Sunday, April 1, 2012

Meet Toby

Well, yesterday brought a new arrival to our household! Dan agreed we could go to the SPCA to look at a boxer I had fallen in love with online. When we got there, the line was long, so to pass time while I was in line, Dan and the kids were looking at two crates of puppies. Before I got to the front, I asked Dan if he was interested in a puppy (and we always agreed we would NEVER get a puppy), and he looked unsure. When the woman at the desk told me the boxer had already been adopted, it seemed like we were heading in a different direction.

Our application was approved for the puppies, but we went back to the older dogs to take a look at them. There were two dogs that caught my eye; one was named Havoc, which didn't seem like the best sign, and the other was a stray boxer mix. Dan was worried about that one because we had no information on her, and with the two small children, we need to be very aware of that type of thing. We chose to look at a puppy Dan had noticed in the crate.

Well, it only took me a few minutes to fall in love with him. He was soft and cuddly and adorable! Dan, ever the practical one, was concerned about the training we'd have to do, but being delusional, I figured it would go quickly and easily. After what felt like hours of paperwork, we finally took little Toby home.

Toby was born 2/1, which makes him about 8 weeks old. As you can see, he's a mix of several things. He is listed as a lab/chow mix, but they thought that the father could have been pug/husky. Whatever he is, he's adorable, and so far, he's pretty well-behaved. Last night he had me up a few times crying in his crate, but I knew to expect that. He's peed outside for us several times, and while he did have a small accident this morning, looking back, Dan said he could see some cues that he had to go potty.

The kids seem to love him already, especially Emily. We haven't seen much of Lucy since we brought him home, so that relationship remains to be seen. I'm sure we'll have lots more pictures to show off in the coming weeks!

Friday, March 30, 2012

Changes

It's been a long while since I've updated the blog...sorry to anyone who's been looking! We've had some big changes in the Bilodeau home over the past month, and while I can't blame the absence of updates on that, I will try :)


The first big change is that Dan was offered a promotion at work. While this will come with a raise and increased responsibility, it also came with new hours. He now works would would be considered a traditional split 2nd/3rd shift Sunday through Wednesday. This means that the kids and I are on our own those four nights, but Dan has taken over morning duties (so appreciated!) and he now has three days off. This summer will be even nicer when I'm off work too!

The other big change was that we had to put Leo to sleep at the beginning of March. He wasn't acting right, and when we took him to the vet, we were told he had internal bleeding and most likely cancer in his belly. We started him on medication, hoped for the best when he had a couple good days, but had to make a decision when he quickly declined. While it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, I know that we did what was best for him. And I know that we can never replace him, but I'm hoping to have another dog in the near future...it's strange how you can get used to having one in the house.