First off, how are you doing?
Life has been… weird. I’ve been extremely lucky that with me being a stay at home mom (who’s currently on maternity leave), life hasn’t been too changed for me and the kids.
Routines have been the same (aka what routine?!) The major differences have been not seeing the grandparents and the fact that Andrew’s been home.
I’ve been home going on week 5 without going anywhere other than the mailbox (down the street) and to the backyard. Andrew does the grocery shopping and was still working for the first couple weeks of the initial pandemic. By week 2 I was starting to feel it. It didn’t help that I got sick (not COVID-19, but something) and I just felt like crap. I actually feel much better now and back to my normal self. But I was realizing how much I relied on the grandparents to help us out with the kids.
Between the days that they would take the kids so I could get stuff done, and even just taking Kaiden up north for the weekend… I knew I had a lot of help but I never realized how much I needed it to, for my peace of mind.
Luckily, Andrew was really slowing down and working shorter hours so I could have more support. And good news! We haven’t tried to kill each other yet.
Meals
I think I’m eating so much better now that Andrew is home more. We eat a solid three meals a day and I’ve been trying out some new recipes for marinades. It’s so easy to get caught in a rut with food. Even before a quarantine; before you were limited to what you might be able to get in a store!
It’s definitely helped keep our days to a more steady routine… Wake up, have breakfast, play, have lunch, nap, have dinner… It’s the same as pre-lockdown but so much better.
We’ve managed to get our meals down from 7pm to eating around 5.30 which has been excellent. Bedtime happens around 8 now instead of 9.30. Won’t lie, this has been quite enjoyable.
Some new recipes that have been favourites of the family include these meatloaf muffins and banana bread.
Activities
I’m feeling rather lucky that I don’t have school aged kids that need to be told to do homework. I’ve just been doing the same old with Kaiden (jumping and running around the house) and with Andrew home I’ve been able to send him out to the garage and they play out there.
Andrew picks up things for him to do while he’s at the grocery store – like a T-Ball set (which he refuses to use the stand… pitching only!) and bubbles because both kids love them! Kaiden is not into anything artistic so crafts don’t really work for him. Although, he found a Play-doh set and that’s kept him entertained for a decent amount of time.
Potty Training
We figured it’s never going to be a better time to potty train than now. Both of us are home so that we can tag-team and someone has an eye on a kid at all times.
And it’s gone pretty darn well. We still are using a diaper at night but during the day we are pretty much accident free. It’s been a lot easier than I had amped it up in my head.
Although, it does give me a little ping in my heart to think that Kaiden is growing up so damn fast!!! Such a big boy already.
We take it day by day and don’t do too much planning.
Honestly, I’m very lucky to know that not much has changed for me in the short term. My family is safe. My parents and Andrew’s parents are safe. We’re all healthy. We might be going a little crazy being cooped up together for so long but we’re doing alright overall.
Stay safe! Wishing you and yours a healthy and safe quarantine!
J x
