Earthquake Tremors and Personal Ramblings

I woke up early this morning (4:37 AM to be exact) wondering how my house ended up on a railway. Our bedroom was shaking side to side and our bed was going along for the short ride. Brian and I looked at each other with our heads still on our pillows. Shock. "An earthquake," my husband stated and we bounced out of bed to scramble for the kids who amazingly enough stayed asleep. If I stand outside their bedroom doors and look at them they wake up. An earthquake shakes our entire house, and they snore away. Amazing.

Brian made better time escaping our bedroom than I did as I had to find my glasses so I'd have the ability to see and the ability to grab a child rather than a large stuffed animal - man, imagine making it outside to safety only to discover Sophia was actually a fuzzy Easter Bunny about her size. That would be devastating - and nearly impossible to do as anyone who has ever picked up Sophia knows. I got my glasses on, threw Noah under my arm and headed for the bedroom door after Brian to get the Easter Bunny, I mean, Sophia. The tremor stopped.

What would you do at 4:37 AM after experiencing an earthquake for the first time? The Weather Channel. We turned the TV on just in time for our local on the eights. Nothing earthquake related. Crap. Well, should we to get out of the house, and grab survival supplies on the way out? Or, sleep? Hey, the kids were still out - we would be stupid to waste an opportunity like that.

Before we hit the bed again, Brian searched online and learned about the quake miles away. A 5.4. Not too shabby for a first earthquake. Wouldn't mind it being my last. We faced each other on the bed. "We need some sort of plan, don't we?" I asked. "I'll get the boys, you get Noah and Sophia," Brian said with eyes already closed. "Yeah, and you grab the filing cabinet, too." I have my life neatly organized in that cabinet - my memory files filled with cards, drawings, keepsakes and lots and lots of papers I should toss but insist on keeping so I don't forget what the kids were like at age blah, blah, blah. I was only kidding about the cabinet for all you serious types reading this blog. Brian and I have a standing joke about emergencies no matter the situation: terrorist attack, fire, flood, earthquake or a midnight craving for ice cream. The plan is we'll grab the kids and the cabinet that weighs a million pounds. So simple and so perfect - unless of course, you are being tossed like a rag doll from the earth shaking. Hmmm, we need to improve this plan in some manner. But, again, the kids were sleeping and I was wasting precious time thinking when I could have been in restful bliss. Brian was already snoring.

Aftershocks came mid-morning. So surreal! It was one of those "Did that really just happen (again)?" moments. I watched the garage door rattle and saw the lights flicker - and it was done. I had just enough time to stand to my feet nearly dropping nursing Noah and tell the kids to "get up!, no sit on the couch, no...wait, it's over...sit down...where's the phone...?" Yeah, there is a reason I'm not a volunteer firefighter. I freak out mildly when my house shakes around me (AND when the kids choke momentarily on food they didn't chew properly and they make that "I'm choking" face with their mouth wide open and tongue sticking out and you know something really gross is about to come up in whole form, slightly chewed). Big houses shaking are scary. This is another good reason for living simple in a hut somewhere. A little grass and hardened mud never hurt anyone. But my ceiling falling in on me would cause a bit of pain I bet.

After the earthquakes, I spent the remainder of the day cleaning up poop. The kids have had yet another round of a gross virus this week. Jack had a fever this morning, Isaac is bouncing off the walls more than usual and Sophia has had her finger in her mouth nearly all day sucking away her upset tummy. We've flown through a full box - not a container, but a BOX - of wipes this week. How, oh how, did I survive before baby wipes? Expensive, yet so versatile. I see a bunny trail and I'm going to follow it...I really should get back to cloth diapering. With my overuse of baby wipes this week I made a discovery. I think I just may be allergic to something in our current brand of baby wipes. I've been testing different things to find what on earth I developed an allergy to after Noah was born. It would be a lot easier to go to a doctor, but who the heck has time for that?!?!? Maybe a switch back to cloth is in my near future. Or, maybe I'll make due with my swollen hands and occasional banana lip so I can avoid diaper pails and washing diapers.

Well, I'm rambling and Noah is very unhappy in the baby swing yelling "Bababababaaaaaah!" at anyone who makes eye contact with him so this post is over.

I will be posting about the older three kids in greater length soon, but for now, they are all just about the same...just taller and less baby chub on each of them. My babies are big kids now and life is so full...and really, really busy. Sometimes I feel like my head is spinning...or is that an earthquake?!?!?