Introducing Stella Mae

We’d like you to officially meet Stella Mae (or Stella “Monster” as we’ve started calling her.) ;) She is the newest member of our family and we are in love! Stella Mae is a (first generation) Goldendoodle. (Full blood Golden Retriever mother and full blood standard poodle father.) She turned 11 weeks old yesterday.

When we lost Opossum, we didn’t plan on getting a puppy anytime soon. We were heart broken and couldn’t bare to “replace” her. But we quickly realized that the house was too quiet. Briley wasn’t herself and after a friend told us that we NEEDED to bring another dog into the home to help us heal, I started thinking about what our next move would be.

I’ve had Dachshunds and only Dachshunds since I was 8 years old. I love them. I love their personalities. I’ve had a lot of Dachshunds.. but Opossum was without a doubt, our baby. She was also irreplaceable. She had a lot of health issues.. all of which are common in full blood Dachshunds. Surprisingly, I knew right away that I couldn’t bare to bring another Dachshund into our home anytime soon. It would feel too much like we were just trying to replace her. There were so many breeds that I liked. But I spent hours upon hours researching all these breeds.. trying to figure out what would be the best fit for our family.. and what I could see us having. Goldendoodles were not actually one of the breeds that I was looking at, at first.

About 2.5 years ago I had an engagement session with a couple of new clients who brought along their dog to be in the session. His name was Murphy.. and he was a Goldendoodle. I’d heard of Labradoodles but not Goldendoodles. He was ADORABLE. I loved him. But for some reason it never crossed my mind that I might like to have one, one day!

While I was looking at different breeds somehow I came back across Goldendoodles and started researching them. Within the first 15 minutes, I KNEW in my heart.. that this was it. They are intelligent, loyal, loving, friendly and social. The are family dogs and want to be around their family all the time. They have very light to no shedding (even though they have AMAZING coats) and since they are a hybrid dog.. they don’t inherit as many health issues that are common in full blood dogs.

We didn’t tell Briley anything. We printed one of our weekly update pictures and put it in a box with toys, a collar and leash and lots of other puppy goodies. It was the last present to open. B and I were as excited, if not MORE than her for Santa to come because we couldn’t WAIT for her to find out about Stella. I assumed it would be confusing for her.. but she was still so excited.

We had picked out 3 names and let Briley choose which one she liked.. she picked Stella each time we asked. “Mae” just kind of came later. Stella has split personalities. From about 10am to 5pm each day, she is sweet Stella Mae. However from 5pm to 10am, she takes on another personality. She’s wild and rambunctious and just a little bit crazy. Her split personality is “Stella Monster.” ;)

Briley continues to talk about Opossum and bring her up at random times.. “I used to do this with Opossum…” “Opossum used to like to do that..” “I still miss her..” and it breaks our hearts each time.I overheard her telling Stella yesterday.. I have 2 dogs. My Opossum is in heaven and God is taking care of her now.. but you can stay here with me and I will take care of you. These pictures were so bittersweet. While we love Stella and could not be happier we have her now.. Opossum still leaves a hole in our hearts. We lost a member of our family that we greatly miss each day. There are still memories of her throughout the house.. of of course pictures of her and Briley in almost every room of the house.

Stella has definitely brightened our home up after the last couple of months. We are so thankful for her and love her SO much. She’s has already become a member of the family and has quickly become Briley’s shadow. You’ll continue to see lot’s of pictures of Briley and Stella Mae. ;)

Briley and Stella’s FIRST shoot together:

Mustard bow, polka dot scarf, floral top, floral dress and black and white headband from: RUBY BLUE