Friday, July 10, 2020

Our COVID summer routine

Beatrix got a professional BATH AND A NAIL TRIM for the first time since FEBRUARY! We love her even more now that she smells good and doesn't leave gross remains of herself all over the couch all the time!

It's not that I am too busy to blog. It's that I am too boring to blog.

Our days are exactly the same:

  • Ben and I get up before the kids to work. I exercise as well, start laundry and coffee, etc.
  • The kids get up around 7, and Ben keeps working while I supervise their breakfast (they are making and cleaning up their own breakfast and lunch these days which is going great, actually).
  • The kids do cursive
  • Jack has dive practice at 9, and 3 days a week the rest of us have a pool reservation at the same time. Ben usually walks Jack to dive on the days we don't have a reservation because we can't walk in to the pool until 9:30. On pool days, Ben also exercises/walks during this time. So does Harry, who has a sports Zoom conditioning workout through the high school everyday at 9:30. He walks or bikes to the pool after.
  • We come home from the pool at 11:40 when our time slot ends and get dressed/make lunch/eat/clean up lunch. The kids do a writing prompt in their journals.
  • Ben works during this time. Ben works during all times from 6 am-6 pm and sometimes later.
  • I work in the afternoon, usually in Dorothy's room while she plays with her dollhouse because it has been so hot no one has wanted to be outside.
  • Harry has 3 neighborhood friends he can social distance outside with, so they play non contact games or hang out or ride their bikes. Jack and Cooper fight to the death.
  • All three boys read for their book club in this time block.
  • Around 3 I encourage some kind of group activity, usually outside, and I at least haul my fat ass to the porch or hammock and watch.
  • 4:30 is the absolute last call for pre-dinner snacks, so it usually sees all the kids in the kitchen attacking the pantry.
  • Around 5 or so, I unload the lunch dishes, clean up the after-snack mess, fold a thousand loads of laundry for Ben to put away (or sometimes I am too tired, and he folds, instead, after dinner) and do dinner prep. Dinner prep is made so much easier by the fact that I wash and prep all of our produce on Tuesday (grocery day!). Last night, it took 20 minutes to make tacos from start to finish.
  • Everyone bickers and plays video games from 5-6:15-ish, when we finally eat together.
  • Ben mans laundry and kids from 6:30-ish-8 while I clean the kitchen and take Dorothy and whoever else wants to come on a walk around the neighborhood. I aim for 30 minutes, but we go at a very slow pace and usually take popsicles.
  • 8 pm-8:45: BEDTIME, all hands on deck. 
  • 8:45-10:30: Collapse on couch to watch TV (H and J go to bed around 9:45pm but they hang out with each other during this time, coming up for snacks, of course). We also try to touch base about the following day, what needs to get done, if anyone has baseball practice, etc. 

THIS IS OUR EVERY DAY.  ON REPEAT.

Harry sees friends throughout the day. Dorothy and Cooper play with kids at the pool (you would be amazed how many games kids can develop and still maintain social distance), and Jack sees his dive friends every day, so I am happy about that. All three boys are also sort of playing baseball (I mean, they are really more like practicing, but there are kids there!), and Dorothy has a friend next door who is also not going places.

I don't know what the heck the kids are going to do in the fall for a social life because they are not going back to school, but the rest of the world is. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, I guess.

Genius pool game: I sit by the edge and raise my arm. The kids jump over it like they are dolphins:
 Thank goodness for the pool!
 Now that he makes his own lunch and breakfast, Harry spends a significant portion of this day in front of the fridge waiting for inspiration to strike.
 Social distance, with mermaids. Dorothy is the teeny spec on the horizon.
Baby!
 Baby with her foot in her eye!
(Baby is in the  26th percentile; no one is worried about her growth anymore;. The tech said she is 4.9 pounds and on track to be 7-ish, which would match her up with everyone else, so YAY! No more perinatal follow ups for now-- may need more after 37 weeks because I am old). 

Cursive:

 I am Grimace from McDonald's. It's cool.
 Dorothy has suddenly lost 5 teeth, 3 in the last 5 days!!

Monday, July 06, 2020

33 weeks pregnant + 4th of July

I WILL someday bounce back from  this pregnancy, right?

That's a worry because I am 42, and the old metabolism ain't what she used to be AND I have been buying party sized bags of M&Ms only we aren't having any parties.

Dorothy used her Blinger to bling her new Calico family.  And herself.


Ben and I went to a teeny local grocery store by our house on an emergency produce run, and it called for a pic because my mask matched my shoes.
We went literally NOWHERE on the 4th of July, fearing that even the pool was too crowded. Instead, we made tons of food and got out the YUGE blow up screen to watch Hamilton in the backyard, and I have the mosquito bites to prove it:



















Thursday, July 02, 2020

Halfway 20 for 20 Check In

We are halfway through 2020 today, and may we never see a year as terrible (or more terrible! all less terrible from here, please!) But despite these unprecedented times (such a ridiculous phrase), I need to check in on my 20 for 20 list! Which I forgot all about because PANDEMIC, etc.

1. Add 20 minutes to my exercise routine: I have done this every single day, and it is a huge mood booster. Just 20 little minutes! Who knew?! Check
2. Buy a pair of trendy mom ankle boots: Nope
3.  Read 100 books: I have read 53! I am ahead of schedule! Check
4. Weekly budget meetings/save more: No on the meetings, but YES on the savings. Sort of.
5. Only use reusable grocery bags: Thanks to the pandemic, we only get grocery pick up now. Nope
6. Find a new series for Dorothy and Cooper: We tried Harry Potter, but instead of series, we had more success with single titles. Dorothy has discovered Junie B. Jones and LOVES it. Check
7. 20 meaningful yoga sessions: YES!! Prenatal yoga is a THING that  do on the regular. Check
8. 20 everyday poems. Forgot about this one! Nope
9. 20 lunch dates with friends. I was SO GOOD at this pre-pandemic, and it was a major happiness boost. Someday again, right? Sort of.
10. Stock every room with house plants and keep them alive: WORKING ON IT. Sort of
11. Meditate: Nope.
12. Eat more blueberries, spinach, and walnuts. I forgot all about walnuts! Sort of.
13. Do 2 rounds of Whole 30: I started one and got pregnant, but I may do another post-baby, so I will withhold judgment. Sort of.
14. Drink 75 ounces of water every damn day: I was bad about this is the first trimester, but I am making a comeback. Sort of.
15. Wash the car monthly: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Nope.
16. Balance stress with kindness. NOPE.
17. Trade off with Ben so we can each sleep in once a week: This is a good goal, and we should do it for the next few weeks before we have the baby. Nope.
18. Toy purge: DID THIS! When we moved bedrooms! Check.
19. Reduce ;phone screen time. Hard NOPE.
20. Leave earlier for work: Well, the pandemic fixed this right up for me. NOPE.

So that's NINE things I haven't done and of those nine, I MIGHT do #2, #8, #11, #17, and #19

Of the SIX things I have sort of done,  WILL do #4, #10, and #14.

I am unsure on the Whole30. I want to lose weight and work on getting muscles in my upper arms (THEY ARE SKIN AND FAT) after the baby, but I don't know if I am up for Whole30.

What about you? How are the resolutions coming?

Wednesday, July 01, 2020

June: What I Read

SOM E GREAT BOOKS!!! And there are MOAR on my nightstand!!

And! FINALLY! I am ahead of my reading challenge goal, which, PHEW!!

Seriously,  Book of the Month Club membership has made reading new books even easier, given limited library services and everything. I highly recommend this club!! (Also I hope libraries always offer curbside pick up because as much as I like to browse, sometimes I just want to be in and out.)

If you are going to skip any, skip these:

11. The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia by Emma Copley Eisenberg: I WANTED to really like this one, but it was kind of boring, and the author's own perspective was really disjointed.

10. Here for it: Or How to Save Your Soul in America by R. Eric Thomas: His Elle.con essays are terrific and hilarious, and so is this book.

9. Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall: I will  absolutely assign this next time I teach my campaigns and revolutions class.

Do not, like rush within 6 feet of others to get a copy, but these were good:


8. My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russel: I usually really like books where the main character is unlikable,  but this time. I could not get over how much I didn't like her. Or any of them.

7. The Silence by Susan Allott: This timeline-jumper was a good mystery with lots of tension, and it was an ideal pool read. I did not LOVE it, but I liked it.

6. Chances Are by Richard Russo: A Russo that missed the mark! He tried ti throw in some mystery, and there were glimpses if his old characters and their perfect dialogue but this one just did not do it for me.

5. Real Life by Brandon Taylor: This is about grad students at UW (thinly disguised), and it grew on me. I wanted to love love it, but I ended up just liking it.


These are great, and you should read them right now.


4. Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas: SO CREEPY and gripping, and I think the ending is sad, but you could think it's happy-- love that in a book!

3. Happy and You Know It by Laura Hankin: IDEAL summer read. A takedown of rich mommy culture and Insta influencer moms-- loved it!

2. The Resisters by Gish Jen: Dystopia, feminism, baseball, a killer critique of disaster capitalism-- this book has it all!

1. The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich: LOVED THIS, and the title has multiple registers of meaning throughout. It would be a terrific book for a book club.

Monday, June 29, 2020

Elderly pregnancy: 32 weeks

It is hard to get up from places like the hammock, lounge chairs, the side of the pool, the freaking COUCH.

I am so fat that my thighs are rubbing together.

Regular shirts show my belly, and tight-fitting maternity ones ride up to juuuuust under my bra.

I need a pedicure but am having a hard time reaching.

I wake up CONSTANTLY because it's hard to get settled, even with the life-changing magic of my pregnancy pillow.

The baby is moving like a little alien in there. I am a little worried because the midwife said she was head down at my last visit--- I hope she doesn't flip and then get stuck in a weird position.

Her room is DONE!!! I even added a plant yesterday.

We only have to buy a few more things to be totally ready, chief among them a carseat/stroller and a bassinet. You know, THE LITERAL ESSENTIALS.

The kids are beyond excited.

I made a Pinterest board for a postpartum wardrobe and basically just aspire to wear nursing tanks, nursing bras, and yoga pants. Good thing it's a pandemic and I can't go ANYWHERE.

Speaking of, I only bought 1 t-shirt and a dress for this pregnancy and have been mostly just wearing my normal clothes and looking silly.

Someone needs to tell my belly button we have 8 weeks to go!




Sunday, June 28, 2020

Wholesome AF

Hello, it's me your old friend Humpty Dumpty.
 Here are the kids writing in their summer journals at the edge of Picnic Point because we are, as I have mentioned previously, wholesome AF.
 Also, WE DO CURSIVE!  EVERY WEEK DAY! LIKE A HABIT!
 The boys have read their third book of the pandemic, and they celebrated with a book club discussion and s'mores,
 CURSIVE!!!!!
 Harry helped Cooper create a parachute for the Apollo mission-type spacecraft Cooper made out of LEGO and then they spent an afternoon launching it dow the stairs and in the bathtub.
 Meanwhile, Jack and Dorothy played Animal Crossing and Calico Critters, respectively.
 A little social distancing at the greenhouse for juuuuust a few more plants.
And there you have it-- our totally normal and boring weekend.

Thursday, June 25, 2020

Just 2 months to gooooooo!

 Is this a totally SUMMER picture or what-- unicorn sprinkler down; kid on her bike in a swimsuit.  I LOVE IT.
 My college girlfriends got me a mask subscription for my birthday, and it is AMAZING.
 Harry and Coop rode their bikes to the pool aftet Harry's high school sports zoom workout-- so cute!
Perfect.
 They played in this box for QUITE SOME TIME
 I ordered this recliner on Amazon, and Harry built it!
 Ben's first swim:
 Oh this sweet little baby room!!!

 And these sweet little baby clothes!
 Remember back at the beginning of the pandemic when we were all staying home and watching Tiger King?
 Father's Day hike! We saw NO ONE on the rails-- it was fab!









 More teeny clothes. Her little dresser is sticked with 0-6 month clothes, and this is the newborn drawer.
 Puddle jumping
 Purple lips-- as sign that it's time to go home.
HOW have I gained 27 pounds? I guess we will never know. (It's the ICE CREAM)