The Rest of Us

First, I want to apologize for taking over the blog. It's not what it looks like - I promise. I have the advantage of nap times and most evenings to blog, while Josh has been slammed at work. He is also more involved in other activities in the evenings.

As I mentioned last week, we got a PUPPY! This seems like a good time to introduce the rest of the family.

Coqueto and Rascal

First things first: Christmas of 2007, Josh and I were engaged. He wanted to get me a kitten for Christmas. He was initially going to surprise me, but I think I had a clue and said some stuff about kittens being something that I would want to help pick out.

So off to the shelter we went. I loved this adorable black and white runt. I could not leave without him.

Josh on the other hand could not let me leave with the runt when his bigger, fatter brother would be left alone. So, we left with TWO new kittens. The smaller one with more white on his nose is Coqueto and the still larger, fatter brother is Rascal. They still prefer each of us, just as we prefer each of them [read: Coque and I like each other best and so do Josh and Rascal]. They love to laze around. They are also hilariously dog-like. They greet us at the door, flop down to get their bellies rubbed, and steal people food (of all kinds) whenever they can.

Next, we got a dog. Jonie was rescued, and about 4 years old when we got her around Christmas the next year.

She was sweet, but she also had some emotional damage from her life before. We loved having her around and she was getting better and better.

She was amazing with Merit, and a great guard dog, which we really appreciated.

In November of 2010 she got very sick and died within a week.

Since then, we have been wanting a puppy. We wanted to start with a puppy love that would carry on. We also wanted to train a dog ourselves and avoid the emotional setbacks we experienced with Jonie. I was not ready to house-train in the winter though. Spring rolled in and I started watching JW and LM everyday - which was a huge change. When summer started, so did potty training for LM. Now that all of that is behind us, I'm not pregnant, and it's going to be winter again before we know it... I wanted a new pup.

Enter Rufio. Rufio was found in a parking lot, thirsty and exhausted on a hot day. A lady took him home to care for him and try to find his owner. After no luck, she decided she needed to give him away. She already had a dog, 4 cats, and 6 kids at home. We saw her ad on craigslist and brought him home.

We are all adjusting to life with Rufio, but it is going pretty well! Yesterday he only had 1 accident, and none so far today. He is doing awesome with crate training too. If he wasn't, it would get overwhelming when everyone gets riled up.

We took him to Cleveland this weekend. I kind of felt bad for the pup (who we brought home Tuesday) for heading to a new place yet again. Saturday morning I helped my soon-to-be sister-in-law with her bridal shower, Josh went for a 5 mile run with a friend, and then headed to Toledo for a wedding. I left the shower early to meet him at the reception. It took a lot of coordination between the 2 of us, 1 car, Merit and Rufio. On the other hand, it was pretty typical. I am so thankful for close family during weekends like these! Family that lets life get messy all over them (dogs and babies are messy, if you didn't know), family that is always eager to care for Merit, and family that is understanding about all our obligations.