9-1-1

We got home last night from dinner at Ben's grandma's house around 9:30pm, after visiting with a cousin who was in town. Josiah was asleep by 10:00pm and we were all in bed by 10:30pm.

At around 2:00am I heard footsteps outside our bedroom window in the rocks that surround our house. I held my breath for a minute and then woke Ben up. "I heard footsteps outside." I whispered. "Go peek out the window and see if someone is there."

Ben got up and looked...nothing. He climbed back in bed. "Maybe it was a cat." he said.

"No" I replied, "I've heard the manager walk between the houses in the morning to check the meters..it was a person."

Two more footsteps.

"Did you hear that?" I asked. He nodded. "Go turn on the porch light....don't open the door, just turn on the light." I told him.

Ben got up, exited the room for a few minutes and came back, bringing the dog with him.

"Some watch dog", I thought.

Ben climbed back in bed and we both laid awake for probably 10-15 minutes.

All of the sudden someone is pounding on our door! We both jump out of bed. I tell Ben not to open the door, as I run down the hall to get the house phone out of the baby's room. I hear him ask what number to call...thinking he is calling the police on the cell phone (you can't call 9-1-1 on a cell phone here...it goes to a dispatch that isn't the local county's). Realizing he had already gotten the home phone on his trip to turn on the porch light, I tell him to call 9-1-1.

He calls and tells them there is someone pounding on our front door, to which they reply that it is one of their police officers. We go to the door, ask who it is and then open it. The officer asks if we have any children in the house. We reply yes, and tell him we heard someone walking around our house, as my head fills with the thought of some shady character on the loose and wanted for going after children.

He replies by telling us he was the one walking around our house. Apparently someone had called 9-1-1 to report a child crying and he was following up because their was concern for the child's well-being. Ben and I just stood there stunned and then invited him in to check on Josiah for himself.

Somewhere around 1:00am I had woken up hungry and had a couple bowls of cereal. At 1:30pm I was getting ready to get back into bed, and realize Josiah had snuggled his way into the middle of where I sleep and as I was trying to move him, he started fussing. I had Ben pick him up long enough for me to crawl into bed, then Ben gave him to me, I nursed him and he fell right to sleep. He couldn't have cried for more than two minutes.

The officer checked Josiah in the bed and then I picked him up so the officer could look at him more closely. We told him Josiah had gotten his four month shots the day before and had been fussy, but hadn't cried hardly at all that night.

The officer was very nice and said it was probably that the houses were so close and walls so thin. We had also had our window open with the heat. We assume it was one of our neighbors, but found it odd that they called last night, as opposed to other nights where Josiah was awake and crying numerous times, or the nights where he would cry for 45 minutes because of gas.

The officer left. Ben and I laid awake talking for the next hour, unable to fall asleep.

It is nice to know that they come right away to check on those sorts of things...but it was strange to have the call come because of our child.