For probably almost 3 months now, we have had some uninvited guests in our house. They have been creating quite a ruckus the entire time they've been here, and they have even destroyed some property. Why haven't we kicked them out yet? Just when we think we've had all we can take, they quiet down and we almost forget they are here. But they haven't left, and today one of them drew the last straw. He came into our personal living space and almost scared me to death.

At 7:15 AM today, Andy was out making breakfast and I was in bed with Noelle trying to fall back asleep. I heard a noise that for a moment sounded like Andy pouring cereal, but soon realized it was much more than that. I called out to Andy asking for confirmation of my suspicion, and he didn't respond. I called again, "ANDY - WHAT WAS THAT!?!?!?"

I then heard the bathroom door close quickly, and Andy came into the bedroom. He sheepishly told me that what I have suspected for a long time finally happened. One of the uninvited guests made its way into our house.

It was a bird. They've been living in the chimney for some time, but with the flue closed, we thought we were safe. A few weeks ago, though, Andy tried to smoke them out by lighting a fire in the fireplace, and apparently forgot to close the flue. So this morning, Andy heard the fluttering noise just like I did, and looked out into the living room to see a bird flying around our house. It started to make its way down the hall, and lucky for Andy, it headed straight into the bathroom. Let me tell you, if that thing had come into my bedroom, I would be a widow today.

He trapped it in the bathroom, got a trash bag and scooped it up and took it outside. I made sure he checked for any droppings, and he cleaned some off the window sill.

So, I'm sorry to say, our guests have got to go. TODAY. Andy will be calling someone today to take care of not only the birds, but also their squirrel friends that have been living in our ceilings. I've had it. They are out, or I am.

The Matthews family is worn out. Noelle seems to have decided to reenact the way things were when she was just a few weeks old. She's been waking up multiple times during the night, not going right back to sleep, and being unreasonably fussy during the day. This morning I let her cry in her crib for a little longer than I normally would, and it apparently wore her out. She fell asleep on her play mat this afternoon, which I have never seen her do before. (See how she tries to pretend she's all sugar and spice in this picture). Of course, I decided to try and move her to her crib, and that turned out to be the mistake of the century. She is protesting wildly as we speak. I am glad to be a mom, really. I know that as she gets older we will just have different problems to deal with, but I can definitely say that the day we finally move beyond some of these sleep issues will be a happy day indeed.

Last fall, Andy took a ColdFusion Certification class taught by a friend here in Nashville. The purpose was to be trained and eventually take a test to become a certified developer. He could tell you more about it than I can, but here we are, 7 months later, and he finally took the test.

He was a little worried about it, partially because the test covers more aspects of the program than he has ever used, but also because it's been a while since he took a test. He had been doing well on the practice tests, though, and I had full confidence in him.

So, he went and took the test yesterday, and not only did he pass, but he came in at the expert level! I'm so proud of him! He said that he was going to write about it on here, and he probably will to give you more details, but I wanted to brag on him as well. I challenged him to at least schedule his test before we left for Chicago this weekend, and he greatly exceeded that challenge. Way to go, Andy!