Amy gets attacked by a vicious cuban.

Craig bonds with our boy.

Since our new puppy spend almost his entire first day with us laying on my lap, he was instantly attached to me. But, he belongs to both me and Craig, so today Craig spent a lot of quality time getting our little guy to bond with him, too. Aren't they cute together! Awwwww....

Finally at his forever home!

It seemed to take a lifetime, but we finally brought our new family member to his forever home! He sniffed around and almost immediately seemd to feel at home. The neighbors came over right away to welcome our new addition. He was probably stressed from the trip, so he was a little shy. But, he finally made it! His first night was as expected...lots of crying. But, I would cry to if I had been away from home for the first time in a strange house! I had to get up a couple times to let him out becuase he woke us up with his crying. So, Craig and I are both pretty tired today, needless to say!

Quite an exciting day for a new pup...

When we started the day off, we had no idea the ordeal we'd be putting our new puppy through. All I could think of was that we were traumatizing him with all the excitement. I just wanted to get him home so he could finally get acquainted with us in our home.

I'm sure he's the only puppy in his litter that can brag about his first day adventures! Here we are sitting in the auto shop waiting room. He sure was getting a lot of attention, but who wouldn't with a cute face like that!

Once we found out the damage to the car wasn't going to be fixed that day, Craig started trying to figure out how in the world we were going to get home. We finally decided to take a taxi about 30 miles to the closest airport where we could rent a car. The puppy was so well behaved in the taxi...even though it smelled funny in there. He just sat on my lap and napped most of the time. He even got another play session while we were waiting for Craig to get the rental car once we got to the airport. He was so entertaining!

Once in the rental car, it was time for dinner. It was the first time we decided to test out the crate we bought especially for him. He whined for a few minutes, but surprisingly he calmed down after a few minutes and went to sleep. He slept the rest of the trip home!

Craig told me he was so glad the car broke down after we had the puppy. He said he knew I would be so mad at the situation if I didn't have him to preoccupy me. He just kept my spirits up and made me realize that I'd been wanting a dog for so long, and there was no way I was going to not enjoy my first day with him because of the Mesko curse of crappy cars!

And we wait...and wait...and wait...

We were about an hour away from the breeder's place when my "Check Engine Soon" light came on and my poor Mustang started making some scary engine noises. Great. It was weird how it just came out of the blue! I asked my new buddy, "You're not going to be my bad-luck charm, are you?". We pulled off at the next exit and called a tow truck to take us to the only shop in the area that was open on a Saturday. They were jam packed with customers and our car was at the bottom of a long list. We hadn't had lunch yet, so we walked down the street to Arby's. It wasn't the warmest day out, but we didn't really have anywhere we could go and bring our new friend. So, we sat behind the Arby's at a grassy area that seemed perfect for pets. Our little guy was so well behaved. He was a little scared at first, but once he got comfortable he started pouncing all over the place. He would see Craig at the top of a hill and gallop up the hill to get to him. It was so funny to watch...I wish we got it on video! At least we got some cute pictures instead...

Finally, a decision is made!

After long debate, we finally made the decision who the lucky pup would be! We had nicknamed him "Stripe" while we were there to keep tabs on him. He was super friendly and also got along great with his siblings and mother. We had to laugh because Dominique, the breeder, had to ask, "Are you sure?" She kept laughing at how indecisive we were.

His mother, Celine, followed us out the door as we were leaving. It was obvious to her that we were taking one of her babies, and it made us a little sad. The breeder was back in the mountains so the ride out to the main drive was winding a lot. Our poor little guy probably had a case of motion-sickness and nerves because he got sick a couple times in the first 45 minutes or so. But, other than that, he was so well behaved and calm. We were pleasantly surprised.

We had a crate for him to travel in, but I thought it would calm him more if he could sit on my lap. He sure was comfortable on my lap! He slept most of the time.

Picking out our Brand New Havanese Puppy!!

After deciding we wanted a Havanese puppy, we discovered it may not be as easy as we had hoped. Havaneses are not a common breed which means they're not as easy to come by - and most people don't even know what they are!

We had to drive to the mountains of Virginia to pick out our pup. The timing was perfect because they had 6 puppies available and they were SO ADORABLE!! We felt bad for the breeder because we were there for a while because we couldn't decide which one to take! I wanted to take them all home, but for some reason, I didn't think Craig would go for that. It was the cutest thing seeing them run from their room and jump all over each other to get to us and show us how cute each of them were! They were so excited to see us!