Sorry it's been a few days since I've meant to post this, but well, it's been a little crazy and I've been a little tired. After a very boring and long day of waiting on Friday, and after many changes of plans, we headed out to get our Lola at about 7:30 Friday night. She lived about an hour away, so we never meant to leave that late, but it turned out that was our only option if we wanted her before Sunday. And we did.
Upon picking her up, we were told she has really mellowed out (I am convinced she channeled us and started figuring out how to be our pet). This is all despite this story. 
Which after living with her for a day or two doesn't surprise me a bit. Here is her favorite toy after being with her for about a day:
Anyway, Lola is proving to be such a little bundle of joy. We love her so much and she is such a good dog and a total sweetheart. It's a good thing for Scout too I think, having something in the house that shares in the attention before sis gets here. On the way home from picking up Lola, I was telling Scout how she and Lola were going to be best friends and she got all silent (Which I didn't really notice), but we finally noticed she was hanging her head a little. We prodded her a bit and she finally broke down and sobbed, "I guess you won't need me anymore!" It was the very saddest thing ever. She was absolutely heartbroken. Yikes. I finally got out of her that she misunderstood me that I was saying that now, Lola and I were going to be best friends. We set her right, but we were all a little shaken, mostly Rob and I about life after Elinor, and all that will ensue. She is doing great, and we actually ended up taking home two dogs. Since Lola came home, Scout has been either Lola's mom or her sister.
Here are our two dogs sleeping in their crates:
I have interacted with Scout dog more then Scout the human since Friday night (not that I am not used to such a thing, it is just a little more intense). Luckily, she is willing to pretend the potty is grass......... But she does drink a lot of water out of a bowl on the floor.
Anyway, it's been great so far and we are all getting very attached to her and just love her to death. Cat and Travis and Booker just left, they were in town and came to visit Lola tonight. She was a little more bashful then usual, but played a little with them. Everyone needs to come see her soon, while she still is little, she is going to grow massively so fast! Everyone remarks about how huge she looks for being 8 weeks old. It's true.
Her paws kill me the most, I love them, they are massive.
Rob loves his little Lola
We went down for a visit to see the pups today, since we were second in line to pick, and all but 3 are claimed, there was quite a line behind us waiting for us to make our decision. After spending some time with them, we made the very tough call. We are going with "red".
Watching her and observing her build, coat, markings, etc. We came to the conclusion that she's the best. It was a very tough call against mint green. Red is the most playful and a bit bigger. Mint was a dainty little lady, we were told she is the cleanest eater and quite relaxed. These were VERY tempting attributes, but when all was said and done, Red's personality and build won out. **You can all laugh at us in a year or two when we have this ball of curiosity and playfulness when we could have had a proper little lady, but what can you do? Our guts said Red-- she was our Lola. We also decided that environment will also have a heavy hand in how our little girl turns out, and we are laid back people, and these dogs are still so little, so it's hard to tell what's going to happen at this point. So meet Lola, she will be coming home to us the weekend of the 23rd. 
We can't wait, and as my dad put it, "say a prayer for the idiots".
**I had to add this picture, it wasn't in my radar when I looked at the pics we took the first time, but found the belly rest fairly funny today. I think she likes the shelf.**
Let me stop here and point out that "I" is not quite correct, it is more "we" or more like this is totally Rob's brainchild, but I am now on board (but "we are citizen insane" is not the name of the Radiohead song so.....)In a few weeks we will be announcing a new member of the family and I am not talking about Elinor. Rob is getting a puppy. It's not just any puppy either it is a Great Dane. 
I am announcing right here that we are insane because I know that getting a puppy and a baby within a few weeks of each other makes us totally off our rocker, and that is the feedback that we will most likely be getting from everyone, so it is fitting for you all to know that we know this.
Rob's obsession with getting a dog started 6-8 months ago and he has steadily brought it up more frequently. We have had a no animal policy since we were married and it's been nice. About a year ago Rob started mentioning he liked Weimeriners. So that was his first possibility until he found out they are high energy and need lots of exercise and space. He abandoned that thought, especially in light of our tiny back yard, and moved on to his second love- which are Great Danes. While these dogs are huge, they are also very nicely tempered and enjoy small spaces and relaxation. They have fairly weak hearts and so are limited in energy and actually only have a life expectancy of 7 years. Which is sad to think about, but not sad enough not to get one. I brought up an idea to get Scout a small pet before the baby so when Elinor comes, she might feel special. I was thinking hamster or even maybe a dwarf bunny. Rob started thinking puppies... He has located a litter that was born 3 weeks ago and will be ready to leave mama somewhere around Aug 25th. They are in Santaquin and while I worked a golf tournament, Rob took Scout down to see them (they were almost 2 weeks old at the time). She LOVED the puppies, handled the mama very well, but when daddy came along and wanted to play, Rob said he "scared the pee out of her... literally". The litter consists of 14 puppies! Only 3 are males, we decided before sight (and terror) we wanted a female. They have a puppy blog if you want to check them out (we are second in line for choice and think we are narrowed down to mint green (my favorite), red, and dark pink.) puppies are here. We are holding out our final choice until we can all meet them and see them as active puppies, for we are going to choose the one with the sweetest disposition and the calmest of the three.
We know it's insane, but we are sort of looking forward to the insanity! It's been just us three for so long, we can't wait to open our home up to two little girls and give them lots and lots of love. Rob is designing a table for the living room that will accommodate a tv, computer and a dog crate big enough for a Great Dane (let me tell you, that is a BIG crate) for she will be crate trained (it seems this fits Danes very well, they like the den like atmosphere), she will not be allowed on the furniture, and we have been warned to keep towels by all the doors for slobber. Rob has already looked into obedience classes that I believe we will all be attending (Scout needs to learn a little bit of power over the dog so she has a little respect). As for the puppy time, I am fairly worried about getting through that. I can't forget my brother Dave's Great Dane puppy Sundance that was bigger then Liz at like 3 months old but still an active, crazy puppy. I just don't want any of my kiddies to go splat. But, she (at least her puppy era) will not be allowed upstairs in the bedroom area (we may be putting the baby gate up early), and no furniture, so I expect to keep them safe.
AND which ever puppy we decide on, she already has the perfect name.....Lola.
Which after living with her for a day or two doesn't surprise me a bit. Here is her favorite toy after being with her for about a day:
Her paws kill me the most, I love them, they are massive.
Rob loves his little Lola
