Lost and Found!

Yesterday was a trying day for me. Eli started acting really fussy and was up every hour last night congested. I'm praying to God it's from teething and not the start of a cold. Today he has a slight runny nose. We'll see. Somehow a gate we never use was opened yesterday (possibly by the people measuring the gas meter?) and Rica got out. I didn't notice for an hour because I was feeding Eli his lunch and putting him down for a nap. I went out searching for her, but after an hour I gave up exhausted. I think I drove every street in our area. I was upset all afternoon afraid she was going to get hit by a car. Brandon came home and decided to go out looking for her even though it had been 5 hours since she got out. I didn't think there was much hope of finding her and was just planning on waiting for someone to call after they found her. He wasn't gone very long before he brought her home! Guess where she was....our old street across from our old house playing with the neighbor's dogs! I purposely had looked there twice earlier in the day because I figured she'd be able to find our old street better than our new one. She ran to him so relieved the second she saw him. Let me tell you, she was VERY excited to be home! Today, I was trying to force Eli into sitting to play instead of draining every ounce of energy out of my body by wanting to constantly be walking and exploring when I heard scratching in our chimney and particles fall down into the fireplace. Something is up there. Maybe a raccoon? Who knows. Someone is supposed to come out this afternoon and try to get it out because Brandon couldn't see anything when he shined a flashlight up there. What else can go wrong? I did have a refreshing visit with a friend and her dog and a lovely walk with Eli since it finally warmed up a bit and smoothed my mood over. Through the weekend is supposed to be awesome weather and we'll be sure to be outside enjoying every second before Winter sets in! I'm dreading the time change that's coming....I have a feeling Eli is going to be wanting to go to bed at 6:30 and will be up at 4:30/5 until he gets adjusted. Yikes!