Growing with Freya Journal

When winter threw a deep freeze at Tennessee, our family found ourselves on quite the journey. I never thought I’d be hand washing cloth diapers in a chilly sink at the grandparents house or strategizing how to keep breast milk from thawing out in the middle of a power outage, but that’s exactly what we did.

The Cloth Diaper Crunch and a Cold-Water Lesson

As the temperatures dropped and our power went out, we realized we were running low on clean cloth diapers for Freya. We headed over to her grandparents’ house, and with no warm water available, we washed the diapers in their sink using cold water. Just as we were about to hang them outside to “freeze-dry” them in the cold air, we got the good news that our electricity was back! We didn’t have to actually freeze-dry them, but we were definitely prepared to!

Keeping Breast Milk Safe in the Cold

Another little twist in our freeze adventure was making sure Freya’s breast milk didn’t thaw out when our freezer lost power. We ended up placing the milk outside in a Yeti cooler in the freezing weather, which kept it perfectly cold and safe. It’s amazing how the winter air became our makeshift freezer!

Staying Warm and Cozy at the Grandparents House

We were incredibly lucky to have that propane fireplace at the grandparents’ house. We all bundled up and kept warm together for those two days until the power returned. It turned into a cozy family sleepover, with lots of blankets, a little laughter, and a lot of teamwork.

Juggling Pets and an Infant During a Winter Blackout

Of course, it wasn’t just us, our two dogs, Buck and Harvey, and our two cats joined the adventure too. It was a full house of wagging tails, curious cats, and one very bundled up baby. But we made it through together, and it’s a story we’ll tell Freya one day about her first big winter adventure.

❤ Freya’s Mommy