COVID-19: Month 1

Monster post warning.

So the first couple weeks were overwhelming. When would this end? How was I supposed to work all day with the kids constantly interrupting? Was the house ever NOT going to be a mess? Is school...over? Is life...over? I admit, my stress level was really high and if you've ever had tension headaches, you know that they laugh at any OTC meds and then persist. I had some bad days. My sister put it the best way and I love how spot on her points were. She said the problem is, any moment of the day could be spent on one of 4 things:

1)  House needs - dishes, laundry, mopping, general tidying. The constant flow of stuff and things that need to be cleaned and put away. I personally can't function is a messy and disorganized house but fighting this, when you have four people that share four walls, 24 hours a day, often seems futile.
2) Work (like, our actual jobs that pay us)
3) Our children: engaging them, playing with them, giving them our undivided attention whilst thinking about numbers 1 and 2
4) Self-care (exercising, quiet time, or anything that is focused on ourselves. It is #4 on this list for a reason because it almost always comes last, even though it's critical)

Once the struggle was defined in those terms, I learned to let go pretty quickly because you can't do those 4 things at one time. No one can, and no one is asking you to except yourself. So there was that. And I'll also admit, there was an underlying ease in the fact that we were not supposed to be anywhere, see anyone, do anything. We were home, and then home, and then home some more. And so was everyone else. There was no fear of missing out, no "everyone else has plans, is out doing XYZ, being productive/having fun/whatever." Pretty much everyone we knew took the stay at home order very seriously, so there were no hard feelings about not seeing neighbors or friends. We were all in the same boat. Or actually, all in separate boats on the same ocean. ?. Whatever. It looked like this.

Month 1: March 13 - April 13, 2020

I'll preface this by saying, I did what the experts told me to do and made up a nice daily schedule. Just because we were all home didn't mean everything was going down the tubes. No no, we would be civilized. There would be a set time for snack, screen time, forced outdoor exercise, and designated periods for reading and other wholesome activities like workbooks. I even printed it and put it on the fridge.

It was great, I was great, everything was great. We totally did it and made it all the way to the halfway mark on Day 1. If you refer to the above, the boys got the iPads at 1:30 pm and that proved to be my demise. I needed that time to actually work, they were so quiet, so we skipped reading and then ran late and before I knew it, buh bye Daily Schedule. 

In its place though, a lot of fine things happened :) Besides Alex turning 6 which was right away (already documented, thankssss), there was some:

50% shirtless Lego building

Family fitness

Hopscotch (before playgrounds closed)

50% shirtless mini billiards

Ninja training

Acorn crafts

I'll let you caption this one: 

Like, what the.

But then, more hopscotch

Tennis (before they took the nets down)

Cornhole

More Legos

Slot cars

Chess, lots of it! In these first ones they are playing a friend via Facetime :)

More tennis (after the nets were taken down) 

 Some learning

Puzzles 

 And it randomly snowed. 

I hit my 200th ride on my Peloton

We explored the woods around our house on a few separate occasions

Became pen pals

 And generally, things to keep us busy. Games, old Halloween costumes, stuff with wheels, house and tree work, and eventually we got so bored we started walking the neighbor's dog.

 

On March 25, Natick launched remote learning/online school. It was huge - it gave the kids their teachers back and little did they know, they would not see their classmates in person again for the rest of the year.

And so began 9 weeks of Zoom and Google Meets and Google Hangouts and Google Classroom and Facetime and Seesaw and Epic and Raz Kids and Freckle and all the electronic and online platforms and apps. 

Month 2 up next... 

COVID-19: A Global Pandemic

Friday, March 13, 2020 was the first day of the COVID-19 shut down. No more work, no more school. Statewide shelter-in-place advisory to "flatten the curve". The news was terrifying, the weather was bad, and except for essential workers and the occasional grocery trip, we were all to go home and stay there. No shopping, no restaurants, no commuting, no events, no sports, nothing in person. Jason and I commenced working from home and then a week or two later, the Natick schools managed to get an online program together. It was strange, scary, and surreal.

I haven't quite known how to document everything. The weeks have ticked by and once we hit Saturday, June 13, 2020, I was like omg. The three month mark. Although Massachusetts has begun to re-open, the virus is not gone (and in fact, case numbers are surging in half of US states that are behind us on the timeline) and we are basically still home. We don't even know what "normal" means anymore. You can't go out without a mask, you can't come within 6 feet of anyone in public, and we are all anxiously awaiting the decisions about school in the fall.

There have been a lot of ups and downs in the community as a whole. In the beginning, fear. And hostility towards people who were perceived as not "following the rules". Despair, at being in our homes day after day, and watching one thing after another be cancelled. But then, hope and solidarity. This affects every.single.person. We united in that fact and the collective efforts to stop the spread. In Massachusetts, I can tentatively say, it seems to be working.

The COVID-19 pandemic will be a historical time and I suspect what we've experienced so far is only the beginning. Disruptions and lockdowns will persist into next year. And keeping with this blog's purpose, I'd like to keep track of this time in our lives, this completely unprecedented time in our lives, so my goal for the next posts will be Months 1, 2, and 3. Come along for the ride!

Mother's Day 2020

Jumping right in, usually my Mother's Day posts are kind of like "well it was Mother's Day, Jason worked, it wasn't the best, here's a picture, the end." Don't worry, I'm not going to break the mold. Although there was one main difference: due to COVID-19, Jason didn't have to work! But...womp womp. Due to COVID-19, it still wasn't the best. Not much happened (hey, perfect intro for a blog post! Keep them wanting more wink wink).

So, okay, first. Woke up to cute present, flowers, and cards.

Was that a mimosa? Tsk, 'twas not. Pure orange juice. What is this, every other day?

Apparently not. Ashton's card, although shaped like a purse, was wrapped in two pounds of tape, roped off and filled with warning messages.

"Cosin" = Caution. And of course, "Top Sercrit".

Not so menacing in the end, thankfully. The message had scribbled flowers and I LOVE YOU MOMMY in big letters. Nuclear crisis averted.

Was then served a yummy breakfast

That the 6 year old ate.

 Then skills came back to bite me. I had "taught" the boys how to "remove" their thumbs. Was requested to watch them "practice".

~30 minutes.

Needed a break and said I was getting on the 1 pm Peloton live Mother's Day ride. 5 minutes in...

Had to then get on my real life bike but, all is bright! Saved a baby turtle.

Like, actually mothered Mother Nature. 

BOOM.

Went for some errands to calm down. Stayed in the car while Jason shopped. Yes, in desperation I will leave the house even if only to sit in a parking lot with these two.

ETA (edited to add): Said parking lot was Total Wine's parking lot.  Knew there was some excitement in the near future so #worthit

Think we just came home after that, boys played some Wii, and then enjoyed this gloriousness (parents, not kids).

Altho, sushi dinners are funny. Measurable in a shockingly low number of bites. You get eight, maybe twelve depending on the roll, and it's acceptable even though that's pretty short for meal. (Kind of like two eggs. Has anyone realized that the number of bites in two eggs, especially hard boiled, is MAYBE six or less, but somehow we are all in universal agreement that two is enough? Is anyone else full after eating two eggs?! I'm not (am I??) but good god, if you ask for three, someone nearby says Whoa.) 

Wrapping things up, me and mine in all our happiness on May 10, 2020:

Didn't have my usual motivators (like seeing people) or my usual advantages (like fresh cut and color every six weeks) so not the best pic but: no excuses, the 40 is coming. As I scrutinized this unfiltered, scam of a photo (boys were not being cooperative, which is why none of us are touching haha), I realized that if this isn't my 9th Mother's Day at age 39 in the midst of a global pandemic, what is?

Love to all out there :) xoxo

Easter in Isolation

We're like two weeks past Easter now right - oh well. Turns out that stay-at-home orders really turn every day into the same day and then they FLY by. You're all "what the heck happened?" especially when you realize we have been home for six weeks. But during that time birthdays and holidays still roll through and Easter was no different. I'll admit, I was toying with the idea of skipping. Easter could have come and gone and the boys would have had pretty much no clue. But then it was mentioned on one of their classroom chats and their little ears perked right up. Eggs and candy! How many days Mommy? How many days until the Easter Bunny comes??

We managed to pull together some baskets and while we knew that Sunday mass was being live-streamed, we didn't watch it :-/ Instead we did the usual egg hunt and then we went for a family hike to Pegan Hill in South Natick. It wasn't a long one but it did get VERY muddy and it was quite strange to pass people and have them wearing masks and pull over 6 feet. One of the things I've noticed about social distancing is that people have kind of stopped smiling too. Just because you have to maintain personal space doesn't mean you can't look at people and greet them right? It happens everywhere now! Even people walking by our house. So weird. Smiling and waving doesn't make the virus more contagious. But anyway as you'll see the hike was very muddy and we eventually tromped through it all. Ashton was very excited about it and kept saying it was "an Easter adventure and a membory [sic] that I'll never forget!"

One more note about this Easter: my dear grandfather Papa passed away on Holy Thursday at the age of 92. I have some awesome blog posts with him in them (here and here are favorites). It was incredibly sad to lose him. I have so much gratitude for the many warm memories and the long life he lived. He was wonderful in every way.

Without further ado, Easter Sunday pictures. A basket, a hike, and some meatballs for dinner. Xoxo

Alex's Sixisms

So right off the bat I'll admit that this post is a bit daunting. I always like to post about "what makes the boy the boy" on birthdays, share stats and stories, etc. But Alex is such a complex character that I'm not sure how this is going to come out haha. 

I pulled up Ashton's stats from his 6th birthday post and wouldn't you know, I don't even have to change anything to make them fit Alex! They are literally the same except Alex is an inch shorter.

Height: 47 inches
Weight: 50 pounds (I guess this is unofficial, we didn't have his 6 year old well-visit yet due to the COVID-19 outbreak)
Shoe Size: 13
Clothes size: Really depends on the brand, mostly 6 or 7
Teeth lost: 2 (both middle lowers)\Cavities: 1 (flossing has since commenced)
Bike size: 20 inch

Other notables: Alex has hazel eyes and crazy blond hair. It is his most-commented-on feature.

Breakfast of champions: Raisin Bran. Every day.
"I know how to spell bran. B-I-N."

"So, B-I-N spells bin, Alex."

"Right, that’s what I was trying to spell."

Favorite game: Chess. And this kid can play. More than one unsuspecting adult has lost to him. Like, not on purpose. 

Spirit animal: Cat. At least I think it's a cat? He loves to press the side of his face against mine and then start rubbing his cheek with my cheek. Not unlike the way a cat rubs its body against the bottom of peoples' legs. It's very weird. 

Lovey: Pluto. He still clutches the little stuffed dog we got at Disney World (Pirates of the Caribbean) 3 years ago. 

Would most like for dinner: stromboli

At school: in Kindergarten with Mrs. Gregg. Before CV-19, she reported that he was the star of the class, that everyone wants to be like Alex N. and he loved being at the center of attention. He agreed this was true. 

When he grows up he wants to be: a YouTube sensation. We've had some pretty funny conversations about how people become famous. But Alex loves to record himself, take pictures of himself, and generally has that "showmanship" quality. These are the gems I find on my phone:

He's great with people and is very confident. He strolls around and talks to grown ups like he is their peer. He'll say, for example, "Hey Mark, did you see that play? That was AWESOME." to the dad sitting next to him at the hockey game. Or he'll walk by our neighbor who is just getting out of his truck and say "Hey Jim, how was work today?" Alex just has a funny way of being for a 6 year old. I've gotten texts from moms that volunteer at library about how social he is and how he cracks them up with his stories and attitude, and other parents that constantly comment on how much they love him. He seems to know that they do! And he basks in it. 

Strange talent: He throws a PERFECT football throw. Like, it spirals effortlessly and is like a bullet through the air. He loves to play and if we are tossing it back it forth he'll say "Ok, try and catch THIS arm!" and then hurtle it at me. I correct him and tell him it's a "throw" but he likes to say arm. 

Latest thing that he had to have and has used one time: skateboard

As a brother: Alex is a great sidekick to Ashton. He really does keep up and the two of them get along great :) 

Favorite pasttime: iPad games. Which I hate but he looooooves. The crappy ones with all the ads. UGH. Alex also loves to hug. I mean, ALL.THE.TIME. He still puts his arms up and says "Hug" like a thousand times a day. And sometimes I will have just given him one and he'll say it again. And sometimes I catch myself saying "I can't hug you right now!" as I'm in the middle of something but he'll wait there, and then I feel bad and stoop down. The hugging has been quite amplified now that we are home all day every day together.

There is so much more I think I could say about Alex! But pictures say it better- here are some recent ones that do a pretty good job of capturing him :) Let the year of 6 officially begin! (This post is exactly one month late but we're in isolation over here and not a lot gets done lol)

 (it was not Halloween)

I'll leave you with his latest Lego creation -

"It's a hat store that also sells stuff you can get at Home Depot" :)