Oh, child.

I am a nervous new mother in its truest form. We've had Judge for exactly five days and he's already been to the vet twice, and sorta made me cry a little a couple nights ago. I'm kinda embarrassed. Let me explain: first visit was his initial new puppy check-up. It's always good practice to take any new baby to get checked out so he can meet his new doctor and get used to the whole process of examination. I got the great news that we have a wonderfully healthy boy who looks, sounds, and is just perfect. On the down side, I learned he was a little underweight. No baby of mine is gonna be too skinny if I have anything to say about it. He weighed in at (what I thought) was a staggering 8.5 pounds. For a seven week old baby, I thought that was pretty large. At 11 weeks, Bailey was a tiny 5.5 pounds and could fit in my hand. Judge, being the baby beast he is, should have been closer to ten. So the vet gave me instructions to fatten him up. Every morning, he and Bailey get one scrambled egg. And 4 times a day he gets fed his regular puppy food mixed with buttermilk. So spoiled already. Doctor's orders. So far it's been a major success. We've gained 2 pounds in roughly two days.

Now let me tell you about that second night. Of course our babies sleep in the bed with us. Say what you may, but that's how we like it. All night we noticed puppy panting and just generally uneasy. Overly squirmy, even for himself. So we opened the windows and turned down the heat, but still no relief for this overheated little baby. Next, we tried a cold pack wrapped in a tee shirt for him to lay on. It helped a little, but he was still panting and now was coughing and sneezing, too. I was getting pretty worried. Never google medical symptoms for anything that your dog, child, or self may be experiencing, because you will immediately become terrified. Wish I had realized this sooner. It listed everything from cardiac defects, to ear infections, to internal bleeding. Good Lord. I decided that just maybe he was too hot. So at 12:30 a.m. I found myself on our kitchen floor with a pair of scissors and a pile of puppy curls. Let's face it, the dog has a lot of hair. This still didn't do the trick. So the next morning, darling, being the wonderful pup dad he is, took baby to the vet again to ease my mind. Turns out it was nothing. He did tell me they cracked up over my split decision grooming job, but over all nothing major, just the tiniest touch of kennel cough. So baby is back to normal, and if you ask me, I think that little hair cut did the trick.

Now Bailey is a sick boy, and I think we can pretty confidently rest it on the fact that we've been spoiling him like crazy to be sure that he doesn't feel replaced or resentful of Judge. Labradoodles have notoriously sensitive stomachs and we've known this from day one. But we sometimes tempt fate and give him nibbles of sausage or cheese or whatever else is on the menu for the night. All he has to do is look at us the right way and we melt. Who can blame us?

We've been going a little overboard since the arrival of the new baby, and his belly is, unfortunately, fighting back by being upset for the past day. He's getting back to normal, finally. I think we've learned our lesson this time around, and much to Bailey's dismay, no more table food. We'll be making a trip to PetSmart to load up on belly friendly munchies for him and Christmas toys for both, and a new stocking for baby. Can't wait. Just really can't wait.