12 Inches of Snow in TX = No Power = No Heat

On Thursday it started to snow in TX and by the end we had shattered a record with 12 inches. The most snow ever to fall in the DFW area in 24 hours. It was really beautiful but being a Wisconsin girl, it wasn't the most snow I'd ever seen so I went to bed a little annoyed that Rich was stuck in Detroit because of the weather.

At 2:30 in the morning I woke up because the power went out. Hmmm, it was 30 degrees outside, no heat and I had 3 babies that couldn't go to a hotel or anywhere because of the risk of RSV and germs. About that time, Addy woke up (now NONE of the babies sleep through the night!) so I fed her a bottle and came up with a plan.

My biggest concern was of course the temperature. I figured that I could keep the babies safe and comfortable until it hit 60 degrees in the house by bundling them up and then I would have to think of something else. I contemplated pulling the minivan into the driveway heating it up and letting them play in the back. Driving around with the babies in the car didn't seem to be an option because all of the road were expected to be icy because of the temperatures. But what did I know- I had no internet, radio, tv- you get the picture.

My second concern was about the baby food I had stored in the freezer. I'll get into the whole story in a later post but basically I make all of the food for the babies and I had half a freezer full of all organic homemade baby food that I had put tons of time and money into making. They've never had baby food from a jar and we don't have one single jar in the house. I even make applesauce. So you can see it would have been a problem not to mention heartbreaking to lose all of that food if the power stayed off for a while.

At 4:00 in the morning I emptied all the ice out of the ice maker into Ziploc bags and packed all the baby food and goat yogurt into a cooler with the ice on top. Don't forget there were no lights so I did this by candlelight. Then I feed two more babies. Have you ever changed a poop diaper by candlelight?

My third concern was about the rice and oatmeal cereal that normally goes into their bottle for thickener. I have to grind the cereal in a coffee grinder to make it small enough for their nipples. I only had enough left for one more bottle and the babies haven't had formula without thickener since they came home from the NICU so I was petrified about their reflux and aspirating. Maybe if I had a mortar and pestle I could hand crush the cereal? Later, my mom suggested that I use a rolling pin. Then she asked if I had my Little House on the Prairie apron and hat. The solution was to mix the formula with goat yogurt to thicken it. Thanks Mom for the idea.

I also figured out that I would have to pack a few things and think about what I would need to pack in case it got too cold because trying to pack and even think when it was getting cold in the house with 3 babies might be impossible.

At about 7:30, all the babies were up and not happy with their bottle of cold formula mixed with yogurt. They are used to warmed bottles. I take that back, Addy loves yogurt and gobbled hers down. At this time it was about 68 degrees in the house. Sounds warm enough but when you are used to 74 degrees, it felt cold.

I bundled them up with several layers and let them play together with blankets in the crib.

The plan was to take the babies to Rich's parent's house when the temperature in the house dropped too low. Did I mention that the dogs are afraid of the snow and would not go the bathroom?

Finally around 9:30 I decided it was time to make my move. The roads didn't look great but passable. The temperature in the house was 65 degrees and dropping. I gathered up tons of stuff-
2 pack n'plays
1 bag of diapers and wipes
2 Boppy's
1 bag of clothes and blankets
1 bag of bottles and accessories, coffee grinder for the cereal
1 bag of formula, cereal, bananas, avocados, food mill, spoons, bibs, washcloths and so forth

Then packed the babies into their car seats.

Once on the road, I got a text that the power was back on.

We drove around for a while since the main roads were fine and I stopped at the Starbucks drive-thru for a much needed caffeine laden coffee drink and coffee cake while the house warmed up and the babies napped in the car. They love sleeping in the car!

It doesn't sound that traumatic but the unpredictability of when the power was going to come back on with the most unsettling feeling. Also, remember these babies have NEVER been anywhere except the doctors office and walks so the possibility of taking them to a place that was unfamiliar to them for potentially a long period of time was putting me into near panic mode.

It sounds strange but I kept thinking, "They are not done cooking. They are not done cooking. They are not done cooking." In my head I was prepared to bring them to different places in 1 or 2 months when they have had more time to build up their immune systems and the RSV season was over. Normally I've heard the phrase "cooking" when referring to a baby in utero. Since my babies didn't have nearly enough time "cooking" in me, I think of our house as the next best place because we are trying to be so careful about clothing worn in public, exposure to too many people, and carrying germs into the house in general. So mentally I was not prepared for this quite yet.

I was also in near panic mode when I thought about having to unpack all of the stuff that I packed into the van.

I didn't pack the pugs. They just like to sniff things and be in pictures.

The SAFE baby food!


I could have made some really fabulous margaritas with all of this ice.


By the time Rich got home at 5:30 that night, everything was unpacked, all of the bottles were washed, I convinced the pugs the snow was not scary, the baby food was back in the freezer, and the house was clean. Rich and I didn't have anything to eat for dinner because everything in the freezer and fridge had to be thrown away but the babies sure did!