March 2020

A new virus called COVID-19 or coronavirus started to spread across the globe. It makes some people very sick and makes it hard for them to breathe. Some people are dying and others have to stay in the hospital for a long time. Others get mild or no symptoms and are just fine. This is not something we have dealt with before, and therefore, our government is trying to direct us the best they can.  We had a 2-week shutdown in March/April where pretty much everyone that was not an "essential" worker had to stay home and not really go anywhere that wasn't necessary. Everything has closed down - stores, restaurants, parks, schools, libraries, museums, everything! It is very hard! Keeping little kids at home and not allowing them to go anywhere is not easy. 

I started working from home full time around mid-March, and Deacon switched to full time remote learning shortly after for the rest of the year. IT WAS AWFUL!!! We had so many fighting/screaming matches that I am not proud of from me trying to get him to do his work. Somehow we made it through, but it is not something I ever want to have to do again. 

I actually love working from home full-time and wish that could continue, but we will have to go back to the office at some point. Luckily, my daycare has been able to stay open and I have been taking my kids there 1/2 day. The boys go to daycare until 1pm, then I go get them and Emer takes a nap and Deacon does remote school. We have had to make some adjustments very quickly and it has not always been easy.

During this quarantine, we went on A LOT of walks around the neighborhood, watched movies, played with Legos, and did whatever else we could find. I am grateful that the weather was nice during this so we could go outside. Our neighborhood did a fun thing for St. Patrick's Day and Easter. Those that wanted to participate put a clover in their window for St. Patrick's day and a colored egg in their window for Easter for the kids in the area to walk around and find. It seemed to give them something more to do during our walks and my kids thought it was fun both coloring and displaying their clover/egg and finding others.