Congratulations… It’s a Puppy!

Well, we did it. We welcomed a new baby into the family. Fur baby, that is. Apologies for the lack of content recently…it’s been quite an adjustment!

At just 3 months old and weighing a whopping 3.6 pounds, this tiny ball of fluff has completely flipped our world upside down. The oldest is head-over-heels in love but also quickly realizing that having a puppy isn’t all cuddles and cuteness, it’s work. A lot of work. Meanwhile, the youngest? Absolutely petrified. I mean, this dog is smaller than her backpack, but you’d think we brought home a wolf. She’s slowly working through it though, today she actually let the puppy sniff her hand over the baby gate. And she even let the puppy lick her hand. Huge win in our house.

The funniest (and strangest) part so far? This puppy will only sleep with cartoons on. Don’t ask me why. Colors? Motion? Who knows. But hey, after a week of all-night barking, we’re up to six hours of sleep at a time. Cartoons it is. My coffee thanks you, pup.

Now, here’s where I start questioning my decision-making skills. New job. Husband deployed. School starting back up. Homeschooling. Oh, and did I mention perimenopause brain fog? Sure, why not toss in a puppy. Because that’s what we do as military families, we make chaos work. Even when every logical part of me screams, “What were you thinking?”

Military life doesn’t exactly lend itself to “perfect timing.” There’s never going to be a moment when the schedule is calm, the stress is low, and the timing feels just right. If I waited for that, we’d never do anything. So here we are just juggling all the moving parts, adding a puppy to the mix, and figuring it out as we go.

One silver lining? Making sure when my husband calls, he gets to see the puppy on video, hear the barks, and be part of it from afar. My hope is that when he finally comes home, the pup already knows his voice, and the transition will be a little easier for all of us.

It’s been a long week and a half with lots of second-guessing, very little sleep, and way too many paper towels and puppy pads, but we’re finally finding a rhythm. Or at least enough of one that I don’t feel like a zombie running on one hour of sleep. Progress, not perfection.

So… congratulations, it’s a puppy. Welcome to the chaos crew, little one.