Living with mice

So our apartment has had problems since we first moved in.  Our first big thing is that the basement leaks when we get a heavy rain or snow and the carpet gets soaked.  We had set up our bedroom down there until the mold problem.  We were going through some things for a yard sale last year and came across some pretty nasty mold growing in the carpet behind a bookcase.  It looked like someone had taken a pot full of cooked lasgna noodles and dumped them on the floor.  We called maintenance and they came out and cleaned it up but I think the basement has flooded several other times since then.

Next were the spiders.  We have an infestation of brown recluse spiders.  Our landlord came out and sprayed once for them but that was all they were willing to do under the terms of our lease.  We fought with them all summer (the spiders, and the landlord too really).  I think they started coming out that we know o,f in May.  Mom was up here visiting and got bitten but no one at the hospital took her seriously.  We think Jason was bitten twice too while he slept.  We ended up moving our "bedroom" into the living room after the spiders and the mold.  We put down glue traps, fogged the entire house and finally just had to go on spider patrol during the night and kill as many as we could.  We haven't seen any since October, right before Benjamin was born, but that doesn't mean they won't be back in the spring.  Since we can't afford to move, I hope we'll be ready for them.

On a quick side note, our sump pump backed up last year too and flooded the basement with about 2-3 inches of water.  I don't even want to know what's growing behind the walls.  Also, a year or so ago they replaced our roof.  They didn't tarp it well over a weekend and we had a bad storm.  The roof was constructed poorly and the joints didn't meet up.  I went in to check on Matthew that morning and his ceiling had fallen in from all the water leaking into the attic space.  Luckily none ended up on his bed, but that was a nightmare too.

Most recently are the mice.  We've successfully caught and killed one and I think our neighbor has gotten two now.  We still have at least one scampering around our living room at night and it's really very disconcerting.  I have jumped a few times when I see them out of the corner of my eye and I'm usually carrying one of the kids and scared I'll drop them when I get startled.  I've got several traps baited with peanut butter since that seems to work best.  Mom tells me to put out rat poison but I don't want to worry about the kids getting into it.  I was also concerned about the smell when they die although she assures me they dry up and don't get a chance to decompose, but who wants to find dried up mouse carcasses all over the place? 

I'm basically fed up with where we live but resigned to the fact that we'll probably be there through the rest of the year at least.  Pray we stay safe and don't go crazy from all the crap going on.  Argh!!

Snow, snow, and more snow

So I woke up to about 2-3 inches of snow this morning- not too bad.  By the time I got to work we had about 5.5 inches.  Up where Jason goes to school they ended up with about 12 inches so his school got called out, along with many other dozens in the area.  Since he was out of school he had to keep the kids- it's the way our daycare assistance works.

I know he's having a blast because he called and told me he was headed to his mom's to get help.  Matthew broke our exersaucer this morning and I haven't been home to see the damage but apparently Benjamin also spit up on it twice and "nearly filled up the tray around it" according to Jason.

I would have loved to stay home with my boys and cuddle up and stay warm today but it wasn't in the cards.  We ended up getting close to 8 inches here where I work and we had a lot of people not make it in at all or coming in late this morning so I ended up manning the help desk phones for about an hour and a half until we had enough people to handle it.  For that reason I'm thankful I made it in.  It would have been bad for people to be calling and no one here to answer. 

I just started this "Biggest Loser" competition at work.  We're doing it for 12 weeks and whoever loses the highest percentage of body weight each week wins.  I doubt I'll really lose any but I thought I might be a little bit more motivated if more people were doing it and we could hold each other accountable.  We'll see how it goes. 

So I can't wait to get home and love up my babies.  It's so great to get home and have Matthew giving me hugs and Benjamin giving me little gummy toothless grins.  I just eat it up!  I really do miss them when I'm at work during the day, but staying home with them all day drives me batty so I have to strive for a happy medium there.  I love baby giggles!

Starting off

I intend to tell about life with my boys- all three of them.  I figure I should get it all down before they drive me crazy and I can't remember anything at all.  I have two sons so far, Matthew- 3 and Benjamin- almost 3 months.  They are the highlight of my life and I love them so much.

 There's also my husband Jason, who will turn 30 this year but will tell you up and down he's only 25.  It was so sad that when they came by for the census last year he had to come ask me how old he was because he was trying to tell the guy 26 or something.  I'll be 29 in a few short months and am not looking forward to it.  It seems like I can handle being 30, but 29 is like looking my youth in the face and I just can't handle that.  I said I wanted to be done having kids by 30 and that may happen but we haven't decided if we're going to try one more time for that elusive girl or not.  If we do, it'll be late this year or after because Jason will finally graduate school this year!

 After I don't know how many years he'll be done.  It seems like he's been going the whole time we've been married but I think it's only been the last 3 years.  He's going to graduate with a degree in Geography and a focus on GIS so that he can create maps.  I've seen some of his projects and it's actually pretty neat. 

We moved to the St Louis area about 2 years ago and while everything about the move hasn't been great, I have at least enjoyed the snow and being around some of my closest friends.  I do miss being around my family though.  I hate that I'm not getting to see my niece or my nephew on-the-way grow up.  I miss that my mom was always willing to take Matthew (and now Benjamin) and watch them so me and Jason could have some time to ourselves.  Our marriage was stronger back then.  I just wish I could go back and do some things over again.  I miss that we had to sell our house to get up here and that now it'll be years at the earliest before we can afford another and probably a few more years before our credit will be good enough. 

Sometimes, and I told Jason this yesterday, I wish I could fast forward about 20 years just to see how my kids turn out.  I pray I don't screw them up too badly.  I try to be a good mom, but what mom is good all the time?  My oldest is on Ritalin now for ADHD and the baby seems pretty mellow but who knows.  I have a hard time believing that in 3 months my oldest will be 4 and the baby will be 6 months already.  Time really does fly.