Big Announcement!

Well, I have been on the puppy search since the new year. I know I told everyone we would wait until spring/summer before getting a puppy, but I started just looking around and once you start looking, you immediately want one. Plus, we have a lot of plans for this summer and I didn't want to get a puppy and then leave it in a kennel while we traveled around. But most of all, I just plain missed Chien.

Losing Chien was much harder than I ever expected it to be and there were small and simple things every day that made me miss him. Our house seemed so quiet and lonely without him. He was such a huge part of our lives in ways we didn't even notice until he was gone. One example is that he always slept either in Ben's room or in our room on my side of the bed. One of the first things I noticed after he died was that I get out of bed every morning in such a way so as to avoid stepping on him. I never even realized I did this, until the first morning after he died and I slowly put one leg down very close to the bed and the other leg way out far from the bed (as if I was stepping over him). It was habit to get out of bed that way, and I never even knew I was in that habit until he was gone. That is just one example of many of ways that I missed him every day.

Also, while I did have to vacuum less (and I enjoyed that aspect), our kitchen floor was a disaster! I think I severely underestimated the amount of food Chien ate from under our table. And I severely overestimated the neat eating skills of my children!

So, anyway, I was on the hunt to find us a puppy. And we had some ups and downs along the way. We had a puppy that we were days away from getting only to learn she had gotten sick and wouldn't be able to come home for another month or so (we backed out of buying that puppy). And I learned a ton about breeders, certifications, and the entire process through a lot of help from Josh, Aunt Theresa's boyfriend. Josh, I doubt you read my blog, but hopefully Aunt Theresa will pass along the message that I truly appreciated all the help you gave me in finding a puppy. I would send him websites and he would let me know what he thought about that breeder. His points were excellent and I learned a lot from him, so thank you Josh.

Long story short, I finally found a puppy that was perfect for our family. We wanted a female this time around just to try something different. I found one that all the heart, hip, eye and elbow certifications and what sold me on her, was that she has a small cowlick on her nose! I loved that because Chien had a cowlick on top of his head and plus it makes her different (and makes her ours). Unfortunately she was located in central Michigan. So, we loaded up everyone into the car and left for Michigan after Ben got out of school on Friday. We debated about whether or not to bring the whole family, but I am so glad we did because the kids loved it and I think they will always remember going to get our puppy. Here they are meeting her for the first time.

Isn't she cute?

You can sort of see that dark stripe down her nose - that is her cowlick!

She is just a tiny furball right now and she likes to cuddle, which makes me happy!

So we brought along a laundry basket thinking she would ride in that on the way home.

But she very quickly climbed right out of the basket and look where she went...

Then we got a hotel (as it was too late to drive all the way back home) and made sure she had some food. Good thing we have lots of helpers to take care of her!

The next day we drove back and she spent almost the entire car ride in Ben's lap. He has been having a blast with her. They run around outside together and she chases him. She really likes Ben. She likes Abbey and Juliette too, but both girls are still a bit timid around the puppy (Abbey gets scared when the puppy chases her and sometimes says "She's trying to bite me". I can't blame her for being a bit scared considering she was bit this summer. But she likes to kiss her fur on the back of her head and pet her as long as she doesn't get too close to Abbey! Juliette pretty much just likes to pick up the chew toys and follow the puppy around trying to give it to her, which is also very cute. I am sure they will become more comfortable with her, but right now, Ben is the one who plays with her the most. Stay tuned as I am sure there will be a lot more puppy pictures to come!