A Boy and His Dogs / A Baby and Hers

Power nap!

I love them. I love them all.

There are so many times when I feel so much guilt about how the dogs' lives have changed since adding E.V. to our family. The reality is that we just don't have as much time and energy to spend with Oscar and Olive as we used to, and on top of that there are a lot more rules for us to chastise them about nowadays as well. Truthfully I think their favorite moments come when Emma Vance isn't around and life is like the "old" days. Oftentimes they look as us so pleadingly during baby-less naps and snuggles that I'm sure they must be thinking, "Remember this? Remember how NICE this used to be? Just the four of us?" Poor guys. Thankfully in moments where I'm tending to the baby, Ryan can give them all his attention, making them totally Daddy's Dogs lately--which I'm both glad for and jealous about.

And then, when the baby IS around, I think, "Gosh, they're obsessed with her! Surely they don't regret having her around, right?" Since she's on the move now, the dogs have begun to view her more like a puppy--which is both good and bad. Oscar loves to bring E.V. his toys, dragging them around her to entice her into playing (which she does sometimes). He gets so excited when playing with her that he often mini-bites her pajamas (and has been known to grab her by the footie and pull her along the floor!). The crawling has freaked them out a little bit, though; Oscar has yelped at her a few times as she's armied toward him, as if to say, "Hey! It's moving! Help!" Little Olive simply scampers away when the baby's headed in her direction, which I can't blame her for since Emma Vance LOVES to pull on their fur with all her might. (We have to instruct her to be gentle over and over, and slowly but surely she seems to be getting it.) We try to encourage the three of them to be buddies, so we purposely pet Oscar and Olive when they're nice to her, and my smart Olive has taken to licking E.V.'s ear to get rubbins', which makes me laugh.  In return, Emma Vance loves her dogs, delighting in every bit of interaction she can get with them. She's fascinated watching them play tug o' war with a rag bone or chasing their ball; it's like a live action movie in her baby world! She gets startled by their barks and giddy at the chance to touch them. As she continues to grow, I can't help but dream that they'll adopt her as one of their own, that they'll go from Daddy's Dogs to E.V.'s Dogs one day. Hey, a girl needs her dogs...

I ran across a few pictures from December of the three of them playing. Notice a.) her SHORT hair--I hadn't realized it grew so much, b.) her fascination for Oscar and Olive's playtime, and c.) her love for rubbing their fur--even with her feet! For your enjoyment...

Oh. My. Gosh. Cuteness!

Oscar being a really, really good sport...