'Oh Where? Oh Where has my little dog gone?"

Okay, so I don't have a dog, but it may indicate that we have been missing in action from the blog world these last couple of weeks. And oh, what a couple of weeks they have been. First of all, I alluded to the fact that about a month ago we had water in our basement. For some yet to be discovered reason our sump pump malfunctioned and we ended up with some water in the basement. Luckily no water damage occurred but a lot of headache happened. Our pump was working efficiently but there seems to be a outside problem either with the drainage tile or with the drainage system from the house. Things are working OK now, knock on wood, but things are not yet perfect as we had a lot of standing water in our back yard.
Then came our house guests - the in laws, my parents and then the RACCOON. Yep you heard me right we had a raccoon in our house. Honestly, we don't live in the ghetto but it seemed like our house was falling apart. I told Ryan I was going to put a "Free" sign on the lawn for our house as we were both at our wits ends with this house.
Anyways, a couple of Fridays ago I was home with Lyla and I thought I heard someone walking upstairs. We had just come home from Gymboree, so I thought someone had come into the house while we were away. Upon investigation I found no one in the house and then I heard what sounding like someone trying to open the door. When I followed the sound it lead me to outside Lyla's window and low and behold I found a hole in the roof. The animal control people where there within a hour and told me that we had a raccoon in our roof. They left a trap, instructions and good luck and I was left worrying about the fact that our house had a large rodent in it and it was probably pregnant and going to have its babies in our house. The raccoon came in on a mild afternoon and the weather turned cold that day. So it took a week for the weather to warm up to but last Thursday night the raccoon came out right into our trap. Here she is... doesn't she look pregnant??
This past weekend I had the entire weekend off. A true rarity - something that won't happen again until Lyla's birthday. So we decided to go home to surprise our niece Emily for her 11th birthday. It was great to see everyone and Lyla really like to play with the girls - Emily and Jillian.
Anyways, that is why I haven't been around in a while.. hopefully I will be better over the next month. All Ryan and I know is that we are looking forward to a house free of "guests"!