The rest of the day and evening was uneventful, other than now Layla was crawling all over the place. It’s like she went from zero mobility to constant movement overnight. This was our first kid and we didn’t have any friends with young children, so we were kind of winging it. So now we had to be more attentive and just assume that our little angel was in full-on explore mode.

Around 9am the next morning, Saturday came with a knock at the back door. Hearing a polite tapping on the old farmhouse door, I assumed it was Sam, and as I quietly opened the old door I hoped it wouldn’t creak because Maggie and Layla were still sleeping. They were both sleeping in, which was a little odd, but I was glad because I was getting some time alone.

Stepping out on the porch to greet Sam, I said, “Good morning, Sam. What’s up?”

Sam, who had Strider standing behind him, said, “Well, I hope you don’t mind, but old Strider here, he’s been whining at the door all morning and as soon as I let him out he ran straight over here.”