Social Distancing.... And Other Stuff

Oh man. You guys. I have been MIA. I know this.  But blogging has been the LAST THING on my mind as of late.  You know that Corona Virus I talked about in my last post?  It's only gotten worse.  Exponentially worse. So bad, in fact, that school has officially been cancelled for the remainder of the year. Only 8 people max can be in the same room at the same time and you are not allowed to be near anyone who isn't living with you- you must stay at least 6 feet away.  It's like I'm in some sort of alternate universe.  The vibe in the city is just eerie!  The neighborhood is a different story, but when you leave the 'hood, everything gets weird.  But, our neighborhood is PACKED with kids outside, there are so many that it's almost impossible to stay 6 feet away at all times, but we are trying!  It's hard for my kids.  It's really hard.  They miss their friends.  And Sully is a kid who loves to high-five every single person he meets, so that's been tough too.  This whole thing SUCKS.  There is no other way to put it.

Stores limit how much food you can buy too.  I get it- they're trying to keep their shelves stocked and making sure everyone has enough food during this, but when they say "2 yogurts per customer" and I have 3 kids who love yogurt, now I can't buy them any because it's not fair to just give 2 yogurts to only 2 of my kids! It really sucks.  I know, I sound so privileged over the fact that I can't buy all the food I want to buy, but it's taking a toll on my mental health!  And school being cancelled was just the worst.  THE WORST.  We ADORE our teachers- yes, I say "our" and not "my kids'" because I spend so much time with them up at the school that I feel like they're mine too.  And Lucy and Piper miss their friends more than you know... It hurt so bad when we found out it was done. Just like that.  Over without a warning.  Me and the girls all cried.  Telling them was just brutal.  We've had such a fantastic school year with the best teachers, and it ended 8 weeks early.  I will be homeschooling them for the remainder of the year.  I started "school" with them last week and we are only doing 40 minutes a day for now, but soon there will be lesson plans distributed by the teachers and it will be about 2 hours of work a day.  That starts April 6th.

We can't go to the park, we can't play with friends, the pool isn't open (and will they even open it in May?!!?), we are just stuck at home.  It's beyond depressing.  The kids have been able to have fun this past week but eventually it's going to get to them too.  Thankfully we had a week in the 80's and 90's so there were sprinkler days, lots of trampoline jumping, bike riding, scooter riding and tons of Vitamin D. But this upcoming week is going to be rainy, so we will be stuck inside with the TV on way too much :( Last week I was doing OK.  I didn't feel the suffocation of being "qaurinatined" the way I do now.  My birthday was on Monday and I even joked that it was the birthday of my dreams because I was forced to stay home (since I'm such a homebody).  But now it's getting to me a bit.... I think it's because the President just made a statement today that said we have to keep "Social Distancing" up until April 30th.  That's a WHOLE 'nother month. My 10 year anniversary trip with Shawn to Mexico was canceled.  Sully's Soccer season never even happened besides 1 practice (I better get my money back!), Piper's dance studio has shut down and we are in the middle of doing YouTube dances that their teachers have posted while I'm still paying tuition, and the worst ever- school :(

This post is so depressing.  I can't even muster up the energy to be cheerful.

The one silver lining to this quarantine is that Shawn is home.  He isn't traveling at all so we have decided to get our house ready to sell!  I know, it's a weird time.  But this house is a piece of work and there is NO WAY I would ever be able to put it on the market without him helping me.  I would have died!  So, even though everything is uncertain right now, we are forging ahead and getting our house ready to list!  We have been working like CRAZY the last 2 weeks.  Last night we were painting walls until 1am!  We've had to paint every room in the house because our walls were just so gross.  Kids are disgusting!  We have even had to paint exterior walls.  Shawn has had to go to Lowe's about a billion times in the last week getting multiple paint samples (we are not on total lockdown and he wore a mask and gloves each time), then he would come home and test them, then go back to buy more- either trying to match it again, or buying a gallon of it if it was, indeed a match.  There were no original paint cans in our garage that were right so we have had to come up with all new paints and it has just been a nightmare.  I had to re-paint all the trim and doors too.  We've gotten SO much done, which is great, but it has left me with zero time to blog, or take the kids on walks, or play games with them (I DID squeeze in a little Easter photo session at least! I'll post those pics soon!).  We've just been working our tails off because this house, as I said, needed sooooooooo much work.  We also had a garage sale 2 weeks ago and the amount of stuff we got rid of was insane.  How did it all fit in our house?!?! I've packed up almost half of all our house to get it ready to be staged and that's been tough because I have to decide what I need for the next 2 months and what can go.  A LOT changes in 2 months so I have to be picky!  It's just all been a lot.  I'm feeling super down about life right now.

2 weeks ago was St. Patricks Day and Shawn was working in Oklahoma City (90 minutes from home) and I had a stomach bug.  I woke up totally fine, but then when I was driving to the doctor with Lucy for a weight check, suddenly I just got so nauseas and hot/cold/clammy.  It just hit me.  It progressively got worse and by the end of the day I was curled in a fetal position in bed with sharp stomach pains.  I couldn't even have St. Patrick's Day dinner :(  Shawn drove home to help me with the kids that night, and then drove back the next day to finish his week in Oklahoma City (after that week, all travel was officially canceled for him).  While he was there, he went to 6 stores to look for Crab legs for me! Jenks had zero at our stores, so he went all over the city down there looking for it.  He FINALLY found some at a seafood store and bought them out.  Who knew crab was such  hot commodity during a quarantine?!  Anyway,  I love him so much for doing that.

I posted this on my birthday so I'll copy and paste here.  It really was a wonderful day.

Thank you so much for all the love yesterday, guys! I had so many people asking me if I was OK and saying they were sorry we were in isolation, or thinking my birthday was probably ruined because of the quarantine. HOWEVER. Because of the fact that I’m a huge homebody and would way rather stay in than go out, it was the most perfect birthday ever. We did get out to explore a developing neighborhood (which is always fun!), Shawn made me Eggs Benedict for breakfast in bed and then THE MOST delicious crab legs ever for dinner (he had to go to 8 stores to find crab right now! He finally found some an hour and a half away from home last week and froze them ‘til last night!). He also got me my traditional slice of cheesecake because I don’t like dessert so I never want a cake. But if I have to eat it, I’d choose cheesecake. He buys me one slice because it’s all I will eat anyway, and then gets ice cream for the kids. This year though, we didn’t have ANY candles at home so he held a lighter up and had me blow that out after I made my wish🤣🤣🤣 It was an absolutely perfect day! Being forced to stay home made it the birthday of my dreams😂 I know. I’m weird. But it was the best💜

And now let's rewind a bit- sorry! 

St. Patty's Day

 

 The Leprechaun Trap didn't work! We will try again next year.... ;-)

 All of the rest of the pictures are pre-quaratine pics!

My little girly-girl tom-boy.  Wants to play in dirt, catch snakes and frogs and go fishing.... all while wearing the frilliest, fanciest dresses she can find! :)

Piper was diagnosed with the flu this year (influenza A), but since she had a flu shot, her symptoms were way less than normal.  Here she is, playing outside and being active and acting like nothing is wrong!

About Lucy's weight- she finally dropped down to 4% in body weight and even though she's been less than 10% for years, they finally prescribed me a pill that increases her appetite! I've been begging for one for 3 years now because she is so tiny and skinny that I'm worried about her!  So anyway, she went a whole year not gaining a single pound, and then within 2 weeks of being on her new medication she gained 2 pounds! She's now gained 4 pounds in 6 weeks and I could NOT be happier!  She was the size of a 1st grader so hopefully she starts to grow now that she has an appetite.  She is a naturally petite girl with almost zero appetite, so I don't expect her to get "big," but I just want her to eat and grow.  So we are on the right track!

Now we just sit and wait for the social distance ban to be lifted and maybe life can go back to normal just a little....I don't know what the immediate future holds.  I don't know how bad this will get.  I don't want to think about it.  All I do is think about it.  But this is where we are at for now.  This is my update!

Here are the "Quarantine" pics I've taken this past week!

And that's where I will end things.  Keep praying, friends.  It's all we can do.