I Drove 200 miles for a Good Night's Rest

Last night's bedtime routine was the same as any other only with the soothing sounds of heavy rains and crashing winds. The power lasted until about 9pm, when it started to flash and flicker before completely abandoning us. With each brief blackout I headed upstairs to reset the kid's clocks and sleep machines trying to ensure they would not wake fearful in a room filled with nothing but darkness. Unfortunatly my efforts were for nothing, because the lights inevidably went dark and I was left anxious about how the morning hours would arrive. As if the hurricane outside my window was not enough, I was concerned that the kids would be scared and wake prematuraly. Stuffed animals, nightlights, clocks, sounds machines, and any other special objects are what create a sense of safety and comfort for a child. Without their "friends" surrounding them your kids might as well wake up on the floor because these are the key objects to create a feeling of familiarity.

 So a dark and stormy 6am rolled around and I awoke to hysterical cries of an extrememly frightened 3 yr old feeling lost in her sleep space. My daughter, who is used to having the route to her door lit by a soft glow, could not only not see her door she could not see her hands in front of her face. Her cries were quickly followed by the screams of my son, so needless to say this was not a sequence of events that I was going to put my babies through for one more night. And away we went to Nana and Papa's house. Yup I drove 200 miles so that my kids could go through their regular bedtime routine, which includes a warm bath, and fall asleep surrounded by the lights and whimsy that help them snooze soundly. We all know that a string of bad nights leads to a string of bad days and thats not healthy for mom or baby..and why I was willing to travel across 3 states to finally get everyone some rest.