the newest Smith

Our long-awaited little ball of fluff is finally here!!! Introducing our sweet little Annabelle.

Since we don't have a human baby to oogle over yet, please bear with me and let me tell you for just a second how excited we are about this puppy and the dog that she is going to become! Her great-grandma served after 9-11 as a rescue dog in the WTC rubble; in fact, she was chosen to be the poster dog for the NYC K-9 rescue squad during that time. Her grandpa is currently a K-9 office for the NYPD, and just last week, he sniffed out $250,000 worth of cocaine that was hidden within a metal lock box, which was in the middle of a rubbermaid container that had been filled with concrete. On top of that, Annabelle's parents are both champion show dogs AND certified working therapy dogs. Does this girl have good genes or what?

Some of our great friends from Wichita, Seth and Toni Buttner, drove up to Indianapolis this weekend to get a male from Annabelle's litter. It was so incredibly fun to share this experience with them! And, we're excited that our dogs will have the chance to be together once we move back to Wichita.

Annabelle's fun little personality is already starting to shine through! She is very attentive and patient and seems to learn really quickly. Although we haven't attempted to teach her the "sit" command yet, she naturally sits all the time, which isn't typical for such a young puppy. She'll walk a few steps and then sit for several minutes, like she's thinking about what to do next. We may be a little biased, but we think she is absolutely adorable.

We only had to get up once with her last night, which is really extraordinary for an 8-week old puppy! She is already going to the bathroom on command and has only had a couple of accidents inside the house.

Stryder is adjusting pretty well so far. We've given him a lot of love and attention, and will definitely continue taking him all by himself for his daily walks. He's even let Annabelle sleep on his bed several times - although he isn't looking for opportunities to be right next to her, he hasn't been mean to her. And she's definitely not scared of him. We looked down tonight and she had smooshed her little head right next to his and fallen fast asleep.

All in all, she's even better than we hoped she would be! If you want to see more pictures and videos of our weekend, feel free to check out this gallery.