The sassy, classy life of Cassie: Miss Lilly Belle...

I’m back!

I’m not sure if you missed me or not, but I missed you.

I thought it best to take a leave of absence from my blog when one of my readers took it as an invitation to stalk me. But I think that has been resolved now, so I decided to make a comeback. There are so many things I’ve wanted to share over the past three months… I don’t even know where to start.

I think I will start with the newest addition to my world. My sweet little Lilly.

Miss Lilly Belle

Back in February, I had to put my precious Dotti (best dog ever) down due to a heart tumor. It was really hard for me as she was really the only good thing I had to show for the previous six years of my life. She literally was the best dog ever. I couldn’t replace her if I wanted to and for the longest time, I didn’t want to even consider getting a new dog. I knew none could compare to Dotti pants. There were several opportunities of friends emailing me pictures of cute puppies looking for forever homes, even my sister dropping a monster dog off at my house, but none of them were a good fit and I just wasn’t ready.

My last picture with Dotti

I know those of you who have human children don’t understand us dog lovers’ connections to our babies and how much we mourn the loss of one so deeply. But Dotti was my child. The bright spot in my day. The “person” I made the most sacrifices for and always considered her best interest. When buying a house that was the #1 thing on the list to the realtor… must have a fenced in back yard for Dotti to play. The #2 was must have a garage for Kit to sleep. What can I say? My kids are at the top of my list. J The determining factor on whether or not I could go somewhere for the weekend with friends was always if Dotti could come, and if not, if I could find a worthy babysitter for my sweet love.

So after several months of considering the possibilities of inviting a new four-legged friend into my home, and always deciding the time just wasn’t right, I had one really rough day where I was feeling super lonely and I sat in the backyard next to the tree we planted over Dotti’s gravesite. That was the moment I knew I needed a puppy. Not to replace Dotti, but just because I was reminded of how much joy it brings to have someone to come home to that is never mad at you, will always listen to you, never complains about what you feed them, always wags its tail and greets you with a kiss, always wants to be close to you, never tells you that you work too much or not enough, never says the house isn’t clean enough or the lawn needs to be mowed. They would rather you sit and snuggle with them or throw the ball over and over and over then you do any of those chores. The list can go on and on, but I’ll stop there. When I was having a rough day and the only thing that made me feel better was sitting next to my dead dog’s dead tree, I knew that I not only needed to replant a better tree, but that I needed a new puppy in my life.

Once I made the decision to get a new puppy, I started researching breeds. I thought maybe I’d want something new. My family is a dog family. We’ve always had them… sometimes tons of them at the same time. Throughout my life I’ve had cockapoos, cocker spaniels, Siberian huskies, German shepherds, labs, pit bulls, blue healers, Staffordshire terriers, hound dogs and my fair share of mutts, but with the exception of one or two, none of them compared to Dotti, who was an American bulldog. I kept researching new breeds that I’ve never had, but ultimately “American bulldog” kept ending up back in the search bar. After almost convincing myself to go with a golden retriever, I stumbled upon an American Bulldog breeder out of Muldrow, Oklahoma.

Enter Lilly.

Lilly's first picture

Or as she was named on the Southern Charm American Bulldog website… PF4 (which stands for Putter (the name of her mother), female, order born in the litter).

I found her picture and I fell in love. She is a registered American bulldog and they were good breeders as opposed to a puppy mill. Her color and markings were so pretty. I knew I wanted her so I started emailing the breeder. We made plans for me to come get her when she was six weeks old. I was so excited. But as it got closer to go time, the breeder started getting a little flaky, stopped returning my emails, always had excuses on why she couldn’t email pics or meet me. I was at the Reba concert on a Friday night when I told Brett that I had planned to drive over to Muldrow the next day and pick her up. He said he was sad because he wanted to go with me but couldn’t because his mom was in town. Then almost immediately I got an email from the breeder saying she’d sold PF4 to someone else. My heart was broken. I thought PF4 was gone. But I told her I would come up Tuesday (so Brett could join me) and see what females she still had left.

I tried to forget about PF4 and spent some time on the website Saturday looking at the other babies she had. I had it narrowed down to two that I wanted to look at, but neither that I was in love with. I never told Brett that PF4 was gone, just that I had decided to go Tuesday instead of Saturday.

Sunday I went to church in Broken Arrow. I had invited Brett and his mom to join me and JC for lunch after church, but he said they’d be too busy. JC and I caught the first showing at Cinemark and decided to do Olive Garden after the movie. The movie had just started when I got a text from Brett saying his mom wasn’t feeling well and went home and that he wanted to meet us for lunch. I told him we were in a movie but planned to eat after. Then an hour went by and he kept texting, wondering where I was. I was starting to think something was wrong. Then he asked if I would meet him in the movie theater parking lot before we headed to the restaurant. I asked if everything was okay and his response was, “I’m just sad.”

Geez, that was the longest movie ever. I was so worried about him. I thought maybe he’d had a fight with his mom, or something bad had happened. I had no idea what to expect. As soon as the credits started rolling I was out the door. JC went to get us a table and I found Brett. He was sitting against the trunk of his car with the saddest face I’d ever seen. When I walked up to him and asked what was wrong, he started crying… yes… real tears. He started telling me how they sold PF4 to someone else.

Oh what a relief. I thought it was something much more serious. He started mumbling about how he wanted to get her for me for Christmas and now he couldn’t and how sad he was. I tried to comfort him, though I was so caught off guard by why he was so sad about the puppy I wanted that I couldn’t really even think. Then he said, “She has others that she sent pictures of… do you want to see?” My mind said, “I’ve already seen them.” But my heart said, “Anything to get him to stop crying.” And my mouth said, “Yes, I would love to.” So he walked around to the passenger side of his car where the window was down. I was expecting him to pull out his phone to show me pictures and instead he pulled out PF4, wrapped in a cute little blanket with a cute little bandana around her neck. It was love at first sight. J

I pretty much love her.

He handed her to me and said, “Her name is Lilly.” At first I didn’t know if I should punch Brett or hug him. He had me worried sick. But he also just gave me the sweetest surprise ever. I have been accused of being a little detective, so surprising me is almost impossible. But he pulled it off marvelously. I’m still not sure how I feel about the real tears. Now that I know he can cry on command, I may doubt the sincerity of his tears in the future. J

Brett watched Lilly while I went ahead and ate with JC. I ordered him a to-go order for being so sweet and played with and cuddled my new baby while he ate it. Then we went to my soccer game. Lilly was the cutest fan on the sidelines. Brett was the second cutest. And the little girl who would not stop making Brett get up to put Lilly in her lap was the third cutest. Lilly was a big hit. I don’t remember much about the game. But I remember just about everything else about the day my sweet Miss Lilly Belle came into my world.

Lilly and I have had many “Marley and Me” moments since I first got her and I am looking forward to posting some of them in the future. Until then, here are some pictures of my sweet baby who celebrated her 12-week birthday yesterday.