The Houston House: Must Have Dogs

I've discovered something here in suburbia the last few months. Aside from the impeccable lawns, the friendly waves, and the sound of kids riding bikes, there is something else very noticeable living among these neighborhood streets. Leashes. Barking. Licking. Sniffing. Chewing. That's right, dogs. Lots of them. And the dogs in our neighborhood socialize just as much as the neighbors do. (The stop and chat sessions between these guys while on their daily walks, I swear I think they might have a secret neighborhood watch.) Well, hubs and I were not part of the norm in suburbia, as we were dogless (and childless) when we moved from the city condo. Dogless. Childless. And judged. (for whatever reason, it is hard for suburbans to figure a couple out that has 1) no children and 2) no pets... aforementioned couple should not be trusted...)

Well, guess what. We are now with the "in" crowd. If you remember from this post, we wanted chocolate. We now have a little girl. I know, we thought we wanted a male. Until we met our female and our (hubs') hearts literally climbed up out of our throats. Oh. My. Gosh. All puppies are cute. But, seriously. As any pet owner can attest, you remember meeting yours the very first time, and just knowing no baby is cuter. Couldn't be. It's impossible... because they have dat wittle face you wuv so vewy vewy much and give you tum tugga all day wong. (Okay, you get my point.)

We picked her up last Saturday at 6.5 weeks old and 13 pounds. She's way cute, did I already say that? Her name is Blakely Belle, of which I can take no credit in. This was all hubs. Blakely, Georgia is the town his dad's family is from. Growing up, hubs used to spend summers down in Blakely fishing and doing, you know, country stuff. He just knew when he grew up and got big, he'd move to Blakely and live there himself (sometimes I still think he would love that). It's a sleepy and friendly little town in south Georgia, and home to some of the greatest grandparents on this earth. Hubs is truly blessed in the family department, y'all. (and he's got all 4 grandparents still living, isn't that something?) I always knew Blakely was a name that was very special to hubs and his family. His sister thought about naming my niece Blakely before coming to the name we all know and love her for, Emily Ruth (otherwise known as Emily Ruth-exclamation point!). I'm pretty sure she decided not to use Blakely because of the intense death stares hubs sent her (haha). Well, who knows if God will give us a real baby girl when our parenthood days arrive, so hubs didn't want to miss out on a name that encaptures so many fond memories.

And, Belle. Sweet precious Belle was my parents' lab that just passed on last Thanksgiving. She was a wonderful dog. Loyal companion, avid pheasant lover, dedicated chewer, and had the sweetest face you ever saw. We know she is wagging her tail in doggy heaven waiting on us to come and see her again!