New Addition

Do you remember this post about our family wanting to get a dog? If you haven't read it, you should go read it to see the background of this post.

After YEARS AND YEARS of wanting to get a dog, we girls finally had Matt starting to think about giving in.

A few weeks ago, we went to Petland for one of our "let's go play with a puppy" outings. Usually on these outings, Matt would just stand outside the puppy play area. This time, he went into the cubby with us. First they brought out a husky. Gorgeous dogs but known to be hardcore chewers.

Then they brought out a ShiChon. It is a cross between a Bichon Frise (as seen here in a picture I found online):

and a Shih Tzu (also found online):

This is the dog they brought out for us to see:

he was about 9 weeks old, VERY playful, super cute. When we reached out to pet him, Matt and I both said "oh, wow." SOFTEST DOG you'll EVER touch. Feels like the softest stuffed animal you have. Score.

The girl at the petstore told us things like this:

Hypoallergenic - SCORE

Does not shed - DOUBLE POINTS

Not Yappy- BONUS

$750 - Uh, no.

Plus we would never get a dog from a petstore. too many horror stories about Puppy Mills, Kennel Cough, etc.

We went home and I started researching ShiChons. Found they are also called Zuchons, and Teddy Bears (appropriate). Googled pictures. Ooohed and Aaaahed. Started looking for breeders with available puppies. Not any in Kansas. Found a puppy in Oklahoma that I just LOVED. Spoke with the breeder, checked her references. Thought we could drive down after we got back from Iowa and get him. Then Matt said "I am not driving 5.5 hours home from Iowa one day, and then turning around driving 9 hours round trip the next day to get a dog." Um....okay. I see that point.

I thought, "well, we ARE going to Iowa over the 4th. I wonder if there are any breeders up there?". BINGO. YES...there was a breeder up there! Not even too far out of our way! AND she had a black and white male puppy that would be ready to go!! Her daughter was actually scheduled to come to Kansas on the 9th...so we were going to have her bring him down so that we wouldn't have to deal with the girls and the puppy for a 5 hour drive. However, the night before we left for Iowa, we found out that her plans had changed. So at the last minute we found out that we would be picking our puppy up on our way back home on the 5th.

The girls didn't know a thing. We had wanted to go to the petstore and get some dog toys, collar, etc. So we said "Uncle Ryan's dog Turbo is having a birthday when we are up there! let's get him so gifts!"...and then we "forgot them" at home.

I told the girls that we had to go see one of my friends from college for a few minutes on the way home. We had Brooke get out of the car and close her eyes. She was a bit skeptical.

A video of the big reveal: SURPRISE

Our family is complete!!!

The girls are loving him. So much so, that we find ourselves saying "Put him down" "Give him a break" "leave him alone" about every three minutes.

The drive home was kind of longer than usual...with overly-tired, quite excited children...and a little puppy who just didn't know what to think! He rode home in a basket by my feet. Everytime we'd stop, Matt would get him out to go potty while I took the girls in for their break. Then they would each get to hold him for a few minutes before we continued on our way.

I think there is a good chance that "the summer I was seven" will go down as the best year in Brooke's life for a long long long time. Oh, and his name is Max. Brooke has planned to name her dog Max, whenever she finally got one, since she was three. Kinda like I had planned to name my daughter Brooke since I was in Junior High.

We got him on Tuesday. Today is Sunday. In that time he's gotten fluffier, more playful, and the rest of his super-sharp puppy teeth have come in! He's also gotten a check up at the vet, lots of toys, and lots and lots of love. We put him in a kennel at night, and the first night he whined and cried and sounded like a cat in heat for about 20 minutes.... now he only fusses for about a minute at the most. The girls wear him out. When they finally go to bed, he crashes and you could probably set a bomb off next to his head and he will just give you a look between a pair of barely opened eyelids.

He is a fun little ball of fluff. I think he's even gotten Matt wrapped around his paw a bit already too :)

Thank you Matt, for finally "caving" as everyone has said.

And welcome to the family, Max!