Wednesday, May 25, 2011

holy tornado warning, batman

what an eventful day-before Emarie turns 2 months old!  a tornado warning in KC.  i've lived in the midwest almost all my life (short and heavenly hiatus in college while on a student exchange to Colorado, then a year in oregon), so this isn't my first {tornado} rodeo.  i haven't experienced bad weather as a mom though.  a friend put it best yesterday on fb, she said, "tornado's aren't cool when you have kids", and this is SO true.

today started pretty much like any other day, well except that ryan woke up on the couch, due to the weather last night.  the craziness started about 11:15ish with this loud beeping in my kitchen. i realized the 30 bucks i spent on an all-weather radio yesterday (yes, just yesterday) was notifying me of a tornado watch.  i turned on the news station and didn't see anything.  soon the new station had started giving warnings and information.  i was watching all these funnel clouds forming in south KC.  and i started calling ryan at work.  he didn't think it was so bad, but he agreed it'd be a good idea to get things together just in case (smart as a whip that one is).  BUT what kind of things... i've never done this.  do you strap a baby into their carseat, maybe you grab their diaper bag, how about extra clothes, food, a paci?  i don't know, all their possessions?  if i could have, i would have taken her entire pack-n-play to the basement.  not sure why, but i would have.  in the end, i only grabbed two pillows, a blanket, the dogs, and her diaper bag.  and her, strapped to my chest with the baby bjorn.  once i was sitting under the stairs and waiting for a loud train-like noise (that's what people always say it sounds like), i realized neither E or me had shoes on.  she was in a t-shirt, pants, and no socks for gosh sakes.  OMG!  if a tornado was to come, we were to survive it, we'd be screwed afterwards.  what kind of mother am i... a brand spankin' new one, i guess.

next thing i know, i hear the sirens going off and the radio upgraded the tornado to a warning.  thunder is crashing, the dogs are nervous; am i painting a good picture?  i even heard the trash/recycle truck go down the street.  (and people say some city workers are lazy, ha, not the ones here).  i've actually never gone to a basement to take cover from a tornado.  we didn't have basements in OK, just a closet under the stairs, a bath tub, or in the hallway, if you were unlucky enough to be in Mrs. Jamison's first grade class at Peters Elementary in 1986-87.  why did mother nature brew up a tornado today, while my husband was at work.  doesn't she know i need help here.

obviously we are okay since i'm blogging about it, but there are people all over MO, KS, OK, and AR that are not as lucky as we are.  my heart goes out to the people that are rebuilding, mourning the loss of a loved one, and all the volunteers that are still looking for survivors.

with E turning 2 months tomorrow, i documented this nerve-racking event so she can appreciate chuckle at my parenting skills later on.  our family is thankful for our safety and we are thinking and praying for those people that have been affected by the devastating midwest weather these past few days. (some pics were taken on the iphone and aren't that good)

scary clouds from my back door

from my front door

closer up from my back door

here we are, taking cover

yes, i strapped my kid to my chest

under the stairs to the basement

not sure how safe we really would have been...
tara