Gertrude Louise.

If you know me, than you know how much I completely adore my dog. I'd give my life for my dog and that it TOTALLY not a lie. As ridiculous as that sounds, it's the Gods honest truth. Roll your eyes all you want, I'm convinced my dog is human.

Gertrude "Gertie" Louise Rolfes was born in May of 2007 and joined our family in June 2007. As soon as Toby and I returned home from our honeymoon, we took some of our wedding cash and bought a family member. We traveled to Travelers Rest, SC to pick out our pup. When we arrived, we were greeted at the front door to the tiniest little black fur ball, who came scampering up to sniff our shoes........ with absolutely no fear. The man who opened the door was surrounded by at least 6 other yorkies. He pointed to the curious one at our feet and said "this one is yours".

We payed the man, watched him say good-bye to "Holly Mae", (whose name was immediately changed to "Gertie") and took our new baby home.

Gertie was soooooo tiny and still is! She weighed 1 lb when we brought her home and now, 4 years later, is at a whopping 3 lbs. What a chub! She was so tiny that when she was a baby her favorite sleeping spot was on top of my flip flop. Adorable, I know.

Gertie has been through a lot in her 4 years on this planet. I won't go into crazy detail, cause I don't like re-living that tragic moment when we slammed the couch on top of her, but she is a tough lil' cookie! Let's just say that Toby and I could keep our vet's office in business if Gertie was the only patient they had.

I love watching Gertie grow up and wise up! She gets smarter and smarter everyday!

Words Gertie knows:

~Treat

~Breakfast

~Garage

~Car

~ Walk
~Daddy
~Mommy

~Down

~Toy
~Gertie

~Upstairs/Downstairs

~Kiss

~Bad
~Spank
~Good Girl

Words Gertie will never know, but we will continue to work on:

~Potty Pad

~No

Before Leo was born Gertie was my entire world. I would hold her in my arms in the evening, rub her belly, and have a full conversation with her. She would look at me with those big, black eyes and really listen to me. She would greet me everyday at the door and cry every time I left the house. She was always so excited to see me in the morning, even though she slept right next to me all night long! She followed me around the house wherever I went and would only go to bed if I went first.

Now that Leo is here.............

NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

I used to hate it when people would tell me that "once your baby is here you will love your pet less". Poppycock! Once a dog lover, always a dog lover! In fact, I think I may love Gertie MORE now than I did before. I am so proud of her for adjusting so well to her baby brother. She helps me out so much with him.....well, as much as she can! She follows me in to change his diaper every time I change him. She watches Toby give him a bath every night. She gets up in the middle of the night with me to feed Leo (mostly when he was a newborn). When I am sitting on the couch holding, rocking, or feeding Leo, she HAS to be right next to me, in my lap. Most people would get annoyed with this, but I never would. In fact, when she's not sitting with me, it worries me and I call out her name to see where she is!

Gertie is a huge part of our family and we would do ANYTHING for her. I love her so much it hurts! She is our "first baby" and is now the "big sister". We love her and care for her like we do Leo. We are so blessed to have her in our lives and Leo is so lucky to have her as a sister! Call us crazy......that's ok. That just means we are crazy in love with our pooch!