We are dog-sitting for Piolina while new cousin Baby Ben still decides whether he’d like to try life outside of the NICU, and Maggie has found a new best friend and/or purpose in life. Thankfully, and despite growing up on the streets of El Salvador, Pio is incredibly patient with 3 year olds. (Also a shoutout to Kaya and Laney who actually have been very helpful feeding and walking her too.)

I’m going to feel this one tomorrow..

Welcome to the world baby Benjamin Isaac Leigh Buffum! The girls are VERY excited that they have a new cousin! We all can’t wait to meet you, Ben!

(Yes, I know I look like a giant in this picture, and Yoya is actually 3 months more pregnant than I am – it’s the CAMERA ANGLE). We are wishing Yoya and Dylan luck and health this week as we expect arrival of Baby BuffuLipps!

We are super thankful to live in a neighborhood that backs onto a creek and miles of hiking trails – it makes escaping the dreariness of Zoom meetings much easier and makes it feel that everything we need is truly right here. We are still only going out to the grocery store, and the kids are amazingly resilient at changing their entire lives without complaining (me, less so). And Maggie LOVES having her sisters home for quarantine – last time she spent a year in isolation with a rotating team of single adults and this time around she is healthy and has two playmates for a “quaranteam”- so life is good.

Tommy set up a fire pit (no pit involved) in the yard and we taught Mila the meaning of “S’mores” tonight! The neighbors also gave us some extra kid size camping chairs and after not wanting anything sweet for around a year post-transplant, Maggie has officially solidified her love of chocolate (to join the rest of the Rose women).

The “new house” is now one of the 3 activities we do on weekends as a family, where we bike or hike over to our house under construction to see the progress. It’s great fun, and the girls unexpectedly LOVE to play at the site. Unfortunately it requires constant vigilance that no one steps on a nail or falls down a chute, but it’s something to do! (The other two activities include hiking in the woods and biking around Carrboro).

Poor Maggie of course gets a fever and cough within a week of quarantine starting. This is not at all unusual for her, but of course I can’t take her to the pediatrician with potential COVID-19 symptoms, so we got to experience the “Respiratory Diagnostic Center,” which is a tent in a parking lot near UNC Hospital for COVID-19 testing. Luckily, she is negative as expected, and feeling MUCH better on some antibiotics for (what I have diagnosed as) a sinus infection.

Things you never knew would be critical during a quarantine – a short list:
Toilet paper, Zoom, Hammocks