flowers and flurries

Well, a lot has changed around here in the last couple weeks. As I was writing my last post, my concern was growing about the new coronavirus. The next day, Dan got an email recommending he work from home. Fortunately, that allowed us to pull Mae out of day care, since she is usually the patient zero of most illnesses in our household. But it also meant Dan was pulling double duty, working and parenting, while I went to my job which can’t be done remotely. I started feeling sick over the weekend (not coronavirus) and tested positive for strep on Wednesday, which allowed me a little break from the office. My anxiety about leaving the house was increasing by the hour. By Sunday, lots of businesses were closed including bars and restaurants. Mae’s swim lessons were cancelled, which I both expected and agreed with but still had a good cry about. (She was excited about them and so proud of her progress in just 2 lessons!). I started picking up another assignment that can be worked remotely and tried to limit my time in the office. Last Friday I found out that someone in the building had tested positive, and I told my boss I’m just not comfortable being in the office any more. There’s so little data on how this virus affects pregnant women and babies, that I want to be as cautious as I can. Since then I’ve been trying my best to work from home on the new assignment, while battling computer issues and juggling work and parenting. We are getting by with homemade worksheets, Cosmic Kids yoga, the Cincinnati Zoo’s home safari, lunchtime doodles with Mo Willems, and FaceTime with grandparents.

Fortunately, we’ve had a few beautiful spring days mixed in with the drizzly ones. At least when we can get outside a couple times a day, the isolation and anxiety seems a bit more manageable. Wednesday afternoon, we walked to the park for a little creek stomping. It was crowded, but we did our best to maintain social distancing. It’s a hard concept to explain to a toddler... why we can’t go to day care or swim lessons or the playground. She knows people are sick, and we are keeping distance so no one else gets sick. But she doesn’t understand why we can’t visit friends across the street when we are both apparently healthy.

The cherry trees were almost in peak bloom, so I had to take a few photos.

Lastly, just wanted to share this snowy photo I discovered while reviewing my park photos. This is from February when mom visited while Dan went to the Oscar movie marathon. I feel a little cheated on snow this year (no sledding!), so I’m glad we got to at least build a small snowman. Also, you can see a sneak peek at new landscaping (or rather, the lack of old, overgrown landscaping). Excited to see how all the plants come in as the weather warms up now! Stay home, stay healthy.