Tornado 4-14-2012

I just want everyone in the blog world to know that my family is safe after the tornado that hit our town last night around 7:00 p.m.

We were warned a few days before that severe weather and tornadoes were a serious risk to our area. I used the day to prepare our home and pack tornado bags just in case we had to go to the basement. By the time 7:00 rolled around, our power went out.

As soon as the power went out, hail, rain, and wind started pouring (and I mean POURING) down. The color outside was a scary shade of green/grey and then the wind got really, really terrible. I looked at Charles and said, "I think we need to get to the basement NOW!" He looked at me and said, "I think you're right."  I grabbed Vivian (who was napping at the time) and looked outside when everything stopped. Charles and I just looked at each other. We didn't know what was going on.

We got our storm radio wound up and found a radio station that said that our county was in a Tornado Warning... but it only had 2 more minutes until it was over. I said, "Do you think that was  a tornado or a micro-burst?!" We weren't sure.

We didn't have power or phones until about 9:30 last night and I updated my Facebook to let everyone know that we were fine.

We heard a little while later that it was a confirmed tornado that hit under a mile away from our house.

We were all upstairs when it hit. The sirens NEVER went off.

We are extremely lucky.

This morning Charles went outside. He came back in to tell me that the tree in our backyard was knocked over and landed on our neighbor's shed. I got the camera and started snapping photos. Here are the before and after photos of our tree.

Our tree before the tornado

The Tree after it fell over from the winds caused by the tornado.

Our neighbor's shed... or what's left of it...

The inside of our tree was rotten... probably why it knocked over so easily.

The inside of our tree was rotten... probably why it knocked over so easily.

Our Neighbor's shed with the contents in the yard.

I've cried and cried today in gratitude for the preservation of our lives and our home. The damage around town is bad. Our hospital got hit as well as the college, some apartments, homes, and cars. I am not sure about injuries or fatalities, but I'll keep everyone updated on what I find via Facebook. Thank you to everyone who has emailed, Facebook messaged, and called me to check on our family. We have great friends and family.

The First Half of Our Year

This post contains our year from January 2011 to the end of June 2011!

Starting the year off, Charles and I decided to get back into shape. We got memberships at the Y in town and started going daily! I would go to Zumba on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, while attending the Ramp-It class on Tuesday and Thursday. Charles would go an hour before my classes or the hour following, depending on the day. We worked together and supported each other! The first week I attended Zumba, I dropped 7 lbs! I was SUPER happy! Charles was toning up, but there wasn't a real change on the scale.

Rosalie and Caitlin on Valentines Day

By February, I had dropped 20 lbs and I wasn't feeling too good. I would go to work out and get really sick afterwards. Charles and I headed to the store after I got out of Zumba and I couldn't walk without feeling like I was going to vomit. We looked at each other and decided it would be best to get a pregnancy test. This is what we saw when we got home and I took the test:

Test taken on 2/21/2011

We didn't really know what to think at first. We were NOT trying to get pregnant. Although this was a happy moment for us, it was dimmed by the fact that all we could talk about was how we weren't ready for a third baby. The Jeep only seats 4, so we would need a new vehicle. I was still breastfeeding Rosalie. I had a PAP Smear scheduled for that week to see if any of the precancerous cells grew back from the time I had my surgery to remove part of my cervix that had abnormal cells on it. We were pretty scared. We immediately started talking about our options if I had another abnormal PAP. I didn't like talking about it, but it was something we had to decide on. Have this baby be our last, or get the surgery needed and lose the baby to have more later.

At my appointment, I told my doctor of my concerns and asked him what our options were going to be. He told us not to worry about it until we get the results. If everything was fine with my cervix, he didn't want me stressing the baby out. We agreed and prayed that everything would work out.

A few weeks later, our concerns were put to rest when everything was fine! My PAP was normal and we were beyond happy! We finally celebrated our pregnancy! But we kept it to ourselves for quite some time. I continued attending Zumba, but I was working out moderately with my doctor's permission.

March brought many happy family memories! My brother Mikey married his love, Megan, on the 5th! Charles and I were in the wedding party and Caitlin was the flower girl! We didn't get many pictures, but here are the ones we took! (Rosie isn't in too many because she slept off and on all night!)

Daddy and his Flower Girl!

Mommy and her Flower Girl!

The B-E-A-Utiful bride, Megan, with me!

Family photo back at the hotel! There was a better one taken professionally at the reception!

We celebrated Caitlin's SECOND birthday with a Dora party! She helped me color all the decorations and did a fantastic job! We invited all of our family and a few good friends! She got a ton of gifts and I had to do most of the opening becuase she would get a Dora present and not want to continue opening the rest! It was pretty comical! Here are some pics of her on her special day!

Caitlin on the actual day of her birthday, March 24th.

Caity in her Dora hat and Dora outfit playing her Dora guitar!

We announced to the world that we were expecting our third baby in April when I was about 15 weeks along. I had started bleeding really heavily and we figured that the more people knew about it, they could pray for us and our baby. The day I started bleeding, we had an emergency ultrasound and found that our baby was doing very well. I had a Subchorionic Hematoma and it was good that I was bleeding. The more blood that came out, the smaller the blood clot would be. From that moment on, I was on restricted activity until the blood clot was gone (my body should absorb it.). I had my blood drawn for the routine down syndrome/Spina Bifida/etc. screen. I got a call the next day from my doctor saying my blood work was abnormal and that I needed to go to Des Monies for a level 2 ultrasound to see if the baby was alright.

With everything that was going on up until that point, I collapsed on the floor after the phone call sobbing. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. And me and my fragile pregnant self had had enough. We went to Mom's house and I got a priesthood blessing from Charles and his Father. The blessing was comforting. The next day we dropped our girls off and headed to Des Monies for our ultrasound. We discussed what needed to happen with our home if we had a special needs child. It was never a matter of "why us? why would two healthy people conceive a special needs baby?". It was a matter of "what can we do to love and support our child?".

The ultrasound went fantastic. We were reassured by the doctor that our baby was just fine and that SHE (!) was perfect in all ways. The test results were off because of the subchorionic hematoma. Testing blood that early in pregnancy is a growing science. In cases like ours, it was unsettling to not know what was going on in the beginning, but research now could say that the test results can be thrown off for subchorionic hematomas. We were happy to have been told that we were expecting our third daughter! It was the best part of the whole scary process! We decided on her name in that room and decided to kept it a secret until her birth!

A regular Little Mermaid marathon for Rosie and Caity!

On May 11, our area was struck with a few tornadoes. A city not far from us had been hit by 2 tornadoes within a short amount of time. We were in the basement for about 3 hours that day. The girls didn't like it very much, but I had plenty of snacks and games to play.

Having a "picnic" in the basement during the tornado warning!

Rosalie celebrated her very FIRST birthday on May 21! I spent two weeks making her invites to send them out in time enough for people to RSVP. I made her birthday a pink ninja themed party! Ever since Rosalie could crawl, she would be in one room one second, then a different room the next. I can't tell you how many times I had to drop everything and search for my baby! Rosalie is a ninja! We had family and friends over for her party! She kept trying to attack her cake before we could sing her "Happy Birthday" so in the first picture, she was crying! But by that time, I just let her have at it! It was her cake! ;)

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Rosie!

Rosie playing with one of her many gifts!

After her party, our friends Mike and Karmen invited us over to their house to hang out. I don't know who remembers this, but May 21, 2011, was suppose to be the day of the rapture according to Harold Camping. At 6 that night, when this rapture was suppose to have happened, Rosalie started walking for the first time! We were pretty pumped! We didn't have our camera that night, but we caught some of her walking later on!

Here she comes!

June was a fun month for us! The girls would watch Tangled about 3 times in a row in the morning, nap, then we'd go outside to soak up the sun for hours! They just LOVED playing outside! It was nice for me because both girls now walked and I didn't have to carry Rosie around my big belly!

Every year near the end of June, Charles' work pays for their employees to go to Adventureland in Des Monies for a day. We debated on going or not because it was chilly that day. But the weather became nice at home, so we decided to load up and go. But by the time we go to Des Monies, it was chilly again and we weren't really prepared for it. I didn't bring the girls blankets and dressed them in tank tops and shorts. BAD CALL on my part... But the girls had a lot of fun! And didn't get sick! Rosalie and I couldn't ride any rides, but we had fun watching Charles and Caity!

Caity on the Ladybug ride!

Rosalie watching while eating goldfish!

Our family on the train!

July -- So Far

Our 4th of July Sunday Outfits!


The Happy Couple!

Well we've been having issues with the wireless internet and have decided that we are going to go ahead and go through a different provider and hope that we have less issues. We have been discussing it for a while now and Charles flat out said that he is tired of waiting for pages to load, pictures to download, etc. He wants to be able to play games online that don't freeze for a while or quit on him every 10 minutes. I agree! But on my side, I hate waiting for half an hour for one picture to upload to my facebook or my Blog.... it gets really old, really fast!

Anywho, July started off wonderful! We had a GORGEOUS week during the end of June and the beginning of July! Not a cloud in the sky for about 5 days straight! Followed by a storm front that moved in and rained out all the activities that were suppose to go on in town on the 3rd and 4th. No parade, no carnival, no fireworks... NOTHING. The rain so so heavy at times that we couldn't see 2 houses down the street! It was crazy! Our city moved the fireworks to July 31st and canceled the carnival and parade all together. We were very upset. Mostly because the 31st is my 5 year High School Reunion and I've already sent in my RSVP that I will be attending.

Our brother in law brought over some small fireworks to do at Mom's house on Tuesday and Caitlin freaked out... so it's probably best that we aren't going to see the fireworks anyway. Caitlin has been going through a lot in July alone.

We took her in for her 15 month check up on June 30th and found out that she weighs a whopping 27 lbs and is 32 inches long. Our baby girl is a toddler now! Dr. G noticed that she had a bite or two along her diaper line on her left side between her hip and belly button. He told me to keep an eye on them and keep them clean and dry. I was doing quite well until July 2nd when I noticed that the bite had become pimple like with a head. Charles popped it and drained out what was inside. I put Neosporin on it and that was mistake number one. It irritated her bite and it just got worse from that point on.

On the 3rd, I ended up calling the ER because she was running a fever and not eating. The man told me to let her take plenty of baths with Epsom salt to soak the bite and help in draining it. Caitlin LOVED that part! She's such a water baby! After the first bath, the bite came to another nasty head and I just left it alone. No place in town had the ointment we needed for her bite. We knew we'd have to wait until Monday to look again for the next shipment, if any, had come in.

Sunday we gave her 3 soak-baths and it continued to drain. Monday came and she was swollen all the way up to her ribs on the left side. We went back to the store and talked with the pharmacy to see if they had an order coming in for the ointment. We ended up special ordering it and having to wait another day.

Tuesday morning, Caitlin's swelling was down a little, so I gave her a soak-bath right away when she woke up. When I was toweling her off, I was patting her bite softly to soak up the puss that was now draining out. I don't know what took over me in the next few minutes after that, but I was prompted to touch around the bite since I noticed her skin wasn't moving naturally with her body. It was rock hard. I pushed down on it lightly and a mixture of blood and green puss starting flowing out of the bite opening. It smelled horrendous and was just gross. So much came out of it. Caitlin was screaming her head off, but I kept draining it until there was nothing left. I put a band aid on it and immediately called the Dr. He couldn't see her until Wednesday. They told me to bring her in when I had my appointment for my head pain.

Wednesday rolled around and I gave her another bath before our morning appointment, nothing came out of the bite when I pushed down on the hard part. Dr. G looked at it and said it was a good thing I had drained it the day before... it could have been much, much worse if I had left all that stuff inside of her. He put her on a double antibiotic and we have already seen a difference in her appetite and general attitude.

As for my head pain, Dr. G sent me to my chiropractor to see if the pain in my head is being caused by nerve end issues. He set me straight (haha) and the pain was immediately gone. Until about 8:30 last night when I started to have my first migraine. It was AWFUL. I have never had one before. And I hope to never have one again. I will be going back in on Monday to see what else we can do for the pain that is now all over in my head instead of just being on one side.

Keep us in your prayers! We need 'em!

Welcome June... Welcome Tornado Season

Yesterday was full of tornado warnings all over Iowa, Nebraska, and surrounding states. I honestly thought that we were quite lucky at mid-day when the first of the warnings hit in Northwest Iowa. It was sunny here. A little while later, the warnings got lower down towards our part of the state. But the sun was still shining here. Odd, I thought.

Charles got home and we wanted to head to the store right away because the storm clouds were moving in and I was getting nervous about having the girls out in the rain. We made it to Fareway and out again without getting rained on too terribly. I ran Rosalie out to the Jeep and Charles looked like a mad man running with Caity in the cart! The poor Fareway kid had to stand in the rain and load our groceries in the back of the Jeep. Bless his heart! And his job! Not to mention that I was standing right next to him helping! My job: Being a Mom!

We went to Hy-Vee next to try to find Ziti for the Chicken, Broccoli, Ziti One Skillet Supper I was going to be making for supper. That's when the first Warning in our area went off. There was a tornado about 20 miles east of our town. The sun was coming back out while behind us, it was almost black. That tornado hit a farm and caused over 3 million in damages. The family lost their home, machine shed, 2 combines, livestock, etc. After the tornado warning was lifted for that area, over 250 emergency response people and volunteers helped the family out and gathered livestock back into fenced areas. Photos and Story HERE.

We got home, I packed a "tornado diaper bag" for the girls and I started dinner making the comment, "I don't want this to be my last supper!" Dinner was amazing, by the way! I love America's Test Kitchen recipes! I kept an eye outside and watched the clouds.

It was about 7ish when I had the sudden urge to go look outside. Freaking-A... HUGE black wall cloud. By the time it took me to turn around to tell Charles about the wall cloud, the sirens started going off. The city JUST put a HUGE siren right outside our house, so it was hella loud. Charles and I looked at each other, I grabbed Rosalie and the diaper bag, he grabbed Caity and we ran downstairs.

Charles ran back up to get a sheet, the car seat, and some toys for Caity. The "rotation" was north of town so he felt safe enough to run up really quick. We stayed down in the basement for a good 30 minutes until the "all clear" was announced.

We eventually calmed down for the night, had family prayer, and put the girls down. We had an uneventful night... I thanked God! Now that we had a crash course in "running with the girls down to the basement", we are now fully prepared with our bags downstairs and a path cleared to run if needed.

Please pray for the family who lost their home and for safety over our area. No tornadoes, please! I didn't have babies to come into this world and be harmed by mother nature. Please keep us safe!