Introducing Harvey…

Harvey is our new itty-bitty, scrummy-yummy puppy, who I have completely fallen head over heels in love with. He is tiny, and very probably the runt of the litter, but for Lillie (whose puppy he is) it was love at first sight. He was alone in the corner, quieter than his siblings, and she felt an instant connection.

Lillie has found it very hard to come to terms with her twin not being at home any more and losing Oscar around the same time. She was feeling a little lonely and left behind. Gary and I were fairly sure we would be getting another puppy since Oscar died, because our house doesn’t feel like a home without a heap of animals to trip over! We thought that maybe a dog would provide some company for Lillie as well giving her someone to care for and think about. Hence Harvey. He is her birthday and Christmas present. She chose him, named him and will train him and look after him herself, including paying for food and vets etc.

Harvey has been an absolute and complete joy. I can not begin to tell you how gorgeous he is and what a wonderful personality he has. He was not thriving with his last owners as they removed him from his mum too early and started him on dried food before he was ready. That meant he came to us tiny, skinny and malnourished, refusing to eat any dried food. So we tried him on soft food and he has thrived. Still very small for his age (9 weeks) he is now putting on weight and is an energetic, lovable puppy, who adores to be snuggled up in any of the many willing arms available in his new family.

He loves his new brothers, Rufus and Caspian, and the kittens are fearless around him even though sometimes he looks like he is about to bite their heads off. They all chase each other around and are often found snuggling together.

We have made an area for the kitties to go where Harvey can not go, but they will often choose to be close to him instead.

We are all besotted with each gorgeous baby, and waste many hours just watching them play, sleep, fight, eat…

The kittens are settling in well, although I have had little to do with them as their attentions are generally commandeered by the eight year old of the house. They adore her and her them:

I must say, not an awful lot of work is being done right now…

…just lots of cuddling, cooing, playing and loving our three new additions

Oh, and trying to figure out the child-proof adult-proof gate:

I have given up entirely. I now throw one leg over in a very lady-like fashion and then the other. I have had a couple of accidents when my second leg has forgotten to follow through and I have ended up in an unceremonious heap the other side of the gate. I don’t remember child gates being that difficult to operate in the olden days!

I will start posting again soon, although we are not doing too much right now to write about. The littles are just using work-books and Lillie is working towards her GCSEs. Thomas and Charlotte are at college studying for their A levels or equivalents. Gary has been off work for the past couple of weeks and he and I have been doing some home improvements. He will be back at work tomorrow and I guess things will begin to take on some normality again.

Gary is hoping that the next time I blog I won’t be introducing yet more animals… three is enough for him, although his wife fancies some more chickens at some point 😉