These last few months have been a bit crazy. At the end of January, my friend Lindsey who is teaching in China, told me about a virus that had shut down China. Schools had shut down there and she was off work indefinitely. The Coronavirus, or Covid-19, started in China but I never expected it to have such an impact on the world. It sure has. The weekend of March 14 and 15th, things began to change in Canada. The first cases of the virus were hitting Canada, Church was cancelled and then on Sunday we found out that in class school throughout provincial schools was cancelled indefinitely. Social distancing became a new and big concept for all of us. I will always remember the date because Pie Day was on the Saturday (March 14) and I made a cookie pie for Chris to take to school for his students and I was about to make more for him on the Sunday but then we heard the news and got the email from the school and the cookie pie was never needed. I was not scheduled to work the next week which worked out very well so I thought up a school schedule for the kids that Sunday night and we followed it for the week. I really enjoyed that first week with the kids. We kept pretty good to our schedule, we read more than we ever have, we went outside, we watched science and math youtube videos and did not have other screen time until 4:00 pm. It was a busy week but it went well and I enjoyed it. It only took Champion school that first week to get everything up and running online through google classroom. I was very impressed with how fast Champion got organized and how they started their online school. It has been great to keep a schedule. Since then, Monday to Thursday (and the odd Friday - following the usual 4 day week schedule), Elva has L.A at 9:00, Caeleb has L.A at 9:30, Elva has Math at 10:30 and Caeleb has Math at 1100. Each class in 30 minutes and online with the teacher and the other students. The kids also have one to one time with their teacher once or twice a week which is about 30 minutes as well. They have become experts on muting and unmuting themselves in class as well as joining the class videos after I sign them in. Mary, who started Champion preschool in November, was unable to continue with preschool as they cancelled it. But their preschool teacher is such a sweetheart and still reads to them online on Wednesdays at 1230 as well as sends them art projects to do every week. I think the online school has been very good for Caeleb and Elva. But it is not without its difficulties. The homework is hard to get done. They get an assignment in Math and L.A almost every school day and I have to be the bad mom and nag them to get their homework done. Chris has not been much of a help with this even with me nagging him to help and I feel very much alone. They almost never had homework before this and so this has definitely been a learning curve. Caeleb does pretty good getting things done with minimal help if I remind him several times to get it done but Elva is finding reading and writing hard and it is hard to sit down and get homework done. So that is a big struggle in our lives right now. But I am very proud of my kids and how well they have done with adapting to online school and with social distancing. They do well being at home. We have tried to get out once a week for a drive to Vulcan or Claresholm to go for ice-cream or a hamburger.
While a lot of people's lives have become more relaxed in the last few months due to being stuck at home, I feel like my life has become busier. It is true that we do not have to rush out the door for church on Sundays and I am not taking Elva to her dance class on Thursdays or Caeleb to his piano lessons on Wednesdays (though we did continue his piano on facetime every Wednesday till the end of May and it went pretty well). And we did not get to do baseball in Champion this spring. But life is still busy. Not only do I have to help the kids with homework and keep them busy at home, there has been more opportunity for me to work in Claresholm. I ended up dropping my Rockyview shifts (I may go back casual to Rockyview after Maternity leave depending on our finances) that I had scheduled due to my Claresholm manager not wanting me to pick up in both places (due to the risk of spreading the virus between sites). However, they have needed a Screening Nurse in Claresholm so I picked up 5 screening nurse shifts. I also picked up other shifts in Claresholm and have been working 12-14 shifts in Claresholm. I also had to find a different babysitter for the kids as their previous babysitter did not want to watch them during this pandemic. I was lucky that a Junior High school student neighbor who is a member of our church loved the idea of watching our kids when needed and we have paid her. I think lots of working families have used older students to help with childcare. Mom has also been a big help in watching the kids when I have had appointments. Thanks Mom! Chris had to go into his school like usual for the first few weeks but has since been working from home except on Mondays and the occasional Friday or so. And when he has worked from home, I would leave for work at 2:00 pm for my evening shifts so he would watch the kids afterwards and we would not need childcare for those days.
I have also still needed to make my trips into the city for OB appointments for baby. A couple of times, I have worked the evening before, then Mom has watched the kids while I have driven into Calgary for my appointment and then I would go to work in Claresholm after for another evening shift. Busy times! Work has been busy but my last days were Saturday May 30 and Sunday May 31st and now I am playing the waiting game until baby comes. I am feeling a tired and big and have some cramping but feel like I will hold on till induction date on June 19th. I am taking 18 months off of work and I am excited for that. I have always wanted to be a stay at home mom (and like I have said several times - the work and home life balancing act is hard for me) and this will give me a bigger and longer taste of less complicated stay at home Mom life. In a way I will miss my job and helping my patients and I will forever feel that this job in Claresholm was sent straight to me from my Heavenly Father. He knew what I needed and what we needed as a family and it has been a huge huge blessing. We also feel very blessed as Chris has got a job at the middle school in Claresholm for next year teaching Science and Math for grade 7 and 8. It is temporary and not quite full time but we feel like it is the Lord guiding him in the right direction and that he is making steps towards a full time permanent position somewhere near our home. I believe in Chris and know that he is a great teacher. He has taught me so many things from Astronomy to lessons from the scriptures. These days, I love to sit at the bottom of the stairs and listen to him as he teachers his classes online in his office.
I will be induced on June 19th ( a week before due date) as I don't want to go into labour out on the farm and baby is measuring big. On my June 3rd ultrasound, baby was in the 95th percentile measuring 7 lbs 11 ounces. I have big babies, what can I say. I was breech and could feel the babies hard head move from side to side at that top of my abdomen for weeks on end - a weird feeling and I was always afraid to hurt the babies head whenever I pressed up against something. Then the evening after my last day of work (36 weeks), I felt some big movements and the baby must have turned head down because at the ultrasound on the Wednesday June 3rd, baby was head down. I have had 5 ultrasounds this pregnancy due to being part of a study for pre-eclampsia that I signed up for. I have been deemed low risk but have continued till the end with the study. We were going to have to deliver at Peter Lougheed due to South Health Campus becoming a Covid hospital but that has changed in recent weeks as the number of covid cases begin to lessen. It would have been interesting to deliver at Peter Lougheed as then we would have delivered at all the Adult hospitals in Calgary - Rockyview, Foothills, South Health Campus, Peter lougheed. But we love South Health Campus and it is closer to home so we don't mind this change at all. It is hard being pregnant with up and down emotions, aches and pains, tiredness and anxiety. But I love it all the same. I will enjoy each baby kick and movement and feel blessed for this opportunity once again.
The Covid restrictions are starting to ease off a bit as daily new cases fall in the province and we are allowed to gather in small groups. The kids and I went to Camellia and Doug's this weekend (Friday to Sunday morning) as well as Last Thursday and Friday before my last 2 days of work (Saturday and Sunday). We rode horses, had hot dog roasts, watched Fuller House on Netflix and the kids played well with each other. We sure love going to their beautiful home and seeing the Mountains and we enjoy talking and laughing and having fun with the cousins. We did not get to see them during the beginning of the Pandemic (except for meeting them at the church parking lot in Claresholm for a social distant Easter egg hunt before I went to work on Easter Monday). Now that we get to see them more, it is a real treat. We feel so blessed to have them in our lives.
Well, it is Monday morning now as I finish this and I best get Oh Canada, the Lords prayer (they do those two things in morning assembly at Champion school and so we carry on with it) and Scripture Study done with the kids before their classes start at 9:00. Until later then.
