Baby Blogging - Having A Baby And A Dog!

Since having Annabelle there are three questions most people have asked:

1. Where did we get the name Annabelle from?
2. Is Annabelle a good baby?
3. How is Bisbee with her?

It's this third question that I wanted to answer in this post.....

In short Bisbee has been amazing. In all honesty more amazing than Laura and I expected, and we already thought Bisbee was amazing!

Here is our post on Bisbee at 3 years
And Bisbee at 2 years
And when we first got her we posted this

Seeing Bisbee as a big sister has given us a whole new appreciation of her. She is kind, gentle and so protective - it is adorable to watch.

At the start of the pregnancy it's fair to say Bisbee wasn't at all interested but as the bump grew so did her interest and we started using the baby name so Bisbee would get used to it.

When we were having Annabelle, Bisbee stayed at our neighbours so Laura could easily pop in and get her when she had to leave us at the hospital. Bisbee happens to love our neighbours and they treat her like a queen so it was a win-win all round.

On the day we bought Annabelle home Laura rushed in to greet Bisbee in our house why I got myself out of the car. As Laura returned to the car I headed in and greeted Bisbee. With all that excitement by the time we carried Annabelle in Bisbee was calming down. We carried Annabelle to the couch and sat down, at this point we let Bisbee sniff her while we were repeatedly saying 'be gentle'. Within 10 minutes we eased into being a new family and Bisbee was just happy having us home.

Since that point Bisbee has been ever present, staying close she is happiest joining in - especially when a photo is being taken. When we take Annabelle anywhere, or have guests Bisbee will be on guard and check Annabelle is okay. It is heartwarming.

At night we now have our bedroom door ajar so Bisbee can come and go as she pleases, funnily enough she starts the night with us but mainly sleeps in her bed. It's as if she doesn't want to miss out but when she is satisfied we are asleep she prefers her own (less hot) space.

Bisbee will say one of her favourite things is the number of presents 'she' has received. We have told all our friends and family to make sure and give Bisbee plenty of attention when arriving as she will notice, whereas Annabelle won't. What that has meant is that any gift that enters the house also becomes Bisbee's. In fact all Annabelle's 'key' items (including some from this Top 10 List) have been used by Bisbee. Her current favourites are the baby pillow and the play mat.

There have been moments when enthusiasm takes over though and we have to remember she is still a dog - the door being knocked has involved Bisbee darting over Annabelle and almost knocking her out of my arms. A fly coming in scared Bisbee enough to dive on Annabelle as she was fleeing and she accidentally stood on Annabelle when we moved her from a seat. Thankfully there have been no injuries to either Bisbee or Annabelle.

One strange thing I have found is that people were insistent on telling us that our love for Annabelle will surpass our love for Bisbee and we couldn't agree less. Just as when you have another child and your heart grows that is exactly how we feel. If anything I have become so conscious on making sure Bisbee isn't left out and knows how much we love her. Right now I have Annabelle dozing to my left and Bisbee dozing to my right and my heart couldn't feel happier.

The extra time at home only makes me love both the girls more. We play games - together, I make up songs with both their names and when Laura's here we all dance around the kitchen or snuggle on the couch. We go on walks together, we hang out together and I can't wait for our first road trip together.

I also can't wait to see the friendship between them growing as they get older.

We are certainly looking forward to spending as much time with these two as possible!

So in answer to the question Bisbee couldn't be better with her :)

The answer to question 1 was that we had Annabelle on our short list as a name that she could shorten as she got older (and we can't do much with Sarah or Laura so wanted her to have options) and on the day we found out we were having a girl I was wearing a top that said Belle so it just made sense.

And question 2 - is yes Annabelle is a great baby, likes to sleep and eat and has a pretty cute smile that makes us fall in love on the daily.