Introducing . . .

 Did you freak out for a moment?  That was a little mean of me . . . my bad. ;)

You have no idea how much I would love to write a post introducing our son and showing off pictures of Easton, but introducing this sweet face is the next best thing!

Our newest addition to the Gilbert family is . . .

Tilly

We might be crazy, but we are already in love!  Seriously, how could we not fall head over heels for this cutie?!

Tilly was our Christmas prize for the kids, but the timing of everything meant that they got to open this prize this morning.  I took a video of them opening the box with her inside . . . so precious . . . but something is wrong with my camera/video/computer and I can't get it to upload.  Major frustration.  So these pictures will have to do!

Update!  My amazing friend, Boyd Guy, came over tonight to help me get my videos working again!  So beyond grateful because you will love seeing this video!

Chad started asking for a dog in the Spring, but I firmly said no.  My plan was to wait until Grayson was potty trained, or Easton was home, or until I felt like I wouldn't lose my mind by adding a puppy to the mix.  Obviously none of these have happened (I could very well lose my mind), but here we are with this cutie and even I am really excited.  

Chad, of course, is like a little boy with all his excitement, Grayson just keeps laughing and yelling DOG with absolutely no volume control, and Ava is just thankful that Tilly wants to lay by her and be her friend. {Priceless}

A great friend at our church owns a rock yard business and Chad has been doing a Bible study out there on Tuesday mornings for almost three years.  One of the guys out there had all these puppies, but when Chad would hang out with him, Tilly would crawl in Chad's lap while all the others were jumping around everywhere.  It didn't take long for Chad to start dropping hints, but I was definitely resistant.  After all, nothing on my list has been accomplished. :)

Chad was wearing me down and then sealed the deal by taking all of us out to see the puppies on Grayson's birthday.  Tricky, tricky.  He knew Grayson would just get excited to see dogs and it would be a fun family outing for his birthday.  But Chad also knew that one look at this face and I'd be a goner.  Um . . .Yep. 

So we've spent the last week getting all the stuff that is needed for a puppy. {a friend blessed us with a gift and it literally paid for every dollar we spent on puppy supplies . . . God provides!} I've been googling to try and figure out how on earth you get a puppy trained. {Today has been successful, but I'm not looking forward to going back to newborn stage with middle of the night duty!}  And we've had to make sure our families will be on board for an extra guest for Christmas!

But most of all, we've spent the week anticipating the joy our kids would have when they realized that Tilly is ours.  I think Chad was secretly hoping for the typical movie reaction with the screaming and jumping up and down.  That didn't happen.  What's funny is that the first thing Ava said was, "Remember that movie where there was a puppy in the present?"  I was like, "Yeah Ava. That's happening to you!"  And of course Grayson just squealed and said "DOG" over and over.  Then he kept looking in the empty box.  Seriously kid, I know boxes are exciting, but you've got a D.O.G. right over here! :)

They have been so sweet with her today and Ava is really excited to help take care of her.  We're just hoping Grayson quickly grasps the concept of being gentle and the fact that Tilly does NOT like being hit with plastic golf clubs. 

We chose the name, Tilly, to continue our tradition of New Orleans inspired names for our pets {We had a gecko for 5 years named Beignet!}.  Tilly comes from Gentilly, which is the area of New Orleans that we live in.  The first apartments we lived in when we moved here 8 years ago were also named "The Gentilly."  We tossed around a bunch of NOLA names, but couldn't think of anything else that fit better than Tilly for our sweet girl.  

Just looked at the clock and it is time to go outside for a potty break.  Gotta get myself back in baby mode with this crate training schedule!

{During our outside time the kids discovered the joy of Tilly's nipping.  Ava was screaming in terror when her game of chase turned into Tilly literally nipping at her heels.  And then when I stepped inside to get Tilly her bone, I came back out to her pouncing on a fallen Grayson, which resulted in our first blood.  And it's still day one.  Lord help us!}