1. Since we've never had Jack sleep in bed with us, he pretty much has no bedfellow manners. It's kind of like inviting a six-week-old puppy in your bed. He might sleep for a little while, but then again he might walk across your chest, paw your face, and pee on your blankets.
2. While I am very grateful that we have a wall propane heater in our house, I realized that I have absolutely no idea how to use it. If I were home alone without power, I would probably drive to my parent's house for fear that if I did try to turn on the heater, I would blow up the house.
3. Children and animals (and me) really don't like their nighttime routines disrupted. Our dog Dorothy couldn't figure out why we were joining her in the living room and began nervously turning circles in her crate and chewing on her bone. The cat frantically ran in and out of the room, trying to settle on our feet and then changing his mind and leaping over the baby gates instead. And Jack, oh, Jack. Since he wasn't in his crib he couldn't decide if he should be laughing and playing, or crying from extreme exhaustion (simply falling asleep didn't seem like an option in his mind).
4. You don't always need a good night's rest, and sometimes the lack of sleep is worth the memories they produce. While the cat, dog and Jack probably won't remember the events, my husband Ned and I will. And it's probably worth it to lose electricity every once in awhile to spend that dependent time together. My only regret is that we didn't get the hurricane lamps out...
