Y2

It seems life has just been too busy to blog...since I returned from my trip (post and pictures coming soon), it seems like it's been whirlwind around here. Mostly thanks to Ralphy and Bear.

"The boys" have been keeping us very busy...When I tell people we got two chocolate labs, the most common response is "Two? You got two? Why two?" Well, here's the story.

When Nate was growing up, his family often had two dogs at the same time and they were always labs. At one point, I remember them having three at one time. Right now his parents only have one, Yogi, and I think that's the first for a long time. So, it was normal for Nate to picture us with two. Then, I started picturing us with two. Then, G-man started to enjoy listening to Daddy's hunting stories before bed. Of course, they always brought two dogs with when they were out hunting. And G-man named them...Ralph and Bear. The stories continued for months and G-man started to picture us with two dogs as well. (And now you know how they got their names too!)

I've mentioned that Nate and I take a REAAALLLLYYY long time to make big decisions. A dog is a big decision...one that we've talked about for a couple of years now. In late April, Nate came home and told me that a guy that works at one of his accounts has brand new puppies that would be ready in a couple of weeks. I think I freaked him out with my response, "Oh yea? Well, why don't you reserve one for us?" We didn't talk about it much more after that. It was a done deal, with the exception of how many we would reserve. He called me at work the next day and told me he reserved one. "One? Really? I thought we wanted two?" At this point, I know I totally freaked him out. That day, I asked Gavin what he would think if we got a puppy really soon. He responded with, "One? Why not two?" After a short discussion over dinner that night, Daddy called the man back and told him we'd take two.

And that's our story.

I can honestly say that I'm so happy we got two. Of course there is twice as much dog food, doggy doo-doo, chewing, and vet bills. But there is so much brotherly love between these two. They play, fight, and watch out for each other like only brothers do. They keep each other company all day long when nobody's around. The whining and barking has been minimal, mostly because they have each other.

I wouldn't do it any other way.

We are learning that things don't always happen the perfect way you had planned, even when it comes to puppies. We are also learning that not everything needs to be perfect in order to enjoy the good things in life. Ideally, we would have wanted to be in a larger home with a larger yard for the puppies to run and play. But, we're making it work. We're taking what we have and making the most of it...in more ways than one.

Mr. Ralph

Bear-Bear

Mama's Babies