Introduuuuucing.....

The newest member of our family.

Henry Hamilton Hollaway

 

We have actually had him for one entire week now. So David's prediction of "he'll be dead in a week" thankfully did not come true.

The kids have been wanting another pet for quite sometime. Gerbil, guinea pig, bunny, snake, baby sister...you name it, they've probably asked for it. But David and I weren't quite ready to take the plunge.

Last Wednesday, after Tate and I dropped both the girls off at school I drug him on a few errands. Lowe's was on our list. Which happens to be right next to the pet store. He was being such a trooper that when his eyes lit up at the sight of the pet store and he asked to go in, I said yes.

I'm not quite sure what came over me at that point. I watched him go from tank to tank and cage to cage excitedly showing me what was in each one. But he never once even asked to get one. And I made my silent decision right then and there that we would be leaving that store with a fish. I did text David first simply because I would want him to ask me before bringing home an addition to the family, no matter how small.

I was prepared for him to give me a barrage of reasons why we didn't need a fish but he simply texted back, "ok". So Tate and I set to work picking out a bowl, some pebbles (he picked orange of course) and some food. Then I got another text from David, "Can we name him Henry?".

I laughed as I thought about David in his all day conference thinking about a name for our new fish. I figured he must have a reason for picking that name so I wrote back, "Did you have a fish named Henry as a child?".

He responded, "Just sounds right...".

 

So Henry it was. The kids asked why Daddy was the one who got to pick out the name. He said, "Give me one. Give me the fish. That's the first thing I've gotten to name in this family!". He also added, "I wonder how long it will take us to get to Henry VIII?".

 

The girls were pleasantly surprised when we picked them up that afternoon and they heard about Henry. Tate is always telling them about little snippets of our day and they are very sweet and patient to listen. So when he said, "We got a fish!" Drue said, "Ohhhhhh a fish?" and then looked to me for clarification, "A real fish?".

Of course I sounded like a monotone tour guide as I kept repeating instructions to the kids about Henry.

Don't stick your hand in his bowl.

Don't put anything in his bowl.

Don't push his bowl off the counter.

Don't push his bowl around on the counter.

Don't feed him unless an adult is present.

About 10 times a day for the first few days I would hear, "Mommy is he dead?", because Tate gets concerned when he's not swimming.

 

The kids get excited about feeding him, cleaning his bowl, and showing him off to guests. Welcome to our family Henry...you were well worth $3.99.