A Dog-gone Crazy Christmas!

Christmas this year was fun.  Cohen was much more aware of what was going on and he was very excited about his gifts.  We went to Columbus Grove on the 23rd and stayed overnight.  We woke up Christmas Eve morning feeling good and excited about the day.  We packed up and left to go see Grandma Doris and as I was putting Cohen in the car, DJ looked in the garage to check on the dogs and noticed something on the floor.  Belle had gotten into a quart of automatic transmission fluid.  It was red, so my first thought was that she was bleeding and I had no idea why.  Then I saw the empty container and realized what she had done. 

Our dogs drive me absolutely crazy.  Where ever I go in the house they are constantly under my feet, making me trip or walk around them.  They knock Cohen over all the time and cleaning up their hair and miscellaneous crud is a never-ending battle.  With this being said.. I love our dogs.  Cohen thinks they are great and they are SO tolerant of him.  Bellie and Boonie are always there to give you a nice lick if you are feeling bad (which they can always tell) and you can tell by the way they look at you how loyal they are and will always be.  They are also DJ's babies.  I cannot think of how he would handle anything happening to either one of them  (even though he tries to act tough).

So, when I realized what Belle had done and then notice that she had already passed quite a bit of it, my heart sank.  I had never heard of a dog drinking so much of this, so I didn't know what was to come.  She was still her perky, playful-self and if it wouldn't have been for the red  fluid spattered garage, we would have never known anything was wrong.  We immediately got on the phone with a vet and poison control and asked for advice.  We found a vet that was open nearby, who recommended bringing her in.  We didn't hesitate.  DJ loaded her in the car and started off for the vet.  I can't imagine that trip (I stayed home with Cohen).  DJ said she continued passing the fluid all the way there..  The vet injected her with a medication that would absorb all of the transmission fluid and keep it from doing any further damage.  DJ brought her home and we just waited...Through the day she continued to act fine, so after we opened gifts, we headed South.  We knew we had a lot of work ahead.  I think we got home around 10 and had decided we should go ahead and give her a bath in the bathtub ( we don't normally do this because the hair clogs the drain).  We didn't want to make her spend the night in the cage in the basement by herself and we definitely wanted to have her around on Christmas day, so it was the best option. 

So after a VERY long day, we finally sat down.  Bellie was still acting fine and we finally felt like she was in the clear.  Thank goodness :)

Christmas day was much more uneventful.  Cohen woke up around 7 and we took him down to see what Santa had left. A LINOEL TRAIN SET!  He loved it.  He sat and watched it go around the tree and would occassionally go Whoo Whoo!!  So cute.  We also set up the trike from Nana and Papa and the tent and tunnel from Aunt Stacy, all of which were huge hits!

DJ and I also exchanged gifts at home.  We decided we were going to be "practical" this year and bought a joint gift - a new laptop.  We decided on $50 of stocking stuffers each so we would have something to open Christmas morning.  My stocking had a bunch of balled-up wrapping paper, an old cellphone, an empty iPod container and a note.  The note said, "Good for one giftcard for however much you want to spend."  My reaction may have included some foul language :)  This is the second year in a row that I have gotten an I owe you note in my stocking!  It's becoming kind of a tradition.  So after DJ got a good laugh out of himself, he went and got my real present.  He got me a candle from Wren House in downtown Worthington, a new pair of boots and a Pandora bracelet!  He did a really good job!  I got him a new belt, the Dark Knight blu-ray, some socks and a new Nalgene bottle.  I surprised him later at my parents with an ice fishing trip to Lake Erie with my dad and brother.  I don't think he saw it coming!  We enjoyed the morning and afternoon at home, got in good naps for Cohen (lesson learned!) and then packed up to head to Maw Maw and Papa Thompson's.  We opened gifts and visited with everyone.  It's really nice that there are so many kids to entertain each other now.  They have so much fun together.

Cohen got all kinds of good stuff - a scooter from Aunt Abbie, blocks from Maw Maw and Papa and a little race car set from Uncle Aaron.  Opening gifts was absolute chaos, but we would have been crazy to expect anything less :) 

Another interesting holiday for the Clevengers.  I think each year is crazier than the year before.  I can only imagine what is in store for next year!

Tis the Season

We celebrated Thanksgiving with DJ's family the weekend before Thanksgiving.  We went up to Grove Saturday morning and did family pictures, hung out during the day and had dinner with everyone that night.  It was a very busy day and I spent the majority of my time chasing the little man, but we still had a good time.

DJ and I always talk about how we're going to do this kind of stuff when baby #2 comes along, or even #3!!  We've decided we're probably going to have to start hauling a trailer!

Thanksgiving turned out to be a pretty rainy holiday this year, but we made the most of the gloomy weather.  Truth be told, we do sometimes enjoy the rain because it forces us to do nothing! :)  Wednesday night we had a truckload of firewood delivered to the house and we had nice, big fires all weekend.  I think we had a fire going at all times while we were in the house.  Thanksgiving day we relaxed at home through the morning and afternoon.  I got our dishes around and we headed over to Mom and Dad's around 3.  Once again... there was a lot of chasing.  Cohen, of course, had a blast.  He had his cousins there to entertain him and all kinds of new things to explore.  Grandpa turned on the iPod and Mr. Mo did a little jam session.  He is starting to perfect his dancing skills.  Now he bounces and uses his arms at the same time!  I swear.. it is the cutest thing ever.

We decided we should go ahead and go get our Christmas tree on Friday, since the rest of month is filling up so fast!  We're trying to put plans together to go to Tiffin the weekend of the 4th to visit with Aaron and Tiffany and see Grandma and DJ's having his knee surgery the 9th and we didn't want to wait that long to get it up!  I did some research online and found a place in Granville called Timbuk Farms that looked like a lot of fun, so we decided to try it out!

Here are DJ and Cohen on the bus going out to the fields.  The bus was very bouncy and Cohen thought it was great.

DJ cutting down our tree! 

Pink nose.. it was freezing!  Cohen didn't seem to mind the cold whatsoever.  I still don't understand how little kids are so oblivious to the cold.

Putting lights on the tree.  Cohen had the window lights and was sticking those in the tree.  "Helping" mommy :)

He lovesss his puppies!  Not sure how much they love him : / 

Saturday was the OSU v. Michigan game so Cohen and I took DJ down to tailgate with his friends for a bit.  Mo was starting to sound a little rattly, so I decided we should just stay inside where it was warm.  Sure enough, Sunday morning he woke up sounding even worse.  I tried to get some good naps in for him, but he didn't seem to be sleeping very well, probably because he felt yucky.  I feel so bad when he gets sick, but he is such a little trooper!

Aside from the cold bug on Saturday and Sunday, we had a pretty good long weekend.  It's so nice to have some extra time to just chill out and enjoy each other.  Things are hectic during the week and then there is always so much work to catch up on on the weekends, so those long weekends are a neccesity!  Very nice to know that we have a bunch more to look forward to this month!

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday was Halloween and trick or treat in our neighborhood.  Trick or treat is always a pretty big ordeal in Colonial Hills.  Everyone sits outside in the drive or yard and has fires, invites friends over and tries to make it a fun night for the kids!  Cohen was a garden gnome this year. A garden gnome that really enjoyed tootsie rolls-

He played the part very well.. he stood out in the middle of our frontyard the majority of the night protecting our house from trick or treaters :)  Here he is yelling back and forth with the man across the street.  It was soo funny-

This kind of stuff seems to get more and more fun each year

Pumpkins and Sick Days...

We carved pumpkins a couple weeks ago.  We each had a pumpkin.  I carved Cohen's pumpkin and tried to make it as Cohen-ish as possible.  So the pumpkin had a great big grin with one tooth (even though Cohen has multiple teeth, this is what I envisioned Cohen wanting his pumpkin to look like).  I carved the top out of his pumpkin and sat it in front of him so he could feel the gooey inside.  He stuck his hand in and just kind of looked at me like "really? you want me to touch this?"  Then he decided he wanted to eat the seeds... right out of the pumpkin, so he would take one out, put it in his mouth.  I would say ucky, spit it out and he'd spit it in my hand and the whole process would repeat.  Turkey.

DJ starred at his pumpkin for a good 5 minutes before deciding how he was going to carve it.  When he finally decided, he didn't tell me.  He just laughed and laughed and told me I couldn't see until it was done. 
When he finally finished he showed me (It's the one on the top)...

My husband cracks himself up.  Okay... he cracks me up too :)  It was a fun night :) 

The week after that Cohen started coughing here and there.  I just figured that he was getting a cold, but then my sitter told me that a couple of the kids had been diagnosed with whooping cough!  I knew Cohen had been vaccinated, but he hadn't had all of the shots and he sounded pretty cruddy, so I took him in.  After two days at home waiting on test results, we found out it was bronchitis, not whooping cough.  I spent one day at home with him and he spent one day at home with Daddy.  It was just what the Dr. ordered.  By day three he was ready to go again!  I was so happy when he was feeling better :)

Where I Want to Be

I had the afternoon off on Friday, so Cohen and I got to spend the day together.  We went to the park, went on a bike ride and just hung out.  Cohen loves being outside, so I try to get him out as much as I can.  I don't think his little legs stopped moving once while we were at the park and he walked all the way there and back!  He did want to stop and pick up every leaf he saw along the way, but we got there eventually :)  I think his favorite thing to do at the park is the teeter totter.  He isn't big enough to do it himself, so DJ or I have to make him bounce.  Once he starts, it's hard to get him to stop :) 

Look at that belly..

Do you think I can climb this Mom?

On the teeter totter

Weeee!!

We had a really fun afternoon.  I tried to soak it in as much as I could.  I don't get days like that very often.  There's always something going on, someone to see, somewhere to go...You have to make sure you stop every once and awhile and smell the roses :)

We Survived!

It was a teary departure Saturday morning, but once I was in the car and moving I settled down.  The morning didn't go quite as planned.  Any other morning Cohen would have been up at 7, but since I didn't set my alarm clock and needed to be up at 7, he decided to wake up after 8 : )  We had to rush to the grocery store so we had some food for Maw Maw and the peanut.  I wanted to have a relaxed morning and spend some time with Cohen before I had to leave, but I didn't really get to do that.  I was an hour late getting out of the house.  I didn't care so much about being late, but I wished I could have played with Mo some more.

I laid Cohen down for a nap right before I took off and Mom reassured me that he would be fine and that I should have fun, so I sucked back my tears and headed north.  As I was nearing Bellefountaine two deer ran out in front of me and I was a hair away from hitting one.  What a tramatic start to the day!!  I felt better once I got to BG in once piece.  We did the BG thing.  Those of you who went to BG, you know what I mean.  Overall, the day was okay.  It was good to see old friends and see how much things had changed since I was last there, which was probably about four years ago.  Cohen did great for Mom aside from waking up at 4 am!  That's been the new thing lately.  I'm not sure if it is teething, hunger from a growth spurt or what, but hopefully it passes soon!

I left BG at 8 Sunday morning and felt like a little kid at Christmas.  I could not wait to get back and see my baby : )  When I walked in the door, Cohen was soo funny.  He was standing in front of the couch and starting yelling and jumping up and down.  Then he came over and gave me some hugs.  When DJ got home later in the day, it was quite obvious that he had also been missed.  Cohen didn't leave his side for a good hour.  So cute.

So we all survived, which I knew we would and maybe next time will be a little bit easier... or maybe not :)  Looking forward to spending the day with family this Saturday.  We're going to Lynd's fruit farm to pick apples and get pumpkins!!

First Night Away..

For the last 3-4 months we have been planning on going back to BG for homecoming weekend.  DJ had talked with all of his old college buddies and they came up with the idea.  He told me about it and I didn't say no.  I knew the day would come that I would have to leave my baby overnight.  Being 4 months out from the actual day, I figured I would be ready by that point.  Well here I am, the night before the big "overnighter" and I think I'm coping pretty well.  Mawmaw and Pawpaw will being staying at the house with Cohen and I'm sure he will be absolutely fine.  Yes, I did almost tear up yesterday while writing up instructions for mom, but I held back the tears :)  My time with poo poo is so limited right now with working full-time.  By the time we get home during the week it is usually 5:45-6 and then I have to get dinner around, which makes for a very small window to spend time with my peanut. 

At the same time, I am somewhat looking forward to our trip.  Rachel and John will be meeting us there, along with a lot of our other friends.  It will be fun to return to the town that brought DJ and I together and to reminisce about old times.  It's also been quite awhile since DJ and I have had an "adult night", so that will be good for us. 

I plan to soak up every second of my baby tonight and tomorrow morning before I leave.  Wish me good luck!