I was nursing Macey when the wind picked up and started getting wild. A few minutes into it I heard what sounded like a train coming right for our house. Then I heard a loud splitting noise that sounded like large trees breaking. I ran into the girls room and grabbed Jayda. With her wrist in my right hand and Macey still attached to my boob I ran down the stairs dragging Jayda next to me at full speed ahead. I don't think her feet ever hit the ground. My mom was racing right next to me with Lilly in her arms...we were sure it was a tornado. My dad was asleep on the bed down in the basement and looked slightly confused when he sees a whole gaggle of girls running down the stairs looking like the world was gonna end. Russ was there too. He's just a little slower on the uptake. He was coming down the stairs behind us not knowing what the big deal was about. The next morning, when we saw the damage done to our neighborhood he realized we had every reason to be as quick moving as we were. The cracking we heard was indeed a large tree coming down. Luckily it feel the other way and fell into the street and didn't hit our house or our neighbors. Other homes in our tract were not as lucky. There were several with damaged roofs, one with a tree right through their garage, and the playground was damaged at the local park. The lost power and thousands in Northern Virginia were without power for nearly a week.
During the crazy storm we read books by the light of the lantern and tried to keep the girls calm.
This photo does not do justice to the damage throughout Northern Virginia, but here's a photo of a house down the street from us that had a tree fall through their garage.
We couldn't stay in the house during the day because it was just too hot. We didn't know where else to go because most places were closed having no power themselves. We decided to take the girls to The American Girl Store in Tysons Corner. It was unlike anything I'd seen!! The crowds were beyond huge. People were camping out in the mall. Literally! There were people laying on the ground and sitting everywhere. People were lining up at power outlets to charge their phones and their laptops. It was total chaos. Thank heavens we had my dad's handicapped parking or we would never have found a spot. People were stuck in the parking garages for over an hour as they tried to get down from the top level but there was so much traffic and no one was moving. People were just trapped in their cars waiting to get out of the lot. Fights broke out over parking spots. We actually had a nice time enjoying the air conditioning and the girls loved the treats at the American Girl Cafe, but mere minutes after we left the mall's air conditioning went out, the toilets backed up, and some stores lost power. I guess it got really crazy at that point, but we were lucky and had already left. Thank heavens!
Having a newborn baby, a wife who had a c-section a week earlier, and no power was not ideal. It was super hot and with no air conditioning in the house it was like a boiler room. We hadn't had power for nearly 24 hours and it sucked. Russ, by sheer luck (or divine intervention - however you see it) was lucky enough to find a Home Depot 45 minutes away that told him they may be getting a shipment of generators in the evening and he could come down and wait in line to see if he was lucky enough to get one. He and my dad rushed down and after a long frustrating wait actually got one! We were sooooooo happy. It took them nearly $900 and 6 hours of work--- going to home depot, waiting in lines with crazy/angry crowds, purchasing the items, driving home, trying to find a gas station with gas, working through midnight in the dark with just flashlights as they assembled the generator, moving the fridge to hook it up to get everything running.--and then, no joke - 5 minutes after they got it all hooked up - the power came back on! When the lights came on my dad and Russ just looked at each other and started busting up laughing! What else could you do at that point? Nearly a thousand bucks and 6 hours of work for 5 minutes! GGGRRRRR. The news kept reporting that it would probably be a minimum of 6 days and up to two weeks before we had power so we felt blessed to find a generator to keep our newborn cool...and them wham - the power turns back on and all the efforts were for not.
What-a-freaking-month!!!!!
Luckily our Macey Jayne was home from the hospital healthy and happy and there were lots of skin-to-skin cuddles to melt our hearts.
Look at those legs! Look how teeny tiny she was - and she was our biggest baby at 6lbs!
No baby fat on that little body at all.
The girls finished off June keeping themselves busy painting pictures and having tea parties.
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