Yeah, I definitely know that feeling, I was always a little sad, but also proud, when the kids moved on to another stage...
Now they're both away at college, we miss them so. But I find the increased time spent with my wife to be wonderful in its own way, we've been lucky.
We found a litter of abandoned hound dog puppies in the woods in Virginia last summer, took one home with us (named it Fiona McCool, after the legendary Irish warrior) to Florida, my wife thought it would be nice to have a baby in the house again.
'Course it chewed a couple sizable holes in the living room couch, which the kids never did as babies...a very sweet animal, though.
I have a picture of our #2 son sitting on his potty chair with a crocheted toilet paper cover on his head like a hat!! My Mama always loved that puctire because she's the one who made the cover; it was my 'Christmas' one in red, green and white yarn!
Our Lab didn't eat the couch, just the corners of rugs.
Ugh...yeah, puppy-proofing a house is way different from kid-proofing! My Fiona (I get a kick out of your having a Fiona dog, too!) still isn't past the chewing stage. But her very, very favorite thing to destroy is tissue paper. She can take one Kleenex and spread it in tiny bits throughout the WHOLE HOUSE - leave soggy little pieces stuck to alllll the furniture and all over the floor. It's amazing how much of a mess that makes! My brother took a box of Kleenex down from the shelf where I had it and left it on the couch, so I was reminded of that this weekend...
I guess it's akin to a toddler's ability to spread one Oreo over an entire wall...