We did it again....

by Amy

Well, today, we bought a bunny - actually we bought 3 bunnies.... More about that in a moment.....

Our journey with bunnies actually began about a year ago. Brad and I decided it would be fun to have a pet in our world, so we bought Snowball. Her sweet life ended about 3 weeks after we purchased her when she decided to escape from her cage, jump into the bathtub and try to jump out again. We think she snapped her back in the fall. It was tragic. Savannah and I both cried.

About one week later....Enter Thumper.... She, too was a sweet, fun little addition to our family until she got stepped on.... Bummer. That was traumatic for all involved.... (I won't mention any names!)

About one month later.... Molly entered the scene. But, her life came to an end less a week later when she was "helped" (read: pushed) off our breakfast table bench. That too was a sad day for the whole family. By the end of the night, the cage was cleaned and put away. I told the kids it would probably be years before we attempted that again....

Well, last week, Brad decided we should try again. He reasoned that: 1. our kids have had a year to learn to be gentle; 2. we'll be in town for a while; 3. Savannah wants one; and 4. bunnies are fun. So, today the kids and I headed to a market to make our purchase! Brad said we should buy two bunnies, so that if one dies, we'll still have the other one. Good idea...maybe.

Well, the market, like most places in our country, was pretty busy and most people were quite excited to see this white mama with 3 kids ("Yes, they're all mine!" I said over and over again.) So, everything we did seemed to attract a crowd. We selected our first bunny from one vendor - a white albino one. She was cute and little and seemed fun. Then, we went to a second vendor. They kids wanted one that wasn't white so we could tell them apart. So they selected a tortoise shell colored one. I asked the seller if it was a boy or a girl (We wanted 2 girls...no need to explain where babies come from yet!) She picked the bunny up by her ears, flung her over, and checked her and soon declared she was a girl. I held her for just a second. She wasn't too active, but who could blame her....I figured she was scared to death after flying through the air suspended by her ears. The kids were so excited we bought her.

In the taxi I noticed this little bunny was not moving much. As I took her out of the cage and held her, she seemed really docile. We we got home the white one was happy to explore, but the brown one just lay down. With in an hour, she was dead! I don't think this is what Brad had in mind when he suggested we buy two bunnies. Needless to say, no one was too happy! I felt horrible for not checking the health better before we bought her (for less than $1.50).

So, during nap time, Savannah and I went back to the market and got a new bunny. I'm not sure, but I think the woman that sold me the bunny tried to tell me that the reason she died was because I had dipped my finger in water and tried to get her to drink a bit. "You know, bunnies shouldn't drink water." (Maybe that explains why the bunny was so weak and died!) Thankfully, she gave me a new bunny for free. She was quite active,so I took that as a good sign. This new one is also an albino. That's caused a little confusion, but I think it will be fine. They are super cute together. We've named them Rosie and Daisy.

So, we'll see how long his chapter in our lives will last.... Hopefully these little guys will out live their predecessors, but there's no telling....