From the Editor

Ashley's Quarantine Must Haves

Gardening has been my outlet. When Drew and I married, the kids and I moved in with him in his house in Philpot. The yard is full of flowers (from the previous owner, not my husband) and Avery and I have had a blast making arrangements. We also have a started a huge vegetable garden, planted a raised bed of strawberries and a blueberry and raspberry bush. Being pregnant, I can’t leave the house much during this quarantine, so being outside in our yard has been my saving grace.

I am not a cook. If you asked my kids what I cook best, their answer before quarantine would have been Chick-fil-A. (That’s not even a joke... they really told people that.) But with lots of time on my hands, I have been cooking and baking like crazy — all with the help of eMeals. Drew’s brother and his wife gifted us the recipe subscription app that plans meals for you and then has a feature that takes your recipe ingredients and sends it to the online grocery shopping service of your choice. Cooking has never been so easy and with categories like “kid-friendly meals” and “pantry meals,” the recipes are affordable and the kids actually like them!

from the editor

I think I speak for everyone when I say 2020 has been weird. Who could have imagined a time when families are quarantined to their homes, retail stores and restaurants are either closed or severely restricted and masks are the latest fashion accessory? I can’t get a haircut, I feel like all I do is load the dishwasher and do laundry, and I was in charge of the last third of my children’s 2019-2020 education?!

But the Covid-19 crisis was a little more uncertain for me than others. Why?

(Big announcement coming….)

I’m expecting my third baby. Drew and I have been married for seven months now and never dreamed God would bless us with a baby this fast, if at all. Six years ago I shared my infertility issues with you. Avery and Reed are blessings that I never take for granted (even during quarantine when I hear “MOM!” 4,395 times a day). But this pregnancy, while not plagued with fertility treatments and relentless negative pregnancy tests, has brought its fair share of uncertainty and emotions.

Drew was not able to come to my 20 week ultrasound, where I got the first real glimpse of our sweet boy. The renovation we need to add to our small house in the country has been put on hold, leaving us nowhere to start a nursery for our son. (This nesting momma is not handling that one very well.) And we are unsure of what hospital restrictions will look like in September when we are due to meet our son.

But despite all of this, I am trying to remain as positive as possible. I am adjusting to this new normal and plan to continue this new-found sense of family time and disconnection from life’s distractions into the summer. We don’t know when our typical summer go-tos will open, so we plan to make the most of our summer at home. For us that means gardening, crafts, taking Drew’s classic convertible out for a drive on the backroads of eastern Daviess County, new recipes, lots of popcorn and movie nights, camping with bonfires, bike riding and fishing.

This summer issue of Owensboro Parent is a little different too. We typically share a Summer Guide with you, complete with all the things you can do around the community. Instead, we have created our own Summer Guide with the help of some loyal advertisers, where you will find lots of ideas on how to maximize your family time this summer. And with lots of families adopting new four-legged family members during this quarantine, we moved up our pet issue to this summer, giving you a lot of fun pet tips and tricks. (You can’t miss the story about one Owensboro family that has 20 pets!)

We know this time has moms and dads at their wits’ end, but know that we at Owensboro Parent are right there with you. We hope that our magazine can bring you a little humor, advice, or tips to occupy your endless amount of time. We will get through this together, Owensboro.

Maybe it’s the pregnancy. Maybe it’s being cooped up in this house for weeks on end. But I have been going through a major organizing phase. I have gone through old keepsakes (like these sweet elementary photos) and organized them into bins, finding room for them in the basement for long-term storage. I have gone though kids clothes and toys and purged what they don’t need.

Preparing for our son has been the most fun during quarantine. I can’t go out and shop for him and I can’t even prepare his nursery because our sweet addition to our family means we need an addition to our house, which has been put on hold with Covid-19. But I have been busy making Pinterest boards, registering online and working on his baby book.

Is it gross to admit I don’t know how long it has been since I washed my hair? I don’t know what day or even what month it is, let alone the last time I washed my hair — which is in desperate need of a trim! My trusty ol’ WKU hat has been my BFF the last two months.