Lately

 I missed my Thankful Thursday post last week, so here's a little recap of life the last week or so, since my Mommy vacation! Our life has mostly just been boring, at home, not doing much, but we're now able to socialize again!

So on Monday last week, I finally got a rapid test and tested positive for COVID. It was technically day 7 of symptoms, and after another day and a bit I was completely clear other than a nasally voice and feeling drained. Monday evening Emilia had a fever, but it didn't get very high, and didn't last long. 

We kept the kids home from preschool on Tuesday of course. Dave went out to play dodgeball in the evening, so I drank beer and watched Cheer!

We finally got to see my parents again after what felt like a long time. My mom had us over for dinner. The kids had Annie's while we ordered Pho. Hit the spot!

On Thursday the kids were able to go back to preschool which was exciting for everyone! They had fun learning about dental care and this photo of Emilia doing a craft surfaced. I showed her, and commented on how I loved the mouth she made, and could see she tried really hard to keep the marshmallows along the edges. At that point Dom pointed out that it was his arm and craft she was looking at and said he was just being silly with how he made it. Sounds about right!

Thursday evening after dinner, Dom had his first day at Soccer Shots! He was SO excited, and SO proud! Dave took him for his 40 minute "practice" at a school gym close by. Dom was nervous once he got there, and didn't participate much during the actual practice time, but did observe, talk lots with Dave, and kicked a ball around for a few minutes afterwards. When they got home, he insisted on practicing drills in the cold and dark outside. We brought out some cones, and he showed me some of the drills they worked on at the gym. I wish I could express how proud he is. It's so freaking adorable. 

Showing off his jersey

On Friday I purged our closet again and removed everything from the floor. A dresser we didn't need, storage containers of summer and maternity clothes, etc. It's so open in there we can now fit a playpen! I also started a 1000 piece puzzle, which I obsessed over and finished within 24 hours. 

Uncle Scott, can we donate this to your work?!

Such a good puzzle

Saturday ended up being an impromptu gathering at Mom & Dad's. We went over in the afternoon with Adam, Aly, Myles, Jeff, Marta, Owen, and of course mom and dad. We had dinner and caught up amidst the chaos of all the little humans in the house. 

Had to pry the kids away from this interesting game during quiet time to leave

"Mom! come check out how big this fight is!"

Emilia using my puppy toys from when I was a kid to create spectators for Dom's game

Got to see big O, who is 5 months old now! His head is already bigger than Eva's haha! Who is 9.5 months old. He reminds me so much of Dom <3

This boy moves too much to get a nice picture of him, but he discovered the walking toy and proudly paraded back and forth

After dinner, Jeff and Scott came over and we played Rockband which had been picked up from Scott's work! I haven't played in probably 12 years, but picked it back up pretty quickly! So fun. We played that for hours, and then played some darts which I lost miserably, but wasn't in the mood to win anyway. 

Yesterday Scott, Ash and Phoebe came over around 1230 and we hung out all day with them. Phoebe napped in our closet (hence the playpen fitting in the closet comment), and we went for a nice evening walk before tortellini soup for dinner. After they left, we bathed the kids. All 3 together. It was madness, but Eva was there for it. She was so excited to be included. 

Boys playing some Monopoly of course

Little girls sharing some snacks

Emilia excitedly walking with Aunty Ashleigh to show her "the tunnel"

Eva has the goofiest grin She's so stoked

Got the kids to bed at 7, and then Dave and I played some more Rockband together in the evening. I tend to obsess over things where there is area for improvement, and something that seems doable to me, so I could have probably played all night. Alas, we called it quits and got 8 hours of sleep still! 

Mommy Vacation

This past weekend I had booked a very timely vacation for one in Vancouver. Dave's parents offered a couple nights from their timeshare, so I got two nights at the Rosedale on Robson. I was nervous last week as we were exposed to COVID and started having very mild symptoms, but Friday rolled around and we were all well enough to carry on with the plan. I was planning to isolate in the hotel room anyway, and Saturday would be day 5 of isolation so I wasn't worried about spreading it at all. It honestly felt safer than being home. 

I packed up and got on the road around 1pm on Friday. I arrived and checked into the hotel at 2pm. It was a king suite, so had a bedroom with a king bed and big windows looking at the Vancouver library. 

Friday I didn't do much! I had brought all my own food to avoid having to go out, so I had some wine, some salad, some snacks, worked on my Europe blogs from my journal I had written on the trip, and plopped on the bed to watch the entire season 3 of Too Hot to Handle. That's my kind of plan! No plan! I did end up with a pretty bad headache, but by Saturday morning it was gone. 

(We went to Europe in August 2014, before blog days, and I kept a journal throughout the trip. I finally got to sit down and write it out and attach the photos. I split it up into 3 parts, one for each week of the trip!)

Part 1 - London-Mediterranean Cruise-Venice
Part 2 - Holland
Part 3 - Germany

I spent the vast majority of my time in here just basking in the daylight

Saturday I slept in until about 8. I got up, had my coffee and a bagel, did a puzzle, did some yoga, and decided to get out for a walk in the gorgeous Vancouver sunshine. I walked from the hotel all the way to Science World along the seawall, and then Adam came out for a social distance walk most of the way to Granville Island. After a road pop at the end and a walk back along the seawall, I had to pop into their place to go pee. They're in an apartment right across the street from Science World and it's gorgeous! They're there because their apartment flooded, so not the best circumstances, but making the best out of a shitty situation. 

They are COVID immune now, so Adam and I had a snack and a glass of wine on their balcony before I walked back to the hotel. I accidentally walked into the collision of two protests against vaccines and COVID mandates so that was fun and interesting and uncomfortable for a minute. 

Borrowed these wooden puzzles from my parents. It's all these tiny pieces that are strange shapes that go together.

One down!

Feeling fresh and getting ready for yoga!

Breaaaaathe

Had to show Dom that I saw where the Canucks play

The coolest buskers I've ever seen. He had this giant standup bass, and the other guy playing guitar and harmonica. Loved it

Oh hello view from the 24th floor!

Thanks for the snacks! Aly gave me some ziplocks to bring the extras back to the hotel. 

Back at the hotel I poured myself a beer and did another one of these crazy wooden puzzles. I had nachos for dinner, put on a face mask, worked on my Europe blog some more, and started watching Cheer! I stayed up til 1230 or so and finally got to sleep.

So proud of my thought to pack a little nacho kit haha!

At around 115am, there was a LOUD bang outside and then a car alarm went off. I never figured out what it was, but it jolted me awake and set my anxiety off like crazy. I couldn't sleep for hours after that. I kept thinking about earthquakes when I'm in this tall building away from home, and how Dave doesn't know our emergency plan (my emergency plan haha), and it kind of spiraled. I was tempted to pack up and go home, but I didn't because I figured I'd forget something at 3am and/or get in a car accident on the way home and/or the Port Mann bridge would crumble while I was on it. 

Well that's rational eh?! It was very strange - I've never had quite such irrational anxiety before that prevented me from sleeping. Eventually I fell asleep and was up for the day at 730. 

I had a leisurely morning again: coffee, breakfast, yoga, finished my Europe blogs. Then I started packing up and was out by 1030. I noticed I had started coughing a bit in the morning, and it progressed and continued throughout the day. By the time I got home I was coughing and very fatigued. I couldn't muster the energy to make dinner even after my lovely break over the weekend, so we ordered pizza. 

By the time the kids went to bed I was sore, achey, coughing, and a little frustrated. I thought I was done with this?! I'm supposed to be out of isolation! Thanks to someone's generosity, I managed to get my hands on a rapid test and took it this morning. Alas... it is positive. I feel okay. Like 85% okay I'd say. For our family so far, the colds we had in December were worse, but this virus seems to hit everyone so differently. I had 4 days of super minor symptoms. If I hadn't known I was exposed, I probably wouldn't have thought anything of it. Then I had one day of zero symptoms, and then it hit me harder on day 6. Strange! 

I guess I'm isolating again/continuing isolation until my symptoms subside now. I'm bummed we have to cancel plans this week, cancel preschool again, and postpone our booster vaccinations. We almost made it! Haha

Anyway I'm very very grateful to have had that weekend away! I could have used another 4 days, but it's good to be back at home with the kids and Dave. :) Dave crushed it while I was away!