Sneaking in a personal post here because he was the closest thing I’m personally getting to having another newborn of my own, sadly. My list was 100 long with reasons that I didn’t want a dog. You know, the usual: “I’m going to be the one taking care of it”; “It’s another expense we don’t need”; “It’s going to limit us”, etc. The truth is, I’ve had a dog most of my life. And the other truth is, I really wanted my children to have one…it’s a rite of passage isn’t it? Don’t tell me you’ve never watched My Dog Skip.
I was finally convinced. I had given it a lot of thought. My schedule at this moment could allow it, we could cut back on a few other things to afford the vet bills and dog food bills, and my oldest son is 11. If we got the dog now, he would only have about half of the dog’s life to be home with it and love it before he likely, goes off to college, with my other two following closely behind. That realization really put things in perspective so I agreed to the puppy. Honestly, both of us really had so much anxiety over the decision but we knew that the kids would be beyond excited.
We never told them. They never knew until they opened the cardboard box and there he was. Our Bailey.
It’s been a love/aggravation (I don’t dare use the word hate) relationship. The puppy stages are challenging with the biting and house training and obedience training. But he’s smart (sit, stay, down, roll over, speak and paw are his vocabulary words already) and he’s getting better. The puppy teeth are falling out and when he gets a lot of exercise, we see glimpses of what our dog will be in maybe a year or two. Like with a baby, I’m trying to enjoy all of the stages but I secretly wish the puppy stage was over. I never wished this about any of my kids but I can’t be anything but truthful here. We thought we were the only ones that felt this way but talk to a friend or two and you find empathy about the puppy stages! LOL. Ok, we can do this.
I have photographed Bailey a few times now and just wanted to document it and share these “newborn” and other photos. He’s been my muse for Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter and probably hates me too by now since I’ve subjected him to such humiliation. I see a baseball photo in his future too. He will be at my side at the field and the kids have even talked about mascot status….
Welcome to the family, Bailey. Please protect and love these boys as a good dog would do. xoxo
Oh, and PS- I have ZERO aspirations to be a pet photographer!!!
Kristan - I can’t express how much I love these pictures!!! Bailey is just the cutest thing ever! And your boys are so stinkin’ handsome! Xoxo