Monthly: March 2020 (& Pandemic Life)

Well, March happened, and it was a thing. Never did I ever think this could be my/our life! The whole month was pretty intense! Between closely following news and counting the number of cases, to watching other states shut down and anxiously awaiting our shutdown, then on to reading every article, looking at every graph or piece of data, and counting days until the shutdown might end... it was a roller coaster. 

The first Sunday of church at home came before schools were closed and we were kind of excited about it at the start, it was all new and different, we made a delicious breakfast with family and watched together. We continued the tradition of Sunday breakfast, but not the one where we got together with family. 

Lots of kindness and thoughtfulness is going around right now, maybe because we have the time to really appreciate and miss our friends and family. 

Todd's schedule changed to accommodate more ability for the workers to distance themselves, so he works a 15 hour shift, the next day a 4 hour relief shift, and then stays home the next 3 days in a row. They try to only have one worker on at a time, it does mean that he does more work from home (texts and emails and phone calls), but this schedule has been nice for us! On his long shift it's just the kids and I the whole day, so I let them pick meals, and read to them, and usually they place a FaceTime game of Yahtzee with Nana & Poppa, and for one whole evening we three colored Disney pictures until bedtime. 

When you come away from a visit to Papa Steve's yard with a bouquet of daffodils, a lemon cupcake, and some toilet paper - I mean, that's a good day!

 

We do try to see family at least once a week - even if we have to stay 6 feet apart - it's all we've got, so we'll take it!

When our school district decided to close schools (March 16), we were 3 days from Spring Break, so they just decided to start break early and then gave students 2 extra weeks afterward for teachers to plan and prepare for "distance learning." We all left in a hurry that day, and then weren't told until evening that we would not be coming back. It was very abrupt and strange-feeling. The first day off I ran errands, did shopping's etc. Then I think we were lazy for about one whole day before I decided we were going to make a schedule and include school in it. I didn't start my first day of work-from-home until April 7. 

We are so thankful that we have had a really beautiful and mostly warm spring! We've enjoyed lots and lots of walks, sunshine, a few minor sunburns, indoor and outdoor picnics, oh - but because of the nice weather and leaving the doors and windows open, we have not enjoyed the carpet beetles that have infested Carolina's room. Boo. I think the nice weather plus the schedule that we've stuck to have been the keys to us surviving (thus far) this pandemic-quarantine-social distancing-life. 

March 2020 Video