Well, hello world. The past 3 years have apparently been so hectic that I haven't updated you all.
Lucky (or not as the case may be) for you all, I, like many people all over the world, have found myself with a great deal of time on my hands while we all #lockdown in our homes for the foreseeable future.
A lot has happened since my last post. Back in January I ended my marriage of 11 years, and began 2020 full of hope and optimism for the future. 2020 would be the year I find what makes me happy, while finally giving my 3 beautiful babies the lives that they deserved.
Turns out fate has a dark sense of humour, and despite a rather promising January/ February- March brought with it the apocalypse and despite my best efforts to hold everything together, life finally ground to a halt on March 24th.
I want to start by saying I actually feel incredibly blessed to be in the situation that I am in right now. While around me friends and family are losing their jobs, I have actually been put on leave with full pay for 3 weeks, and given the opportunity to spend a whole bunch of quality time with my babies.
However, as I am sure the parents among me will agree- Entertaining small people who are used to the routine of school 5 days a week, is challenging at the best of times. At least in the school holidays you can leave the house! So I thought I would come back here and share with you our time in isolation, in hope it provides a little entertainment, and if nothing else makes a few of you feel better about your own time inside.
Week 1
So we began week 1 full of good intentions. The kids came home from their last day of school with folders full of 'school work' and while there was a little bit of upset at leaving their friends, they were generally in good spirits and looking forward to the longest school break in history.
Day 1- (Saturday)- I had planned to spend our weekend going shopping, stocking up on essentials .(but definitely not panic buying because that is BAD people!!!) We were going to head over to the toy store and grab all the stationary, colouring books, and crafty arty bits we could carry, as well as maybe treating the kids to a new board game. But of course, Loki woke with a cough.
Trying not to panic, after all the tiny asthmatic germ magnet is sick at least once a month, I decided we would have a day in and hope it was just his asthma and he would be fine again tomorrow.
Day 2- (Sunday)- He wasn't better. In fact his cough had gotten worse. To add insult to injury, it was also Mothers Day. A very emotional Mummy emerged from the bedroom.
The kids were excited to give me the homemade cards they had made at school. I avoided having to use the likely corona infected teabag Loki had stuffed inside his by telling him we would keep it as 'The Emergency Teabag' and placing it on the fireplace. I cooked a roast dinner, and we watched movies in our pj's.
Their Dad popped in with some supplies since we had not been able to go out shopping. He was also supposed to be having them that night but we decided on reflection that sending the poorly 1 to another household with yet more people to infect was probably a bad idea, and so I also had to come to terms with the idea that this was going to be life for the next 14 days. Happy Mothers Day to me.
Day 3- (Monday)- I called work to let them know that thanks to a poorly child (who by this point was starting to show all signs that a full recovery was in fact on the cards) I was stuck in for the next 14 days, and so would have to work from home. I spent most of the day stuffing snacks in the faces of the kids as my only means of stopping them from yelling whenever I answered the phone- thankfully I don't speak to many customers, and a lot of my job can be done via email- but safe to say by the time 5:30pm came I was exhausted from juggling both work and childcare.
That night we watched along with the rest of the country as Boris announced that we would be effectively in lockdown for 3 weeks.
Day 4- (Tuesday)- Working again- although with a whole lot of stress and uncertainty piled on top as our field guys were told they would be taken off the road for the foreseeable. By that afternoon I was told that I was to take paid leave for the next 3 weeks. The kids seemed excited by this prospect, and so I said goodbye to my main source of sanity and normality for 3 weeks. We celebrated with pizza from a certain well known franchise- left on our doorstep, for 'contactless' delivery of course...
Day 5 (Wednesday)- Boredom was starting to set in for the kids. Having apparently exhausted all the toys in their rooms, they insisted they had nothing to do. They also decided that food was the sole solution to their boredom, and I had to lock away the biscuit barrel to stop them demolishing the last of my precious custard cream supply.
Deliveries from supermarkets have also become exceptionally sparse- being payday I tried to get a delivery slot from every supermarket in the town and failed. I finally managed to get a click and collect slot- but that slot is Tuesday 31st. Despite many talks about rationing with my ever hungry hoard, they could not be silenced- and so I sacrificed the custard creams. RIP biscuity goodness.
Before bedtime- my throat had begun to hurt.
Day 6- (Thursday)- The kids decided we should all be different characters for the day- Sky decided Mummy should be Mary Poppins (Despite looking and feeling more like Mother Gothel without her magic Rapunzel hair fix- seriously that woman kept a child locked away for over a decade- no wonder she went bat shit crazy) I of course took my role extremely seriously- bursting into song at every opportunity and hoping that at least to my babies I was in fact 'Practically perfect in every way'.
The kids have also found a new appreciation for each other in the absence of friends, even hugging and kissing each other goodnight. Its the little things.
Day 7- (Friday)- Despite feeling like I may cough up a lung at any minute- I decided I would get outside and sort the garden. The kids had by this point gone 6 days without any fresh air and I figured at the very least they should soak up some vitamin D. (Typical isn't it that as soon as everyone is locked in their homes the weather vastly improves.)
I then suggested that a camp out in the living room would be fun, and we set about making a den from sleeping bags and random items of furniture. Of course come bedtime Loki decided he didn't want to sleep in the den unless Mummy also slept in it with him- so a night on the floor getting the covers stolen by a 5 year old was now on the cards.
Thank God for wine.
Bring on Week 2!!
(Special thanks to friends this week who have kept me sane with regular messages/ phone calls/ care packages.. you know who you are.. and you are all very much appreciated- love you all.)
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