The Story of Gunner

Here is the newest member of the family! His long awaited arrival has made it that much more sweet. This is the background story on our little guy. Last June we had visited Josh's grandma in Oregon. During our week stay we happened to look in the classifieds for lab puppies, just for fun. We found a lady who breeds labs in Washington, about an hour and a half away from Grandma's house. We made a stop there to check out the puppies on our way to visit my cousin Natalie in Washington. It was puppy heaven! There were lab puppies from the cute and cuddly age of 6 weeks to the brand new, week old pups. We had a yellow male in mind. We decided if we found a pup we liked and was available we would get one. It turned out all of her oldest puppies had already been claimed. The next in line were  the 2 week old pups but she only had yellow female or black males. We thought a black lab wouldn't love our desert climate, which is why we shot for a yellow. And we both grew up with male dogs so that's just what we knew. Next we looked at the week old labs. They couldn't even open their eyes yet, they were so teeny tiny! We decided to put a deposit on a pup from that litter. The breeder would send us pictures of the yellow males in that litter when they were a few weeks older and she would tell us more about the personality so we could make a decision. When that time came we made the decision on a pup and named him Gunner. He would be a hunting dog of course! He would be flewn down to So Cal when he turned 8 weeks. This was back in August. Well, long story short, Gunner had a health issue and the breeder didn't feel comfortable sending a dog that may have problems in the future. We decided we would wait until next summer when we visit Grandma again to see what pups the breeder had at that time and possibly bring one home then. After we have baby number 4. Well, not too long after we made our peace we got a call from the breeder offering her choice pick of a litter just born or whelped (I learned a lot of dog lingo through the process!) At this time it was the beginning of October and we decided to wait until we saw pictures of this "new" Gunner. Like anyone is going to look at that cute, smooshed puppy face and say "No, I think I'll pass!" Puppies, babies and chocolate are nearly impossible to resist! So, we saw the pictures, said yes, and in a few weeks Josh made a kamikaze trip to Oregon with his parents and Micah to pick up this sweet thing.

A lot of people think I'm either brave or have lost my mind for getting a puppy in my 8th month of pregnancy. I can tell you I have lost my mind! I was so very against getting a dog until we were done having babies. I didn't want to be doing puppies and babies all at the same time. But all of a sudden, for some reason, I changed my mind. I blame it on the pregnancy and the lack of brain I have left these days. A funny thing is I remember talking to Josh about when to get a dog and I always thought fall would be a perfect time because the weather gets to be real nice here. And look what happened =) I know we are about to have a baby in 2 months but I think having Gunner would help the boys through the adjustment, maybe even distract them a little. Even if Gunner is still a baby himself =)

 They love to help with anything at all involving that dog. And watching them use phrases like "C'mon Gunnah, here boy" in a high pitched voice while patting their legs is quite precious. We'll take it one step at a time and enjoy every moment of it. They're only this young for so long...