Mama Daycare

After a super relaxing long weekend at Timber Cove Martin and I got back into cell range and received the dreaded email: daycare was closing immediately until April 3 at the earliest due to the coronavirus. To be fair, we had been talking about taking the kids out anyway in order to do our part of social distancing. The email just made it official and there was no turning back or backup plan.

The drive home was spent googling things like “daycare schedules”, “how to entertain a toddler” and “things to do with toddlers inside”. Multiple texts messages were also sent out to my mom friends as a mayday signal. And by Sunday night, we had locked down a daily schedule, I had 20+ organized activities for inside play and I had a large amazon order in the works for the missing essentials (painters tape, construction paper, stickers, etc).

One week in and here is how things are going:

• Oskar has refused naps 4 of the 5 days but Alva is averaging over 90 minutes so that is good.

• The schedule has been really helpful to break the day down into manageable chunks (for me) and make it more structured (for the kids)

• By the end of the week we had doubled our screen time (Oskar is now up to 30 minutes a day)

• FaceTime has been a godsend. We organized a six way play date on Wednesday and it was amazing. And when Oskar started to look a little lost and sad on Thursday, a quick phone call to a friend and family member helped bring him back.

• Martin and I have been working split shifts with Martin’s office in the basement and mine in the downstairs apartment. I am averaging about four hours of real work a day and Martin is getting about three during work hours and an additional two to three after the kids go down. Unfortunately that also means that Martin and I don’t get a lot of alone time together.

• Outside time has been the biggest challenge with us limiting our parameter to the alleyway and our deck. And with the weather hit or miss each day, we have had to get creative.

• I realize everyday how under paid our teachers are and how much I miss going to the office for some social interactions.

• I have never been more thankful for our home up at Timber Cove which has become our weekend house. Having the outdoor space and change of scenery has been a nice way to have a “weekend” when every other day feels the same.

On a personal note; 

• It took me less than four days to hit my breaking point with the new situation.  I was on parent duty trying to get Oskar down and needed to tap out since my reserve of patience ran out. Martin was working and I had to send him a text message with a code red. He came up, no questions asked, within two minutes.  I mentioned I had gone to the loony bin the next day over breakfast and Oskar now thinks the loony bin is a fun place to be.

• I am trying to put on jeans every day to maintain some resemblance of normal life. But my diet has gone to crap and exercise has halted completely (from walking 3 miles a day and going to the gym three times a week to doing the stairs maybe twice daily). This shelter in place is definitely going to set me back a few months and I will need a solid weekend of detox (from wine, snacking, sweatpants) when this is all done.

One week in and things are okay. I think I can do this for a few more weeks but might lose my shit if this is our situation come May when we have to do a quarter end close and SEC filing all remote while juggling my second part time career of preschool teacher. Fingers crossed this social distancing thing works!!

Prepping for the week while the kids napped on Monday

Our daily schedule

Quiet time activity for when  Alva is taking a nap

We brought out Oskar's new table and chairs to help set up "preschool" in the living room 

Arts and crafts time

My new intern...

Home haircuts are now a thing...

FaceTime with his friends.  They all grabbed popcorn and shared their favorite toys. 

Homemade bubbles on the front steps

Basketball in the basement

The Last Hurrah!

When Anjulee got married we dubbed it the Grand Finale. And now that McKane is officially engaged we have entered 2020 with the Last Hurrah!!! With the wedding slated for Cabo in December and the bachelorette party planned for Puerto Rico in October, we needed something to kick off the Year of McKane... a girl’s weekend in Aspen hosted by Erika! Little did we know that the weekend was really going to be our last hurrah before the world shut down due to the Coronavirus. But more on that later. First we had a bride-to-be to celebrate.

Like always, I showed up late... I booked my flight for Thursday morning thinking everyone would arrive Thursday afternoon. Turns out everyone got there Wednesday; and so while I was on my way there, the ladies were off enjoying a leisurely brunch, mid-morning hike and afternoon of snowmobiling and off-roading. Luckily there was plenty more fun to be had.

I showed up to the party around 4:30 after a quick detour of getting lost, got high fives for my packing skills (carry on only) and then received immediate grief for my Steve Jobs-esque outfit for the night. My fur vest said Aspen but my black turtleneck said Silicon Valley. One drink at the house later and I didn’t care, we were heading into town and I was going to own my look. First stop: Drinks at Betula, where, after missing the first part of the conversation, I ordered the recommended “bird drink” to only find out it in fact came in a glass shaped like a bird. Slightly embarrassed, but definitely delicious, I vowed to get a more age appropriate drink for the second round.... I ended up with a "genie in the lamp" style glass. Time to switch to just vodka waters!

From Betula we made the quick walk to dinner and dancing at 7908. The meal was delicious and the evening was ridiculous. We should have known it was going to go downhill after the photo shoot in the bathroom (I am still trying to figure out how to pose for photos), and things quickly escalated after Emily tore her pants on the dance floor and I promised to punch a married guy in the face if he touched my ass one more time. Super classy and true to form, we definitely blew it out of the water on the first night.

Thankfully Erika had thought ahead and ordered B12 shots to be administered at her house the following morning prior to our private yoga class on the ranch. Feeling somewhat better we showered and headed back into town for some shopping and a late lunch at Clarks.

Dinner that night was catered in and was meant to be a bit more mellow, until McKane and I made margaritas with two bottles of tequila for just 8 women…. whoops!

 Saturday we were supposed to split up: some going skiing and some going to the Remède Spa in the St. Regis... the ski group decided to stay at home (thanks in part to the margaritas) but we still went to the spa and I had an amazing massage. We all got back together for lunch at The Snow Lodge (we missed Shaq dj-ing by a weekend) and then did some more damage shopping.

Our last meal together was that Saturday night at Cache Cache. Such good food, great ambiance and an amazing group of women.  And I think I finally figured out how to pose! Let’s just hope I remember for Puerto Rico.