More Quarantine Updates

I can't recall what week we're on anymore. But here are some pictures of what we've been up to.

Lydia at 3 months

Weight: Probably 14-15 lbs

Height: 24ish inches

Clothing Size: We are about to move her into 6-9 month clothing as we start cloth diapers. Some 6 month stuff is too small now.

Daily Schedule: Lydia sleeps until about 9ish in the morning. Then she takes 4 naps throughout the day. She stays awake about 1.5-2 hours between naps. Lydia goes to bed typically between 9 and 10pm. Sometimes she sleeps until 6/7am and eats or she wakes up around 3 or 4 to eat. Either way, she goes right back to sleep.

Special Outings: The backyard, front yard, the upstairs.

Firsts: Lots of more smiles. Slept through the night a few times (9pm-7am)

Eating: Lydia is a little piggy. She takes about 5-6 ounces 4-5 times a day and a few ounces if she wakes up at night. I'm still pumping and am grateful that I have enough milk to feed her. I'm down to pumping about five times a day/night. I make more than enough milk (about 50 ounces/day) but Lydia refuses my freezer stash of milk. So I am donating milk to a local mom. It is nice to be able to help the mom supplement for her little boy as well. Once this quarantine stuff is over, I look forward to getting to know her more.

Sibling love: We were really worried about Gemma being jealous of Lydia. Instead, it has blossomed into this great sister love. Gemma loves going to see Lydia when she wakes up and really enjoys giving Lydia a bath. She adores her baby sister. Tanner could care less about her and Ashton tolerates her. I think they're so busy playing together that they don't spend too much time with Lydia.

Monthly Pictures: I guess I don't take many pictures. These are the only two of Lydia this month.

Easter Sunday

We held church at home for Easter. We celebrated with a few summer-y things for the kids. I got them new beach towels, swimsuits, and flip flops. I wasn't sure if Ashton would say the Easter Bunny brought them or not. In the morning, she thanked Joseph and I so she still seems oblivious to the Easter Bunny bringing baskets/presents. I'm good with that.

We did an Easter egg hunt on Saturday. Then we spent a lot of time on Sunday playing games and spending time with the kiddos. We had swedish meatballs for dinner because I didn't want to plan on a ham and then not be able to get one at the store. We have a coupon for a free ham from Honey Baked Ham but we were unsure they would be selling/open with all the closures. So we'll have our traditional Easter dinner next year again.

We took LOTS of Easter pictures with the family.

Tanner was a little stubborn and barely smiled.

Matching dresses from my sister.

Don't let her smile fool you. She is so sweet but also such a stinker.

This may be my favorite picture of Lydia so far. Such a cute girl.

Week 4 of Quarantine Life

 The weeks and days are quickly starting to blend altogether. The few pictures I take each week are the only way I recall what we did.

This week, Ashton's school lightened up the coursework a little bit. I didn't mind the amount of work given previously but I guess if you have two working parents and multiple kids in school, it could be a lot. I'm grateful I stay home and have the time (and desire) to help Ashton learn. It also helps that she can already do the math, science, and social studies units independently. So really the extra work goes toward reading/writing in Spanish.

We made marshmallow shapes/towers one day.

I took the kids on a long nature hike one evening. The weather here has been beautiful! Aside from a few windy/rainy moments, the temperatures have stayed cooler and we are loving it. The kids found all sorts of neat nature things and loves sharing their cool things with each other. It was a perfect ending to our day.

General Conference Weekend

I feel like we've gotten the swing of General Conference with a baby, toddler, and preschool-age kids. I knew exactly what activities to do this year and what to expect with balancing naps and feedings during conference. We did the snacks for key words again and Tanner was really into it. We scaled back a little and only did two words per session but changed the words around. We also got the box from our new bathtub and took it upstairs. The kids colored in it and made a little bed for themselves. We also postpone naps on conference days to 2pm so the napping kids will sleep during some of the afternoon sessions. Ashton was really into it this year and it was fun to hear her thoughts from it.

I think this is the only picture we took of the weekend.

Highlights from Week 3 of Quarantine

The Good Moments:
- Joseph had to work a full day at his plant this week. I was dreading the day for about a week when he told me. Lydia was fussier that day because I moved up to a larger bottle size and didn't realize the bottle nipple had a faster flow. So she spit up EVERYWHERE and probably didn't eat much. Her naps were short and led to a fussy baby. But I survived. The kids and I made moon sand to play with and we all got through the day. While the moments in the day were sometimes not-so-good, we made it.
- We had some beautiful weather to be outside. It cooled off a little this week so we enjoyed some pants-weather for a few more days before summer arrives.
- Ashton had another great virtual piano lesson. We love our piano teacher and truly appreciate her willingness to work with technology to continue to teach Ashton. Her teacher is pushing Ashton to learn some hymns, which brings her such joy.
- One of Ashton's friends and her mom reached out to me so the girls could video chat together. Ashton loved seeing her friend. It reminded me how much Ashton thrives at school.


The Not-So-Good Moments
- School announced extended closure to May 4th. I'd still be shocked if we go back at all this school year. Ashton misses her friends and teacher.
- Our bathroom isn't done yet. We probably have another week, maybe a little longer, of our bathroom being remodeled. It leads to a louder house and tools in our backyard.

General Conference starts tomorrow. Here is Ashton's drawing that she did on her own. She told me this morning that she can't wait to hear from our prophet and what he wants us to learn and work on. Tanner is excited for the treats. Whatever it takes to have them love General Conference.

Day 11-14

Wednesday
Joseph had more work meetings today than most days so I planned a chill day. We watched Frozen 2 that morning with a special snack. Then we played with shaving cream (a plea from Ashton this whole time) and made a gigantic floor map.

Tanner thinks this one segment in the movie is just hilarious and laughs so hard during it. I find it to be my favorite part of the movie just for this reason.

Thursday

Ashton's piano teacher switched to online piano lessons this week. It went well except for the slight delay in sound. So the teacher would start counting on a piece and that would mess up Ashton's counting. But we survived.

I found Gemma soaking up "me time" away from her siblings. When she was done, all the cars/vehicles were lined up just the way she wanted them.

Friday

Gemma had her 2 year old doctor appointment Friday morning. If there is one thing Gemma hates more than anything, it's medical personnel. Dentists, doctors, anyone wearing scrubs, etc. and Gemma screams. We prepped her for this appointment and it actually went okay. She only screamed when the nurse got her height and weight. Then, she fussed a little during the doctor's examination. Otherwise, we brought lots of toys and played in the room for a while. I had no questions or concerns with Gemma so she is just fine. She got a shot and I totally just let the nurse surprise her with it. I held her on my lap and held her head towards me. The nurse just stuck her with the shot and it was done. No drama or build up. And Gemma was done crying about 1.2 seconds later.

Ashton finished all her schoolwork finally. We hit the ground running at the beginning of the week but then lagged behind in the middle of the week.

Saturday

No construction work today! We could lay around in our pajamas and relax a little more. The workers arrive between 8 and 9am, which is typically fine. Except Lydia likes to sleep in and so do I with Joseph home. I was excited to have two days of no noise and tools around.

After our morning chores, we got the kiddie pools out in the backyard and let the kids play in them for a while. They loved it and it was a nice change of scenery from indoors. Joseph took Gemma up to clean the church quickly while the older kids and I played Racko. We spent time making cards and writing letters to people. We ended the night with some house tag.