Bryson: Eleven Months

Weight: 24.5 pounds.

Height: You haven't been measured since your 9-month appointment, at which you were 29 3/4 inches.  I would just about bet you're over 31 now.  Your 12-month jeans are a good inch too short.

Eating Habits:  You're down to 2 small bottles a day, once when you wake up and one right before bed.  You're getting the majority of your calories from real food and are a master at feeding yourself.  You are also getting diluted juice, which you LOVE.

Favorite Foods: You're definitely your Mama's boy because you LOVE spaghetti.  I make it with whole wheat elbow noodles because they're easier to hold than regular spaghetti and you absolutely go to town on it!

You eat bananas like they're going out of style.  Each morning, you have a whole banana and a waffle.  You always go for the banana first.  You have figured out how to peel them, but if you hold the whole banana, you shove it in your mouth and take a huge bite.  I'm talking a bite so big that you look like a squirrel with a mouth full of nuts- cheeks fully extended and banana hanging out of your mouth.  You think it's hilarious too because you always crack up.

Chicken, ribs, cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches and macaroni and cheese also top the list.

Least Favorite Foods: The only thing you refuse to eat is peaches.  I just don't get how you don't love them.  You're also not a big fan of most green things, but will occasionally tolerate a few small pieces of broccoli or green beans.

Notice the spaghetti face? :)

Milestones:
You, sir, are a tooth-making machine.  You have SEVEN now.  So far, teething has basically been a breeze.  You're a tough little cookie and don't cry when they're coming in.  On every tooth except one, you've gone to sleep and woken up with a new tooth. Daddy says nature is just taking care of you because you need all those teeth for all the meat you eat!

It probably seems like an odd place to put this, but as a boy, the first time you touch a frog is definitely a milestone.

We went to Aunt Sandy and Uncle David's house for Maw Maw Hill's 93rd birthday party and there was a big tree frog on the side of the house. I picked it up and held it in front of you so you could see it.  I kept it enclosed in my hand with just its head peeking out so it wouldn't jump on your face, but you wanted it!  You immediately reached for it.  When its head popped out, you did your excited dance, then started poking at its eyes.  I didn't want you to hurt it, so I let it go quickly.  We'll play with frogs again when you're big enough to touch and not to gouge eyes.  Ha.

You are a crawling master now.  You army crawled for about a month, then lifted yourself to your knees and hands.  I have to tell you how this happened because it's too funny not to share.  You LOVE to have some naked time after your bath each night, so I give you about 5 minutes to let the lotion absorb in your skin.  You usually stay in your room and pull all the books off the shelf, but one night, you decided to venture next door to your play room.  I tried to stop you, but you were persistent.  I knew the ceramic tile would be cold on your tummy, etc., but I thought it might make you give up the belly crawling, so I let you do it.  The floor wasn't that cold on your belly, but as soon as your weewee touched, you shot up like a rocket and haven't army crawled since.  I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life.


Favorite Things: You love to sit at the front door and watch what's going on outside.  When we open the door, you take off with a shot and join Jenna on watch.  This is the only time when you are truly still and don't need a toy.  We live on the main road of the neighborhood and are in an intersection, so you see a lot of cars, puppies, kitties and people.

I have a full-length mirror in our bedroom that I sit in front of to get ready.  You make your way to it often and carry on conversations with the boy in there for minutes at a time.  He must be absolutely hilarious because you crack up mid-sentence.

If you pass a mirror, you always have to look at yourself, and you usually smile.  I guess if I was that adorable, I'd smile at my reflection too. :)









Since you've been crawling, you've discovered a whole new world.  Our house has some super fun things in it, one of which is the dryer.  If it's on and you're passing by the laundry room, you sit in the hall in a trance.  I started turning the drum light on and now you have to make your way into the laundry room to watch it spin.  I love to watch your wide-eyed curiosity as you discover these new things.  You're so intrigued by so much and learn so much from your exploration.



We took you to the outdoor pool at the gym and you absolutely loved it.  You have been in the pool before, but this time, it was PACKED and there were tons of fun people to watch... and splash.  You got splashed a time or two and didn't miss a beat.  The pool is a walk-in, so it starts at about 1/2 an inch deep and gets deeper the further you walk.  We sat you down at about the 6-inch mark and you immediately start slapping the water and even tried to lay back and kick your feet.  You totally ignored your water toys and just wanted to splash.  Everyone had to get out for a 30 minutes, so Daddy and I found some loungers and in a minute or two, you were sound asleep on my chest.  You didn't move a muscle when Daddy lifted you off of me or on the walk to the Jeep.  When I put you in your carseat, you immediately slumped over, sound asleep.  The pool wore you out!

For the longest time, you didn't move in your sleep, but now you're all over the place! Each morning, I like to peek in on you and see how you're sleeping.  Sometimes it's on your side with your hands under your cheek; on other days, you're sprawled out on your book with your hands are behind your head.  My favorite, which happens most often, is when you're on your belly, hands tucked under you and booty straight in the air!










In your exploring around the house, you have discovered door stoppers.  You slap them and the springs make a noise you love!  With the way our house  is designed, the sound echoes all over, so when you get going and hit it fast, it sounds like a machine gun is going off in the hall.

Not-So-Favorite Things: At times, you don't like being put down.  If we start bending to put you in your walker, you lift your legs so they're parallel to the floor and won't go in the walker.  If we're intending to sit you on the floor, you stiffen your legs so they won't bend and we can't get you to sit down.  Seriously, kid?  You're a stinker!

You have developed a serious attitude when you don't like something.  You do this weird scream/screech/squawk noise and throw your hands in the air to tell us you're displeased.  You really only do this if you're hungry or sleepy and aren't entertained by what we give you or you are being put down against your will.  Otherwise, you're pretty content.

Other Bryson News:
May 11, 2013 was our first Mother's Day together.  I have been blessed to be surrounded by incredible role models in your grandmothers and great grandmothers, so this day is full of celebration.  We went to Cullman to see Grandmama Heald, and as usual, you were the life of the party.  Fortunately, it was a nice day, so we got to play outside for awhile.  Granddaddy Heald, Aunt Christa and Daddy were playing washers, and you were so curious as to what they were doing, so you spent a lot of time belly crawling in the grass.  You eventually fell asleep on my shoulder, which is one of my favorite times of the day.  I love Bryson snuggles.

You may have your Grandmama Heald wrapped around your little finger.  You took a nap after just about everyone had left, and when you woke up, were still a little grumpy, so Grandmama held you.  You played with her necklace and laid on her shoulder, very contentedly.














On May 18, we went to Holly Pond for Maw Maw Hill's birthday party.  We currently have 5 generations living on my dad's side, which is incredible!  Maw Maw Hill is an amazing woman and I'm so glad you've been able to spend some time with her.  She just loves you to pieces.  As soon as she sees you, she holds her arms up so I'll hand you over and she smothers you in kisses. I know your great great grandfather, Papa, loves you too, and is watching you from his perch in Heaven.

While we were at Aunt Sandy and Uncle David's for the party, Grammy T took you to see the cows.  They weren't very enthused to see you, but you were amazed by them.  You stared with wide eyes for a long time, then looked at me to see if I was seeing them too!

Bryson Reed, I've said this so many times, but I love you so much.  There isn't a day that goes by that Daddy and I don't tell you that and we try very hard to make sure you know it by our actions as well.  At this point, it's hard to remember life without you, and almost inconceivable that life was happy without you in it because you fill us with so much joy now.  You are the greatest thing that either of us have ever done and are so incredibly proud of you.  You amaze us day in and day out and we feel so blessed that God chose us to be your parents.  We love you, Stinkbug, more today than yesterday and less than tomorrow!

- Mommy

The Deadliest Day

On the morning of Wednesday, April 27, I awoke with a start. There was a loud BANG outside my window that startled me from sleep and suddenly I was aware of the incessant clinking of the wind chime on the patio. I jerked the cord on the blinds, expecting to see someone in our back yard. Instead, I was unable to see anything. The wind and rain outside my window are so intense that not even the big weeping willow tree 20 feet from the house is visible. When it finally comes in sight, the top branches are bent at such a sharp angle that they're almost parallel to the ground.

A mere 10 minutes later, the wind died down and the rain calmed. Clay and I rushed outside to see if there's any damage from the winds. What we see is astounding. The heavy patio furniture was tossed like rag dolls all over the yard and the entire neighborhood is littered with wood from broken fences, shingles, and even stray garbage cans. We discovered the loud bang in our back yard was our 5' long, super heavy grill being tossed across the yard.

After securing our belongings and inspecting our house, we drove around the neighborhood. Just thinking about the things we saw brings tears to my eyes. There were gaping holes in roofs, windows blown out, fences completely missing, doors blown off their hinges, and houses missing siding and brick. We were very fortunate because our only loss was a grill. None of the shingles littering our subdivision belonged to us.

Within the hour, we learned that a EF-1 tornado had torn through our tiny little town. The path was evident- it had gone down our side of the neighborhood, missing only our house. One man in Moody had been killed.

At the time, I didn't really blog. I want to take the time now, on the six-month anniversary of the tornadoes, to recount that day.

Thinking it was safe, Clay and I went to work. He got to work pretty easily, but the Cahaba Heights area had been hit by a tornado at the same time as the Moody tornado, so they had no power or phones (and to top it off, his iPhone was broken, so communication was impossible). As I neared downtown, my boss called me and told me to go home. She was unable to get out of her house in Cahaba Heights and didn't want to risk me being out with the threat of worse weather.

James Spann, a very popular meteorologist in our area, warned that this was just the tip of the iceberg and to expect "a very bad day." Still now, 6 months later, I can hear those words ringing in my ears and the thought sends chills down my spine.

I went home and began working on wedding favors. Shortly thereafter, Clay arrived, safe and sound. He immediately turned on the news and there is no talk of local news or sports. Where anchormen typically sit, meteorologists are everywhere, warning people to seek shelter and secure their belongings. Being that we live in tornado alley, we're used to these warnings and usually brush them off. The urgency in their voices and actions caught my attention. I tried to occupy my time keeping busy, but then I heard the name of my hometown on the news.

I sat in front of the TV watching a camera that was posted on the water tower in Cullman. I am very familiar with the area, as my uncle has worked in the water tower for more than a decade. I watched the horizon turn from a calm, ugly, gray to a disastrous, gray funnel. As the tornado formed, James Spann commented on where the tornado was going. As he spoke, I was able to determine what it was hitting... and destroying. The first picture of the destruction was my home church, First United Methodist Church of Cullman. The church was built in 1923 and was constructed of stone. Beautiful stained glass windows encompassed the church.
BEFORE

AFTER



Cullman had a ton of damage from sustaining the winds of 6+ tornadoes, including one EF-5. Many decades old business were destroyed and hundreds of people were forced to rebuild their homes and piece together their lives. Fortunately, God's hand was over the county because no one lost their life. Buildings can be rebuilt and vehicles replaced.

This is the back of the house I grew up in. It stood in the historic district as it was built in the early 1900's. The building to the right is the garage and garage apartment, which was my playroom. The house was torn down after slipping from its foundation.

Roughly three hours later, they cut to a shot of Tuscaloosa, where I went to college. The town is another one that is dear to my heart. Clay and I hear Spann say there's a tornado on the horizon and think it must be a small one because we can't see it. That's when they zoom the camera out and it's obvious the entire horizon is a tornado. They estimated this tornado was a mile and a half wide when it came into Tuscaloosa.



This video will show a little of what we saw.


The tornado ripped through heavy commercial and residential areas. Thousands of people lost everything they had. Forty-one people were killed, including 6 students at the University of Alabama. While the damage is terrible, it would have been much greater had the EF-4 tornado hit the University of Alabama, where many students live or had sought shelter from the storm.

Driving through Tuscaloosa is almost unbearable. Where buildings once housed businesses I frequented in college, there is now piles of wood and brick. It's hard to even remember what stood where. Clay's best friends from high school lost their house, but were protected by a parking deck at the hospital. A member of our football team huddled in a closet with his girlfriend, his arms wrapped tightly around her. The house was picked up and rolled over half a mile, throwing everyone out. He suffered broken bones and his girlfriend was killed. Clay's college roommate's best friend lost her life.

This site has satellite images of before and after pictures. You can drag the blue bar between the two sides to see the full picture before and after.


Krispy Kreme was destroyed.


15th Street, before and after


A better view of 15th Street, which used to be a thriving area, full of buildings. These buildings blocked the view from McFarland Blvd to DCH Hospital. Now you can see the hospital as soon as you get on McFarland.


A small shopping center at the corner of McFarland and 15th. Everything was destroyed (including the tux shop that we ordered the tuxes for part of wedding party at. Eep!)

The tornado moved out of Tuscaloosa after what seemed like an eternity and headed toward Birmingham. Meteorologists warned that it would hit downtown, which would have been a major hit to our city. At the last minute, it turned and hit Pleasant Grove and surrounding areas. These areas were completely destroyed. The path continued East, where Clay and I were. James Spann warned it was either going to hit Trussville or Moody.

With no underground shelter to go to, we reverted to the lesson that you get in a closet in the innermost part of your house. We began stacking pillows in our guest bathroom. We practiced getting ourselves and the girls in the linen closet so if we had to do it, we'd know how to position ourselves and wouldn't freak Jenna out too bad. We put our shoes on and put all important papers in my purse, which stayed on my shoulder. We put harnesses on the girls and leashes were in the closet so they could be attached quickly. Fortunately, the tornado headed toward Trussville, where it lifted off the ground. After moving past Trussville, it hit the ground again and stayed there as it passed through northern Georgia.

The 2011 Super Outbreak, which spanned from April 25 to April 28, affected the Southern, Midwestern and Northeastern parts of the country. Over 336 tornadoes touched down in 21 states. An estimated 346 people were killed nationwide. April 27 was the deadliest tornado day since 1925 with 292 tornadoes on the ground in 16 states.

Like I said, we live in tornado alley in north/west Alabama. We hear a lot of tornado warnings but are very accustomed to thinking meteorologists are crying wolf. Now, many Alabamians shudder at the sound of thunder and get nervous when wind swirls leaves in the street. The thought of a thunderstorm sending blood pressure through the roof.

I had always had empathy for those affected by nature's devastation, but you don't understand the real impact until it happens to you. Fortunately, my family and friends were not included in the loss of life statistic.

April 27, 2011 is a day that will live with me forever. I saw mass destruction and felt so many emotions. I cried... a lot. I still cry when I see pictures or discuss the events of the day. My tears come for many reasons: the destruction is heartbreaking and I feel for those who lost so much.

Most of all, I cry because of the blessings that came in disguise. God spared my family and friends and for that, I am eternally grateful. Our communities have banded together in such a way that many towns have been completely cleared of debris and rebuilding efforts have begun. FEMA came into Tuscaloosa two weeks after the disaster and were blown away by the progress. They stated that in two weeks, more had been done in Alabama than was done in 6 months after Katrina. Good ol' boys got to work and got things going!

My emotions go into overload when fences come down. Auburn and Kent State football players have come down to help with cleanup and rebuilding. Auburn fans actually built a website, Toomer's for Tuscaloosa, that connected thousands of volunteers from all over the country to our cities in need. They have been responsible for organizing one of the largest efforts and been so much help.

Six months have passed since that terrible day and so much progress has been made, but there is still so much to be done. Your prayers are greatly appreciated.

One lesson so many of us have learned- don't ever take anything for granted. Enjoy your possessions, but don't forget they're just things and are fleeting. Instead of holding material possessions dear, make those things that matter, like friends and family, a priority. You could wake up on any given day without them.

Thank you, Lord, for your protection, for keeping my friends and family safe. Thank you for the lessons learned and for the people who have unselfishly given their time and resources to help complete strangers in need. You're in control of rebuilding- of lives and buildings- and I can't wait to see what you have in store!