37 days ago was just another regular Thursday. Big boy had school, last day of school before Spring Break and little did we know of the whole year, I went to the gym and ran errands and prepped for our big trip to Washington D.C. Little did I know, that evening we would make the decision in the gloom of Coronavirus spreading to not take our Spring Break trip. It was for sure a turning point for us. We didn’t completely stay at home right away but it started our acute awareness of what was going on.
I know it has almost been 40 days, we have seen just about everything stay the same to everything closing and being home all day long. Maybe it took that long to deal with reality or perhaps I have only been in survival mode. I have decided though that I want to chronicle this time better so that I can go back to it years to come and see how life has changed us. I will try to backdate as much as possible. So here is my Quarantine Diaries.
May 9th – Quarantine Day 59
It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 days since I wrote last. The days are long but time is still moving. Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. They have started to reopen the country much against warnings. It’s scary. Scarier now in MHO than when we were on lockdown. I’m there with everybody else hoping that things will pass but I don’t believe it has yet and there will be so so many more deaths before relief. Mother’s Day will be different from any in the past. This is now the third celebration for us. It’s different but we are blessed that everyone is healthy and we are together.
April 29th – Quarantine Day 49
It’s hard to believe we are close to hitting the 50 day mark. More and more cases are announced and yet Texas is making plans to reopen. Our new norm is masks that even the 4 year old knows we wear masks in the store. It’s hard to believe.
I got a chance to chat with a friend via zoom and it was the highlight of the day. I miss the interaction with other mamas and other adults.
April 28th – Quarantine Day 48
I drank the cool-aide. I ordered animal crossing it will be ready for pick up tomorrow at a target on the other side of town. Pre-quarantine I would never have thought of ordering something so far away and now it will be a welcomed change of scenery to go 10 miles out of the way to get a pickup.
April 27th – Quarantine Day 47
So my 4 year old got me up at 3:30. Never fun for me or the kids. I was zombie mom on top of quarantine mom. My goal today was to solely get thru the day without any victims LOL. It was truly exhausting. Days like this pre-quarantine I would entertain the kids with a little help either with YMCA child watch or a playground. The challenge right now is entertaining when you are not 100% yourself.
April 26th – Quarantine Day 46
Today we didn’t leave our driveway. The highlight for the boys was probably the hour or so that we played in the driveway before things broke down too much. Pollen is up so it is hard to be outside for long. We did lots of screen time, lots of cleaning, and hey big boy made it through accident free.
April 25th – Quarantine Day 45
It was a perfect spring Texas day. Not to warm and not to cold. A perfect 75 with a nice cool breeze. We went to the park and flew a kite and kicked around a soccer ball. It was a great change of scenery. We did a quick Walmart run. I was impressed by how the had aisles blocked off and had a traffic pattern to avoid bottle necks and increase distancing. They even had 3 of the 6 self-checkout machines closed to avoid closeness at the checkout. I think this will be the new norm. Some more limits on crowds and more flow in stores.
April 24th – Quarantine Day 43
Today was a fair day with more of the same. We made a Target run for groceries and I was surprised by how many shoppers didn’t have masks. All in all it was a good and successful trip. Dad went outdoors with the boys which helped them get tired. If only I weren’t so allergic, heat sensitive, and a mosquitos most delicious meal. In other news I’m going to attempt to organize our growing LEGO collection.
April 23rd – Quarantine Day 42
Big boy is now 4! It is so hard to believe but it is amazing to watch him grow into such an amazing kid. We did something fun with our social distancing. Big boy has wanted ninja turtle birthday since before the new year. So we made ninja masks to send to family to wear during our Happy Birthday FaceTime call. It was a lot of fun. It helped everybody feel more a part of the festivities and it worked better than expected. I was sad he couldn’t be with friends or have his celebration at school but it brought me a lot of joy to see him have such a great birthday. It all works out in the end!
April 22nd – Quarantine Day 41
We are so stir crazy and it breaks my heart that big boy asks to eat at a table when we get fast food. We did get a little break today we found a field to kick around a soccer ball and just get beyond the driveway. We are bored of the driveway even with my attempts to get all the things to entertain.
April 21st – Quarantine Day 40
Today was really tough. Mama patience sunk in the ground pretty far. Big boy woke up at 4 am and that just triggered the day to be rough. Everyone was tired and grumpy and most of all probably mom. We did visit three Targets in one day not sure if that’s a win or just a stupid game I play to get around town.
Big boy did do one thing that melted my heart. He got a new LEGO set and the first thing he wanted to do was make a whale for his brother. It made me super happy that he thought of someone else first (even if the experience was frustrating because the boy can’t stay focused). We kind of ran through all the motions in a sleep-deprived and frustrating haze. Ran errands, played outside, tried to do something educational, and tried to get some work done in between.
April 20th – Quarantine Day 39
Oh man I finally washed and put away clothes that I had packed for our spring break trip. One more step into acceptance of what is going on. I also put away all of big boys art projects and crafts from the time he did have at school. It’s sad that he is missing his friends and teachers. I feel for him because I totally suck at homeschooling. I’m trying but we took four day a week school down to two and usually we are just surviving.
Big boy continues to ask why everybody doesn’t go to the doctor and to go to the Park and store. His 4th birthday is on Thursday. The first birthday he truly has an opinion about and we can’t have friends and family close. It will for sure be one we remember.
April 19th – Quarantine Day 38
I listened to podcast episodes by Rachel Hollis today while I cleaned up and accomplished some projects. She had some amazing inspirational thoughts. I love her podcasts but the thing that struck me the most was the phrase “home quarantine is an inconvenience not hard” and yes that is so true. I’m inconvenienced that the boys don’t have school – that hubs is home all day – that groceries are difficult to get – that I’m trying not to go in stores. I’m still though buying groceries and we are still eating well. I’m still buying way too much at Target and just doing a lot more drive ups. I’m still getting packages from Amazon. Yes it’s inconvenient to try and keep the boys entertained so much but we are safe and healthy and happy so life is not necessarily hard just inconvenient.
April 18th – Quarantine Day 37
We had a lazy Saturday. You could tell we all felt ehh. I’m worried about Texas being one of the first to reopen but would welcome some child care!! Lol. I don’t think we will ever go back to normal completely. This is gonna shape us for a while.
I now have a pretty extensive app collection of fast food restaurants. It’s a little nuts but it’s the most contactless way to get food.
April 17th – Quarantine Day 36
Alas, it is Friday, we have almost made it through the workweek. The weather sent me into some hypothyroid crashes so we didn’t play outside. We ran a couple of contactless errands, Target pickup, and yummy Round Rock donuts. Donuts always make things feel better! There is definitely going to be a post-quarantine super diet after all this! We were able to watch the highly acclaimed Trolls World Tour! $20 and I was probably the most into it. It’s cheaper than the movies but so glad the boys didn’t like it more to have to rent it more times. For big boy it’s still request for any LEGO animation.
April 16th – Quarantine Day 35
The days all kind of mesh together. We are so bored trying to keep up some sense of normalcy in routine.
BY TECHIE MAMMA