If you’ve seen the news today, you’ve probably seen coverage of the tornadoes that came through Alabama yesterday. I’ve lived in Alabama my whole life, and I’m not new to tornadoes. My parents’ house was leveled in the 1974 tornado outbreak, and so we always took tornado warnings seriously when we were growing up. I remember going into the storm shelter at my grandmother’s house (where my brother and sister-in-law now live) on many different occasions.
Gary and I don’t have a basement or a storm shelter, but we have a safe place identified in an interior hallway on our first floor, and that’s where we gather the kids for tornado warnings. Honestly, since the kids have been born, we’ve probably had to go to the safe place only 3 or 4 other times. Yesterday morning I woke up at 5:30 a.m. to the phone ringing and the sirens going off (we use WeatherCall for storm warnings, which is great). We grabbed the kids and went to our safe place, and stayed there for about 45 minutes. To be completely candid, it was a little scary there for a moment. We lost power right off the bat (which is very rare in our neighborhood), and heard a few small things hitting our windows, but it was just strong winds and a bit of rain. To our surprise the kids went upstairs and back to bed after the warning was over. Gary and I then took a nap upstairs in the guest bedroom so that we could hear them since the monitors weren’t working without power.
I grew up in north Alabama and I have many Facebook friends from up there. When I started checking Facebook yesterday morning, I saw that by the time I showered they’d already had 3 tornado warnings. I called to check on my mom and dad, then got ready for work. The more I paid attention to the weather forecast (I love James Spann’s weather blog), the more I started getting worried. Plus, as a farmer’s daughter and someone who has grown up in Alabama seeing severe weather, I can just feel in the air when bad weather is coming. And it felt bad yesterday. I decided to go to my hearing then head home.
At some point I remembered my stash of frozen breastmilk and called Gary in a panic that we wouldn’t get power back before the next wave of storms and it would thaw and have to be thrown away. He promised to find a small appliance generator or something to save the breastmilk. Luckily, our electricity was restored around 2:30 p.m. before I made it home, and once I was home our nanny went to her home to check on things there. Gary got home shortly thereafter (he couldn’t find a decent generator for a reasonable price, but we had power by that time so I was feeling better about things). We watched the weather for a bit, and decided we were in the clear for a couple of hours, so we took a nap since the kids were napping, too.
When I woke up from my nap, I checked Facebook on my iPhone and saw that my sister-in-law had just posted a status update about debris falling from the sky. Not long after that my Mom called to tell me about a huge tornado that passed by (they were watching it from the door of the storm shelter). Here are some photos of it that my brother took on his phone of that tornado.
![photo_2[1] (2)](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIBPJLm3xLX8A8SUYiGMYXGWqL3CzMx_6e8OE_au4f3Y2hT1JLR1JTRoqrzc0lYE0Y9Jo9hmI_vScHUo9Qj-97Abj4BdmGAtLGMesf79auYaquJP58vDSrt4-8zHkDPQfp3uFvbsapvf8K/s1600-h/photo_2%5B1%5D%20(2)%5B2%5D.jpg "photo_2[1] (2)")
![photo_1[1] (3)](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP5QtB5_3thoGpq-8FEgjv672RM0eAlFXnM10qSLxWrKFIKgY2YsY6iy189NcWhzrU1ABppXqUO70Nx9ghKR0NhQzxtgLNy-A9mku_MvnAmmskICj4lt5Ae3G-owqZ2gdXWrpAG53mjY6_/s1600-h/photo_1%5B1%5D%20(3)%5B2%5D.jpg "photo_1[1] (3)")
As we were watching that tornado, we got another tornado warning, went to our safe place, and lost electricity. Gary ran upstairs and grabbed Penelope’s radio and we found a channel with James Spann’s storm coverage. We kept that station on until hours later, when the worst had passed and the station went back to playing bad 80’s music. We ate cold chicken fingers for dinner then put the kids into bed a bit late, then Gary and I sat down and tried to get our iPhones to work for long enough to see what was going on. We weren’t able to get much information due to busy networks. We were pretty sure that we were going to see lots of bad things the next morning when the sun came out and we had more contact with the outside world.
And we were right. The damage is downright shocking. We are so lucky to have made it through the storm with our house and family intact. We even got electricity late last night as we were going to bed. So many others in our community and state were not nearly that lucky. Gary and I went in to work (albeit a little late today). It was surreal to be doing normal things with all the destruction and deaths nearby. We’ve been watching the news coverage all day, and our hearts go out to all of those suffering now. It’s going to take a little while for our city and state to get back on their feet, but I’m sure it will happen.
Weekend before last, we had a cookout with some friends. Actually, the cookout was with my best friend from college, who was also my maid of honor in our wedding. We lost touch during law school, then got back in touch a little over a year ago. Now here’s the crazy thing – she also has two-year-old triplets and a baby! I still can’t believe that we ended up with such a similar family make-up after all these years, but I’m really glad that we did.
Anyway, my friend, her husband, and their 4 kids all came over the weekend before last. I kept trying to get a photo of all of the kids in the same photo, but I never managed to get all of them in a shot. I came close a couple of times, though.
When Gary and I woke up yesterday morning, we were really excited to find out that the Easter Bunny visited us!
The kids each had a very specific strategy for hunting Easter eggs. Rosemary was a typical Easter-egg-hunter. She took off and quickly put as many eggs as possible in her basket.
Happy Easter! I hope you all had a great Easter! We had a great time today, and are all exhausted. We are so exhausted that we tucked the kids in tonight and they went straight to sleep without any partying! I have lots of photos and stories to share later, but for now I’ll just share that the Easter Bunny did some visit us. . . .
Yesterday morning, the three girls each received a set of ear tubes. Because she snores so much, the ENT checked Rosemary’s adenoids and found that they were obstructing her nasal airway by 75-85% and so her adenoids were removed as well.
Nana and Papa drove down to be with us for the procedures. Because she is the youngest, Penelope went back for her procedure first. Before she came back, Rosemary went back for her procedure, then Piper went back for her procedure. Penelope was back in my arms about 15 minutes after she left my arms and wanted to nurse. Piper was back with us about 15 minutes after that, then Rosemary about 10 minutes after that. Because Rosemary also had to have her adenoids removed, she had to have an IV and a longer recovery time.
Penelope was a little fussy once she was back with us, but after probably 10 minutes or so, she literally went back to normal very abruptly. One minute she was fussy, the next minute she was smiling and acting like her normal self.
Rosemary took a little longer to come around. The first thing that she wanted to do was take off all her wires and her hospital gown. Then she just wanted to sit with her daddy for a while. Rosemary’s asthma started acting up on Thursday night and continued into yesterday morning, so she had to have two breathing treatments after her surgery. Thankfully, she hasn’t had to have a breathing treatment since then.
When we met with the ENT after the appointment, he told us that Rosemary and Penelope in particular had a lot of really thick fluid in their ears. Piper also had fluid, but it wasn’t as thick as Rosemary and Penelope’s fluid. I just hate that these poor kids have dealt with persistent fluid for as long as they have and I’m glad that they are going to be getting some relief now.
Before we left the outpatient center the girls were acting almost normal. By the time we got home, they were starving. Rosemary ate more in one sitting that I believe I’ve ever seen her eat. Then she followed it up with a huge lunch. She’s been eating very well ever since the surgery.
Today everyone has been doing great. Rosemary had some Motrin this morning, and Penelope had some Tylenol. Rosemary has two little black eyes from having her adenoids removed, but other than that everyone seems back to normal. We even went to a birthday party today.
Hopefully, this will put an end to the ear infections and help with the speech delay.
P.S. We are still adjusting to the to toddler bed thing, but tonight was the easiest bedtime yet. I hope that in a couple of weeks we will be back to normal on that front too.
The kids absolutely love bananas (also known as “nanas”) and they really love pancakes (also known as “cakes”). The other weekend I decided to make them banana pancakes. When Gary brought them downstairs after getting them up and dressed, I told them that we were having banana pancakes for breakfast. Rosemary got a look of bemusement on her face, and it was clear that she’d never contemplated anything so wonderful as combining bananas and pancakes. She stood there and grinned for a while, repeating “nana cakes” over and over again with that little grin on her face. Fortunately, the banana pancakes lived up to her expectations. Rosemary can easily take out two adult-sized ‘nana ‘cakes in a sitting!
P.S. On the whole bed issue, I had a work event tonight, but when I got home, Gary told me that the kids were only rowdy until about 8:30 p.m. tonight. Unfortunately, they didn’t take a nap today. I just keep telling myself that each day is a little better. I really think we’ll get there . . . eventually.
About 15 minutes after I made my post last night, Henry was standing at the gate to their bedroom screaming, “I NEED A NAP! I NEED A NAP!!”
Poor kid.
They finally settled down around 11 o’clock last night. I got up around 12:30 to nurse Penelope, and went in to check on them afterwards. When I checked on them, Piper and Rosemary were asleep on the floor, and Henry was in Piper’s crib with every pillow, blanket, and stuffed animal in the room. Piper had a blue doggie, but Rosemary did not. When Gary checked on them later on, Piper and Rosemary were head-to-head sharing the blue doggie.
Gary and I decided that it is time to move on to toddler beds. A few months ago we probably would have gone the crib tent route, but we both now feel that we are ready for the next step. So, tonight on the way home from work Gary stopped by the storage building and picked up the toddler bed conversion rails. He put them on the beds while I did dinner with the kids, then everyone went upstairs to see their new beds.
Inspired by Cathy’s new use of her iPhone camera and some photography apps, I took these photos of the kids checking out their “new” beds" (using the Hipstamatic app):
My (current) theory is that we don’t change the kids’ routine and they adapt to their newfound freedom by reason of necessity. Gary woke the kids up at their normal wake time this morning, and it was no surprise that they didn’t really want to get up. But they did. Miss Sally told me that they were all asking to go “night night” this morning. But they mostly stuck to their regular schedule, which means that Miss Sally woke them up from their naps at about the time they normally wake up.
Tonight went marginally better than last night. About an hour ago I went up there and poor Henry was asking to go “night night” so I put him back in his bed and covered him up. The girls are definitely keeping him up. I keep going back and forth in thinking that he needs his own room, versus thinking that he wants to be with his sisters. After that, I was learning toward Henry needing his own room.
Right now it’s mostly quiet up there, which means that they settled down a little more than an hour earlier than last night. I think that if we just keep them on their regular schedule that eventually they will be tired enough to just go to bed at night. We’ll see. And of course (hopefully), at some point, the novelty will wear off. I think we’re going to give it a few nights and see what happens, then reassess if necessary.
The kids are almost three, but they are still in cribs. When friends would ask me how long I was going to keep them in cribs, my response was that they’d be in cribs for as long as they’d stay in the cribs. I often added that they’d go to college in cribs if they were willing.
Well, they won’t be going to college in cribs.
In fact, they probably won’t make it through the weekend in cribs.
Right now I’m thankful that we had the foresight to go ahead and purchase the toddler conversion kits when we bought the cribs.
I’ve known for quite a while that the kids were capable of getting out of their cribs – but the kids just didn’t know it. The kids even climb into their own cribs at night. They just never seemed to climb out as well. But when we got home today, Miss Sally told us that during naptime she found the kids in one of their closets. Not cool. But I assumed that would be a naptime thing and not a bedtime thing.
Gary and I put the kids in bed and I ran downstairs to grab my iPhone so that I could check out Facebook while I nursed Penelope. Gary and I barely hit the bottom step when we heard the bedroom door slam. We decided to just ignore it. My thoughts are that they may stay up late tonight and for a day or two, but eventually their need to sleep will catch up with them after a few days and they will have to go to sleep at night (please, let me enjoy that hope).
Then Henry started screaming. Not screaming like he was sort of upset, but screaming like he was really not okay. I went in the bedroom and it was a disaster with everything all over the floors, and Henry was very upset. He kept telling me that he wanted the door open. I told everyone to get in bed, then tucked everyone in again and left. I barely sat down in Penelope’s room across the hall when the door slammed, and Henry started screaming again. I assumed that he was scared of the dark, but now we think that he just didn’t like the door being closed. Anyway, since this was clearly going to be an “issue” I told Gary what was going on and closed Penelope’s door to nurse her while Gary handled the door issue.
I heard lots of coming and going in the room while Gary tried to solve the problem, followed by a lot of hammering. At first I thought I was just hearing things, but no, the hammering continued. The longer I sat there, the longer I started getting worked up about exactly what Gary was doing in there. I was a little surprised, perhaps a little relieved, and definitely amused, when I put Penelope in bed and walked out of her room to see this, which I captured with my handy iPhone camera:
Always thinking outside the box. That’s my Gary.
More than two hours after bedtime, we could still hear everyone up there playing. Well, actually, the girls were playing and Henry sounded nothing short of traumatized by everything. I don’t think that he likes the idea of sleeping while he is vulnerable to attack by the girls.
Gary and I have been tossing around a lot of ideas tonight. We have definitely decided to convert the cribs to toddler beds. But if Henry continues dislike the girls’ free reign, we may have to turn the guest bedroom (a/k/a Nana’s room) into Henry’s room. We’ll give him a few days to see if he’s going to make it or not.
We just heard a little more noise than one should hear, and went upstairs to see what was going on. Everyone quickly laid down and acted like they were going to sleep (again, courtesy of my iPhone):
Maybe we won’t convert the cribs into toddler beds after all. We can just throw a few blankets on the floor and be done with it.
P.S. They are still awake. And playing. God help us all.
The last two nights Penelope has gotten up more than she normally does. Initially I was worried that she had another ear infection, but yesterday morning I was brave enough to stick my finger in her mouth and found two new teeth that are just now poking through – the center top two teeth.
Gary has been wanting to take the kids fishing for as long as I can remember. For a very long time, the thought of our three (now four) kids near a body of water with fishing poles was way more than I could handle. But when Gary brought up fishing again last week, it seemed like something we could do. So, we ordered up some Diego fishing poles and this past weekend we went to the “lake” in our neighborhood for some fishing.
Piper liked her fishing pole, but didn’t seem quite as into fishing as Henry and Rosemary.
That is me and Gary, based on my ring, from from when we were engaged but not yet married (which would put it between March and August 2000). I went fishing with Gary when we were visiting his mom and dad in Pensacola. When we got back to Gary’s parents’ house, Gary’s mom and dad made me hold the fish we caught. I guess that is something that one will agree to do when she is engaged. I don’t see me ever agreeing to that again.
So, it’s a good thing that Gary has at least 2 kids who are happy to fish with him. And I’m a little happy that I’ll have one to stay behind with me, and maybe want to sleep in then go get a mani-pedi. We’ll have to see what camp Penelope chooses later on.
Regardless, I enjoyed watching everyone fish, and I really loved when Henry would pull up his fishing pole, see his little blue plastic fish, and yell, “I got a fish!”
