Our newest pack member

So I have been a dog mom for over 6 years. It is a role I don’t take lightly. I love my dogs more than life itself, so when the thought of having a child came into question I wasn’t sure I had enough love to share with another being. When I was pregnant everyone said, “You’ll never feel love like having a child.” And I always thought to myself, “Could a little person fit into our already very full pack? Could I love her as much as I love my dogs?”

Well my daughter, now almost 4 months, named Imogen arrived on a stormy night in July. Three days early in fact, she was breech at the very last minute, making an emergency trip to the hospital from our birthing center for a c-section a necessity. Like all the animals in my household, our little human came into the world on her terms. Head first? No way, I’m coming out butt first. Yup, stubborn like the rest of the pack. So I guess it’s fitting that my latest post here be a tribute to our newest member. A little redhead just like my ridgebacks. There isn’t a bit of red hair in my family but my husband is Norwegian and French and redheads abound on his side. We always said that if we had a child she would probably be a redhead (I’m blonde with blue eyes and my hubby has brown hair and hazel eyes). Sure enough she came out not looking like either one of us. Independent in every way.

I do think that raising three very independent dogs has hopefully properly prepared me to be a good and patient mom to a little human. Of course only time will tell. What I do know is that she will grow up in a house full of animals (we also have three cats) and she will learn to be kind to them. She will always know love, and she will always know warmth.