Meet the newest additions to the Pond

Friday night at 10 p.m., two fuzzy sets of paws strolled (well, were carried) into the Pond.

Meet Bitty (short for Itty Bitty) and Bear. The two spunkiest, cutest Chihuahuas to ever grace this Earth. We didn't expect them so early, but well, you can see their little faces. How can you resist?

Originally, we were supposed to see three to four different breeders Saturday. One in the Pond, one 2 hours north of the pond, one 40 minutes south of the Pond and one two hours south of the pond. As we planned our day and made annoying phone calls to breeders, we found out we could visit the one in the Pond Friday night. Would we like to come then, instead of Saturday morning, asked the breeder?

We nearly threw the dishes in the sink in our haste to get to the car. I dashed next door, stayed for five minutes at the lingerie party I was supposed to attend and hopped in the car. As we flew down the road, we tried to convince ourselves we were being reasonable.

"Now we may not get them," Ben cautioned me. "I don't want you to be disappointed."

"Of course," I repeated. I sounded reasonable. I sounded like a logical, sound person. But my heart was racing, my stomach was churning in excited knots and it was all I could do not to scream as we flew down the road. We pulled into the driveway, Ben pointing out every flaw in an effort to be neutral. It was all in vain. After we walked in and I saw four tiny bodies scampering toward me, I lost it.

Originally, we wanted two white chihuahuas. There were four puppies in the litter: one black long-haired, two white and the brown and black one (Bear.) I immediately fell in love with Bear, because he bolted for my shoe, ears flapping and tongue wagging. The little girl (Bitty) wasn't far behind.

After playing with them for awhile, I got an uneasy feeling about the white one. He threw up, sneezed and pooped. That was somewhat normal. But he didn't make eye contact, didn't seem interested in our attempts to play and was more intrigued by an old shoe than us. Meanwhile, the little girl crawled all over my leg and Bear chewed on my arm.

"What do you want to do?" Ben asked. We were talking on the porch, leaving the breeder to wrangle the puppies.

"I'm in love with the little girl," I said. "I want her. But I really like that little boy dog for you. The little brown one. I know he's not white like we wanted, but he's got such a cute personality. He's so spunky. What do you think? Is it ok that he's not white?"

A wide grin spread across Ben's face. "If that's what you want, that's what I want," he said. We looked at each other. Butterflies fluttered in my tummy.

So are we doing this?" Ben asked. "Is this what you want?"

I nodded. I was as sure as the puppies as I was on my wedding dress and prom dress. It felt right.

"We're getting babies!" I squealed. "Honey, we're getting babies!"

We filled out the paperwork, collected our puppies and headed home. The breeder gave us a bag of food, and we fed them in the kitchen as we called our family. We piled up some towels for them to sleep in. They slept all night.

After a trip to Petco this morning, Bitty and Bear are the proud owners of a new bed, toys, pee pads and a sock they stole from me. Bear is the more affectionate one of the two. He cries if I put him down for more then ten minutes. He spends his time following me around the kitchen, plopping on my foot and pawing my leg to be picked up. Bitty, on the other hand, loves to crawl through the maze of our kitchen chairs. She is the runt and is expected only to get to 2 pounds. So far, she loves to eat, sleep and bite her brother and act like he started it.

But I know you don't want to hear me talk. You want to see this:

I am ecstatic.