Thankfully I started planning Jackson’s big boy room before the coronavirus shutdown and most of the big ticket items had been ordered and delivered before then. So we had the bed frame, dresser, mattress, comforter and wall decals — we just hadn’t put any of it together yet. Also, luckily my dad put up the curtains just before the stay-at-home order as well.
We spent the last few weeks putting these pieces together for his new dinosaur-themed room. The wall decals from Etsy turned out awesome — they look like a giant mural was painted across the wall. And Jackson has now learned the words brontosaurus, T-rex and pterodactyl.
The bed frame was from Etsy as well, actually a shop in Latvia. The mattress just goes straight on the floor — hopefully this will work out OK. Once it was all put together, I wasn’t quite sure if it was really cool, or just really crazy. But Jackson seems to like it!
I wish I could finish off the room completely, but that’s just not going to be possible right now. Some of the things I had already picked out are out of stock, plus shopping for dinosaur decor is not exactly essential at this moment.
Good news is we have all the main components though — so next up is getting Jackson to try sleeping in there!
Luc has torn up the couch with his thrashing whenever he sees a dog or squirrel through the front window (which is why I tried blocking the curtain in one of the previous posts). My mom sewed it back together, but he ripped it open yet again. Now it’s fixed!
I remember one of my friends posted a really sweet photo of her son right before their second baby was born. Her little guy was clutching a book about brothers while sleeping in his crib — apparently he was so excited he wanted the book in bed with him!
Now Jackson, on the other hand…
He got a book in his Easter basket about being a big brother: “What Brothers Do Best.” It was not even really about bringing a new baby home — instead it was showing all the cool and fun things big brothers can do with a sibling.
Well he wants nothing to do with this book.
We were in his nursery the other day and he noticed it in a pile of other books.
“What is this doing here?” he said as he picked it up, threw it outside in the hallway and then shut the bedroom door.
I couldn’t believe it. He has sooooo many books and he has never once done this to any of them before, even the ones he doesn’t like to read. This one, however, doesn’t even deserve a place in his bedroom!
The next day I put the book back in his room, again mixed in with lots of other books. He was browsing through his collection before story time when he spotted it again.
“No, I don’t like ‘Brothers Do Best’,” he said, once again chucking the book out into the hall before closing his door.
Another night, for the third time, he got rid of the book again. This time throwing it in my room, where it’s been ever since.
I was beginning to think we were going to have the worst possible timing for baby #2’s arrival.
With Jackson approaching three years old, we were already going to have to deal with a lot of big transitions for him — getting rid of the pacifier, sleeping in a big boy bed and potty training. Throw a new baby into the mix, and eek — so many changes coming for him!
Initially I planned to tackle the big boy room first out of that list. I thought the switch to a new room and new bed would go smoother if Jackson still had the comfort of his paci. Once he was comfortable in his big boy room, then we’d focus on the pacifier and lastly potty training — I don’t even want to think about potty training right now, haha. That can wait till after baby!
Leading up to this, however, Jackson happened to find a second pacifier somewhere in the house. And all of a sudden, he didn’t want just the one paci in bed — but BOTH. Then that somehow seeped into his routine, and he just had to have one for his mouth and one for his finger every single time he went down to sleep. (He has the kind with the hole in the back so you can stick your finger inside it.)
Well next thing I know, he comes across another paci somewhere in the house. And then another. So all of a sudden we are up to FOUR PACIFIERS now and he wants ALL OF THEM with him in bed!!!!
I couldn’t believe it. Here we are at about the time to wean him off the pacifier completely, and somehow his arsenal has grown and he can’t go to bed without four of them!
It also just became annoying trying to track them all down at bedtime. Plus he was very particular about them. Even though there were four total, there was one in particular that went in his mouth. The others were for his fingers, or for Lamb, I don’t even know. So if you gave him the wrong one for his mouth, he’d tell you that was the wrong one and we’d have to keep looking until we’d find it.
Well one night I couldn’t find the one for his mouth and was too tired to try and find it. I just told Jackson we can’t find that one, and gave him the others. I had to repeat it a few times that we just couldn’t find it, but to my surprise he went down to sleep just fine. The other pacifiers were in his crib but he didn’t use them.
I figured this may be an opportunity so the next night I told him the same thing — that we lost it — and again he went to sleep OK without it.
Eventually I did end up finding it, but he was doing so good without it, I never gave it back. And he didn’t seem to care about the other three any more, so I got rid of those as well.
In the end, he dropped his paci before his big boy room was ready. But it was a shockingly easy process — especially when I feared we were up against four!
“He’s a good little puppy. I love puppies. You can cuddle with them, hug them, or snuggle with them, or sleep with them. Or play with them. And doggies play with cars or play with trucks or play with horses. Or you can build something with the magna-tiles with the puppy or you can feed him some food. Or you can wear a necklace with the puppy or you can go outside with the puppy and ride a bike.”
This time Justin took a seat in my barbershop for a quarantine cut. Apparently Jackson’s bad haircut didn’t scare him off (or he was just that desperate!)
Luc turned 4 years old yesterday. Unfortunately we couldn’t have a party for him this year, but he did get a walk around the block for the first time in weeks. Plus Jackson and I made peanut butter cookies in his honor! (Don’t they look extra delicious in the fancy container?!)
I ventured back out in the world for my 32-week ultrasound. There was a bit of confusion before this appointment because I had heard DuPage Medical Group was doing COVID testing at their Bloomingdale location, and my appointment was also scheduled in Bloomingdale. Eventually, though, I was told the OB office was a separate building and address. Phew!
Justin was not allowed to come with (no visitors are allowed for any appointments), but thankfully everything looked great and baby is growing well. They actually said the baby was measuring a few days ahead of schedule… does this mean he/she will come early?!? Ahh!
Masks are now being recommended (and soon required) to wear in public so I attempted to make one using a trick they were showing on TV. All you needed was a bandana and two hair ties. It did work, but it wasn’t too secure around my ears. And the material I had was larger than a typical bandana so it was very thick and, of course, hot!
After watching more YouTube videos and trying four different attempts at fixing Jackson’s bowl cut, I think I’ve done about as much as I could do without waiting for more hair to grow back!
Justin and I are starting to get concerned Jackson is a little TOO comfortable with quarantine life.
I’ve heard other parents talk about how hard it is to keep their kids inside all the time, but Jackson is totally fine being at home. I can’t even get him to go outside in our own back yard! Plus he loves staying in his pajamas all day long and he’s not really interested in talking to anyone via Zoom. Eek!
It’s going to be an interesting adjustment if we ever get back to normal!
There’s not many people out and about downtown Glen Ellyn these days. But the police are still there.
Justin went to do curbside pick-up for dinner from an Italian restaurant we love. Without all the other cars driving on the streets, he didn’t realize he accidentally went the wrong way down a one-way road — and then from there also turned the wrong way on another one-way road!
That’s when the cops immediately pulled him over. The officer though apparently did not want to get too close to him because he drove his car next to Justin’s and just rolled down the window to give him a warning.
As if driving the wrong way — twice — wasn’t bad enough, Justin also realized on his way home that his lights were never on!!!
If I am remembering correctly, I believe on my wedding website that I described my friend Lisa as “loves all things British.” Well, that is still true today. In fact, she recently sent me a picture of the Queen that she has hanging up in her apartment.
So, when Jackson developed his love for Buckingham Palace, I had to fill her in. I sent her some clips of Jackson watching the changing of the guard and told her the two of them would be the best quarantine buddies.
She ended up surprising us with some gifts delivered to our house: a children’s book about London and a little teddy bear dressed as a British soldier. They were quite the hit!
Soldier Teddy Bear, as he’s now called, even joins us for bed and nap times (along with Lamb). Jackson made a little crib using a step stool and an empty diaper wipe container, and puts Soldier Teddy Bear down to sleep each time.
My first attempt at giving Jackson a quarantine haircut did not go so well. I set up a “barbershop” in our bathroom, and while he was excited at first, he did not give me much time to work.
The end result was a total 1990s bowl cut!!! Not at all what I was intending!!
I was down on the floor in kind of an awkward position (trying to take a picture of Luc), when Jackson comes up to me and says, “Do you have a cramp? Are you OK?”
Easter was certainly different this year, but Jackson still had fun. As soon as he woke up in the morning, he said, “OK, I wake up. Next the Easter bunny comes.” I’m always amazed how he remembers things even after going to bed.
He raced around finding all the hidden Easter eggs — way faster than I was anticipating — but had a much tougher time searching for his Easter basket. We had to give him so many hints, and he walked right by it probably a dozen times. Eventually, though, he found it behind the curtain in the playroom.
The rest of the day he played with his new toys, colored Easter eggs (a paper version — we didn’t have any actual eggs!) and looked for the Easter bunny in the back yard (he kept spotting a blue one out there…?).
We also did another Easter cake challenge — except virtual, this year — with my family and unveiled our cake look-a-likes via a Zoom party that night.
I was not feeling too well last weekend, and for a bit I was worried I may have caught COVID, especially since I was recently at the lab at the doctor’s office.
It began on Friday after I put Jackson down for a nap. I was feeling so tired — like my whole body was tired — and couldn’t get myself to do any work.
I started reading a New Yorker article about women giving birth amid COVID and while moving to the couch, I felt really faint. I wasn’t sure if it was the story getting to me, or something else.
Around the same time the next day, I started feeling yucky again and went to lay down. Some other symptoms popped up — little soar throat, some nasal drip — where I thought it may be the beginning of the coronavirus. We kept Jackson away from me, and I isolated myself in my room the rest of the night. I took notes on any symptoms and watched the incredibly boring and disappointing Mr. Rogers movie.
After sleeping and resting all weekend, I felt so much better. Pretty sure in the end it was just exhaustion. Too hard trying to work on coronavirus stories for the BGA and finish up the two classes I’m teaching this semester all while Jackson is at home and I’m dealing with the typical fatigue and other fun symptoms of the third trimester.
After what happened this weekend, I ended up taking a leave of absence from the BGA. Thankfully there is a new law that allows a partially paid leave for people who lost childcare because of the coronavirus. I am hoping I will be able to take advantage of this until my maternity leave kicks in. And then I will also be done with Loyola after final exams during the first week of May. All of this will certainly help take a huge a load off my plate right now!
“This Microsoft Teams thing is so cool. You just hit call. You don’t even need a phone number…. Like, I don’t have my desk phone, and I don’t need to know anyone’s phone number. But I can still call them. And then they’re there. On the computer.”
These photos are just staring me in my face — mocking me — every time I use the bathroom now and have to ration the toilet paper.
At the time I thought it would be a cute photoshoot and worth the loss of one roll. And now you can’t find toilet paper anywhere!
I never stocked up at the beginning because I thought we had enough and I didn’t want to be a hoarder. I assumed it would be readily available again after everyone did their initial shopping sprees.
But it still hasn’t come back in stock yet, and I’m starting to get nervous as our supply has dwindled. It’s time for the one-square rule!
They should set aside rolls specifically for pregnant women — I have to go to the bathroom like every 30 minutes these days!
Unfortunately I failed my first test and had to go back for the 3-hour follow-up test.
This one was scheduled in the morning so it was not as empty as the last time. The parking lot was full, and there was staff at the front door in gowns, gloves and masks who took your temperature and asked you screening questions before you could go inside.
In the lab, there was a steady stream of people coming in, but they gave me the same secluded spot in the corner with the curtain. They also gave me a mask to wear — it was super hot and hard to breath with that thing on!
Definitely not as comfortable this time around, but I did at least pass the test.
April Fools Day is a tricky holiday during a pandemic. I couldn’t figure out what to do and didn’t really have any plans — until my mom texted me that they were in Rockford, officially moving Emily out of her dorm.
“Oh wow. Are you gonna be back before dark? Did you hear there’s a curfew now?” I texted back.
The phone immediately rang. My mom was very concerned, and wanted to know all about this new curfew!
I said Pritzker had just announced it, and that the state police would be patrolling the highways (something that actually was happening in Italy) for anyone out after 8 p.m.
And that it takes effect beginning April 1st…. he he he
