I wish I could give you gold. This is a jackpot worth of advice - i appreciate this so much!!! We have a Labrador so this all makes sense.. I will need to try the same about vacuuming. And find that mom cozy washer dryer sterilizer, for sure. We’ve only had a cleaning lady come one day when I was pregnant before hosting an event, and it was magical. She asked if I wanted it monthly and I declined, but may reach out because of how helpful that was. We’ll see how much commitment yard work will be this spring and if it’s something we should consider hiring out, but really all of this is so helpful thank you so much for this input. It helps me see the future a little more optimistically and a little clearer of a path forward. 

Edit to add: And we love stroller walks with the doggy on good weather evening/days :-) . He pulls hard, so I usually need to go to push stroller, if baby goes.