It's a dog's life

So before Kate, there was Jackson. He was my fur-baby and the dog I raised on my own, and had been with me through college, through a move to big, bad Dallas and finally, through marriage. He is the best dog on the planet, and if you disagree, I dare you to show me a better one. I love that dog like a fat kid loves cake.

Then there is Dex. 

Dex is a recent addition to the family. As in, we adopted him exactly one (ONE!!) month before I found out I was pregnant. In fact, it was probably those very early pregnancy hormones that made me all mushy and lovey and AGREE TO BUY A DAMN DOG.

Dex is... weird. And difficult. And frankly, while we thought he and Jack would bond so Jack wouldn't feel sad about my love being diverted to little Kate, instead, Jackson has now felt betrayed by me not ONCE but TWICE. He pretty much detests Dex, and nearly two years later, that has not changed. 

So now we have a family of two dogs that don't really like each other, and a baby, that both dogs probably prefer wasn't around. Jack ignored Kate from the moment she got home, and Dexter couldn't stop licking Kate, which always got him in trouble. So while I had dreams of photos of my new baby with the dogs (which other people are always posting on Facebook or Flickr because their dogs aren't high-strung), I couldn't get the dogs to sit next to Kate, let alone give me the time to jump back and snap that perfect photo.

Flash forward to today, and slowly a relationship is forming. Dexter is still weird, constantly licking her face and then running from her, but you can tell he would miss her if she wasn't there to give a tongue bath. And Jackson has started to understand that she is an important member of this family, and he better get on board. He started tentatively sniffing her a few months ago. Then, she started crawling and would crawl over to him and lay her forehead to his, her early "kissing." And finally, now that she is up and walking around, Jack will patiently allow her to pull up on him and pat, hug and kiss on him. It warms my heart every time I see Jackson starting to love her a little more. And, I finally got my picture of at least one dog with Kate. The one I love best. But don't tell the neurotic one (who by the way is hiding under the desk at this very moment because a FLY WAS CHASING HIM. And yes, I am for real).