Charlie

Matt has wanted to get a puppy forever. Like since the second we got married. Luckily I am married to a very practical man and he knew we needed to wait until we were in a house with a yard. When Tim called Matt and told him that Paisley was having puppies, Matt thought that it was time for us to finally get a puppy! We went over to see the puppies on the day they were born. Paisley had nine puppies, and all of them looked totally different! There were a few black, yellow, and gold/brown puppies, some with long fur and some with short fur, and some of them had markings. They were not very cute when they were born, but sure got cute over the weeks! We visited the puppies A LOT and got a ton of pictures!

Whenever they were tired, they all got in a big pile. I know where the phrase "dog pile" comes from now. You can see the little white stripe on the lightest puppy was there the day she was born.

Matt was immediately taken by the big brown puppy.

Even Harrison, who isn't too fond of dogs, held the puppies! And there were plenty for everyone!

Reagan was always grabbing the puppies. They are all going to be good dogs around kids because of her!

 Brad and Claire thought it was more fun to play in the kennel with the puppies!

After 8 weeks, they were ready for us to choose a puppy! Matt and I had each picked a puppy that we liked, but the ultimate decision was Matt's because it would really be his puppy. He told Tim that he wanted the dark brown puppy. I was secretly hoping he would pick the yellow one with the white face.

When Matt and I went out to pick up the puppy and he changed his mind and picked the yellow puppy with the white face that I wanted! We are so happy with our choice! We debated all day over what to name her, and finally landed on Charlie.

Matt was playing with all nine puppies the day we chose Charlie. This was the last time all the puppies were together. Tim and Kamie sold all eight of the other puppies in the next two weeks.

Charlie's first day at the house must have been scary for her. She laid down on her bed and slept for most of the afternoon and was really patient when everyone came over to see her.

One night it started snowing. We weren't sure how Charlie would react, but she loved it!

We took Charlie over to Randy and Jenny's house one Saturday while we watched the kids. She played with them for hours and was exhausted afterward! Harrison insisted that she needed all her toys, even though she was sleeping. He even put snowballs on her in case she wanted to play!

Having a dog has been good for Matt and I. We have been good at taking her for walks every day to run off some of her energy. One day, we were out walking and Charlie jumped up and took her poop bag right out of Matt's hand and carried it with her on our walk! Dumb dog.

Charlie sleeps in the weirdest positions! I woke her up when I took this picture, but she was sleeping upsidedown with her feet up in the air!

Here she is sleeping with her head under the couch.

Charlie loves Matt. She has to cuddle up close to him when he gets up with her on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Sometimes she thinks she can lay her head on Matt's pillow with him.

This was the first night with Charlie. Matt felt so sad listening to her cry all night, so he got up and laid on the floor so she could see him from her kennel.

He was pretty exhausted the next day from sleeping on the floor with the dog. She was pretty exhausted too from all that crying.

It's a good thing Charlie is so cute. Matt takes her to work with him and she is getting more and more comfortable every day. She recently figured out that she likes sticking her head out the window while they are driving. Matt says she prefers to ride in his lap and then she can put most of her body out the window. He says that she is super close to just jumping straight out!

One afternoon, Matt couldn't find where Charlie was. He called her and looked everywhere and couldn't find her. He finally found her sleeping on the bunk of wood, soaking in the sun. He says he finds her in lots of places taking naps in the shade.

Matt can't get enough of his dog. He loves to play with her, and even gets mad at me if I don't greet her when I come in the door or play with her much. I hope that Matt loves our baby boy as much as he loves his dog, because I know it will be a lot!

Charlie has been with us now for almost three weeks! She has done so much better since that first night. She only cried at night for another two nights. After that, she stopped crying and wakes up at the same time that Matt does in the morning. Unfortunately, she doesn't understand that on Saturdays we sleep in, so Matt still gets up and lays on the floor next to her for a little while. Charlie is now mostly potty trained. She was great from the first day actually, but did have a couple accidents if we weren't fast enough getting her outside. She goes to work with Matt every day and he has slowly started letting her off her leash more and more. We don't ever put her on her leash while we walk, and she does great. She loves kids and gets a little crazy when they want to play. We are teaching her not to bite, and also teaching the kids what to do if she nips at them, but she has gotten a lot better! She is such a good dog! We are having so much fun with the puppy and can't wait for her to meet the baby!