The coronavirus in our family

I haven't mentioned that the coronavirus did hit our extended family. Big Steve got sick and tested positive around April 21. Of course that meant that Wanda, Nikki, Jay and Lena were all at risk too and had to be quarantined, since they live together.

They were managing Steve's symptoms fairly well at home until April 26 when his oxygen level went down too low, which is something with this illness that can escalate and become quite serious very fast. So Steve ended up spending 24 hours in the coronavirus unit of Kaiser in Tysons, where he evidently didn't get great care and was quite eager to get sprung from. He came home on oxygen for a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile as Steve was sick, Wanda and Nikki also both weren't feeling great. Wanda ended up testing positive but didn't get as sick as Steve did and was able to recover fine at home.

The whole thing was pretty scary. Steve was diagnosed with a bladder tumor a few weeks before all this stuff started so he is even more at-risk. And having three generations in the house made it more stressful too. We are all so grateful that they are recovered without major incident.

"They're fine, Mom!"

Reed may have inherited a bit of my stubbornness. We gave him a new pair of slippers at Christmas, and they're still sitting in his closet. Because I pointed out to him that he may be due for an upgrade, he has dug in and refuses to throw these out. He wears them from the time he gets up to the time he goes to bed, they've got a lot of hours on them. But he thinks I'd "win" if he swaps them out, so I guess until they literally wear through to the floor, he'll keep on with this pair. Whatever makes him happy!

Reporting in from Talamore Drive

We're still here, same as we have been. But I wanted to say that I'm really grateful that both Reed and Amy have been doing their schoolwork with no complaints (well, maybe a little complaining) and without a lot of prodding. Though we sometimes veer off course, our philosophy has always been "you're the one in school, it's your responsibility," and the same goes now when school is being done from home. They're handing it well and I am so glad we don't have to fight about it.

We're also all still getting along well, which is great! I realized the last time I spent this much time with our kids was when they were born and I had 3 months off with them. Wild.