It was one year ago today that we went to Jasper, GA to adopt Bella Georgette. It was one year ago yesterday that I had my last day of peaceful living.
No one really consulted me on her adoption so I was surprised when we went to this stranger's house and she brings out this little fur ball. I'll be honest...the first time I met her I was NOT impressed. She had trouble-maker written all over her.
To my shock and horror, Mommy and Daddy actually wanted to bring this little munchkin home with us. I tried to warn them that I thought she was going to be a mischief maker, but they couldn't see past the cute face. I could tell Mommy loved her immediately and there was no way we were leaving without her.
Here's Bella getting one last snuggle with her Dog Mom, Piper.
Bella, I wanted to let you know that, after I've had some time to reflect on your year with us, I can honestly say that I'm glad we brought you home. However, I want you to keep in mind that it is never too late to take you back.
Love, Your Big Brother Maddux
P.S. I'm not one to say "I told you so", but please note the missing sheetrock as evidence of my accurate prediction of her being nothing but trouble.
Friday afternoon, we all loaded up the car and headed to Knoxville to see the family. Before we left, Bella had a near death experience with a gigantic ketchup bottle. Mommy wanted to make it known that Daddy dropped the bottle and almost squished her.
On Saturday, we woke up early because we were excited to meet our second cousin, Ally. Unfortunately, Mommy thought we needed to make a good first impression so she gave us a bath. If Bella and I had known a bath was involved, we may have skipped the meet and greet, but since we didn’t get a vote, we got a bath and then took a trip to Great Auntie Wilma and Great Uncle Glenn’s house to introduce ourselves to Ally.
Everyone neglected to tell me and Bella that Ally is a giant! She is only 11 lbs. (for now), but her legs are a mile high. We look like munchkins next to her. She also has tons of energy. She was jumping, and bouncing all over the place, and she even did a flip off the couch (I don’t think it was intentional, but it sure did look cool).
Ally was very excited to see us, and she really wanted to play. Needless to say, Bella and I were a little hesitant. Mommy and Mamaw would put us in the floor when Ally seemed calm, but it didn't take her long to run right for us ready to play chase.
Bella quickly ran over to Great Uncle Glenn so he could pick her up.
I tried to stay out of Ally's way by hiding behind Mamaw’s legs, but I still had to show my teeth and growl a little when she invaded my personal space.
Ally is very fast…she is so fast that they had to put up a temporary fence until she is trained to come when she is called. Here’s a video of Ally demonstrating her speed and agility.
We really enjoyed meeting Ally. She is very rambunctious, but she’ll grow out of this puppy phase soon. I remember when Bella was hyper and in my face constantly (hmm…come to think of it she is still like that and she isn’t a puppy anymore). Although, Bella is a little less intimidating since she is smaller than me. Did I mention Ally is a giant!
We went home to take a nap so we were rested for the for the belated birthday celebration for Daddy. We went over to Nana’s house to visit and have birthday cake.
Sam loved posing for the camera. I think he’s a natural.
He has grown since the last time we saw him, and his vocabulary has increased. Everything that he is not supposed to touch is “hot”, and he is working on saying all of our names. We think it is so funny when he calls us “woof-woof”. He loved playing with us.
There was one unfortunate incident during the course of the evening that I am very embarrassed about…I went ballistic and growled and snapped at Auntie Jamie. She picked me up to hug on me and I lost my composure for a minute. In my defense, I had a very long day and I was exhausted. I had a bath, met Ally, had an altercation with Bella (she was asleep on Nana’s couch and I jumped on top of her and she woke up in attack mode), played with Sam, and helped Daddy open presents. I think my episode was a result of the bath, and it was my recommendation that baths should be avoided to prevent future outbursts.
Auntie Jamie I am so sorry I took out my frustrations on you when I meant to take them out on Bella.
Papaw was teasing me that there was going to be a lawsuit so he wanted evidence of the “attack” so he took a picture of Auntie Jamie looking pitiful.
After the “incident” (that I will never live down), we all went outside to take a family picture in the front yard. For his birthday, Uncle Bryon, Auntie Tina, and Sam got Daddy a tripod for his camera so we were able to get the whole family in the picture (except Uncle Rich who had to work).
