{woman's best friend}

I think I get it now. That whole man's best friend thing when it comes to dogs. I mean, I grew up with a dog... kind of. We had a dog for quite a number of years while living at my mom's house. An Australian Shepard named Misty. I loved the dog, but I don't think I really loved her. She wasn't really my dog per se, but I think most of the family fancied her. It was definitely sad to hear when she had to be put down because of age, but because I had been out of the house for a few years by that point it wasn't horrible. Does that sound bad? I wasn't too upset at that time. I still considered her a dog. Not a family member.

When we decided to take the leap into dog ownership I didn't know how it would overall affect our family. I mean, Jay knew that he wanted a dog, Ayden was just going to get surprised with a dog, and I wasn't quite so sure at that point in time. So, we got the dog. We named him Drake, and he slowly started to bond with us and we sort of kind of fell in love with him.

It's been almost three months since we've gotten him and I know it was the right decision. He just somehow fits into our family like he's always been there. Of course I still get upset with him. He's a dog, not a human. He's going to do things that I don't think. We are still in the training and puppy stage. I get it.

I've always liked dogs in general. You know, you'd go over to someone's house that has a dog and love on it for a bit, but it's definitely not the same as having your own. I see things now that I didn't see before. For example, when I go to other people's houses and their dogs jump up on me... um, cute for two seconds, then annoying. When I go to our house and Drake wants to be all up in my face, it's more cute than annoying. Maybe cute for five seconds, haha! Actually, we are really trying to work on the jumping thing with the impending arrival of the new baby. Drake's still a puppy, so I know it will take a little while yet. But I can see the annoyance in other people's faces when they come over to our house and Drake it all up in their business. They don't try and show it, but I know they'd rather not have the dog all over them. I get it because I don't want their dog all over me either.

Yes, Drake does get super excited still when new people come over. He likes strangers. He's all hyper and what not. Of course we can get him hyper as well, but he's got some good doggy intuition too. He's pretty chill and mellow for the most part when it's just us at home. He knows that mommy appreciates the extra snuggles right now. It's gone from him snuggling on me in the beginning when he was nice and tiny, to mostly snuggling next to me right now... with his head resting on the baby bump. That is our bonding time, just laying together on the couch.  He's definitely more active and hyper with Ayden. They are the play buddies. For whatever reason, just having him next to me to pet seems to help ease some of the discomfort that I am typically feeling at this point in the pregnancy. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I think he'll always be a couch dog now and that's okay with me. We have a nice big sectional, so there is plenty of space for both him and myself to stretch out right now and as we both get larger for the time being.

I definitely look forward to seeing what adventures lie ahead for our family and the pup! It's definitely going to be an interesting summer... that's for sure!

CIAO! LOVE ME!