When it rains, it pours...

Dear Abigail,

What an awful weekend. Let me start from the beginning. Saturday morning, I awoke to loud claps of thunder and lots of rain falling. I heard you in your bed, whimpering almost, and when I picked you up, you were burning up. You had never really had a fever before this, other than the whole chicken pox debacle, but nothing where I had to feel your head and go "hmm, she does feel warm, maybe we should take it", but this time, I knew we had to take the temp. And it was high, like 101 or so. You had swimming lessons that morning, and your Kindermusik recital right after, the recital Mimi had driven specifically up for, even though she was just here the weekend before. Thankfully, the rain and thunder caused the swimming lessons to be canceled, so we didn't have to make a decision about that. However, Mimi (and Mommy) were excited about your recital. Well, you got to feeling a little better, almost your old self, so we decided to go. I will admit in hind sight it was probably not the right thing to do, not for you, not for the other kiddos, not for anyone. But, what's done is done, right? I can admit my mistakes, as they are typically few and far between :) So, you were feeling better, so we headed out in the massive downpour. It was so rainy that we all 3 had big umbrellas and we still ended up wet! Despite the rain, and the fever, you did good at first...

Here's your teacher, Miss Marie:

And here are some of your Kindermusik friends...

You and Evie
Mr. Jacob and you

And George and you!

But then, towards the end, the fever must have attacked you again. It was time to switch up to Daddy's, or Mimi's in your case, and you just weren't having it. Thank goodness you only had one or 2 songs. We weren't 100% sure you had a fever, because it was super hot in the room, but once we got home, you did. And not just 101. It had reached 103 levels. Well, Mommy and Mimi had plans to run a lot of errands, so Daddy said he would watch you while you napped and we ran around town. Well, little good that did. Remember the rain -well it hadn't stopped. And, I'll just go ahead and tell you now, it didn't stop until Sunday night - NO JOKE. I'll get to that in a second. So Mimi and Mommy's time was cut short due to the rain, and due to your temperature getting out of control. When we finally made it home, the temperature was at its worst, and you, poor baby, you were just lifeless. It was breaking all of our hearts how still and quiet you were being. We knew something was wrong, but just didn't know what. After lots and lots of phone calls to pretty much every nurse we knew, and of course the doctor, we stuck with giving you Tylenol and lots of baths to try to tame the fever. To say the least, it didn't work, so the whole weekend was pretty stressful, not to mention the terrible weather we were having. Finally on Monday morning, we went straight to the doctor and low and behold, you had your first ear infection! Not sure why you didn't tug your ears at all, because the docs kept asking (over the phone), but you didn't really seem to be doing anything but just laying there. Anyway, we got you some medicine and you were already feeling better by Monday afternoon. Thank goodness. But see, like I said, when it rains, it pours. That weekend, we had one of the worst weekends I think we'll ever see with rain. The rain, oh the rain - it was awful Abigail. There was flooding everywhere you looked. Mommy and Mimi got super scared as we had to go through a couple water 'patches' just to get home. I can't even begin to tell you the devastation it caused to Nashville. Families lost everything. Homes were ruined. People were/are without water and power and it just wouldn't stop. Miss Lee was without power for several days and her poor daughter had to be rescued by a boat! AHHH, it was awful. It still is. The Cumberland River kept rising and rising and rising. Thankfully, we were all safe, as was our home, but neighbors were flooded and the roads were flooded and, so many people were affected by this mess. Mimi couldn't get back home and had to stay until Tuesday! Thank goodness because Miss Lee couldn't get out of her neighborhoood! I'm telling you, it was/is just awful. I am sure this will be talked about for decades and decades to come. I don't remember the facts, something like 13.9 feet of rain. Daddy kept telling us all these statistics about the most rain in a day ever, the most rain in a month ever, the most rain ever ever! I am positive this will be talked about forever, and I am so thankful all of us, and all our friends, were safe. Now we just need to figure out how to get Nashville back on its feet! I have no doubt it will happen, with a little hard work and a lot of dedicated folks, we'll be visiting the Opryland Hotel in no time at all! (Yes, it flooded!!).

So, as I said, when it rains, it pours. This weekend, I mean that in all possible ways. Thank goodness you are feeling much better - oh, and taking medicine so good these days! - and, once again, so so so thankful we all made it through this historic disaster.

Love you baby girl!