Fostering during Quarantine...

Fast forward a lot of months.  Sorry to go out of sequence here, but there is so much to talk about...

Let me start off by saying that I love my job.  Let me also say that I love being a foster mom.  I love our fosters.  We've had Joshua for 19 months and Kaylie for 7 months.  

Prior to this whole work from home remote learning thing, this was my day:

I would wake up at 6, shower, dress, eat some breakfast.  I would wake up Tiernen and Darryl.  They would help me wake up both kids, dress them, brush teeth, give Kaylie a bottle and Joshua a quick snack.  I would go to work at 7:30 and Tiernen would take the kids to daycare.

I would teach from 8 until 3 and then work one of my after school jobs until 4:30 (tutoring English at Upward Bound two days a week and advising Proctor Cares crochet club the other two).  Tiernen would pick the kids up from daycare.

I would come home, make dinner, bathe the kids, and put them to bed (hopefully by 9 if I was lucky).  I would watch a little television, maybe waste some time online, maybe crochet or sew or work on this blog.  I'd review my lessons for the next day and go to bed by midnight.

It wasn't a perfect system, but it worked.

Then this damn virus happened and everything changed.

Schedule?  Out the window.  Suddenly I was a stay-at-home mom 24/7 with two babies who no longer could go to daycare.

Okay, cool.  I sort of wanted to be a stay-at-home mom for a long time now.  Here was my chance.

Laundry had never been so up-to-date.  Bills were paid way before they were due.  The house was always spotless by the end of the day.  I was cooking every night (buh bye to our once a week sushi take out meals, impromptu brunch dates, or quick bites at Dunkin.  Nope.  Meals were planned.  Closets were organized.  Heck, why not potty train Joshua while I was at it?

Except. We. Were. Stuck. In. The. House.

Yes, I've read all the literature about "think of yourself as SAFE in the house instead of STUCK in the house." I get it.  I'm thankful. I am.  But when you take a little boy who is used to playing with his friends every day and having a set daycare schedule and suddenly it's just you and mom and your baby sister, well... let's just say he's started to literally jump off the couch. Or table.  Or (insert unsafe piece of furniture here).

Then there is Kaylie who is crawling up a storm.  She wants to touch what big brother is touching or reading and playing with.  And he's not having it.  He hits her, pushes her, takes toys from her, you name it.  (and yes, you can say, "oh that's all siblings" but these are unprecedented times, my friends.  We. Can't. Leave.)  I can't take him to the park to blow off some toddler steam.  I can't take him to Billy Beez and let him pummel other children with soft objects just because.  I can't take him to the library for story hour or swimming or anywhere.  Walks are even out because this is central New York and it's still snowing and it's cold.

Oh, but let's not forget this fun fact:  I'm still working.  Remotely, of course, but working nonetheless. I'm working more hours and harder than I ever have in all my teaching life.  I am recording lessons (which can only be done when a) both kids are sleeping which equal around 1 am, or b) nope, only a.) and require me to put on a shower, brush my hair, get dressed WITH a bra, and put on make up.  (did I mention the two kids under three?)

Students are stressed to and they are emailing and texting me literally from 7 am (you'd think they'd sleep in) until 11 pm.  I'm not kidding.  I'm getting Google Classroom notifications on my phone 24/7 and I can't even see what they are writing unless I check my computer.  Parents are emailing me upset over grades.  Kids are freaking out and saying I'm giving too much work (yeah, too much for ME, not for them).  Did I mention less than 50% of them are actually doing it?  Yeah, there's that fun too.

I'm doing all this remote teaching while trying to watch the kids.  Yes, Tiernen is helping, but we try to each take a kid.  If I have Kaylie, it means I have to hold her or put her in the front carrier, which means I cannot type.  If I have Joshua, I have to watch him because he likes to write on the walls, furniture, my books, and himself with whatever writing instrument he can find.  

Did I mention that Darryl started a new job at the hospital and that he works 3-11 PM and most weekends?  Yeah, there's that too.  So I'm making meals while Joshua is screaming to be let into the kitchen and Kaylie is in the back carrier so I don't burn her.

I've never needed to go to the chiropractor more in my entire life.  BUT OF COURSE NONE OF THEM ARE OPEN.  Plus, at this point, I need something like this:

 I am totally going to text my chiropractor and tell him I will BUY the strap if he will do it!

Okay, I'm rambling now.  Here's the bottom line.

I can rock the whole stay-at-home mom thing.  I can rock the online teacher thing.  But doing it at the same time is really, really difficult. 

Really difficult.

(And it's times like these that I am very jealous and even angry at Joshua and Kaylie's mom for her freedom.  I know she'd rather have them home with her, but she also isn't a teacher...)