Preparing for a service pup

We know that in a relatively short amount of time we will be adding a new member to our family.  Essentially an infant, that even though it will be trained/training to serve it's life mission to protect Gracie by alerting us to her highs and lows, it will still be very young.

Puppy... That word can cause all sorts of mental pictures, can't it?  Sweet.  Soft.  Wet nose.  Adorable.  Yes, all wonderful cozy, sweet pictures; but then how about these: chewing, potty accidents, continual training (for this pup that is so much more than just good house manners), chewing, chewing, chewing.  Oh and did I mention chewing?;)  Now, add into this 4 messy girls.  Hmmmm... are you starting to get the picture?

Well, I've started to prep our home so that it's ready to welcome our little bundle of joy.  Am I nesting?  Maybe:)  But the fact remains that I need to make sure this house is a safe environment for our little pup.  That means making sure that the girls learn not to leave things around that this pup can get ahold of and CHEW on.  So, I've spent the weekend cleaning out and rearranging toys and play spaces.  Quite frankly, I was getting tired of the girls dragging all their toys through the house and leaving a trail anyway (sometimes a playroom is great in theory but not neccessarily in practice) so I've rearranged their bedroom to accomodate their favorite toys.  Yes, we'll still have a playroom ~ a great space for their imaginative play, for games, for dancing, for puzzles, for being a little bit rowdier than Mom and Dad want them to be upstairs; but the toys that they play with everyday have been moved to their bedroom, put away in wonderful cubbies of course:)  The biggest job has always been and will continue to be getting the little princesses to put their things away instead of leaving them scattered on the floor.  Their reward for getting through all this "nesting" their mom is going through?  Shopping of course!  When we are finished properly puppy proofing our home we get to go shopping for things for this precious pup.  We can't wait to find out if we are expecting a boy or a girl; Max William or Lacey Joy.  We have lots of things to get... do we get a pink leash and collar or a blue one?  What color food and water bowls do we need?  How about it's bed that we want to make?  Zebra or paw prints?  See?  Very important decisions are pending this information:)

It's going to take me the week to actually finish all this puppy proofing; maybe longer since I can't seem to just clean a room.  Inevitably, I end up thinking that every closet, cupboard, shelf needs to be cleaned out and every room must be rearranged.  Family BEWARE... when the house is finished, you will all be roped into cleaning out the garage (GASP!!!).