We had a break-in here a little over a week ago. While we were sleeping, someone broke down a door a entered the house, even coming up to the bedroom level. Needless to say, we are all more than a little freaked out. 
A few notable developments:
1. I decided to use to break-in to emotionally blackmail M into getting the dog I think we need. I think we need a large dog in the way that I think we need more kids. I think we need a large, barking dog because I am slightly unhinged and I think the best way to fight chaos is with chaos. This current round of blackmail had me saying this to him: You want me to feel safe, don’t you?
2. We are all on edge and on guard. M is being woken on the hour by the person with whom he shares a bed. One night, on the second of the wakeups, while he was doing an interior perimeter check of the house, he encountered our eldest child who was ALSO doing a perimeter check of the house. Lots of frightful screams ensued. I think I may have even wet the bed. 
3. Even the little ones are shaky. Our baby is up with nightmares. A year ago I told her that if you sleep with something sweet in your bed, you won’t have bad dreams. However, even if you go to bed with a jar of honey in your bed, if you have a break-in and you are on edge, you will have bad dreams. It is however, small enough to cart around and you can therefore carry it into your parents’ bed when you visit them in the middle of the night. One of them may scream when she rolls over onto it.