A mouse in the house

Lotta and I had our car yesterday. She has an eye infection again and we needed to go to the ER in the morning. The homeophatic remedies we've gotten have unfortunately not worked and it is starting to look certain that Lotta's tearducts will be operated. When this happens is everybody's guess since the University Hospital doesn't regard the problem as an acute one - rightfully so. It's not fun for Lotta but this was the first infection since early summer so that it isn't that she has them week after week.

What she does have is a tear in her left eye all the time and now it was the right one that got infected. We don't see another option for her than to have the operation but I am very scared. It stems from the fact that anesthesia almost killed my mother when I was a little girl - or at least that's how I've understood it. It may have been just the fact that she had an emergency operation with full stomach and I'm told that's really not what you'd want. Regardless, I'm scared.

Now if that weren't enough in the afternoon we went to get Husband from work and as we were driving home he asked if I'd heard noises during the day. As I was busy trying to figure out what in my appearance made him think I'd started to hear noises he added that: "You do know we have a mouse, right?"

I knew no such thing. I thought it was the neighbours - unfairly, since they are a lovely bunch and never make much of a ruckus. But there you go. I've lived most of my life in appartment buildings and have seen two or three mice in my entire life. I don't know how they sound. I hardly even know how they look. Now I do.

In the evening the mouse felt that it was time to explore the house and Husband - who sees everything! - saw him from the corner of his eye. He didn't see where it went but eventually he found the mouse behind our livingroom shelf. Didn't catch it, though. Once the adrenalin died down we decided to go to bed. There wasn't much else we could do at that hour.

If you're squeamish this is the time to go read another blog because this is what happened next: Husband had left to work at 4 am - yes, this is true - and around 5 am the mouse I guess was assured that he had the house for himself. So it felt it was time to check out, are you ready for this, our bed. It climbed up to it via my hand and woke me up VERY thoroughly in fact it scared me witless.

I heard it jump down from the bed and got up to see weather it had gone to Lotta's room and sure enough there it was looking at me with very big black eyes (I had a flash light so as to not wake up Lotta). I heard it run under her bed as I went to get her. I was sensible enough to take a clean diaper for her and her Ella bear and then we went out very fast and closed the door behind us.

Lotta was drowsy and accepted the move peacefully. I went to get the phone, sat on our bed shaking and called Husband. He didn't answer his own phone so I called the work phone which he answered right away. I told what had happened and told him to come home kill the mouse IMMEDIATELY. And he did! Bless his heart.

I wasn't there to witness what happened next since I had a sleeply little girl to tend to but I am told the mouse is dead. I'm very sorry for the poor little mouse who just wanted to get in from the cold and enjoy his new home but mice and I will NOT, and I repeat NOT, share a house. Thankfully Husband comes from a farm and this was by no means the first time he'd encountered a mouse.

The thing is I've never been particularily afraid of them. Bats, yes. Snakes, too. Wasps, absolutely. Rats, definitely. Cockroaches, yes. But mice, no. And I'm still not exactly afraid but I did get an awful scare when it thought my hand was the perfect climbing tree. We hope - and I pray, although I'm sure God has more important things to tend to - that this was the only one to try to move in with us. We have an idea where it might have come from and we'll both try to make sure nothing can squeeze through again and put a mouse trap there.

The blessing in disguise is that the mouse was so into exploring the house. What was the very worst part for me was the part that made sure I woke up and got to Lotta. I don't know what it would have done to her to be woken up by the sharp feet of a mouse in her bed. I regard it as a huge blessing that that didn't happen.

Once she wakes up from her nap we'll eat lunch and then we're going to clean the house. I just noticed mouse poop on this table! Oh, no!

Ps. It's snowing :).