The sun is shining and spring is blooming and yes, all around things feel better-ish, but wow. This is not a walk in the park. These days are long, long, long.
And I was going to say at least the weeks are passing by fast, but I don’t know if that’s true. It all feels a little mushy.
I am at the office today – empty office! alone. very socially distanced. – and Bjork just texted me that Solvi took a 50-minute nap when she usually naps for at least two hours. And to be honest, that’s exactly the kind of tiny thing during quarantine that can just break you.
No? Just me? Just us?
Luckily we have an office, and jobs, and two of us together to split the parenting and general adulting duties that seem to be endless. I have so much to be grateful for and I am, every day. And even with that gratitude, and the knowledge that it could be so much worse, it still feels hard sometimes.
Collective morale check: how’s it going out there?
What’s your week been like?
What has been getting you through?
Overall
This week was okay overall.
It wasn’t bad. There were some highlights.
But there was also enough dishwashing, vacuuming, laundry, diaper changing, post-bedtime work, and toy pick up to just keep it squarely in the category of The Daily Grind.
I know that planning and doing some special things each week (fun activities with Solvi, spa hour for me, “date night” for me and Bjork) would probably help give us all a mood boost, but thinking of said things and making them actually happen feels, like… really hard. And when things are already hard and time and energy are sparse, well, you know how it is.
That will be a good goal for me next week. Do something “special.” I’ll report back.
Something Delicious
For sure the most fun and fancy thing that I made this week was the coconut curry ramen from the archives. I added a soft-boiled egg for fanciness and it really just made me feel like, YES, for two seconds, I have my life together.
But also worth mentioning: there is a peanut butter pie recipe dropping in on Monday and I have been eating that a lot this week as well and YOU ARE GOING TO WANT THAT ONE. It involves cream cheese and peanut butter and sugar and Cool Whip. Don’t @ me, it’s quarantine. It’s so good.
Something Outside
It’s not quite warm enough yet to sit outside in full-blown shorts and a T-shirt, so I officially assembled our outdoor sectional (one of my favorite purchases from last summer) and brought my fuzziest blanket out onto the deck and took a nice cozy spring snooze out there with Sage this week.
The birds were singing and my neighbors were having an outdoor concert for their very musical kids so there was sweet violin music drifting across the backyards. Very idyllic quarantine moment.
Something Connected
Our friends have a new baby. 😭
Actually, they’ve had her for a month now, and this picture was taken right after she was born when we went to do a window visit.
But we have been back a few times this week to drop off some fun things and share some baby essentials and it’s just so fun to SEE people even when it’s through a window or across a yard. I’m loving these little visits.
Something Fun
I’ve gotten a little aggressive with my Target / Wal-Mart / Amazon purchases in the category of “TODDLER FUN TIME” in the last few weeks.
As of this week I’ve purchased:
- A slide
- A climber
- A water table
- A sand box
And we are just having a lot of fun with all of it.
(Side note to say that for environmental / excess reasons I like to try to buy this stuff secondhand. I use ThredUp for almost all of Solvi’s clothes and it is awesome. But… I just have not had the energy to learn how to be good at Facebook Marketplace for big, specific toys during quarantine and, honestly, I don’t know if I have it in me to drive 20 minutes to a stranger’s house to procure my Toddler Fun items right now. Thank you for your patience. If you have tips for how to buy more used kid gear without spending hours searching and driving, I am all ears. I would love to get better at this.)
A Sage Photo
The spring bandanas have come out, and this is the photo we all need right now.
Also, oof, her poor nails are so long. One week till your groomer’s appointment, Sager! ♡
So here we are again.
I know it sounds a little dorky, but I am actually really proud of all of us. The whole world over. This is really hard. Emotionally, physically, economically, mentally. We are collectively exhausted and sad and weary. And yet, we’re doing this – maybe hanging on just barely – but hey. GOOD ENOUGH. We’re here, we’re taking care of the main things, we’re contributing where we can, and we’re letting the rest go. While it looks different for all of us, I believe that we’re all doing the best we can with an extremely difficult situation.
Hang in there, guys. One week, one day, one meal (!!) at a time.
Sending all our love and extra shrimp tacos from our quarantine to yours. xo