Goodbyes are never easy

It's been about a month since the puppies moved away.  Most days, we do pretty well.  The kiddos only ask about them now and then, and we've adjusted to life without dogs.

But every now and then, it's like a sucker-punch to the gut.

Brad's been traveling a lot for work, and I've been staying up late doing school work and finding my first grade bearings.  Yesterday, I was checking on the little lovelies, and I came back down the hall towards my room, when I caught myself looking forward to seeing my puppy dogs all curled up in their beds, snoring and sighing away.

And then I remembered that they were gone, and it made me cry.  Randomly, after a month, just standing in the middle of the upstairs hallway like, "Where in the world did that just come from?!"

I missed their smell.  Not the wet-dog smell or the bad puppy breath smell, but that warm, sleepy fur smell that was here when they slept next to my side of the bed.

I guess I got used to having the extra company when Brad was away, and now it's just so very quiet once Jack and Hannah are in bed.

I texted our friend Joe today to let him know to give them kisses from me, and he sent me this picture of Gracie-girl:

Isn't she just so perfectly beautiful?

Belle was in the picture, too, but she heard something as Joe snapped the picture, and she was off!  Sounds just like Belle!

When it's really hard and I miss the girls so much, I think about how Jack hasn't gotten blotchy in three weeks.  About how he rarely sneezes.  About how soon he'll be able to come off of his inhaler.

And I think, I can do this.

For that boy?  I would do anything.

*****

Also, while Hannah is loving her old school once again, she is not loving the policy of no binkies allowed in the two's room.  Mama's having a hard time, too, but I try not to let her see that.  Today, I hid her binky when I dropped her off, and when I picked her up, and she asked me for it, I told her I didn't know where it was.  That it went bye-bye because she was such a big girl, and she doesn't need it anymore.  She was very unhappy.

But eventually she got over it and started playing.  She asked me again before bedtime, and she cried a little when I put her down for the night, but everyone's right - it's time.  I know this.  I just hate to see that little girl sad.

She fell asleep after only a few short minutes.  I scurried around, found all the binkies and hid them away.  I cannot go backwards this time.  I cannot.

Please don't let me.

If fact, if someone could come over here and hide them from me, that would be wonderful.

Seriously.

Just don't throw them away.  At least not the pink one - I need it as a keepsake.