The Great Nashville Monsoon of May 2nd

There are a few things I don't like waking me up - screaming babies, snoring husbands, loud neighbors, dogs who need to go potty in the middle of the night - and tornado sirens. This morning about 5:45 I woke up to the sound of tornado sirens. It was pretty odd since it didn't sound like it was raining and birds were chirping away, so we turned on the TV and one station said we were under a warning and another said we weren't, but both of them were showing downtown footage and said "the wall of water" was coming. And they seriously were NOT kidding. It started raining around 6 am, HARD, and didn't stop pouring until around 2, and then finally quit raining around 5 this evening.

We decided not to go to church with the tornado threat and lots of rounds of bad weather coming, which ended up being the right decision because during early service it started flooding so they canceled classes and second service. There was quite a bit of damage from something (maybe winds or tornado??) in that area - several news crews have shown poles and trees downs in that neighborhood.

We went back to sleep around 6:30 and then Lilli woke up around 7:45. Brent was changing her diaper and I went to the kitchen to get her milk and start some breakfast and heard an alarm going off....somewhere. It sounded loudest in the kitchen and dining room but I could just NEVER seem to get close to it! Brent checked up in the attic and we were totally stumped. Then we remembered the little alarm he had bought for underneath the house designed to detect water intrusion. Our hot water heater (which is ancient) is under there, along with our extremely old pipes (seriously, they are cast iron), and since we don't go down in the cellar often we wanted something to let us know if we had a situation! He raced underneath the house and the massive downpour wasn't able to be contained by the gutters and ground anymore so we have some water under our house, but only during the periods of extreme downfall so it's really not bad compared to what a lot of people have going on. He also checked the garage, and it has some flooding but again, not bad. This was this morning around 9 or so. Probably just some damaged tools and lumber. We had a good breakfast (she loves Daddy's bacon!) and then played peek-a-boo and were just silly with Daddy.She had fun turning the light on and off with the remote....and now thinks her remote can turn off any light fixture in the house.... (we've been repainting in here and have the curtains down so we can dust them off outside, but it's rained for two solid weekends!!!)

We tortured Pippin and read books....And I painted both of our toenails. I went with a bright red for her since her feet are so tiny! They look so cute with her little pirate sandals!
She loved staring at her feet in her shoes while she walked!
Brent chose her outfit again today - since we're all feeling a little crabby after being locked in the house for a few days it was an appropriate pick!
Checking out those toes.....
I'm pretty sure if Pippin could talk he would've asked when we were all going to be leaving again.....
Brent built us a fun fort in her room....and we obviously dragged out every toy she owns..

Pippin passed out.....For lunch we had red beans and rice and turkey sausage. She LOVED it and ate a ton..... She loves spicy foods!
Yummm-o!
After lunch she went right down for her nap and Brent headed to Kroger, with all of East Nashville. It was pouring down (still) but of course panic had erupted and everyone needed food. They were down to two buggies and he said every line was open and full of people.
And I made homemade chocolate chip cookies while she napped. A big win for all of us!
We stretched any and every activity we could come up with, but MAN we were ready to get out of the house! Around 5 the rain pretty much slacked up so we put the raincoats on the kids and headed out. Even a short walk around the neighborhood felt like total freedom after being so locked down for 2 straight days! She literally hasn't left the house since we got home Friday afternoon!!!!
Checking out the scene....
I wish her raincoat and boots matched!
Splash!
After we got home we played fun games....
And Lilli's school has already declared themselves closed tomorrow, I think primarily because of their teachers. So she and Brent will get to have more fun around the house tomorrow, yipppeee! Much of Nashville is still under a lot of water tonight, particularly the West side. Here's some footage from West Nashville, probably less than 10 miles from our house.



It's just crazy how quickly water can rise. There's been a lot of rescues in and around Nashville today, and we feel really lucky to be on the top of a hill with just small amounts of water under our house and in our garage. On our walk tonight one of the neighborhood restaurants had a long line of people with buckets tossing out all the water. But, it looks like the rains are over for now so maybe everyone can dry out and the damage won't be as bad as we all fear - it's unbelievable to us that I-24 is already open after everything that happened on it yesterday!

Have a great night!