Lessons Learned from a Storm

I haven't done my usual rounds of bloghopping and dropping and adgitizing for awhile now. In case you were wondering, our province was hit by the storm "Pepeng", international name "Parma". Our city is not safe and dry, though we are not in the news you see on your television screens. But you do see all the surrounding areas and towns near our city which makes it even worse.

My family and I are luckier than others. Water only threatened to enter our home from the front porch. We have food to eat and we are dry. I saw the devastation brought about by Ondoy. You can read and learn from Pehpot's experience too.

I worry though. Electricity comes and goes. My kids are not built for the heat. They itch and scratch and turn horrifyingly red. You have to fan my kids every minute. But that is not what worries me. What worries me most is my kids' supply of milk. We have enough for a week. I am praying hard that Dagupan would be reachable by then. My mom will try tomorrow. Calasiao is so flooded. Binmaley too. You're wondering why I have to go to a different city just to buy milk for my kids?

My kids' milk specially little Paul is so difficult to find. The stocks are few and in between. We frequent one grocery in Dagupan which supplies Paul's milk and scour drug stores if we don't find it there. The same thing goes with my daughter. Paul's milk is Nutramigen. Have you heard of it?

It's just 400 grams but very expensive.Mark Paul can finish this can in about a day. I have to distract him by giving him tons of snacks and rice just to make sure the can stretches to more than 24 hours. His sister was on the same brand until she turned 2. Now, it's hard to find. I've called Dagupan and some of the drugstores have run out of stock. My only hope is the grocery.

Maegan on the other hand can survive but her milk is also difficult to find. She drinks Hi Nulac XL.

My kids were born with an allergy to cow's milk and to soy milk. Their milk is artificially made. I can't even find a photo in the internet. So hard to find. (LOL!) But Maegan can drink other milk, juices, chocolate drinks so I'm a bit secure plus my mom stocked up on the milk of her 'favorite hardheaded princess' and her milk can is 900 grams big.

What have I learned?

From now on, I'll start panic buying on my kids' milk, medicines and my meds too. (I'm a diabetic and insulin may be hard to find specially the brand my doctor gave me).

A tip that I also learned: When you prepare your go bag, make sure you wrap your clothes in plastic. Wrap important documents in plastic. Waterproof everything in case you need to go up a roof when it's raining. Buy raincoats. A giant umbrella.

One thing my mom learned that she's sharing to you. Build a 2nd floor to your house. Just in case.