Quarantine: A Day in the Life

My days are typically similar, but I pick Wednesday since it's Zac's payday and usually my busiest day.

7:30am: Zac's alarm goes off. I'm mostly asleep, but I feel him get up and he goes to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He gets dressed, kisses me goodbye, then goes in the kitchen to eat and heads out to work.

8:00am: My own alarm goes off, telling me "Wake Up". I'm already somewhat awake, so I get my phone and scroll through Instagram for a few minutes. Elias comes in to tell me he needs to potty. I help him brush his teeth, then he goes in the den. I brush my own teeth and hear the baby monitor chirp at me, letting me know Cole is up. I get him and change him while he chews on his toothbrush. I put both boys at the table and get them some food then empty the dishwasher. Their breakfast is usually a slice of bread I baked over the weekend with some yogurt.

8:30am: I go wake up the big kids. They groan and play dead, so I get Cole down from his high chair and turn on a movie for my boys. Today, it's Cars. I clean up the boys' breakfast messes and collect dirty laundry from around the house. I start the washer and wipe off the counters. Zac left the coffee pot on for me, so I pour a mug and make some toast for myself.

9:00am: Breakfast alarm goes off. Big kids are finally up and brushing their teeth. They argue over pet responsibilities, until they agree that Leah empties the litter box while Jac feeds the pets. I break up a fight between the boys and a toy car. The big kids eat some cereal while I put the laundry in the dryer. They go start their lessons and I load their dishes in the dishwasher and wipe table off so I can fold last night's laundry.

9:30am: I sit in the den with the boys and nurse Cole to relieve my own discomfort. I think about how nice it'll be to get my boobs back, but also a little sad that this is my last baby and maybe I could just do it a little longer. It's almost like he knows he's the last one so he's literally milking it as long as he can. I scroll through my phone a bit, texting between Katie and Jena or Mom. Cole is ready to get down and play, so I get my planner and figure out what bills are currently due, I check if my book matches the bank, then order groceries. I get lucky and am able to make an order for today that Zac can pick up on his way home. Otherwise, I'd order for tomorrow.

10:00am: Cars is over, so I put on Finding Nemo. The dryer is finished, so I fold those clothes, then go put them in their proper places. While I'm in my room, I make my bed and tidy up a few things, like the basket of diapers or my books. I collect our mugs from last night and bring them to the kitchen. I go ahead and make Jac's bed and straighten Cole's things, then make Leah's and Elias' beds and tidy up. I tell myself to enjoy doing this task because one day they'll be grown and I won't be able to do it anymore, also this means they'll do these chores over the weekend so I won't have to.

10:30am: I change Cole's diaper and crochet. I'm currently working on a shawl. It's design is beautiful, but I'm having to focus on counting stitches, which makes me crazy.

11:00am: Zac tells me he's on his way home for lunch and it's the kids' snack time. Zac gets home and we hang out for a little while while he eats lunch. I load more dishes into the dishwasher, remind Zac to pick up groceries on his way home, and we make plans for tonight to ride our bikes around the neighborhood, maybe play WoW together, or watch another James Bond movie. The kids eat their snacks and I get Cole's naptime bottle ready and lay him down in Jac's room. Jac rocks him until he falls asleep while he continues his lesson.

12:00pm: Zac heads back to work for the rest of his day. I clean up the snack mess, load more dishes into the dishwasher and tidy up toys in the den. By now, Elias is giving me some moodiness, so I leave Jac in charge and take Elias for a bike ride. He talks the whole time, mostly about birds and leaves and what would happen if we fell and he broke his skull, etc. Lovely. I feel good when I ride. It feels productive. I'm already seeing a decrease in my cellulite problem. Maybe I'll buy shorts.

12:30pm. I get back with Elias and give him an ice pop to cool him down, then fix him a veggie hot dog. Jac is finished with his school work and sits in the kitchen to draw for a little while. I get Elias settled on my bed to watch Bolt and have a quiet time so he can rest. He never falls asleep, but this rest time is crucial for my sanity. That boy can sass.

1:00pm: Lunch time. Cole is still asleep and Elias is still watching his movie. I cook some veggie hot dogs for the big kids. They eat, Leah goes back to finish her school work while Jac draws and I crochet for a bit. I eventually get bored and decide to read more of my book, The Two Lives of Lydia Bird.

2:00pm: Elias' movie is over, so he comes in the den and plays with his cars and blocks. Jac complains of being bored, so I have him sit and play with Elias. Some times, depending on the temperature, I'll send them outside to the trampoline. Leah is still doing her school work, Cole is still sleeping.

3:00pm. Cole wakes up. It's snack time, so I change him and feed him his missed lunch, the other three have snacks and I reheat my coffee... again. The boys play in the den, Jac goes to his room to play on his keyboard. Leah finally finishes her lesson and plays with her dollhouse. I clean up the snack messes and sit in the den to watch the boys. I've started doing some stretches to help my back, so they climb on me while I'm on the floor. I read a few board books out loud or help Elias with a puzzle.

4:00pm: Zac's off work. He picks up our groceries and comes home. He usually brings all the bags inside and I'll spray them down with alcohol or disinfectant before putting them away. It's an annoying step that I wish we didn't have to take to keep any potential viruses away. I get irritated thinking about how hard it is to find disinfectant and when we do, it's used to clean the groceries from out. An absurd cycle. We cook together and I finish cleaning up the kitchen for the night.

5:00pm: We take a bike ride together as a family so the kids can get some fresh air. I miss the playgrounds and remember when I pushed Jac and Leah on swing sets and how Cole has only been in swings a handful of times. Elias was just learning to swing in the big kid swings. I get mad that the current circumstances of the country are fucked up. I'm sad that we can't do the fun stuff on the weekends like go to the library or sit in a coffee shop or go on our weekly dates when the middles were participating in Awana at church on Wednesday nights. I miss C-Spire meetups and hanging out at Mom's. The thoughts eventually spiral into missing my dad and Emily and I have to remind myself to focus on the Now and how this will eventually get better. The kids count 17 cats on our ride before we get home. The crushed turtle is only a broken shell, the flattened snake no longer stinks. We don't see the dead squirrel, which means something found it and dragged it away. I think of what it would be like to bike through New Mexico or Alaska or California or New York.

5:45pm: We get back home, tired and hot. Zac takes his shower. I turn on a TV show for the boys.  They're really into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Leah and Jac go watch Adventure Time in Jac's room. Zac gets out the shower and relaxes in the den for a bit, usually playing on his switch or hanging out with the big kids. Sometimes they'll take turns playing the Pokemon card game or they'll watch some YouTube videos. I put the boys in the bathtub so they can splash for a while. Cole gets bathed first, so I get him out and lotioned up, put his pajamas on, and put him back in the den with Zac. I bathe Elias and try to encourage him to bathe himself, get him out and lotioned up, then pajamas on. He goes back in the den and I drain the tub and collect their clothes.

7:00pm. The kids have one last snack before bed. Big kids feed the pets and empty the litterbox again. Zac lets the dogs out and fixes our snack. We usually have chips or a taco bowl. Jac takes his shower. The boys play in the den together with blocks. I break up a fight because Cole keeps destroying Elias' castle. Cole keeps biting. Cole keeps pinching, etc.

7:30pm: Jac gets out the shower and plays on his keyboard, Leah gets in the tub.

8:00pm: Leah still in bath. I tell her to hurry up, then run the dishwasher. I have Elias pick out tonight's stories. He picks four "because I'm four". Cole is starting to get tired and fussy, so I get him his pacifier and hold him while I read two stories. I tuck Elias in and show Cole how I make his bottle. Zac reads Elias his other two stories and Elias falls asleep.

8:30pm: I get Cole tucked in. Jac rocks him since he's the only one Cole will fall asleep for. Leah finally gets out the shower and gets her pajamas on.

9:00pm. I take my own shower and enjoy that it's uninterrupted. I usually daydream about traveling. It happens a lot these days. I just want to take a road trip and see everything. I think about going back to work or maybe school. I don't know what I want to study. I don't know what I want to do. I feel like it's too late because I'll be 40 by the time I finish school and by then, if I had already had a career, I'd be planning my retirement. It's frustrating and I wonder if I failed at doing something considered "adult", but I feel like I'm a good mom and try to boost myself back up.

9:30pm. I get out the shower. Zac recently shaved under my hair again, so it dries a little faster. The big kids pick up the food the pets didn't finish, then brush their teeth and go to their rooms. They usually read at night. Both are very much into the Goosebumps series. I make sure all the doors are locked and turn out the lights. Zac takes his shower, then we catch up on YouTube subscriptions, play WoW, or watch a movie together.

11:00pm. Zac goes and tells the kids to go on to sleep. I read a chapter in my book and we go to bed. Sometimes I can't sleep because I sipped my coffee all day long, so I'll scroll through Instagram until my phone hits me in the face.

Leah is ELEVEN!

My little lady turned 11 today!

Last year, we were enjoying the beach and watching dolphins. So crazy. Leah has become quite the sassy lady. She's moody and broody, but can be so sweet. She's a fantastic big sister and has a lot of patience. Elias just adores her. I baked her an almond-flavored cake with sprinkles. We forgot to buy more candles, so she only had two, but they looked like an "11" so it was fine. I ordered her the Marshmallow Mouse family by Calico Critters so now she has the whole family. Nine mice. We ordered curbside from Olive Garden, but Zac forgot to check our bags, so we were missing two orders and a salad. After speaking with the manager, they gave us a gift card as an apology. Luckily, we were able to split a few orders so everyone had enough. I think Cole likes spaghetti more than anything else in the world. We finished the day with a bike ride. Leah said she had a really nice birthday. We got lucky with Zac being off since the birthday fell on Memorial Day.

Quarantine Holiday: Christmas!

Our ninth and final holiday of Quarantine: Christmas!

Elias was the first to wake up... at 7am. Zac and I had gone to bed late Friday night because I was cleaning house and wrapping the gifts* for the kids. Zac was making homemade egg nog, which called for egg yolks, so he used the egg whites to make homemade meringue candies. He's so spiffy.

Saturday morning, I gave the kiddos their stockings and Zac handed out gifts. We listened to Christmas music throughout the day and put on A Christmas Story. For breakfast, we had cinnamon rolls, per our usual tradition. The kiddos played with their new things and it was something of a lazy day. We did manage to go for a bike ride, which was nice. For dinner, we had our usual foods: dinner rolls, cranberry sauce with cinnamon and cloves, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, and deviled eggs. I usually bake a mincemeat cake, but decided to combine the cake recipe with my bread recipe and made a super delicious mincemeat bread, complete with orange-brandy glaze, topped with cherries. This afternoon, the kids helped me make some homemade gingerbread cookies and I used a little bit of Leah's birthday frosting for decorating.

*As for the gifts:

For Jac: socks, Sour Patch candy, Jenga, travel size shower gel, Dear, Boy by Paris Rosenthal, and a stocking with a handful of chocolates.

For Leah: socks, Skittles candy, a Calico Critters dollhouse, travel size shower gel, Dear, Girl by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and a stocking with a handful of chocolates.

For Elias: socks, Jolly Rancher gummies, a five-pack of Matchbox cars, travel size shower gel, I Wish You More by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and a stocking with a handful of chocolates.

For Cole: socks, Gerber yogurt melts, Mega Bloks, travel size shower gel, You Are My Happy by Hota Kotb, and a stocking with a handful of chocolates.

Quarantine Holiday: Thanksgiving!

Our eighth holiday of Quarantine: Thanksgiving!

I spent most of the day cleaning house, though we did take some time to ride our bikes around. Zac put on the Macy's Day parade from 2019 while I got dinner ready. We didn't have a turkey, so I had all four (even Nic!) make hand turkeys to color. Our menu was deviled eggs, stuffing, green bean casserole, and a pumpkin-yam casserole. I used my pumpkin pie recipe, though tweaked it a bit, and it turned out awesome. Brownies with orange, red, brown, and yellow M&Ms were for dessert.

I'm thankful we haven't caught the covid virus, thankful nobody we know has fallen ill, thankful things are slowly starting to get back to "normal".

Next week: Christmas!

Jac is Fourteen!

Has it really been a year?? This quarantine life is making things crazy over here. Not bad-crazy, but just normal-crazy. Can't believe it's been a year since Jac became a teenager. I looked back at how last year we went to the mall and I bought him and the other kids pretzels and cookies... We haven't been to the mall since February. These are weird times.

Anyway, my biggest boy. He's 14 now! This is his golden birthday. He's definitely a teenager. I get backtalk and sarcasm from him, but he's also my best helper around the house and taking care of the boys when I'm cleaning or cooking. He babysits, too. The kid is pretty awesome. I baked him a cookie cake this morning and we ordered curbside from Fernandos. Zac bought him a SwitchLite a few weeks ago and I crocheted him a Moss Creep from Hollow Knight. All he really wanted was Takis and sour Skittles, ha. He says he had a great day, in spite of not being able to go to New Orleans as we originally planned. Maybe next year. I'm glad he enjoyed his day.

Bad Luck is Lucky

So, Saturday we did our Halloween. Zac was frying some homemade tortilla chips for lunch and spilled hot oil all over his hand. Luckily, the burn wasn't so bad, aside from a few small blisters. By the end of the night he was feeling better. We were watching a movie and I decided to grab a Tootsie Pop from one of the kids' buckets. I ended up chipping two teeth. Upon further inspection, I had "craze lines" on my second premolar, as well as a cracked filling in my second molar, both on the upper right side. Awesome. I texted a picture to my dentist and she was able to see me this morning. She fixed my filling and prepped my tooth for a crown in June. Currently, I've got a temporary one and my mouth is so very sore. Fast forward to this evening. After dinner, I decided to take two restless boys on a bike ride like we usually do. Leah begged to go, but her bike has recently had some issues with the chain coming loose, just as Jac's has been doing. We've been looking into getting the big kids new bikes for their birthdays. Anyway, she begged to ride my bike and even pulled out the crocodile tears. I told her, "Fine, ride my bike that's too big for you so if you fall, there won't be anything I can do" because I've got TWO kids riding along with me. So, she hops on. We make our usual route that's about four miles long (maybe five?) and we head to the street that gives a nice hill to coast down almost to the end of the street and it's nearest to our house. Zac's bike has bigger tires than mine so it coasts a little farther. I looked behind me and Leah was a little ways back, so I started to slow down to wait for her to catch up. Then the inevitable happened. I heard Leah scream "Mom!" and then followed it with "Nothing's broken but it hurts!". A vehicle was coming towards me, I was trying to turn around and get back to her while worrying about cutting in front of the car, or will the car hit her since she's on the ground, along with OMG. The car stopped, thankfully, and I was able to turn around safely. A neighbor was outside nearest to Leah and he ran to get my bike off her. Another neighbor was coming toward us from the other direction in a truck and stopped to check on us. Second neighbor offered to take Leah and me back to the house to drop her off, then offered to bring me back to get my boys from First neighbor who offered to walk with them on Zac's bike toward our house. Part of me felt the "stranger danger" fear, but logic won and I trusted them both. I put my bike in the back of the truck (and knocked my head hard enough to create a lump) and we got Leah home. I jumped back in the truck and we drove to meet up with the first neighbor to get the boys. First neighbor said Elias was a treat, just chattering away. I thanked them both and climbed on Zac's bike, only for Elias to move wrong and send us over into the grass. None of us were hurt, but jeez, of course. The neighbors helped sturdy the bike for me, I got back on, and thanked them again before pedaling home. Meanwhile, I could hear Leah freaking out and sobbing in the kitchen from the street, so I came in and started getting her doctored up. She has a huge abrasion (kinda gross) on her left knee with a smaller one right above it, an abrasion on her left palm, as well as on her left hip. She's covered in bandages, but is doing alright. She doesn't need any stitches and nothing seems to be broken, aside from her spirit. Poor thing apologized for being a dummy and not listening (lol), but she's a tough little bird. I'm glad it wasn't worse.

Mother's Day

It's been just about 14 years of mommin' it up. This time is passing too quickly and too slowly and I'm parenting four completely different stages while trying to stay positive during these weird times. But, I'm lucky. They're good kids and they make me feel like I'm doing it right.

Quarantine Holiday: Halloween!

Our seventh holiday of Quarantine: Halloween! We skipped Labor Day and Memorial Day because, let's face it, they're relatively boring for kids.

Jac and Leah helped make Rice Krispy treats last night and this morning we cut them into pumpkins. I colored some cream cheese frosting orange, then used melted chocolate to make faces. I made a layered dip, bathed the boys, cleaned most of the house, and took my own shower. The kiddos dressed up in their costumes and then they Trick-or-Treated down the hallway. It was a lot of fun, even though it was also kinda cheesy. I handed them candy in different voices after they knocked on each door (bathroom, my room, Jac's room, Leah's room). Zac carved some watermelons, then we watched Hocus Pocus and the new Addam's Family before calling it a night. 

I should note: Zac burned his hand with some hot oil this morning while cooking breakfast and I chipped a tooth on a Tootsie Pop. Halloween indeed.
Next week: Thanksgiving!

Quarantine Holiday: Independence Day!

Our sixth holiday of Quarantine: Independence Day!

We got lucky with clear weather this weekend. Zac set up our tent, then got the firepit started. I used my streamers from New Years for today since the colors were correct. We roasted some veggie dogs and marshmallows and enjoyed some family time out in the yard. Leah burned her lip on a marshmallow, but other than that, they had a ton of fun. Tonight, Jac, Leah, and Elias are gonna camp out in the tent. I'm hoping that goes well. Jac is going to put on a movie with Zac's iPad and Leah brought the Sorry! board game out there.

Next week: Halloween!