Introducing Abbey

Our new baby has arrived!  On Saturday, March 31, we happily welcomed a new Miniature Schnauzer into our family.  After much debate and discussion, we named her Abbey (because Mommy is a big Beatles fan, and Abbey Road is iconic!)  

Abbey and Mommy in the car, let's go HOME!  

Scout and Abbey check out their Easter baskets.  Can you see Sebastian in the background?  He likes to keep an eye on things from a safe distance!  

Scout is always polite, but Abbey decided to dive right in!

The toys and treats were pretty cool, but she's just as happy to chew on the basket!

So far, things are going well.  Abbey will sleep in a kennel overnight until she is completely potty trained, and the first night, I did not hear a single peep out of her until about 5 am, when she needed to go outside.  The second night, she did cry a bit after I closed the kennel door, but within 15 minutes, she was quiet.  She already understands that a trip outside means "do your business," and she's very efficient at doing it quickly ... YAY!  

Scout is a little jealous, but of course we expected that.  They've done plenty of sniffing and barking at each other, but I think they'll become happy playmates soon.  That's the HOPE, anyway!  For now, Abbey is still afraid of stairs, so if Scout gets sick of her, she just runs down the stairs and then stares up at Abbey, as if to say "ha!"  But I doubt it will last very long, because Abbey is a determined little puppy!  She'll master the stairs in no time.  Then Scout will have to invent a new game!  

There's something very joyful about having a new puppy in the house.  Abbey prances and rolls and paws with such exuberance that we all find ourselves with a little more spring in our step!  Life is good.