Puppies are like Babies...

And here's why: so, as you all know.. J and I are in Utah visiting her family. Her youngest sister has two little ones (a 3 year old and a 1.5 year old); her older sister has a newborn and a 10 and 13 year old. Well, these sisters of hers (God love them but...) keep putting us in the throws of toddlers and tiaras (well, minus the tiaras). And just says the blanket statement of: "you better get used to this, because this will be you times two." However, our standard response is: "they don't come out THIS age." Hence the reason for my blog... Why puppies are like babies. Now, before I go into my reasons of why puppies are like babies, I guess I have to put that caveat out there that I've never really been around newborns twenty four hours, 7 days a week. So my point of reference of comparing dogs to babies is not meant to offend... More so to just show you all, this is where I'm at right now. Okay, here I go...

When we first got Dallas, she weighed a measly 8 pounds and she was able to fit in the palm of my hand. She was such a love. She was snuggly and cute and just so much fun and she still is today, and everyone comments on how good of a dog she is and how well-behaved she is; however no one knows the ups and downs we had to deal with while she was going through her puppy phase. We had to sleep on the floor in the living room with her for two weeks because all she would do was cry and whimper through the night. We also had to feed her rice and boiled chicken because she would throw up and poop everything else we fed her. We had to potty train her; take her to puppy kindergarten for 8 weeks and have our trainer tells us we needed to be a lot more strict with her because she had an aggressive personality. We have had to deal with the horrible biting stages; the teething; the digging; the yelping when torturing other dogs; the chasing; the occasional throwing up because she loves to eat bark and rocks. And we had to deal with all of this just to get her to who she is today- 80 pounds of the snuggliest, cutest, dog there could ever be. She's so much more mellow now and she plays a whole lot better with kids (and other dogs). But we wouldn't have gotten to appreciate this good, pleasant stage had we never gotten to experience the growing pains of the puppy stage.

So here is how puppies are like kids. Throw me into the mix of whiny, crying 1 and 3 year olds... And I'm a complete nut. I didn't get to see the horrible "puppy" (so to speak) stages.

I am now a full believer that I need to be with my child through all the stages (both the fun and the not so fun stages) to be able to fully appreciate all the joy and magnificence that is my baby.

Of course, our children will need much, much more attention than a puppy will ever need; however, if you were in J and my household during Dallas' puppy stage... You will know how much time, energy and effort we put into her (and how much we still do).

For now, until our little beans are born... I will liken having children to taking care of our puppy. Obviously, I will probably be singing a different tune once they are born.