What was I thinking????

I know that is what some of you are thinking. ;) I am totally joking about rethinking our decision to get a new dog. Well mostly joking, as you will soon see.

Lily

We thought long and hard about getting a new dog. Nathaniel went out a second time to see the dog without kids and then he took Rylie out to meet her. They just sniffed each other and then went exploring then sniffed each other some more and went back to exploring. We figured that was a good sign. There was no growling, barking, excitement. Rylie usually goes nuts when a new dog is around. He gets so excited he can't stand it. We talked about it and thought long and hard about it and decided that, yes, we would like to get her. We started discussing names. Nathaniel overruled Andy as he has already had a dog with that name, he suggested Addy which I overruled because that is my parents dog's name, Madeleine still wanted Andy, Victoria suggest belle or Ruthie, and I suggested Lily. It came down to Lily and Ruthie. We couldn't decide.

Lily and Rylie

Saturday morning we went and paid for her and then did some school shopping while we waited for her to get her rabies shot. Nathaniel took us home and went to get her. He brought her home to very excited children. She sniffed around and she and Rylie sniffed each other quite a bit. At this point she still didn't have a name. By that night the two dogs seemed thoroughly acquainted with each other and seemed fine together. We all finally agreed upon Lily for her name. We also figured out that she is part lab and boarder collie.

Madeleine, Victoria, and Claire dressed Lily up

Sunday we got to spend a lot of time with the two dogs. We had originally thought that Rylie would rule the roost and Lily would have to deal with it. Well Lily had other ideas. She was trying to take Rylie's bed, she was growling at him and taking his bone from his mouth. She was trying to go everywhere first. They would sit and nip at each other. We weren't sure what was going on. Rylie acted like he was scared of her. Nathaniel looked into dominance issues with dogs and we started some things in motion to teach her that Rylie was the senior dog and she needed to follow him. By Monday afternoon things were better. The girls have been very good at following the rules too. Except the one that is keep your things off the floor because this dog likes to chew. So far we have lost some shoes, a sippy cup, pencil, and some sand toys outside. Ahh the puppy days.

Victoria and princess Lily

Monday afternoon it was vet time. We were hoping everything would be good and we wouldn't have a deathly sick animal. She seemed healthy, just a little too skinny. Nathaniel takes the dogs and the kids and I waited to see what the vet said. I got a call and Nathaniel said that there was a development. I was thinking, great she is going to die of some horrid dog sickness. Oh no, I wasn't even close on guessing what was wrong. Our sweet 10-12 month old puppy is PREGNANT! Yes you read that right. She is having 3-5 puppies in about a month. All I could do was laugh. Nathaniel was a little sick to his stomach. We had to quickly decide if we wanted to keep her or try and take her back to the pound. The third option wasn't an option for us. I called my mom for advice and we decided to keep her. The vet gave Nathaniel the how to on delivering pups and caring for them and sent him on his way.

Lily found one of Nicholas' binkis

I said I wanted something to mother and I definitely will have that. The kids are so excited! Victoria asked multiple times a day how much longer til the puppies come. It will be a fun thing for the kids to experience. I am excited. Puppies are so cute. It will be a lot of work but I am looking forward to it.

So now do you really wonder what I was thinking???