Welcome to the family Pretzel

This post is long overdue but once you see all the pictures you will know why :)

When I returned from Europe, I knew we had something big looming on the horizon.  We had talked about this ad nauseum for months and Andy & I both knew that we didn't need to put it off any longer.  It was puppy time.  For the past year, Jack has been asking (at least once a week but sometimes multiple times a day) when we were going to get a new puppy.  He would sigh, stick his bottom lip out, and say, "I miss Bean.  Why did she have to die?  When can we get another puppy?"  There was a brief period last Christmas when we thought, for a split second, that perhaps December would be a good time.  But after a long discussion on the car ride home from Jackson after Christmas, Andy and I decided we weren't ready.  Not only was the timing bad (summer is ideal b/c I'm home to help house train) but we just weren't ready to welcome another dog into our home.  It still didn't feel right and we still missed Bean.  (Full disclosure:  I still miss the Bean and will never truly be ready for this because of that.  But that's my selfish hang up and I don't need to make Jack unhappy b/c I'm still sad.)

But all that changed this summer.  We agreed that once I came home from Europe - and was essentially home til school started - that we would start visiting the Humane Society & Young Williams in the hopes of finding our next furry child.  Did I expect this to be the next Bean?  Of course not.  Even Andy asked me that question as a 'just in case' but I assured him that this would be a dog for the kids.  We would love her unconditionally but she would be first and foremost, Jack and Lucy's dog (and Baby 3).  

Andy and I came home on Saturday from an overnight trip to Nashville (David Gray!) in which Mimi graciously offered to watch the kiddos for us and we were all amped up to find this new family member.  We piled in the car, rehearsed with Jack about how we may not find our perfect puppy today so be prepared, then visited 3 different shelters.  All let downs.  The only puppies they had we boxer mixes or lab mixes or hound mixes or put bull mixes.  Nothing felt right.  And nothing wrong with those breeds either - it just wasn't what we were looking for.  So with a heavy heart we decided to come back the next day and try again.  I told Andy I only had two requirements:  1. we needed a puppy so we could get it accustomed to small children faster and 2.  I wanted a female dog.  We have always had female dogs and I just prefer them.

But on Sunday...

 We met this guy.  Andy spotted him in the Meet and Greet room with another prospective owner and immediately we wanted to see him.  And he broke my two solid rules.  He wasn't a puppy (not really.  He was 6 months old so technically they were housing him in the young dog room) and he was not a she.  But he was adorable.  And he was a terrier mix.  My favorite kind of dog.

 The kids were enamored as well.  Our meet and greet went great.  He was a little shy - can't imagine why with these two in his face - and yes.  He reminded me of the Bean.  He bears a strong resemblance.  But this is the kind of dog face I love.  He is perfect.  His name was Hamhock (yuck) but as we were playing with him, Jack came out with the name Pretzel.  We don't know where it came from but he just said it.  In the car on the way home, Andy and I agreed that we loved the name.  What's more, I love that Jack will forever be the one who named our next puppy.  I can only imagine a 15 year old Jack on the deck of our house calling him in at night, "Pretzel!"  It's just too funny.

Well, it wasn't a sure thing though.  The lady before us had put in an application and we were in agony for the next 24 hours because we knew that if her application got approved, we would be back to square 1.  And we didn't want to lose Pretzel.  So I had Andy call the next morning and leave the Humane Society a voicemail expressing our interest one more time and asking if there was any other information or questions we could answer to help along the adoption process (we are persistent.  I wasn't sure you could tell that or not.)  Andy called me Monday afternoon with the good news - Pretzel was ours!!!!  We were set to pick him up the next day at noon.  I cannot begin to explain our excitement!

June 30th:  Our Gotcha Day!  Thankfully I was able to get back up for this big event and Rachel came with us to pick up our newest member while I filled out the paperwork.  I love love love the top picture.  He is quite frankly the cutest dadgum thing ever and I'm so glad we came back that Sunday to look again.  It was fate.

 Jack was SO excited!

 We all were.  If you can't tell.

 Awkward semi-family photo.  Jack, Lucy and I had gone to PetSmart that morning to get all the supplies we needed and as I was checking out (and my kids were running around the empty store just being kids) this snooty male clerk who probably doesn't have children said to me, "2 kids, one on the way, and you're about to get a puppy?  is that a good idea?"  Because my knee jerk reaction is always way too nice I said to him, "Well I like chaos."  What I should have done is put my wallet back in my purse, tell the guy to mind his damn business, and walked out.  But sadly, I'm always a lot cooler when I reflect on what I should have done ;/  oh well.

 Pretzel's first romp around the backyard.  This is why I love shelter dogs.  It's like they know what they've been given or rescued from and are forever grateful.  As it turns out, Pretzel spent the first 6 months of his life chained up in a backyard.  The Humane Society finally managed to convince the owner to surrender him a few days before we met him.  I can't imagine anyone doing that to a little guy like this.

Jack.  In heaven.

 Lucy.  Right there with him.  I will tip my hat to this guy as well.  He had zero experience with kids leading into this.  We were nervous about the kids being to overwhelming and rough with him and that he might bite or react badly.  The first handful of days, Pretzel was hesitant and a little nervous with them.  In fact, at one point Jack surprised him from behind and Pretzel turned and nipped.  He bit Jack's lip (only slightly) and Jack was upset but it served as a good lesson.  And Jack and Lucy have both learned (kind of) to be a little gentler with him.  Pretzel has become AMAZINGLY tolerant and gentle with them.  It's like he now knows they are not a threat and instead are these awesome kids he gets to play with all the time.  I am really impressed with how quickly he's adapted.

 How cute is he?  I feel like I could do several posts with just his face.

 Rachel and Lizzi let us borrow their crate so we could crate him for the first few weeks.  The kids got more use out of it than he did.

 Exhausted after his first day home.

 I love this one.  A boy and his dog.

 I love this one too.  Another boy and his dog.  :)  Andy was so bummed he couldn't go get Pretzel with us and hurried home as quickly as he could to greet the little man.  The girl at the Humane Society told me that when she called Andy to tell him Pretzel was ours, she swore he almost squealed with excitement.  She said she's never heard a grown man that excited to get a dog.  And I told her, well this is a long time coming.  We've missed having a furry kid in the house.  And I have an amazing husband who loves animals so that also plays a role :)

 In case you are wondering, we've already given the crate back.  I know we should have kept it up (especially since we have new carpets) BUT we are just not crate people.  I tried crating Bean in the beginning and that was a miserable failure.  So instead, Pretzel has free reign of the house while we are gone and up to this point has not had an accident in the house while we have been gone (not that we can tell anyway....)  I tried locking him downstairs to localize any accidents but he's part kangaroo and jumped the gate.  So far the longest we've left him is 4.5 hours.  I'm trying to build up to longer before school starts.  He was seriously rocking out the potty training in the beginning but we've regressed a little in the past few days.  He does really well at night and during the day but in the evening it seems like he has to go 15 times so if you aren't paying attention (like for example I'm busy reading bedtime stories to the kids) he will pee upstairs.  I'm not sure why his bladder needs to be emptied quite so much during the evening but he's also still a puppy and will struggle with this concept for the next few months.  And thankfully our new carpet is ScotchGuarded and we have a huge jug of Nature's Miracle.  All is well :)

And honestly, what's a little pee on the floor when you have this little guy to snuggle with?

A few more Pretzel pics before I wrap up this post:

 On his way to his first vet visit.  Jack was so excited that he got to be the one to hold him in his lap :)

 He checked out great -except for a tiny flea problem which has already been remedied and confirmation of the fact that he does not like other dogs.  Looks like he has some socialization classes in his future!

 The kids have spent more time on the floor the past three weeks than they have all year.

 This was my facebook flashback the third day after we got him.  I can't believe it's been two years this month since we found out Bean had cancer.  I feel like she knew it was time and made sure Pretzel was right where he needed to be for us to find him.  She's good that way.

 It was definitely time for a puppy :)

 Love him.
Is it exhausting?  Yes.
Do I sit there and think, "Why did we just add a new responsibility to our lives right before having a newborn?"  Yes.
Do I kind of miss the freedom we enjoyed of not worrying about a dog waiting at home that needed to go out?  Yes.
Do I look at him sometimes and wonder, "is he happy?  is this going to work out?"  Yes.
Did we make the right decision?  ABSOLUTELY.

We love you Pretzel and we are so happy that we found each other.  You are an amazing little guy and have already made the kids happier than I've seen them in a long time (especially Jack.  I didn't realize how much he missed Bean until I saw him with Pretzel.)  We look forward to the adventures we will share with you and know that as the months pass you will become more and more ingrained into our family life.  I would also like to give a nice shout out to St. Francis for sending us another wonderful puppy to love.  Once again, St. Francis is my homeboy and takes care of the Brimers :)