Meet Lexi

Well faithful blog readers, there are big, big changes coming for my little family of four. This Sunday, we will become a little family of five. See that cute bundle of pup to the right? After years of discussion, months of serious consideration, weeks of agonizing, and days of lively debate, we have finally taken the plunge. We are going to be Dog People.

Last Sunday morning, we broke the news to the boy. Told him the decision was made, and we were going to start visiting breeders that very day in order to start our research and our hunt for the perfect purebred chocolate lab pup. Now what you might not know about the boy is that he has desperately wanted a dog since before he was born. "Dog" might very well have been his first word. He has asked for a dog for every birthday and Christmas in memory. He has begged, pleaded, and quietly wished for years. Just the day before, when I told him it was a beautiful day out, he said to me "No Mom, a beautiful day would be one where I got to pick out a puppy of my very own". That just may be what swayed me to finally give my ok for this huge step.

So off we went on a Sunday drive that spanned much of Eastern Ontario ... first we visited a breeder about an hour and a half west. Wonderful place, beautiful dogs and pups, but the pups were only about 3 weeks old (and can't be adopted until 8 weeks old). We were hoping for a puppy that would be available sooner, to give us more summer to train her. The breeder directed us to another breeder about an hour east of her, with 7 week old pups sired by the same father as her pups. And so it turns out that our research expedition was more fruitful than anticipated; we found our puppy.

We've named her Lexi (short for Alexia. What? If she's going to be part of our little Greek family she should have a Greek name, no?). She's getting her shots on Saturday and we'll be picking her up on Sunday morning. The boy and I have done some preliminary PetSmart shopping and will be back there today buying the rest of the essential supplies. Turns out dogs are more expensive than they initially look, lol. The price of the dog is just the start!

So I was all keen on naming her Lexy (with a "y") as I had visions of using up all those unused x's and y's in my scrapbook alpha stash ... but I got outvoted by the rest of the family, who insist the proper spelling is with an "i". Speaking of scrapbooking, I made a visit to the ScrapBox this week (remember, I'm on vay-cay) to pick up some more Stickles and walked out with the Love, Elsie doggie paper collection...**blush** (I swear, this dog is much more than a scrapbooking opportunity to me ... lol).

So wish us luck. Training tips and words of encouragement welcome!!! :o)