What have we gotten ourselves into???

Spring is in the air.

Seriously, do you feel it?

It seems that everywhere we look, new life is around us.

So many people are pregnant or just had a baby. The trees all around me are budding with new growth. The children in 6YO's kindergarten class are bouncing off the walls with 'Spring Fever.' Suddenly, all of the girls' pants seem to look too short or starting to get holes in the knees. Luckily, the warmer temps have given us the added benefit of being able to pull out the skirts and things that were put away last fall. The girls are very happy to get to wear the things they'd rather wear all year anyway.

This all seemed to happen overnight, too.

I guess it's no wonder that David and I would be bitten by the 'baby bug' about now. As most of you know, David visited 'Dr. Snips' last summer. Believe it or not, we don't have a single regret about that. That still doesn't keep us from wanting a baby, though.

So, we just had to do it. We couldn't fight the urge any longer. We had to have another baby of our own.

So, on that note, I present to you our new baby:

She's a purebred Boxer and she will be 8 weeks old tomorrow. We are over the moon with excitement about our new addition. She was the most alert of the female puppies in her litter. Her parents were both on site and gorgeous. We just love the breed itself and she already seems so smart.

Lily, on the other hand, is less than thrilled about the new puppy. Once she sniffed her, she jumped back (practically out of her skin) and barked once, as if to say,"I AM NOT RAISING THAT THING!" She growls whenever the puppy comes close to her. And the puppy does that a lot! She is used to other dogs and of course she wants to be near the only other four-legged creature in the house. Lily has kept her game face, however, and really wants this puppy to know just who the boss is around here.

Hmmm....I wonder if Lily is aware that this puppy will, one day, be three times her size....

So, that's the news from around these parts. Believe it or not, this entire deal was David's idea! I am not one that prefers puppies to adult dogs. Not normally, anyhow! But, this puppy just gets to me. We love Boxers. You might remember Hogan.

*sniff*

There will NEVER be another Hogan. However, all the things I read about Boxers tended to list all of Hogan's good points as typical Boxer traits. And those are traits that fit well into our family. Lily will enjoy having another four-legged friend around. Eventually. And I don't think she'd actually hurt the puppy. It will just take some time for her to warm up to the whole idea!

OH! And the puppy's name is 'Aly.' Well, that's the name her family gave her so they could have a way to tell them apart. We can totally change it...but I'm not sure if we will. While I can't wrap my head around the cruel tongue-twister that would come about when trying to call both dogs' names, the name is sort of growing on me. The girls all like it, as does David. It is a little odd that we know people in real life that are actually called 'Aly'...but what can you do about that? We kept Lily's name that the pound had given her. Besides, I usually end up calling Lily my 'Lilykins' and will probably be calling the puppy 'Alykins' anyhow.

We'll just have to see what happens. In the meantime, we have a birthday party to get ready for. We haven't put Lily in her crate in a few months, so the puppy will be using that crate until she outgrows it.

It seems easier to me to potty train a child than to properly housebreak a puppy. But, David is so 'on board' with this that I heard him cooing and babbling to the puppy in a way he NEVER spoke to our children when they were babies.

Yeah, he's smitten. I guess you could say we all are.

More stories to follow, I'm sure!