Meet Lizzie

It was back in May that we lost our dear girl Maisy just shy of her 11th birthday.  I still miss her dearly.  And we kinda tried to fill the void by bringing home a goldfish from RibFest.  BTW...that fish is still alive and well!  And the whole burden of cleaning the bowl has been pretty easy thus far.  Installed a filter, change out like 1/4 to 1/3rd of the water about once every ten days and the thing stays clean.

Anyway...back to dogs.  Our dear Maisy was a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.  And she was.the.best.dog.ever.  First dogs often are, aren't they?   I've talked with a few people and they all say the same thing:  that first dog that couples often get BEFORE they have kids has a special relationship and bond with the family.  They're just different.  Sure, second dogs are great and they're also special.  But just about everybody that I've talked to has said the same thing:  it just isn't the same.

And with Maisy being pretty awesome?  I'm guessing that's going to be an awfully high bar to get over for any future dogs in my life.

Well, after a few months, our Nat and the kids were talking about getting another dog to add to our family.  And we went around-and-around talking about what kind, how we get him/her, should it be a her? a him?, let alone what color, if the timing was right with us living in Equation Boy/Man and Vic's house for another year (yeah! seriously!)  and if it is feasible with all the chaos in our life right now with the kids.  And, I certainly wasn't looking for a 'replacement'.  But, I think both Nat and I were open to the right situation.  I was, however, pretty strongly anchored on getting another Cavalier.  Even with their known health problems, I figured that we had such good luck with the Mais-a-roo in terms of her demeanor and how she loved being around us, that we should stick to the same gameplan.

Off we went looking to find a new family member.  And, we found one.  From a really great place.  More on that at some point, because it really was a special experience.

After a few months of back-and-forths and a couple of visits, we ended up with a little blenheim Cavaalier King Charles Spaniel puppy.

Maisy was named after one of the top women in British history:  Margaret Thatcher.  Maisy for short.

So, our new girl had to have a good name.  Between Nat and the girls, they narrowed it down to two names:  Jane Austen and Elizabeth Bennet.  There were a few things working in Elizabeth's favor (lake name in Wisconsin where she spent her first night, the Queen's name, etc), so we settled there.

And now we call her Lizzie.  Actually, since she's a member of the family now, I suppose it should be Lizzie Parrillo.

She's a total spaz.  All puppy.  We've had her for more than a month and it took that long for me to be able to take this photo you see above.  She just wouldn't sit still.  Seriously.  Here's some of my other attempts below.  Even in 'burst mode', they were all blurry!

We're still getting to know each other, but it seems that I'm falling for her pretty hard.  Here's looking forward to a long, healthy, loving life with plenty of naps on the couch together - just like her big sister/aunt/whatever Maisy is to her - and plenty of joy she's going to bring to my kids and our family.