SIMPLY INSPIRED: A Tribute to Miss. P

February 18, 2010 was the day that John, myself, and my mother in law went to pick up Palin from the breeder and bring her home. That day our lives where forever changed. As we are now embarking on an entirely new level of life change with the excited anticipation of our babys arrival hopefully (today) any day now I found myself reflecting on our love for this dog, and laughing at my craziness about bringing her home. Never really having a dog of my own as a teenage it was definitely a new experience. I remember getting ready for her arrival, similar preparation to a baby.....something to sleep in, something to wear, something to play with, food, you know all the necessities. Even the light bickering between John and I was similar. He had gotten this ginormous crate for her, and I remember giving him a hard time about it. It was de ja vu when it came to painting the babys room as there I was again giving my poor husband a hard time about painting recommendations. Somewhat funny to me, maybe not to John. We were so prepared for Palin, just like we are for Baby Semmy. Yet oddly, I am less nervous about the arrival of this baby then I was about bringing a puppy home. The night we picked up Palin she looked so adorable, and cuddly and I immediately fell in love with this little fur ball. She slept in a laundry basket the whole ride home, and when we took her into our back yard that night for the first time she couldn't wait to play.

I had a schedule all planned for Palin, and that first night remember the books saying don't pick her up or take her out of her crate if she whines. We didn't, instead we slept next to her crate so she could feel us close by. My mother in law had just gotten home from Afghanistan and was going to end up being with us the first week Palin was home. Mind you this was also going to be the longest period we had spent together ever, and I am marrying her son in five months. To say the least I think I repeated to her a thousand times that first week I promise I am going to be much better with a baby then I am with this dog. I mean I had baby experience nannying, babysitting, and helping with the triplets. Every time she would laugh.

Palin's first week home was a blur because I was so fixated on making sure that we were following the schedule in the dog book, not letting her chew, bringing her outside every five second to let her pee, etc. We were exhausted, as you can tell by this picture...

I was telling John the other night that I feel like I didn't enjoy Palin's first few weeks home the way I should have and even the first few months because I was so focused on making her obedient vs. just enjoying her and realizing she was a puppy. I followed that dog around like a nut making sure she didn't get into anything, didn't chew anything, didn't pee anywhere that it was almost overkill despite our success in ensuring that she didn't do those things. I learned from this and am positively sure I am going to enjoy every second with our baby. People say to prepare for a baby get a dog. This is true, dogs are a lot of work and we are already accustomed to getting up at the crack of down because each morning we awake to the thump of Palin jumping onto our bed and then feel her eyes staring at us until we say hello. Palin has made us laugh, and brought so much joy to our lives that lately I find myself completely enthralled with her at all times. I keep saying to John "Can you believe how much we love Palin, but we are going to have a human being we are going to love even more like next week". It is crazy to me how an animal that weighs 35 lbs, can have such an effect on a person. She is truly the best dog ever, and over the past year and a half that we have been her parents we have enjoyed countless Palin milestones and captured the adorable face in hundreds of pictures that just make me smile. When the baby comes people say that Palin will not be as important, I tend to disagree. For example Palin already has her spot on ottoman in the babys room where I know her curious self will lay quietly as we read our baby books each night. She will always be our little girl, our first daughter, and the one we could never imagine life without. So here are some of my favorite pics and videos of our little girl over the past year and a half. There are so many it was truly hard to choose! Enjoy!

First Bath