Spring officially "sprung" for us today. For the better part of the day, Jana and I were outside getting yard work done. We replaced a few plants that didn't quite make it through the bitter cold winter, added some mulch, put up a new bird bath, pulled weeds, and mowed the lawn. It felt really good to get everything in order and the yard looks great now. I love this time of year. Everything is green and alive again!
The Klingbeil family was featured on the Walt Disney Christmas Day Parade, and it was cooler than we could have imagined. Here it is!
Yesterday was our second anniversary. It's crazy how fast time flies. It seems like just yesterday we were getting ready for the wedding. However, it feels like a lifetime ago that we were honeymooning in Maine. Strange how that works!
For our Anniversary we had a quiet night at home with some sushi and the Sex in the City movie. Jana never got to see it when it was in theaters, and it happened to come out on our anniversary, so it just seemed like a sign.
With the frequency we update this blog, I hope to give you another update before number three!
Also, this weekend Julie and the girls stayed with us and we had a fun weekend. Megan, Ella, and I spent one morning working with Sculpey bake-able clay. I thought I'd share the results:

We had a great 4th of July weekend without any plans. We decided we should go somewhere with Chloe, and then Jana mentioned that we've been here this long and have never seen the covered bridges of Madison County. We stopped for a picnic at a neat little park in Earlham and then headed down to Hogback Bridge. We spent the day driving around Winterset, stopping at some of the bridges, the park (which is really awesome), and even driving by John Wayne's birthplace.
When we got home we though we'd take advantage of Chloe's new invisible fence and let her have some fun time in the yard. It was a really great day and we capped it off with a movie nigh. The weekend was a great recharge and we got to take in some of the landmarks that we haven't seen yet. We put some pictures up in the photo gallery that you an check out. Hope you all had a great 4th!
Our little puppy has come home! The doctors at the Emergency Animal Hospital gave Chloe amazing care. Even though she wasn't supposed to make it, our tough little dog pulled through and has made a complete recovery. They don't even expect any long term issues, which is amazing.
Here's what she looked like on our return home:
I know it has been a long time since we updated our web site, and I wish I were doing it under different circumstances. Yesterday, Chloe had an appointment at the vet for what appeared to be mild allergic symptoms. It turned out that Chloe did, in fact, have allergies and the vet prescribed 1/2 tablet of Claritin per day to alleviate the symptoms. I knew we had Claritin-D at home, so I asked if it were okay if I gave her Claritin-D or if she needed Claritin specifically, and the doctor's response was "It doesn't make any difference." So, at 1:30 in the afternoon I gave Chloe 1/2 tablet of Claritin-D.
Fast forward to last night. Jana and I sat down on the couch with Chloe and noticed that she was not acting normal. She was agitated and jittery, with her head darting all around. Her pupils were extremely dialated, and she had left treats uneaten in her cage. We did a quick internet search for "dog" and "Claritin-D" and found the same side effects she was experiencing. We also found something horrible.
Claritin-D contains pseudoephedrine. Pseudoephedrine is extremely toxic to dogs. The site recommended a visit to an emergency clinic right away. We called the emergency clinic and got there as fast as we could. We waited for over an hour to get the results. I had given Chloe 3 times the lethal dosage of pseudoephedrine for a dog twice her size.
By this time her heart was racing and she was extremely warm. The staff immediately got her ready for an extended stay. They sedated her to stop her heart from racing and started pumping fluids through her to hopefully expell the pseudoephedrine out of her body as quickly as possible. Her vitals were all on the edge of safe, but she had not had tremors or seizures, which were good signs. Even so, the doctor made it very clear that Chloe was in real danger. All we could do was leave her there and hope that everything turned out okay.
At 1:30 this morning we got a call. Chloe started having tremors and her blood pressure shot up to 200, which is very dangerous for dogs (100-120 is normal). They had to sedate her again to slow her heart and hopefully bring her out of the danger zone.
At 5:15 this morning we called them for an update. I am happy to report that things have turned for the better. Chloe is awake and her blood pressure is back down in the 100-120 range. She is still very out of it and still in danger, but at least she has shown signs of improvement. She is still agitated and her pupils are still very dialated, but she's aware and her tail is going a mile a minute.
I snapped this picture with my phone in the waiting room:
I hope I'll be able to take more pictures of them together. Please think of poor little Chloe and pray that she gets better.