Magnolia Munson

So Matt and I temporarily lost our sanity and decided to get a puppy! An English Bulldog puppy to be exact and we are all completely in love with her. She is all white (with some black spots on her ears, but all the fur is white) and just as cute as she can be. Right?!

We decided we would go ahead and name her because if we let the kids name her she would be either "Dog!" (Aaron) or "Woofy" (Jacob) or something to that effect. So Matt and I settled on Magnolia (for the beautiful flowers/trees in our home state of Georgia) and Munson (for the late, great Larry Munson - longtime Georgia Bulldog football radio announcer) and we'll call her Maggie for short because it's such a cute name!
Since she's so cute, here's another picture.

 Rather than telling the kids before we brought her home, we made it a surprise. We took her to the vet to have her checked out before introducing her to them because we didn't want any broken hearts if there was something seriously wrong with her (Matt and I have been through that with a puppy before and really didn't want our kids to experience that too). Luckily, the vet checked her out and said she looks great. Perfectly healthy and ready for her new home.

So when I brought her home, she was in a box (without the top on it - I'm not inhumane) but the kids couldn't see her. Matt told Jacob we had a new family member and he got a really confused look on his face. When I showed him what was in the box his jaw dropped and his face lit up. Aaron started doing the sign for dog (which is patting the side of your leg) and yelling "Dah!" "Dah!".

So, Friday will make one week since Maggie joined our family and so far things are going great. She isn't so sure about Jacob yet (the feeling is mutual though) and she likes to play with Aaron (again, the feeling is definitely mutual). She likes to eat, sleep and chew on things. Crazy, I know. For the most part, she uses the puppy pads and she has fit in with our family pretty seamlessly. We all love her and hope she lives a long, happy life with us.

Aaron is especially fond of her and I have been astounded at his instinctive calmness with her. As wound up as he gets, I thought he would be really rough with her. But once she was comfortable in our house and he had calmed down enough to stop yelling "Dah!" at her every time he saw her, he has been nothing but gentle. He sits down when she is out playing with him, he pets her gently, he gives her hugs (without squeezing her) and he holds his hand out so she can sniff him. It appears they already have a kinship which I hope will be good for both of them for years to come.

So, I hope you have enjoyed the pictures of our new furry family member. Welcome home, Maggie!