Rachel Zimm: March at-home

Since we homeschool, it's not uncommon in winter for us to only venture out once or twice during the week. We really had been lying low in February since our closest friends all had bouts of the flu. Having a baby in the house makes me nervous about the flu and its high fevers. Once coronavirus cases began in the US, I wasn't too scared because I thought Seattle was still quite far from Indiana. And then as we were going to bed on March 8th, I read about a local school district shutting its doors for two weeks because of a student with the virus. How quickly it had come to our community! Just three days later, Steve's university announced they were indefinitely extending their spring break and moving to online classes. At this point, we began willingly sheltering-in-place before Indiana mandated it on March 25th.

I want to document details of this strange time - what our life is like right now, our thoughts and feelings about it, and hopefully find some good in a time that feels so uncertain.

I find myself often repeating 1 Timothy 1:7,
"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

Backtracking a bit, this little 🍋 girl turned 10 months-old on March 4th! She has learned how to wave hello and goodbye. She woofs when I ask her what the doggy says, and she can stand without holding on to anything for a couple of seconds before she realizes she's standing, and then she sits down. 😉 If she does something she's not supposed to do, she looks at me with her big blue eyes and waits for me to tell her no. 😅 And she absolutely loves to hear music and "sing" along, especially the Frozen 2 soundtrack. ❤️

Playing CLUE Jr and passing the time together.

The last time all six of us went to church was March 1st, and we went to Culver's with my mom and Don afterwards. I can't believe it's already been over a month since I've seen my church friends.

Junia was sick the second week of March. She had a pretty consistent 99-100 temp for seven days. She was still playing and acting almost normal, with no cough and no snot, so I hesitated to take her into the pediatrician and possibly expose her to other germs. On the fifth day of fevers, I couldn't take it any longer so I brought her in. Our doctor was super reassuring and calm, and she wasn't worried that it was anything but a passing virus. Thankfully, Junia shook the fever on day seven, and she never developed any sign of even a cold!

Trouble! 😉

A rare moment of her waking up happy in her crib! Without fail, she screams every time she is set down and cries when she wakes up, too.

In case you need a reminder. :)

Trader Joe's gave Steve an entire roll of St. Paddy's stickers, which was exciting. He's one of those people who somehow finagles good things.

Checking out "the Ruins" at Holiday Park. The statues up top came from the St. Paul building in NYC, built in 1898.

She is so happy when her brothers pay attention to her!

The only way we're surviving this quarantine is by our afternoon walks! Sometimes we drive somewhere to walk, and other times we just go around our little neighborhood. The fresh air and vitamin D are a must.

She's not so sure about the wind!

This guy loves his scooter! And Nolan and Ephraim ask to ride their bikes every single day, even when it's raining.

The boys dressed up as pirates to go to Awana at the beginning of March. I snapped a quick photo, not knowing that this would be their last Awana of the year. :( They're trying to move the program online, so hopefully we can still finish out the year that way!

We can't quite perfect the timing of afternoon naps at our house. Junia is always waking up as August is going down. And honestly, most days now, August refuses to nap.

A sweet moment of Junia meeting the baby doll. She was so curious and so gentle!

The boys really loved Mo Willems' Lunch Doodles for three weeks. They learned to draw Pigeon and Elephant and Piggie, and they thought Mo was hilarious and fascinating. We're sad it's over!