Practice!!

WARNING: THIS IS A LONG POST! THERE IS A PICTURE AT THE END IF YOU ARE INTERESTED...

Well, as the few of you who read this know we got a new puppy. Her name has been chosen by Ben and it is Gretta! She is adorable! We love her to pieces! We are also trying to make sure that Tobey still gets all the attention that he wants and deserves!
So last night was interesting, and a form of practice! Ben made that astoot comment at about 3am today when we were dealing with the new puppy! So I will start the story now...
We had to put Gretta in her kennel last night because she peed on the carpet and on the floor. So we locked her up inside and put her in the kitchen. I knew she was a whiner, but she went above and beyond last night. She was not happy about being put in there and left alone. She let us know this by crying as loudly as she could for about an hour straight. All the while biting the cage and scratching at the door of it. Finally I put a blanket over the cage and turned off the light. I figured that it may work since that what you do for birds?! It did work, though it took a few more minutes of winding down. She was finally quiet and all was well.
We went to bed and fell asleep. Ben woke me up and said, "Do you hear your baby?" I said, "No," and rolled over. Then I heard it. The faintest sound of her whining. I sat up to try and wake up enough to get her out and take her to go potty outside. Ben had to ask me if I was awake before I realized I was doing the head bob on the edge of the bed. So we both got up and took the dogs outside to go potty. We came back in I put her back in her kennel and covered her up thinking she would just go back to sleep. WRONG!
She started howling again! She was about to stop and Ben told me to bring her in the kennel into the room. I didn't think that was a smart thing to do, but I did it anyway. Immediately after I put her down she started again. I turned off the light and laid down. We both laid there for about 10 minutes while she cried. Then Ben said to me, "This isn't working." Really?! So I said, "What do you want me to do about it?" "Take her back into the kitchen." "FINE."
So I took her back into the kitchen and it began again! Whining, whimpering, biting, scrating, now barking too! At some point Ben said to me, "Well, I guess this is good practice for when we have a baby." So Ben got up and put fresh water in her dish, more food, set up the gate to lock her in the kitchen and put Tobey in there with her. He let her out of the kennel and put Tobey and his bed in there also. She has been doing well during the day with Tobey locked up with her. So in thought it should have worked. So she was quiet for about a minute. Then it started again. I thought we were both going to lose it! So Ben got back up and the crying stopped. He came into the bedroom and handed me Gretta. Tobey was called up onto the bed also. So it was me and Ben with our partners for the evening. I can hear Ben talking to Tobey and he said, "I'm sorry you had to go through that just now, but she is still a baby and doesn't know what's going on."
Tobey wasn't very comfortable. Whenever Ben brings Tobey onto the bed Tobey ends up on my side because his daddy rolls around too much and wakes Tobey up too much. Tobey knows that if I know he's there I will try not to move at all. So Tobey crawls over me and lays by my knees. Then Gretta starts to fuss. I fight with her for a good hour. She struggles and I rearrange her on my chest, then on the pillow next to me, then curled in my arms on the bed. Finally I gave in and let her wander the bed. She wanted to be by Tobey.
Finally I was able to sleep, but keep in mind I couldn't move my legs. I had also bent my knees to make more room for Tobey and Gretta both to be down there. I was in and out of sleep from 3-7. I knew Ben had gotten out of bed. I knew he was walking around the house/bedroom. Then I see a flash and hear the new camera go off. He took the following picture of me with my "babies." This is actually how I slept all night (minus the arms above my head, my arms fall asleep if I stay like that too long).