Guess Who's Here!!!!

What a morale booster!

As 6:00 a.m. this morning, five hours into my puppy shift, the rest of the gang (as in Pinot, Ridge, Kenya, and Tuc) started going berserk. I couldn't imagine for the life of me what was going on, especially since the canine crew doesn't usually "get up" until 6:30 a.m. (that's when we let them out for the first time in the morning).

Imagine my surprise when Dear Sweet Daughter Sarah (my newly married girl-child who now lives in Maine) and the Baxter Boos (yup, our Baxter Boy) came sneaking in around the corner. :o)

What a surprise, and what a boost to my morale!

Sarah could tell I was pretty down when we talked on the phone yesterday, and then Daddy Don told her I was a basket case (admittedly I still was) when he talked with her last night. So DSD talked it over with her hubby (the one in med school) after she got off the phone with Don, and her hubby said "go." So in the car she went and got here 8 hours later.

Here's DSD keeping watch over Mr. White, making sure Elsie doesn't step on him, while Mr. White (our diarrhea boy) gets his solo breakfast:



On the puppy front, it had already been a better night than the night before (I'll post about that in a few minutes), but the fact that DSD drove all night and brought Baxter along, too, just to cheer me up and help with pups did more for my heart than probably anything else could have. What a difference it makes to have her here!

Then, because she was here, I got to take a long, relaxing shower!!!!

I feel like a new woman: Quieter stretch with the pups through the night, everyone at least holding their own, DSD home, the Boos Buddy hanging here on the sofa, and a chance to shower without wondering what was going on in the whelping box -- well, I can't even begin to describe how much better it feels.

That doesn't mean we're outta the woods completely yet (again, I'll update you in the next post). It does, however, mean that I have cried yet today and I'm feeling far less stress and I'm calmer and I have a better perspective (I really needed some distance -- just to get out of the room for a while).

What a kid! :o) I knew I missed DSD, but I don't think I realized how much until she walked in the door. :o)

Elsie was funny, too. She was SO SO SO excited to see Baxter (and Sarah) -- she just sprung to life. She and the Boos were (and are) buds the way Kenya, Pino, and Tuc are now. It was really heartwarming to see. The two of them went out and romped a bit, just like old times. :o)

Baxter, the Big Galoot, just made himself at home, like he never left. He's still Mr. Couch Potato (doesn't he look great!):


The rest of the gang just welcomed him back like he'd been gone only a day or two. Tuc was playing Mr Submissive with Baxter, just as he did before Sarah and Chris took Baxter to Maine. It's really funny. They all "know" each other, and they haven't forgotten.

So it's a new day. A better day. And the pups are quieter than they've been since they were born (I'll explain that, too, in the next post).

What a difference a day makes.

:o)

'Til next time,
Joan