In The Dark

Today should have been the boys' third day of school. Instead, thanks to Hurricane Irene, it was our third extra day of summer vacation. The start of school has been postponed 'til Tuesday.

We were very fortunate to have been spared any sort of property damage from the storm. We are all safe and sound. We were, however, without power for three full days. Three days is a long time with no power.

The first day wasn't too bad, but after that, it got old really fast.

Thankfully the weather has been beautiful, so we didn't feel the need for air conditioning - the house has been perfectly comfortable without it. And it's been great weather for getting the boys outside to play, so aside from the day of the storm itself, it's not like we've been cooped up in the house.

But still, having no lights, and no refrigerator, and no hot water, and no TV, and three small children - it all adds up to a serious case of the crankies for all involved.

It was so depressing to throw out an entire refrigerator's worth of food, which I had to do Tuesday. We were able to cook and eat a few things before things got too warm, but there was a lot that had to get thrown out. Such a waste.

And I think the lack of power alone wouldn't have been so bad. And the unplanned days off from school alone wouldn't have been so bad.

But the fact that we were all mentally prepared and ready and excited for school to start (no joke - the boys have been complaining all week about not being able to go to school), and ready to get back into our routine, only to have everything turned upside down by this storm - it just really threw us for a loop.

As a result, the past few days have been less than stellar. We've all kind of been getting on each other's nerves, and instead of being positive and focusing on how much fun I can have with my boys now that we have this extra time off, I've just been aggravated and feeling like we're in limbo (a feeling that was exacerbated as we waited each day to find out whether or not there would be school).

And it's left me feeling like a really crappy parent. I should be happy that I get this time with my kids, especially on these gorgeous, late summer days. But instead I've spent the past few days counting down to bedtime. Worst. Mom. Ever.

But now that we finally have our power back, and we know for sure that school is not happening until Tuesday, I'm going to try to turn my attitude around and enjoy our extra vacation time.

We're going to have some friends over tomorrow afternoon. They still don't have power, so I'm glad we can give them at least a ltitle respite from their powerless existence. I restocked our fridge today, so we've got plenty of food and electricity to spare : )

And the weather for the holiday weekend looks pretty good, so we'll definitely be getting in some beach time. And I'm going to soak up the sun, and soak up the time with my adorable, funny, and, yes, occasionally very irritating children.

Gabe had the best one-liner from the past few days. We got our power back around 8pm last night, and we heard everyone in the neighborhood cheering, the refrigerator started humming, and the house lit up like a Christmas tree.

We had literally just closed the boys' bedroom door after putting them to bed, and Gabe came bursting out of his room yelling "Hey - I think the power's back on!!!"  It's a good thing he was there to let us know.

He was so excited to be able to turn on his bedside lamp and read before going to sleep : )

I'm going to direct him toward his dictionary next time he wants to read, so he can look up the meaning of the word 'unpredictable,' because it's become his favorite word, and he seems to think it's got several meanings.

Example 1:  He asked me if we could get ice cream at the beach the other day, and when I said no, he whined "Oh, that's so unpredictable!" 

Example 2: When I told him that school was cancelled yet again, he exclaimed "What??!!! That's so unpredictable!"

Example 3: Dante was doing something to make him mad (as little brothers so often do), and he yelled "Stop it, Dante!  You're so unpredictable!"  Although, in his defense, you never can tell what Dante's going to do next, so he kind of got that one right.

Comments

[Wes]

Worst. Mom. Ever

BWAHAHAHA. Mom is normal! I'll be by to pick up your SuperMom card :-)

I'll never forget the six days we were without power after Hurricane Frederick. My grandma pulled up at the grocery store just in time to get a gallon of cold milk from the refrigerated milk truck. We had to drink it all and it was OH SO GOOD!

I hope you guys get back to normal fast! Hang in there...