Our Sweet Girl

Since I wrote an Ode to our Peyton back in the fall-I can't leave out our sweet girl Brinkley :) It was this month, 5 years ago, that I brought home that green eyed, fuzzy little brown bellied bundle of cuddles.  Here's how she became part of our Martone family:

I was teaching 2nd grade in Wapato (an hour from home) and Mike was teaching in town. He had been bombarding my school email with pictures of Chocolate Lab puppies for months....months I tell you! We already had Pey Pey and things were going really smooth with him as far as kennel training & potty training went. We enrolled him in puppy classes, and the whole bit. Mike even enjoyed coming home everyday on his planning periods to let Peyton out of the corralled kitchen area to go potty outside...apparently it was so fun he wanted to do it again-which completely shocked me. I thought it was a completely CRAZY idea and repeated the "negative" response OVER and OVER and OVER to his desires for another dog.
One day I finally relented (but didn't fill Mike in on that detail). I contacted the breeder whom we purchased Peyton from and she said that she just had a litter of Chocolates and a litter of Beagles. The most exciting news was that they'd be ready to go home in a week! She emailed me a couple pictures of the 2 that hadn't been spoken for yet and my heart melted....they were so darn cute! Oh my goodness....what had I gotten myself into?
Well, there I was one week later, cash in hand, driving 300 miles round trip AFTER school to pick up a surprise for my husband.  I was completely exhausted from teaching 8 year olds all day, but knowing I had a tiny puppy coming home with me that night-I had enough adrenaline to keep me going :)
When I got to the breeders there were beagle puppies running all over the barn with 2 little chocolate labs in the mix of them all. They were both girls, one was really mellow and the other was right in there with all the beagles-nipping them on the tails and barking right along with them. Which one do you think I picked? Yep-the mellow one, until the breeder let me know that she was actually keeping that one????Ummmmm....ok? So there she was-our Brinkley, a rowdy, spunky gal hoppin' all over the place. I picked her up and she instantly snuggled into my neck. That's when I knew she was a keeper.

She had a zest for life that was insatiable, yet she could calm down and give some lovin' too....a PERFECT combination! I inquired about the mother of the puppies and was informed that she died a day or so after giving birth due to a stillborn pup that was left in the womb causing infection. Thus all her precious lab puppies nursed with the beagle pups off of their Beagle momma-(and I SWEAR it is the reason why Binks is so much more of a barker than Pey! There's "barking/yapping" genes in Beagle breast milk! :)
Brinkley was given her first set of shots, I paid the fees and we headed home together-just she and I! Of course at this point Mike had called my cell phone a couple times wondering why I wasn't home. I told a little fib and said I had stopped at Costco on my way home and would be home when I was done :)
I had made a little bed with blankets for Brinks on the front passenger seat-ha ha ha. That didn't last long. At the end of the driveway she had already moved herself into my lap, cozied in & fallen asleep. She stayed like this the whole 2 hours home. It was great bonding for us and something I'll always treasure.
Pulling up at home-where it was well after dark at this point- I set Brinkley in the pile of blankets in the passenger seat and went inside. I asked Mike for help with the groceries and said there was heavy stuff in the front seat. Without question, he got on his shoes and walked out to the car-it was pretty hilarious to watch him open the door and jump when he saw something small & dark move around in the seat. Then he quickly grabbed her and snuggled her up to his face. He was IN LOVE instantly! He brought her in a looked at me in disbelief-he was a happy guy and surprised to say the least!

(Mike's first few moments with his new baby)

We decided to name her Brinkley after the beautiful model Christie Brinkley and the doggie in one of my favorite Tom Hanks movies- "You've Got Mail".
Brinkley is a great companion, a loving, snuggle bug to ANYONE-especially if you aren't feeling well or are sad. She's gentle and kind to Emma & Bryce, but her favorite person of all time-is still....Mike.

(Brinkley snuggling with a sick EmmaLee)

(Putting up with Puppy Pedicures & Facials)

Bee Bee is Mike's dog in EVERY sense of the phrase. As a tiny puppy, she used to make a "nest" on the floor out of his clothes and nap in the middle of it. She still does this! When she hears his footsteps outside from practically 3 blocks away-she gets so excited she can hardly contain her enthusiasm!
She sleeps at the end of our bed and is the first one to give Mike a hug (literally)& kiss before anyone else has a chance to in the morning or when he comes home at night. The best part is-the feeling is mutual between them-they adore each other, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

(she loves to hang out with the preschoolers and watch them play)

(she licks the beaters of cookie dough too)

She is incredibly intelligent-seeing as she taught herself how to get out of her stainless steel wire kennel as well as open doors in our house without ANY TRAINING WHAT-SO-EVER!  She just opens and closes as she sees fit. It's amazing :) She is 100% a member of this family, just as the rest of us are, and we can't imagine life without her.