it's going to be the dryer or a fire...

that makes me go into labor this week! Last Monday the dryer started squealing and making a burning smell. The maintenance guy looked at it and decided it was the motor, but couldn't get to it again until yesterday. He took it out (since it's a stackable and on top this is easier said than done), worked on it, and then brought it back claiming it was fixed. He put back in, but when I tried to dry a load it had trouble getting started and I saw sparks. Chris messed with it, got it started, but after about 10 minutes it shut itself off and had the burning smell again. Did I mention the one guy who can work on it will now be out of town until the Monday after Thanksgiving?! So we've been sharing a dryer with the girls, which means scrounging for quarters and dragging wet clothes out to the floor. The creepiest part of this is that our dryer in Waco went out just before I had Elle.

On top of that mess all day yesterday, the fire alarm went off about 11:30 last night! I was in bed trying to read, but nodding off. Chris was getting ready for bed, but he did have pants on this time! I grabbed a robe and corralled Mops to the back door. Chris grabbed Elle and then we headed out into the rain. Chris handed off Elle and went back for some shoes for me and covers for Elle. Mops somehow ended up trapped in the stairwell, and had to wait until the girls ran out. Then she went into full panic mode and started barking and chasing them. Elle and I went in the library building to wait and Chris finally got Mops' leash on and went to deal with the girls and the fire department. Probably the scariest part was that I think Elle was going into shock. She kept shaking even though I was holding her and she was wrapped up. She didn't stop until we got back inside. She was a trooper though and didn't cry or anything. The story last night was they had been testing alarms in the new wings yesterday. They're messing with them again today, but thankfully we'll be gone most of the day.

So now I'm going to get in gear and make sure I'm ready to head to the hospital just in case!