Going Batty

Last night I had one of the scariest experiences of my life. It didn’t involve Moose at all, he was sound asleep in his crib. It was just me, and the wild outdoors that decided to invade my house and attack me.
I’ll set the scene first.
Cory had run up to Richmond with our friend Steve to look at a truck that he wanted to buy. They had left right after work. Cory promised he’d be home early that evening, hopefully around 9 or so.
Moose and I had a nice evening at first. I gave him dinner, and a bath, and then he went to bed.
I was sitting on the couch, wearing a purple negligee, watching a show on vampires on the History channel, when I saw something flash by. I glanced up, and looked straight into the beady little eyes of a big huge bat.
The scream that came out of my mouth rivaled that of Janet Leigh in Psycho.
I sat straight up and grabbed the throw pillow I had been laying on, and tried to hit it in the air. I didn’t even come close.
At that point, it was flying in a loose circle from the living room, to the dining room, and through the kitchen, then back to me in the living room, where I unsuccessfully tried to hit it with the pillow.
My heart was in my ears, as sweat started to bead on my skin. I jumped up to get a better angle with the pillow. Every time it came at me, I screamed and tried to hit it with the pillow.
Finally after a few minutes of bombardment, it swooped down the hall.
I had a few moments to try and decide what the hell I was going to do, when it came flying back down the hallway. Straight at me.
More screaming and pillow swinging.
Finally I realized I had to get to my phone. Luckily the bat decided to head into the foyer. I raced through to the kitchen, and bounded back to the living room, where I had the best vantage point. I made mental note that Moose was probably the safest place he could be, closed up in his bedroom.
I dialed Cory’s number and waited for him to answer.
Cory: Hello?
Me: OHMYGODKGJIRHTJBNSDJFHSAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!
Cory: What? Honey, are you okay?
Me: (breathing hard, trying to catch my breath, and force my mouth to work) Bat. There’s a bat in the house.
Cory: In the house?
Me: YES IN THE HOUSE. WHERE ARE YOU?!!
Cory: (calmly) On my way home, I’m almost there.
Me: *expletive* get home now!
Cory: Okay, I’m about 30 minutes away.
Me: OKAY BYE, IT’S BACK.
Cory: Hit it with a frying pan.
Me: eh?
Cory: Kill it with a frying pan.
Me: OKAY BYE.

In my opinion, a frying pan was still way too close to my hand. I needed something longer that I could swing at it.
A broom!
Yes, a broom. Now I just had to go down the long dark hallway that the bat had just disappeared down, to my broom closet.
Shit.
I slowly made my way down the hallway and opened the door. I managed to get out the broom and close it as quickly, and softly as I ever have.
Then I stalked back to the living room to wait for the next attack.
All of the things that are going through your head right now that I should do? Shut up. You weren’t there. At that point I was totally in shock, and running on pure adrenaline. My heart was in my ears, my skin was slick with sweat, my hands were locked around the broom. (remember I’m wearing the purple negligee too right?)
I locked my legs into a battle stance and held the broom across my front, and waited for it to fly down the hallway again.
I didn’t have to wait long.
It swooped through the hallway, and headed directly for me. I swung the broom for a direct hit. And hit nothing but air. I tried several times before I realized there was no way I was going to hit it. But I was scaring it to death, I was pretty sure.
We went though this two more times, where it would hide in the hallway, and head back at me where I would unsuccessfully try to whack it with the broom.
After the second time, I realized I had to do something else, this wasn’t working. And plus, if I had to do it anymore, I was probably going to have a stroke, because I could barely catch my breath each time.
So I called my friend who lives down the street to see if her husband can come help me. Nope. I forgot he was out of town. Shit. She did have some good advice though, “go hide in the bedroom”.
That meant I had to go down the hallway. Where the bat was.
I would have to chance it. I started down the hallway, just as it started from the other side.
I turned and ran the other way. No heroics here.
As I turned around when I got back to the living room, I turned to see it swoop down into the foyer and land on the coat rack.
This was my chance.
I turned and made a break for it. I made it to the bedroom pretty easily. I closed both doors and stood in battle stance, watching for a shadow under the door. I thought I could probably see it if it flew back down the hallway. I didn’t see it again.
I stood there for 20 minutes, waiting for Cory to come home. My arms locked, my feet apart, with my heart in my ears. Broom in hand.
It was so great to hear the front door open, and to have Cory and Steve walk in. I hastily added some pajama bottoms to my negligee, and met them out in the foyer. They were extremely annoyed that I didn’t know where it was, and that I had hid in the bedroom. They looked through everything, shaking this and that, lifting up curtains and such.
Nothing.
At this point they had opened the front door, and I could have kicked myself for not thinking of that. It never even occurred to me.
They searched the entire first floor of the house, and found nothing. I stood at the top of the foyer, and watched for it to fly out of the front door. No such luck.
Cory was down in the basement when he heard a flutter. He looked behind the recliner, and one of the sticky bug traps we had put down had trapped the bat. There must have been a cricket or something stuck to it, because the bat had managed to get its face and one of its wings trapped to the sticky stuff.
Cory took it out back and took care of it.
Even though it was dead, it was really hard for me to key down. I was still in battle stance, with an unrelenting grip on my broom when they came upstairs.
Cory said that it was, indeed a pretty “good sized bat”. The body was about the size of my fist, and the wing span was about nine inches. HUGE AND SCARY.
Last week we had Terminix come to spray for crickets. The lady said that there were bats in our attic, even though we had had some people come for that already. Cory called the bat people back and had them come back. They closed up a little hole that they had missed, and said that the bats in the attic would starve to death in a few days, and since their bodies were 80% water, they would then turn to dust.
Apparently one of the trapped bats from the attic made a last ditch effort of escaping by squeezing through the attic trap door, in the hallway. Their bodies don’t have bone, only cartilage, so they can squeeze through a crack the size of a width of a quarter.
I’m still not over it. I had scary flash backs this morning when I glance down the hall, and I can’t walk through the hall without cringing under the attic trap door.

Wild Weekend!

Easter Picture Proofs IN!

Here are the Spring/Easter pictures that daycare took for us. The post is mainly for the grandmothers to see so they can let me know which one they want.

SH121-I'm getting this one!SH122-I'm getting this one too!

SH124

SH123

Sick Day

Well, Moose's virus turned into a raging sinus infection on Thursday evening complete with a fiery fever.

In the past, even during our worst ear infections, Moose has not really had fevers. So this concept of heat, complete body aches, and general crappyness, is completely foreign to him. So trying to explain that, "I'm sorry all I can do is give you Tylenol..." is not really enough for him.

So needless to day, I had to stay home with him on Friday.

So I have spent the last day now, watching Baby Einstein, and giving Moose whatever he wants to eat. Because apparently normal food is not what he wants. He only wants pancakes, and yogurt. THAT IS ALL HE WILL EAT.

I know he won't starve. But I can't stand not feeding him a good meal. I do also realize that being sick does diminish his appetite. So I have just given him whatever he will eat. But I think it's okay, he'll eat when he's hungry I guess.

But yesterday-was not really fun. He didn't want to do anything except watch Baby Einstein. He won't even watch real cartoons on TV. He only wants B.E. Which means, basically that I have to watch it too. Especially since he wanted me to hold him while he watched it. So I spent all of yesterday cradling his hot, sweaty, little body to mine while we watched B.E.

It was not so bad.

I didn't enjoy it, so to say. But it was nice to cradle him, and coo to him that everything was going to be fine. And of course, it is now. He's still fussy, and snotty, but he can watch TV by himself, and play by himself today. Which is easier for me. I guess.

His fever has broken, but he acted like his throat still hurt, so I just gave him another dose of Tylenol. Which pretty much guarantees a morning nap. (he he he!)

Wow, Two in a Row!

Well, we have had a few things happen in the last day, plus I totally forgot to make fun of my husband, when he clearly asked for it.
On Saturday, Cory went out with the boys on a bowling adventure. Apparently, his whole shop went, and they had a great time. Unfortunately, too great of a time. They bowled for over five hours. Now, I don't know if you've been bowling lately, but throwing a heavy ball down a lane can take it's toll on your muscles, especially if you don't work out regularly. So Cory came home that evening pretty stiff. The next morning he could barely move! He did feel a bit better the next day at work when one of the other guys who had gone, casually asked if the bowling had effected Cory. He said that, yes it had a bit, and it turns out all of them had barely been able to move the next day!

Moose is a bit sick. We went to the doctor today because he woke up last night several times, and that's not normal for him. Plus he had a bit of drainage, so I was worried about an ear infection. Turns out he just has a virus, but it's kind of bad because he has some blisters on his throat. So he's fussy and basically a cranky puss. He has sort of adjusted to the time change. I have not.

I have been nominated for an award at work. The company I work for, promotes six basic values that they want their employees to have. One of them is "innovation". My boss nominated me for it. I am sure there have been several nominations, so I probably won't win. But just being nominated is an honor. Especially after I read what my boss had to say about me: (warning, it's long!)

Description in detail how Nominee demonstrates a specific Value for a Values in Action Award:
Creatively, Liz is talented and genuinely passionate, enthusiastic and self-motivated in wanting to produce excellent graphic design. She takes ownership and pride in her work. Liz can think at the higher level of image, messaging and metaphor that precedes the design and layout of elements on a page, and she knows the importance of branding and consistency. She is not afraid to take risks in self-directed creative ventures she believes in.
Within established brand guidelines, Liz has concepted and designed a number of new product ads for Company B including the "Spring Into AV!" series, the "Books That Last Forever?" BeeWee Bound ad and the "Look Who's Talking" Playaway ad. Her tri-fold Christmas card calendar was very creative, functional, and well received. With some initial direction, Liz redesigned a major PowerPoint presentation for Company F including simplifying and reorganizing content plus creating all new graphics and page layouts. Her Flash-animated banner ads for Company F were simple and effective. These and other pieces have received kudos from various marketing staff among the respective divisions.
Description of how Nominee positively impacts Company F and/or his or her colleagues:
Creativity is, by nature, risky business. In Graphic Arts, the effort in concepting and designing advertising and marketing collateral, unlike many other disciplines, is hugely overt. The resulting "artwork" is displayed in public view and subject to scrutiny and judgement by virtually everyone. Critiques and directives come from many peers and clients all with different view-points and levels of aesthetic taste. So, in addition to being creative, a graphic designer must also be confident, flexible, persuasive and a team player with an acumen for tact and diplomacy. From innate talent to interpersonal skills, Liz possesses these attributes."

Gone Fishin'

I'm sure you've all noticed my absence. There is no great reason, except that first of all-nothing too great has been going on. The highlight of our last weekend was when Cory cleaned out the gutters.
We have been enjoying our backyard lately. The Spring weather has begun, so we've been spending afternoons playing catch with Scout, and teaching Moose to walk through the grass, and up the stone steps. I have decided that the Easter Bunny is bringing Moose a swing set. They sell a toddler sized version which is big and plastic. I'm pretty pumped about it.

One main reason that I haven't posted pictures of Moose lately is below. He just moves too fast for me to catch him. Occasionally he'll pose and pause for me. But usually I get different versions of the below shot.

This is what I walked in to the other morning. Those are his dirty clothes that he picked out of his laundry basket.

A tribute to Sarah and Carter's Day together.

And that's all I got. Cory is planning on taking a tree down next weekend. So there may be some amusing pictures of him and his friends stumbling around the backyard gazing at the tree with beer coozies in their hands. Don't worry, I'll keep you updated.

As Promised

Video Take3

We've been working on eating with a spoon. Which Moose seems to understand. Check out the video:



Otherwise, not too much going on. Cory and I were both sick last weekend and through this week, so that's why I haven't been posting much.

Moose is getting better and better at walking. We're really proud of the progress he's made.

We have pretty much been relaxing all weekend. Saturday night we went over to an old friend's house to watch a UFC pay for view fight. We haven't seen them in years, and turns out they have a new baby girl. So small! Cannot believe Moose was ever that small! Funny the things you forget.
I invited my friend to our new playgroup that we are forming. I am planning on putting it together soon. I now have two friends that are stay-at-home-moms, so I think it will be fun for the kids to see each other and play. I'll keep you updated on that front!

I actually have quite a few videos to share, so I am hoping to have time to post them this week.