This will either be the greatest thing or the stupidest mistake I ever made. Time will tell. (and John is definitely on the side of stupidest mistake ever). So here’s our puppy girl Wrigley who will be making her grand New York debut at the end of the first week of January. She’s an English Golden Retriever, born in early November in Missouri.

Are you saying “awwwwwww” yet?

Here’s how it happened: So after photographing a zillion families this year and seeing how many of my repeat clients got dogs since our last year’s sessions, and the boys asking me for a dog for years and years, and doing this session and falling a little in love, it was suddenly inevitable that we’d be getting a puppy. If you know me at all, you know that once I get an idea in my head, I MUST have that thing happen like 5 minutes ago. I asked my friend/client Jeanne (the owner of the english golden in the linked shoot above) for her breeder. The breeder was expecting 2 litters in November, with puppies available in February. I got on her list but I was already pretty far down. As it turned out, the first litter didn’t yield enough puppies for everyone on the list and the second litter was miscarried. So sad. I was totally obsessed at this point and HAD TO HAVE a puppy. Immediately. So after a ton of research, I found another breeder (this time in Missouri) with a litter due in early November with room on the waiting list. I decided I was definitely getting a girl puppy- with the ridiculous number of boys in this house, I thought it was time to have a little more pink in my life. The puppies were born and a week ago the breeder chose puppies for each family on her list. I asked for the sweetest, most mellow, easily trainable, creamiest puppy she had and we got “Ms. Pink” (how appropriate!). I’ve been stalking the poor breeder for as many pictures as possible. Wrigley would be ready to come home to us this week but with Christmas and vacation, we figured after the Regis interviews would be better timing. With January thru March being my really slow time with work I can spend lots of time with her.

I already have her signed up for puppy kindergarten, and have already met with a trainer (who is coming back for a minimum of 3 sessions once Wrigley is here), have a vet and managed to purchase all the supplies- all without the boys finding out a single thing! We surprised them on Christmas Eve after dinner at my in laws. Here’s how it went down:

I bought a tag (etsy!), collar and leash along with a pink stuffed puppy. Jen (who has been the biggest supporter of my puppy-mania. We know that Wrigley and her golden retriever Holly will be BFF’s just like Timmy and Jack are, and Jen and I are!) bought this adorable frame (thanks Jen!)and I put the pictures I got from the breeder in it.

We assembled the boys in the den for the big surprise. Opening…Not really getting it…Still totally confused…Got it.Just a little happy!

I’m under absolutely no illusions that this dog will be my responsibility no matter how much they claim that they will help. And it’s going to make traveling a little challenging, as well as heading to the beach this summer. But with the help of friends (Uncle Nelson is super excited to puppy sit!) and family I think it’s doable. I know it’ll be a ton of work for quite a while, but I’m really excited to have a little puppy girl in the house to keep me company all day. And if people who work all day (like 8-9 hrs 5 days a week) can do it and have happy, well behaved puppies then I think I can manage too. Right??!? So prepare yourself for a ridiculous amount of puppy pictures on the blog (yup, I’m going to be that girl!) starting in early January.

Hope you all have a wonderful, magical Christmas with family and friends and tons of blessings and love!!