Fully vaccinated!

On April 9, one week before California opened up appointments to all residents over 18 years old, I was able to secure a last minute appointment to get my first COVID vaccine shot.  I had to drive to across the city, and while I waited the 15 minutes post-stab to ensure no adverse reaction, I cried tears of relief.  The stress from the last 13 months was starting to ease up.

On May 7, I had my second shot, and anticipating a rough reaction, I had the house to myself to recover.  It was a good thing that Martin and the kids were up at Timber Cove for the weekend; I was more than a little tired and achy (although the headache might have been from the margaritas I ordered with dinner on Friday night).  Thankfully I was back to my old self on Sunday, Mother’s Day, when the family came home with fresh picked wildflowers and beautiful homemade cards.

And then two weeks later, I became officially and fully vaccinated! I know, I know, I can’t go too crazy yet, since Martin is still in the process and there is no current date on the horizon for when the kids will be eligible, but I am feeling a lot more positive overall.  And if my reaction to the second shot was just a taste of what an actual infection would feel like, I am extra thankful for avoiding that situation!

No rules weekend!

After 14 months of lock down and a few solo weekends away by yours truly, Martin finally got to have a few nights to himself. Before you judge me or assume I haven’t let Martin leave, I would like to state for the record, that I have in fact encouraged him on multiple occasions to take some time for himself to get away and relax.  And any delays or hold ups have been solely on his side.

So on Friday he drove up to Timber Cove leaving Oskar, Alva and me alone and at home in San Francisco until Monday morning. With Mama, in charge it was a no rules weekend!

• We had take out for dinner two of the three nights (sushi and Nepalese)
• And for the one night I “cooked” we had my favorite dinner from growing up when my parents went out for the night: fish sticks and tater tots (okay, so I am not a babysitter, but Oskar requested it)
• We snuggled on the couch while watching more than one movie.
• We rode bikes on the playground and had lunch outside with Grandma and Grandpa.
• We played Legos, read books, had fun crazy bath times and stories in bed.
• We FaceTimed with Blake and Dana and looked at Blake’s lego collection.
• And we FaceTimed with Anj and Lilah which turned into a show and tell of their favorite toys and subsequently turned into a toddlers book club.

Overall it was super fun. The more I let go of the rules and the less stressed I was, the more they listened and were willing to help. Dinner table manners might not have been up to Martin’s standards but the basic rules were observed and each meal was super relaxed with lots of giggles. Bedtimes might have been a little later, pajamas might have been worn past lunchtime, screen time might have hit an all-time high and we might have spent a lot on takeout. But we had fun, we had a lot of snuggles and I got to take a break and just enjoy being a mom with no other obligations or distractions for once.

How in The Hell is it May?!

I am not sure what happened, but all of a sudden it is May and I haven’t posted in over three months!  That isn’t to say I haven’t been thinking about writing… I actually wrote four blogs over the past three months, but never quite found the time to finish them or post them. 

With a few minutes to spare this weekend, I decided to finally wrap them up and share.

Enjoy

Psychological Warfare

Psychological warfare may have been around for centuries but I am pretty sure my kids have perfected the art. Last year we spent Easter up in Dunsmuir and I remember it being super relaxing and fun. Trying to recreate that feeling, we decided to head up to Dunsmuir again for the week just before Easter. And while the days were wonderful. The nights were anything but. After the week of nightly battles at Dunsmuir I am mentally and morally spent. 

The days were great. They were spent riding bikes, playing on playgrounds, hanging out with the grandparents. We had a summer day on the deck playing in water followed by a winter day of sledding at Bunny Flats. Oskar and Alva did crafts with Grandma and enjoyed silly stories with Grandpa. It was serene and ideal. 

That is until the sun went down. Then the battles began. 

I am still not sure what happened. Was it the two kids sharing a room by themselves for the first time? Was it a big girl bed for Alva? Was it the excitement of having the grandparents around? 

Whatever it was, starting at 7:30pm every night, when the kids were in pajamas, teeth were brushed, stories were read and told and Martin and I started the strategic maneuvering of trying to get the kids in bed that things began to fall apart. There was the need for water, the need to go pee, the need to get out of bed just one more time. In and out of bed the kids went and up and down the stairs we went. It would have been a comically dance if it weren’t so frustrating. Our two kids who normally crawl into bed without protest or fight we’re going down in a blaze of glory, willing to battle it out until shear exhaustion overtook them an hour later. 

By 8:30pm (if we were lucky) the battle was over and both kids were asleep leaving Martin and I shell-shocked on the couch trying to figure out how and where we went wrong each night. 

We still don’t know what happened, and the issue still persists most nights when not at home, including each weekend at Timber Cove. But I am hoping like all things, this is only a phase and they will eventually grow out of it. In the meantime, Bob’s your uncle, and we will go with it.