April was probably the most stressful month of my life! Work was absolutely crazy with more meetings than I have ever had, and the task of trying to keep my staff and clients safe during every changing safety precautions was daunting. Add into that trying to work from home while teaching my kids and I almost exploded! Luckily I have a great staff who all helped to make things run smoothly. And my kids were fairly well behaved and able to complete their work mostly independently and entertain themselves. That being said, I found myself yelling at them a lot more, even when they were asking me legitimate questions about their work. It was hard to do my own work and help them at the same time. I felt like I wasn't doing a great job at either and spent many early mornings, nights, and weekends trying to get my own work caught up. Virtual meetings are also kid magnets and as soon as my kids would hear me on one, they were drawn to it. Being on any type of meeting also caused them to immediately go crazy and start running around the house screaming. By the time Dada got home each day, we were all about to lose it!
Our days consisted of getting as much work done in the morning as possible. Clara had Zoom class twice a week for one hour and looked forward to these meetings so she could at least see her friends and teacher. Then I would put Clara in charge of reading to Emmett and doing a craft or something fun with him. They did some type of physical activity (we took a lot of walks) like jumping on the trampoline or yoga. When I had early afternoon meetings, the kids would watch an educational program and Clara would put Emmett down for his nap. She was quite helpful most of the time and would even read him a story and give him a kiss! The dining room was our work space and I finally bought a desk for Clara that I painted so she could have her own space. Clara spent a lot of time reading and Emmett spent a lot of time doing puzzles. Both kids got chores like feeding the cats and doing dishes and I started giving them points that they could redeem for a prize when they reached 100 for good behavior/completing their chores without complaining in an attempt to try to curb the incessant whining that was making my hair gray. It worked pretty well when I worked to focus on good behavior, but I inevitably got frustrated and started focusing on bad behavior and taking points away which made it less enticing. It was a really long month and the only time the kids and I were apart was when I was running ro biking.
 |
| The aftermath of Clara's craft lesson |
 |
| When cleaning the porch is exciting you know you're in quarantine! |
 |
| Quarantine is so exhausting that sometimes you fall asleep watching TV |
As stressful as it was, we also managed to have some fun. We spent most evenings doing something active like biking, scootering, rollerblading, or playing at the giant dirt pile at the nearby construction site. The kids and Dada even jumped in the pool on a warmish day! Tio Robert, Tia Erika, and Eleanora stopped by to drop off Clara's birthday present and she was super excited to try out her roller skates. The kids came with me to my office a few times when nobody was there so we could drop things off and I could sign things. That and Target curbside pickup (which I used to think was for lazy people and now think is amazing) were the highlights of their week!
We participated in Spirit Week for Clara's school and did something or dressed up each day. We made butter and did a lot of baking. The kids had a lot of picnic lunches outside while I worked in peace and quiet. We got to pick up Emmett's memory book and preschool work. It was a bittersweet way to end our four years of preschool at Sonshine, but I know the kids will still go there for daycare, so I tried not to think about all the stuff Emmett missed out on.
We celebrated Eleanora's birthday via Zoom complete with decorations they dropped off and had some outside playdates with Olive and Winnie. The kids took turns sending presents and sweet notes to Olive and Winnie and getting the sweetest things in return. We also had some socially distanced visits with primos. It made not getting to see them all the time more bearable.
Clarita finally lost her first tooth and was so excited! She also got to Zoom with her BFFs and I have never heard so much giggling and squealing! There were morning snail hunts and lots of dessert eating! HMC provided grapes and a recipe for fruit leather and the kids had a blast making it! I had a blast eating it! Dada slept on the trampoline with the kids once it got a little warmer and they thought that was the best! We did a socially distanced birthday drop off for Sophie's 13th birthday and got to see her kittens. Needless to say, the kids were obsessed and wanted their own!
 |
| Pants optional cooking |
Luckily for them, someone dropped a box of tiny kittens off on our porch and taking care of them while we tried to find homes for them occupied a lot of our time. The kids got their work done in record time each day so they could go spend hours in the outside bathroom playing with the kittens. They were so tiny that they had a hard time eating at first so we supplemented with formula. I have never seen a kitten so excited about anything before! They literally climbed up my legs when they saw that I had the bottle. It was something fun for the kids to do that we never would have had time for if we hadn't been on lockdown.
The good thing about not going anywhere or doing anything was that I had a ton of time to get things done around the house. I painted a million things, organized a ton of stuff, and we all pulled a ton of weeds in the garden! At least we can still be productive!
