help it hold its shape. Scar tissue in my eye continued pulling the retina loose, so this was a solution to help the eye retain its structure amidst all the chaos within. That’s fine and dandy, except that the silicone oil bares the risk of forcing rejection with transplanted corneal tissue – and therein lies our problem. My retina specialist really didn’t want to pull the oil unless absolutely necessary, but I’d say repeating the transplant every three or four months isn’t exactly the most functional solution – and luckily my doctors agree.

Every surgery I have offers a glimmer of hope that eyesight can be restored – but that all comes with a price. If the silicone oil is imperative to keeping the retina attached, there might not be any other option. The biggest question  here is – will enough scar tissue form as a result of this surgery, thereby pulling the struggling retina loose? The answer seems pretty fuzzy to all parties involved, so we’re just going to have to play the waiting game to see how it all pans out.

I’m not in too much pain, which is a good thing. I’m not a huge fan of the eye being patched, mainly because it’s just terribly uncomfortable, but they’ll remove it first thing in the morning. We should know fairly quickly whether any sight was gained from the repeated transplant. Then it’s another month or two as the swelling dies down from the surgery. It took exactly 30 days from the last surgery for me to start reading the clock on my iPhone, so I’m coming into this with pretty steep expectations. But, all that being said, I’m trying to remain patient and hopeful that something grand lies around the corner.

Of course – I’ll keep you up-to-date with the progress. If you’re a subscriber of the Daily Wag, maybe consider subscribing to my main blog, too. I also keep my Facebook and Twitter accounts filled with status updates from the doctor and such, so you should definitely head there and give me a follow, as well. Thanks so much for the support, encouragement, positive thoughts and well wishes. You all are just too kind. More soon.

Piper handled being at the front of the pack just fine. She led well, wasn’t distracted by the entourage that followed and even aced the mailbox section in the middle of the route. What a dynamite gal! Mandi did pretty good, as well. It was difficult to not think about Larry, as the route felt comfortable and familiar, but it was a relief to know that our little pack, the Romack family, could tackle this new transition together. It definitely made for a good morning.

Sunday threw a bunch of fun stuff our way. Sandy wanted us to run the last leg of our Sonic route, which is basically a long stretch of road with several driveways, some of which being quite busy. On the way to Sonic, we really didn’t hit any trouble, despite the blustery wind that whipped at our ears, which really gave me fits as I tried auditory assessing traffic. We found a better way too get into Sonic, which felt a bit safer this time. Piper found a seat on the patio, which is a cinch with the “find a seat” command, and we sat and chat about the route a bit. Angela and Tyson ended up joining us, and we all grabbed a bite to eat and talked. I practiced “find the button” with Piper, which helped in locating the menu.

After working this part of the route backwards, we drove back to my house, where I started pulling drums out of storage. It was the moment I had been most nervous about – will Piper handle the drums? Larry was a bit scared at first, and rightfully so. The drums aren’t the quietest instrument out there, so it’s impressive how tolerant he was with his first exposure to them up close. Piper was skittish at first, but mostly because of the large cases. The hardware case, which has all my cymbal stands and accessories, seemed to cause her the most stress.

The introduction process is slow. I tapped the drums quietly with my fingers, making sure to give her treats and make the experience calm and pleasant. She was a bit apprehensive when I hit the ride cymbal with my finger, so I did a little work on winning her back. We stuffed a Kong toy full of peanut butter, and I started playing the drums, first with brushes, then with wooden rods and finally at full volume with sticks. She didn’t flinch, but I imagine she was absolutely fascinated with her peanut butter treat.

Bottom line – the drums are not an issue. It may take a few times to completely sell her on them, so I’ll just take her toy and some peanut butter and just repeat the exercise. It’s crazy how close we are to being on our own, which makes me sad to think about Sandy packing up and heading out. I’ve really had a fantastic time with her, too. Tomorrow is Piper’s vet appointment, so we’ll see what the rest of our week looks like once we’ve done that.

You know – I still plan on journaling thoughts about Piper and me even after training is complete. There’s a “settling in” phase that lasts several months, and honestly, it would be good to have an outlet to brag on her when she’s at the tip-top of her game. If you’re not already, go ahead and subscribe to the Daily Wag RSS feed, and never miss a single entry along the way. Thanks for supporting us each and every day – it means a ton.

We found all of the machines with precision and perfection this morning. She moved beautifully from machine to machine, and didn’t even flinch as I used them. What a pup! I felt very confident as we strolled through the gym, and you wouldn’t have even thought I had hit the brick wall the day before.

Sandy told me that she wanted us to work this route by ourselves the next morning. We’d go into the gym and do the same routine, as well, and this time, Sandy would sit outside of Piper’s gaze in the cardio room. I think she was there more to protect Piper from the older man that was creeping around her. In any event, we made it back home in record time, and of course, Piper enjoyed her dive into the briny deep to fish for the allusive kibble.

Our afternoon route was a breeze – and quickly turned into a quest for something caffeinated. We headed to the HEB on East Villa Maria, where Piper and I walked behind a shopping cart that Sandy was pulling. The route was to demonstrate how Piper was to follow when I went shopping with Angela. Of course, this was a cinch for her and we passed with flying colors. The challenge wasn’t the route, but more the search for some Starbucks drinks in the store. 5AM feels earlier and earlier with each passing day, so a little pep in my step couldn’t hurt anything, could it? On our way home, we spotted a bus stop and did a little research as to where that particular bus would take me. It may be something we dig a bit deeper into when an instructor comes back in a few months.

After postponing it a few times throughout the week, we finally ended up taking Sandy out for dinner. BJ’s Brewhouse was our destination, and it was a great opportunity to test the “follow” command with Piper. It’s hard enough getting Angela, Tyson and I into a restaurant, so add the pup into the mix, it’s a recipe for confusion. The “follow” command is nifty because, as long as Piper and I work together and pay attention, we can trail right behind Angela, or any other close friend or family member for that matter. And – of course – we did just fine. Dinner was great, conversation was excellent, and folks oogled Tyson more than they did Piper, so that was nice, too.

Solo route tomorrow at 5AM. Not really nervous or anything. How do you think we’ll do? You’ll have to subscribe to the Daily Wag feed and find out.

As soon as I hit the mailbox inside our town home complex, which is our destination right before we make it home, Sandy congratulated us on a successful walk. She then asked, since we had so much extra time, if we’d like to have a celebratory beverage at Starbucks – and who wouldn’t right? I grab a salted caramel mocha, on a recommendation from a Twitter friend, and grab a seat. I made some remark about how low the seats were and something about “Who needs a table anyway,” to which Sandy says, “Well, you do because – you’re graduating!” Whoa! Surprise!

The next 30 minutes included signing paperwork for the ownership of Piper, a rundown of her medical history and an exchange of a few last-minute goodies and gadgets. While we were chatting, I got a call from Angela that she couldn’t wake my brother, John, up, which was irritating because he was the one watching Tyson this morning. In a frenzy to sort out the schedule for the morning, Sandy and I headed home to sort out what was going on with my brother. No worries – he’s just a hard sleeper, but I did relieve him of his babysitting duties and asked him to head home. Sadly, this meant I was without a sitter for the morning. Sandy told me that Tyson could just accompany us, which was a huge relief.

I had a 9AM appointment in town in preparation for my surgery next Thursday, so the next hour or so was spent working with Piper while I had Tyson strapped to me in the Baby Bjorn. It was uncomfortable, mainly because I had only popped him in the carrier a time or two before, but mostly because I wasn’t sold that my pup was going to keep an eye on Tyson, too. Don’t get me wrong – she’s super careful and I don’t worry about my personal safety, but a oohing, cooing little one felt like a different story.

Not to Ms. Piper, though. She worked flawlessly, even with my hesitation and tense posture. We worked down to the mailbox, which is the starting point of our route, and she maneuvered the boy and me beautifully. In all the excitement and fuss over Piper’s spectacular performance, Tyson decides now is the perfect time to be fussy – and that’s when things got interesting.

I snapped the carseat into the training van, loaded up a screaming Tyson into said van, and we bounded down the streets of Bryan to make it to my 9AM appointment. Only a few minutes late, and now with a semi-consoled baby, I pop the Bjorn on for a second go, and again, Piper works fantastically with the kiddo aboard. We quickly learn the route into the doctor’s office, and despite it being rushed and on-the-fly, I quickly realize Piper loves learning new routes. This will come in handy – for sure.

Tyson is now upset again, which tells me he’s probably hungry. As I’m juggling paperwork for my physical, a harnessed Piper, the diaper bag and Tyson in the Bjorn, I toss a bottle to Sandy and ask if she wouldn’t mind trying to feed the little man. Not really thinking how massive a request that really was, I give her a screaming kiddo and a bottle of milk, and then head into an exam room for my physical. It wasn’t long before I hear Tyson’s cries again, so I relieve Sandy of her bottle duty. I really put her through the ringer this morning – and she never complained, even for a moment. I owe her big time for that.

We have a few odds and ends that need to be tightened up before Sandy heads out of town. The weekend will have us running mailboxes again, walking with the entire family (Mandi included), working with Piper and the drums, and the last leg of the Sonic route. I’m feeling extremely confident about the partnership between Piper and me, so I feel strong that we’ll wrap up before I head to surgery next week. Until tomorrow, friends.

One of my primary routes, which was originally devised as a pleasure walk, is about 3.25 miles when walked in its entirety. It also happens to be a route that has nearly every single type of obstacle or challenge for the pup, including off-curbs, right shoulder work, overheads and scent distractions. Since I’d only worked this route with Larry, and we’d been together for years when we learned it, I really didn’t give this route a second thought when I mentioned it to Sandy. In an attempt to make it less boring for Piper, seeing as its a walk with no real destination in mind, we parked toward the end of the one-way route and worked backwards to my house.

The biggest challenge during this first attempt ended up being some curb stops and a section of mailboxes along the way. Piper, and many pups for that matter, don’t dig the concept of slowing down, or even worse, stopping altogether for an obstacle. It’s not them being careless or unsafe as much as it is them wanting to maintain momentum and energy. Getting Piper to slow down and watch was daunting, but not impossible. We had a few wide open stretches along the way, so she blazed down the sidewalk quite nicely, which made me pretty happy.

Another way we’re dealing with Piper’s disappointment for returning home is to play her favorite game in the entire world – *KIBBLE FISH**! I’ve never seen a pup so excited about anything. And – if you can imagine a medium-sized pup furiously dunking her head into a bowl of water, you can probably imagine the splishy-splashy mess she makes while playing her game. Oh well – it’s what makes her happy, and it’s working, too.

Our afternoon route was a bit of a doozy – and it’s one that I’ve dreaded, to be honest. There’s a traffic stop right down the street from our house – East 29th Street and Carter Creek Parkway. It’s a heavily trafficked crossing, but the way traffic is filtered through it becomes the most frustrating part about it. It wasn’t really set up for pedestrians, either, despite the fact that sidewalk was just created all along Carter Creek Parkway to aid folks getting down to the park, so it makes no sense that there isn’t a traffic button at this stop. I’ve never really had difficulty judging traffic crossings, mostly because I’m what we like to call “overcautious”. But I guess that’s better than being hit by a car, I suppose. This crossing blew my mind.

After sitting at the stoplight at E. 29th and Carter Creek for about 45 minutes, I successfully mastered when I had a 13 second window to jog across the road. It felt really good to cross it, though, because I’ve always been scared to go that one alone. And – being on the other side – there’s a really nice park that I can take my son on nice afternoons, so that’s a major bonus. That being said, Sandy and I agreed that it wouldn’t be the safest crossing to manage with a kiddo, so we came up with another plan. We contacted the city about adding an audible crosswalk at this crossing. We’ll see what comes of it.

Walking to the park wasn’t too much of an ordeal. There were a few mailboxes, which prompted me to steady Piper a bit. There were plenty of new smells, too, so she was particularly distracted. Being so much shorter than Larry, I have a difficult time determining when she’s burying her nose in the ground. Something I’ll have to master – and quick.

Heading toward the park was a breeze. We took the loop around Tanglewood Park, which passes plenty of benches, a gazebo and a playground area. We stopped to sit under the gazebo for a bit, and then we set off toward my house. Piper wasn’t having that. She pulled just about every trick in the book to stall our homeward bound journey, but Sandy offered plenty of advice to counter each and every one. Piper really likes it when you sing to her, so when you see a blind goofball humming the Indiana Jones theme song down the sidewalk, that’s most certainly me. We did make it home – and across the busy street again – and we were all just about exhausted.

Catching up on the Daily Wag? You can always subscribe to the feed and peruse the archived entries. You’ll also see new posts as Piper and I continue training in College Station. Thanks, as always, for following our journey!

Working toward the gym was beautiful. We’ve really nailed this route together. What took about 15 minutes with a cane is now easily five or so with Piper. We enter the gym and immediately I give Piper a “find the counter” to checkin with the front desk. We round the corner of the desk and I then tell her to “find the keys”, which is a command to find the key hooks attached to the checkin desk. No one wants to jingle-jangle around the gym with keys in their pockets, right? After a “find left”, we head straight into the cardio room. There’s a metal pole that, truth be told, serves some primary function for the building even though I have no clue exactly what that is, but it allows me to tether Piper to something while I work out in this area of the gym.

After leaving the cardio room, we head to the stretch of machines that line an outer wall of the gym. I give Piper a “find the machine” command, which takes me to the first one in the series. I’m completely ignorant when it comes to the names of these machines, so I’ll just simply tell you how they move and how Piper reacted. The first machine works your arms in a “butterfly” motion, and after being a little nervous about the overhead movement toward her, Piper relaxed and rested her head completely on the ground. Good sign.

This machine is the only one I use at this end of the gym, so I have Piper continue “forward” past a few others and then, when I feel we’re close, I tell her to “find the machine”. We were pretty close this time, only a machine off, so I told her, “Not now, let’s find the next one,” which had her advancing one more machine down the line. Perfect. The next machine has you pushing down on bars on either side of you, so Piper wasn’t too apprehensive about this one. The next machine posed no threat, either, as it has you curling your arms upward toward your shoulders. The final machine was also quite nonthreatening, as it involves you pushing weight above your head. All good here.

The only remaining task in the gym was to locate the ab room. After navigating our way toward the room, I give Piper a “find the mat” command, which takes us to one of the exercise mats in the back of the room. I can now tether her to a machine in the room and move about the various activities here. We then worked our way out of the gym and back toward the house. She was a little sluggish working home, but surprisingly, she perked up as we neared the house. Maybe *KIBBLE FISH* is working? I think so.

My little gym rat, Piper, and I had an exciting afternoon route, too, as we went to Post Oak Mall with Sandy. I don’t venture to the mall often, especially not alone, but it’s always nice to navigate something as busy as the mall with confidence, and I can definitely do that now. This mall tends to be a little tricky for me, as it isn’t a straight up-and-down route. There’s rounded turns and hallways tend to jut in strange directions. Piper handled it like a champ, though, and we strolled confidently through the mall with ease. We stopped by the food court, where there’s an area for little ones to play, and the cutest little kid was very excited to see Piper round the corner. I almost thought we were going to have to pull the kid from Piper’s side. It was pretty funny.

I think we’re tackling the gym route again tomorrow – but you’ll just have to subscribe to the feed and find out yourself. Thanks for following us – and more soon.

We skipped our morning route. It’s not that I didn’t get up on time, because I did, but it was just too dang early – and I needed more sleep. Sandy didn’t protest, so back to sleep I went. Piper snoozed through the morning while I watched Tyson, and Sandy met up with us at around 2:30 for our afternoon walk.

Remember that grueling pleasure walk I mentioned the other day? Today was the first time we were slated to tackle the whole thing. Our destination – the Sonic on Briarcrest. We’d hike our way to Sonic, grab a drink and place to sit for a bit, and then we’d head on home. The walk up to Sonic was a breeze, especially considering Piper loves new routes. We did a bit better with the mailboxes, though we’ll clean up that section later this week, and we aced the new sections we added on the way this direction. Grabbed a drink at Sonic, and we sat there for about thirty minutes to rest.

The way home proved most challenging, however. Piper wasn’t happy about turning to head home. She did everything she could to make our route exciting, including turning to head left or right when I needed to head straight across the street. Of course, she was keeping us safe, but she had an agenda made up in her mind.

I didn’t deal with all o this well. It was quite flustering, to be honest. Piper crawled down the sidewalk quite slowly, which wasn’t Larry’s pace at all. I kept trying to fight the comparison, but it just continued ringing in my mind. I tried humming Indiana Jones, singing “march-ey” tunes, tickling her and being as positive and upbeat as possible, but Piper didn’t respond to most of what I had to offer.

We finally made it home, where we both collapsed out of exhaustion. It was a tough walk and one that made me really question my commitment. I moped around the house for most of the evening and came to the following conclusions:

• The route was insanely lengthy. I was absolutely exhausted – why couldn’t Piper be tired, as well?
• I can’t compare a pup, Larry, that worked with me for nearly seven years to a dog, Piper, that’s only been paired with me for about two and a half weeks.
• This route is challenging. It’s physically exhausting, but mentally draining, as well.
• We still have growing to do together. This isn’t a permanent challenge, but only a momentary hurdle to jump.

Putting things into perspective, I was able to put my silly anxieties to rest and move on with Piper. It was a tough day, but knowing that Angela and Sandy were there to back us up definitely helped. And thus – the Daily Wag continues onward. Maybe we’ll wake up and actually head to the gym tomorrow? Only time will tell.

We kicked off the morning with a splash through some puddles and a trip to the gym, which is now the second time Piper and I have worked the route. Sandy hung back just a bit while we worked our way down Carter Creek toward Aerofit, which went quite flawlessly I must say. Since we were all drenched to the bone, a quick turnaround took place when we hit the front doors of the gym. That’s when things got a tad on the frustrating side.

Training has been rather tiring, I haven’t slept, we’re in the middle of a freaking monsoon and now – on top of everything – Piper and I have a breakdown on the way back home. In reality, what is a pretty simple and understandable situation, is blown out of proportion by me, sending the energy level on our walk into seriously negative territory. Piper has slowed to a crawl now, as she’s rather bummed that we’re just turning right back around to head home. Instead of keep a chipper tone to my voice and stay positive with her, I get a little agitated and slightly grumpy, which only feeds the negativity in the air. I’m so glad Sandy called me out on it, though, because someone had to. And – since she did – I’ve been able to, for the most part, control my frustration, which is the healthy response for our team.

After a few hours of drying off and airing out, the sun actually broke through the gloom and doom overhead, which changed our afternoon walk into an outside route instead of the mall. We took the first leg of my long neighborhood walk, which essentially ended up being a route from my house to the nearby elementary school. Being the first time on a new route, Piper was bouncy and energetic, but most importantly, safe and confident. It really reminded me of Larry, which made me happy, too.

We worked through tons of obstacles – including some sort of strange looking hedgehog creature and a huge crater directly next to a sidewalk, where I presume they uprooted some behemoth of a tree. We made it to the school, where we found a bench and treated Piper a bit. I think this helped our return home a bit, because she only slowed up a little on the way home. It was great to walk this route, because Larry and I were quite familiar with it. Sandy and I made some modifications to it, as well, which made the route a bit safer and easier to navigate.

I’m tired and achy, which is probably to no surprise at this point. Maybe I should rename this blog and RSS feed something about my terrible bouts with sleeplessness. Until I do, you can go ahead and subscribe to “the Daily Wag” RSS feed to get the latest news on my training journey with Piper – and whether I’ve actually managed to log a few hours of rest.

One of my favorite commands to work with the pups has always been the “find” command, which basically allows me to associate an item, object or person with a command for Piper to navigate directly to it. Sandy helped me utilize the “find” command with the first major object on the route out of our town home community – find the mail. “Find the mail” is the command to have Piper locate our mailbox, which is a handy command in itself. The trick with our mailbox is several wooden beams that hold up a covering over the mailbox. Steadying Piper as she approaches the mailbox is imperative, as these beams would be quite painful to run into.

We worked our way toward the gym, which is only a quarter of a mile from our house. Once we made it through some tricky obstacles along the way, Sandy and I orientated Piper to the various rooms and machines around Aerofit. We made some decisions as to where Piper would be positioned when I used equipment, both for our safety and out of necessity for available space for Piper. Getting her acclimated was fun, and I definitely got excited about having a furry workout buddy again.

After a much needed nap, Piper and I focused on some obedience in the house and around the town home community. Our main focus was “steady” and “heel”, which are both very important. We got some real world usage for both, too, when Sandy, Piper and I loaded up for Petsmart. Not only did we get some excellent obedience training in while there, we picked up a few “startup supplies”, such as treats, a treat bag and a nice rope toy for Piper and Mandi to share. The other point of the trip was for Sandy to show us what is and isn’t acceptable to give to Piper, which was quite informative, I must say.

Go ahead and subscribe to “the Daily Wag” RSS feed to keep following our journey.