Not much to report on the home front. I do have just a few things to share though!
We put hearts up in our window! Have you seen this yet? People in the community are sending messaged of hope by decorating their windows and doors with hearts so people walking by can see! They’ve also done a “bear hunt” where people hide teddy bears in their windows or on their mailbox. A local woodworking shop in Waucoma carved out Easter eggs for people to paint, decorate and hang in their windows so families can go on an Easter egg hunt around town! The weather looks great – all in the 50s this week so we plan on walking around town and checking it all out!
We are LOVING HelloFresh – a grocery meal delivery service – more on that in another blog post!
Carver had an early morning ER visit for croup! This isn’t his first rodeo, Carver had croup for what seems like months at a time when he was 6 months through 2 years. He woke up at 11:30 pm with that terrible barky high pitched cough and said “Mommy, me can’t breathe.” He was pretty scared but was loving the tractor coloring pages while we waited. He’s still not much better after getting more steroids. My coworkers took such good care of him 🙂 He colored pictures for them all.
Even through quarantine, Mom still can’t help but make us food! The other day she sent us cinnamon rolls. She sent us brownies yesterday and today burritos! Between the 4 of us we ate probably 12 cinnamon rolls – Gannon ate one all by himself!
Gannon LOVES these giant pillows and watches TV just like this! He will stand up and then belly flop on the pillow.
Gannon is working on my sign language. He does PLEASE all the time and now he is doing YES and is able to say BA. The other day he said “Ma, Ba, Ma, Ba” and then did the sign for please. I said “Do you want a baba” (bottle) and he nodded his head so big for YES!
Sorry guys, short and sweet blog post for today. I’ll update you as the week goes on!
Mom and I have been walking every day. We keep our social distance of course. It’s so hard to tell Carver that he can’t hold Grandma Joey’s hand.
Yesterday was an especially long walk – the conversation kept flowing and Carver John was having so much fun!
We have to stop at every stop sign to spell out the letters. Carver is really good at letter identification but likes to read the letters backwards so we are working on reading from left to right.
We also had to stop and read the YIELD sign.
Here is the cemetery my Dad was buried in. We made a stop after we saw some commotion. The owners of the land next to the cemetery are tearing down the fence line which will look great.
Carver is 3.5 years old. The other day he threw a fit and decided that he didn’t want to be 3 anymore. I asked him if he wanted to be four or to be two and he said he wanted to be “nothing.”
He walked in on me in the bathroom one day and said “Mommy do you have your period?” I said yes. He said “Oh. Good for you mommy. That is normal. You want privacy?” and he shut the door.
I was changing my shirt and he said “Mommy what are those?” pointing to my stretchmarks. I told him those are my stretch marks from when I had him and Gannon in my tummy. He says “Me no like them.” UGH it took everything in me to say, “I LOVE my baby stripes because that means I got to have a baby!” Now every time he sees them, and sometimes he will lift up my shirt and kiss my baby stripes and he tells me “I love your baby stripes mommy!”
Earlier today Carver couldn’t clean up any legos at childcare because he had a baby in his tummy and when the baby came out he was going to have to build a toy for the baby with those legos.
Carver and I were watching the bachelor. Now before you judge my parenting choices, listen to this hilarious conversation.
We are watching all of the girls come out of the limo to meet Peter.
Me: He is meeting all of the girls to see which one he wants to marry. Carver: I think he should marry the one with the sprinkles. Me: Do you mean the sparkles? Carver: Yeah with the sprinkles on hers dress.
I hear giggling after I put the boys to bed (in separate rooms and separate beds) and then took a shower…
Gannon is sound asleep and Carver is…well… being himself and snuck into Gannon’s crib.
He was being so quiet and of course this is in the dark and he was trying to hide under his blankie. I honestly didn’t see him but I could hear him breathing.
“Carver?”
“Me need to take care of Gannon mommy! Don’t put me back in my room!”
Me: Carver can you please go get Gannon a Kleenex? Carver: Yeah *several moments pass* Me: Carver can you go get him a Kleenex now? Carver: I said YEAH Me: Then go do it!! Carver: Me accidentally watching TV right now. In a moment.
Narrator: It was a rough morning in the Friedman house. *sniff sniff* “Look mommy!” *wipes tears away* “me change my attitude!” Narrator: He did not change his attitude.
Carver is currently throwing a fit after discovering all the inaccuracies of his toy combine compared to a real combine.
“Mommy, this will not work at ALL!”
*bang bang bang bang* “CARVER QUIT KICKING THE CUPBOARD” *silence* *bang bang bang bang bang” “CARVER JOHN FRIEDMAN I SAID QUIT KICKING THE CUPBOARD!!” “I’m not kicking it with my feet! That’s my ELBOW!!” *bang bang bang bang*
Current state of the Friedman living room courtesy of a three year old’s imagination:
“MOMMY! You like my boat?!”
“Me miss ours old car” “Me sad ruby died” “Me miss my Christmas tree” “Me sad to go to the cemetery” “Me miss papa moo” “Me want to drive ours old car” “Let’s build our Christmas tree” “Why was there a snow storm?” “Is it a secret why there is a snow storm?” “Daddy is it a secret?” “Me miss grandma Joey” “It’s so hard to wait” “What are the dells?” “Mommy I can’t see the waterpark” “My buckle is too tight” “What does a yellow combine do?” “Me asking daddy not you mommy!” “What color is the sky?” “Me miss ours old car.” “I seen a big black tractor a very huge big time ago.” “What color is white?” “What color is wood?” “Is it a secret?” “Where is the water park?” “Hold on tight we are going to turn soon.” “Mommy hold on tight!!!” “Daddy hold on tight and you need to drive and do the turn!!” “Me told you to turn.” “Look mom a forest!” “We are not in the forest yet.” “We not need fuel.” “Me told you to turn!” “Mommy me please go to to to to to to to to……what?” “Look at all of these trees grow like a weed.” “Look at these trees they are growing.” “Maybe them are woods maybe. “Maybe then are woods maybe mom.” “Mommy there is a bear in those woods.” “Mommy you get the bear and you not shoot it.” “Snakes are scary too mom.” “Daddy you have a snake on yours game right daddy?” “Let’s play cowboys later.” “The dells are right by the waterpark.” “Mommy me like Dells.” “Daddy it’s so hard to wait for a waterpark!” “Mommy please play my birthday party song.” “Me like birthday party songs. “Me LIKE BIRTHDAY PARTY SONGS PLEASE!” “Please please please” “My hands are all messy so me go to the waterpark and clean them.” “It’s so hard to just wait and wait and just wait mommy.”
This has been 30 seconds in the car with Carver.
(I literally typed this all as he was saying it)
About a half hour later, I was teasing Carver and said “Me miss ours old car!” Without missing a beat he yells “GO BUY IT THEN MOM!”
Carver brought me a tampon the other day and asked “Is this a band aid for yours ‘gina?” Not a bad description!
We have secured a babysitter. Dad’s hospice nurse’s daughter is actually coming tomorrow to watch the boys for a few hours! I was so nervous to post something online (Facebook) asking for help – I didn’t want just anyone watching the boys – no matter how bad things got I really needed to know they were in good hands and I’m confident in our choice!
We got more formula. We made a trip of it. Craig got off work early so we could load up the boys and head to town. Now before you criticize me, the boys stayed in the vehicle at all times. They ran through the Culvers drive thru while I was in the store. I ran in to Walmart to get some essentials and to stock up for the next few weeks – COVID 19 thankfully hasn’t hit here “hard core” like it has in other areas of the state/country but I want to be prepared. A friend of mine from New York posted a video of her waiting 2 hours in line JUST to get groceries because they wold only let so many people in the store at a time. You’ll recall in my last post I was so anxious about getting Gannon’s right formula as they aren’t even shipping online orders. I got four big cans today, more diapers, they finally had baby wipes in stock and quite honestly, we are ready to be shut in for a good month. I feel much better and semi-guilty for “stock piling.” Judge if you want, I’m responsible for providing for our family. I tried to do it the right way and only buy what I need but I wasn’t actually getting what I needed (formula for example) that way.
Carver got a BIKE! I got a bike for my birthday when I turned three and I rode it EVERYWHERE that summer. I was at Walmart and just threw it in the cart on a whim. I needed to know he had an outlet if they close down playgrounds and streets. I can kick him outside and we live on the outskirts of town so he can ride up and down our driveway. He’s still pretty new at it but he’s catching on!
We did two whole miles on our walk tonight after our run to WalMart. Carver was HILARIOUS the whole time – full of questions and quirk. Everything was funny and a game. Mom says we should record him and make a vlog out of all the funny things he says on our walk. It got misty and pretty dreary towards the end.
Then towards the end of our walk, we saw this:
The doors are down, all is quiet but we do stand ready. On Wednesday, March 25, at 7:00 pm ALL IOWA FIRE DEPARTMENTS are encouraged to open their doors and turn on the lights on their trucks as a sign of strength and hope for all. Hope for all who work daily in EMS, Fire and Law enforcement to be ready, strength for those working around the clock to provide care, those who strive to find the right medicine to help, those in the food/grocery industry to feed us and those trucking daily to keep us going.
You can do your part at home, too! Turn your porch light on…Let us all know you’re fine and have hope. We ask all with red, blue, white or your department colors…Light ‘em up and turn them on. Maybe just maybe, we’ll create five minutes of smiles and peace.
We seriously have the best community ever – Watch this video:
So I get to enjoy THAT meal tomorrow night at work 🙂 Lynch Companies make up most of the business in Waucoma and we’ve known the Lynch family my whole life. What a great group of people. I definitely feel appreciated and my spirits were lifted before I head into another stretch of work.
I joked earlier last week about how I was going CRAZY with the boys all by myself. Now that we’ve adjusted, (don’t get me wrong we still have our moments), I’m so thankful to be at home with my boys. With such uncertainty, mom and I are both well aware there may come a time that I need to be living separate from the boys because of my exposure to the virus and the high demand at work. I’m soaking up all of the time I have with them while I have them close.
On a final note guys, my heart BURST right open today.
Gannon still doesn’t have any words yet at 13 months. We’ve been pushing sign language for things like “more” and “please” for months now with no real sign it was doing anything. I had left the fridge open today and Gannon crawls up to it like he always does, pulls himself up, points to the cheese slices and does sign language for “please.”
I say “Do you want cheese!?” And he giggles and does the sign for please again! And then devours that cheese slice. Guys, it’s the little things. My Gannon Jo, you can have as much cheese any day you want!
YAYY!! SO anyway, thanks for reading. Through the good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between, you guys are the best <3
I had a pity party for myself on Monday after some blog readers left some nasty comments. I was sad and mopy and didn’t get to sleep after working overnights. It. Was. ROUGH. The whole weekend was rough. My anxiety was getting the best of me.
YES!
One thing after another – Gannon’s appointment we were so looking forward to in Milwaukee got cancelled, I scrambled to find a babysitter for the next two weeks until childcare opens back up again, the boys wouldn’t nap at the same time, I was plain old exhausted and felt like I couldn’t catch a break.
When Craig got home, everything got better. He came in the kitchen, grabbed a bag of chips and we talked and talked. He made me laugh and before I knew it we were all dancing to Taylor Swift’s “Shake it off” in the kitchen – the best way I know how to turn my mood around. We had supper, the boys got a bath, we cleaned the house and put the boys to bed early.
I found a magical feature of my house – our jacuzzi. You guys, I’ve lived in this house for 5 YEARS and I’ve always known the downstairs tub has the jets but I’ve only turned them on once or twice. This was always my mom’s advice: When you’re stressed, take a bath. I had never listened to her. I remember her taking baths when we were kids. I remember her telling me to “make sure I took a bath” after I came home from the hospital with the boys. I never did.
YOU GUYS. TAKE THE DAMN BATH!
I enjoyed it so much I even took one again tonight! Why have I not been doing this? It was so relaxing with a drink and my air pods in, watching my new series “Little Fires Everywhere” on Netflix (yay Reece Whitherspoon) I turn the jets on max and let the bubbles spill over.
I swear you guys I’m a new woman. While I was in the bath, I brainstormed ways to help change my attitude. I’m in a state of anxiety and fear working as an ER nurse in the midst of a pandemic. I’m so afraid our healthcare system will be overrun and I won’t be able to help people. I’m afraid I won’t have the equipment I need to protect myself and my family from this virus. I was pretty real about that on Monday’s blog post and it wasn’t received well.
I’ve decided I’m going to implement a few things into my self care routine to help ward off my racing thoughts. These are directed as instructions to myself.
TAKE THE DAMN BATH! Even if you feel like you don’t have time. Just do it!
Limit. Social. Media. I think that is a huge part of what is feeding my fear which many of my friends and coworkers admit to as well.
Move your body. I went on a walk today with mom and the boys, it was so great to get out of the house! Look how cute my little Gannon was in his snow suit! I’m going to make this a daily habit if my work schedule allows.
Do hair and makeup – even if you’re not leaving the house. It makes me feel more human like.
Eat scheduled meals if possible instead of grazing throughout the day.
Forget the haters. Connect with people who you know will lift you up.
Be nice to yourself. Just BE. NICE. honestly some of the comments left on my blog that got me so upset in the first place are insecurities I have and things my inner critic tells me every day.
So that’s what I’m up to today guys! It was a great day yesterday and Monday is in the rearview mirror. I’m working on growing thicker skin. In 6 months I hadn’t dealt with nasty comments yet but they all came in at once on Monday and made up for it. Thank you so much for all your love and support – I’ve read all of your comments 🙂
Also – how cute is Gannon in his wittle snow suit? 🙂
I’ve had a rough morning. This post is full of humble pie. Pull up a seat.
I’m not a medical expert.
I made a recommendation on my blog the other day that cloth surgical masks would be beneficial for nurses on the front lines of COVID 19. This hasn’t been proven. We don’t have data. We don’t know if cloth masks will help.
In fact, cloth masks, if used incorrectly, could carry the virus. It could deteriorate the masks we have. This is too new. The data isn’t there to draw an evidenced based conclusion on how to protect healthcare providers when our standard PPE isn’t available. We don’t know how this virus is spread or how it clings to certain materials.
I want you to know, cloth masks may not be the right choice. I didn’t know that when I made Saturday’s post.
I’ve reviewed some of my recent blog posts and they sound a little bit too much like I’m offering medical advice or recommendations. I’m not going to do that anymore. I don’t want to mislead anyone.
Instead, I will stick to what I do best and what I love: telling my stories and sharing other’s stories. So here are a few stories regarding the PPE crisis:
Nurses have reportedly been asked to share one time use surgical masks. What used to be one time use, nurses are now being asked to use one mask for 12 hours and then pass it on to their next shift.
Nurses have reportedly been told to cut holes in garbage bags to wear over their scrubs because the hospital is out of gowns.
Nurses have reportedly been advised to turn in their one time use PPE to be sterilized at the end of each shift. This also has no data to back up its efficacy.
Nurses are reportedly so thankful for the cloth masks that the community has provided them because without them they have nothing. The hospital has NOTHING.
Hospital administrators across Iowa have BEGGED the general public to sew cloth masks. They have weighed the risk and the benefit and they believe that is their best option: better than nothing.
A recent poll on a popular nursing Instagram account showed 92% of nurses who responded to the poll report that their facility is running out of PPE and FAST.
So those are the stories. That’s what I’ll be sticking to. Don’t come here for evidence based practice. Don’t come here for data and facts.
There’s a reason I prefer teaching on the clinical floor and not the classroom. I teach the practical side of nursing. I’m not good with data and research and numbers. I’m not always good at “by the book.” I’m so thankful for those on my healthcare team that offer the by the book/data driven/book smart point of views.
I’ve also deleted this mornings blog post after several comments accusing me of being “weak” or “too anxious to work” and to “get off my phone and pay attention to my kids” because I’ve “already missed out on so much of their life.”
Hello? Hello!? Gannon is SO FUNNY! The other day he picked up the remote, held it to his ear, and starting yammering on and on. He gets his hearing rechecked tomorrow! I hope all goes well!
Remember when that senator told us that all nurses do is sit around and play cards? Well, Maureen Walsh….
I did a video last year about Maureen and her stupid comments… you can watch that here:
Gannon went on his first real walk/trip to the park the other night. I thought I had him bundled up well enough for the 40 degree weather but apparently not – he was not happy by the time we got home and did not love the swing at the park.
If you’re looking for a stroller for two, I LOVE our bravo for two. This has been a GOD SENT for us this past year – especially with all of the trekking around the hospital when my Dad had cancer. Gannon is finally big enough to actually sit in the front but up until this week, the seat Gannon is in can fold down and his Chicco infant carrier fits perfectly there. Caver has an option to either sit or stand on the back. If you have 2 kids under the age of 4 ish – YOU NEED THIS STROLLER! It is also super compact and folds up nicely. 10/10 recommend. I RESEARCHED double strollers hard core and this one gave me the right amount of bang for the buck.
I’ve got a fashion bug this week with a strong urge to clean out my entire closet and buy all new! I found this website onelovedbabe.com and I’m OBSESSED with the dresses! I can’t wait for wedding season to restock the closet! Ive started a summer fashion Pinterest board if you want to follow me @kalissageorgia!
I also found Corrine Monique – a plus sized/in betweener size fashion blogger and I’m totally vibing her summer looks! I jumped in and followed her just about everywhere I can! You can follow too at https://corrinemonique.com/
I had two sleepy boys. Carver was just snuggling on me while I was catching up on work on my lap top. A few minutes later, Carver had been pretty quiet and look what I found at 1100 am! Now if only he would have waited until…
Gannon fell asleep at 12:30 pm…*sigh* no rest or “me time” for this mama!
Look how big he looks! My sweet little baby Gannon is growing so fast! And the next day he fell asleep in his dinner…
Mom closed childcare last Thursday for who knows how long to prevent the spread of COVID19. Carver asks to see her all the time but we cant risk her health. I snapped this picture of her the last day I went to pick up the kids before we had any idea the corona virus was about to change life as we knew it.
Gannon was outside for a total of 22 seconds before I snatched this giant dead bug out of his hand, seconds away from putting it into his mouth! That boy can find the tiniest things and chew on them for forever. UGH! I’ve got to watch him like a hawk.
We had fun outside – it really was not warm enough to be barefoot but I went for it anyway:
Walmart WIN of the week – These. Are. Amazing. (and ready in just a few minutes!) Wings are like my love language/favorite food ever. Usually I prefer boneless but these are pretty great!
That’s all I have for today folks! Check back tomorrow!
The CDC came out yesterday stating that if no surgical masks are available, bandanas will be better than nothing. They aren’t loosening their guidelines because the virus isn’t “that” contagious. They are loosening their guidelines because there isn’t enough PPE.
What is PPE? PPE stands for personal protective equipment.
This nurse is wearing the yellow gown, an eye shield and an N95 mask and likely gloves. In certain cases, only a gown and gloves are needed. An N95 mask is needed to protect us against airborne illnesses or if someone has an uncovered cough or sneeze. Sometimes a plain surgical mask is enough. These are all examples of personal protective equipment.
PPE is so important for healthcare providers to protect themselves and stay safe. PPE is non-negotiable. Without it, half of the workforce will be out with illness, more wounded than we already are. So we will have half the soldiers and no weapons in our war against COVID 19.
Pre COVID 19, this nurse would be required to “don” all PPE prior to entering a patient’s room for any reason if they have influenza, lice, bed bugs, measles, MRSA, VRE, C-diff etc.
Even if the nurse needed to check a blood pressure, she would get all new PPE to enter the room get the blood pressure, and then throw it all away. If the patient needed a glass of water, the nurse would don all PPE, give the patient the glass of water, and then throw it all away.
A nurse could very easily go through a dozen full sets of PPE in one shift. That doesn’t account for respiratory therapy, lab, visitors, CNAs, doctors, or other nurses.
There were certain instances where even if a person had a HISTORY of MRSA, not even an active MRSA (superbug) infection, staff would still be required to wear full PPE.
Now with COVID 19, much more contagious, much more serious, nurses are being asked to re use PPE. Nurses get one N95 mask (in scarce supply if you can even find one they went from 50 cents/mask to $50/mask), one eye-shield to clean and reuse, one gown to properly store and re wear, if our gloves are soiled we should wash them in the patient’s room and continue if we can without changing them (only changing between patients).
If we don’t have PPE to protect us from coronavirus, we don’t have PPE to protect us from patients with body lice or measles or whatever else comes through our ER doors.
The #getmePPE has been trending on twitter for a few days. Local hospitals have turned to the public asking dry wallers and feed mills to donate their unused N95 masks to local hospitals and facilities. Two major hospitals, just 2 hours South of here have turned to the public and asked them to sew surgical masks for healthcare staff. Here is the link to the original article:
For major medical authorities to put their tail between their legs and publicly profess their need for help and their sheer lack of unpreparedness is huge. They. Need. Help.
My friend used to work in the ER at one of the hospitals and was checking in with a former coworker of theirs who are now rationed down to one mask and once it is gone, come Monday there are no more supplies.
If we don’t have face masks, we don’t have face masks to hand out to patients who have COVID 19. If patients who have COVID 19 cannot wear a face mask, their risk of spreading the disease grow exponentially.
So my mom took to the sewing machine and this is what she whipped up in just a matter of hours.
As you can see these go OVER our N95 masks.
These fabric masks can go over our N95 masks to make them reusable. Previously, if our masks were splashed with bodily fluid, blood etc, we would have to throw them away. Now we can change out, wash, and reuse the fabric masks and preserve the N95 masks which is really our only true protection on the front lines of COVID19.With the critical shortage, these may eventually be our ONLY protection against COVID19.
I wish people could understand that this is an absolute last resort and everything we know about PPE (person protective equipment) is completely and totally irrelevant at this point. This is rock bottom.
You can read more about the creation of the masks on my mom’s blog – please direct all questions regarding the pattern or mask to either my mom’s blog or your local hospital if you’d like to make some.
Here is a link to mom’s blog posts about the masks:
When you choose to come to the ER to be tested for corona virus and you:
A) aren’t short of breath B) aren’t having chest pains C) just want to be tested and feel kind of cruddy and haven’t taken any Tylenol to feel better..
You choose for more than yourself.
You choose for the registration staff to be exposed.
You choose to take a room/bed away from someone who is truly sick.
You choose to expose all hospital staff and other patients. If we get sick, we can’t help others. If we get sick, our family gets sick. If they get sick, there aren’t healthcare providers to help them because the healthcare providers are sick.
You choose to force us to use precious PPE that protects us and our families from this dangerous virus.
Also remember if we have no PPE (gowns) to protect us from corona, we also have none to protect us from patients with body lice, scabies, bed bugs, C-diff, MRSA, VRE…
You choose to further the critical shortage of PPE.
You likely won’t be tested. There aren’t tests available for mass testing. Mayo can not run thousands of tests a day but now we don’t have the actual equipment to collect thousands of tests a day.
The numbers are skewed because we aren’t testing people who likely have it.
HELP US HELP YOU.
If you have a fever. If you have a cough. CALL A DOCTOR. Call a nurse line. We will assess your symptoms. We will likely tell you to STAY HOME. STAY HOME and away from your family. You have the coronavirus. Act like it. If you have more severe symptoms, we would be happy to help but you DO NOT need to be tested and probably WILL NOT be tested.
Please and thank you.
Regarding the N95 mask shortage, ask your local feed mills and farm supply stores to donate masks to the local hospital.
My thoughts and opinions are solely my own. They are not to be used in place of true professional medical advice. If you have questions regarding the coronavirus call your state’s COVID19 hotline. These thoughts are not a reflection of my employer’s thoughts or opinions.
