The Weeks of Quarantining, Earthquakes, and Things

Basically since M left school on March 12, we haven't left the house except out of necessity for groceries, chiropractic appointments, etc. And, with the Coronavirus continuing to spread across the world, we continue to see shifts in our lives, while at the same time much the same. We've been practicing quarantining for the past 3 months since Jay arrived, so really, we're continuing to practice the same habits...when someone goes somewhere, it's just one of us. We didn't take Jay to public gatherings, and now those gatherings aren't even allowed so we continue not to go. I worked from home before and still do, and now M is taking classes from home which is probably the biggest change.

With the days sort of blending together, we almost forgot that it was St. Patrick's day. We'd been waiting for months to put Jay in his special outfit, so thankfully we remembered. We also had a great chat with Papa because it was his birthday (which we didn't forget!).

"The Ladies are Lucky I was Born" - too true.

Wednesday, March 18th was a bit of a crazy day, mainly because the morning started out shaky. Literally, it shook. I experienced my first earthquake. I had logged into work and was sitting on the couch, M was in the shower. And all the sudden, I feel the house shake. It had been raining, so I thought maybe it was just thunder, but it kept going. I could see the ground shift, the blinds were shaking, I suddenly realized it must be an earthquake and sat frozen on the couch! I realized I had no idea what to do in an earthquake. M didn't even feel it in the shower, but later told me I should have gotten under the table, or grabbed Jay out of bed and gotten under the table. Well, hopefully there's never a next time, but if there is, I will be more prepared. The quake sort of turned the day into this weird feeling day, so we were happy when Thursday came along.

I looked it up online just a few moments after it happened, and here's the detail. 

Jay helping M with his homework, definitely not distracted... :) 

One of the things we were looking forward to the most over the past two weeks was Jay's baby blessing. We had it scheduled for March 22, Grandma and Grandpa Blaylock were coming, Oma and Papa had flights booked, Jack and Klaire had their flights, it was going to be a party weekend for sure! I was so excited to see everyone, even grocery shopped like it was going to happen...and then, with the spread of the virus, we decided to call it off. It was such a hard decision, as we were looking forward to it for months. So, the anticipated weekend of family time and celebration was very different. We made up for part of it by having Nathan and Michela over for dinner and games on Friday night. Dominos was running a big sale, so we ate pizza and played Speak Out and Pandemic. Speak Out got us all to laugh and forget about our worries, and Pandemic helped us save the world which reminded us that the world will survive the Coronavirus too. I also made gluten free bread, trying out a new recipe. This time, it was actually successful and delicious!

The bread, it actually rose! 

Speak Out - Don't we all have great teeth? 

Sunday we had Nathan and Michela over for the Sacrament, and I led the Come Follow Me discussion about Enos. It was so great to have them come and cool to see Nathan and M bless and pass the sacrament together. I also enjoyed talking about the Gospel with everyone, the insights others bring to M and I's discussions are wonderful. We enjoyed our Sunday afternoon walk, and finished the evening with Family Chat on Google Hangouts, which is always so fun.

Jay right before our Sunday walk

Jay in his fancy Sunday outfit from Grandma

"Simba"

Sometimes when M has video classes and needs to participate, Jay joins me for work. If I am on a call with my teammates, they'll often ask if we can FaceTime so they can see Jay while we work which is really fun. Or, sometimes Jay will just play around in the room while I work. It's a blessing to be able to be home to help take of him while M's in class and I am so grateful my hours are flexible so I can work around the time I have to take off to care for him.

Working buddies.

And, sometimes watching Mommy work is really boring and you fall asleep while playing.

Jay has recently decided that toys can be fun and he can grab them with his hands. It's pretty exciting and fun to watch. He's also starting to laugh, which is so great!! He also loves to practice tummy time while being held up in the air, he's getting a lot stronger and can hold his head up pretty well...we tried the bumbo out for the first time. He's doing a lot better with bathtime, and he's finally big enough to wear his BYU shoes.

This toy is affectionately called "Raffay"

This little rattle reminds us of our family in AZ

Bumbo sitting to practice some head control...we still only do it for about 5 mins, 100% supervised.

Super baby!

Bath Time, enjoying his nice baby robe.

Check out the Cougar shoes! 

M recently found out that the deadline for his last CPA test has been extended, so he's stopped aggressively studying for it, which means SO much more free time. And, lucky for me, that time is usually in the evenings. We've taken full advantage this week and played Pandemic several nights in a row, increasing the difficulty each time. We started with 5 pandemics and choosing our roles, then the next time just random roles, and then this last time we moved up to 6 pandemics, no choosing roles. Every time we have won, but one time, the most intense time, we only won by 1 cube! Eeeek! It was fun and I am loving being able to spend time doing more fun things with M.

Our date night on Friday was In N' Out burgers, PJ's, and P games. I went to In N' Out about 5:15, and the line was zig-zagged all the way across the parking lot. I waited for 40 minutes in line, I'm lucky Klaire was available and we chatted the whole time. The food was scrumptious, and then we spent the rest of the night in our PJ's playing Pictionary and Pandemic. Both games were super fun.

Saturday we sorted through a whole bunch of stuff in our spare room closet, made a DI pile and a trash pile, it was good to switch winter out for summer and get rid of things. Jay was a trooper and watched us sort during his play time. In the afternoon we ran over to the church and played basketball. It's so fun to play with M. He's great at 1-1, he played that all the time, and I'm better with teammates, so I am grateful he's patient with me. Jay loves to lay out on his blanket on his half of the court and watch us play.

Some of the blessings we've seen over the past few weeks include: finding chicken in the grocery store, surviving an earthquake, finding a few rolls of TP at the store, sunny days that allow for walks, technology enabling us to talk to family, smiles and laughter of Jay that can light up the day, plenty of running water, physical bodies that allow us to do all the activities we love to do (like basketball), health and happiness of family members, a great job I can do from home, and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ that allows M to administer the Sacrament in our home. These are just a few, I could probably write a whole post just about blessings!