Crazy, Crazy Weather

Though we live in the "Phoenix area," we're 40 miles west of central Phoenix and get very different weather out here. There are times that cities in the Phoenix area, such as Chandler, get 2 inches of rain in a single storm and all we got out here was a few clouds. So when a weather alert is issued for Maricopa County, I get all excited for something interesting to happen way out here in good ol' Buckeye. After two weeks of hot weather that wasn't particularly exciting, things finally got really exciting last night!




It started with an amazing lightening show across the entire valley ("The Valley" is how Phoenix and all of its many surrouding cities are referred to). Above our home, the skies were clear and stars were shining, but in the distance it was the most amazing display of lightening I've ever seen.

As the multiple storms passed through, TV shows were constantly interrupted with weather reports and warnings. We heard of hurricane-force winds, sometimes reaching 100 mph. They would show a map of lightening strikes, "Chandler has had 800+ lightening strikes in the past five minutes."

Here's part of the story from local news:

Unusually powerful thunderstorms ripped across the Valley on Thursday night, bringing heavy rain and winds reaching 100 mph that broke the windows of a condominium, shutdown two runways at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and downed hundreds of trees, leaving at least one child seriously injured.

Most of the damage appeared to be concentrated in central Phoenix and Tempe, but the storms' violence hit all parts of the Valley.

The storm dumped almost an inch in parts of Mesa, while almost two inches fell near Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix. The heavy rains flooded numerous streets across the Valley.

Nearly 40,000 homes across the Valley remain without power Friday morning as utility crews try to get electricity restored.


Scattered debris forced the closure of Sky Harbor north and central runways. By around 7:30 a.m., only the central runway was closed. Street sweepers were working to clear the runway, and the airport had reported no major delays for travelers Friday morning.

Downed traffic lights throughout the Phoenix metro area have forced several road closures, including 40th Street between Cactus Road and Shea Boulevard.

Eventually what was left of the storm made it to our house. We were awake for some of it, asleep for the rest. We lost power briefly and the cessation of the white noise in Christian's room woke him up and we had one heck of a time getting back to sleep - all of us.

You'd think it would have led to Christian taking super-long naps today.

No such luck. Mommy sure does need a nap, though.

Jennifer

That Wascally Wabbit

Here are some current pictures of Christian. You may be albe to click on an image to view a larger version And below the pics are some stories about what the lil' guy is up to these days.

Enjoy!

This last photo is particularly special to me. I took earlier this week after having realized on that particular day that Christian had learned to sit up by himself. I put him down for a nap and didn't hear anything from him after that. I assumed he was sleeping ... but I walked into the room and was surprised to find him sitting up in his crib, quietly entertaining himself with a book. (Fortuantely, a camera is never far away ...) It was sooo cute!

Since he was content, I walked out and assumed he'd fall asleep in a few minutes. However, the next time I walked into check on Christian, I was shocked at what I saw: Christian was standing up at an angle, holding on to his "Buffs Mobile" - imagine the way a water skiier stands. I had no idea he was able to pull himself to a standing position! He lost his balance and fell backwards onto his mattress. He was fine ... I was horrified. Needless to say, the mobile has been removed from his crib.

That night, we watched Chrsitian has he grabbed onto the rail of his crib and pull himself up to a standing position, with his head dangling over the edge. I am so thankful he did that little move right in front of me. The crib mattress will now be lowered to its lowest setting.

I knew these things were coming, but I didn't expect we'd be faced with it so quickly and immediatley. There seems to have been no learning curve for Christian - he's a quick learner!

We tried the local church today, and decided it was time to leave Christian in the nursery. It was only his second time to be in the care of somebody other than Jonathan or me for more than a few minutes. It was his usual naptime, so we weren't sure how he'd do being away from us ... and being tired. We returned an hour and a half later to find him happily playing with some toys next to another baby. We were told he did great and needed minimal attention from the nursery workers. We were so relieved!

As Jonathan noted, it was the first time we actually sat together at church in 10 months (since at Calvary Santa Fe, I was in the nursing mom's room with Christian during the service). It was nice to be together again.