We have had a terrible tragedy occur in Alabama this past week. Multiple tornadoes came through north and central Alabama on Audrey's 8 month birthday, April 27th. We spent the day at Nana and Poppie's (Eddie and Mikki's) house because they have a basement. I woke up that morning at 4am to the tornado sirens. It was pretty amazing that I even woke up because we have a sound machine plus the baby monitor on at night. On top of that, I took a Benadryl for my allergies the night before. Somehow I heard the sirens in my deep sleep and woke up the house. We scrambled to get our things together, and I would guess we were all packed up in the car within 3-4 minutes of waking up. I called my mom to warn her, and then called Mikki to give her a heads up on our arrival. Our weather radio did not even go off. That scared me the most because we thought maybe someone local saw a tornado touch down and they let off the sirens. I remained somewhat cool and collected on the outside, but on the inside I was freaking. (I'm sure Andrew will roll his eyes at this, haha. I am not the best at remaining calm. You should see me around bees.) Thankfully, we were not in serious danger. We all made our way down to the basement and we camped out there for about an hour and a half. We went home and were back in bed by 5:45am. Audrey was such a trooper. She, however, woke up at 7:30. We let her talk and babble until around 8:15 and then Andrew went and got her and brought her in our bed. He played with her for a few minutes, and then he made her lie down in between us. Within minutes, she was asleep. He decided to make a pillow barrier and let her sleep as he got up for the day. We knew more storms were on the way for the day, and going to work for Andrew was not an option.
Audrey and I woke up about an hour later. I wanted to get a shower and pack our tornado bags for the day. Um, yep, no time for that! I had enough time to feed Audrey and brush my teeth and we were back to Nana and Poppie's. Thankfully, again, nothing too serious. We stayed until lunch and headed back home for a little while. This time I got my shower, packed our bags, and let Audrey nap. It wasn't long before we made our last trip of the day back to my in-law's house. (Thank goodness we have a safe place to go that is so close to our home!!!) In their basement, they have an actual storm shelter room specifically for tornado shelter. We only went in there one time the whole day, and really the only people that went in there were me, Audrey, Mikki, and Andrew came in and out. The boys were too interested in watching the storm. Oh me, boys...boys...boys! :) We are so incredibly blessed that the tornadoes did not touch down in our area. Eddie and Mikki's neighbors had 16 trees uprooted in their yard. Other than that, not much damage at all near us. No damages to their house or to their neighbors' houses either.
Oh me, got to go to sleep. So tired...and Andrew's home! More in the morning....
***
Back to our day of tornadoes.
Our local news stations are covering the aftermath around the clock as well as the radio stations. From Birmingham north to Huntsville, there was initially no power after the storms. I am hearing some people in between those areas are starting to get power back, but it could still be several more days before everyone has power again. People have had difficulty getting gas for their vehicles. I know in Huntsville some stores have received generators and people are able to get groceries and gas now. So much of north and central Alabama received substantial destruction wiping out homes, businesses, streets, churches, and the list goes on and on. I believe I heard yesterday this is the worst storm system to come through since 1925. Below I have posted some pictures I found online of some of the damages in different cities. I tried to give credit to the owner of each photo. Sometimes I could not find a name.
So, so sad. Many other states were affected as well. This day will definitely go down in history. My heart hurts for the people who have lost their loved ones, homes, businesses, communities, etc. I cannot imagine. I am truly, truly blessed and thankful.
As for Audrey...
She is officially mobile! She is starting to roll wherever she wants to go. Although she moves at turtle speed, she is definitely covering ground now. Time to baby-proof! (Still haven't quite finished.) She went all the way across the living room the other day as she "chased" her bottle that I coaxed her with. Andrew thought it was mean, but I thought it was funny. She wasn't upset. :) She eventually got her bottle. That was her workout for the day. ;) She still loves to play with her picnic set and her favorite "movie" is Praise Baby. For those of you with babies, I highly recommend Praise Baby.
Audrey has started saying "uh-oh". It is so cute! She doesn't understand it's meaning yet, but now that she has starting saying it, we are teaching her "uh-oh". When she drops a toy, we will say "uh-oh" so she will learn it's meaning. When she first started saying it, she would play copy-cat with Andrew and repeat it back to him. However, we can't get her to do it anymore.
Audrey is really using her voice to get her way now. We were in Hobby Lobby yesterday, and when she decided she wanted out of her stroller, she starting screaming at the top of her lungs. It is in spurts, not really like a crying-screaming. More like, "Ahhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhh! Ahhhhhh!" Oh me, it is stressful sometimes! Thank goodness my mom was with us or I would have had to leave the store without my items I wanted to purchase. I am one who hates to hear other kids scream in public venues, so I assume everyone else feels the same way about my child. She did it most of the day of Friday. (At home). I felt like my nerves had been through an electric socket. It literally hurts my ears when she really gets going. She has always been such a pleasant baby. I hope this is not permanent, haha. I definitely see the attitude, "I WANT MY WAY NOW, MOMMY!". And, well, it works! I guess it is something we work through over time, but it is funny and annoying at the same time. She is still pleasant for sure, but she is definitely learning how to get what she wants through different avenues of communication. :)
I know I always post something about Audrey eating food, but I will say that eating baby food is a breeze now. She eats a fruit in the morning and a veggie at night. I can't remember what I said last time. She is more interested in Puffs now, but she did gag and throw up again the other day after attempting to eat Puffs. Oh well, she will learn eventually.
We had a wonderful first Easter! Audrey got an Easter basket with eggs in it. I bought some sour jelly beans for me, but I figured we would go all out next year with lots of little goodies. Pics below of Easter day.
By the way, GSP won the UFC fight. That is, George St. Pierre. Just in case you were wondering ;).
And thank you to all for your advice on Audrey's napping fiasco. Some improvement, thankfully! I guess everything works out in it's own time! :)
Love you, Little Girl. Mommy loves you. Always.
Hey girl, so glad the sleeping thing has resolved itself. And go Audrey go on the baby food! She is so sweet! Can't wait to see her again.
ReplyDelete