The most excitement this cul-de-sac has seen in years

Not long after Milo was in bed and Olive had conked out (in her crib, by the way, at an early reasonable time), our carbon monoxide detector went off. Four quick beeps followed by five seconds of silence. Loud beeps, I might add. Unbelievably, the babies did not even stir.

Andrew and I weren't sure what to do, though. Could we possibly have CO in the house? After messing with the detector, taking the battery out and putting it back in, the alarm was still sounding. We didn't want to just ignore it, so Andrew called 9-1-1 while I went upstairs and put on real pants instead of the oh-so-attractive leggings I was sporting for bed.

We had opened all the windows and turned on the attic fan to air out any carbon monoxide that might be present, but the 9-1-1 operator told us to shut it all so they could get a better reading. We were, of course, welcome to evacuate the house if we were worried. But with sleeping kiddos (who were still sleeping peacefully, I checked), we decided to wait indoors.

A few minutes later, a huge fire engine showed up and three fully suited-up firemen came to our door. They checked our furnace, our water heater, and our fireplace. They checked to be sure no car was running in the garage. They took readings all over the house. Thankfully, they found nothing. Our CO levels were just fine. It looks like we just have a peice-of-crap monitor. One fireman surmised that the monitor had come loose from the wall outlet, causing the alarm to sound. But it's come loose before and sounded a different alarm (nonstop blaring). But who knows? We were just relieved to not have a bunch of poison gas in the house.

As the firemen were leaving, I commented to one that it was a shame our two-year-old wasn't awake to see the fire engine; he would have loved it. The guy said, "Oh well, maybe next time." I sure hope there isn't a next time. But if there is, then yes, I hope Milo is awake to see it.