Pretty Lucky

As I was feeding Owen before his early afternoon nap today,I realized that we are a pretty lucky family but not for the obvious reasons. Yes, we have a roof over our heads and food on the table, we both have jobs and are in great health. Not to mention a pretty adorable little boy, but we also have a pretty great dog! I couldn't ask for a better dog. She has her moments where she doesn't listen and can be pretty annoying but 98% of the time she is super sweet and nurturing towards Owen.
When we found out we were pregnant, we had some reservations about keeping Dakota and how she would be with someone else 'stealing' our attention. Once we brought Owen home TO her though, our hearts melted and we started to become confident about keeping her. Through owen's 6 months of life Dakota has become Owen's 'sister' and she continually shows her love and affection towards him.
So getting back to the origin of this post . . . Owen was mid-bottle and Dakota crawled across the couch so she could get to us sitting in the rocking chair. She got as far over on the arm of the couch as she could, sniffed Owen and then gave him little puppy kisses to clean him off. After a few seconds of this Owen burst out into laughter and she did it again - laughter continued.
It warms my heart that they have this great relationship and will grow up together. Brad and I are excited to watch Owen learn about dogs through her.
She walks by while Owen is on his play mat and he just looks up at her with wonder in his eyes. I can only imagine what is going through his head about this giant black thing that makes him giggle and gives wet kisses. The big object that jumps at the back sliding door asking to come in and makes him bust out in laughter!
She lets Owen grab and pull and explore her body without question. She just takes it! :-)

We couldn't ask for a better dog than Dakota.