Princess Leia

 

I'm sitting down to write about our new baby, and as I look around the room my heart melts a little.  Little J is snoozing in his bouncer (giggling in his sleep, like a ham), Zooey is curled up on her favorite afghan, and our newest baby, Leia, is flopped in the middle of the floor.  I love our sleepy little family.  

At 5:15 this morning, however, some of us weren't very sleepy... Having a puppy is similar to bringing home a newborn in so many ways.  We were up every two hours last night to care for our little Border Collie mix.  And by the time we finally gave up on sleeping at 6:45, Leia was beyond ready to play.  These are the days when I worship my coffee maker.  

 

A History of Our Love for Dogs

My brothers and I were raised alongside several wonderful doggies.  We had a dog that continuously dumped the kitchen trash and ate all of my Halloween candy one year.  We had another dog that would sneak out the front door and race down the street.  Another dog would eat Legos and bees and lick moths right off of the walls.  Our favorite pup, Coco, would let me dress him in baby clothes and carry him around the house on my back.  The only "family" dog left is Dusty.  Just utter the word "squirrel" in his presence and he will scurry to the back door and stand alert, waiting to chase off any furry intruders from his backyard.  The three of us kids often reminisce about childhood dogs.  They may have been rascals, but they were part of the family and we really loved them.  I want to offer my own children that same kind of family-canine companionship. 

After Jared and I got engaged, I was aching to adopt a puppy of my own.  I shopped for my own dog for years before I even met Jared, but I never found "the one."  When I met Zooey... I felt like the planets aligned.  I knew instantly that she was my soul mate dog.  Trust me, it exists.  Coco was my mom's soul mate dog in every way, and I could tell that Zooey was mine.  I still feel such an intense love for this 6-pound doggie - even as I write this I'm welling up with sentimental tears!  She is smart, sensitive, friendly, affectionate... but when we brought Little J home from the hospital, Zooey felt so betrayed.  She stopped snuggling with us and started breaking all our rules. She has finally warmed up to the babe (they adore each other now), but I think it may take her just as long to warm up to her new sisterpup...

We can already tell that Leia is going to keep us on our toes.  She is brilliant and responsive, but extremely playful and inquisitive as well.  I fret about the fact that someday she may be 10 times bigger than Zooey... but for now she is treating Zooey with a gentle tenderness that I hope will carry over into her interactions with our future human babies.

Star Wars plays a major theme in our home decorating :)

Jared's nerdiness emits an almost visible radiation - he makes no effort to mask it, which I utterly adore about him.  The name Leia was his pick, and I love it. 

Future BFFs

I look forward to sharing our adventures with this new little squirt.  Timing is a funny thing... you see, Little J is thiiiiiis close to crawling, which means I will have three tiny creatures tearing through my house and sticking unsafe objects in their mouths.  My life is about to get beautifully, unconditionally hectic.