Becoming Family: The Big One

On December 5, 2008, a little puppy was born. Just like my other children, I had no idea that it was happening. One year later, I've got a big overgrown puppy who keeps me company, keeps me warm at night, keeps me moving, and keeps my stress level down. When we brought her home, we braced ourselves for a chewed up house but the pup has never been much of one to chew things she shouldn't. She is friendly to a fault, often overwhelming people with her excitement and once nearly making my neighbor pee his pants since my neighbor confused her unbridled enthusiasm for a menacing animal attack. She is so smart and so quick to learn that I got bored teaching her stupid pet tricks in about two weeks since she mastered them all quickly. Teaching her manners has been a bit of a struggle. Once we invested in an electronic collar, she became much more controllable. She stays in the yard unsupervised and greets the neighbors without leaving our porch, until we tell her it is okay to go after them them with kisses. The kids and the pup have a special bond and LOVE to chase each other, play tug, play fetch, and wrestle. And as I sit here and type this, my sweet little birthday girl is being the most fantastic foot warmer, all without even asking.

I picked her up a little birthday present at the store, the Dollar Store since I knew the life of a stuffed toy would be very short. The whole family sang "Happy Birthday" to her (because we are dorks like that) and gave her the present. My cute little fur covered lady turned into a greedy little kid. She ran. She hid. She gave evil stares to anyone that she thought might for a minute take away the most fantastic of gifts ever. I had to army crawl and zoom in just to get a photo of her.

At last she was able to get to the surprise inside. Maya is now the proud owner of Sheepy.

It has been about 8 hours since Maya and Sheepy first became friends. Once she removed all the stuffing (about 15 minutes after she first unwrapped Sheepy), she started considering letting us play with her and Sheepy. At this point in time, not only is Sheepy missing all its guts, it is earless and has only 3 legs. The pup is still carrying her new friend with her everywhere she goes, despite its handicap.

Greg thought we should take a picture of her in our truck to show just how much she has grown in the past 10 months since she has been part of our family. She was pretty mad at us for putting her in there, but you get the point.

And for fun, a few of my favorite baby Maya pictures.

Leaving the breeder's:

The first week or two she would barely leave my lap. Greg was really not the least bit happy that this was how I ate dinner the first night we were home with her: