Monday, January 08, 2007

What a Life!

I am not Jewish, so I hope my Jewish friends will forgive me for borrowing this phrase, but there is no other way to talk about the last week or so without using the expression "Oy Vey!"
From my previous post, you all know the "adventure" that unfolded during our trip to Milwaukee for our fingerpring appointment. Remember at the end of the post I hinted that when we returned home things continued to be chaotic and sleep deprived? Well, here is what happened. We arrived home at eight oclock and we greeted by two very happy, hyper pups. Note that I did not say "happy, hyper, healthy pups." Ben, our 10 year old pomeranian, was limping badly. I don't know what happened, but somehow, in the short period of time between when my mom left our house (she was "grandog sitting") at six p.m. and our arrival at eight p.m., Ben's right rear paw sustained an injury. Upon inspection, I discovered that part of the pad of his paw had been, for lack of a better word, "skinned." It was red, raw, and oozing. Clearly infected. And Ben was miserable. It was obvious that he had been licking at it, which further irritated the injury.

Bogey, our Scottish Terrier, was clearly distraught over his "brother's" injury. When Ben was not licking at his paw, Bogey was trying to do it for him! Ben was not that "receptive" to Bogey's attention. Hence, my entire night (and I do mean my entire night) went as follows:
"Ben, stop licking" [Ben stops licking and looks at me like I was the most stupid and mean person in the whole world to tell him he has to stop licking his foot -"it hurts, you dummy! I have to lick it!"]
"Bogey chill out!" [Bogey is whimpering and whining, tail wagging 90 per, and trying to lick Ben's paw for him, when that was not working, he resorted to licking Ben's eyes, ears, face etc]
"Ben, that's enough!" [Ben does NOT like Bogey in his face or licking any part of his body, so he is growling and barring his teeth at Bogey]
"AROOOO" [Bogey is not "getting" why Ben is growling and is expressing his dismay at not being able to "take care of" his brother]
"BEN STOP LICKING"
"BOGEY LEAVE HIM ALONE"
This "dialogue" continued to repeat itself all night long. And I do mean all night long. Meanwhile, R is snoring away, oblivious to it all.

By 3 a.m. I lost it. I yelled at both dogs, and then I drugged Ben with Benadryl.

Then I cried, thinking "There is no way I can be a mother, I can't even take care of my dogs! We might as well just stop the adoption now- I am going to be a horrible mother, I can see it now, social services showing up at our door because I lose it with my child and yell at him and then drug him with Benadryl to make him sleep."

It was a truly awful night. And the nights following weren't much better. I will write about Ben's (aka "drama dog") visit to the vet a little later, as I have yet another meeting to attend (as I said earlier, Oy Vey!)

7 comments:

KelleyO said...

You are so funny!!! I'm so sorry you had such dog drama.Poor Pups! This is proof that you are going to be a great Mom! You are very resourceful and caring- those are good Mom characteristics!

LaLa said...

Kelly...silly girl. Get used to daddy sleeping through everything. Annslee can be having a fit, I go up for 30 min, and the next morning he will say..wow, good night huh?? WHAT??? I really think they are faking it. I hope your week starts looking up!

Jo said...

Well, since you take such great care of your dogs it just proves in my book how good you will be with your child!

And I don't think there is anything wrong with a little nighty night Benadryl when mom needs her rest.

Anonymous said...

I took one of my babies to the pediatrician once and said, "I know you're going to tell me not to do this, but I'm going to do it anyway, so you'd better just ell me -- what is the correct dosage of benadryl for a child this little? I HAVE to sleep." The ped. informed me that she, on a regular basis, advised parents to do this as long as they promised not to do it for more than three consecutive nights. You will be a great mom. And yes, your husband will sleep through it unless you "accidentally" drop an elbow on him "in your sleep."

Rachel said...

Oh, Kelley I think this proves you will be a wonderful mother. Wonderful mothers critique themselves. Not-so-wonderful mothers just don't care.

I have also done the benadryl thing in the past when Ava was really young. Our pediatrician is OK with it as long as it's done very rarely.

Elowyn said...

Aw honey, you'll be a great mom. No worries. The others are absolutely right. And I totally can envision the scene, complete with aroo roo roo. I'd have cracked long before 3 a.m., I can tell you that.

S. said...

You will be a great mom! Yes, occasionally you will lose your cool, and you may even give your kid benadryl (swore I never would, but reality has a way of making you reevaluate!)--but you will still be a great mom!