I live on the Texas gulf coast, and have been watching the news since I woke up this morning. My bags are packed and ready to go as soon as the time is right.

Ike is expected to hit very early Saturday morning. But us people out here in Houston are expecting to see the outer bands of the hurricane as early as noon Friday. Just in the outer bands, there will be winds of 40 to 45 mph and gusts that last anywhere from 1 to 3 minutes of about 70 mph. Heavy rain is deffinatly anticipated. Much of Galveston has evacuated by this time, and most of all the other counties beside me are under mandatory evacuation. Watching chanel 11 news earlier, they showed houses that sit right on the beach, getting feet of water right under them. Not only that, the water is washing up onto peoples porches, not only under the houses, but right out onto the other side as well. Just from seeing those live, you can tell there will be more damage than we thought. Houston is expected to suffer a lot of damage whether it hits here or not. So either way it goes, we’re still going to get it. As a mother, I feel for the other mothers trying to get things done. Just today, my fiance thought it would be a good idea to load up on diapers, formula in case the electricity goes out, wipes, xtra wipes to clean up with in the event of there being no water, and baby food. Let me just say that all of the baby stuff alone is kind of pricey. So mothers here in Texas, make a list of needs for your children, and get to that store before it’s too late.

We are going to see Tropical Storm like winds here by morning, and Saturday, it would be dangerous to even go outside. My heart breaks for those who couldn’t leave their homes and are still in Galveston. I’m further than they are and i’m scared. I’m not ashamed to admit that. So for those sitting out the storm here in Texas, just a word of advice… be careful, use your brain before taking any action during this storm because it could possibly result in your death, take shelter where you can, and I actually found out that if you are in a downstairs apartment and are getting flooded you actually can go upstairs and break into a higher apartment for shelter! So God be with everyone here in south Texas, may you and your families be safe and smart!