Better than the Rest

This week has been better than the rest of the weeks in January.

Without complaining too much I just will say that I am so sick, sick of winter and all her drying, freezing glory.

Today was a saving grace. Although it doesn't sound like much it was sunny today and warmed up to 45 so we went for a walk in the sunshine.

To combat my blues I have been working out a lot lately. Well, I say working out but really it's just walking on the treadmill and biking at the gym. I am so very thankful that we were able to get a membership to The Lodge Des Peres. The Lodge is basically a really cool recreation center in my community that has a fitness center, pool and many other amenities. It's really great AND they have tot-care which means that Henry can hang out and play with other toddlers while I work out. Superb. I can't tell you how much working out helps me with my depression issues. It's also empowering and gives me something to feel proud about.

So, I've been feeling a lot like I'm pregnant lately! First trimester was a breeze and so unlike my pregnancy with Henry. Up until the past couple of weeks I've had to kind of remind myself that I'm pregnant! I'm still feeling good just completely worn out by the end of the day. Sometimes I go to bed right after we put Henry down, around 8pm and I am out like a light. I'm just getting in all the sleep I can as long as I can. I have an appointment on Monday - I'll be 16 weeks. I think we'll get to find out the sex at my 20th week appointment, so the end of February, first of March. I am so excited about that!

Speaking of babies, Alan's sister is due on Monday! I'll have my first niece!! Super stoked about that.

Squirrels

Here's a little something that may make you laugh and we've been dealing with over the past two weeks:

We have squirrels that are residing in the walls of our *rental* home.

You read that right. Giant, fluffy, gnawing, grey squirrels have chewed or clawed through the roofing in this house and made their way in our HVAC system. There's really no danger of them getting out, this I am sure of. Well, I'm sure there's a small danger but very, very unlikely.

So when you have giant squirrels sharing your residence, that you RENT by the way, you let your landlord know, right? And you'd think that the landlord would first be concerned about your safety and secondly be concerned about his financial investment in the residence and said landlord would send a specialist out as soon as possible to fix and remove vermin from the home. Right? Am I being unreasonable here?

Apparently I am. Because it will be 2 weeks tomorrow(Friday) since we first notified our landlord of this problem. They send a maintenance man out that following Monday who slapped some sheet metal on the roof and told me he'd be back the next day to place traps down. Well, it snowed and he never showed up. When I called him 2 days later he told me he had "lost his trap" and was searching for it. In the meantime the squirrels have gnawed a new hole in the roof and now we've had another snow storm which means that even IF he finds his stupid trap he won't be able to place the trap as he'll have to get on the roof to do so and we have 9 inches of snow that ain't gonna melt any time soon.

So now we're going on 2 weeks since we notified landlord of the problem and over one week since we've spoke to the maintenance man about coming back out.

I refuse to call our landlord again as I feel like I'm treated like I'm the hysterical crazy woman with squirrels in the house. Alan has called twice with no return call and we refuse to pay out of pocket to remove the squirrels.

We'll be sending a certified letter on Monday just stating the problem in writing so that when we move out in July (hopefully!) it won't be turned back around on us.

I'm totally at the end of my rope on this and I know that while there are definitely good landlord/tenant relationships we are not lucky enough to have one and I am hopeful that I'll never have to rent a house again in my life.

Good Things

So while I was on an extensive blogging break I went and got myself knocked up.

That's right. I'm pregnant! 14 weeks.

We're very happy and although we weren't expecting it to happen so soon, well, sometimes these things happen, right?

I am excited to have a little brother or sister for Henry that will be so close in age, less than 2 years apart. My brother and I are 5 years apart and were never really play mates when we were growing up. We get along well now, but when you're kids, 5 years is a huge age difference.

You don't have to tell me it's going to be a lot of work having two so close in age, I know it will be. I am also not afraid or stressed (yet). I just think that there's millions of Mom's and Dad's who do it everyday with a lot less than what I have.

I am hoping to write more and am setting a small goal for updating the blog. I want to update at least once a week. I do know I benefit from writing and that it's something that makes me feel good, so it's a priority.

It's freakin' FREEZING in Saint Louis and really everywhere else right now. It's been quite a shock to go from NC winters to MO winters and I thought it was going to be an easy adjustment since I grew up in OK but guess what? It's been hard as hell adjusting. I miss the sun most of all, although we do get sun breaks every few days or so.

I've still not made any friends here, which is very discouraging to me. I am trying though. I've joined a couple of Moms groups on meetup.com and am very hopeful that I'll have some luck. It can be very lonely being a stay at home Mom.

Henry is doing great! He's so much fun and learning more and more every day. He's getting more and more opinionated and independent which is great and very trying. He definitely got his patience level from me, which is like NONE.

So all is well and I hope this blog entry finds you in good health and good time. :)

Until next week.