Our Family Grew By Four Feet

Spoiler Alert: This is not a pregnancy announcement, because four more human feet would just be a LOT! Two weeks ago, however, we did welcome a new baby into the family. It just so happens to be a 2.5 pound Shorkie puppy named Beyonce Moira Rose Bader Ginsburg!

Up until recently, we didn't intend on getting another puppy. We already had 5 kids, an English Mastiff, a cat, an indoor rabbit, 2 hermit crabs, and 2 snails. I always had 2 dogs until my chihuahua passed away almost a decade ago, and I was starting to think about getting a second dog. 

A few months ago, my sister thought her English Mastiff was pregnant, so I began suggesting we get one of the puppies so that Ella, our English Mastiff, would have a companion. We love giant breeds, but Grant wasn't too thrilled about the idea of another giant dog in our already crowded house. It turned out my sister's dog had a pseudo-pregnancy, and I was bummed, but a new opportunity was quickly handed to us!

While we were waiting for my sister's dog to show signs of her upcoming delivery, our friends were getting ready to welcome their first litter of Shorkie (Shih Tzu/Yorkie) puppies. After hearing that my sister's dog wasn't pregnant, we decided to put off getting another dog. My parents were adopting one of the Shorkie puppies, so we were officially on puppy watch, and very excited for them!

On the evening of December 18th, their dog went into labor. My husband went to see the two new puppies, and informed us that they were adorable. Over the course of the next few hours, 3 more puppies were born. 

The next day, Grant and I stopped by with our girls, and while we were admiring the tiny pups, I overheard my husband quietly say that we would take one if they had any left. By the end of that day, we found out that we would be adopting one of the adorable puppies, and my sister was adopting one, too! At first, we chose the brown puppy that my sister adopted. They thought it was a girl, and few days later, they found out it was a boy. We were hoping for a girl, and they assumed we would want a brown one like the boy, but when we went to hold the puppies for the first time, we decided we really liked one of the black puppies!

One of the perks of knowing the owners is that we were able to visit the puppies each week to get to know them, cuddle them, and play with them. We had the privilege of watching them grow and change, and they got to know us. Our kids were so excited, and we eagerly counted down the weeks until we could bring our puppy home!

On February 13th, our friends brought the puppies to our house so they could go to their new homes. We bathed them, dried them, and waited for my parents and my sister to come get their pups. My mom and sister had already met and held their puppies when they were a few weeks old, but my dad hadn't met their puppy yet, and was so excited to bring her home. Watching him cuddle her and kiss the top of her head when he met her was one of the sweetest things ever!

Everyone left quickly, excited to take their new puppies home, and we settled in with our new puppy. She wasn't the puppy we originally planned on getting, but she was exactly the puppy we needed! She was already so loved, and fit right in with our family. 

As you can tell by her name, we couldn't exactly agree, so we combined them! My husband wanted Beyonce, I loved Moira Rose from Schitt's Creek, and Lexie chose Bader Ginsburg because she loved RBG. We call her Beyonce, but Liam and Coen just call her B, because they can't say her name!

Little Miss B fits in perfectly with our kids and pets! She is very playful and sweet, so she's fun to have around, yet super cuddly. She doesn't realize how tiny she is, so she isn't afraid of our cat or our 150 lb mastiff! Every morning, she wakes up with me at 6 AM, and immediately waits for our cat to get down from Lexie's bunk. They spend the next hour and a half running circles through the house. She and Ella play, hang out together, and eat out of the same bowl. She rotates between family members all day long, but sleeps in our bed at night. The first few days, she slept on my chest, then she moved to my neck, then my side, and now she moves all over the bed.

Beyonce loves to ride in the car, she went on her first walk with me, and she visits with her sister (my mom's puppy) twice a week. We bought a crate end table, and we're trying to get her used to staying in a crate during the rare times we are all gone from home. She is growing well, and is about 3 lbs now. Her hair is growing, too...a lot! And house training? Well, that's a work in process, especially since I'm sleep training, weaning, and potty training Coen at the same time! Because we got to know her ahead of time, Beyonce transitioned very well to her new home, and didn't seem to miss her mom and siblings at all!

Beyonce is now 10 weeks old, and has been with us for 2 weeks. We are so thankful our friends let us adopt this sweet pup, and we are having so much fun with her! After owning 3 giant breed dogs, we are really enjoying having a toy breed again, too. Training a puppy is taking up a lot of my time right now, but it's so worth it! We all absolutely love our sweet B, and can't get over how adorable she is!