Team Hollowell: August 2016

On Saturday morning *8/22* Tripp and I drove to get the newest member of the our family... Howie Hollowell! We drove to Cuba, MO (about 4 hours away) for our appt at 10:30am to pick out a goldendoodle puppy. We had seen a few pics of the litter, but hadn't chosen him yet. We wanted to see him and play with him in person first - the only thing we knew was 1) we wanted a boy, 2) we wanted the apricot color coat.

We walked into the room and there were 5 puppies playing around under a table. There were 2 that had the apricot coat... I picked up one and he was sweet and handed him to Tripp. He bit Tripp's ear and Tripp gave me the "it's not him" look ;) I picked up the other one and he was SO snuggly and chill. He was the only puppy not chewing on our shoes and hyper... SIGN US UP!

We knew immediately that was our Howie! We got his food and then headed back to AR in the car. It was the craziest feeling - we just got a dog! We were talking on the way down... worried about how we would pick him out together, but it was so easy and we were absolutely on the same page.

Tripp holding him for the first time :)

Our first pic together with the three of us (four of us including Davis :)).

First selfie before hopping in the car to drive home!

We had been warned that goldendoodles get car sick, but Howie was perfect! He slept in my lap and was so good :) We couldn't stop staring at him - cutest dog ever.

We stopped for a bathroom break and he peed! You would have thought we won the lottery ha. We were so excited. Everything he did for the first time... we freaked out.

We introduced him to Reggie when we got home. The breeder suggested that we do it outside so we don't let Reggie think he's intruding in his house... and there was a lot of sniffing. Howie slept most of the afternoon - think the road trip made him so tired! My parents came to meet him the night we got him and he was passed out... could barely keep his eyes open :) He was at home pretty quickly...

As for the sleeping at night - Tripp and I were prepared for little sleep and lots of crying and bathroom breaks for the first few nights. We put Howie's crate (which was Reggie's old crate) next to Reggie's big crate and they slept ALL NIGHT. Other than a few cries when we put him in his crate to begin with, we didn't hear a peep from him until about 6am. We were so proud of our Howie! We all woke up and let him outside... then we were tired about an hour later. Howie and I took a nap on the couch and Tripp and Reggie slept in the bedroom. I brought Howie in to the bedroom and put him in his crate... and he cried. So we put him in Reggie's crate and we all slept again until about 10am! Ever since that first night, they have been inseparable and have slept in Reggie's big crate. There's plenty of room for both of them. Reggie has been awesome for Howie. Proud of him too.

I was worried about getting another dog before baby (everyone calls us crazy), but now I can't imagine life without him. Glad Tripp convinced us to continue with our plan of getting another dog :)