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!
