Covid-19 Recap/Update

Covid-19 Recap...
Last day of school for the 2019-2020 school year was Monday, March 16th.  Bennett and Ashley went to school to wrap up anything they had to do, get their books all ready to come home and to spend some time with their friends.  They also had a special chapel service at the end of this school day which I went to and it felt very weird - so much unknown.  At this time, we were only supposed to be out of school for 2 weeks.  That 2 weeks got extended and went to the end of the school year and our last day is coming up later this week on Thursday, May 21st, which is what our regular last day of school would have been.

Distance learning started on March 23rd and our school week went from Monday's to Thursday's.  The first 2 weeks of distance learning were tough.  Well heck, the whole thing has been.  But the first two weeks were not easy on any of us as there was so much adjusting and figuring out what worked for us and the teachers were just getting used to it too.  As the 9 weeks went on, it has gotten better, but there were tears and/or fighting multiple times every week.

Bennett - he's not minding this at-home thing too much - except missing friends.  He is usually able to have his homework done within 2 hours and he's able to do most of it by himself (total opposite of when he was in school all day).  His teacher has been doing a daily meet with the class for those that want to pop on.  He's been doing this about 2 days a week.  His teacher has also been making the homework part pretty easy - she does a short lesson video for every assignment and many times gives hints or doesn't make them do the whole page of problems...hence the reason he is liking this style of homework hah.

Pre-covid haircut.

Ashley - she is not doing as well with this type of learning - total opposite of at school.  She was always a quick learner and did her homework neatly, on time and rarely came home with homework.  During distance learning, I've found that she needs the schedule and the teacher explanations and she has struggled in getting her work done.  Granted, Mrs. McManus is definitely giving more work than Bennett's teacher.  But, I wouldn't say that my mom is giving her that hard of work, just alittle bit more than Bennett.  But it has been taking Ashley what seems like, all day to get it done with lots of nagging from me.

Mike is also working from home during all of this.  His job of IT for the city of Chaska had him working most of March, getting all of the city employees their computers ready and unplugged for them to take them home to work from there.  He would do a department at a time until they had all employees at home - so his department was the last to end up at home.  He has had to go in a few times in the past two months but most of his work he has been able to do from his office at home.  Work calls are forwarded to his cell phone so he is able to remote in to peoples computers if they're having problems.  I won't lie, it's been nice having him home during this time.  Even though he's technically working, it's been nice to have another a set of hands if I really need it.  He's also been helping Bennett with his math homework every day which has been great.  Now that everyone has been home for so long though, all of the kinks are pretty much worked out and Mike hasn't been getting many calls lately so, what else is there to do but to build a deck.? Yep.  His best friend Wade, who is also a co-worker, has been coming out (during the work hours....remember, their calls get forwarded to their cells), a few times this past week to help Mike build our deck since they have time on their hands.  If there is a problem, they would just go down to Mike's office to do the work.  Mike is hoping he'll get to go back to the office in June.

Jonah - Poor thing has totally gotten the shaft in all of this.  He goes from having it just be me and him for most of his life.  Then a new baby comes along.  And then two months later, he's 1 of 6 people in the house full-time.  And of course Micah gets plenty of attention and so do Bennett and Ashley with the school stuff right now so Jonah has just kinda gotten left out.  He's struggled and I feel for him.  But at the same time, he's almost 3 and 3 year olds are just pain in the butts anyways so, yea, he's real fun.  He's gotten lots more Ipad and TV time than I normally would allow but right now, it's what is working for us so I really don't mind.  Jonah had been going to Speech for the past 9 months but once all of this covid stuff happened, those appointments also quit (he goes to the rehab dept at our hospital).  In the meantime though, his word count and also words per sentence have increased dramatically which is super!  But, it's still not all that clear so speech class will definitely continue.  His appointments should be starting again in June.  Oh, we're also working really hard on potty training and he's doing great at staying dry during the day and even some nights, but, #2's are a different story and always does that in his morning diaper or underwear once a day.

Micah - Well this kid isn't gonna know about any of this.  He was about 2.5 months when this all started and now he's 4.5 months.  I'm sure he must think this is just the normal - that we're all home together all the time.  I wish I could say that he's the best baby ever and not causing this momma any extra stress during all of this but that is not the case.  He likes to be held, fed, looked at or played with all the time.  Well kid, when you're 1 of 4, and all 4 are home 100% of the time, you're not going to be played with or held all day long.  The one thing he has gotten during all of this though is my time at his bedtime.  I started taking him to his room to give him his bedtime bottle and rock him to sleep every night.  When the stay-at-home all started and I was stressed and scared, rocking him to sleep was my one little sweet spot of the day.

Rachel - So I do not have the teacher gene like my mom and other family members.  That is determined 100%.  My patience level is nowhere like I'd need it to be a teacher in a classroom.  I would love to tell you that I got all these projects done around the house or unpacked the last of the boxes or did cool things with the kids.  Well none of that happened.  I kept them alive and fed and we made it through each day.  I have had to do some church work still but not nearly as much which is totally fine by me.  My normal 5ish hours a week is now only around 2 hours and during this, I wouldn't have wanted any more honestly.  Other than to the office for a short time or to my moms house to break free from time to time, I really haven't been much of anywhere.  Mike has done most of the grocery shopping for us - partially because he has been out and about more often than me so he just stops on his way home and partially cause I think that is his out and time to get away from all of us too lol.  I'm ok with this.  I've been trying hard not to let this whole thing stress me out or to let the fear win but now that it's been two months since I've been inside Target or anywhere like that, it does have me alittle uneasy, knowing how much has changed inside these places that I normally lovvvved going to.  Just the fact that things are opening up again though makes it feel more normal, even though it will all not look normal for awhile.

(Micah had his 4 month checkup last week so I had to get masked up)

Anyways, I'm glad that we're all still well and healthy and sane for the most part.  And I'm happy that those of you reading this are still healthy etc. also.  2020, you were supposed to be my easy and relaxed year since 2019 house and baby stuff kicked my butt.

A few more pictures from these past two months of the coronavirus....

This was a tough day for all of us and I decided to take Micah and go for a walk one evening.  They all wanted to come with me and I decided I still loved them :-) 

This was a treat meal for me - Lola's Lakehouse has been offering to-go meals and I saw this meal on their menu one night.  Mike didn't want any of it but it sounded too good for me to pass up.  It was a 2 person meal for $30 - 2 huge chicken breasts, tons of pasta, garlic bread, green beans and a lettuce salad!  It was delicious and sooo much food that it lasted me 3 meals; well worth the $30.  

There have been SO many meme's out there that I have laughed at, loved, shared and saved.  This one Kristen sent me and it was probably my favorite.

  

We turned on our Christmas lights one night in March for a neighborhood pick-me-up.