Happy Monday, friends!
We’ve had Penelope for six days now, and it’s safe to say that we’re all smitten!
I mean, how could we NOT be with a face this cute?! If you’ve ever wondered what a teddy bear would look like if it came to life, just come visit Penelope!
We brought her home from Toledo last Tuesday morning, and she was a dream on the car ride home.
The girls are in love and keep saying, “I can’t believe we got a puppy!” They are constantly wanting to hold her or play with her, which has made for one tired puppy!
This is the first dog we’ve had from such a young puppy age, and, honestly, I was expecting the first few days to be a lot worse! She’s doing fairly well with potty training, does great in her crate at night, and is great with the girls, other dogs, and even Ginger the guinea pig! The only downside is the chewing. If she’s not in her crate or her play pen, then we have to constantly watch her and redirect her chewing.
She’s doing really well learning how to walk on a leash, and she enjoys running around our backyard with the girls. We tried to introduce her to water the other day, but she wasn’t too interested in it yet.
I’m sure you’re wondering how everyone is adjusting to Penelope, so I thought I’d break it down for you.
Matty Boy
It looks like he’s adjusting just fine! 😉
He and Penelope became fast friends, and she gets SO EXCITED to see him in the mornings.
With babies and puppies, we make a good team. Matty has taken over the potty break before bedtime, and I’m in charge of the middle of the night and early morning potty breaks. One of us got the better end of that deal, but I’ll take what I can get!
He’s constantly commenting on how cute she is.
Lucy Belle
Lucy is so proud to have a puppy and will show her off to every person we see outside.
She wants to help way more than she actually can at this stage, which has led to a little frustration, but overall she loves doing whatever we ask her to do.
It is darn near impossible for Lucy to be in the same room as Penelope and not hold her or pet her, and we’re working on helping Lulu to understand the whole “let sleeping dogs lie” philosophy.
She’s great at getting Penelope to chase her around the house to get out some energy.
Lucy LOVES to have Penelope in her room at night during story time and for us to bring her back in when we wake her up in the morning.
Emily Rose
Emily has developed a new voice/squeal/facial expression when she interacts with Penelope, and it’s hilarious. It’s her “Penelope Voice,” and it’s about three octaves higher than it ought to be!
Emily’s biggest struggle has been waiting until someone else picks up Penelope and THEN she asks to hold her. For example, she’ll be playing with Penelope for awhile and then Lucy will pick her up and Emily will immediately say, “Can I hold Penelope?” It’s led to a few tears, but we’re working on it.
Emily is having the hardest time with Pen’s puppy teeth and gets so sad when Penelope accidentally nips at her.
She is such a little mama and can’t switch activities or do anything without checking on Penelope first.
Emmy loves to help feed Penelope, and loves nothing more than when we put her on “Puppy Patrol” to watch Penelope while we are trying to make meals.
Molly
The fact that Matty caught me napping in the middle of the day tells you how I’m adjusting! 😉
Honestly, it’s not as bad as I thought, but that little ball of fluff is exhausting! I’m constantly letting her out, playing with her, making sure she’s not chewing, feeding her three times a day, holding her when she constantly lays on my feet or curls up on my lap . . . and taking care of my other two girls too!
She has been getting up between 4:30 and 5:30am and is a party animal in the morning! I’m slowly figuring out her schedule and am hoping to get her back into her crate until 7am after her early morning potty break.
The hardest change for me has been to my morning routine. Prior to Penelope, I had a five morning a week workout routine of Pilates and walking outside that I absolutely LOVED. I looked forward to getting up early and getting it done before anyone else woke up . . . and that has been impossible since Penelope arrived!
Here she is on the one morning I attempted to take her in the basement with me and do Pilates. Turns out she had other ideas and preferred to nibble on my ears or chew on anything and everything she could get to. I’m really hoping to eventually get back into my routine because it really was more of a mental benefit for me than anything else!
So, overall, I’d say we are doing great! We’re still working on figuring out our new normal, and I’m sure it’ll get much easier once Penelope is out of the chewing stage and I can take my eyes off of her for more than two seconds at a time. She fits right into our family, and even helped out with bath time the other night!
I was fully expecting to have an “Oh my gosh, what have we done?!” moment by now . . . but it hasn’t happened yet! Here’s hoping that she stays this sweet her entire life and that she eventually learns to sleep in as late as Matty! 😉
Have a great week! We’ll be hanging at home allll day every day with our new little furball.
XOXO
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