LaFeber Life Lately: 3 Months with Isla and a Global Pandemic

3 Months Old and as happy as can be!

This past month has been beautiful and horrifying all at the same time! Isla is getting bigger, especially length wise and she is starting to coo and talk. She smiles and is so happy in the mornings! Sleep training has been such a blessing for all of us, including her. She is a routine child, I can already tell. The kids love playing with her and holding her (which scares me to death because they are always walking around with her and my biggest fear is that they will drop her...). She loves her baths at night before bed and she is still a champion eater. I have struggled with multiple rounds of thrush on my breast and I guess this is just something we are going to have to live with because medication isn't helping. I am going to try and cut out sugar though in hopes that it will help. She wakes up anywhere between 2-4 times per night which has me getting about 6 hours of sleep interrupted. Some days I feel like I'm doing great and other days I can definitely feel my age and the lack of sleep. Either way, Isla is the greatest thing in our days and I wouldn't trade any of this for the world.

She loves her mobile and it keeps her entertained long enough for Mom to get dressed in the morning!

Every morning Evie comes running into our room to say "Good morning Tiny!" and Isla loves it! She gets so excited and starts kicking and smiling!

Building a tent for Isla to play in.

The three amigos! Wrestling around the living room while Mom makes dinner.

Evie was so excited that they both have matching pink shirts with hoods! She tries to match the baby every day if she can ;).

Such a happy girl in the mornings!

This was a particularly rough night and I finally gave up on sleeping and hung out with the baby downstairs for hours while the rest of the house slept. At least the view was nice!

Watching Saturday morning cartoons with her big brother!

Speaking of the world... we are making history this month as we fight a global pandemic that is killing more people than we can treat in our hospitals. It has been horrifying. I don't know how better to explain it than that. Schools have shut down as we have all been ordered by the government to stay home at all times except for necessary grocery shopping and jobs that can't be done from home. So I have started homeschooling Austin and finishing Evie's Pre-K education from home as well because all daycares and preschools have also been shut down. It has been a month of beauty as we take inventory of all we have and are careful not to waste anything. The stores are always out of important necessities like toilet paper and cleaning supplies so we have to be extra careful in that department. But we also never know what kind of groceries will be available to us each time we shop so as I am shopping I have to make quick meal plans in my head with whatever ingredients I can find. This has been fun as much as it has been challenging. I have never cooked so many homemade meals for my family or baked so many goodies to keep us smiling. Some days we are doing fantastic as we navigate homeschooling together with his teacher online and I then go to baking banana bread and taking the kids for bike rides and runs out on the trail where we can stay the mandated 6 feet away from the rest of society. But then there are also the days when Austin fights me tooth and nail throughout the whole learning process and the baby is crying and I find myself eating wayyyy too much ice cream after I cry in the shower and hope to wash away the awful day. We have participated in a world wide fast initiated by the Prophet and that was a wonderful teaching experience for the kids. He has asked for another global fast for all humankind this Good Friday before Easter with plenty of prayers to end this Pandemic. Church has been shut down along with everything else so we have been blessed to have Josh pass the sacrament to us each Sunday as we navigate our Sunday worship at home.... yet another blessed teaching moment for the kids. I can't help but see the hand of God in everything that is happening right now and feel grateful despite the horror. Covid-19 is a virus unlike any other and there is no cure. But God is a God like no other who has shown his children a higher way of living that has been forgotten. We are being forced to slow down and spend time with our children instead of dedicating our lives to our careers while daycares raise them for us. We are taking charge of their education. We are cooking more and playing board games and going outside together to play regularly. The children of America are happier than they have ever been and I just have this feeling that it wasn't all an accident.... God works in mysterious ways. Now is it easy being quarantined? Heck. No. We are all lonely and longing for stimulation outside of our homes and the rate of domestic abuse has unfortunately skyrocketed. That part breaks my heart. But I will continue to make the best of this unusual situation, as we have been, and be grateful. The Coronavirus has cancelled our Spring Break plans of spending an entire week in California by the beach and playing at Disneyland, but it is also helping me to slow down and enjoy the little things in the day like my walks outside while the baby sleeps and our family movie nights. Plus, it is raining in California all week and odds are our trip would have been miserable anyway...

We have been getting really creative with homeschooling and finding different ways to learn. This is a book Austin wrote for his writing lesson!

Homeschool view...

Evie also worked on a book with mostly illustrations ;)

We practiced letters with playdough!

Austin worked on his spelling list with playdough.

We are learning how to tell time!

She's getting pretty good!

This was our last homeschool lesson before spring break and we were both so happy for that! Mama needs a break from being a teacher as much as Austin needs a break from trying to learn from home!

I also had my second oral surgery this month and this was the big one. I had a gum graft done and it was absolutely miserable! I am now nursing a stomach ulcer from all the Ibuprophen I was taking to help ease the pain I was in. But I am happy to report that it is almost healed and I am no longer in pain as long as I don't touch the area. I am praying that this surgery was enough and that I don't have to have it done twice. I honestly don't know if I could go through that again. between that and having a brand new baby who I am up with throughout the night and homeschooling and the stress of never knowing if you are going to die from a pandemic every day, life was pretty rough and I'm not excited to relive that part.

This is also Josh's last month of Paternity Leave and we are all silently mourning that as we soak up every hour we have left with him before he goes back to work and we never see him :(. Have there been rough days with him here getting on my nerves and undoing my carefully thought out plans and schedules? YES. But the irritation never lasts long and we always go to bed loving each other and having gratitude for all the good that the other does. I don't know what I'm going to do trying to tackle all of this on my own at the end of the month :( :( :(. As for my Maternity leave, it ended at the end of March and I went back for 1 day. It was the worst day of my life. There aren't enough masks or protective wear for health care workers right now with this pandemic and I have never felt so unsafe or scared in my life. I prayed all day long that God would protect me from the Coronavirus and that I wouldn't bring it home to my family. After seeing first hand what is going on in the health care field, Josh and I decided that I won't be going back to work until June when hopefully this crisis is over and I won't be endangering my family any longer. The  miracle to this story is that I was cut down to Per Diem during my Maternity Leave because my boss is an idiot and screwed me over. At first I was irate about this, but now I see God's hand in it! Now I can pick and choose when I want to work and how long I want to work! I am a free agent now and I have never felt more grateful for that than during this global pandemic! I actually have the choice to not go into work! This is something I've never had before! HALLELUJAH!! God is good :).

A pic I took at work to show everyone how bad it is. This was the only mask I was given for the entire day..... you are supposed to change them every 4 hours or they are useless but we don't have enough for everyone so 1 mask a day is all you get now... This means that we will all be exposed and it is up to God who lives and dies. Now do you understand why I'm not going back until June? Fingers crossed our world fasting will work and it will all be over by then!

It has been the best of times and it has been the worst of times.... But mostly the best of times :). Like when Grandpa Nate stopped by to take Evie bike shopping for her birthday and she learned how to ride her bike that very day!! She has been begging for a big girl bike ever since Austin learned how to ride his so she can keep up with him (story of her life) and I was in complete awe of how fast she learned! That girl is unstoppable. I have been saying this her entire life because she just keeps amazing me with what she can do when she puts her mind to something! She's only 4!!!!!

So proud of this girl!

As for the rest, I will let the pictures do the talking..... Enjoy! :)

Making Zombie brains and eye ball slime with Dad!

Now that the baby is taking regular naps, my days are free for the other kids which is so wonderful and makes me feel so good! It was a rough road there for a couple months trying to navigate how to do it all.

I've been running on the treadmill in the garage while the kids play out back! Getting creative in tough times is our middle name!

Making homemade pizzas for family movie night!

The kids build a fort and slept in it all month long until Mom finally couldn't stand the mess any longer :).

Doing push ups for our homeschool PE :)

Push ups and planks!

We go outside daily and explore. This weather has been beautiful! You couldn't pick a better time to be stuck at home!

Having a picnic at the park! The government rules are, you can go outside as long as you stay 6 feet away from other people.

We have loved having one on one time with the kids like playing legos.

Austin was so proud of his creation!

As neighbors and church members, we have been trying to help each other while also social distancing and it hasn't been easy. But This toilet paper left on our doorstep from my Ministering companion was the sweetest thing and made me laugh so hard! You can't find toilet paper in the stores anymore so it was much appreciated. This week I delivered cookies to all of my ministering sisters to return the favor. It has been such a blessing to belong to such a strong community of members who all care about each other so much!

Church at home! Watching the Living Scriptures and talking about it afterwards.

Another picnic/bike ride at the park

Austin achieved his Accelerated Reader Goal during this pandemic and his sweet first grade teacher, Mrs. Westra, dropped this sign off at our house to congratulate him!

We've done a ton of arts and crafts and our yard is now full of colorful rocks!

I had an energy reading done by an energy healer and she reminded me of the importance of meditation. I have been working on making this a daily practice again but it hasn't been easy with all the many hats I am wearing!

The gang is off for an outdoor run!

Playing with the baby hehehe!

The kids rode their bikes and I ran as fast as I could to keep up with them! This was a really good day!

Evie picking weeds outside to help out. It is so lovely outside and I worked hard to get our front porch all cleaned off for lots of outdoor BBQ's and nights by the fire :).

Painting our bird houses for the yard :)

Cheers to a beautiful spring night together as a family!

It doesn't even feel like quarantine from this angle!

Now that the weather is warming up, the kids have spent plenty of time out in the yard watering our plants and playing with the hose!

Drying off in the sun after hours of playing in the water :)

Now this is the life!

Eating their beloved smoothie bowls. It is so healthy and they love it! Mom Win!!!

Playing Pictionary and then eating homemade tapioca pudding after General Conference.

The kids LOVED Pictionary! I see a lot of this in our future.

Making air popped Popcorn for our movie night!

Family movie night is always a hit!

The kids have loved having Daddy home these past few months and it has meant the world to him to be here. We are so blessed :).

I have no idea what next month has in store for us, but as you can see, we are doing our best to make the best of a terrible situation and it is working out really well! :) God is Good.