Meet Sam

Samson, or Sam for short, is the newest, most high maintenance member of our family.  There is a reason that God made puppies cute.  It is to make up for their total lack of concern for the needs or rights of others.  It was so their owners did not throw them out on the street in the middle of the night when it is 22 degrees outside.
Isn't he sweet?

Sam sleeping in Aidan's lap

He's actually a really sweet dog.  But, he's a puppy.  Which means he chews and jumps and cries through the night and has to pee at 3:00 in the morning when it's freezing outside. 

The kids have been wanting a dog for a long time.  We always said no, since we already have 2 cats and a bird and 2 recently departed hermit crabs.  Aidan didn't really care for dogs very much when he was little, because he was exposed to some really wild ones that scared him.  He was more of a cat person.  But, over the last year or so, he's really been wanting a dog.  Ella has been crazy about dogs from the get go.  One of her first words was, "puppy."  I really wish you could hear how cute she was when she would say it as a baby.  It would make even the most cold hearted anti-dog parent melt.  So, over Christmas break, we finally caved and got this puppy.  Ask me in a few months if it was a good idea or not.

He's been a pretty good puppy.  But, he has separation anxiety at night and sleeps very little...and cries very loudly.  There really isn't anywhere in our house where we can't put him so that no one can hear him.  So, he not only wakes Mark and me up, he wakes up Ella.  (Nothing wakes Aidan up)  The last few days, we have spent trying our best to wear him out to complete exhaustion, hoping he will sleep.  It's helping a little.  I'm not sure if he's so exhausted that he sleeps, or if we're so exhausted that we fall into a slight coma and can't hear him.  Everyone assures me that this will pass when he gets used to his new home!  

Sam and Ella, resting after a nice long walk

Other than that, we are really excited about Sam.  He loves to go on walks and ride in the car.  He chases the kids all over the back yard and around the kitchen table.  He falls asleep in your lap and makes funny faces when he dreams.  He has that wonderful puppy smell, and a soft puppy belly.  Ella and I have a lot of fun taking him on walks during the day, and all of us walk him to the park in the evening so he can play with the kids.  He loves going down the slide in Aidan's lap and will run to the top of the slide over and over again.  He tries really hard to play basketball, but usually just ends up rolling all over with the ball.  He makes the kids laugh big belly laughs and makes our cats walk around with huge puffy tails and looks of disgust on their faces.  He's scared of Aidan's tiny pink dinosaur and growls and barks every time he walks by it.  If you turn on the vacuum, he starts shaking and will hide behind my legs.  He has big ears and bright blue eyes, and we love him...during the day...not so much at 3 am!