Overnight, the drain downstairs flooded really really bad. Alec told me in the morning on Saturday that the floor was wet by his bed and at the bottom of the stairs. I went down and thought Theo had spilled some water or something but as I felt the extent of the saturation I realized it was ALL under Alec's bed, all along the wall and almost 1/2 way out into the room. Also at the bottom of the stairs it was all along the wall as well. Like really really soaked. Then I found puddles in the storage room across the entire room. The cupboards we hadn't hung yet over the sewing area one of them had water damage a bit on the bottom. It was so bad and it was a last straw for Chris and I. We hate that that drain overflows randomly. We guessed it was a combination of all of us showering, and maybe the water softener going through a cycle or something?. Anyway, a Tender Mercy from the Lord is that Chris had just seen a van on the freeway as we drove down from Syracuse that he took a picture of because it was advertising drain connections, broken pipe kind of plumbing issues. Anyway we had a number, called it and had an appointment for the guy to come look at it that afternoon. We had it scoped and power blasted an hour after the guy first showed up and we had the problem diagnosed. There was a 15 foot 'belly' in the section of pipe that takes our sewage out to the main sewer line, halfway under the sidewalk and halfway under the street. (Apparently, until it meets with the main line in the middle of the street its our responsibility). The good news is that we wouldn't have to tear up all the flooring in our playroom and redo the pipes under our foundation, but the bad news is that its more expensive to dig under the sidewalk/street. Over the weekend while we waited for the guys to come and address the main issue, we were still able to use water just lightly (no laundry... and we really needed to do laundry). But it overflowed AGAIN on Monday after just ONE shower. We had to vacuum up the carpet in Alec's room again. By early the next week they came to actually fix the problem. They dug a DEEP pit to get to the line and installed 2 cleanouts so it be up to code and then they had this really cool machine that used air to push a liner into the pipe and then put some stuff (epoxy) over it that hardens super quick to basically install a new straighter pipe inside the sagging one. Anyway... a day later the drain overflowed AGAIN! It overflowed so bad that there was standing water in the drain and it wasn't draining at all. They (Rooter Connectionz) were great to come and look at it more and scraped all the pipes in that area. We basically weren't able to put anything down our pipes for an entire day: no toilet, no sink, no shower, etc. I may have had to use a bucket once. $15, 000 later, its fixed for good with lifetime warranty. UGH.
We finally figured out what kind of 'experience' to have all together with the Archibalds for our Christmas gift to each other and the cousins. We went to see the Ice Castles up in Midway. They were really pretty and interesting. It was expensive for such a small area, so I'm not sure we'd do it again, but it was good to get out and to see everyone. The kids liked the slide and walking around in the deep snow slush/sand stuff. I think at night they have colored lights shining around... that would be cool to see.
The last big thing that happened in January was my abdominal surgery to fix a few things like my diastasis recti (split abs). It was a 5 hour procedure and a nurse watched over me the first night. We let the kids stay with cousins over the weekend to give me a quiet house to recover in. Mom and dad came in town to help with the littlest kids... it was so nice to have so much help. Dixie had made us some freezer meals, and Thom and Brittany made us 2 meals and Jess brought a meal. Dixie was having hip replacement surgery just a few days later! The hardest part of recovery was not being able to stand up straight for a few weeks, or lay flat in bed, (I pretty much lived in the recliner chair) or lift anything heavier than a jug of milk for 2 months as my abdominal muscles healed. Theo liked me to push him on his scooter, or to give him rides on my 'walker' (just an office chair that I bent over and pushed around). Chris has been so kind, patient, helpful, attentive with my meds, taking care of the house, meals, kids, driving, shopping, on top of his work that he's tried to do from home. It wasn't uncommon for him to have a meeting with a student at the kitchen table with a kid on his lap. The whole thing has showed me how impatient I am, and how grumpy I can be when I'm uncomfortable for very long.
