One more reason I can't fall asleep

Ugh. The fear that every little itch or twitch or tingle is one of them...the evil little, disgusting, disease-carrying invader that I have come to most dread in my house, on my things, on me, on my family members...TICKS!

We lived in the country in upstate NY for 3 years and J took the dogs running out in the woods around our place often during the Spring, Summer, and Fall (heck, in Winter too) and I don't remember even once removing a tick from our pets or ourselves. I can remember finding them in the house, but not on us.

Well, Spring is barely showing its pretty little face here in MN and we've already removed 2 ticks from Paisley. =( Not just 2 ticks that were hitching a ride either, they had bitten in and were taking in all they could of our little girl. Grrrrr, I am so angry!

As if that wasn't enough, the other morning J woke suddenly to bat something off his neck. He flung this mystery thing onto the bed and when he caught site of what it was--a tick of course--he was fully awake and quite hopping mad himself. Then when I got up that same morning and combed through my hair, what came flying off my head and onto the bathroom counter...a tick! Grrr, grrr, GGGRRRRRRR.

Thankfully, we have not found one on Bugga or in his room or on his bed or anywhere near him yet. My anger over these pests is really all about fear. They carry disease, any one of us could get sick and potentially suffer for life because of it. I'm beyond scared of that, mostly for Grady and the pets. The cats I'm specifically worried about because they are undoubtedly the hardest to check.

So we're trying to research what--if anything--we can do to limit our exposure and deter these little nasty visitors. If you have any thoughts, let us know!

A couple pictures so it's not just all me ranting about my latest health and safety concern. ;)

J got a shot of one of our many, many squirrels going for this little birdfeeder. It was so cute to watch this little guy or gal (?) experiment and work so hard to get to the feeder; it seemed pretty unsure of whether the little branch it hangs off of (you can't see it in the picture) would support its weight. Here is the 'victory' moment!

One night recently Bug was in a mood, just didn't want to be down on the floor playing by himself. But I needed to get dishes done, so it was the perfect time to experiment with back-carry with one of our slings (usually he's in a hip carry). Worked like a charm! He was quite content to lounge or hug forward and peak around to supervise my dishwashing (thanks for the help little buddy!).

Some random shots to close. Here's the little guy, all boy...bruise on his forehead, scrape on his lip and his nose, ruddy cheeks. The newest culprit of all the bumps and bruises is his attempts at running. He loves to try to run, but he inevitably gets so excited that he nose-dives. Most all of the time, he gets right up and keeps on truckin' and we don't notice the evidence til later. The other culprit? He's getting taller and hitting his head on things he used to be able to walk under. ;)

And here's a full body shot. He just looks so big and old. Not my little baby anyore! He's got his Papa's funky bed-time hair shooting up on the side of his head, that always makes me laugh. =)

Welp, I think I hear him waking from his mid-day slumber. Wait, the house is still a mess....oh well, at least I got to blog. ;) HAHAHA.