Again I apologise for the missing post yesterday, but I have good reason!!
Yesterday was great! I hadn’t slept well the night before but I think that was mainly due to excitement!! Yesterday, we picked up the newest edition to our family…our new 8 week old black lab, called Alfie!
I had moved down to 1 crutch for moving around the day before, that was going well and I think it was just in time!
Pippa and I took the 1h15min car ride to Ipswich, (being in the car is still pretty uncomfortable for me, and getting in and out is still one of the hardest things I have to do) and arrived at the breeders house, welcomed by Alfie’s mum. My hip was stiff and sore but it would be well worth it.
We went inside and straight away, picked Alfie up for a good amount of face licking! I’ve got to say, trying to walk around a kitchen with a crutch when there are 10 puppies under your feet is awkward! Once every thing was settled we took Alfie to the car and Kerry (the breeder) said a tearful goodby and put Alfie on my lap. As we drove away I think it hit us…….. we had a puppy of our very own!!
I was expecting the journey home to be arduous at best…. I had read, and been told all the horror stories of puppies being sick, pooing and weeing in the car, howling and yelping the whole way etc…. but Alfie was a STAR!! He pretty much slept on my lap the whole way! And when he wasn’t sleeping, he was licking my hand! We stopped about half the way home to see if Alfie needed a bathroom break, but I think he was too scared of all the road noise etc, plus it was his first time outside, on a lead, with strangers…probably not the best idea!
We got home, and again, my hip was stiff and sore but we got Alfie out of the car and took him into the garden. I walked around a bit and the hip soon loosened off. When we were in the garden Pippa got the picnic blanket out so she could sit on the floor with Alfie. Mum and Dad turned up with fish and chips for tea, and they both sat on the blanket with Alfie too…… 
by this time…. I was getting a bit jealous so, I tried to get down on the floor with him too! I managed it! it was a slow process but I did it! after some play, getting up again was difficult but I managed that too without too much stress.
By the time the evening came, Alfie, Pip and I were all pretty shattered and we all sat in the lounge, Alfie dozing on our laps (where his special blanket is! He’s only allowed on the sofa when his blanket is on it!!) it came to 22:30 and it was time for bed….. we put Alfie in his crate, shut the door and went upstairs…..
My heart nearly broke and I think Pippa’s did, as we lay in bed, listening to him cry… But, in less than 30 mins, he stopped! We slept through to 05:00 when I got up to go to the toilet, I think he heard me and he started to whine a little. I couldn’t resist so went down to let him out and let him go to the toilet. Also, I hadn’t taken my pain meds to bed and my hip was playing up so I took those on the way to take him out to the toilet!
So here we are after our first night. Not too tired and with a beautiful little boy asleep on my lap!…. surely this will make my recovery quicker!
bhrat28 