Tessa @ 8 Months

Our girl is growing by leaps and bounds.  She is getting so big and it makes me both happy and sad.  Happy because she's healthy, and every day is a new and great big adventure to her.  Sad because I know that she is my last baby.  On the very rare occasions that she falls asleep in my arms, I'm reluctant to put her down because I know just how fast they grow and that in just a few more months, she won't be pint-sized any more. 

Tessa is wearing anywhere from size 9 months, to 12-18 months, depending on the style and brand.  Her feet are still tiny - with growing room still left in her 0-6 month shoes.  I've been really nervous to buy her any cutsie shoes and sandals for this summer because I have no idea what size her foot will be.  I keep expecting her foot to experience some sort of growth spurt, but so far that's not happening.  She's wearing size 3 diapers.

Her sleep has finally back to normal (praise the LORD).  She's back to sleeping from ~7:30 - 7 without waking.  Occasionally she'll wake up and roam around for her paci, but she goes right back to sleep. 

She eats lots of foods - I really think she likes the savory foods over the sweets at this point, but who really knows.  But the girl can scarf down spinach, rutabagas, broccoli, beets - you name it.  She does make a sour face with banana yogurt, but eats it nonetheless.  I'm pretty sure she also gets quite a bit of other yummies from grandma - including gravy & biscuit, pizza crust, shredded cheese, etc.  She's also made big strides this month with her pincher grasp - she is officially getting at least half of the puffs in her mouth. And she's is doing better with her sippies - she will drink out of them like a champ, but (just like with her bottle) she prefers not to hold it.  I hold her bottles for her - not the sippies.  We prefer the Nubi (with handles), Gerber soft spout (with handles), or the Playtex 1st Sipster (also with handles).  Each of those sippies have handles and a silicone OR soft spout.  We haven't graduated to the hard spouts yet.

She loves to play with her toys in the floor, and loves all the attention her brothers give her.  She laughs so hard at those boys.  I can only hope that they continue to love and adore each other the way they do now.

New developments this month include:

• A 3rd tooth (that makes 3 on the bottom)
• Learned to clap
• Said "papa" (her first word)
• First visit from the Easter bunny

 

An Evening In My Shoes...

I've always said that my hardest job starts after I leave the bank.  The hours of 6PM - 9PM are "go time" in our house.  I mean - it is a real zoo at the Rutledge house in the evenings.  I'm not so sure that people always take me seriously, so today I am giving you a recap of my evening yesterday.  Brace yourself.

5:20PM - I walk in the door, check the mail and change clothes.  Brandon hasn't gotten home with the kids yet, so I breathe in the quiet air and put on my tennis shoes.

5:30PM - I meet my neighbor on the sidewalk for one of our usual walks.  I really walk for my mental health more than my physical health.  It's a total sanity saver.   Have I mentioned to you all that I'm doing The Color Run this Saturday?? Yea - not ready for this one at all.

6:20PM - I am done with my walk and my family is home.  I walk in the back door to Brooks who meets me with a big happy smile and yells "We're cuttin' the gass momma!  I go with Daddy!" Brandon confirms that he's taking the boys outside to cut the grass.  Tessa's crying in her exersaucer because Brandon walked out of her line of view, so I go to pick her up.

6:23PM - Brandon asks the boys to go change pants before cutting the grass.  Brooks immediately goes to change clothes.  Will simultaneously starts whining that he loooovvvvveeeessss his current pants (pj pants) and doesn't want to change them.

6:25PM - Will is pitching a royal fit and still in pajamas.  He's literally crying so hard you would think his leg has been torn off.  (I'm going to let you in on a dirty little Rutledge marriage secret - the biggest source of angst in my marriage comes from Brandon saying one thing, and me saying another.)  So even though I couldn't care less if the child wears pajamas to cut the grass, Brandon said change clothes and I am sticking by him.  Will has to change to go outside.  I tell him that he has to stay inside with me until he can calm down, stop whining and change pants.

6:35PM - Tessa is in high chair with a Mum Mum (I really don't know what that is other than to say it looks like a disgusting baby rice cake - but she loves those things!)  Will is still crying.  I get all the ingredients for meatloaf out.  Brandon has been asking for meatloaf every night for at least a week and this is my late attempt to please him.

6:40PM - I put Will at the table with crayons, scissors, pencils and a few workbook pages.  He's still upset (and in his pajamas) and this is my feeble attempt at distracting him long enough to get the meatloaf in the oven.

6:41PM - Will is crying because he can't cut straight on the lines of his workbook page.  I remind him that he picked that page (not me) and that he can choose another page if he likes.  I still haven't touched the meatloaf.

6:45PM - Will has decided to practice handwriting rather than cutting, so I give him a new page & throw away the one he gave up on, give a crying Tessa her second Mum Mum and move back to the meatloaf ingredients. 

6:50PM - I have my bowls all ready to go - measuring cups are out and I'm about to get elbow deep in the ground beef when Will starts crying because he's noticed that I threw away the old sheet and he was "going to keeeeepppppp itttttttt."  I put on my best patient face and get down on his level - I explain that we can get a new sheet, but that he needs to calm down so that he can go outside with Brooks and Daddy.  He remembers that Brooks and Daddy are outside and goes storming off to his room screaming at the top of his lungs.  I try think about all the things that I love about him, instead of the fact that I want to strangle him.

7:00PM - Before I get all messy with ground beef, I decide to move Tessa from her high chair to the floor so that I don't have to worry about giving her snacks with ecoli hands.  Will is still crying in his room.  I shut his door to block out the noise.

7:05PM - I start dumping ingredients as fast I can into the mixing bowl.  I mix the ground beef in with my hands. 

7:06PM - Will is now kicking something in his room.  I swear under my breath and put everything back in the bowl.  I wash my hands, dry them off and walk to Will's room.  Tessa sees me walk past her room and she starts crying too.

7:10PM - I ask Will why he's crying and he says (while crying) that he doesn't know.  He's been crying for almost an hour now.  My mommy senses make me think something else is going on.  I check for fever - no fever.  I finally get him calmed down by giving in and telling him he can go outside if can change clothes and put his shoes on.  I put some blinky noisy toys in front of the crying baby and head back to the meatloaf.

7:15PM - Still mixing the meatloaf and Tessa is crying so hard that she's holding her breath.  I look at the raw ground beef in front of me and seriously consider licking it, in hopes that a good case of ecoli would mean I could lie in bed alone for a few days.  I wash my hands again and go pick her up.  I put her back in her high chair and give her another pack of baby rice cakes.  I wonder if too much rice will make her tummy hurt, but I'm too stressed to think of another solution.  She takes it, and eats it still crying.  It's her bed time and at this point I consider the time and the fact that the meatloaf takes more than an hour to cook.  I make the decision to let her cry and hurry through with getting dinner in the oven so that we can eat before 9PM.

7:16PM - Will comes into the kitchen and asks for help with his shoes.  I don't want to set him off into another crying fit, so I wash my hands and agree to help.  The baby is still crying.  And because I've washed my hands about 10 times in 30 mins, my skin feels like it's burning off when I rinse them off.  I want to cry.  I want to take the meatloaf and stick it up Brandon's nose.

7:17PM - Will finally has his shoes on and I say something funny to get a smile out of him.  He laughs and snot flies from his nose into his mouth.  He immediately starts crying AND gagging.  I hurry to get the snot out of his mouth before he pukes.  That is the last thing I need.

7:18PM - I send Will outside, put the meatloaf mixture into the baking dish and wash my hands again.  I'm pretty sure I see my actual skin peel off and go down the drain.  Tessa is still crying, so I go to her first.  Brandon walks in for a drink and I make a smart comment about how much I hope he loves his meatloaf.  He shoots me a look and slams the door as he goes back out into the yard.  That didn't go well.  Siggghhhhh.....

7:30PM - I sit down to feed Tessa.  She's as happy as a clam now that I'm holding her.  I immediately forget about the hell I've just been through and snuggle up to my sweet girl.  I think about how I was just at work 2 hours ago.  It was only 2 hours, but it feels like a lifetime ago.  I think about how different my life is from anyone I work with. 

7:45PM - The boys come in and head for the shower.  I apologize to Brandon for smarting off and he not-so-graciously accepts.

8:15PM - I lay Tessa in her crib and turn out her lights.  One down, two more to go.

8:20PM - The oven timer goes off and I put the topping on the meatloaf and put it back in the oven for 30 minutes.  The boys come bounding into the kitchen asking for their supper.  I consider the time and my energy level.  Knowing Will won't eat red meat anyway, I pop a few corn dogs into the microwave, throw some cheese puffs and applesauce on their paper plates and call it dinner.  Hey - it could be worse. 

8:35PM - The boys are done eating and beg for me to read to them.  We brush teeth, get vitamins, and head to bed with our latest (and first) chapter book - The House in the Big Woods. 

8:50PM - From the boys' bed I hear the oven timer go off.  I hear Brandon get out of his recliner and get the meatloaf out.  He sits it on the stove top.

9:15PM - I finish another chapter of the boys' book and tuck them in.  Two more hugs.  One more tuck in.  Night light on, then off, then on again.  All three children are now in bed.

9:22PM - I walk into the kitchen to find that Brandon has already cut himself a big piece of meatloaf.  There's only one problem with it - the inside is still red.  I ask him if he ate any, because obviously it needs to cook longer.  His answer "I was going to ask you about that.  How much longer does it need?"  I want to cry.  I put it back in the oven, and set the timer for 25 more minutes.  I think about how hungry I am, but also how chubby I am.  I think that the last thing I should do right now is eat meatloaf at 10PM.  So I go to bed.

At 9:30PM I walk into my bedroom, finally take off my sweaty walking clothes, brush my teeth and go to bed.  I don't shower.  I don't take my makeup off.  I feel defeated.  I feel like a crappy mom because 2 out of 3 of my kids cried all evening.  I feel like a cruddy wife because it's late and Brandon hasn't eaten dinner.  And I'm hungry.  So I just curl up in my unmade bed and go to sleep.

And THAT my friends is what a pretty typical evening in the Rutledge house looks like.  Not always - but often.  Does it make you jealous?  Yea - I didn't think so.

Tessa @ 7 months

Our girl is 7 months old today!  I can't believe how fast her first year is flying by - with each child, time goes by much faster.  Tessa is still a sweet girl - but she has developed a little bit of a temper/spoiled nature this month.  She feels like she must be held or at the very least, played with 95% of the time.  Grandma I tell you - GRANDMA!

Tessa is growing by leaps and bounds.  I'm not sure what she weighs, but she is wearing 9 month clothing, or 6-12 months depending on the brand.  Some of her 6-12 month one piece outfits are way too short now, thanks to her long torso, but the 12-18 month is still way too big.  (Why do clothing manufacturers torture us??)  She has graduated to size 3 diapers and still has about an inch left in her 0-6 month shoes (little feet like her mom).

Probably her very favorite thing to do is sit in the floor with her toys surrounding her.  She still tolerates her exersaucer, but the whining starts after about 10 minutes.  She isn't so crazy about her swing anymore, but I still force her into it, just out of dire need to buckle her in somewhere for a few minutes.

We have started trying sippy cups, and for now we're sticking to the Nuby silicone cups (until she figures out how to bite the nipple and let water run down her face - then she will be forced to graduate to the hard spout).  Sometimes she gets it, sometimes not.  No worries - we're just practicing.

I noticed her trying to get her knees under her a few times in the last couple of days.  As my friend Ann would say, I immediately knocked her down.  (Just kidding - but sooooo not ready for mobile baby).  She is teething again - this time for the top two teeth.  Hopefully, she'll get some relief soon.

Her sleeping is awful right now.  She usually picks a 2 hour period between 2 and 5AM to wake up and cry/whine/play around in her crib.  Being the mean mommy that I am, I don't get her out of her crib.  We just go in from time to time and replace the paci.  It is impossible for mommy and daddy to sleep through, so we're all ill and tired lately.  Oh well - this too shall pass, right?

So excited to have her (and her brothers') pictures made this month.  Hopefully, I will be able to share those soon :)

Here are a few outtakes from her 7 month "photo shoot" -

Brooks @ 3 Years Old

I can't explain to you how awesome this little guy is.  Unless you've gotten to know him, you probably wouldn't notice, but he is one of the coolest kids I know - and I'm not just saying that because I'm his momma :)

One of my greatest joys in motherhood has been watching my kids become little people with their own personalities.  I hope that I always encourage my children to be who they want to be, to love what they love and to not worry about always fitting in.  Brooks always walks to the beat of his own heart.  He is a man who knows what he likes, and will accept nothing less.  And I LOVE that about him.

When he was a toddler, I called him my little politician because he never met a stranger.  In restaurants, he would wave and say hello to everyone as we walked to our table.  People smiled in return as he offered them his signature dimply grin.  Although a little more timid now that he's older, he is still my more social child.  While his brother hides behind me and waits for me to enter a room first, Brooks usually beats me to the door - with his little chest poked out.  At birthday parties and social gatherings, Brooks can often be found having the time of his life all by himself without a single thought about what the other children are doing.  It's not that he's intimidated to play with them, because he does socialize quite well, he just wants to do what HE thinks is fun, even if that means playing alone.  LOVE that.

He is fearless and "as tough as a pine knot".  When big brother is too afraid to go into a dark room and turn on the light, Brooks will gladly do it for him.  When he falls and scrapes his knee, he may cry, but he has usually stopped before I can even get to him.  He'll go down any slide, any time, anywhere - no fear.

Brooks is also my best eater.  He is always willing to try new foods, and rarely decides he doesn't like something.  He's not big on berries (may be the tartness) or some of the tougher meats, but he loves veggies, casseroles, pizza and pasta.  His very favorite foods are cheese (cooked or uncooked), jelly biscuits, tacos and potato soup.  He LOVES mustard and requests it will anything that he feels needs a little "somethin" extra.  I do think he prefers the savory foods over sweets at this point, but he doesn't shy away from desserts either!

He has the most mischievous little grins you've ever seen.  When he knows he's doing something that's not allowed, he'll almost always give it away with his facial expressions.  His big blue eyes have such a gleam, and his little mouth curls up in the most precious way that it's almost impossible to keep a straight face while punishing him. 

On his 3rd birthday, his favorite things are his papa, "ill" (Will), "excavers" (excavators), Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, "yegos" (legos), pajamas, watching Disney Jr on the ipad, Temple Run and Perry the Platapus on his ipod, his farm toys and playing in the dirt.  He always always has to have a toy in his hand to go to sleep - sometimes a toy in EACH hand.  His brother Will is his best buddy and he loves to hold his baby sister in his lap.

Brooks is potty trained and sleeping in a twin size bed in a shared room with his brother.  He is my most independant child so far.  Every morning, I give both boys a pair of socks, shoes, and their jacket (they go to grandma's in their pjs).  Every single time, Brooks has his socks, shoes and jacket on completely before Will has even stopped whining for me to help him get his socks on.  I love his independant nature, and I like to think that he got that part of his personality from his momma (because he resembles me in no other way).

His behavior is so so.  I mean, he is 3, so what else can be expected?  He is often caught doing things that he has JUST been told not to do.  He likes to climb things - think his dresser, pantry shelves, etc... he also loves the occasional bed jump, taking toys, and hitting his brother.  I don't really think he would haul off and hit another child - but your brother doesn't count though, right?  He likes to fight with his brother over toys, and try to get away with "no nos" while we're not looking.

Brooks is such a fun and vibrant boy.  His little guilty grin and snickering laugh make him impossible not to love.  And he loves so freely.  He will be the first one to tell you "I ove you momma" or "I ove you 'ill".  He still has several speech issues - I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one that understands what he's saying sometimes.  I'm a little concerned about this, but I know from experience that the 3rd year is a year full of growth and development, so I'm trying to be patient and allow him room to correct some issues on his own.  For example, he will not say his "Ys" when saying "yes" or "yellow".  He says "es" and "eyyow".  He does use the "y" sound when saying "Ls", like "I no yike that momma."  He also still uses phrases like "I'm are" and "I no like that."

We had a small (not really small in number, but small in that I didn't do anything but cake and balloons) birthday party for him last weekend at our house.  Me being the awesome person that I am, did not take one.single.picture.  Oops.  Totally forgot.  But he had a great time and when asked what his favorite part was, he of course answered "cake."

I love love love this mischievous, handsome, easy-going, sweet boy.  He is a all-boy and makes the world take notice when his feet hit the floor in the mornings.  I can't wait to see where this little man goes in life.  When I imagine him as a teenager and young man, I imagine a boy who will have many friends, and probably many girlfriends.  I see him being the child I never see because he'll be my socialite.  I see him being athletic and the child that I have to threaten to do his homework.  He will have a blast in college (just like his momma) and worry me to death.  I am so excited to go on many adventures with our little man.  We love you Brooks - all the way to the moon and the stars!!

(I miss the curls so much)

Tessa @ 6 Months

My sweet lovebug is officially half a year old.  She is getting soooo big and continues to be the picture of happiness 95% of the time.  Other times not-

She is eating more and more solids without making sour faces.  She gobbles it all up pretty quickly these days.  I wouldn't say that she has any real favorites.  Some days she goes nuts over peaches, and some days it mangos.  She also loves sweet potatoes.  She takes 5-6 ounces every 3 to 4 hours during the day.

In her 5th month, getting her to eat solids was a challenge, and sleep is the challenge in her 6th month.  She's started breaking free of her straight jacket swaddle blanket and it's quickly becoming unsafe.  Night one of no swaddle resulted in crying every 30 mins and by 3:30AM, mommy and daddy caved and swaddled her up.  (Hey! We had to sleep so we could work the next day!!)  Night two, she went down great & woke up only twice.  She didn't cry either time, but we definitely knew she was awake from all the babbling coming from the monitor.  Night three (last night), was a little more difficult BUT she had her 6 month shots yesterday and I know that had a lot to do with it.  After a little tylenol, she slept wonderfully.  We'll see how tonight goes. (Edited to add - she has NOT been sleeping great since the change. Oh well - no going back!)

She learned to sit on her own this month!  So excited for this milestone.  I really love being able to plop baby down in the floor with toys.  She still isn't so steady that I would put her down on the hard surfaced floors of the house, but definitely the carpet.  Who am I kidding - our hard surfaced floors are too gross to put baby on :/  Serious.

Her 6 month stats were:  17lbs and 10 ounces (70%).  28 inches long (95+%).  Head size is off the charts too (just like her brothers).

She still loves her exersaucer and her favorite source of entertainment - her brothers!  She loves to play with her toys and chew on everything.  She still has only 2 teeth.  She is such a joy and smiles 95% of her time awake.  The other 5% of the time she's upset because she's sleepy.  She's like her mama in that if she's sleepy, she's mad :)

I think it's also important to add that her grandparents and Aunt Kristian have officially spoiled my girl.  She thinks she needs to be held quite a bit now ;)  I swear it wasn't me that did this!

(Her eyelashes make even her momma swoon)

ETA - This post is way late (like she's going to be 7 months old in two days), but I did write it just as she turned 6 months old.  I just didn't get this pics added until today ;)

Something On My Mind...

A few months ago, I began to see a lot of my friends pinning things like 40 Ways to Pray for Your Husband and 8 Tips for Being A Better Wife.  After I read a few of these, I felt so angry and I didn't know why.  I couldn't really say that I don't want be a better wife - I do.  I also couldn't say that I don't pray for my husband, because I do that as well - just not in the ways that these posts were suggesting.   One highly repinned post suggested that I pray certain prayers for my husband.  Some of them sounded logical enough - pray for his relationship with God - okay, sounds good.  Others had me wrinkling my eyebrows - pray for him to continue being a good provider for our family.  Pray for him to resist temptation from other women, etc, etc... huh?  I'm confused - am I praying for my husband or am I praying for ME at this point? Why am I supposed to be spending my time in prayer with Christ keeping my husband from temptation, when I need to be praying that I keep MY OWN head on straight.  When I finished the post, I felt like I was expected to carry the burden of my husband's indescretions.  Like - if he cheats on me, is it because I didn't pray for him enough? OR if his job doesn't allow me to stay at home with our children, is he an inadequet husband and father?  OH CRAP!  What does this mean about me if I sometimes LIKE working outside of the home?? In the post titled 8 Tips for Being A Better Wife, the writer suggested "Don't make your husband ask you twice - if he asks you to do something, do it then and he'll know he can depend on you." Ummmmm - so does this mean that if I have to ask him 25 times to take the trash out that he clearly can't be trusted to feed the children if I have dinner with my girlfriend??  Or do I even get to have friends anymore??  I'm confused.

WHY in the world are we doing this to ourselves?  Why are we becoming so obsessed with proving ourselves to be the most loving, self-sacrificing, all-encompassing wives and mothers on the planet??  I mean, is it not enough that we work hard, whether in the home or at the office, raise our babies and have loving relationships with our husbands?  Why are we not satisfied with that?  It seems these days, it's not enough to pour your kid a bowl of cereal and drop him off at school before a long day at the office.  You're not doing enough if you're not hand sewing your child's halloween treats for pre-k (and lord forbid you don't send a similar small homemade gift for each appropriate federal holiday thereafter!)  You obviously aren't spending enough quality time with your child if she's not reading by age 3.  All of this AND you're not being the "best wife" if your husband asks you twice to pick up his dry cleaning.

I am so over it.  I'm over having discussions about homemade baby food.  Let the kid eat cheerios and bananas and mashed potatoes.  I'm pretty sure that's what I was fed.  I don't want to talk about how long it's appropriate to breastfeed.  That's your business and no one else's.  WHY does it matter to anyone other than the two people participating - unless it's your husband and then don't make him ask you twice to stop!  Geeeezzzz ladies - stop the madness!

And when I say I'm over it - I really mean it.  I am typing this to you from a happy and loving home where my husband warmed up his own leftovers tonight and fed the kids cheese puffs for supper as I walked with a neighbor.  I was the dreaded mother who sent store bought valentines to the pre-k this year and I'm happily registering my oldest for PUBLIC kindergarten next week.  Look - life is hard enough.  I have decided to free myself from the craziness of Pinterest-inspired marriages and MOPS group lifestyles.  I love my family.  I love our life.  And if my husband can't resist the temptation of other women without me spending an hour a day in prayer over it, then we've got bigger problems.  Try it girls - let it go :0)

A Tornado Hits Our Town

We live in a VERY small town.  Think 2 or 3 stop lights.  The city limits span only 4 or 5 miles and the whole town boasts less than 5,000 people.  So when an F3 tornado spanning 1/2 mile wide tears through the middle of your very small town, it pretty much tears the whole town to pieces.  Last Wednesday started out like many other days...

I sent two babies off to Grandma's and Will off to preschool.  The weather forecast promised some nasty weather and we were already under a tornado watch.  I am not afraid of storms in the least (thanks to my dad who used to make me sit in his lap on the porch and watch the storms come through, but that's another story probably better suited for a therapist...) so I brushed off everyone's drama over the weather and pressed on with the day.  Will's preschool director even posted on Facebook about whether or not to cancel school and I commented that "nothing's guaranteed" and that school should continue on. 

By 9:30AM, everyone in my office was buzzing about the weather.  One of my bosses (am I the only one with like 3 or 4 bosses in one building?) came in and started again on the weather.  I said "I'm going to need more coffee if we're going to discuss the weather all day."  Little did I know I would have to eat those words later.

By 10:15, parts of our county were under a tornado warning. The town 20 miles south of us was in the path of a storm, but nothing for Adairsville.  At 10:45, my father-in-law called to tell me that instead of waiting until noon to pick Will up, he wanted to check him out early.  He "didn't like the weather" and I told him it was okay to pick him up early.  I laid my phone down and walked away from my office.  I went into my co-worker's office and scoffed about an over-protective grandpa being worried about his grandson.  Boy would I feel like an idiot later...

At 11:08, I went back to my office and noticed a missed call from Will's school.  The call had come at 10:58.  When I tried to call back, the office administrator answered and said "Will has just been picked up.  We were trying to get all the kids checked out, but he's already gone.  We're taking shelter now" and that was it.  I walked out of my office, with my phone in my hand.  There were no sirens going off.  I walked in front of the windows that face the back side of the bank, looking south towards Will's school (1/2 mile away).  The sky was dark and gray but nothing I hadn't seen before.  I mentioned to my co-worker that the clouds look low and creepy - almost like they didn't know where to go.

It was 11:15 at this point and I walked away from the windows and out into the bank lobby.  A customer came into the lobby, saying that the ATM was out of order.  As I went to help this customer, I heard, what we in the south call a "commotion" coming from the window I had just left.  My co-workers had spotted the funnel cloud moving toward the bank from the south.  And just like that, the lights started flickering.  Still no sirens.  After 15-20 seconds of flickering lights, the power went out for good.  People poured out of their offices, someone locked the front door to the bank in the dark, we grabbed the customer who was still upset about the ATM and ran for the vault.  10 adults in a very dark, 8X10 vault.  As soon as we were in the vault, my phone started lighting up "Are you taking cover?" "Are you okay?"  "Tornado in Adairsville. U ok?"  I sent a mass reply "In vault.  No power.  Funnel came right at us."

From the vault, I could see the windows in the lobby.  I saw gray.  That's all I saw.  I couldn't tell you if it was clouds, debris, or rain - it was just like a solid gray blanket hung over the windows.  We didn't hear the "train" you hear people who've lived thru tornados talk about.  To me, it sounded more like the sky growling at us.  Like a rolling thunderous growl.  After about 3-5 minutes the growling stopped and we heard police sirens - LOTS of police sirens.  We figured if the police were driving down the road, we were probably clear to come out of the vault.  We were all pretty quiet as we each tried to get enough cell service to call our loved ones.  More police flew by.  Ambulances and firetrucks flew past too.  I called to check on my kids (who were not in Adairsville).  They were fine.  I called Brandon (also not in Adairsville).  He was fine - just concerned about me and the house.  OH CRAP THE HOUSE.  I knew that the tornado had come directly at the bank from the south side of town.  Right where my neighborhood is.

I grabbed my keys and tried to get to the car.  The torrential rain was too much.  I wasn't going to be able to leave the bank.  I tried to get my neighbors.  After a few tries, my neighbors confirmed that our neighborhood was okay.  I relaxed.  My family and home was safe.  The 10 of us found seats in the dark lobby of the bank and listened to COUNTLESS emergency sirens fly by.  The roof started pouring water in several different spots.  We were all kind of emotionless as we shoved trash cans under the water.  Rumors were starting to pour in via text and Facebook.  Adairsville was gone.  The one grocery store was demolished.  I got wind that my son's school had been hit.  The same school he was at 15 minutes before the whole nightmare began.  I immediately asked God to forgive me for being a crappy mom (at least that's what I felt like) and thanked Him for keeping His hand on my family.

After several hours in the dark bank, with no food and soaked to the bone from my one attempt at leaving, a co-worker and I got in the car in search of food.  All we could see was the incredible amount of emergency vehicles everywhere - from counties and cities all over the state.  We knew that it was bad, but couldn't really tell the extent of the damage.  We found food in a neighboring town and tried to bring it back to our stranded co-workers.  The state patrol officers at the edge of town gave us a hard time about getting back into town, but we eventually made it back to the bank.

At 4:00, we decided it was time to try to get home.  Every.Single.Road between the bank and my house was closed due to damage.  The damage was horrendous.  People standing in the road where their homes used to stand.  Emergency crews everywhere.  Trees lying in the road and on homes.  The whole town smelled of wood.  Like a lumber yard - except it was from trees that were splintered by the storm.  There were mattresses, clothing, and home insulation in the trees that were still standing.  It was all too familiar to the storm damage 2 years ago on my in-law's farm.  After a 40 minute drive to my house that's 1/2 mile from the bank, I made it home.

Home was good.  Home was great.  The storm missed my home by about 200 yards.  Since the storm, I have thought MANY times about how a storm 1/2 a mile wide can split the 3/4 of a mile distance between my home and my office and not hit either place directly.  I've spent lots of time thanking God for my father-in-law and his decision to go get my baby before the tornado hit his school.

So many people have reached out to me - via phone, text, and Facebook.  I really appreciate everyone's concern.  We feel very loved and most definitely blessed beyond measure :)