Sandy

Last weekend saw us preparing for the arrival of sandy. We shopped for supplies, pulled the generator (that we got after last years storms left us without power for 5 and 7 days) and it's instructions from the garage. Gassed up our cars, bought anything that could take flight inside or tied it down. Then we waited....
Monday was really quiet and the weather wasn't too bad. J even took N to one of our favorite indoor play places to burn some energy. Around 2.30-3 it started to get windy and wet, J and N made it home and we hung out, played and ate dinner.
Just after I put N to bed the power went out and the wind and rain picked up. We decided to go to bed and see what the morning would bring. It was scary at times with the wind howling around the house, but N slept through it all.
By morning the storm had passed, we still didn't have power and cell service was out too. We ventured out to see the damage and were pleasantly surprised. We were so lucky and had only minor damage. We lost the glass top to our outdoor table, a gate and tree branches came down, but no trees. At this point we still hadn't seen any media pictures so had no idea of the true extent of the damage caused by sandy elsewhere.
J went out to find gas for the generator and search for cell service. No local stations were open, but a call to her parents found they had power and their local gas stations were open. We all headed down there and saw the news for the first time. It was unbelievable to see all the damage, especially to the shore. It was so hard to comprehend - the place we vacationed just 3 months ago is gone...just wiped away.
We spent Tuesday night at home. All of us sleeping in our room with a heater hooked to the generator to keep us warm. N was a little unsure about not sleeping in his crib, but went to sleep quickly and stayed asleep all night.
Wednesday we headed back to J's parents house so we could shower and eat a hot meal. J tried again to get gas and this time waited online for close to 2 hours. People were getting really aggressive and the cops were called to settle a dispute. We drove home at bedtime to find a problem with the generator and the house cold and getting colder. After playing around with the generator for a while we decided to pack up, leave extra food and water for the cat and head back to J's parents.
For the next few days we hung with Gram and Pop. Poor N was so unsettled and totally not himself. He barely ate anything, had huge meltdowns and started throwing toys, even aiming at people. Sleep was shot, he woke frequently and I even ended up bringing him into bed with me to try and get some sleep. Twin (single) beds are so not made for an active toddler and his mama!! Dealing with N and trying to make him feel secure was probably the hardest part of the whole thing. He just kept asking to go home and no matter how we tried, we couldn't help him understand why we were not going home. We even went home for a while, so he could hang out and play with his stuff and made a quick stop at work so he could see his buddy, who was missing us too.
Friday night just after I'd put an exhausted little boy to bed we got a txt message saying that we had power again! We were amazed, as after the last storm we were one of the last places to get power back. They had been telling us it wouldn't be back before wed, so we had prepared ourselves for a long wait. Because N was already in bed we decided to wait until the next morning before going home. That ended up being his hardest night yet, I was so tired the next morning, but so excited to get home!!
Saturday saw the introduction of gas rationing. Luckily for me, my amazing wife was getting up super early to hit the gas stations when they opened so that the wait wasn't too long. We both had full tanks when we left for home.
I'm so grateful to J's parents for letting us stay at their place and basically take over their house. Many of our friends didn't have any other options and either stayed at their cold houses or spent hours in gas lines to keep their generators working. We invited some of the ones still without power over, but at this point most of them have found other options or have power back too.
We spent lots of Saturday cleaning up the house and clearing out the fridge and freezer. At one point as I was cleaning the empty fridge N asked 'where's all the food?' Throwing all that food away was tough.
I even spent time today vacuuming the glass out of the grass - a first for me!! It was the only way we could think of to get all the small pieces of glass up, so we wouldn't trash our mower and for our boy who loves to go bare foot.
Halloween on wednesday was postponed. We are looking forward to taking our astronaut trick or treating tmrw night. We are only planning to go to a few houses on our street, with our next door neighbors. N has been practicing saying 'trick or treat' for a while, but who knows if he'll actually be brave enough when the time comes!
J has been off work all week and it looks like she will be off for a couple more days. I'm probably going to head back to work tmrw after my week off. Not sure yet whether or not N will come with me. The family are staying at their grandparent's house, along with 4 cousins, so N may add to the chaos too much. Although I know he'd love to see the kids and they probably feel the same way about him.
We are so happy to be home and glad to see that N is settling down and almost back to his old self. We don't have cable or Internet access, but that is only a little inconvenience compared to having no power. Any thoughts that I had about living without tv are gone. LOL! I am so missing it and reading the blogs that I follow too!