Puppies and Babies

I love my dog Casey. But sometimes she just flat gets on my nerves. She's been with Joe and I since the very beginning...we got her almost 4 months to the day of the day we got married. I'll never forget going to see her for the 1st time...Joe and I had been talking about the possibility of getting a puppy. He was probably a little closer to ready than I was. I had to be talked into it. One night I got home from work around 5pm and he asked if I wanted to go grab a bite to eat real quick. I was a little confused when we pulled into this strange neighborhood and starting making all kinds of twists and turns down different streets. He never would tell me where we were going until we pulled into their driveway. He told me he had gotten in touch with this family that had a litter of lab puppies and, "Let's just go in and look. Looking won't hurt anything." Of course, from the moment I laid eyes on her I was hooked. He sure knew how to work me over...even that early into our marriage. She was the tiniest little chocolate lab puppy I had ever seen, only 3 weeks old. And so clumsy, rolling all over the floor. We immediately went home and knew she was ours, made the call to let the family know, and began the waiting period (she couldn't be taken away from her mama until she was 6 weeks old, at least) until we could bring her home. We brought her home the week of Thanksgiving in 2005. Those were some long, sleepless nights. She yelped and barked and cried all night for what came to be months. I remember the very 1st night telling Joe, "I think we have made a terrible mistake. I have got to get some sleep!!!!" Funny, but I think I can recall saying those same words to him our 2nd week home with Kate. The sleep deprivation as a new parent was like a slap in the face...I was not prepared. Turns out I wasn't prepared for lots of things. Anyway, poor Joe laid on the living room floor with a weepy, homesick Casey that 1st night home, while I laid in the bed pondering what to do with her. Such a good Daddy, even then. Joe and I would actually take turns getting up at night with her, we were so adamant that she trained early so we worked hard to help her get there. Those were some rough, sleep deprived days. It's so funny looking back now when we talk about it and how many parallels we've found between bringing that puppy home for the 1st time and welcoming a newborn into our little family.

Now I do love this dog to death, but like I said sometimes she just drives me nuts. She likes to bark in the house, scratch the floors, can't stand to be outside by herself, pulls me on the leash when she walks, and (worst of all!!!) has horrible gas. BUT...................she's family and I wouldn't trade her for the world. Kate has just reached a point here in the past 2 weeks or so where she's really tracking Casey and what she does. She loves to watch her, and I think in her own little way Casey loves her too.

Another beautiful day today...Joe and I got to take our 2 girls out for a little spin around the neighborhood, to both their delights'. Turns out Kate LOVES to go for walks in the stroller. Later this evening Nana and Papa came by to watch Kate for us while we went out and grabbed a bite to eat. Hopefully they'll be back to do it again, seeing that Kate had the blowout of the century while we were away. She timed that one just right.