EARTHQUAKE!!!

How convenient that this picture I took to show the knocked over picture frames shows the TV screen that it does!  

At 1:50pm yesterday afternoon, Jackson and I experienced our first earthquake! (Josh had felt one in Oakland while he was traveling a few years ago.)  I was sitting on the porch during naptime enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather when I felt this rumbling and heard a loud noise.  All of a sudden our house was shaking!  I must admit my first instinct was to try to hold up our house...  I immediately thought, "Earthquake!" but then thought surely that wasn't it.  Paxton and I both freaked out at the same time.  He didn't give me any warning signs like a lot of people said their pets were, but he definitely knew something weird was going on!  We raced inside and I immediately heard Jackson screaming, so I ran upstairs and grabbed him--he looked so scared as his curtains flapped open with the breeze and the shaking and his pictures a little askew on the walls :(  We ran outside where two of our neighbors were already outside.  The shaking had just stopped, and we all looked at each other like, "Did you feel that???"  There wasn't anything to do really, so I went back inside and laid Jackson down--thankfully he went back to sleep!  Then I turned on the news and saw we had registered a 5.8 earthquake (it was upgraded soon after to a 5.9).  One person who called in to explain their experience said (in DC) it felt like they were in a cardboard box while someone just moved the corner back and forth.  My neighbor, Rachel, and I agreed it was more like we were in the box while someone picked it up and shook it back and forth!  It was a very disturbing sensation to be sitting on the porch with all the windows open inside (we have two windows right in front that open on to the porch, so I could hear everything inside) and to feel the house shaking like it was made of toothpicks and to hear everything rattling around inside!

I had a text from Josh right away asking if I felt that.  I then couldn't send out any texts or calls, so that sent me into a different sort of panic since I couldn't get in touch with Josh or check on anyone else!  I wasn't really worried that Josh was hurt, but I heard that lots of building in DC were being evacuated, and I just wanted to make sure he was ok.  It turns out he was already outside when the earthquake hit since he had decided just before 1pm that the meeting he was running should be held outside!  Crystal City, where Josh's office is, didn't feel as big of a shake as we did since our house is much closer to the epicenter of Richmond.  Josh thought it was pretty cool and was really upbeat and chipper when he finally got through to me.  He was very understanding, however, when I informed him my experience was very different since I was in our brand new house while it shook all over with our hysterical dog and son...

The rest of the afternoon was fine.  Jackson took a nice nap, but definitely remembered the experience!  When I tucked him in for bed, he asked, "All done shaking?  All done noise?"  That broke my heart!  He won't remember this at all, so that's good.  Apparently there was one aftershock around 3pm and another at 8:04pm, but we didn't feel either one here.

It was interesting hearing people different responses to the earthquake, and what people thought it was right away.  I thought it was something going on at Quantico since we hear all sorts of noise from there on a regular basement.  One of my neighbors is having her basement finished, and she thought the workmen were there using a jackhammer.  Josh said he and his co-workers thought it was a bus driving by since they hear a similar sound daily.  It definitely depended where you were!  I don't know if I will ever understand the people who thought it was really cool, however...  That's still a mystery to me.  I do think I would be having an easier time forgetting it/getting over it if I hadn't been IN our house to feel/hear it shake and rattle.  That is a sound and feeling I will NEVER forget :/

Nothing too terrible happened inside our house, but what is a blog without pictures?  

In the front room, the Chicago puzzle hanging over our desk was crooked (more so in real life than in this picture), the computer monitor shifted, papers slid, and two picture frames that usually sit on the top right of the desk fell down.

Thing on the baker's rack fell over, and my pretty glass candleholder fell on the floor and broke :(

Needless to say that basket is not always thrown on the floor with its contents spilling out...

The picture hanging in our stairway were the typical movie image of an earthquake's effects: crooked and possibly knocked off the wall.

These two guys fell off of our bookshelf in our bedroom.

My basket of stuff fell off of my nightstand.

All of the stuff that sits on the seat in our shower fell on to the floor.

Of course I had JUST cleaned off Josh's trophies from our basement mold incident and decided to put them in the extra room only to have them fall over a few days later from an earthquake!  None of them broke, however.

In general, lots of stuff shifted around in all of our cabinets and drawers.  The TV in our bedroom shifted a few inches to the left.  Josh found two cracks in walls as he walked around, but they look pretty superficial--phew!

Down Goes Smith (x2)

What Monday was supposed to look like: Quick visit to the library so Jackson could visit the fish tank, check in for his reading program, and check out books for our upcoming trip to Indy.  Lunch with cousin Beth in Old Orchard.  Nap.  Play with Huks.  Dinner.  Mommy and Mimi go to a movie.  The end.

Here's what happened instead: On the way to the library I talked to Erin in the morning, and we decided we'd probably have to cancel our plans for the afternoon since her littlest guy wasn't feeling well :(  Jackson and I had a great time at the library checking out the fish and playing.  They have a pretty great play area with trucks, a play kitchen, and some other small toys.  We were on our way to check out our books when Jackson tripped (he wasn't doing anything silly, just walking) and hit his head on one of the giant stone pillars they have all over.  He immediately started hysterically crying and shaking he hurt so bad.  It was SO sad to see :(  I picked him up and went to the children's desk to get tissues and advice on what to do.  I feel like I have a tendency to overreact when it comes to Jackson and accidents, so I didn't know if I should panic or not.  The librarians were AWESOME!  We got Jackson sitting on a chair so I could look at him, and the librarians brought over an ice pack, tissues, juice, and snacks.  Jackson started to calm down a little here and there, but he was so upset.  He also just sat with his eyes closed, which I thought was based on the fact that he was scared and shy, but we wanted to make sure.  One librarian asked if I wanted them to call the ambulance.  I just didn't know if I needed to.  She said they would rather be safe than sorry, and if it was no big deal, that was fine.  I was really glad she decided to call them so I could feel good with him being checked out.  I did get a look at his head and it looked pretty bad to me--like a puncture wound.  While we were waiting I started to freak out just a little and was SO happy to see the "professionals!"  An ambulance and a fire truck showed up--five guys in all.  They checked him out and took our information, but said he didn't need to get stitches.  They said he just needed ice and Tylenol, so I didn't see any reason to go to the hospital (they offered).   We were still concerned about Jackson not opening his eyes, so we took him outside to see the trucks.  He was NOT happy about sitting in the ambulance for a few minutes to just finish things up.  He did open his eyes though, and he looked fine.  He also sucked down his first Capri Sun.  He had calmed down and the paramedics told me what to look for and what to expect.  The librarians had been so nice and asked if I'd let them know later how he was.  I decided to go back in then to let them know Jackson was ok and to check out my books!  Jackson was SUCH a trooper, and he was really just excited to show Daddy his big boo boo when we got home...  Sigh--boys!  We got home and showed Josh the boo boo.  We cleaned it up a little more and ended up putting a band-aid on it even thought we figured it would come off with some hair.  Jackson really bounced back and has been in a great mood all day!  

Jackson took a three hour nap, and then we enjoyed some family time walking Pax and then riding Jackson's bike to the playground to play before dinner.  I had just gotten him situated with the beginning of his dinner before I went downstairs to get Josh something to drink.  I got to the bottom of the stairs, dropped the glass, jumped out of the way to miss the broken glass, and landed right on some glass slicing my foot in quite a few places :(  I yelled out, and when Josh got to me he immediately told my mom I needed some towels. I figured I was bleeding (which for as much as it hurt should NOT have been a surprise!), and looked down and there was quite a bit of blood on the floor...  I eventually got myself upstairs to sit down and put pressure on my cuts.  Mom cleaned up the mess and Josh checked me out.  We established there was no glass IN the cuts, so we go them to stop bleeding before bandaging them up.  Our evening plans changed from a movie out to dinner and a movie in.  What an emotionally exhausting day!  Josh has been ordered to sit still on the couch for the rest of the evening ;)

Side note: Even thought Jackson had blood pouring down his face after his accident, the white capris I was wearing were blood-free.  They also survived my accident.  However, maybe I should retire them so there are no more accidents???

Momo: Lost & Found!

Jackson and I had had a lovely day: a playdate with Susie and Rachel this morning and a walk this afternoon with Katherine, Colin, and Liam. The weather was beautiful today, and we were just enjoying our walk through the woods. Well, Jackson wasn't quite enjoying the scenery to it's full extent, and kept tossing things out of the stroller: his snack trap, cup, and Momo. We had just given him back Momo, and tucked him into the seat with him, when all of a sudden Jackson started "chattering" a lot. Katherine finally realized he was missing a shoe. Well, not the end of the world. But, a few minutes later we realized Momo was MISSING!!! This is a moment I've been dreading, folks... So, we immediately turned around (of course we were about as far into the woods as we ever walk, so we had lots of ground to cover), and started searching. We found the shoe pretty quickly, but no Momo :( We asked a couple of people heading towards us if they had seen a stuffed monkey. No one had seen him. We did ask them to just sit him on the side of the path if they did find him. So, we made it all the way home without Momo, I dropped off Pax, sent Katherine home, and then headed back into the woods with Jackson to look again. I was nervous about it getting dark before we finished searching! I was really getting nervous we wouldn't find him (he is the exact same color of the leaves), when I hard someone running behind us. I wasn't planning to ask this guy if he had seen Momo since he was coming from the same direction we just were walking from, but then I realized HE HAD MOMO!!! I have no idea where he found him, I'm just glad to have him back! I kept thanking him, and didn't quite know how to let him know how much I appreciated him returning our beloved friend. I wondered if it would be weird if I hugged him... (I didn't--don't worry!) I did let him know his shoelace was untied... ;) So, we made it back home, and Jackson and Momo are relaxing with a little "Elmo" before dinner. What an afternoon!

BFFs reunited!

Kisses

Hugs

Momo is very lucky to have had so many people worried about him while he was missing: Katherine, Colin, Liam, Mimi, and Daddy were all thinking happy thoughts! They paid off :)

Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday...

What a day it has been, and it's not even over yet :( I don't mean that completely pathetically--I'm actually quite proud of myself for how positive I stayed this morning. Now I need to muster up some positivity for this afternoon... Jackson has been waking up just after 5 for the past few mornings. The past two days, he took a good-ish morning nap, but then NO afternoon nap! What a disappointing fake-out! He's been about 50/50 on the morning nap for a while, and if he did take one, he has been taking pretty predictable and good afternoon naps. I decided yesterday that this was a sign for us to implement a one-nap schedule. I'm beginning to accept the reality of one nap, but it just can't be in the morning! Yikes! So, I planned for a long-ish feeling morning followed by a good afternoon nap. Well, Jackson sure delivered on the long morning part! The lack of sleep hasn't seemed to affect him...until today! Of course! The day that I finally dedicate myself to one nap... By 7:30 he was already cranky and rubbing his eyes! I decided to push ahead with my previously decided upon plan.


Once James got dropped off, we took our walk much earlier than usual, but it was a beautiful morning and I figured it would break up the morning a little. We also could get our walk in before it got really hot! After we got home, the boys were SO cute! Jackson was driving his Cozy Coupe and he and James were giving hugs and kisses through the window! Such good friends :)


The troops were getting a bit restless around snack time so I decided I would brave outdoor play with both of them! This has scared me in the past because they are so unpredictable! I didn't think I could handle them going in opposite directions! Plus, our parking lot is essentially the street! I don't know if I'll ever get over that worry... Anyways, I brought out snacks and bubbles and was ready to try it out. Jackson had some snack, but then found the rake. This falls into the category of Favorite Toys I Can Push (other members include the snow brush, the dust mop, the toilet brush, and the broom). He raked the yard, we took a walk holding hands up and down the sidewalk a few times. Then, James went to get his drink off of the stoop and Jackson started raking the sidewalk. So far, so good...I thought! I apparently was so worried about them running into the street, that I didn't worry about the unevenness of the sidewalk or the slight slope of our street. Before I knew it, Jackson had tripped over a crack and fallen with the rake. He cut his lip (again!) and his face is a little scraped up. It was pretty sad, and I had no idea what to do! I set him in the grass so I could get James inside. Once James was inside I knew I could give Jackson my attention without worrying about James running away!

Jackson settled down, but then it was a whiny road to lunch :( I did lunch a bit early for him anticipating an earlier than normal afternoon nap. He went down easily at 12:45 and I got to relax outside for a while. I had lunch and finished my book and was working on posting this blog, when Jackson started screaming around 1:45! What's that about?! I went up to see if I could settle him down, and he wasn't even awake! He didn't open his eyes or anything. He just laid there crying! It was so sad. I left for a few minutes and then tried again. This time he relaxed once I have him his pacis and I rubbed his back. I was making progress until he started crying again! It was so sad! He was obviously uncomfortable, but I didn't know what to do! I kept patting and rubbing and he settled down! I got him back to sleep (at least judging by his closed eyes and steady, heavy breathing). I felt like Super Mom...for a minute... :( He woke up for good right after that. But, I think I'll still enjoy my moment of achievement!

Now, I just feel like a horrible mom for making him stay up all morning when he clearly wanted a nap only to have him not get nearly enough sleep during his one nap! ARGH! I really wish there was a right answer for all kids! Or at least one problem to fix: getting up too early or only needing one nap. One thing at a time, folks!

So, since we were cooped up all morning, I think we'll get out and get a few things done once James wakes up! I think I might have to revert back to an early bedtime even though we have been trying to move his bedtime later! Oy!