Trying to Get Back Our Groove

My kids have been hounding me for a new blog post, and since I aim to please the masses, I figured it was time to attempt to come up with some content.  If we're being real here, though, there's not much of interest to report.  True story.  

So, I'm going to challenge myself to come up with at least some kind of update for each member of the family.  And I'll start with myself, since a picture of me in the ER is literally the only recent photo of note in my phone.  

I do apologize for the lack of pictures in this text-heavy post.

ME:  I'm finally feeling better after the Covid ordeal, but it certainly took a good couple of weeks before that was the case.  And that doggone cough I had got much worse before it got better.  To the point that one day towards the end of the second week, I couldn't take a full breath without a MASSIVE coughing attack being triggered.  It got to the point that I was having trouble feeling like I was getting enough breathing in between the coughing so Scott brought me to the ER.  Even though it took longer than I thought it should have, I finally got taken back and set up with an IV and eventually some meds.  They took all kinds of blood samples and a chest X-ray to make sure I didn't have pneumonia and then I got a nice shot of morphine along with a steroid shot to help my lungs chill out with the coughing.  Long story kind of short -- I was there for a couple of hours and then sent home with some prescriptions to help with the cough.  A couple of days later, it was mostly gone and I was mostly feeling fine!  And that is the end of my tale of Coronavirus.

SCOTT:  Thankfully, Scott is finally feeling better, too, and has even returned to his actual office for work!  He still works from home a couple days a week (at his tiny little desk in our closet) and I'm not mad about it.  :)

ETHAN:  Also better!  He returned to school this week and I think it was a welcome relief.  This entire year has been a huge stressor for this kid who thrives on routine and order and knowing what to expect.  But he has done a heck of a job rolling with the punches and I know that this year's experience will help him in the long run to know that even when life is hard, he can do hard things.  And do them well.

GRACE:  Making life work, one zoom meeting at a time.  Hahahahaha.  J/K, j/k.  Although it DID make me laugh out loud when I walked downstairs a few weeks ago and saw a sign posted on the outside of her door essentially saying "Zoom meetings until 3:50 -- Do Not Disturb."  For the kids who DIDN'T test positive for Covid (ie Grace, Sophie, Jane, and Alex) their 14 day day quarantine from school didn't start until 10 days after the last person who DID test positive, which was Ethan on the 6th.  So, while he was cleared to go back to school after his 10 days of isolation were up, all the other kids were just getting started with their final 2 weeks of quarantine.  It's been something else.  Let me tell ya!

SOPHIE:  When I think of Sophie over the last few weeks, the thing that most often comes to mind is her near daily routine of sleeping until noon and staying up until well past midnight most nights, I'm sure.  The eternal sleep battle with children is that you can put a child in bed, but you can't make them actually go to sleep.  And Sophie (and Grace) are both very much night owls.  It is what it is at this point, and she's been getting all her virtual work done for school, so I'm willing to let sleeping dogs (or in this case, children) lie.

JANE:  Oh Jane.  My precious little moonbeam.  Online schooling has been...hard.  And it's probably made harder by the fact that she stays up later than she should each night and wakes up too early every morning which puts her in a perpetual state of tiredness (even though she vehemently disagrees) and emotional-ness.  We're finding that she has a hard time remembering to check through ALL of her Google classroom subjects every day -- especially the Encore ones -- and has regularly had tons of missing assignments to catch up on that she didn't even know existed.  There is light at the end of the tunnel, however, because the rest of the kids can finally go back to school next Thursday!!!  

ALEX:  It's a toss-up, really, to decide whether Alex or Jane has had a harder time with getting everything done online.  Alex might have the slight edge here, but only because there have a been a few days this month where I've forgotten to give him his ADHD meds in the morning.  Big mistake.  HUGE.  I've taken to writing out all of his assignments for the day on paper even though the exact assignments are listed in his daily To-Do list in Google classroom.  There's something about being able to physically scratch something of the list, though, that seems to make a difference in buckling down and just getting the work done.  Because it's not like it takes all that long to do it once he starts.  (Consequently, I've started writing out Jane's assignments for her, too.  I'm hoping it will help her stay on top of things.  I'm 95% sure she as ADHD as well, but I just haven't been able to get an official diagnosis for her.)

ISAAC:  This cute little crazy nut job was able to go back to preschool this week and he has mostly loved it!  The only part giving him pause to wholeheartedly endorsing the experience is that he HATES nap time.  And even though the pre-K class only has to stay on their cots for about half an hour before any non-nappers can get up and quietly play, he still thinks it's a major grievance that needs addressing.  

Well, that just about does it, friends.  We are slowly but surely getting our groove back post-Covid.  Maybe once everyone is back in school I'll have more stories to tell.  Hahaha.  

Quarantining For Real

In an ironic twist of fate, I somehow caught the Coronavirus last week.  Or maybe it was the week before, we're not really sure.  It is especially ironic, because our family has been fairly strict about social distancing and mask-wearing, etc, and yet here I am.  I don't know WHERE I got it, but get it, I did.

Patient 0

In hindsight, my symptoms started last Saturday when I came down with a really bad headache.  At the time, I chalked it up to dehydration/exhaustion after running 7 miles that morning in 96% humidity, so I just tried to drink lots of water (and Gatorade) and attempted to take it easy.  When I woke up the next morning with a sore throat, I assumed it was from not getting enough sleep (ever) because of our resident sleep terrorists {ie Alex and Isaac}.  Monday was Isaac's first day of Preschool, and since I didn't have a fever and thought it was probably just a cold or maybe strep throat, I took him to school and dropped him off.  However, when I started feeling achy, in addition to the other symptoms, I decided I should go and get tested just in case.  Along with Covid, I had them test for the flu and strep throat and was really hoping one of those would be the culprit.  But it wasn't.  And it was at that point, that I knew in my gut that I had the Coronavirus.

First day of Preschool

I went straight home, calling Scott on my way, and set up camp in my bedroom-turned-sick-bay.  While Scott went straight to the preschool to pick up Isaac, I started obsessively googling symptoms to gauge how I was feeling.  The Department of Health requires self-isolation while test results are pending, so I did my best to stay away from everyone else in the house while waiting.  The school district also requires quarantine for students in close contact with a known positive case as well as cases pending results, like mine, so they have had to be home as well.  The older kids were less than enthused to have to go right back to virtual schooling after just a week of in-person school, but it is what it is.

Alex and Jane have taken over the Bonus Room -- I'd say their state of being right now is roughly equivalent to "Lord of the Flies."  Hahahaha.

We were really hoping I'd be the only one hit with the virus, but when Isaac started running a fever on Tuesday evening and threw up, I realized with a sinking feeling that he most likely had it as well.   I finally got my positive Covid result on Wednesday afternoon, and by that point, unfortunately, Scott was also feeling sick, and Alex and Jane claimed to be feeling sick, too.  Scott and the three youngers went to be tested Thursday morning, and when those results came back, we learned that Scott and Isaac were both positive and Alex and Jane were both negative.  The older kids have avoided us like the plague -- literally wearing masks and gloves inside the house whenever they leave their bedrooms -- and even though they've been beyond cautious, Ethan started feeling sick yesterday and went to be tested.  He says he's feeling a little better this morning, so we're hoping that maybe it was just lack of sleep or psychosomatic type symptoms, but we won't know for sure until we get his results {probably} tomorrow.  

UPDATE:  Ethan IS positive for Covid.  :(  

Poor Maxwell doesn't understand what's going on.  :(

And that brings us to the here and now.  I can't even begin to thank all of the people who have offered help and brought us meals, and Gatorade, and all kinds of other accommodations.  It has been heart-warming and awe-inspiring to see such service and goodness in action.  We are so very grateful!!!  At this moment in time, I'm feeling...okay.  Ish.  This is the weirdest sickness I have ever had.  In the first few days, it felt kind of like the flu, but not exactly.  The headache and sore throat and muscle achiness were almost gone by Thursday, but since then, I keep getting hit by waves of exhaustion/extreme fatigue along with muscle aches and random joint pain.  And I have a much worse cough NOW than I did at the beginning of my sickness.  But, I have also had moments in the last couple of days where I feel completely fine and like I've finally kicked this virus to the curb!  It is so strange that the same virus can create such varying reactions in different people.  It would appear that Scott's trajectory is roughly following mine, but neither one of us ever had a fever, whereas Isaac DID run a fever for a few days and also threw up 4 different times during that period.  Isaac has been running around like he's totally fine since Friday, while I've still got random lingering symptoms and Scott is still actively sick.   It's all just super strange.  

A goody bag someone dropped off for Isaac, with stuff to keep him busy and occupied while in quarantine.

I really hope that we can keep the sickness contained, but if not -- at least we've had lots of practice over the last 6 months of being homebound with each other.  Hahahaha.

In happier times, we went to Isaac's Open House/Meet the Teacher at his Preschool a few weeks ago.

I'm not sure why this is still his go-to pose.  Hahahaha.

Jane is 11!

True story -- I keep thinking Jane is still 9.  Hahahaha.  Seriously.  I don't know why I can't keep it straight in my brain that she's actually 11 now!  Especially since Alex is the one who is actually 9.  So strange, I know.  Jane's birthday was on Friday, however, and she is most definitely 11 years old.  :)

Since everyone was home on Friday (all the kids have virtual/online school that day), we decided to go ahead and celebrate Jane's big day that afternoon/evening.  Of course, things are never perfectly smooth around these parts and Jane had a bit of a rough start to her morning, but thankfully the day ended on a much higher note than it started.  {Unfortunately, she ticked off the WRONG person the evening before when first she hit Grace as hard as she could and then -- for some inexplicably CRAZY reason -- threw a cup of water at Grace.  It didn't go over very well, as I'm sure you can imagine, and there was some residual animosity present on Friday morning.} 

Jane was so excited about the Avatar necklace that Grandma sent...

...and she loved the new birthday outfit that Granny bought her when she was here a couple of weeks ago.

Things had begun to mellow out by the afternoon, thank goodness, and while Scott took Alex with him to Target to pick out some presents and I started making the requested Avatar cake, Jane and the others partied upstairs with the "Just Dance 2020" game she had been gifted earlier in the day.  Once the cake was done and the presents were all wrapped, we gathered 'round the dining room table and sang to the birthday girl and then she ripped into those gifts.  She was genuinely pleased with everything the kids picked out for her {or -- more accurately -- everything that Scott picked out for the other kids to give her}, and after everything was opened, they skedaddled back upstairs for some more "Just Dance."  Ironically, the Avatar cake -- which she LOVED -- didn't even get cut into or eaten until Saturday afternoon.  As Ethan commented, I think we've all OD'ed on cake since the quarantine started.  Hahahahahaha.  {If you'll recall, making cakes was an almost every day occurrence at the beginning of our lockdown.}

Getting their "Just Dance" on.

"Water, Earth, Fire, Air"

I accidentally put 12 candles on the cake.  It would appear that I really can't keep her age straight at all.  Hahahahaha.

Now that Jane's birthday has come and gone, we have exited our August birthday alley!  Maxwell's birthday is next week (our little pup-pup will be 2), but I don't think we'll be doing anything all that big to celebrate.  Hahaha.  The next family birthdays on the horizon are Grace and Isaac in November.  It's so hard to believe the year is beginning to wind down!  

We're in a Rubik's cube phase right now.  Hahaha.  Jane has mastered the 2x2 cube and is ready to move on to the big leagues with the 3x3.

These Airheads were a bigger hit than you would think.

This was probably the biggest hit.  She legit let out a shout of joy when she unwrapped it and saw what it was.  Also -- this is the one present that WAS actually picked out by a kid.  Alex got it at Target when he was there with Scott.

Stay tuned for a check-in on how school is going now that it's in session...  

A Comedy of Errors

Well, the first day of school has come and gone!  And with it went some really good life lessons learned.  Hahaha.  First and foremost -- it's not a good idea to switch up the transportation situation on the first day, especially when you're changing it to something that you've NEVER done before.  Secondly, it doesn't matter how horribly off the rails the kids' schedules and routines have gone -- when it comes to waking up on time and getting ready in record fashion, back-to-school is like Christmas morning around these parts.  Hahaha.  And finally, 5 months of quarantining has gotten me REALLY used to having everyone home all the time and I can't decide yet if I like an empty house.  Of course, it's not truly empty YET -- Isaac starts preschool next week -- so maybe I'll be changing my tune in the next little bit.  :)

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{I sent this picture to my family group text yesterday morning and laughed out loud at Freddie's captions: "Ethan's face says -- Let's do this; Jane's face says -- I wish I were as cool as Marsha; the Boss's face (Alex) says -- mom doesn't know I snuck a whole bunch of Pokemon cards in my lunch box; Grace's face says -- how can I rig the system again this year; and poor Sophie can't even open her eyes.  Hahahaha." (She put contacts in yesterday for the first time since getting them a month ago.  Let's just say it took a long time.)}

Like I said, everyone was up and ready to go yesterday morning with hardly any prodding from me or Scott.  Ethan and Grace are doing seminary every morning via Zoom, at least for this semester, and they're the first ones out the door for school.  Ethan graciously humored me with the taking of pictures before he and Grace took off, and I did my best to get it done as quickly as possible.  {He doesn't like to be late.}  Grace technically doesn't have to be at the school as early as Ethan does, but she likes to, so she goes.  

ETHAN -- 12th Grade

GRACE -- 10th Grade

And they're off!

This year, we've got an interesting hybrid situation going on with the school schedules.  The older three will be going to school in person, Monday through Thursday, and working from home virtually on Fridays.  Jane and Alex will be going 2 days in person and the other 3 online, at least for this semester, and Isaac will be doing his customary 4-days-a-week preschool starting on Monday.  Each kid had their own level of excitement going for school to start and, interestingly, Grace and Sophie were the LEAST excited to go back.  Which is super odd since they're more extroverted than the rest of us and are usually chomping at the bit to get back to the social aspect of school, if nothing else.  As for the others, Alex was possibly the most excited, with Ethan falling slightly behind him, and Jane was pretty comfortably in the middle.  

While the boys were all more excited about the actual school part of back-to-school, the girls were decidedly more excited about the shopping-for-the-first-day-of-school-outfit part of back-to-school.  Hahahaha.  Adding to the fun of our back-to-school festivities was a quick visit from my mom last week, who humored all of Jane's sartorial wishes and helped her pick out some cute new clothes as an early birthday present.  {Her birthday is this Friday.}  Grace and Sophie had each ordered some items online, but on Saturday, they convinced me to take them to Goodwill to do some thrifting to really complete their looks.  Hahahahaha.  They (i.e. mostly just Sophie) found a lot of interesting items that I never in a million years would have imagined they would be choosing for school clothes.  If I had to sum up each of the girls' "looks" in a single phrase it would be: Jane -- "the 90s are calling and they want their butterfly clips back;" Sophie -- "make way -- it's the year of the blazer;" and Grace -- "I'm just wearing a t-shirt and running shorts."  Hahahahaha.  As for the boys, Ethan finally gave in on Saturday and let me buy him a couple new shirts (even though he kept insisting it was a waste of money because he already had shirts)  and Alex and Isaac both went hog-wild ordering Pokemon and other themed shirts from Old Navy and Target.  

SOPHIE -- 8th Grade

JANE -- 6th Grade

ALEX -- 4th Grade

But I digress.  After Ethan and Grace left for school yesterday morning, Alex and Jane were the next to go, with Scott dropping them off on his way to work.  After giving Maxwell a quick walk around the neighborhood, Sophie was the last to go and I drove her to school with Isaac happily tagging-along while watching a movie in our new van.  

And THEY'RE off!

This little nut job wasn't even awake yet when I was taking the other kids' pictures.

Isaac requested a "lunch date" for us yesterday.  Hahahaha.

Once Isaac and I were back home, he was happy to have screens all to himself, and I managed to waste a whole lot of time doing I don't even know what until mid-afternoon when I dozed off on the couch while watching a movie with Isaac.  

This was probably the first error.

My next error occurred after I woke up when I decided I should still go ahead and start making the chocolate chip cookies I had planned on having for the kids when they got home from school.  I was crunched for time, obviously, and in my hurry to finish making the cookie dough, I was cutting it close for my walk to school to pick up Alex and Jane, which leads us to the biggest error of all and had a trickle down effect on everything else that afternoon. 

Even though the kids have always ridden the bus home, I decided with the whole Covid situation that maybe we should avoid that this year, just in case.  Knowing how incredibly backed up with traffic the schools get (the elementary and middle schools are right next to each other), I decided it would be better to just walk to the school to get them rather than wait forever in a car line.  I figured this wouldn't be too bad -- we live less than a mile from the schools -- and I could just dart on up there to meet them at the end of the day and walk them home.  

Well, it WAS bad.  It was so hot (95* with the sun blaring down on us) and I ended up having to take Isaac with me because, when I came up with this brilliant plan, I wasn't thinking about the fact that Ethan wouldn't be home in time to stay with him so that I could go alone.  Less than a minute into our walk, I realized I had made a huge mistake and it was too late to do anything about it.  So I trudged along, with my poor, red-faced, sweaty little 4 year old and started coming up with a plan B on the fly.  First, I called Ethan, who was driving home at this point, and asked him to meet us near the back entrance to the school to pick all of us up.  Then, I walked all the way up to the schools rather than waiting for Alex and Jane to come to the designated corner we had chosen the day before.  Unfortunately, I made another error in not thinking to grab a mask before we left the house because I was never planning on going all the way up to the school!  With my change of plan, I was not prepared and was told I couldn't be on school property without a mask.  Doh!  So, I scooted over to the far side of the yard (away from anyone else) and waited for Jane to walk over from the middle school.  

Seriously so red-faced, hot, and sweaty!

After we intercepted her path, I sent her over to the benches where she was supposed to meet Alex, to go and collect him.  Well, that was our next problem because he wasn't there and Jane had to go searching for him inside and ask the office for help.  Double DOH!  Apparently she got lectured about middle schoolers not being allowed to come over to the elementary school at the end of the day {WHAT?! They literally ride the same buses that are parked at the elementary school and walk over everyday to board them after school} and got no help from the office, who told her that Alex was a 4th grader and should know his own address by now and had probably just walked home on his own {Uh, NO.  That would not be the case for this 4th grader -- yes he knows his address, but he would NEVER walk home all by himself.  EVER.}  Thankfully, Jane found him thanks to the janitor's help.   

Alex, meanwhile, had been crying because he didn't know what to do or where he was supposed to go, because, unbeknownst to any of us, the walkers and car-riders are let out on the other side of the building and they wouldn't let him walk over to the bus side, which is where he was supposed to meet Jane.  It was just a mess, and I was kicking myself for switching things up on the first day of school when they haven't even been IN school for the last 5 months.

Thankfully, our comedy of errors was almost over for the day and after Ethan rescued us, we made it home safe and sound.  But not before stressing Ethan out about the three younger ones not being buckled while he was driving because Jane's buckle was stuck and she couldn't get it out, and Alex and Isaac couldn't work around all the backpacks to get their buckles in.  The cherry on top of the afternoon, though, was when we pulled into the garage and Jane literally got stuck in the door opening as she was trying to get out on her side of the car.  (The car was too close to the garbage cans for the door to open all the way and she had already passed the point of no return with her exit and couldn't work her way backwards into the car to get out on the other side.)  TRIPLE DOH!!!  Hahahaha.  Poor little lambs.  It was a bit of a rough ending to the day.  And in Jane's case, she had a rough START as well, when she couldn't find where her homeroom was supposed to be. 

All's well that ends well, though, and after getting home I was able to finish making those cookies while Ethan took off to get Sophie and then Grace.  I can't decide if it's because the cookie mess in the kitchen was too big a stressor for him to deal with after a long, hot afternoon, or if he just wanted to make a stop at Sonic after getting the girls, but I was grateful nonetheless for his second rescue of the day.  ;)  

Once everyone was finally home, I was able to get a mild debriefing from the big kids.  And I do mean mild.  The older 3 seemed to have a fine enough day, but things were odd once again when I didn't get any of the typical first-day-of-school-verbal-diarrhea from Grace once she was home.  I guess it's just another data point to chalk up to the strangeness of the times!  Hahaha.

By the end of the day, everyone was pretty much exhausted and went to bed on time without a fight.  Well, everyone but Isaac, that is.  He's been needing a haircut for WEEKS, so I finally decided to just do it, and forced him to get a haircut and take a bath before also forcing him to go to bed.  He WAS exhausted though, so once the haircut, bath, and concurrent meltdowns were over, he fell asleep almost immediately after I finished reading him his 3 books. 

(This is the "after" shot of his hair.  He was happy to note this morning that it was still "crazy."  Hahahahahahaha.)

What a day! Amiright??  Hahahaha.  

Today was a LITTLE smoother -- at least on the afternoon end -- as I decided to throw caution to the wind and told all the kids to just ride the bus home.  (I'm feeling really good about that decision, in case anyone is wondering.)  Hahahahahaha.  It's so strange to think that we're already at this point in the year.  In a lot of ways, it feels like we've been suspended in time since March when the quarantine started and it doesn't even seem possible that Fall is already upon us!  But it is, and I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that we won't end up having to quarantine AGAIN now that school has started back up.  ;)

Birthday Alley

How in the world are we already almost to the end of August???  Not only are we in full prep mode for Back to School, we also have 3 birthdays to celebrate this month!  Scott's was last Sunday, Alex's was Thursday, and Jane's is next Friday.  That's a whole lot of celebration going on!  Hahaha.

{Grace created this "custom" Pokemon card for Alex with him being the Pokemon character.  It was pretty cool and Alex loved it.}

Scott continues to be the lowest maintenance member of the bunch and his only birthday request this year was our signature Brown Butter + Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies.  {They are the best.  Just as an FYI.}  Alex's only request (j/k -- he never has just one request, although he certainly had one THEME this year) was for the newest Pokemon cards that were set to be released the day after his birthday.  This date discrepancy -- his birthday being the 13th/the cards being released on the 14th -- led to some rather predictable waffling on when he exactly he wanted to have his party.  On a daily, and sometimes hourly, basis, he changed his mind about which day to do the celebrating until I told him he had to give me a final decision by last Sunday's Family Council.  He chose Friday the 14th for his big day.

These cookies really are the best.

It didn't stick.  {Spoiler alert -- I knew it wouldn't.}  By about noon on his actual birthday -- after begging all morning to be able to open up just one of his presents that day -- I finally suggested we should probably just go ahead and do the cake, presents and whole shebang.  He heartily agreed.  Of course, I didn't have stuff for the cake yet OR the presents, but Target came through in the clutch.  While the decorating crew of my party planning committee (aka Grace and Sophie) were working their magic at home, I took Jane with me to Target to find enough Pokemon stuff to make all of Alex's dreams come true.

They added a whole bunch of Pokemon energy (?) cards to this bunting we already had.

His cake request this year was "Beast Ball," and it certainly wins the award for the tallest cake I've ever made.  And the most blue.  Well, other than Sophie's Pablo-from-the-Backyardigans cake when she was 2.  Hahaha.  The Beast Ball was a hit, though, even if Isaac DID let me know that the yellow things on top were supposed to be 3-D and I didn't do it right.  Haha.  

(My inspiration)

(a bit of a sloppy execution with the design, but it still works)

Once Scott finally got home from work {because YAY! for him, he is back in a real office a few times a week}, we sang Happy Birthday, let Alex rip into those presents, and cut the cake.  Alex's Love Language is for sure "gifts," so his birthday and Christmas are the most important and rewarding days of the year for him.  He was super happy with ALL of the Pokemon stuff he got and even more excited that for some of those gifts, he had the joyful combination of Pokemon PLUS the non-LEGO brand of legos to play with.  He spent the rest of the evening happy as a clam, putting together his characters and rifling through all his new cards trying to decide where to put them in his album.  The high lasted into the next day as well, as he happily informed me that this was the best birthday ever!  I guess we could have skipped out on the Chuck E. Cheese birthday party last year and just bought him a bunch of presents instead.  Hahahaha.

The one non-Pokemon gift in the bunch.  He was okay with it.  ;)

The piece de resistance.

It was 3 big layers high.

With Jane's birthday on the horizon, it's time to start figuring out what exactly SHE is obsessed with for this year's theme.  Before we get there, though, we have the first day of school to look forward to on Monday.  And I can't wait to describe my opinions of all the first day of school outfits that have been chosen.  Let's just say, that I'm officially feeling like an old-fogey, because I can't for the life of me understand the aesthetics of today's tween and teen fashion.  Hahahahahaha.  Until next time...