- COVID Diaries: Week 8.5 -

I unloaded all my work-related anxieties over on COVID Diaries: Week 8.0...

...so here's to turning the page to the better half of this week...

...and here's to separating myself from all said job worries so I can be fully present to my babies the 6 days/week that I'm home with them right now...

...and hereeee's to sharing the allllll the happy events of week 8 [AKA the events that I can control and do feel grounded in]!  These crazy kiddos sure give me plenty of reasons to smile!

I woke up VERY early Saturday morning to Scarlett applying [fake] makeup to my eyelids [luckily Harper was not a victim and got to sleep in until 8:45am!]...

...but thankfully I could distract her from mode: makeup artist and shift her to mode: CHEF!  We bailed out of the bedroom and got right to work in the kitchen fixing ham and cheese omelettes, cinnamon rolls, and an extra large pot of fresh coffee for the rest of the sleepyhead family.  Brian and Harper were not disappointed when they finally woke up!

After brunch, we spent most of the rest of the day working on landscaping rock [Brian], playing outside [kids], and helping rake rock/cleaning the house [me].

I was supposed to work at the hospital on Sunday, but furlough was in full bloom...

...so even though I remained on-call from 8am-4pm, we got to enjoy a full day of beautiful weather^^!  I helped Brian rake around more rocks while the kids played in the yard and splashed in the water.  We got a ton done during the day and even got to see our cousins for a little while that evening.  [Pause for the know-it-all/self-dubbed social distancing police:  go ahead and write me a ticket!  More than anything during sheltering in, Harper has missed her grandparents and cousins and friends sooooo much; we have been so strict with following sheltering-in and social distancing guidelines for the past 2 months, and I'm 100% fine with slightly bending the Illinois rules right now as Missouri is starting to open everything back up.  End rant.]  So anyway!  I absolutely loved watching Harper, Scarlett, Kate, and Henry be reunited for a short bit. #worthit

On Monday morning, one of Harper's teachers came by on her "Bubble Run!"  She had planned to set bubbles out for the kids and run -- but luckily she did "run" back to chat with us on the driveway [from a distance] for a long while before she went on to the next house. It was great to see her, and Harper was really excited to show off her bike-riding skills as well as some of the crafts she's made during quarantine.  It made me sad to realize that the last week of school is quickly approaching and Harper will be off to the "big school" next year with a new teacher!  We're certainly going to miss you, Ms. Nicole [and Ms. Leah, too!].  Thanks sooo much for all you've done for Harper from August to now! 

Later that evening, Harper asked if she could cut out some cardstock giraffes on the Cricut to decorate a "telescope" [AKA empty cardboard tube that Brian gifted her from the garage].  Unknown to Brian at the time, this was perfect, because the preschool theme of the week was "Outer Space!"  While Harper perfected her telescope...

...Scarlett and I stood at the other end of the counter whipping up some banana-nut muffins.  [Why do our bananas turn brown so quickly?!  Seriously, it's always like 2-3 days after buying them that they're brown and mushy on the back counter!] 30 minutes after putting the muffins in the oven, I opened the microwave to put something in for dinner and saw the melted stick of butter still sitting there.......oops!  The muffins sans butter were still really good [just a little more sticky than normal?!].  :)

Tuesday was Teacher Appreciation Day; another post to come on this!  After dropping off gifts at both of Harper's teachers' homes, we made it back to our home to learn about constellations!  This toothpick/marshmallow activity was a hit...

...especially because it led to a "toothpick lunch"...

...annnnnd because the kids got to eat their constellations when they were finished!  Harper thought the Big Dipper was extra yummy! ;) :)  We downloaded a stargazing app that we can't wait to try out on the next clear night!

During Scarlett's nap Tuesday afternoon, we had story time with the teacher [Daddy came upstairs for a bathroom break just in the nick of time to be guilted into listening to the book haha!]...

...and then spray painted some rocks to make space rocks.

Tuesday was ALSO Cinco de Mayo, and we caved and did our first COVID carry-out order 'cause WE FEELIN' FANCY!  However!  I think the Mexican restaurant bit off a thousand more orders than they could chew; we ended up waiting in the car for a full hour past our projected pickup time.  The kids didn't seem to mind...

...and we unanimously decided it was well worth the wait when we made it home and opened up the taco tray. Ole´!  Yum, yummm, YUM!!!

Wednesday morning brought the weekly preschool Zoom meeting.  This week, the students were asked to bring an item that they made or a toy they have that reminds them of outer space; Harper decided to share her telescope!

We also gathered up the rocks that we spray painted on Tuesday and transformed them into space rocks...

...and finished off the day by cooking meatloaf for dinner.  Harper and Scarlett are really becoming good helpers in the kitchen, and I especially am enjoying having Brian around during most of the meal preps since he doesn't have his long commute home after work these days!

I had to work on Thursday [my one day at the hospital this week, woooooot], and when I got home, we capped off the day with ice cream on the back porch.  It rained rull hard on Scarlett's parade when a little June bug fell out of the ceiling fan and landed near her foot!

On Friday, we finished up our outer space unit by creating our own solar system with coffee filters and markers...

...and then took the stack of planets to the bathroom for a good squirt bottle spray-down!  [PS - We included Pluto in this activity, because my old brain cannot shake the fact that it got demoted to a "dwarf planet."  My myyyy, how things have changed since I was in second grade!]

We set a timer for the filters to dry...

...and then stapled the finished products onto a ribbon.  Harper is sooo proud of her handmade solar system and immediately retrieved the tape dispenser so she could hang it on her bedroom wall.

With the ceiling lights off and her bed lights on, she thought it looked like a pretty authentic outer space situation!  Scarlett proudly taped up her planets, too! :)

We wrapped up the theme of the week with Oreo moons [Harper didn't quite catch on to the moon phases but listened intently until I was finished rambling and she could gobble down the cookies!]...
We got a visit from Grammy on Friday afternoon, which was just the cherry on top of a fun-filled week!  [Again for the social distancing police:  see my bold blurb at the beginning!]  Grammy came bearing Easter baskets full of goodies from Suzanne, and my kids have been on a constant sugar high since then.  Thank you sooo much, Suzanne!!! So sorry COVID-19 ruined your egg hunt this year!

The Easter basket also included a little fairy garden set which Harper was eager to unwrap.  After she finished stuffing the figurines into the tiny Mother's Day flower pot [which is the only one we own, right now!], Brian promised her he'd take her shopping sometime next week to get a bigger/better pot that could be a permanent home for her fairies.  She has already asked five times this weekend when they will be picking out a new pot, so I'm thinking she'll have to don her little face mask and hit the road with Dad sooner than later!

^^ We finished off Friday evening by taking Brian's truck to the car wash; it was FILTHY from hauling so many loads of dirt and rock for the landscaping!  We drove around for ~30 minutes afterwards, and both of the kids fell asleep in their car seats.  Phew!  ...Easiest bedtime routine we've had for a month now! ;) :) 

I'll leave you with this...

...'cause we're hangin' on tight and literally CANNOT wait until the end of quarantine!!!  Gahhh, we miss you so much, friends and family!

To be continued... 

- COVID Diaries: Week 8.0 -

Whatttttt an emotionally exhausting week!

!!!!!

When all of this broke out a couple months back, my mind drifted to the worst.  Being an RN during a global pandemic surely meant that all types/specialties of nurses [and all healthcare workers] would be at a higher demand than ever before.  It went without saying that we would be expected to band together and rise to the occasion.  Way back in COVID Diaries: Week 2, I outlined many uncertainties that consumed me:  

What will happen to the healthcare system?  Will the hospital I work at be overwhelmed with infected patients?  Will I be pulled from the job[s] I currently have and love to work the front lines of COVID-19 when ER and ICU nurses become exposed or exhausted?  Will there even be enough ICU beds, or will physicians have to pick and choose who receives care?  Will the PPE run out?  Will co-workers that I work alongside and love die?  Will I bring the virus home to Brian or the kids?

Scroll forward six weeks, and boom.  None of my original worries have come to fruition [yet], and in fact, it's just the opposite.  Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that the word "furlough" would be a part of my daily vocabulary, but here we are.  [Actually, embarrassingly, I had to Google said word after hearing many other non-healthcare-workers use it frequently when businesses and restaurants closed back in late-March.]  After already being requested required to take days off for the past few weeks, now the hospital I work for is gaining media attention after its recent layoff announcement.  While I'm not currently "laid off" and have some reassurance that most bedside nurses won't be, I have only been working about 50% of my hours for the past couple of weeks [and so far, that's the plan for next week too].  All of it is so unsettling and scary, especially since we have no control over how long this will last OR the future chain of events that is bound to happen  as COVID-19 continues to rear its ugly head.

Amidst a mile-high stack of questions and a heavy load of uncertainties, I'm just trying to accept my current reality and also acknowledge that I owe myself a little grace while stumbling through it...

The same day the layoff announcement hit the media, my grandma shared this article on Facebook.  It really spoke to me and goes a little something like this:
**********

I dreamed I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around.  We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels.  My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, "This is the Receiving Section.  Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received."

I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.

Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second station.

The angel then said to me, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section.  Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them."  I noticed again how busy it was there.  There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.

Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station.  To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing.  "This is the Acknowledgment Section," my angel friend quietly admitted to me.  He seemed embarrassed.

"How is it that there is no work going on here?" I asked.

"So sad," the angel sighed.  "After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments."

"How does one acknowledge God's blessings?" I asked.

"Simple," the angel answered.  "Just say, 'Thank you, Lord.'"

"What blessings should they acknowledge?" I asked.

"If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead, and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world...

"If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy...

"And if you read this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity.

"If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day.

"If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 700 million people in the world.

"If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are envied by/more blessed than three billion people in the world.

"If your parents are still alive and are still married, you are very rare.

"If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm; you're unique to all those in doubt and despair.

"Ok," I said.  "What now?  How can I start?"

The angel said, "If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all."

Have a great day and count your blessings!

**********

Wowzers!  Even in the height of a pandemic, here's to acknowledging my many blessings; even when things feel unfair, here's to realizing I'm a lot better off than most.   If COVID-19 has affected you in some way [which I am certain that it has!], I hope this message helps you see the silver linings today, too. 

Sending peace and love and [virtual] hugs!

xoxox 

- COVID Diaries: Week 7 -

Happy May Day!  I flipped over to the next page on my planner today and just stared at it as if my mind was a blinking cursor waiting to furiously fill in some exciting plans...

...but with Illinois extending the stay-at-home order through the end of May, it looks like my poor planner will stay blank[ish] for another 31 days.  ^^ Maybe "2020 planner origami" isn't such a bad idea after all!

Last Saturday was a 12-hour shift on labor and delivery for me.  Things at the hospital [from my perspective] are still out of sorts; while the pregnant/OB community hasn't been impacted too terribly by COVID-19, there are still patients who've tested positive that we care for and there is still endless chatter surrounding the new hospital policies and PPE guidelines, etc., as well as just constant discussion of the pandemic in general.  The unknown is always scary, and there are still plenty of unknowns with this virus.  Co-workers say they are sick of talking about COVID, yet in the same breath it's all they/we can talk about for the entire shift.  And when everyone's heightened emotions and opinions and experiences are piled together -- that means the emotions and opinions and experiences of physicians and nurses and management and patients, too -- it can really make for an emotionally taxing day.  It's definitely not a "fun" time to be at work, but I also admit that being on the clock at a large hospital in the thick of a global pandemic is not the death sentence I originally imagined it would be.  In fact, the ONLY plans scribbled onto my May calendar right now are those hospital shifts, so in some ways keeping to a fairly normal work routine and being forced out of the house 3 days/week has been good for me [and probably good for my family, too].  The enormous fear that was here for me in March is dwindling down quickly.  Just over a month ago when all of this erupted, I considered writing a letter to my kids in case I died on the frontlines [don't laugh; there were many nights I lost sleep wondering how my family would function without me when I died from the novel coronavirus]; now, after seeing [mild] COVID-19 in the flesh and hearing personal stories of many friends and co-workers who have also recovered from mild cases of the virus, I kind of just want to "get it" --> and recover --> and develop antibodies --> and start giving the community some herd immunity so we can get things back to normal as soon as possible.  A vaccine will not be here any time soon, and the country cannot stay on lockdown forever.  Living in fear and sheltered inside our homes for months on end is not a long-term solution!  I'm very intrigued by the frequent conversations re: herd immunity and would most certainly love to hear other health professionals' thoughts who are more educated than I!  

OB/GYN humor... Sorry, I had to!  Anyway!  I mulled all of that ^^ over and over in my mind on the commute home and swallowed most of my thoughts before coming home to strip/shower/sanitize as usual.  

Sunday was a new day with a clean slate and a fresh attitude!  We cleaned up breakfast and hit the road to collect our first curbside pick-up order from Michael's.  SCORE!!!  Call me crazy [or call me lazy?], but this service was amazing and I'll definitely be a little bit sad if it doesn't continue after the social distancing orders are lifted.  We put the crafting supplies to work immediately on a few Mother's Day gifts!  More to come on this but don't want to spoil any gifts...

I was back to work on Monday and went grocery shopping at Aldi on the way home.  Contrary to my strict strip/shower/sanitize routine after nursing at the bedside, I'm starting to get a little bit lax with the showering and sanitizing after I leave a shift at the office [because there is very minimal potential exposure there, as there are no patients coming through the office currently and I'm working alongside only one other nurse each day].  After changing out of my scrubs, we put away all the groceries excepttttt those ingredients needed for Rice Krispie treats....mmmmmmmm!  Scarlett has been begging for "rye pee-pees" since we finished off the pan from a couple weeks ago, and this batch [made with a wee bit of extra butter] did not disappoint!

After Scarlett made her normal calls to all Grammys/Papas on Tuesday morning, we sat down to work on some preschool assignments.  With me still working out of the home a few days per week, we're falling a little behind with some of the weekly work packets that Harper's teachers are sending out [but everything is optional and the "assignments" don't have to be turned in or even completed at all, so whatevs!].  Y was the letter of the week LAST week, but we just honed in on it this Tuesday.  I think Harper is really enjoying the things we've studied so far, and I love how eager she is to always learn more.

We also colored pictures of Mary to submit for the school's May Crowning video.  The principal created this in lieu of how class would present flowers to Mary together if school was in session.  H&S were being sooo silly, and it took several tries to get a photo that was good enough to submit, hahah!

After an afternoon nap x3 [which felt soooo good]...

...and a family trip to Market Basket for more rocks...

...we continued the landscaping project and enjoyed an afternoon of beautiful weather.  Harper also completed the Ice Bucket Challenge that she got nominated twice for!  She was so proud of herself and watched the video several times afterwards.

On Wednesday morning, Scarlett rose before the sun and kicked off the day with many Mr. Potato Head creations.  I know it's going to be a winner when the first thing she inserts is a pair of eyes into the ear hole; nevertheless, she is always very proud of her work!

Harper woke up a couple hours later and just in time for her weekly preschool Zoom meeting.  The unit of the week was "nutrition," so each student was asked to bring their favorite food to show and tell.  Harper chose a cheese stick and then ate it after she showed her friends. :)

After the Zoom sesh, we topped off the crock pot with one of our favorite recipes: chicken taco soup...

...and then headed out to Home Depot to grab a few supplies to get our new water softener up and running.  Harper donned her brand new mask [thanks, Aunt Emma!] and skipped inside with Brian; she was soooo excited to be out and about, and rightfully so since this was her first time going anywhere outside our house or car since March 13!!!  Whoa.  Adventures to Home Depot AND Market Basket in the same week?!? Livin' SO LARGE.

Thursday was another full day at work...

...and the kids were so excited to see me when I got home at 8pm that Scarlett opened the car door and climbed right in!  Brian took them for a bike ride around the subdivision while I showered off my COVID scums. :)

Today [Friday] is May Day and also would've been the May Crowning at the school that I was talking about above.  I got a little sad today realizing how much I truly miss our parish family and school community, but as the Bluejay Prayer says, we are "strong of heart, gentle in spirit, and courageous in adversity."  My heart swells so big for these God-loving, sweet spirited girls; we will do everything we can to help them grow in faith while "Mass and class" aren't an option.

[^^ Mariology 102 begins next semester...LOL!]

After Brian wrapped up his work day in the basement, we shared popsicles on the porch...

...and also hit up Market Basket [again] for MORE rock and a few flowers!  The girls got right to planting when we made it home.

 Hopefully at least one of these girls grows into more of a green thumb than their momma is! ;) :)

And thattttt's a wrap!  What a week!  I'm off to clean up dinner and mix up a little Friday evening cocktail!

To be continued...