Our Week - The One with More Covid and a Valentine’s Dinner

When we last left off, Jacob had just tested positive for Covid Sunday evening.  Here’s how things progressed after that…

Monday, February 7

Monday morning, I got up at my usual time to get Olivia off to school.  Sunday evening, I had talked to the assistant principal, and she said that they’re still following CDC guidelines which say that exposed individuals can still go about their normal lives as long as they’re fully vaccinated, have a negative test, and wear a mask.  We tested Olivia Sunday evening, too, and she was negative, plus she’s fully vaxxed, so she was able to go to school and continue all activities.  She wears a mask all day, every day at school anyway, so nothing had to change for her at all.

In addition to messaging with the vice principal, I also texted Olivia’s teacher to make sure that she was okay with her being there.  I told her it was totally okay if she preferred that we keep Olivia home as a precaution, but she told me that she wanted Olivia to be there Monday. 

After I dropped Olivia at school, I pulled into the school parking lot because I had to cancel an 8 AM dentist appointment for myself.  Even though I tested negative, I didn’t want to risk potentially exposing anyone, so I rescheduled for two weeks out and they were very grateful as you can probably imagine.

Once my appointment was canceled, I headed into the school office to pick up all of Jacob’s books for the week.  The school gave us an official return date of Friday, February 11 as long as his symptoms were gone, so we knew he’d be out for at least four days.  (They always follow CDC guidelines, and right now, the guidelines state that a person must quarantine for five days and then they can return as long as they wear a mask for five days.) 

By the time I returned home, Jacob was already awake and had already eaten breakfast and he was feeling really well!  He had no fever whatsoever, and he told me his only symptom was a mild sore throat.  All weekend, his throat had just been scratchy, so apparently it changed to sore overnight.  Other than a sore throat, he was fine, though!

He had just started watching cartoons when I got home, so I let him watch about 30 minutes, and then he got started on his schoolwork.  His teacher had sent us her lesson plans for the week plus all of the handouts he needed, and he was able to work at his own pace rather than do virtual learning.  Praise!   

He worked for the rest of the morning and I worked, too, and then after lunch, he had a bit more work to do before he was done for the day.  After he was done with his work, he played video games for a bit, and then I headed out the door to go pick up Olivia from school.

She had dance, so she and I headed straight there after school, and after I dropped her, I had to run a couple of errands.  When we got home, it was breakfast for dinner, showers for the kids, a stair stepper workout for me, and then we all watched some of the coverage from the Olympics before sending the kids to bed. 

We decided not to isolate Jacob throughout the week… there was no way I was going to make him stay in his room alone for five days.  Plus, we were all in close quarters with him all weekend prior to learning that he had Covid, so some damage was already done anyway.  Instead, we opted to wear masks when in close quarters with him, and he was mindful about what he touched so he didn’t put his germs on every little thing. 

None of us are bothered by masks, so it’s no big deal for us to wear them, even though it is a little weird to wear one in your own house.  Haha.  I have to say, though… when everyone had the flu back during Christmas break, I wore a mask the entire time when I wasn’t sleeping, and I’m the only one who didn’t get it.  Could have just been a coincidence, but I figured I might as well try to do everything I could to protect myself.

After the kids went to bed, I made a hot toddy to wind down, and then we watched some of The Bachelor.  I always make a hot toddy when I feel like I’m coming down with something, but Monday evening, I decided to make one as prevention.  I’m sure there’s no science to that, but I swear by them, plus I’ve gotten to where I truly love them – they’re so comforting and they also help with the physical ailments that go hand-in-hand with my anxiety.  I hold TONS of tension in my face, ears, head, neck, and shoulders, and when I’m particularly anxious, I often have trouble relaxing those muscles.  A hot toddy usually does the job and Monday night was no exception.

Tuesday, February 8

Tuesday morning, I dropped Olivia at school, and then I headed to get gas and then to Fresh Market to get chicken.  When I got back home, Jacob was up, and he’d just finished breakfast and had turned on the TV.  He reported again that all he had was a mild sore throat, and he was practically bouncing off the walls all day Tuesday so I could tell that he felt just fine.

After he watched a couple of short shows on Netflix, he got cracking on his schoolwork.  He worked all morning, and finished up just after lunch, and then he played video games for a bit.  I felt bad that he had to spend so much time alone, but the rest of us were trying to keep our distance as best we could. 

After school, Olivia and I came home so she could do her homework, and then we headed to her dance studio for her short, 45-minute Tuesday class.  While she was at dance, I ran a quick errand, and then headed back to pick her up and take her home.

The rest of the evening was the usual – I cooked dinner, we cleaned up the kitchen, I got in a weights workout and put up some laundry while the kids showered, and then we watched some more Olympics coverage.  The kids were enthralled with the luge. 

After they went to bed, B and I finished up The Bachelor and we finished a Supermarket Sweep that we’d started, and I made another hot toddy. 

Wednesday, February 9

Wednesday morning, I got Olivia off to school and then headed home to work all morning.  Jacob woke up feeling great again, and his mild sore throat had diminished to a mild scratchy throat again – a step in the right direction!  He did schoolwork all morning and, and Wednesday was a light day because he had finished up before lunch.

B volunteered to pick up lunch for the three of us, and we let Jacob choose the place.  He chose Chipotle, and it hit the spot!  We hadn’t had it in a while!

After lunch, Jacob worked in his mazes book and then he played video games for a bit while I finished up working for the day.  Before heading out to pick up Olivia, I made a couple of phone calls, dusted the whole house, and I finally took pictures of the Valentine’s Day touches around the house that I posted yesterday.

After school, Olivia did her homework, and then she and Jacob played basketball outside for a long time.  The weather was beautiful last week, so I thought some fresh air would do Jacob some good.  He’d felt fine all week, after all, so there was no need to keep him all cooped up. 

While the kids played, I went for a run… it was a rough one – my lungs were struggling more than usual on Wednesday for some reason – but I got in almost 2.5 miles before heading back home.

It was time to start cooking when I got home, so I turned on the diffuser and some tunes, and I whipped up BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, and rolls for dinner.  And speaking of tunes, y’all, I have found another station to listen to on Amazon, and I think I may love it even more than my beloved 90’s Pop… it’s 90’s R&B. 

Y’ALL.  SOOOO good. 

Boyz II Men, Usher, Ginuwine, Mariah Carey, Aaliyah, Destiny’s Child, Keith Sweat, TLC, Michael Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Tevin Campbell, Janet Jackson, Joe, and so much more.

All.  The.  Yes. 

Anyhoo, after dinner, I showered and got in my PJs, and then after the kids were showered, we watched some more of the Olympics coverage.  The kids are loving it! 

By bedtime, Jacob told me his throat no longer felt scratchy and that he felt totally back to normal.  Woo hoooo!  After we got them in the bed, B and I watched some more Olympics coverage, and then we headed to bed, too.  I was making my way through The Midnight Library, and it was so intriguing that I actually took the time to read some each night.

Thursday, February 10

Thursday morning, Olivia decided that she wanted bubble braids for school, so I obliged even though I knew it meant we’d be getting out the door much later.  She hasn’t asked for those in probably two years, so I was super rusty, but I ended up doing a pretty good job if I do say so myself.

Jacob woke up and came downstairs just as she and I headed out the door, and by the time I got back home, he’d eaten breakfast and turned on Netflix.  He watched a couple of short shows, and then sat down for day four – his final day woooo hoooo! – of quarantine schoolwork.  Schoolwork went super-fast Thursday, and he was done before 11 AM.  He and I went over the checklist together one more time to make sure he’d done everything, and he had, so he packed up his stuff and spent the rest of the morning working in his mosaic books.

I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon cleaning out our master bathroom until it was time to pick up Olivia from school.  Our big cabinet in our bathroom is always one of the worst areas in the house because we’re constantly bringing in new toiletries throughout the year.  After going through, I found that we had several expired items as well as several items that were able to be consolidated, so I ended up recycling and trashing a TON of stuff. 

When Olivia and I got home from school pickup, she worked on homework, and then she and Jacob played basketball outside because it was just gorgeous out – 70 degrees and as sunny as could be!  I finished up with a couple of other quick projects inside before cooking vodka sausage pasta for dinner.

After dinner was over, the kids got showered and ready for bed, and while they did that, I got in a quick mixed cardio workout.  We watched some more of the Olympics before the kids went to bed, and then B and I continued the Olympics coverage until we went to bed. 

Friday, February 11

Friday morning, it was back to school for Jacob!!  I’d messaged with his teacher on Thursday to make sure it was still okay for him to come back, and he was good to go!  After I dropped both kids at school, I headed home to work for the rest of the morning.

I spent the whole afternoon deep cleaning all of the floors, and then it was time to pick up the kiddos.  When we got home, the kids worked on their valentines for their class parties on Monday, and then they spent some time playing outside because the weather was perfection yet again.  Both of them were bouncing off the walls, and it seemed as if they were already coming down with spring fever!  I guess that’s what happens when it’s warm and sunny for so many days in a row.

Olivia was scheduled to have her First Reconciliation on Saturday morning, so we wanted to test her for Covid one more time just to be safe since Jacob had been positive the Sunday before, and y’all, she ended up testing positive.  The positive line popped up almost immediately and it was as dark as can be, so there was no question about it.  Sigh.

She sounded the tiniest bit nasal when she came home from school, but it was so minor that I’m not sure I normally would’ve noticed if I hadn’t been on high alert, but she had no other symptoms – no runny nose, no cough, no aches, no fever, no chills.  And she was bouncing off the walls, so she certainly wasn’t low on energy, that’s for sure.  It’s just the craziest thing.  We would have never even tested her if she hadn’t had to go to church first thing Saturday morning, so I’m SUPER glad we did. 

After she ended up being positive, B and I tested ourselves yet again to make sure we weren’t positive and asymptomatic as well, and we weren’t.  We were both miraculously negative.  I don’t even know how we’d managed to avoid it that long. 

Anyway, after B and I tested negative, he headed out to pick up pizza for dinner, and then after the kids got showered, we watched yet another Ice Age movie, this time it was Ice Age: Collision Course.  I fell asleep as per usual when there’s a movie on that I’m not interested in, and then after we put the kids to bed, B and I watched an episode of Raising Dion and then we finished part one of season four of Ozark.

Saturday, February 12

Saturday morning, B picked up donuts from our favorite local place as a treat for our Covid babies.  Jacob was able to return to school Friday and he didn’t miss anything fun while he was out, but Olivia was crushed because she was going to be missing so many important things – First Reconciliation with all of her classmates on Saturday, her class Valentine’s Day party on Monday, and she was supposed to be mentoring the new student joining their class on Monday as well.  Her teacher selected her to take the new student under her wing, show her around, etc. and Olivia was STOKED, and she was crushed when she realized she wouldn’t be there to do it. 

My poor girl… she missed her school Christmas program, her class Christmas party, and several other special events back in December when she was out with the flu, and now she’s missing all kinds of other important stuff due to Covid.  Our little fam just hasn’t been able to catch a break with the illnesses this school year.  They’ve now had strep, Flu A (the bad one), Covid, and a couple of other random colds all in the span of three months.  I think they’ve both missed more school this year than all of the previous years combined, and we still have three months to go.  It’s bonkers.

Anyhoo, we all enjoyed donuts for breakfast when B got home, and then the kids spent some time watching cartoons while I curled up in the chair in our bedroom with Maui and a cup of hot cinnamon tea to finish The Midnight Library.  I absolutely loved that book, y’all.  I read it in just about a week, which is super-fast for me this time of year.  Usually this time of year it takes me a month (or more) to read one book because we’re so busy doing other things, but this one, I made time for.

It was different than anything else I’ve ever read and when I finished it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it for the rest of the day.  It really makes you think about life and all of the choices we make, and how any single choice – no matter how big or small – could change everything… and then some may not change anything at all.  This book will definitely make you think differently about your day-to-day life and it will make you appreciate life even more.  I highly recommend.

After I finished my book, I got changed into some workout clothes and I did a cardio workout, got some laundry started, and did my Saturday tidying routine.  After all of that was done, it was time for lunch, so I made grilled cheese sandwiches for all of us (plus avocado for me!), and well, a peanut butter and jelly for Olivia, because she would choose that above literally everything else... well, except maybe pancakes.  Haha.

After lunch, the kids did their laundry, and then we all went outside to play basketball.  It was sunny and gorgeous and 65 degrees, and it was so nice to be able to get outside and get some fresh air and not have to be stuck inside all day with our little recovering Covid patients. 

Both kids were still feeling great Saturday, Olivia included, even though she’d tested positive the evening before… she had no symptoms Saturday all day except for maybe the tiniest runny nose.  It was so minor that I would have never noticed if I hadn’t been looking extra hard for any symptom.

After outdoor time, I got showered and worked a bit in my office while the kids played video games.  Since Olivia was going to be home with me Monday – Wednesday, I knew I needed to get as much work done as possible.  Whereas Jacob is very self sufficient when it comes to entertaining himself (and he loves alone-time), Olivia is the exact opposite and she hates to be alone.  She is always looking for a party, so I know I’ll have no time to get anything done this week while she’s home.  Haha.

In the late afternoon, I headed downstairs to set up the dinner table for our annual Valentine’s dinner.  We usually do it on Valentine’s Day, but this year Valentine’s Day fell on a Monday which is our busiest day of the week – Olivia has her long dance class Monday evening and Jacob usually has baseball.  Obviously, Olivia will no longer be going to dance since she tested positive for Covid, and Jacob miraculously ended up not having baseball scheduled, so our Monday evening is free, but since we’d already planned on doing the dinner Saturday, we just decided to leave it there. 

I got all of our heart plates set out and we opened one of our good bottles of wine that we’d picked up from our favorite winery in the mountains, and B picked up dinner from one of our favorite local upscale-ish places.  B and I both had filet mignon, and I chose sides of mac n cheese and mashed potatoes – aaaallll the carbs for the ultimate splurge!  Haha.  B opted for the mac n cheese and green beans, and then he and I traded some mashed potatoes and green beans so we could each have a little bit of both.  The kids opted for the chicken fingers and mac and cheese but ended up not liking the mac because it was too fancy (AKA super delicious to B and me).  They’d always just prefer Kraft with the powdered cheese.  I mean, Kraft is banging, but I would never choose it over homemade mac.  Haha.

I told Alexa to play a Valentine’s Day playlist, and then we called the kids in from their second round of basketball to eat and open their little Valentine’s treats from us… this year’s love-themed Lego Brickheadz set.

Dinner was absolutely delicious, and B and I ended up lingering at the table a bit longer than usual to finish our wine while the kids put together their Lego sets.  After the kitchen was clean, we watched the sixth and final installment of Ice Age (thus far) – Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild.  Shockingly, I didn’t fall asleep during the movie, but I did spend some time rearranging and organizing my highlights on Instagram.  And FYI, apparently, if you try to do too much at once, Instagram throws you in Instagram jail because they locked me out of my account for the rest of the night after that.  Dumbest thing ever.

After the movie was over, the kids got into bed, and then B and I started watching Station 11 – the HBO Max miniseries that was released back in December.  B had been hearing good things about it for a while, and Kristin had been talking about it in her Instagram stories earlier that day, so we decided to give it a whirl.  So far, we’re two episodes in and we’re both hooked.  Beware though, the show is about a pandemic, so if you’re not ready for something like that just yet (since we’re still living it after all), this will not be for you.

 

Sunday, February 13

Sunday morning, we ate the last of the donuts from Saturday while we watched church, and I planned the week ahead in my planner.  My mother-in-law stopped by in the middle of church because she wanted to bring one of Olivia’s birthday gifts to her early, so she’d have something to do all week while she was quarantining.  She obviously didn’t come in or stay long as we didn’t want her to catch the cooties, but it was super sweet of her to stop by and check on us.

Olivia did wake up Sunday morning sounding a bit more congested, although, still not much.  She did cough and sneeze a couple of times Saturday morning, but again, it was nothing major at all. 

After church, the kids watched some TV and I worked on a couple of minor house projects.  I started brainstorming ideas for reorganizing the entryway by our garage and I also got the wall décor hung in the kids’ bathroom.  I also got some birthday gifts wrapped.

We all had a light lunch in the early afternoon, and it was around that time that I started feeling a little bit “off.”  I’d had a mild cough and a slightly runny nose since I woke up Sunday morning, but I didn’t think much of it because I pretty much have a cough and a runny nose every day of my life thanks to my allergies.  Once I started feeling a bit dizzy here and there, I got suspicious that maybe there was more to it, and then when some of my energy was gone midday, I started to wonder if I was coming down with Covid.  I didn’t want to test that early, though, because the positive doesn’t always show up right when symptoms start.  We learned that with Jacob last weekend.

The rest of the afternoon was spent taking it easy and working in my office a bit.  It was cold and super windy (which made it feel even colder) on Sunday, and I didn’t want Jacob and Olivia out in it too much since they were still recovering from Covid, so they drew and colored and played video games all afternoon.

Late in the afternoon, I headed to the kitchen to get everything prepped for our Super Bowl Sunday dinner while the kids spent lots of time outside... the sun decided to come out towards the end of the day, and things warmed up enough.  

Brian made his delicious guac and I made my homemade burgers, and he got everything grilled for us.  We spent the rest of the evening eating and drinking all the Super Bowl foods and watching the game… and the best part was… the halftime show!  SO SO GOOD, y’all!!!!  And we were thrilled that the Rams won... we got to celebrate our University of Georgia boy, Matthew Stafford as well as a couple of other former UGA players.  

Since I still had a cough and a runny nose, I tested again before bed just to make sure I was still negative.  I had some errands to run first thing Monday and I didn't want to be out spreading germs.  The test came back negative yet again, so I was good to go!  

After avoiding Covid for almost two years it stinks that it finally hit our household, but we're grateful that it hit when it did - after everyone was fully vaccinated, and during a variant that has seemed to be very mild for most healthy individuals.  We knew it was inevitable that we'd get it eventually, so I'm honestly a little relieved that we'll have it behind us soon.  For a while anyway!  I'm sure there will be another chance to get it again down the road!  Hopefully it'll still be mild then, too!

Happy Tuesday, y’all!