I really enjoy writing at Mindsay, so I don't write individual posts here anymore. Here is my latest post from Mindsay.

Thanks everyone for all your congratulations on the baby. He's doing great. He is 3 weeks old today. My how the time does fly! So far he's a great baby. Not much trouble at all. He does get horrible gas. You can just hear and feel his tummy rumble. I'm breastfeeding him, and I have evaluated everything in my diet, and I can't find the culpret. Partly I think it's because I have an outragious milk supply, and he may be getting too much at once. Elijah is getting to where he wants to be held 24/7. Luckily he likes his baby swing, because I think it's that he likes being upright. Of course since he's still just a tiny baby we have reclined the swing as far back as it goes. If not for that swing I don't think I'd be able to get anything done. That's partly why I haven't had the time to update here recently. Elijah doesn't care for sleeping alone either, so that means I've been looking for one of those co-sleepers that goes in the bed between the adult pillows. No luck locally so far. I'm going to have to order one online.

 I hope everyone is having a good new year so far. 2005 didn't end on such a good note for us. And 2006 started the same way 05 ended. Our sewer in the house backed up. We had all taken our showers and gotten ready to head to Watertown for the afternoon/evening. We did a little shopping, I bought a breast pump, we ate dinner at Denny's, and came on home. We got home around 7pm and Dale went to the basement to feed the dogs, and take them out, and he found water everywhere. Apparently there was a clog and our showers were just too much for the pipes. Dale began the clean up and attempt at unclogging the pipe. He was up until nearly 4am working on it all. So the next day we do a few loads of laundry only to find out that by the 3rd load the pipes were all clogged again. Luckily this the washing machine was not up against the wall, so the sewer water didn't run in there. It had overflowed out the washing machine drain though. There was about 3 times the amount of water on the basement floor, and wouldn't you know it, we don't have a sump pump. So back to work Dale went on the clean up. The clog was outside the house, probably somewhere between our house, and the cities connection. Dale shoved a garden hose up the pipe as we do not yet own a plumbers snake. After much work and much water, hot and cold, being run up that pipe, the clog finally came loose. It had been about 8 feet into the pipe. Dale measured. He said he was able to get the hose another 13 feet into the pipe, so he thinks we are good to go now. So far so good. I'm just glad this happened now, and not a few weeks from now when Dale will be in California. I would have freaked, and it would have cost us a plumbers bill. I would not have been able to take care of that alone. I've yet to try and get anymore laundry done today. I'm a little scared of what might happen. Oh well, the clothes have to be washed!

 That was bad enough in itself, but last week we had a smoke problem in the house. Ah the joys of owning a home! The air was coming in through the chimney pipe, and neither of us thought anything of it before starting a fire. Dale got the woodstove all ready, and had a fire going. Then all of a sudden smoke was coming out around the stove door, and in through the flue. The baby was nearby in his swing, so I got him and took him to another room. Dale opened a few windows, and it got the air flow going in the proper direction. All the while I was sitting in another room with the baby, thinking of how we were all dressed. Matthew was wearing shorts, Caitlin a spring dress (I had told them they could dress how ever they wanted that day cause we weren't going outside), I had no shoes one, and what if we all had to go outside to wait for the smoke to clear the house? Luckily we didn't need to leave the house, but if we did, there is a very thick, queen sized blanket in my van being kept there incase of a winter emergency. Again, that's something that I would not have known how to fix had it gone wrong in a few weeks when Dale will be away. Ugh!