This Time Last Year

This time last year, Matt and I were sleep deprived, stressed, and using up a lot of paper towels and clorox wipes. Any guesses, what was going on during this time last year? We were welcoming Rhapsody into our family. It's hard to remember what life was like before that little white puppy with floppy ears joined our home, but I know it was a lot more boring.

After Matt and I had agreed on getting a dog last year and which breed we wanted, my mom started the search for a new member of our family. Matt had said that he didn't want me to have a dog until graduation (mid-December last year). However, my mom found a great breeder with an adorable litter of puppies that were ready in mid-November. Apparently she and Matt talked without me knowing and agreed I could get her a little early, but my mom wanted to keep the exact date a surprise. I assumed they would bring her when they came to visit for Thanksgiving.

A couple of weekends before Thanksgiving, my mom and I had plans to meet in OKC on Friday to do some shopping together. I had expected a call from her saying she would rather shop in Tulsa and would just come all the way here (and bring a puppy with her). Since she never changed the plans I gave up hope I would get her early, and assumed it would be a couple of more weeks before I got her. I got to OKC a little before my mom and told her I wanted to go to Pet Smart to look around and get some supplies that would be needed. I saw her come into Pet Smart with a white puppy in her arms. It didn't make sense that she would have brought Rhapsody with her since I was sure Matt would want to see my reaction when I got her and my mom and I had a full day of shopping planned. So when I saw her I asked why she brought Missy with her (my parents also have a white small dog- a Maltese). It didn't really look like Missy but nothing else made sense, until my mom told me it wasn't Missy but my graduation present. I was really shocked and pretty much flipped out in the store. Rhapsody was adorable but freaked out from the car ride and all the sights and smells in Pet Smart. She was shaking but her curious nature was already coming out when we put her down to explore Pet Smart. We shopped at Pet Smart and Wal-Mart for pet supplies. After lunch and a little more shopping while Rhapsody napped in the car, we all headed back to Broken Arrow for the weekend, and life has been crazier since.

In honor of our one year anniversary with Rhapsody, here are some unique things about her

1. Her name: A lot of people wonder how Rhapsody got her name. You can blame Matt for that one. Here's what happened. Several years ago (I think before we were even married), we were talking about baby names. Matt said he really liked the name Rhapsody for a girl. He said he had read a book with a character named Rhapsody and ever since he liked the name. I was a little horrified with naming a human child Rhapsody thinking about how other kids would make fun of her and other parents making fun of us for giving a child that name, but I did like the uniqueness and it started to grow on me, a little. When we started talking about dog names, it came up again and was really the only name we came up with that we both liked. I do have to say that part of how Rhapsody got her name had to do with ensuring that any future human children would not have the name Rhapsody. Thanks for making the sacrifice Rhapsody :)

2. Rhapsody is a very jealous dog. Every time Matt and I hug or kiss in front of her she either jumps up on our legs or starts licking our face. It's like she's saying, "Hey, don't forget about me."

3. One of Rhapsody's favorite games is chase. She likes us to chase her all around the living room. She'll run and change directions so we can't get her. If she feels really threatened by us catching her, she runs full speed around us and heads toward the bedroom and under the bed. She's a big cheater :)

4. If she wants to play fetch with her ball and can't get our attention, she'll start licking our feet, or will drop her ball and pick it up and drop it again right at our feet.

5. If we ask her if she wants to "go on a walk" she does her own special dance including running in circles.

Thanks for such a fun first year, Rhapsody!