Do you smell that?

Kevin and I have joked on many occasions that since having children our house is full of strange smells on a nearly constant basis. Between pets, formula, baby food, diaper pails, spit up...you get the picture. Let's just say our stomachs are stronger and our noses are more sensitive than a few years ago.

This weekend, we smelled something new. Both in Paige's closet and our garage we could occasionally smell the faint trace of natural gas. By Sunday afternoon we were getting concerned since the furnace was running more frequently in the colder weather.

So...Kevin called the gas company. I had just pulled dinner out of the oven when he hung up and told us that we were supposed to evacuate the house and wait outside until the repairman arrived. 5pm, a misty 40 degrees, and two small children who hadn't eaten dinner? Who were they kidding?!? I immediately got on the phone with our neighbors and ended up dragging Reese, Paige, my diaper bag, and our dinner two houses over.

Luckily we have amazing neighbors. These are the same people who I've called on constantly for last minute emergencies--going into labor, taking Paige to see specialists, when Kevin had a car accident etc. etc. They welcomed me into their house and we all tried to laugh about our terrible string of luck lately.

Meanwhile, Kevin wrangled Annie into the back of my car and waited for the gas-man to arrive. Apparently Annie was a basket case since the car never started moving (usually car rides = going somewhere fun) and people who were out walking their dogs kept constantly passing by. I was sure that when the repairman arrived and Kevin had to leave her in the car she was going to either tear my upholstery to shreds, get nervously-induced-explosive diarrhea, or try to climb into the front cabin of the car.

The girls and I made due at our neighbors, although the visit wasn't without it's mini dramas:

1. When our neighbor held Paige so I could serve Reese dinner, she managed to pee all over herself and down his dress shirt. (He was dressed for a meeting later that evening.) Luckily, they both had changes of clothing available.
2. Our neighbors kindly let me give Reese a bath in their bathroom (a good distraction for Reese and a leg up on the bedtime routine once we got home). After her bath, though, I realized that I didn't have any Reese-size diapers in my diaper bag. I would have let her go without, but she insisted she needed to have a bowel movement, and she was terrified of trying to go on their "big" potties. So...I squeezed her into one of Paige's size one diapers...quite a sight to see.

A little more than two hours after our evacuation, we were allowed back in the house. Kevin relayed the story of the repair to me: There had been a leak in the flex-hose that goes into our furnace. The repairman located the leak and then Kevin did most of the repair. Luckily Kevin had all the tools he needed to fix the hose--tin snips, teflon tape, multiple wrenches. Why the repairman had none of these items, I'm not sure. I am glad, though, that I hadn't waited until Monday when Kevin wasn't around--God only knows how long they would have had us evacuated if we had to wait for someone to bring tools etc.

What a long end to our weekend...did I mention that Reese is running a fever today? If it's not one thing, it's another. But I can at least say that our home is no longer "an explosive environment."