No, I am not talking about the newest addition to the Cruise family.

Last night, sort of "out of the blue," we got a puppy.

I saw the listing on the local country music station's free "classified" service on their website: "Tradio", it's called. Jokingly, I yelled out at Jason that there were some six-and-a-half-week-old husky/black lab cross puppies for sale for $20.

That was Sunday.

On Monday (last night), we brought home a baby dog.

Running through a few names on the 1+-hour-long drive home last night, we finally hit on "Suri", and it fits her perfectly.

Never mind that I have a nine-month-old in diapers and a two-and-a-half-year-old that is not quite getting the grasp of potty training, yet. Now I have to house-train a dog, too!

But she is SO cute. And pretty smart. She and her siblings were already boundary-trained to stay off the driveway of the farm where we picked her up from. And other than having an accident in the house after breakfast (mostly because I was not paying attention, I'm sure), she has managed to "do her business" outside for the rest of the day--mostly in the spot we are encouraging her to use as her toilet.

She's been pretty tolerant of the kids. They've been pretty good around her, too. Noah's been a little hyper, but she's still small enough that she has found a few good hiding spots! In a month, she'll be able to hold her own a little better around him. Jabin wasn't thrilled at all of the places she chose to kiss him--nor was he entirely pleased when she started going after his bottle!

For her part, she's a pretty laid-back puppy so far--hopefully her personality will be more of the lab type, although we chose her from the pack because she looks more husky-ish.

All in all, though, a pretty good first day. (I mean, other than the twenty-minutes scare where I thought she must have wandered out of our not-completely-fenced-in back yard. Turns out she was hiding under a cupboard in the shed all along. But I was totally freaked out.

Other than that, though, it was pretty good.) She is already bonding well to all members of our family (well, except maybe Jabin, but that will come), and Jude is just totally excited to have her. This is good, because he has gone from having an irrational fear of dogs (even small ones) when he was around two to being only a little nervous of big or jumpy dogs. Jason and I are hoping that growing up with the puppy--or, should I say, the puppy growing up around him--will overcome the last vestiges of nervousness he has around larger dogs. (We don't believe in lapdogs. Too much redneck in our blood, I guess.)

And here she is, the new princess of the house. You can click on any photo to view it larger:

I can hear her complaining about being locked in the shed for the night as I type, so hopefully our neighbours don't get too upset at us during this initial phase of "breaking in."

Now, Jason wants to go back and get her 4-year-old husky daddy that is "friendly, but needs someone to work with him."

Sorry, honey, I think I have to draw the line somewhere. One is enough! :-)