The movers arrived bright and early at 8:00 am as promised and delivered everything without an issues. Then came the tedious job of unpacking. Luckily we were accompanied by by mom, brother and his wife. Initially we thought that my mom would watch James and the 4 of us would unpack. Instead the boys went to get groceries since we had no food and my sister-in-law (SIL) watched James as my mom and I tackled the kitchen. This worked out really well and once the boys returned they watched James as my SIL joined us in the kitchen. We made so much headway that we nearly finished unpacking that area.
The next day we continued unpacking and we had the news playing in the background urging everyone to exercise caution about Hurricane Sandy. As typical NYers we didn't feel that there would be any major issues as it was a cat 1 and Adit and I endured a higher cat in Halifax from hurricane Juan. Nevertheless we had James and my mom with us so we didn't want to take any chances so we stocked up on some food and water.
On Monday I had grand plans of setting up James room. His crib and change table were there, but everything else was in boxes. It was a huge task, but my mom and I did most of it and we finished about an hour before the power went out. Although I knew the storm was coming, we heard reports that it would be around 6:30, however our power was out at 4:30. We felt totally ripped off. Lol!
We still had some daylight, running water, and a working gas stove so we went along with our day thinking that the power would return soon. At around 6:30 we realized that it wasn't coming back as the rain and wind both picked up. We also felt the cold creep in. We saw the once vertical rain drops change to horizontal and the large stationary trees sway vigorously back and forth. We were worried that a tree would fall in on us so we decided to all sleep downstairs in case we had to leave suddenly. As an additional precaution I packed an overnight bag for James, and had our shoes and coats handy for a quick get away. We are staying in a town home so I was paranoid of a fire that could quickly spread from one home to another. I guess it's my underwriting background, however I rather be prepared.
So it was around 9pm and we were bored out of our minds. James was asleep so we decided to head to bed too in hopes we'd sleep through this storm. I had a difficult time as it was freezing and I couldn't stop watching the trees for fear they might hit us or look at the amazing blue sky lit up by lightening. My fears were heightened when we heard some cracking and booms from falling trees. I tossed and turned all night as sleeping on the floor is uncomfortable and I wanted to make sure James was warm. After a few hours the winds and rain subsided and I was able to sleep until about 6 am.
When we woke up we looked at the trees in the yard and saw there were about 3 down. The front wasn't bad as there aren't many trees there. Adit decided to take a drive to survey the damage. He said that there were a lot of trees down and power was out in most of the area. As it was cold at home and we only had a few candles so we decided it was time to jump ship and head to Manhattan.
We called my brother who said that they didn't lose power so we assumed that my mom's apartment didn't either. We needed to find a way in where the roads weren't flooded, Adit charted a route through the cleared roadways which took us through the Lincoln Tunnel. We made it though with no issues and even found parking a free parking spot on my mom's street!
After hanging out a few hours, we decided to head to my Aunt's house in Queens since they also had power too and it would be a nice opportunity to see my cousins and their kids. James was in pure bliss and we have been here since Tuesday afternoon awaiting the power to return. Thankfully I'm a neurotic mom and packed about 5 changes of clothes for myself and James in our overnight bag! Lol!
Well I'll give you an update on our power situation when there's news!
Happy reading!
Rachel
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