The first two weeks

Having a newborn in the mix makes things hectic, sure, but things have been extra-hectic around the 804 in the first two weeks of David’s life.

August 23 – We don’t have earthquakes in Virginia. I equate earthquakes with volcanoes, they’re other people’s problems. But 5 days after David’s birth, we had a 5.8 earthquake here in Richmond. Virginians don’t expect earthquakes. We don’t know what they feel like, and we definitely have no idea what to do. As I stood with my body folded over my baby and the house shaking around me I thought, “if this is just someone outside with a jack hammer I’m never telling anyone this story.”

The same day we took our first walk around the neighborhood. A block and a half from our house we heard a loud bang and saw a bright flash. Armageddon? I was sure of it. Instead, a tree had fallen on a transformer. It wasn’t Armageddon, but it was enough to leave us without power for the night.

August 27 – Hurricane Irene. Why wasn’t I more worried about Hurricane Irene? Richmond DOES experience hurricanes. Growing up five hours from the coast, hurricanes meant rain and wind…sometimes…so I wasn’t worried about Irene. Tom started out the day by running a half-marathon (1:35.40!) and my parents were in town. We hunkered down and watched the wind and rain. Trees started falling and the electricity went out around 6pm.

Wonderful, the power’s out. I have a newborn, I’m petrified to leave the house, and all that food I stocked up on is now melting in my freezer.

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We fled to Midlothian for four days later. If the Kriegers hadn’t taken us in, I’m not sure we would have made it.

August 29 – mommy’s birthday! 29 on the 29th. We had a “triage birthday” since everything was closed and we were sort of disheveled. We still had a great celebration with the Krieger clan and Tom whipped up an awesome cake.

This is David’s, “wait. why isn’t all the attention on ME” face:

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5 Comments

  1. Test September 1, 2011

    cool

    Reply
  2. s.biu September 2, 2011

    quirky, funny, informative. i love mother-amanda. tom seriously ran a half that fast? why did we ever wager 1000 i could beat him? ahh, love the shot of david.

    Reply
  3. vickie Southall September 5, 2011

    love the picture of Dad at the clothes line hanging diapers!

    Reply
  4. Power | living on grace December 22, 2012

    […] also have a “natural disasters” tag. I used it when I did an  update on the first two weeks of David’s life. Remember those two weeks? When we had an EARTHQUAKE and then four days later we had a HURRICANE? […]

    Reply
  5. […] I gave birth to a 7 lb. 15 oz. tyrant, whose arrival set off a chain reaction of natural disasters and has cracked the foundation of three homes in our neighborhood with his […]

    Reply

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