Phew….I feel that I can finally take a breath!  All nine little babies have made it over the hump.  SoBe started whelping them at 4am on the 3rd of January.  I welcomed them all into the world with a joyful “Happy Birthday!”  They were special ordered; SoBe and Tanner made beautiful babies.  Beethoven and Mozart have been soothing them since birth and stimulating their cognitive development.  My hubby, as most of you know, is in Kuwait right now; he has been anxious for updates and photos more importantly video.  I went to video the babies tonight and my camera was dead so, it is charging and Lt will have to be satisfied with a written update.  Tim (Lt) keeps telling me how jealous he is of me right now; he wants to snuggle each one of the bundles of joy and inhale the newborn puppy smell (if only I could bottle it up and send it over the big pond to the big sand box for him).  The puppies, 2 females and 7 males, have now been moved to the heated whelping box in the kitchen from the bathroom; the whelping box is custom made from Northern Plastics that my wonderful husband gave me for Christmas.  The classical music is now wafting through the entire house originating from the kitchen.  Mini has taken to the puppies and is playing momma along side SoBe….SoBe is grateful for the help. The puppies are starting to crack their eyes open; soon they will be able to see.  Palmer Cocktail, Wedding Belle Cocktail, and Rocket Fuel have started to open their eyes; I can see the tiniest bit of blue.  Black and Tan and Yale Cocktail have their eyes half open.  The Nog crawled off by himself after a cuddle session with me when I placed him back in the whelping box; he then decided after a few minutes of solitude that he wanted to be with the rest of the puppy pile and made his way back to the others and snuggled in between Black and Tan and Hot Toddy.  The Nog actually let out a sigh when he relaxed into position between his brothers; never to young for the “Springer Sigh.”

I am so incredibly thankful for all of the puppies having a clean bill of health from the vet on day 5.  I count my blessings every night and from now until March I have 9 right off the bat.  Tears of joy still fall from my eyes when I peer into the whelping box to scoop up a puppy to give them some love; I am so happy that all 9 have made it past the hump.

Good night all, more adventures to report tomorrow….never a dull moment in the Gorecki house!