When Aidan wasn't even a glint in his father's eye and our third son, Justin, was just a baby, we lived in a cute townhouse in New Jersey. The people who had lived there before us had turned half of the garage into a storage room. I was more than happy to make it into a playroom for my boys. The playroom was right off the laundry room and I was a little concerned about the exposed water line coming from the laundry room, but I wasn't about to give up the chance to have a place for all of their toys. The water line was right at their level and they loved to hang on it like little monkeys. The hose looked sturdy enough to me, so even though I told them not to hang on it anymore, I wasn't consistent with my orders. I came to regret that. As I'm doing chores around the house one day, all of a sudden I hear a sound of rushing water and yelling from the playroom. I run to the doorway and stare in shock at what I am seeing. The playroom floor was quickly being flooded by the gushing amount of Niagra Falls while Nathanael bravely grabbed Caleb around the waist and ran for the door. I grabbed the phone because my household knowledge only went so far during that time in my life and I had to ask my husband for the location of the valve to shut off the water. So much for girl power. Somehow he was able to discern what happened even though I was practically stuttering in my panicked state. It was something like, "Oh, my gosh! The boys....water line....gushing...." The poor guy is in the middle of his office surrounded by co-workers and his little wifie is yelling into the phone about a broken water line. He calmly acts as if nothing crazy is happening on the other end and tells me where to look. As soon as I find it, I turn the water off and immediately felt relief from having stopped Lake Erie from forming in our playroom. In the silence of the room, I sheepishly smile into the phone and say, "Hee, um, thanks, honey." He answers in his typical, "Mmm-hmmm", and as we hung up I realized that it made me feel better to call the previous owners idiots for putting in an exposed water line instead of myself for actually letting the boys hang on it.
They instructed me to make sure I have a full bladder on arriving for my ultrasound. Ha. I almost laughed in their faces. Pregnant me plus a full bladder equals a disaster. On my son's birthday back in March, I had to drive all the kids home afterward. I had drunk a lot of water and couldn't believe I had forgotten what happens to me when I drink too much water with no bathroom nearby when I'm pregnant. I counted the minutes till I got home all the while breaking the law and speeding trying to keep in mind not to drive too recklessly screaming at the poky people in front of me. It brought to mind the very first time I experienced a full bladder as a pregnant woman. It was my first baby and my husband was in the Air Force. So, when we had an ultrasound we went to the Academy in Colorado Springs. They told me to drink an astronomical amount of water before I came. I did so and then we started out for the half hour drive to the hospital. By the time we were on the
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