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On My Mind, 4.24.22: Life Lately and Working Without Childcare
It’s been a minute since I’ve done one of these posts, and so much has changed since early March. I usually share what’s going on in my weekly newsletter, so if you miss these posts, sign up here. It’s finally spring, we no longer have a nanny, and Kate has turned into a little kid. Life has felt really, really good lately. We’ve been able to get out a lot more, I’m in a good groove with work, the girls are doing well, and we’re getting *so* close to the end of treatment and our move.
For a while, I felt stuck, like I was waiting for life to begin, but the day-to-day is feeling better. And we’re getting close to some big and exciting changes for our family. We’re back to working without childcare, but I’m excited for more time with the girls. Here’s what’s on my mind and what we’ve been up to.
On My Mind, 4.24.22: Working Without Childcare
Everything in these photos is linked here
We no longer have a nanny. And yes, I’m still working.
I shared this here, but our nanny is expecting and needed to take some teacher training courses, so she is officially not full-time anymore. She wants to come weekends for a while and we love her dearly (and could use the help), so we’ll take whatever we can get. Let’s just say I was open to any and every possible scenario that might feel good for her, and our door is always open. She’s become part of the family, so I know that whatever happens, we’ll stay in touch. (This was all shared with her permission, by the way).
Working without a nanny and summer plans.
So it’s tricky. I want to spend more time with the girls this summer and plan to do that. But – I also want to work and desperately need to live a little once treatment is over. I want to go to lunch and workout classes and see friends. We also have a move coming up and I am starting to wrap my mind around starting the new business I touched on a while ago. It’s unlike anything I’ve done before but it’s something I am very excited about. I can’t just take the summer off, but I can scale back, so I’m going to try to do that. No idea when we’ll find a nanny, so we’ll see how it goes.
Here’s the thing. Due to the pandemic and treatment, we haven’t had very much normalcy, and we’ve been pretty isolated the last two years. I can’t just take the summer off, but I can scale back. So we’ll see what it looks like to work during Kate’s naps and after bedtime since it’s 11PM and I’m wrapping up now.
My blog is optimized!
After months of focusing on SEO (search engine optimization), all 600+ posts on my blog are optimized. My blog’s SEO score was 79 in early March (when I started tracking) and now has an SEO score of 99/100. 🥳 I will share more about that when I find the time. It’s a lot of info, and I’m still not really an expert, but I’m learning.
Recent Finds
Buddy relapsed, but he’s doing great!
Buddy was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder called Thrombocytopenia (low platelet count) in 2013. By the time he was diagnosed, his platelet count was at about 6000 (normal is 150,00-450,000). He was on meds for years, but slowly needed less and less, and was eventually weaned off of them. Symptoms included heavy (loud) breathing, lethargy, and loss of appetite. I thought he was dying but fortunately, it was low (but not as dangerously low) platelet count. After two days of steroids, he did a 180, and he’s now on his immunosuppressive meds, and seems to be himself again. We’ll have labs every so often to get him on the right dose, but I’m just so relieved.
The podcast I can’t stop listening to
I wasn’t really much of a podcast person until recently, but am hooked on How I Built This. I listen to it in the car, when I’m cleaning, doing laundry, or if I’m working on design stuff / product roundup content. Off the top of my head, I listened to (and loved) the episodes with Any Dunn from Bonobos, Stacy Madison from Stacy’s Pita Chips, Melissa and Doug, the founders of UPPAbaby, and Eileen Fisher.
The girls are getting so big
Kate will be 2 in just 2 months, and 9 days later, Margot will turn 4! I can’t believe it. It seems like Kate turned into a kid overnight, and the girls are really starting to play, which is really sweet. When Kate wakes up from a nap, the first thing she says is “Margot. Favorite.” 😭 She counts to 10, says “I want it” and has been walking around the house singing “Girl on fire” by Alicia Keys (it’s in Sing 2). Her version is just one word (“fiiiiiiiiiireeeeee”) but she really nails it.
Margot is doing so well. She has 2 more clinic appointments and then surgery. One final spinal, IV chemo, and round of steroids. Then she’s done. Please send positive thoughts that her ANC (neutrophils in the blood) will be below 1500 in two weeks. Her ANC was a little high last month (that happens and it’s ok). But if it’s above 1500 we’ll need to increase her chemo dose, which I’m hoping we won’t have to do.
Our tulips bloomed!
I didn’t plant nearly enough of them, but they bloomed and are the perfect pink for my Margot. I placed an order with Dutch Grown and planted everything last fall.
Here’s what I ordered:
Clearwater tulips
Muscari white magic
White parrot tulips
Alium Cowanii
White city Spanish bluebells
Carnegie hyacinth
Foxtrot tulips
Salmon impression tulips
Renown unique tulips
Mondial tulips
