The days always blur together a little bit over here, especially since Mark doesn’t have a normal M-F work schedule (that starts in July, and I am soooooooo excited for it!), but boy with never leaving the house, it really does make it hard to keep track of the days. Life is odd and unusual, and hard these days. So I thought an old-fashioned update might be in order.
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Mark
Mark has been working on a COVID overflow ICU unit this month, which is as challenging and draining as it sounds. The hours are long and the stress levels are high, and I’m ready for him to be back to urology. His biggest struggle is the fact that he can’t connect with his patients or interact with them in the way he normally would- most are heavily sedated, all are on ventilators, and the amount of protective gear he needs to wear is such that it makes any kind of touch impossible (which of course makes all the sense in the world from a health perspective but it rough on patients and doctors). Because the hospital is on lock down and patients are not allowed visitors, he is also not able to connect with his patients’ families, which he hates too.
Mark’s decompression activity these days has been building raised garden beds for our vegetable garden. He has really enjoyed the physicality of building and filling the beds, and I am beyond excited to have space to garden this summer.
Gram
As the most at-risk member of our family, Gram is quarantined in her room for the duration of Mark’s work on the COVID ward. He is very, very careful about making sure he’s decontaminating himself, but you never know, and the kids are germ carriers by nature. Being separate is hard on her and hard on them, but we are working to keep her spirits up. She is an avid consumer of shows on Netflix and any book she can get her hands on, so we’ve been making lots of literature purchases for her. She’s currently in the middle of Treasure Island.
Gianna
G is the kid who is having the hardest time with the quarantine, though it could be a lot worse. She misses her ninja gym class and her cousins, and I miss our monthly therapy appointments. She is very in tune to stress levels in the house, and picks up more than her brothers and sisters. She also has had the hardest time with my being out of commission for so long, and definitely requires more active, hands on parenting to keep her on track.
We are currently taking our spring break from homeschooling, and I am hoping that the time for arts and crafts, outside time, and books and snuggles will help bring her back to equilibrium.
William
His Nana bought him (really all the kids, but he’s pretty sure they belong solely to him) a set of magnatiles, and he has just exploded in concentration and creativity. He has been working his way through the booklet that came with them showing all the different things that can be built, and is remarkably capable at re-creating the pictures. He is constantly building these days, and it’s such fun to see.
Charlotte
Wow is her personality blossoming. Our sweet little Charlotte has some firecracker in her (go figure), and appears to be more of a Type A than the rest of the family. She is very precise in her needs and wants, and insistent. She eats all the live long day, and I’m just waiting for the growth spurt that has to be coming. Charlotte is also her mother’s daughter, so noodles are her favorite food.
Colleen
I am slowly recovering from my bout of probably-covid-induced pneumonia, and getting frustrated by how long it takes to recover from this virus. For the record, if anyone thinks it’s no joke- I’m a healthy woman in my mid-30s, and I’ve been fighting it for 6 weeks. I’ve been reading a lot thanks to a gift card from my aunt for Kindle books, and am trying my best to take things easy. (I just finished The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay and LOVED it. It’s engaging and real, and has some unexpected Catholic threads to the storyline)
A book update for all those who are interested: Rebecca is currently finishing the final illustration. I finished the final edits last week on the text, and it’s now being proof-read by copy editors over at OSV. The next step is putting the two pieces together! The scheduled release date is a little up in the air- it will either be mid-summer or mid-fall, but I’ll keep you posted as I know more.
As for what’s next, I’ve got a couple of projects cooking, and will hopefully have more more to share on those in the months to come. I’m really excited about these next books, and I think you will be too!
I’m linking up with Kelly this week, so click on over to read the rest of the quick takes.