We are one month in to social distancing, staying home, eating at home, schooling at home, and it feels like we are getting into a rhythm, but so many things are out of sort. The most obvious one to me is having the kids home all of the time, leaving no personal time and minimum time to clean. The mess that comes with food prep, clean up, toys, school room (dining room), is enough to make your head spin, oh and then a dust bunny catches my eye, so then there's that. What else, oh, my diet and exercise is nonexistent and my alcohol intake is up. Happy hour is a daily deal, a celebration of making it through another day of homeschooling and life during COVID.
And then there is work. Dave works about every 3rd day, they are so slow. we have adjusted. I, personally, appreciate his help with school during the day. There will be a switch that gets flipped and then life as we know it will be rearranged. Im working through some online education in order to be a resource when our surge comes (May/June). My roll would be a bedside nurse in the ICU in order to stretch the ICU nurses further. It feels good to know I can do something to help, I was feeling like I was spinning, knowing I once had the skills to do bedside nursing in my sleep, to feeling so out of the loop. I loved bedside nursing, it is the one thing my current job lacks. The high energy, multitasking, balancing, accomplishing so much in one shift while connecting with people. When my boss called me to ask if I would be willing to deploy and help when the need comes gave me this giddy, anxious, nervous, overwhelmed feeling. After Dave and I discussed it, we both agreed that having the training is critical as we don't know what lies ahead. I feel good to know I can respond to the call. I've completed a 5 hour online training, a skills lab, and will work two 12-hour shifts in the coming weeks.
Baby Audrey Graese is here! Lauren, Elliot, and Stella welcomed Audrey on March 21st. She was born at 7:39pm and was 7lbs 10oz and 20 inches long. We long for the day we can meet her in person, our time will come.
Some things that have occupied our time over the past month... Greta's newfound love for Golden Bowl's Sweet and Sour Chicken and Fried Rice. No other rice or s&s sauce will do, she eats it with every meal. we have been order it in multiples and freezing the extras to have on hand at all times. Whenever we stop in to pick it up, the owners ask us to extend their appreciation to Greta :).
Forts (see the messy house note above) everywhere. Greta and Piper have slept all over the house, from a fort in the living room to one at the top of the stairs, but per usual business, they always end up in our bed. Oh, and room rearranging. We took the bunk beds down and pushed Sully and Greta's beds together. Piper wants us to put her bed in there, too (fortunately ;)) they won't all fit. Redecorating was a great Easter activity :).
The most excitement has come from the mouse in our house. And by mouse, I mean mice. Soooo many mice. We had noticed some evidence awhile ago but our trap had caught nothing. After some investigating we realized he had cleaned the trap of the peanut butter bait, it did that for a few nights in a row. Dave did some research and tried a fruit loop and then we started catching them, like multiple mice. We are up to 10, and have not caught one in over a week. Fingers crossed!
Ive got so many photos to catch up on, I'm going to break them up into two entries. They help to tell the story of the last month or so around here.
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| Needlepointing- a great COVID activity. |
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Greta's intern (Carmen) had to return to Spain early
because of COVID, so we sent an
American/Spanish flag heart to her in Seville. |
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| Jenga- so many games! |
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| Trying to get our steps in. Everyday its a challenge. |
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| Having a 'talk' in the driveway. |
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| Light up Sioux Falls. |
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One of our thousand trips to the park basketball court for bike practice.
The hoops have been taken down, so its a perfect spot for us to practice. |
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Isaac turns 12! Birthday parties are different these days,
lots of parade drive-bys, not the same, but still special and fun. |
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| Their 'new bedroom' in the living room. This lasted about 36 hours. |
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| Daves on Saturday call- lets make sugar cookies! |
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| Very professional. |
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And then cupcakes- they decorated these while on
FaceTime with Anna. It kept the occupied! |
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| The products, with Anna for the photo. |
