...................................................................................................: new family members

the day before, we were a three.

we've had a lot going on this past year...our first anniversary, my writing in its many stages, new restaurants (and 2 more coming in the next year and a half), we went through the process of buying a house a few weeks ago--which we do as real estate agents all the time, but this was for us--but then had to let go of once we figured out the house wasn't in as good of shape as we had hoped. :( as if all this wasn't enough...we got another dog.

the scene of the crime.

maddie posing with her to send a picture to mason.

this was BEFORE the hair being done..sorry for the bun.

yep! we did! i walked in historic downtown franklin (which you totally need to do if you ever visit nashville) with my sister maddie to our hair appointments on main street. the way we came out of the parking garage led us to the franklin square, and wouldn't ya know there were two tents set up with doggies up for adoption. normally, i look, squeal a little, and move on, knowing my charlie would disown me if i even dared bring another dog into the house. but mason and i had been talking about getting another dog--beagle sized or so--at some point. we either wanted to wait until our future first child (not, this is not that kind of announcement post) turned two or do it now, before we have any impending children on the way. one puppy/child at a time please. so, needless to say, this wasn't one of those times we oooed & cooed and scurried along. our hair dresser was running behind (it was the saturday before christmas) so we had some time to kill. it was a rare 65-degree december afternoon, so we spent it outside, and we back to the dogs. i took a picture of a couple, sent them to my husband, and he was hooked.

how do i know? he drove all the way from one traffic central 25-30 minutes to another to see these dogs. he hasn't come down to downtown franklin in forever for a reason! it's pretty far out of the way for folks living closer to downtown nashville. so, when he showed up...i knew we were adopting a dog.

her name was sparkles, but we quickly renamed her to NASH. she's a mutt, but guess what we know she has in her? some beagle and some dachshund. she has a beautiful short coat and long little legs, and according to my uncle (who is a vet), she probably won't get that much bigger since she's already 5-6 months old.

my biggest fear was charlie. how would he react? would he flip out like he does on our walks around the neighborhood, alpha-male-ing everything in sight?

their first meet. check out charlie's hesitation.

we introduced them on neutral ground (thanks to my uncle and nash's foster mom for that tip), and i was sooooo nervous. but it was fine! hallelujah! it wasn't like a family reunion or anything, but he didn't freak out on her. and bonus: she slept through the night!

so now, i'm on day two...and i'm exhausted. two big personalities, one puppy, one i need to remember to show i love him and i'll never forget my firstborn dog...holy moly. charlie is tolerated and getting used to her, but he's not chummy.

and nash is clumsy, teething, chewing on my hair, learning how to be led by a leash (first timer) and constantly whining, but we don't know exactly why when half the time it's when she's completely preoccupied.