I WILL NOT CAVE!

When Josh and I got married (10 years next month!) we talked about how we'd like to have dogs eventually.  We both like labs, so we figured 2 would be fun, a black one and a yellow one.  We were living in Germany at the time and decided 1. we didn't want to have to move across the ocean with dogs - especially 2 big ones, and 2. we wanted to have kids first.  Fast foward 8 years to when we found out we'd be moving to New Jersey for our next duty station.  Immediately Josh was all, "We can get our dogs now! The spring after we get there we can get our dogs!"  I wasn't as enthusastic as he was, but the boys did seem to be a good age for it.

Then we got here. About 2 days after signing in, Josh was off on his first trip. Then it was trip after trip after trip and I decided there was NO WAY I was going to get puppies and do that whole house training thing by myself with him coming and going like that.  Especially with Finn being too young to take out on walks and stuff - the winter was kind of chilly.  Not to mention that the more time we spent in our home, the more we realized it really isn't a great place to have puppies.  Older, trained dogs sure, but puppies (which is what we want so our kids have a chance to get used to them as they tend to "weird out" around dogs) not so much.

 

Fast foward another year or so to this past weekend.  Sunday we went to my dad's to have dinner and hang out and what's it.  For those who don't know, my dad and stepmom have a boxer named Lenox who is the sweetest mushface ever. It's hard not to have a soft spot for this dog, and clearly, I'm not the only one who does:

I will not cave! I will not cave! I will NOT cave and get that boy a dog right now!

 

You see, the older 2 boys never seemed to care much about dogs.  Yes, they got excited whenever they saw one, and yes, they always wanted to pet one if they saw one, but like I said above, they always got wiggly and jumpy once they got close to dogs and usually didn't even pet them once permission was given (by both myself and the dog's owner).  Then they'd be on their way like, "That was cool, but I'm kind of okay with not having one of my own."  Now, there's Finn.  Finn, apparently really likes dogs and isn't afraid of them nor does he "get weird" around them.  In fact, he followed Lenox around the better part of the afternoon.  He kept "giving" Lenox a toy, or tried to get him to drink water, or just hang out next to him like in the picture.  It was SO sweet I wanted to buy him a dog right there and then. Just do a little, "See you in a half hour Josh, Finn and I are going to the pet store!" and off we'd go.  Thankfully I came to my senses.  Well, I mostly came to my senses.  I did volunteer us to watch Lenox the next time they go on vacation and need someone to take care of him. And truth be told, I'm really kind of looking forward to that day.