He's here!

The bright spot through everything has been the arrival of our new nephew, John. He's sweeter than sweet and cuter than cute and we can't wait until the coronavirus situation finally lets up so we can meet him in person!

These are strange circumstances to have a new baby, to say the least, but Susie and Sean seem to be handling it as well as is humanly possible. We all wish we could be there to hold him for a few hours so they could nap, but for the time being, it is just their little family of three. Until things change, at least we have pictures ... and hopefully a video chat in the near future when his schedule is more predictable :)

Here's John, with his big eyes open, looking adorable (and like his dad, if I do say so myself)

Snug as a bug in a rug

The new mom :)

And the new dad

Congrats, Sus and Sean! He's precious!

Sheltering at home

We're almost through the first full week at home, and I think we're doing all right. Molly's e-learning has been almost entirely self-guided. She gets up, checks Google Classroom for the daily message from her teacher, and then goes through her list of subjects one by one. Occasionally, she asks one of us to play a math game or get something for her, but for the most part, she's been doing it on her own. She gets a little stir crazy around 3 or 4pm every day, but I get it. We've spent a lot of time in this house with only Grandma over every couple of days to visit.

On Thursday, Molly started video chatting and instant messaging with her friends and that has made a HUGE difference. I fear it may be the gateway to social media and phone addiction, but if it gets us through the next few weeks at home, I am ok with it. She had her lunch bunch on one chat and then half her class on another ... I could hear the laughter and excitement from two floors away.

My week started out kind of slow, but after everyone had a few days to adjust, it was back to business as usual. I'm a little worried that the 9-5 boundaries will dissolve now that everyone is home and bored and staring at their phones and computers all the time, but at least work helps make the time pass. I also have the elementary school yearbook to keep me busy -- goodness knows how we're going to fill all the pages without the end of year activities, but we'll figure something out. Maybe have the kids send in selfies of themselves e-learning? And even though spring is technically here, I've brought my knitting out and am working my way through unused yarn.

Jason has done an excellent job stocking our fridge and pantry. We're not hoarding or prepping by any means, but have enough to get us through a few weeks. We're trying to take this seriously and really limit our trips to the grocery store. The days are long, but we're taking advantage of the new Hulu subscription and unwinding with The Handmaid's Tale and Letterkenny (a Canadian sitcom that is so stupid-smart and totally addictive).

Riley definitely benefits the most from this new arrangement. She's getting long walks multiple times a day and tons of attention from her 3 human family members, especially Molly, who looks for her puppy when she's bored and needs to blow off some steam.

So, we're hanging in there. Same as everyone, I suppose. Just hoping for warmer weather to come and the corona virus curve to flatten out so we can get back to our normal lives! Here are a few pics from Week 1:

Riley is trying her best to take over my spot on the couch

Puzzle #1 complete, with a little help from Grandma

Bridge building with toothpicks and marshmallows .. it held a pen, but not for long 

Selfies with Riley

Taking long walks to the beach

"Spring Break" makeover

"Spring Break" makeover part 2

Face masks, just because

Crazy times - Day 1 of our confinement

Social distancing is now in FULL effect. I got the word today that I'll be working from home for the next 3 weeks, through Friday, April 3rd. Molly will be home through April 10th. Jason is here every day anyway, but he's not used to having the rest of us around. It seems that Riley is the only one with a place to go! We will probably continue sending her to Rex's Place for a couple of days a week to let her see her friends and hopefully help keep that business afloat.

We have a schedule in place for meals, a schedule in place for e-learning, and I'm going to have to come up with some sort of workout schedule. I don't know yet how busy I'm going to be with work. It could be crazy, or it could be slow. We're all taking it one day at a time.

I'm glad I recently invested in some new leggings. It's going to be comfy clothes and air-dried hair in this place for a while. Wish us luck!

Finally, some good news

Well, it's been a little crazy the last few days / weeks. With coronavirus ramping up, life is ramping waaaay down. Molly's school will be closed for the next 4 weeks and the kids will be e-learning from home instead. I just found out tennis classes are cancelled and the gym will be closed. I cancelled my girls' trip to Mexico. We cancelled our Spring Break trip to London and Switzerland. We're all disappointed, but what can you do? People need to just wait this thing out. For now, my office is open, but there's a chance we may be working from home for a few weeks. It's pretty nuts.

But wait, I titled this blog post, "Finally, some good news." What's the good news? Well, Molly is officially scheduled to start OIT - oral immunotherapy - in May! We've been on the wait list for a little while. She had the opportunity to start last summer, but we passed it up because of summer camp. But now, it's time!

So what is OIT? Basically, Molly will start taking mini doses of the nuts she's allergic to every morning until she is desensitized and no longer allergic. It is a loooong process. She'll have to do this every morning for 6 months to a year, with appointments every 1 to 2 weeks to increase her dose until she's able to eat handfuls of these nuts. She'll have to get up early, and make sure she doesn't do any physical activity for a couple of hours after taking her dose. And then after she is through the official Dr's office part of the process, she's still going to have to eat these nuts every day for a couple of years to make sure she keeps her tolerance up.

It's a pretty big commitment, but people who have done it say it is absolutely life changing. For the most part, Molly's allergies are pretty under control. She is so good about checking labels and asking if things contain nuts. It's not holding her back from doing things, but it's a pain.

For example, when we still thought we were going to Switzerland, the Dr said we'd need extra epi pens, and benadryl, and a prescription for steroids in case of an allergic reaction while trapped on a plane over the Atlantic. We'd have to have all of the nuts she's allergic to translated on cards in different languages in case we ended up at a restaurant where the wait staff didn't speak English. We had to tell her in advance she probably wasn't going to be able to have Swiss chocolate or pastries on the trip since hazelnuts are everywhere in Switzerland. Not the end of the world, but allergic reactions are scary and I know Molly lives with a certain amount of fear. 

There's no guarantee that this will work, but it does work for most people who are able to follow the protocol and keep it up. Molly is pretty determined and I think she'll do well. And she's at a good age too - we'll hopefully have it done before the teenage years when everything becomes a battle.

Two months until we start. I'm happy to have something to look forward to!

Waiting and baking

At some point over the next couple of weeks, I'll have a new nephew. Sus is officially due March 20, but it seems like it could happen any day now. I popped over to her place yesterday afternoon and she is definitely ready. The room is set up. They have everything they need. Now it's just a waiting game to see when he decides to show up! 

From Susie's baby shower last month

In other news, I had a gum grafting procedure last Fri, which was about as fun as it probably sounds. It kept us home all weekend though, and in looking for something fun to do, Molly decided to try her hand at baking macarons. She's watched enough baking shows that she's pretty familiar with the process, but I was still impressed by her confidence in the kitchen. And the finished product ... delicieux!

Checking her meringue

Piping - the best part

It looks like we'll be turning the kitchen over to Molly now on weekends. She is making her second batch of macarons today and has grand plans to make a chocolate cake from scratch tomorrow for James' birthday! 

After all the fun I had baking bread this fall and winter, I decided it was time to say good bye to my sourdough starter. We did a mini Whole 30 in Feb and took a break from carbs and sugar. And now, after this gum grafting procedure, I won't be able to chew for a couple of weeks. I thought about keeping the starter going, even if I wasn't baking regularly, but have trips coming up to Denver for work, then to Mexico with girlfriends, and then to London and Switzerland for Spring Break. I was a little sad about giving it up, but now I have the freedom to try other types of bread and baked goods with Molly. Look for pictures of the finished products to come!