Our sweet daughter!

Many people have asked how Ellie acts around Munchkin, so I thought I'd share our experience with you all.

Honestly, she seems to not care; it's been that way since the very beginning. That's not to say that her life hasn't changed since his arrival ;) While I was pregnant, we were super-preoccupied with how we were going to introduce them. The typical approach is to bring one of the baby's items home from the hospital for the dog to smell. But, it didn't work out that way for us, so this is how we ended up introducing them. Ellie was kept out on the deck, hungry! And when we walked in the door, I put baby in his crib and went to see Ellie out on the deck. Boy, did she miss me -- I haven't seen her tail wag like that since our week long trip to Denver 2 years ago. Anyway, we left her on the deck while I got settled in the rocking chair to feed Munchkin. Meanwhile, hubby prepared Ellie's food and sat it outside the nursery room door. He let Ellie inside the house and she waited for him to say his customary, "Ellie, Eat!" She gobbled up her food, then he had her sit and watch me feed baby for a few minutes. He allowed her to then walk over to my side and she smell his feet. She licked them, then walked to my other side, smelled his hair and licked it. And she was done; walked away, and lay down on the floor and slept! And the first time she heard him cry she was sleeping on her side; but, all she did was lift her head, perk her ears, look over at him, lowered her head and went back to sleep!

Here's a typical way that I find her "hanging out" in the house!

When I say her life has seen changes, I mean that she:

*used to be the center of our attention.

*used to be the first thing guest wanted to see when they came through the door

*used to have long walks or have her "playdates" with her other doggie friends

*used to have her food at noon and 9, like clockwork

*used to have peace & quiet in the house, except when she barked of course

*used to get a bath every 4-6 weeks.

Now she:

*is still loved, but not the center of our universe

*is still loved on by visitors, but only after they've seen the baby first

*is still exercised, but in the form of short sprints on our bike rides!

*is still fed, but somewhere between 11-3 and between 8-10!

*still barks, but at the MOST INOPPORTUNE times possible...Grrr!!

*still gets bathed, but it's more like every 8-10 weeks...Haha!

And as a result of her not being the first to receive "luvins" from visitors, she has started to "paw" at people! It's very cute, but very inappropriate so we've done our best to discourage it. Hopefully some of these things will improve as Munchkin has a more predictable schedule and we get some sleep!! HeeHee! But alas, she is still our "first kid" and baby's 'older sister', and we love her to pieces...Now if she'll just stop waking him with her barking...

This pic is for those of you who don't seem to believe me when I tell you just how much hair she sheds! That pile was of her third brushing after her bath! You could fill a pillowcase with how much she sheds! But boy is her coat shiny when I'm done!