Up and Down and All Around

Perhaps the best news is that my parents have each received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine. My dad is on team Pfizer, and my mom is on team Moderna. They are being very cautious for a couple more weeks while my mom's immunity develops, but hopefully that means that I don't have to worry about losing them to COVID. My mother in law also has had her first dose, and my father in law is scheduled to receive his first dose later this week, I believe. The first thing my parents want to do with their immunity is come and visit us and our son, so they will be here in early April. I imagine my wife's parents will come visit again soon after that, when they are fully immune. Then we'll wait and see when my wife and I are eligible to receive the vaccine. Pediatric trials are just beginning, so it will be a while longer before our son can be vaccinated, but hopefully we will develop herd immunity for his sake.

It's hard to believe that it's been almost a year since we went on lockdown due to the virus. We've had so little change of scene that the time has really flown. And our son is almost six months old already. It's amazing. He's eating some baby foods now in addition to a mix of milk and formula, which is fortunate because nursing has been draining my wife's energy and nutrients to the point that she is complaining of fatigue and terrible aches and pains -- I know they say to try to breastfeed at least in part for 12-18 months, but I think that will be too long for my wife's health, and at least we met WHO guidance and got him to the point of starting solid foods before switching to formula. He still requires 24x7 attention, so I still have difficulty finding time for everything else that needs to get done, but he's looking and acting older every week, and outgrowing clothes every couple of months (good thing baby clothes are relatively cheap).

We are starting to think about the return to the office as well. We haven't left our nanny alone at home with our son yet, and my wife is thinking that it might be nice to continue to have one of us work from home every day even when we go back. I'm not sure that will work out - historically, my firm didn't endorse working from home, but maybe they would allow it a couple of days a week after all of this remote work during the pandemic. I'm also starting to think about the commute again, and pondering getting an electrified vehicle. My car is more than 10 years old now, and it doesn't have great fuel economy, comfort, or style. I'd also like to get a larger car for safety, now that our son is riding around with us, and I'd like to get one that can qualify for the federal tax credits. I'm considering the Toyota RAV4 Prime, because its ~40 mile electric range is just about enough for my commute, and that leaves gas flexibility for longer trips, but I was also intrigued by the Ioniq 5 announcement, and would consider going all electric for daily use, and renting a gas car for occasional longer trips. But I won't be getting anything until we are back in the office again, and even then, I might wait to save money.