March Little Things

Boy does it feel like March was a loooong time ago. So much has changed since then.

This picture was taken at the very beginning of March, at my last appointment where I actually sat in the waiting room and could bring my kid with me. For the rest of my appointments, I sat in my car, called when I arrived, and was taken directly back to the exam room. No one else was allowed to come other than myself. 

I love how prepared Belén became for my appointments. Packing her backpack with her headphones and kindle to listen to her audiobook (She is OBSESSED with the Whatever After series), and her doctor kit, and a snack, and a stuffed animal for a patient. She's the best.

 When things started getting bad in other parts of the world with the Coronavirus, Darin told me that we should probably start stocking up on some food. I was skeptical, but stocked up anyways. 

Grateful that he had that impression, especially when all the shelves started looking like this: 

Everyone stopped shopping with their kids and the pregnant/child parking at Wegman's became very available for me (which is NEVER the case).

  I have no idea how many weeks I am in this picture (3rd baby problems), probably entering the third trimester... 

 

 My sweet friends threw me a baby shower back on March 14th, which is when everything started to really get serious around these parts with the Coronavirus. They cancelled school for a  month the day before my shower which really made things feel real. A lot of people didn't end up coming to the shower because they didn't feel comfortable going out. That was a bummer, but I understood. For those of us that did feel comfortable at the time, we didn't hug and did elbow bumps. The Coronavirus was the main talking point of the shower. I'm positive that it was the last social activity that most of us have participated in. 

We played a game where we had to make babies out of playdough.

I'm grateful that the shower was planned for when it was. Had it been any later in the month, I'm sure it would have been cancelled all together. I'm so grateful for my sweet friends for doing this for me, especially during such a weird time of life. My pregnancy was pretty hard of me, both physically and mentally. And while I felt a little silly having a shower for a third baby, it was just SO NICE to feel so loved and cared about. It was a really a huge boost for me that I needed at a difficult time. 

After the baby shower, we ran past Target (little did we know at the time that it would be the last time the kids came to the store with us for a few months). While walking to the car, Shae tripped and fell right into Darin's bum. He smacked his mouth, right against his loose tooth and it popped right out in the parking lot. 

We found a pretty good bike at a thrift store for Belén (she was still really into her balance bike, especially after not having it for our year abroad, but she was WAY too big for it). The bike didn't have training wheels, but after being so good on the balance bike, we were confident she could do it. She lacked a bit of confidence since it was so much bigger than the balance bike. Then our friends lent us their smaller bike for her to practice on. She could touch the ground easier and it was just what she needed to gain her biking confidence. She used it for a few days (seen in pictures below) and has been riding her bike like a champ ever since. 

 It ended up being nice that school was cancelled on St. Patty's day because it meant that the kids got to do their gold coin scavenger hunt and enjoy Lucky Charms together that morning.

 Shae's Art for Kid Hub Leperchaun challenge.

 At home church. Nobody looks very happy in these pictures, but don't let that fool you, we've all actually enjoyed it quite a lot. 

With Social Distancing in full swing, we tried to find some new, lesser known trails to explore to get out of the house, but not be around a lot of people. This was a new one to us and was nice and flat for my pregnant body, which I appreciated.

 

 The kids were very excited to use their bug kits that they got for their birthdays, but were a little disappointed when they couldn't find many bugs.

  Here I am with my legs up in the recliner, peeking in on these two sweet kids laying in their fort, imagining and creating worlds together (with their stuffed animals too, of course). I have been so impressed with how well they have played together these past few months. It has been a HUGE blessing that they have each other, and that they have been able to play so nicely (don't get me wrong, we still have plenty of "moments," but the majority of the time, they really do great. We've even had a few neighbors tell us that they are so impressed with how well they see the kids playing together in the yard or on our walks around our neighborhood.

 Another little trail that was new to us was the Six Mile Creek Trail. This one is close to our house and has become a favorite. 

Our bestest buddies moved mid March which was really sad for all of us. We felt a little guilty going over to help them move and playing one last time as we were all trying to do our best at social distancing at this point, but I couldn't imagine not helping them on moving day or letting the kids say good-bye for the last time. These guys have been with us since the very start of our time here in Ithaca. We've been through a lot together and I still can't believe they are gone.

  We've been watching Lego Masters together as a family and during one episode, Belén became part of the competition, putting together her own Lego creation and asking us to judge it when she was done. It was pretty gosh darn adorable listening to her explain all the different elements to us.