Shelter in the Storm

Charlie has gotten into the habit of staying awake at 11:30 every night, which is starting to get a little old. So yesterday I finally got him down for an early nap so he was able to fall asleep at 9:00. Yay! Seth and I were looking forward to 2-3 whole hours before bed to just relax (and fold laundry).

But of course, of course, a storm had to hit shortly after he fell asleep, waking him up. I got him back down before 10:00, but then we were behind in getting Sam and Elena to sleep. After we got Sam to sleep and just as we were about to tuck Elena in, a tornado warning hit and we had to grab all the kids and run down to the basement until 11:00.

It was looking like we were going to be in a tornado watch almost the whole night so we decided to set up beds and sleep the night in our (cement & furnitureless) basement rather than have to wake the kids up at 3:00am and run them all down.

I wasn't able to help at all as I was stuck holding Charlie, who was still asleep, in order to keep him from waking up and deciding he wanted to party for a few hours. Fortunately Elena stepped in to help. While Seth set up the mattresses, she must have gone up and down the stairs 20 times.  When she was done bringing down the blankets and pillows we needed, she just kept going with anything she thought we might want throughout the night.

I've heard that when facing a task, men generally focus on the destination, while women tend to think of all the details of the journey. That's why when families are getting ready for a big trip, the man is often in the car saying, "Let's go!" and the woman is packing up all sorts of last minute items.  And then when someone gets a cut on the trip, she's ready with disinfectant and a band-aid. I know that's not true for all couples, but it's certainly true for us.  Elena appears to be following in my footsteps. Every few minutes she came back upstairs saying things like:

"I'll bring down some board games, just in case we want to play something."

"I'll fill up a few bottles of water to bring down in case anyone gets thirsty."

"I'd better bring down the Bible in case we want to read it...and a few rosaries."

"I'll get some extra diapers for Charlie and his wipes."

"I think we'd better bring some extra blankets down just in case we get cold."

"I have an extra candle and an extra pillow!"

"I brought down an extra pair of underwear in case I pee my pants." (She has never been a bed-wetter so we were venturing into some pretty big "just in case"s here)

"I've got a couple of nose-warmers to keep our noses warm!"

So just before midnight, we blew out the candles and settled in for a night of "camping in the basement" as the kids called it.  It actually turned out to be a pretty fun night and one I'm sure we will remember for a long time to come.

Here is the little sanctuary Seth and Elena set up for us - I was pretty impressed: