Ha! Totally kidding! Actually, I would like to introduce our newest addition - not a human one, but just like a fourth child in many ways.
Meet Jessie!
Let me tell you, this dog has totally stolen my heart! I just love her to pieces. We got her 3 days before Christmas (she was about 7 weeks), and she is a now 2 1/2 month old chocolate lab/german shorthair mix, though she really just looks like a chocolate lab. She is so cute. We got her from my cousin - his dog is Jessie's mom. Eric (cousin) and his wife said that they could tell that this would be a good dog for us because she seemed mellow and sweet even early on, and they were totally right. In terms of temperament, she's great - playful, submissive, very loving and affectionate, and has not shown even a hint of aggression toward the kids or anything/one else.Potty training has gone better than I expected, though not perfect. Potty training our kids was way easier :) She does still have occasional accidents, but for the most part, she's doing great now. And she does pretty well with a crate at night and when we leave during the day - in fact, last night she went into her crate before I could even tell her to go there. My biggest complaint is that she's not quite happy (or able?) to be in the crate for the entire night...there are some nights where we only get up once to let her out to go potty, but some nights she wants out more than that. So we're still trying to figure that out and hoping she'll soon be able to "hold it" all night. I really like my sleep.
Anyway, she is like a fourth child in that 1)she does require work/scolding/training/cleaning up after, etc.; and 2)we really love her! I come from a family of dog lovers, and Jessie is especially easy to love! Totally worth the work.
On our first night home (same with the top picture). This was taken after a VERY long drive from picking her up - thus, the slight lack of enthusiasm :)
When we first got her, she was smaller than our cat, and right around 8 lbs. As of this last Tuesday (less than a month later), she was already 18 lbs. It's crazy how fast they grow! Oh, and this was the first time Ruby was brave enought to get close.
Waiting patiently to be let outside. 
Taken just a couple days ago...you can see how much she has grown!
