don't know what you've got till it's gone.

Seriously.

My eyes burn from crying tonight.

It wasn't pretty.

You see...I was never what you would call a "dog person" but the boys in our family are, so we were graced with a puppy this year from Good Ole Saint Nick.  And then found out I was pregnant.

A boxer puppy.  And a pregnancy.
Good call, right?

Fast forward nearly four months, plenty of potty training accidents, good days and bad.

It was time to feed Bailey tonight and when Mr. Man went out to get her the back fence was wide open and Bailey was nowhere to be seen.  The horrific primal cry that let out of Little Man was horrific to experience as a mom.  It was all I could do to not come unglued.

The next hour and a half were mixed with lots of tears, many drives around the area and half hearted attempts to calm the boy and reassure him that it was possible Bailey would find her way home while I breathed deeply with big fat tears streaming down my cheeks.  In the midst of the chaos, one of my sisters hundreds of miles away placed a Craigslist missing dog notice and started calling animal shelters.  She beat Mr. Man to finding Bailey by a few minutes.   Best text of the year from my sister "She is at animal control!"

And here we are, hours later and I'm still a mess.  The thought of losing that little pesky part of family is unbearable.  Helping our kiddos get through that loss would have been heartbreaking.

So I guess it's official.
I'm not only a dog owner.
I'm a dog lover.

Through and through.

-McGee