Not much going on here lately. Just a pandemic.
I was a bit shocked when I came here to write a post and saw that the last time I wrote anything was on Miles's 10th birthday. He's only 2 1/2 inches shorter than me at this point (probably less - it has been about a week since I last measured him), so it feels like it has been even longer.
Since that last post, we celebrated Halloween:
Thanksgiving in San Antonio with Nana and Papa:
And Christmas at home:
Before the pandemic hit, the kids were really enjoying school. Miles was doing great in 4th grade, and was a member of Run Club and the Choir. He also competed in UIL (Number Sense) and earned his Senior Green Belt (and Best Forms and Best Blocking) in Taekwondo.
Gisele was having a great year in 7th grade. She was the President of Student Council (the first time it had not been an 8th grader), a cheerleader, and was having a fantastic time in Production Theatre, playing Betty in The Crucible.
The pandemic hit right around Spring Break. Really, the kids just never went back to school afterward. We started online school on our own pretty quickly because they always do best with some sort of routine. The district came out with their own version of online school fairly soon after, and we switched over to that seamlessly. We set everything up in the dining room, with the kids each on a laptop while I worked on a puzzle.
 |
| A few days after this, the table was covered with papers/notebooks. It was not this clean again for months. MONTHS. |
 |
| They wore blue light glasses since they were on the laptops for hours each day. |
When school ended at the beginning of June, Miles even agreed to finally let me give him a haircut at home after a few months of denying he needed one.
We've been very careful to stay socially-distanced whenever possible, and masked-up when we've needed to be out amongst everyone else.
MD Anderson has been great about masks/temperature-taking/sanitizer, etc., so I've felt perfectly safe going in for my appointments. We've been getting 99% of our groceries delivered from HEB, and Jamie wipes everything down with cleaner as he unloads the bags, and washes all the produce before putting it away. Miles returned to taekwondo after a few months of Zoom-only classes, and the studio has been wonderful. They spray the kids down as they enter, everyone wears masks, and they spray them again as they leave. The equipment is wiped down between sets, also, and they haven't been doing any sparring or partner work since opening back up.
Jamie has been able to work from home since the pandemic started, which has been absolutely wonderful. We set the desk and chair up in our bedroom, so he uses that as his office. He's back there all day, but comes out to eat lunch with us, refill his water, or grab a snack. And I can go chat with him when he has a minute to spare. He doesn't have to commute anymore, and I don't have to worry about him traveling across the city twice a day in traffic, which means I have less stress, also.
Overall, staying at home hasn't been too bad. I do miss going to the zoo whenever we want, taking laps around Target with a Starbucks in hand, and stopping into Blockhouse (my favorite local coffeehouse). And I miss having the option of dinner at Ninja, our yummy local sushi place, when we're tired of cooking every night. Our last night out as a family was actually right before news of "social distancing" hit, and was dinner at Ninja.
For now, we'll follow all of the CDC guidelines and continue to pray that this will pass sooner rather than later.
Stay safe and healthy!
Posts
