Our house turned upside down . . .

So you've probably all been wondering what has happened to us in the past few days. Well... we have had a few more challenges come our way, and they are not even related to Amryn! First I'll update on her. She is still stable, nursing from me quite well during her middle of the night feeds, and getting topped up with the NG tube for the rest. I still feel quite clumsy with the tubes and syringes, but she is getting chubbier every day, so I must be doing something right. Last night she had a long awake/alert period from 7 to 10:45 pm! Just looking around with her big deep blue eyes and staring at the the Christmas tree lights, the toys on her swing, watching the girls and giving us little smirks. We love her little smirks!! And we love the times she is alert. Sometimes I have to remind myself she is still a newborn and does need her sleep! She probably wishes I would stop nuzzling her cheeks and let her snooze!
Tomorrow I am taking her to the pediatrician for a follow-up and to re-evaluate the amounts she is being fed. She seems to be getting a stronger stomach and tolerating more. Praise God!

Now to explain the title...
We had a ton of snow on the weekend, and in typical BC style, it all melted in a big hurry. Our house is a rancher, and unknown to us, has very old, clogged, root-infested drainage tiles surrounding it! So the melted snow didn't know where to go. It finally decided to saturate the cement foundation our house is on and come up through our new carpet in the master bedroom! When I first noticed our carpet squishing underfoot, I thought that Amryn's feeding tube was leaking (again) and sopped it up with a towel. Only the towel kept soaking, and soaking and soaking and I knew there was no way Amryn's tiny tummy had leaked that much!
When Nick got home we noticed that there were many more spots of wetness... and got concerned. Our room was flooding!! We hauled all the contents of our bedroom, including our computer and desk (hence no blog updates!) into various rooms and hallways, peeled back the carpet and underlay and gathered all the towels in the house to try to soak up the water. Once they were wet, they went into the dryer and back out on the floor...four loads!
Nick then thought he should fix the source of the problem, and went outside to investigate. By now it was around 10 at night, and he didn't come back in until 1 am! He dug trenches around the house and tried to divert the water, but it didn't work. The water kept seeping up through the concrete. In the meantime, I had set up everything I needed for Amryn's care in the girls' bedroom. I was to sleep on the bottom of their bunkbed with Lydia and Amryn, and Nick on the top with Robyn. Can you imagine...a family of five sleeping in one bunkbed?!!
I went to plug in the alarm clock and noticed hot air coming out of the electrical outlet...the one outlet in the whole house that had not been replaced yet... I went outside to find Nick, still knee deep in mud and slush, to ask what this meant. He promptly dropped his shovel and ran inside. Apparently the old aluminum wiring was shorting and sparking and could have caused a fire if I had not noticed it. What else could happen in one night!?
So now it was 2 am, and Nick was replacing the outlet with a new one, with the water still coming into the room... needless to say it was a looooong night and we were both exhausted in the morning.

So for the past few days we have been trying to dry the carpet and have been sleeping and caring for Amryn in the living room. I think Amryn prefers this, though... she's in the middle of all the busy-ness of daily life and everyone is always near to catch her smirks or plant a little kiss on her sweet head!

There is a happy ending to this story, however. We have been awed by the communion of saints here in Aldergrove! Already so many wonderful ladies have offered to take Lydia for playdates and have brought us meals or baking, and many have offered support in other ways. We are so thankful for this!
And last night when Nick was getting really down and didn't know what to do about the drainage tiles, and we were both getting really frustrated with the added stresses, Aubrey V heard of our plight, came over to "have a look" and ended up getting knee-deep in the mud and slush too! He helped Nick dig another trench, and told us he would take care of the rest. This morning he showed up with a repairman and Fred B who later came with three huge fans to dry the carpets. He even rigged up a way to get the air under the carpet with old skiis and a few boxes! We are being taken care of by so many people, in practical ways and also emotionally. We are not alone in our trials. We thank God for surrounding us with so much love and concern!

The photos are here!
We also are very thankful to Rachel Ludwig for sharing her wonderful talent with us and taking the time on Saturday to capture Amryn and our family in photos. She certainly has a special gift, and we love all the photos of our beautiful, precious girls.
Here are some sample photos from a slide show Rachel created. To see the whole slideshow, click the link below. Be patient- it may take a few moments to load after you click "play".

Amryn and Her Family Slideshow

Enjoy!

To the family: If you would like to order some photos, let us know. Rachel also said that she can touch-up the photos to remove Amryn's feeding tube.