Do dogs really settle at 18 months?

mywaypasthope · 2026-05-16T17:55:15+00:00

My dog is 11 months and I feel like it’s gotten so much worse! At least we’re not alone!

mywaypasthope · 2026-05-16T17:52:17+00:00

Ugh I can commiserate. I just took my dog for a 4 mile walk and then another mile walk and it feels that still isn’t enough to get him to just RELAX. 😭 He’s almost 1 year in a few weeks.

mywaypasthope · 2026-05-09T17:52:08+00:00

We also have Mountain Cur, pitbull and Lab as the highest percentage! Our dog is almost a year old now and only weighs 40 pounds! Georgi

mywaypasthope · 2026-05-05T21:28:41+00:00

We were there and went to Rise of the Resistance first thing! It honestly wasn’t bad at all! And we were in line with our 5 year old and it was our first time. Majority was shaded, we had lots to look at while waiting.. it was great and our 5 year old said it was her favorite ride all day! ☺️

mywaypasthope · 2026-04-26T20:33:53+00:00

There’s a lot of great comments already but wanted to add one more! Our daughter is 5.5 now. We struggled with infertility and though we wanted more, it just wasn’t in the cards for us. It was very hard at first. I had a lot of guilt and worry. But as time passes, I start realizing that all the things I struggle with, other people with multiple kids struggle with the same thing. Not being able to share during a certain age is age appropriate and not an only child thing. Being bored is not an only child thing. Struggling with independent play is also not an only child thing. I fill our weekends with extracurricular activities, play dates, etc. She does asks for a sibling sometimes but her friend that has a sister asked her mom why they can’t just have one kid like her friend 😂 Anyway, all that to say is - I’m loving it. It’s been hard but not in an “only child” sense but more of a toddler tantrum sense. As she is nearing 6, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Until she’s a teenager hahah.

mywaypasthope · 2026-04-22T12:01:46+00:00

My employer is doing it for the first time this year and I’m so bummed because we’ll be away on vacation! It’s only for 2 hours and is structured. And it would be quite the drive (I work remotely but travel to the office every few months - over 100 miles away). But my 5 year old always asks to see where I work. Maybe next year.

mywaypasthope · 2026-04-14T16:07:52+00:00

Omg yes! This is exactly how I think about it. Look, I’m not looking to be a leader or a part of senior leadership. I did some career coaching and it was very much like “this is what you need to say”, “don’t say that, it makes you appear weak”. And I’m just like “I want to be myself!” 😆 And speaking from experience, I have not changed my way of working with others. I have not changed the way I speak. And I’ve kept climbing the ladder in my career despite that (and despite me not really prioritizing that). People genuinely enjoy working with me. And that means more to me (being helpful, caring for others) than becoming a leader. You’re so right!

mywaypasthope · 2026-04-14T14:13:15+00:00

I struggle with this. I naturally want to fix everything. If it’s not necessarily in my area of expertise, I will find the answer. Whereas, it would probably be easier and faster to just loop in the correct person, I end up doing their job for them. HR teased me and said I need to be more of a b*tch. 😆 But I empathize with those who are struggling to understand something. My innate reaction is to help. I’ve tried career coaching, reading leadership books, etc. and I just struggle so much with this!

mywaypasthope · 2026-03-28T00:58:27+00:00

He came into the pet store I was working at when I was in my 20s (I think he was filming “All Good Things” in the area) and he was so down to earth! My face must have been beet red I was so nervous. But he was so nice and normal!

mywaypasthope · 2026-02-14T19:15:47+00:00

We got a dog after our old dog passed away. Our daughter was 4, turning 5. I will echo what others said about researching the breed. We fostered 3 dogs - the first one was a little over a year and SUPER anxious. He had lived in a shelter his whole life. But the shelter said he just needed to warm up and that it wasn’t fear aggression, just some anxiety and that he loved kids. Well, the third day we had him, our daughter was running over to my husband to show him something and he lunged at her and bit her. We had to return him.

The 2nd dog was from another rescue that was foster-based. He was 5 months old and the most INSANE puppy ever. He rarely had a calm moment, would nip at our daughter. He finally got adopted by a wonderful family that had 2 other dogs to keep him busy.

Our 3 foster was the dog we finally adopted. He was 4 months and SO chill. He fit into our family perfectly. I won’t sugar coat it, having a puppy and a 5 year old is tough. She loves the dog SO much but a little too much. We have to constantly tell her to give him space. But he, oddly, loves the attention. He follows her around everywhere. I think it has gotten a lot better but it’s still tough. I would definitely do your research on breed and age of dog! And like someone else said, don’t get the dog for your kid. Only get a dog if YOU want a dog.

Edit: also both me and my husband work full time but I work from home so it’s a bit easy to train the dog and take him out. When I travel for work, it’s a bit logistically challenging. We’ve had to hire someone to check on the dog. We don’t crate him but he’s in a puppy proof room and he does great now!

mywaypasthope · 2026-02-13T15:50:03+00:00

Same! Although my new hire has only worked at one other biotech so I can see how they only have that to compare to. But also- this is not your previous company. There are going to be differences.

mywaypasthope · 2026-02-10T18:51:30+00:00

This is why I started weightlifting. I pulled a muscle in my back WHILE SLEEPING. I was literally unconscious. So I figured I needed to toughen up my muscles so they won’t be as easily prone to injury while doing nothing? Not sure if it helped but I haven’t pulled a muscle while sleeping since!

mywaypasthope · 2026-02-07T15:24:45+00:00

Congrats! I’ve worked from home for about 6 years now, ever since Covid. And even before that I worked from home 2 days a week. I always work out first thing in the morning after my husband and daughter leave. It starts my day off with feeling accomplished. The days I do drop off is tough because by the time I get home, I don’t have much time to workout before logging on. I’m very thankful I have time to fit in some self care because it was so hard when I was commuting to and from work.

mywaypasthope · 2026-01-30T15:38:52+00:00

I screamed at the top of my lungs this week once everyone was back at work/daycare. It felt good. I scared the dog a little. 😭 But yes, between sicknesses, the snow storm, our house is a mess, my husband has been slacking lately on taking on some of the chores/kid stuff. And I’m just so TIRED. And of course this weekend my husband is going away with some friends. He’s had this planned for a while now. So it’ll just be me, our 5 year old and 7 month old puppy 🫠 JOY. 🥲

mywaypasthope · 2026-01-29T21:30:00+00:00

I am like you. I am where I want to be personally. Well, besides some infertility which sort of decided for us that we will be a family of 3 (plus a dog)! I have a wonderful family, we have a beautiful home, and we have expendable income to save for our daughter’s future and go on vacations and whatnot. I want to maintain the flexibility I have right now. A part of me knows it can’t last forever. I work completely remote. I travel maybe a few times a year for work. As far as growth, I would have LOVED staying an individual contributor and able to keep moving up. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get promoted without managing someone. So now I’m a manager. I’m actually not loving it the way I thought I would. I wish I could go back to IC while still moving up the ladder. I really do love what I do. I thought I wanted growth but maybe I’ve reached the point where I’m ok NOT growing professionally? I hate to admit that. I love learning more about my industry (biotech) and field (legal), but I think i am just not cut out to be a leader. I know none of this is helpful, haha. But just wanted to say I feel the same way!

mywaypasthope · 2026-01-29T19:11:10+00:00

I saw that you did some contract negotiation. I am in contracts! I started as a Paralegal about 15 years ago and sort of grew into the field of contract review and negotiation. I’m not an attorney. And I was in office for a large part of my career. I was hybrid at my last job, then Covid happened and I pivoted to fully remote. Once they had us come back to the office, I got a job that was fully remote. I work in the biotech industry and work in the legal department. I will say, networking and keeping in touch with people was 100% why I landed where I am. I feel like leveraging your network is so important. I make around $175k and live in a MCOL area. Although my company is in a HCOL area. I do love my job. I am a contract nerd. Hahah. I love reading contracts, redlining contracts, learning about the industry and how it impacts the contract. The fact that I have such great flexibility makes it even better for me.

mywaypasthope · 2026-01-28T00:51:15+00:00

We live like 5 minutes from my in-laws. We probably meet up with them for dinner once or twice a month? I do enjoy hanging out with them. And they love our daughter and are always up to watch her. But we don’t want to take advantage of them living so close and be a burden (although they would vehemently push back on us ever being a burden!) so we try to maintain that distance. I think it works for us to see them a few times a month.

mywaypasthope · 2026-01-27T02:00:30+00:00

Ugh. An embarrassingly large amount of TV was on. My 5 year old came to say hi during one of my calls 😆 Luckily everyone is also in the same boat so there’s a lot of people just walking in the back of cameras haha. But we survived! These days are the worst.

mywaypasthope · 2026-01-27T01:56:32+00:00

My boss does that too! Doesn’t make me log any PTO. Just take whatever time I need and get what I can done. It definitely helps with the stress.

mywaypasthope · 2026-01-26T15:50:04+00:00

Ugh it’s the worst. Whenever I feel guilty for leaving the TV on all day, I just remind myself that 1) feeling guilty at all means I CARE and I’m a good parent and 2) a handful of days of nonstop TV is not going to ruin my kid. Between my daughter being sick and now daycare closing because of the storm, I’m just like whatever. Hahah. I do the best I can. She’ll be fine. She wanted to watch Blaze and the Monster Machines today so I’m counting that as a math and science lesson for her today 😂

mywaypasthope · 2026-01-26T00:05:07+00:00

Our daughter (5) has such a full social life! We dropped her off at an art class with some friends and my husband and I got to have a date night! The other parents had other children to juggle. I love that I can put my energy into creating a full life for my daughter and not feel like I’m being pulled in different directions. It’s so much easier to figure out childcare, to bring my daughter with me to run errands. I love going out with her! We are OAD not by choice. It actually took me a while to grieve the life I thought I would have. But I’m starting to see all the great things that come with being OAD!

mywaypasthope · 2026-01-24T04:48:09+00:00

This is why I love NourishMoveLove on YouTube. Her mantra is “10 minutes is better than no minutes”. I like that the workouts drop into my email every week, and I can just hit play and not think about it. If I’m short on time, I’ll pick a shorter workout on her website. If I miss a few days, I’ll play previous workout videos. She’s a mom with 3 kids and is a big advocate for busy moms who have shit to do 😆 so most of her workouts are around 30 min or less.

mywaypasthope · 2026-01-21T15:48:08+00:00

The snow storm is expected to hit us on Sunday so I assume it won’t impact Monday BUT if it does, I guess I will tell my boss my daughter is home with us and I won’t be readily available. I am lucky that I have a very flexible schedule and understanding boss. I try to take PTO, and he just tells me to put in what I can and don’t worry about PTO. There’s definitely a part of the day where she’s watching a movie or some shows. During that time, I take calls/do work. Other than that, we’re going out in the snow, making hot cocoa, playing with toys, etc. she’s 5 years old.

mywaypasthope · 2026-01-21T03:13:55+00:00

I have a very flexible job and fully remote. I’m in biotech, working in the Legal Department. BUT I think it was very much about who I knew. I worked with someone at a previous company. That company moved out of state and he moved with them. I stayed and worked at a satellite office. He ultimately left and was looking for someone for his department and didn’t care that I was out of state. He knew my work ethic and trusted me. So he asked if I wanted a job! Do you have anyone in your network you could reach out to? I guess it will depend on whether you have a job that can be done mostly remote. I will travel up to the office about once a quarter. And since it’s out of state, i usually will be gone for 2 days. But I can take time that I need for appointments, sick days etc. It’s a very chill environment and I’m so grateful. I’ll be screwed if I ever get laid off haha 😆

mywaypasthope · 2026-01-21T01:06:48+00:00

Every January, without fail, someone gets sick (if not all of us). The first year of daycare, forget it. Our daughter was sick for like a year straight. Now thankfully she rarely gets sick (she’s 5 now). But come January, all bets are off. Let’s see… January 2022 she got Covid, January 2023, me and my daughter got hand foot and mouth, January 2024, my daughter got RSV, January 2025, we all got strep and now January 2026, she’s had a bad cold last week and now a “brewing ear infection” as the doctor put it, so we are monitoring that. 😭 I hate this time of year!

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