Stinky Family

Our hot water heater kicked the bucket last Thursday. I should re-phrase... the actual hot water heater wasn't broken, per se, however it was not producing more than 4 minutes of hot water per day. We had a plumber come out on Thursday and Friday, both times they replaced the thermostats and thought that was it.

They were incorrect.

We had a plumber come out on Sunday... he found some other things wrong, again changed the thermostats and thought that was it. Wrong, again.

Finally, today, the plumber came out, worked on the hot water heater for about 5 hours, only to tell us that we had an electrical problem with the hot water heater!

One call to an electrician, 5 minutes of work to replace a breaker, and we're back in business. I'm a bit perturbed that it took 4 plumber visits over 5 days to determine that the issue wasn't plumbing in nature, but I digress.

So we haven't really been showering as frequently as normal. I tried, I didn't think it would be that bad. I've done a lot of camping in my day at places that didn't even have hot water heaters... but showering in 65 degree water when I am pregnant is a different story. It was actually causing some contractions, so I stopped quickly.

Finally tonight, the boys are back to their evening love - taking a bath. Its nice to wash little kids in warm water as opposed to ice water. They're much more agreeable.

And after today, Nate will no longer be accused of growing out a beard (thank goodness). He hasn't been going for the mountain man look... but he's been looking more and more like Mike Null these days!

We've got a very busy week this week... here are some highlights:

• Will was fitted for his new gait trainer today. This is a piece of equipment that will enable him to stand up while fully supported and learn how to walk.
• If you remember Luke's pony picture from the fall, you'll be excited to know that his school also does spring portraits. Today Luke posed with real live bunnies.
• I have an appointment tomorrow with an obstetrical anesthesiologist for the last phase of Cart's delivery planning.
• Luke has his Wake County pre-school evaluation tomorrow, similarly to Will's from two weeks ago. A few weeks from now, we'll know if the boys qualify for services and if they do, what school they'll start going to in March/April.
• Will's long-awaited pediatric ENT appointment is Thursday. Hopefully we'll get a reason why Will has persistent sinus infections, and the ENT will know what to do about it so Will isn't on antibiotics every month.
• And finally, on Thursday, I have my 32 week OB appointment. When I was pregnant with Luke and Will, my high risk obstetrician told me to circle my 32 week date on the calendar. Apparently babies born at 32 weeks - although they need to stay in the NICU for some time - have no longer term health effects from being a preemie. So of course, the plan is not to deliver Cart for another 7 weeks, however if something were to happen and he came early, we've passed another important milestone!

Man, its a good thing that Nate likes to play chauffeur!