We spent 2 hours there talking with the owner about how to pick our furniture, what's important, etc. We got lots of decorating ideas and talked with him about what we could do with cathedral ceilings. We did not purchase anything yet, but we do have 3 sets we like and narrowed down the decor to 3 colors schemes.
After taking the Washington Beltway home... for anyone that has been on the road know how exhausting that is in itself, we were pooped. I had a horrible headache all day and Jason was starving, so we picked up subs and headed home.
As I am frantically getting the subs on the table and getting myself hydrated, Jason calls to my attention a blood trail through our house. As Parker struts into the kitchen, we quickly realize it's him. Keep in mind my head is throbbing, Jason is ready to faint he's so hungry, and now our dog's paw is bleeding. Once we pinned him down, we discovered the bottom of his paw (that black stuff that reminds me of the bottom of shoes) was torn. Uh, what do we do?
We had a ton of gauze from when Jason sliced his finger, so we quickly wrapped Parker's paw to stop the bleeding. Taking him to our vet was not an option. It was after hours, so the emergency vet was our only hope. I had a student's parent tell me years ago to let your dog die instead of taking them there. This parent is a millionaire and was still angry about how much they charged him to take his dog there. Sorry Parker, we had to figure this out on our own.
Poor Parker, he was limping around not sure what to do with his leg wrapped. We cleaned up as much of the blood as we could find and snarfed down our sandwiches. We were also out of our dog friendly carpet cleaner, so now we have toxic chemicals on our floor for him to lick.
As Jason and I grumbled at how unfortunate this situation was, I realized we are in for a rude awakening with kids. My headache and hungry level doesn't matter to them. If they throw up, we need to put everything aside and deal with it. I had one of those, "what are we getting ourselves into?!" moments. All we wanted to do was lay on the futon and watch our Netflix movie.
Parker has been a champ. Since he likes to lick his paws, we figured it was time for the lampshade. When we're not around to monitor him, the lampshade has to come on.
When we take him outside, we put a baggie over his bandage to keep it clean. He hobbles on 3 legs until we get to the street then he realizes he should just put his 4th paw down. It breaks my heart slightly.
Let's hope Parker's paw heals quickly! He's off to grandma's house on Christmas Day. He'll want to be lampshade free by then.
I'm a firm believer that dogs prepare you a tad for children. He has slowed down our social life & travel plans, emptied our bank account, and taught us to love unconditionally even if his eyes look unattractive. Parker will always be my first "child". For those people that don't have dogs- he is NOT "just a dog". Yes, I refer to Jason as "Daddy" and would never put Parker in a kennel. I am that annoying dog owner. I'm a push over when it comes to disciplining Parker. As Parker jumps on people and barks away, that's our fault. We didn't train him properly. I remind Jason periodically that we CANNOT raise our children this way. We might have spoiled, unruly brats. So we'll call Parker the spoiled first child. We hope to do better with our next! Thanks Parker for teaching us how to be better parents
2 comments:
My poor grandpooch! He looks so sad with his "bandage" and lampshade (although I just have to laugh at that!). I hope he'll be better for his trip to Lancaster later this week - I like taking him outside.
Parker? Spoiled?? That dog can do no wrong in my eyes. I love him.
And I'm on your side about dogs preparing you for kids. I thought that THUSIE did a pretty good job getting us ready for Miss Ella Mae, and she is totally low maintenance compared to a pooch.
For the record, I love having children. Our kids are great sleepers, so sleep deprivation has never been an issue. We can get a babysitter if we are in need of a leisurely grown-up dinner out. But the one thing that doesn't happen nowadays is an afternoon snooze with the hubs or a movie on the couch without interruption. There are no days off in parenthood, especially if you are wanting to spend a day off with your spouse. It's worth it -- it REALLY is -- but sometimes it's exhausting. :)
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