I put up a page today with updated pictures of all the pets. Ahh, pets, gotta love them.

When I was a kid, we never had any pets other than fish. I was actually scared of dogs because of a traumatic event in which I observed one of my distant relatives get bitten on the nose by a huge (to me) black dog, and then get rushed to the hospital. I can still vividly remember the drops of blood all over my grandparent's front porch.

Then when I met my husband I got to spend some time with his mother's shih-tzu. She was definitely a non-threatening dog, and would come sleep in the bed with me every night when we visited. That prompted us to get our own shih-tzu right after we got married. It's continued on and on since then. Now we have seven pets, ten if you count the fish. Three dogs, three cats, a bird, and three fish. I have put my foot down on getting any more pets now, though. (Right now we're working on getting a baby. :) ) My husband is definitely the more eager of the two of us, though. I would have been content with, say, three cats and/or dogs. My husband, though, wanted to be a vet for a long time and so really enjoys his pets.

I definitely enjoy them lots too. They are always extremely entertaining. I have to say, though, that one of my favorite parts of pet ownership is having them sleep with me at night. I'm a very fidgety sleeper, and so I usually don't stay cuddled up to my husband for very long. The dogs though will readjust their position no matter how many times I fidget around and they are nice and warm and comforting. (I do wish, though, that the cats wouldn't come and stick their whiskers in my face so often. It tickles.) Unfortunately, though, we have been talking lately about moving them off the bed. They are always tracking mud and leaves up there, which is definitely a bad thing. We are also starting to consider co-sleeping once we have a baby, and I'm sure having a bunch of creatures in the bed is not very safe when you do that. Right now we're taking it slowly and are only kicking Bracken and the cats off the bed, so I get to enjoy Bramble and Thistle for a little while longer.