We’ve been talking about it for a while, but it’s a tough decision to make. We’re really happy with the size of our family, but we still feel like we have room for one more.

Yesterday we made a decision.

Isn’t she lovely? She is a little, okay, a lot overweight. Reggie is on the right, for comparison.

Valery came from our local Corgi rescue organization. She’s six months older than Reggie, and about 20 pounds (9 kg) heavier than Reggie. Other than her ample girth (the vet techs at our vet’s office suggested that they could put down “Porgy” instead of “Corgi” in her records) she is extremely healthy. We’re hoping that a strict diet, regular walks and calorie-burning joy that is two three-year-old girls will help her lose the weight fairly quickly.

The Cupcakes are thrilled. We got Valery yesterday afternoon, but I don’t think that they realized that she was going to stay. This morning when they woke up and saw that she was still here all I heard for several minutes was ‘Mama!!! Mama!!!! TWO doggies!!! Zwei hunde!!! Mama!!! Zwei!!!! TWO DOGGIES!!!!!!!!!’ Such joy. And as we were pulling down the driveway and they were saying their goodbyes to the house (it’s really cute) Sarah said ‘Bye-bye Papa! Bye-bye Reggie! Bye-bye Princess Valery!’ And Heike chimed in with ‘Bye-bye Celery!’ She’s not entirely clear on Valery’s name yet… it may have something to do with the Wonderpets.

Reggie is also happy to have a new friend. He’s a little puzzled about why she doesn’t want to go racing around the yard chasing squirrels, but he’s happy nonetheless. Don’t they look cute together?

Many thanks to my husband for taking all of these wonderful photos, and for agreeing to add another pet to the family. You’ll be really happy you did, honey. No, really. I promise.