Puddin's new pet request...

Hold your horses...

The cat's out of the bag,

I hope you can run with the big dogs because something's squirrely around here!

You see, my girl LOVES animals. In fact, she not a doll playing kind of girl, but she will play with her little stuffed animals until the cows come home!

And her love of animals has led her to the decision that she needs a pet. (We already have a dog but I guess since she was here before Puddin, she doesn't count in her book).
So we have spent some time talking about pets and what she might like. At first it was always, "When can I have a kitten?"
My response was always,

"Never."
Harsh?? I don't think so. We had a cat when we were first married.

It didn't go well.

moving on

Then we started to think about another dog. For about a minute, and then decided we had done that before too and again, it didn't go well.

So I started to suggest smaller caged animals. Like, hamsters or guinea pigs. But, she decided that since birds are her most favoritest animal in the whole wide world that a bird would absolutely be the most perfect pet for her. We actually started to lean into this one. Except for the flying bird seed that I keep imagining and the fact that the pet store lady told me most birds live at least 25 years and the adorable finches we looked at needed a flock- they weren't good to have by themselves.

moving on

So, since spring is in the air and we are are starting to see images of bunnies everywhere and the fact that I'm pretty sure there is a nest in our backyard again, we have moved on to the idea of a rabbit.
Sounds sweet, right?

While doing some research it became abundantly clear that a rabbit would not be an ideal pet for us considering the current life stage we are in. Them being so fragile and all. Plus the fact that I have 5 very young children, 3 of which are very rough and tumble boys.

BUT, while I was "researching" on google Puddin came in to look at the bunnies....

aww they are sooo cute!!! As we were dreaming that maybe one day

we could be the proud owners of a little, fuzzy, bunny

we came across this image on google....

YIKES!

Have you ever seen anything like this before?!!

This is a Quality Netherland Dwarf Rabbit.

That's right, DWARF!!

Puddin's face went from that of "Oh it's so cuuute!" to shock and horror.

So, I guess I can thank google for getting me out of the pet rabbit arena.

But she wasn't finished yet.
She then informed me that we should look for pigs becuase she was just like Fern and LOOOOOVVVVVEEEEEDD baby pigs.
(Her favorite toy is a Fur Real friend pig she got from her Aunt Christi for her 4th birthday.)
She is devoted to him. His name is Wilbert.
That's right, Wil-bert.

He has been dearly loved.
He gets dressed up and pushed around in his baby carraige too, just like Wilbur did. She loves him.

So, I googled baby pigs and found there are a lot of different kinds of pigs.
And, yes, people keep some of them as pets.
Predominately,the pot bellied pig.
hmmm.... cute, but,
moving on.

Then something caught her eye.

I'm pretty sure it was this....

Is that not the most adorable little piggie you have ever seen?!! It was love at first sight! She was squealing as loud as she could, "That's him, that's my Wilbert!"

My girl is a smitten kitten, with a pig.
A tea cup piggie to be exact.
Oh, the reasearch that I have done....
needless to say, the whole family would love to add little Wilbert to our funny farm
BUT these little piggies carry a very heavy price tag!
I told my precious Puddin- no way, we couldn't afford it.

The next day she informed me that she was getting a job.
But not just any old job, a really good one.
When I asked her why she looked at me like I had 2 heads and said,
"Cause I need some money to get Wilbert."

Smitten, I say.