i have just met you, and i love you

it's been six months since we lost sweet mollydog, and the house just hasn't been the same without her in it.  the pain of her loss was really tough to get through, and i told the hub that i didn't think i wanted to bring another dog home because it just hurt too much to say goodbye.

happily, we get to see stevie all the time.  the old lady and her special friend bring him over at least every other day, and he always brings a fun energy to the house when he's here.  we love stevie.

and as they say, time heals all wounds.  or, at least, helps to lessen the sadness as the days go by.  and truly, it wasn't too much longer before we started tentatively discussing the notion of finding a new family member to love.  grandchildren are nowhere on the horizon, the hub refuses to even consider a cat, and so it was inevitable that we'd eventually welcome a canine of some sort into the fold.

we waited to get through all of our summer travel plans first, of course.  because there's no way we would've brought home a new pet and then turn around and board the poor thing while we gallivanted through hawaii for ten days.

and then just a few days after unpacking our bags, cocoa came home.

she's a lhasa apso-poodle mix, and when we took her to the vet for her first visit she weighed all of four pounds.  she's a funny little bundle of energy, and we adore her already.  we're crate training her, which is working out really well, and she sleeps in this little thing in our room at night.

of course, that's when she isn't cuddled up next to us on the couch.

or jumping up to give the hub kisses while he's trying to send work emails on his phone.

or napping half-in, half-out of her bed.

stevie wasn't too sure what he thought of her the first time they met.  after all, molly refused to have anything to do with him when all he wanted to do was play with her.  but he definitely got more than he bargained for with cocoa.  she's a feisty little thing, fearless and brave, and she isn't intimidated by him one bit.  if anything, it's the other way around.  heh.  but they chase each other around and play and fight and cuddle and take each other's toys.  it's super cute.

she doesn't even balk at getting wet in the pool.  she doesn't voluntarily go into it, but when we put her in she doesn't fight it.

i've made her one shirt so far, and put her hair in a ponytail and giggled my head off at the cuteness.

she even has a car seat.  she doesn't particularly love it, but she's learned to tolerate it.

...but wait.  there's more.

i'd like to introduce to you teddy, our mini goldendoodle.  he's about six weeks younger than cocoa, and pretty much one of the two (wait, three) cutest dogs on the planet.

i'd actually been pushing to name him woody, which was one of the names we'd been tossing around before, but the bean loved the name teddy so much.  part of my hesitation was due to our friend lilcee, who said goodbye to her own teddy earlier this year.  i wasn't sure how she'd feel about it, but when i finally sucked it up and shared it with her, she graciously said she was happy to hear that his name lives on.  and look at him - he just LOOKS like a teddy.  the hub likes to call him teddy roosevelt, and it's super cute.

it's like having two newborns in the house.  they play, fight, sleep, cuddle, and potty all over the place.  we're definitely working on getting that last bit figured out.

on his first day home he looked at me sitting there dipping my feet in the pool and decided to walk right in to see what i was doing...and then jumped right out, startled as hell and trying to figure out what had just happened.

he's such a handsome boy.  and the house is full of activity and energy with the two of them in it.

welcome home, kids.  we love you both to pieces already.