1. We're Okay. 2. Wish us Luck

We had some "excitement" of the terrifying kind here this morning. I woke up around 4 am and realized the L had slept for a really long time, too long, and he wasn't that interested in eating (very strange for my Loga-raptor). So after I nursed for a few minutes, I went downstairs to pump and thought that I smelled gas. But it didn't really smell like gas, and the smell seemed everywhere, not localized like a gas leak. So I went back to bed thinking maybe I was getting sick or the leftovers, mixed with some poopy diapers, I don't know - it was 4 am, right? Around 5 am, I went downstairs to turn the heat on b/c Jim had turned it off earlier that night with all the oven heat going from Christmas dinner. Logan then woke us up around 8, again weird, since usually he and Sadie are ready to go around 7 ish. I went downstaris with him to nurse and this time the smell of gas seemed worse. So I called Consumer's energy and didn't even tell Jim b/c he always tells me he doesn't smell it and I'm exaggerating. When I called them, they said that we evacuate the premises and not to use any electronic things. So I set Jim and baby off to drop off Fritz's gifty's and I was going to just gather a few things and wait until the energy peeps got there at our neighbor Meredith's house, a few doors down. The energy guy came just as J & L were leaving. And when I went back inside his meter was going off like crazy and he alerted me that we had a carbon monoxide leak in the house at 100 parts per million (residential locations are only supposed to have between 0 - 7 parts per million). He asked if we had been feeling sick and I said, in fact, that was why I had called, I had a headache, was feeling naseaus, and thought I better call. So I ran back to the car to let Jim know.

Essentially, we're all okay. The body very quickly will displace the carbon monoxide with oxygen as soon as there is no CO to compete with it. So while Logan and I had mild exposure b/c we were upstairs the most (Jim had fallen asleep on the couch), we were both feeling much better by the afternoon But it was a good thing that he had turned the heat off. And it is also a good thing that L is co-sleeping with us; because he might not have roused. And it certainly explains his fussiness last night (he probably had a bad headache). Anyway, we all went to urgent care after the house was aired out and the management company got an earful for not properly maintaining the furnace (the door had fallen off, the vents had not been cleaned in years, and just generally, it is a POS). I plan on writing a letter to all our neighbors letting them know what happened. Mamma bear in action!!

But of course this is all just one day before we leave for MLA for our interviews. Mine is on Friday am for Wilkes University in Wilkes Barre, PA and Jim's is for Salem State in Massachusetts. So we didn't have as much time to prepare as we would have liked, but wish us luck. And please please, make sure you have CO detectors. We made out okay b/c I happened to smell it and Jim happened to have turned the heat off, but it is scary to think what might have occured if those happenings didn't.