Sunday, March 11, 2012
Good Sunday so Far...
We're going to get to listen to a symphonic concert today. At CHURCH. So excited.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
A March Day in Alaska
Opening up my blinds in the living room this morning revealed quite a surprise: over a foot of snow accumulated...overnight! At least it was warm today - a balmy 20 degrees. Feels like spring, looks like winter.
And I would be remiss if I did not include a picture of a certain little boy.
Who is now army crawling and getting into EVERYTHING. :)
And I would be remiss if I did not include a picture of a certain little boy.
Who is now army crawling and getting into EVERYTHING. :)
Saturday, March 3, 2012
A surprise awakening
Yesterday morning found me shivering on our front porch, with nothing but shorts, a thin t-shirt, a robe, and slippers on. It was 3 degrees outside. Micah was right next to me in his car seat, looking rather chilly but uncomplaining. Such a good boy.
Approximately two minutes prior to this scene, the house was quiet and all was peaceful. A sharp, ear-piercing shriek rent the peace and jerked me out of my sleep. A steady, robotic voice said something that my groggy brain couldn't figure out and then there was silence. I groaned and turned over, thinking that the battery in the fire alarm needed changing.
"Why do they make it so loud when you have to change the batteries?" I thought to myself.
Then another wail. And the voice again.
"DANG it, I have to change the battery to shut it up, too?? Stupid! It's going to wake the baby up!"
I looked up at the one in our room and saw the light blinking, but it wasn't sounding. It was the alarms in the rest of the house that were making the racket. Then suddenly, awake enough to hear words and actually process them, I heard the robotic voice talk again.
"Warning, Carbon Monoxide. BLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!! Warning, Carbon Monoxide." BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!! Warning, Carbon Monoxide."
My entire being filled with fear, and I made a mad dash to the baby's room, momentarily horrified at what could happen to him. Temporary relief surged through me as I opened his door and saw his bright, alert little eyes quietly peering over his crib bumper at all the commotion. I ran over, scooped him up, ran to my room to grab my robe and my phone (after all, the neighbors weren't home and it was 3 degrees outside) and ran out to the front porch, leaving the door open to air the house out. By this point, I was shaking all over. I couldn't think. I didn't know what on earth to do except get us both out of there. I didn't feel like I could hold on to Micah for very long so I covered his face, held my breath, and ran the length of the hallway and grabbed his car-seat. Once he was settled in there on the porch, I dialed Scott's work number. Busy. I tried a couple more times to no avail. Then I dialed Scott's phone and he picked up right away. Oh praise God.
"Scott, theCOalarmisgoingoffandthebabyandIareoutsidebutIhavenoearthlyideawhattodo, so.. what do I DO??" There was a pause at the other end.
"Umm.. I dunno. You're outside? I can hear the alarm..."
He kept googling things after we hung up and texting them to me. I called our landlord who sent his wife over to turn the alarm off. But I had run back inside before calling him and opened all the windows I could (that weren't frozen over) and turned all the fans on, so the alarm finally stopped a few minutes before she showed up. She didn't seem to know what to do, but shrugged when she saw the alarm had stopped and said,
"Well, I guess it's safe now. Call me if anything else happens." And that was the end of that. I had been standing there in the cold for 15 or 20 minutes by this point, so cautiously, I took Micah back inside. I was feeling a little dizzy and he started crying soon after for food. I fed him, got some coffee, but still felt frightened and dizzy, and Micah wouldn't stop crying, so I decided to get out for a little while. The dizziness cleared up after about 20 minutes away from the house and Micah calmed right down. This could be coincidence, I have no idea.
I went to Safeway to get some ingredients for dinner, and there just happened to be a volunteer firefighter table set up in the front, they were handing out a bunch of free information. So I went to them and asked what I was supposed to do and admitted I was scared of going back into the house. We talked for a few minutes, and they offered to contact the fire station and send someone out with a sensor to make sure the house was safe. Relieved, I agreed and drove home to meet them there.
They kept getting called away so 20 minutes turned into an hour, just sitting in the warm car outside, waiting. Finally, they came, went through the whole house, and praise God, found no trace of it there. They said it could be because I had it airing out for over two hours at that point and if there were any CO, it probably cleared out. They installed another CO alarm in our hallway to make sure the first ones weren't just malfunctioning, gave me some papers describing CO and what to do if the alarm went off again, and were on their way.
So fortunately for us, everything ended up ok. Perhaps you will think I was silly for feeling so scared. But for one thing, I have a baby to worry about, and for another, well, I was just plain scared. Perhaps because the stuff is invisible, odorless, and can kill you before you even know what's going on - the fear of the unknown. Plus that alarm voice is really freaky. Especially when you first wake up to it.
The rest of the day went just fine, so far, no alarms anymore. But it sure was a crazy start to our day.
Approximately two minutes prior to this scene, the house was quiet and all was peaceful. A sharp, ear-piercing shriek rent the peace and jerked me out of my sleep. A steady, robotic voice said something that my groggy brain couldn't figure out and then there was silence. I groaned and turned over, thinking that the battery in the fire alarm needed changing.
"Why do they make it so loud when you have to change the batteries?" I thought to myself.
Then another wail. And the voice again.
"DANG it, I have to change the battery to shut it up, too?? Stupid! It's going to wake the baby up!"
I looked up at the one in our room and saw the light blinking, but it wasn't sounding. It was the alarms in the rest of the house that were making the racket. Then suddenly, awake enough to hear words and actually process them, I heard the robotic voice talk again.
"Warning, Carbon Monoxide. BLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!! Warning, Carbon Monoxide." BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!! Warning, Carbon Monoxide."
My entire being filled with fear, and I made a mad dash to the baby's room, momentarily horrified at what could happen to him. Temporary relief surged through me as I opened his door and saw his bright, alert little eyes quietly peering over his crib bumper at all the commotion. I ran over, scooped him up, ran to my room to grab my robe and my phone (after all, the neighbors weren't home and it was 3 degrees outside) and ran out to the front porch, leaving the door open to air the house out. By this point, I was shaking all over. I couldn't think. I didn't know what on earth to do except get us both out of there. I didn't feel like I could hold on to Micah for very long so I covered his face, held my breath, and ran the length of the hallway and grabbed his car-seat. Once he was settled in there on the porch, I dialed Scott's work number. Busy. I tried a couple more times to no avail. Then I dialed Scott's phone and he picked up right away. Oh praise God.
"Scott, theCOalarmisgoingoffandthebabyandIareoutsidebutIhavenoearthlyideawhattodo, so.. what do I DO??" There was a pause at the other end.
"Umm.. I dunno. You're outside? I can hear the alarm..."
He kept googling things after we hung up and texting them to me. I called our landlord who sent his wife over to turn the alarm off. But I had run back inside before calling him and opened all the windows I could (that weren't frozen over) and turned all the fans on, so the alarm finally stopped a few minutes before she showed up. She didn't seem to know what to do, but shrugged when she saw the alarm had stopped and said,
"Well, I guess it's safe now. Call me if anything else happens." And that was the end of that. I had been standing there in the cold for 15 or 20 minutes by this point, so cautiously, I took Micah back inside. I was feeling a little dizzy and he started crying soon after for food. I fed him, got some coffee, but still felt frightened and dizzy, and Micah wouldn't stop crying, so I decided to get out for a little while. The dizziness cleared up after about 20 minutes away from the house and Micah calmed right down. This could be coincidence, I have no idea.
I went to Safeway to get some ingredients for dinner, and there just happened to be a volunteer firefighter table set up in the front, they were handing out a bunch of free information. So I went to them and asked what I was supposed to do and admitted I was scared of going back into the house. We talked for a few minutes, and they offered to contact the fire station and send someone out with a sensor to make sure the house was safe. Relieved, I agreed and drove home to meet them there.
They kept getting called away so 20 minutes turned into an hour, just sitting in the warm car outside, waiting. Finally, they came, went through the whole house, and praise God, found no trace of it there. They said it could be because I had it airing out for over two hours at that point and if there were any CO, it probably cleared out. They installed another CO alarm in our hallway to make sure the first ones weren't just malfunctioning, gave me some papers describing CO and what to do if the alarm went off again, and were on their way.
So fortunately for us, everything ended up ok. Perhaps you will think I was silly for feeling so scared. But for one thing, I have a baby to worry about, and for another, well, I was just plain scared. Perhaps because the stuff is invisible, odorless, and can kill you before you even know what's going on - the fear of the unknown. Plus that alarm voice is really freaky. Especially when you first wake up to it.
The rest of the day went just fine, so far, no alarms anymore. But it sure was a crazy start to our day.
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