COVID19 Archives - Page 24 of 30

We had to break quarantine for the first time in 173 days

I'm absolutely exhausted but I wanted to share a quick update and then go into more detail later on if need be. We wore our KN95 masks and broke quarantine today for the first time in 173 days. That means we came into direct, sustained contact with other people for the first time since this all began. The reason for this was vaccines. Elliott and Emmett each needed a vaccine. Elliott needed his MMR booster and Emmett started his HPV. Elliott had his MMR delayed for health reasons when he was little and he needed to get caught up. Gavin needed labwork and all four of us needed flu shots. We visited Akron Children's Hospital for the boys vaccines and Rite Aid for our flu shots. I wanted to make…

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August 26, 2020

Confessions / Depression Management / My thoughts

I can’t shake the #depression today

I can't really explain why but I'm struggling today. I'm feeling defeated and demoralized. Nothing happened outside of really bad dreams last night. Honestly, I think it's probably just a new battle with depression. By new I just mean a resurgence. There's a great deal of stress in my life right now and I'm getting overwhelmed by it all. I'm turning 42 years old on the 24th of August and I wish things in my life were different. I live in a bad neighborhood that I can't seem to get us out of. In 12 days, it would have been my 17th anniversary but instead, I find myself alone with my kids, as we try to survive a global pandemic. My kids are amazing and I love them completely. At…

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August 23, 2020

General Update / My thoughts

It’s been a really shitty week and I’m down but not out

This week has been pretty rough, and that's by our standards. Thus far school has been a technical frustration for the boys and they're quickly forming an opinion that will be difficult to work through. The boys are very turned off to school at this point and there are only so many battles I can pick right now. I need this to work. Admittedly, I'm really frustrated with it myself and have questioned whether or not we chose the right school. I will say that the school staff seems really cool. I've spent a good bit of time on the phone with various teachers and administrators this week. Everyone is super nice and wanting the boys to have the best experience possible. These technical issues will hopefully be resolved in…

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August 21, 2020

Distance Learning / My thoughts / School

Emmett finally got into his first live lesson

I'm not gonna lie. Distance learning has not been a positive experience thus far, but today is a new day. Elliott and Emmett are back at it and giving it yet another shake. Thus far, Elliott's been met with more frustration and technical issues but Emmett seems to be doing pretty good. He's currently in his first live lesson. They haven't been working but he was able to login today. Fingers crossed. So far so good for Mr. Emmett. Elliott was only able to get some of his work done because the rest wouldn't load. The plan is to try again in a couple of hours. The school sent a message saying that due to all the problems, the next 2 weeks will not count against the kids. We're using…

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August 19, 2020

COVID19 / Distance Learning / My thoughts / Planning / School

Day 2 of Distance Learning Has Been A Nightmare

We just finished up the 2nd day of distance learning and it's been a disaster. The school appears to be over capacity and struggling to meet the demand. Yesterday was full of connectivity issues and today has been the same. We are getting messages that too many kids are trying to log in to the same live lesson and therefore Emmett was unable to gain access. Elliott tried to do his live session but the audio went out and the video kept freezing. I totally get that things happen and that they may be able to get these issues fixed. I get that. My concern is that autistic kids tend to generalize and their very first experiences with distance learning have been negative and frustrating. I'll be honest and say…

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August 18, 2020

COVID19 / Distance Learning / My thoughts / Planning / School

This school year has me nervous

The new school year starts tomorrow morning and we're as ready as we're going to be. We spent the day working around the house. I sat down with each of the boys an went through school stuff. I tried my best to mentally prepare everyone for what feels like a monumental undertaking. Elliott and Emmett's schedules are going to be a little different because Elliott is taking more classes. I don't foresee that being a huge problem though. I understand distance learning will be challenging. The first couple of days will be spent going through the motions and getting accustomed to their new schedule. For the most part, the boys can create their own schedules. There are some live classes that are required but the rest of the time is…

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August 17, 2020

My thoughts

Balancing work and kids and school and COVID19

I'm spending way too much time on the phone today trying to manage several problems at the same time and it's just a lot bit overwhelming. While I'm on what feels like a perpetual hold, waiting for a representative to answer, I'm working on tomorrow's podcast release. The kids are really demanding my attention today and there's simply not enough of me to go around. I feel incredibly flustered right now because I can't seem to accomplish anything today. Trying to find a balance between work and kids is so difficult right now. I imagine it's only going to get more difficult as school re-enters our life. I can't record anything until my replacement Rodecaster Pro arrives today. It's being replaced under warranty and I'm sorta dead in the water…

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August 13, 2020

My thoughts

What do I mean when I say we’re on lockdown?

I wanted to clarify something. When I say that we're on lockdown, I'm referring to the fact that 99.95% of the time we're at home. We have zero contact with other people. The boys have seen their mom twice because everyone needs to quarantine for 14 days prior to the kids going over. It's not as easy for them to do that. We connect with my parents through Facebook portal and the kids love it. They've stopped by and we've visited from good distance away but that's pretty rare because my neighborhood is pretty active and no one is following the mask mandate. I don't want my parents taking any chances either. That said, I do try to get the kids out into the woods a few times a week…

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August 12, 2020