It started out as a very traumatic morning but ended up being more than okay.

Abby at last year's annual birthday party for the girls. The theme was "Da' Girls in Da' Hood."  Can you tell that she's loving her party? :o)

As I was telling this very funny story to my parents the other day I realized I had not captured it for posterity. 

Now, that sounded a bit dramatic, didn't it.

Anyway.

This story is all about that little girl at the top of this post.

Our Abby.

Who is all snuggled in multiple blankets on the couch and snoring up a storm as I write this post. 

It is too funny.

One morning a few weeks ago, before Kam went back to school, Parker was getting ready to go to work. He went to put the girls in their crates after their potty break so he could leave, but he couldn't find Abby. This was at 6:00 a.m. and it was totally dark outside. So he texted me and told me that he had to leave but couldn't find Abby anywhere.

I was instantly awake and headed downstairs.

I looked everywhere. I started in the downstairs bathroom (Abby sometimes follows someone in there or goes in there and then we shut the door, not realizing she's in there, and she doesn't make a peep or anything. She just sits there in the dark bathroom and waits for someone to find her.)

No Abby.

I looked in the basement, thinking that she might have followed Parker down there (we recently moved his room to the basement and John's office to Parker's room).

No Abby.

I looked under all the furniture and underneath all the blankets and in the pantry (same scenario as the bathroom) and in the laundry room (again, same scenario), and couldn't find her. I called her. And called her.

No Abby.

You see, Abby doesn't realize that she's a dog. She thinks she's a person and therefore doesn't always come when called.

I was really starting to panic by this time.

So I headed outside with a huge flashlight, because looking for a black chihuahua in the dark is a bit difficult, to say the least.

Hailey, meanwhile, was in her crate and not too happy. Parker had put here in there so he could leave for work before he realized that Abby was missing. She was whining and barking a bit. She does not like to be in her crate when Abby is not in her crate because that's not fair, after all.

I looked all around the fence thinking that she might've gotten out. There was no place around the entire circumference of the fence where even a tiny little chihuahua could've gotten out. 

Still no Abby.

By this time I was in sobbing mode. I was pretty much sure that my little dog was gone.

Gone.

I went upstairs and called for John to come and help in the missing puppy search. Kam and Kailen heard me, and all came out of their rooms to see what was going on.

When I told them, in between sobs, what was going on, they were all in search and rescue mode.

So they all came downstairs and we looked all over again.

In the midst of all this searching, Kailen got tired of hearing Hailey whining and let her out of her crate, and her next words were like the music of angels to my ears:

"I found Abby."

Now this is where this very traumatic story gets funny.

Abby was in Hailey's crate.

The whole time.

If you'll remember, Hailey was in Hailey's crate. With her lampshade on (she had another yeast infection in her paws).

Their crates are not big. At all.

We're not sure how Abby, and Hailey, and Hailey's lampshade all fit into Hailey's crate.

And we're not sure why Hailey didn't do one of her usual growling fits when she discovered Abby was in her crate, because Hailey is the jealous type and does this growling thing whenever she's sitting on me or near me and Abby gets too close to her.

And we're not sure why Abby was in Hailey's crate to begin with because when we've accidentally put her in Hailey's crate before she was highly offended.

Highly offended.

It's a bit of a mystery.

Well, we all had a good laugh, and I hugged that little stinker Abby pretty tightly, and said a huge prayer of gratitude.

I wish I could've heard their thoughts as they were both in the same crate:

Abby: Hailey, get your bum out of my face!

Hailey: Well, you're not supposed to be in my crate. This is MY crate!

And so on...

That would've been a very interesting conversation.