puppies

We bought our dog that fateful Sunday.

Monday morning, I called my friend to ask if she'd become a foster parent to said dog.  

Tuesday afternoon, another friend called me to tell me the good news:  her dog finally had her puppies and wanted to give us two of them!

Good news is relative.  

By thursday of that week, Jessie was placed in her foster home and our life was returning to normal.  

The next week, I thought it would be a fun trip to go to our friends house and see the baby puppies.  They were only a few days old and would be so sweet and tiny!

My mom and husband and friends were all a little worried I might soften to the idea of getting another puppy.

There was no need to question my resolve.  My resolve was fully resolved.  

I really like this family, so seeing the puppies was only half of the fun.  They live in a "village", which always adds bumps up the "exotic" factor a notch when we go visit.  

My friend's dad was the primary caretaker of the newborn pups...or at least, the primary human caretaker anyway.  But, brand-new puppies are no match for foreign kids.  We just leave people awestruck everywhere we go.  

This time, though, it was Abby who seemed awestruck.  My normally clingy eight-month old was content in the arms of someone who was not me.  

Our friends had bought chocoalte bars and coke to welcome us to their home - since they know all too well my weakness for such items.  After Emma and Samantha ate enough chocolate to sufficiently embarrass me, we went to see the puppies.  

Here is the mama puppy - named DoDo, think "do-do bird" for pronunciation, and no, I'm not even kidding - with her litter.

* I love it when life collides with education!  We've read several chapter books recently that talk about runt and litter and things that my kids don't have a real concept for...until now!  It was great to take this fun experience and make it a high-value educational activity!

This litter was so odd - two black puppies, one brown one, a white one, and a white one with black spots.  Are all litters so diverse?  

DoDo was a good mama.  Even though she loves my children, she loves her children even more!  Emma and Samantha were intrigued by her protective parenting style.  (DoDo's got nothing on my protective parenting style! Haha!) For a new mom, she was actually really gracious to my frenetic preschoolers.  
Grandpa had to put DoDo in the other room, though, when Emma and Samantha held the pups.  I guess it was just too much for her to bear, seeing the lives she had birthed be put in such inexperienced hands.  

My dog-lover Emma was in heaven.  I'm not sure how the pup felt about the experience.  

Samantha quickly discovered that squeezing a puppy's tummy is not the best way to handle him. 
She did better with the second one.  
We loved that his black body ended with four white paws!
The puppies were so little!  Their eyes hadn't even opened yet, and they made such cute little mew-ing sounds.  It was very cool to watch DoDo pick up the puppies in her mouth and take them to their bed.  We were also there during group meal-time, and I felt particularly thankful that I've only ever had to nurse one child at a time.

We had a great time going to see the baby puppies, and you will be pleased to know that my resolve to keep our home puppy-less has not even cracked.  Not even the tiniest bit.  And I think it probably never will.