We're no longer nomadic!
Allow me to explain.
Wednesday evening we lost power due to a crazy snow/ice storm. Knowing we couldn't manage in a powerless, heatless, warm waterless house in the middle of winter, we packed up and headed to Aunt Pam's in Columbus for 2 nights. Lilly did great sleeping in her Pack & Play and Matt and I even got out for a lunch and purchased some new cell phones while we were at it! I did a little Target shopping and scored a case of Huggies wipes for 16 bucks. (Huggies wipes are my favorite-- all the quilted shapes make excellent poop grippers.)
Matt's cousin, Debbie, was en route from New York Friday morning, so I was panicking that the power wouldn't be back on and our trip would get cut short. She was coming down to meet Lilly, help us sort out her sleeping issues (separate post coming-- I am SO thrilled with Lilly's new routine!), get me past my anxiety of taking her out in public, teach me how to put an infant carrier into a shopping cart (This is not as easy as it sounds! All carts are different and they won't all fit a carrier, fyi), give us reflux tips, turn bathtime around... basically help us in every way possible! The woman is a saint and should market herself as the next Baby Whisperer. Thankfully our power came back on just in time and her visit started off great!
This is why we need a little reflux help 'round here. And this was a pretty mild barf!
Until Saturday afternoon when it went back out. We waited around for an hour, had a glass of wine, kicked around our options, and then decided Matt's parents' house would be our best bet. So off we went.
Lilly continued her new sleep schedule, even though it wasn't exactly ideal. She did well despite Matt's mom inviting gobs of family over to visit, which of course meant Lilly was passed around from person to person, dozing off in their arms. Luckily Sargent Debbie stepped in and made sure to get Lilly sleeping in "her" room as much as possible.
We stayed for the Super Bowl through Sunday and then had to head home, despite still not having power, because Matt had to be at work Monday morning. Yuck. We tried to get a hotel, but they were booked solid. The front desk man at the Holiday Inn offerred me a cup of coffee as a consolation, so I dropped the fact that I had a newborn in the car into the conversation hoping that he would suddenly remember one extra vacant room he'd forgotten about, but instead all I got was a cup of hot water to make her bottle with. Boo.
Lilly watching the game with her Aunt Katie
Here we are sitting in the car in front of the Holiday Inn, smooshed among a ton of baby stuff feeding the babe in the warm car before heading to the house. That's Debbie, loving on Lillers.
We got home around 2am, lit candles, bundled up (it was insanely cold, as you can imagine), got Lilly off to bed and braced for a bitterly cold night.
My poor daughter woke up with snotcicles and ice cube fingers, still without power. Debbie headed back to NY a little early and I re-packed everything and took off for my parents' house. Half way into the 3 hour drive, our power was turned back on. So back we came.
Even though this mess was a total pain, being stuck in other people's homes, losing everything from our refrigerator, cutting Debbie's visit short, etc. I was able to gain confidence in traveling with Lilly. She did wonderfully! She also got to meet her great grandmother and great aunt, which made us all happy. I now know that I can travel with her by myself and am comfortable finding a place to pull over and feed/change her if necessary (a hotel parking lot was yesterday's location of choice).
Grandma and Great Grandma
We've decided we're going to buy a generator once things calm down and we can actually find one. It's just too hard (although do-able!) dealing with a baby during with a power outage. We lose power pretty often it seems, so it should get decent use. Of course we'll end up buying one and never have another outage like this year again! But it'll be worth the peace of mind.
