The Other Mommy

My kids have 2 Mommies. Yep. That's right. They have me, and they have another mommy, she's black and shiny, and has four legs. She is our dog. We got her 3 years ago, from some strangers a few hours down the road. She lived on a chicken farm, and had acquired quite the taste for the ahem chickens... I guess she was about to be put out of farmer Joe's misery and sent off to doggy heaven by way of shotgun. Well, my mom told us about her, we were looking for a dog. Preferably something a little bigger, house trained, and good with kids. What we got? Sadie. She is absolutely unreal with the kiddies. She babysits them while they're playing in the basement. She comes and finds me if one of the little people is doing something they shouldn't. She sits at my feet when I'm feeding the baby, just making sure everything is going all right. She loves her babes like only a mother can. During Nolan's fussiest of fussy days, she was right there, sitting underfoot, making sure her babe was all right. The other night while Dan was getting the screaming babe ready for bed, Sadie sat outside Nolan's bedroom door, ears straight up, nose smack on the door, waiting to be let in to make sure Dad wasn't hurting her youngest. I have never ever seen anything like her. When Spencer was starting to walk, she'd heard him in the living room, instinctively knowing where he could and couldn't go. She lays on the floor and lets her boys climb all over her. Pull on her, drop things on her, all with a smile on her face. She takes her job VERY seriously. When we're out on a walk, she abandons all of her training and walks on the street side of the sidewalk, keeping her little ones protected from the cars driving by. When they're playing in the back yard, she keeps them from climbing the stairs up to the deck, knowing that it's dangerous and they could fall and get seriously hurt. She is absolutely amazing! A lot of days, her spectacular parenting is her only saving grace. Although she loves her kids with every fiber of her being, she is a very very needy pup. She needs a lot of attention. She has to sleep crated at night, because if left to her own devices, she pees all over the floor in the basement. NOT COOL. But, I'm willing to look past all that. She's helping my babes all create wonderful memories. She loves on the kids and lets them love on her with reckless abandon and I love to see it!