Thunder Storms

This afternoon Julia and I spent some time in our basement, lowest place in our house, with very few windows and lots of concrete to protect us from the elements.

I was getting something to eat (always!) and Julia was sleeping (thankfully) while I listened to the radio (NPR is keeping me aware of current events) and looking outside at the pouring rain. Jai calls and asks if I'm aware of the storm situation. I said yes (sort of) and he said to be ready to go to basement if necessary. I said OK. Continued eating ... then decided the radio wasn't sufficient information so I went to living room to turn on the TV. Still eating, listening mostly though looking at the storm map. Then I heard "Cornelia Fort Airport" and if you're near there to move to your safe place. I thought "that's near us, right?" and looked up and noticed that airport is near Shelby Park. That's near us!

I quickly got up, went to guest room, grabbed the diaper bag, Julia and a blanket, luckily I had my cell phone in my pocket and also had the landline phone. We moved to the basement door and down the stairs.

The basement is pretty clean as far as basements go. We wash our laundry and I ride my bike (used to do that regularly in the mornings). Otherwise it's not a cozy hangout place. I sat on the bike and realized the outside door is in a direct line with bike (I asked Jai to move it later). I unfolded my exercise mat and got a laundry basket and put Julia in it. I got settled on the mat and we watched the TV. Johnders was outside. I didn't have time to get him. Thankfully he was OK.

Then Jai called and we talked about the situation. We need a comfortable chair (maybe we'll move the couch from nursery down there), flashlight (extra batteries), candles (matches) and some food and water.

I usually repack the diaper bag as I unpack it when we get home from an outing. It has a water bottle and a LUNA bar. It works in a short pinch, but you never know how long you might be there.

Then my mom called and she was headed to her basement just in case. Thankfully our phones were working.

Julia needed to eat while we were down there since she'd been asleep for a couple of hours. I waited to change her diaper though! : ) A cool thing about breastfeeding - I could feed Julia - no problem.

Side note about this topic:
At a LLLi meeting someone mentioned the Katrina situation and how women who could breastfeed helped feed other people's children because of the lack of clean water & formula. How awesome! The beautiful thing is the breast keeps making milk as the child drinks it - constantly!

Recently there was the big controversy with the video of Salma Hayek breastfeeding a child someplace in Africa (Factcheck: Sierre Leone). What is the big deal! I wish people would get over issues with breasts - it has many functions.