Our first baby... Cooper

I've always had a dog for as long as I can remember. I personally don't feel a home is complete without a four-legged furry creature running around the house. When Adam and I got married, it was written in the rules that I require a dog in our home. Yes, a dog. I'm not much of a cat person. I don't mind them, and I'll love on them, too.. but dogs really are like fluffy humans that can't talk. Cats are too independent for me. After being married for 4 months, I began the begging process. How could he resist the pleads of his new wife?! He couldn't! I had seen a picture of some new lab-mix puppies at Little Victories Animal Shelter (a no-kill shelter) that I just had to go check out. I first went with my friend, Jessi, and after falling in love with the little fellas I knew I had to tell Adam I had gone to see them. We were out to dinner and I turned on the begging. Now, Adam and I have been together for 9 years so I know how to get through to him when I really want something. You can't be forceful with him. You have to turn it to where he thinks he is making the final decision but in reality I already knew what the decision was going to be. I'm screwed now that he will be reading this so I need to think of a new strategy, but for the purpose of my blog I have to share it all. He finally agreed to go check out the pups the next morning and I'm sure in the back of his mind he knew that a pup would keep my mind off babies for a little while! I woke up relatively early due to the excitement of possibly bringing home a puppy. We hopped in the car and away we went. Once we got into the building that housed the puppies, the lady let a couple out of their cage. One was black and the other was blond. We sat in the floor and played with the pups. We hadn't 100% decided at that point if we were actually going to pick one out and take it home with us, but at that moment when that little blond pup couldn't stay off of Adam's lap, I knew he was the winner. Adam kept taking him off his lap and that little booger kept running right back to him and jumping right up. He melted our hearts. I wish I could have taken all of those dogs with me. At one point in our dating career I bargained children for pups. I've always wanted a big family.. 3 or 4 kids. But I've told Adam if we only have 1 or 2 kids I want at least 2 or 3 dogs. Back to the cute little pup... Adam told the lady working that we would take the blond lab. She told us we could pick him up the next morning because they wanted to clean him up and get everything together for him. Excited is an understatement! We were on cloud nine! I think at this point, Adam was more excited than I was and I couldn't believe it! That evening we went and got all the things we would need for a new dog in our house; toys, food, a cage, bones... anything the little fella could ever need (and it was expensive!). We woke up Sunday morning and headed out to get our dog. On the way there we were driving behind a car that had the name "Cooper" on the licence plate. I told Adam I thought we should name him Cooper. We said it a few times and it stuck. I was so excited to be able to take him home with us. We couldn't get out of the shelter quick enough. We called our family and told them what we had done and of course their reactions were along the lines of, 'I hope you know what you're doing'.. We didn't know what we were doing but we sure are enjoying the ride! That first day he peed all over our house! We took him out every single time he popped a squat. It only took us about a week or two to completely house train him. Cooper is our pride and joy and literally we chose to stay home on most weekends because we hate to leave him alone. He has his daddy wrapped around his finger. I can only imagine how Adam is going to be with our human child! It was definitely a good idea for us to get a dog first because we've learned a lot about each other. I'm definitely going to be the "bad guy" more times than not. He will be the pushover and give Hudson anything and everything. But, we make a good team and I wouldn't have chosen another teammate! I can't wait for Cooper to meet Hudson because I just know they will be the best of friends =)