Bertie // Introducing…

Nick turned to face me on the sofa: “Would you like to go puppy hunting this weekend?” he said.

It was a couple of weeks after we’d found out that we had sadly lost our baby.

The children were going to be at their grandparents for the weekend, to allow us some headspace post-miscarriage, so I started researching local breeders. I made an appointment with one near us who had a new litter of cockapoos; we were going to visit them that weekend.

The ‘shall we get a dog’ discussion had been ongoing for months years, and Nick had finally agreed to start looking just before we found out that I was pregnant. I didn’t fancy pregnancy AND a puppy, so we put those plans on hold for the future (along with the chickens!).

But after our loss it felt like the right time to be thinking about this again. We needed positivity. I needed a reason to get out of the house every day to help with my mental well-being. And we all needed an animal in our lives to cuddle.

I was so nervous as we approached the breeders house. After spending 6 months trying to conceive, and then 12 weeks being pregnant only to find out that our very much longed for baby was no more, I was so scared that this would come to nothing as well.

But the meeting went well. The breeder was lovely, and genuinely adored dogs, and we left with big smiles on our faces – we were getting a puppy.

Bertie the cockapoo was coming to live with us in November!

Since that first meeting we’ve visited weekly so Bertie could get to know us. Watching him develop and grow week-by-week has been wondrous – and has given me something so gloriously positive to focus on.

Bertie came home on Saturday afternoon and settled in straight away. He’s so kind and patient with the children. So loving towards us all.

The children adore him. We adore him. And he adores us.

I can’t wait to share all of our adventures with you. I have a feeling Bertie and H-Bear are going to be the dream adventuring team come January once Bertie has had his 12 week jabs!

Hannah