Not Social Distancing

It's crazy times.  Who would have thought that we'd all be hunkering down at home not from a

natural disaster or some freak weather storm, but from an illness that came out of the blue.  I know

there are lots of people who are frightened about what the future holds, not just for during this time in

Quarantine, but after we come out of it. How many businesses will have to close?  How many jobs

won't exist anymore? How many of our loved ones will have become ill, or even died from the virus?

There's a lot of talk about physical health, but we need to also remember that our health is not just

based on if we have a fever or not. Health is a multi-faceted part of us.  We have to find a balance of

mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

I don't like the "Social Distancing" line that has been thrown around, because that makes it sound

like we should be antisocial. We should be Physically Distant, but now is the time to be there for

each other.  This is an unprecedented time, and everyone is struggling with it in some way or

another. There are lots of extroverts who may get depressed if they can't socialize with others,

which can also lead to health problems. There are many who are anxious with what the future will

hold, which leads to sleeplessness and burnout.  Hopefully this will lead to a new normal where

people are more in tune with their mental health and it won't be such a stigma to say "I'm struggling.

I need help.".

I have hope that this will lead to some positive changes in many ways. This could change the way

we interact in our communities. Maybe instead of driving into our garages and not talking to our

neighbours, we'll start to really care about one another and look after the needs around us.

I've seen on FaceBook quite a few homeschooling parents telling all the parents who have suddenly

been thrown into quarantine schooling, that this isn't even normal for homeschoolers.  It's new

territory for everyone (pulling together, reassuring). They have said not to expect 6 hours of work

from your kids, most students do between 2-3 depending on what they are working on. That's

COMMUNITY!

It's important to remember these guidelines for adults working from home as well.  There are many

parts of your normal workday that help break up the stress, that you are missing right now. It's

important to take into account the coffee breaks, drive time, etc. Locking yourself off from the world

to work for 8 hours isn't healthy in a stressful time like this. It's really important to take care of your

body and mind (emotional, physical, mental,& spiritual health). Maybe it means working until

lunchtime, eating with the family, playing some board games, and going for a walk in the afternoon.

I'm sure you know that you can't do your best work if you're stressed.  Two hours of good work is

better than 6 hours of stress an anxiety riddled work. Work yourself into more hours as you get used

to this new normal. Take care of yourself, take care of your family, take care of your friends.

Remember, don't cut yourself off from everyone.  Social Distancing doesn't mean Social Isolation!

Call your friends, Play virtual poker, FaceTime that friend you haven't had time to connect with, Send

a message to say, "I was thinking about you... Remember when we went on that epic adventure?"

Ask how they are REALLY doing.  Let them know they are not alone. We're all in this together.

French Toast

I have been battling a cold for the past week, & it is a real doozy.  I am a strong believer in the power of Ny-Quil over a fever or a cold, so at least I have been sleeping well!  One side effect that usually happens, is what I call “Ny-Quil dreams”.  I have been having some of the strangest dreams, but there is one that I think you will particularly enjoy.

 

PChad & I, & some extended family had all gone out for breakfast at a restaurant.  Everyone’s food had come, except for mine, so after 20 minutes I asked the waitress about my order.  I had ordered French toast.  A short time later, the waitress came out with my food.

 

On the plate were four huge slices of bacon.  Underneath the bacon was a poached egg.  Under the egg was one slice of baguette French toast.

Now, I was not happy.  I asked the waitress, “Where is the rest of my French toast?”

 

“Sorry, that’s all you get,” she replied.

 

“But I ordered French toast.  I want French toast!”

 

“Well, there is lots of food there, with the bacon & the egg.”

 

“But I don’t want bacon & egg, or I would have ordered bacon & eggs.  I want French Toast!”

 

I then proceeded to walk around the restaurant showing my disproportionate meal to the other wait staff asking them, “Does this seem normal to you?”

 

I was really angry in my dream.  Enough so that I actually woke up at 5 in the morning angry about French toast.  Now, I don’t know what it means, but it sure made my kids laugh when I told them about it!

Travel Trials

I took a quick trip to Michigan last week for a planning meeting.  When I travel to the States, bad things usually happen with my flights (like this, & that, & don’t forget this!) & this trip was not exempt.

I had heard that the US had eased their regulations on flying with small pocket knives, so I opted to bring my ever present  small Swiss Army Knife.  In Charlottetown, I put the knife in the x-ray bucket & it was returned to me, no problem.

I had a nice itinerary, a 6 am start, followed by a 9:30 flight landing at 11.  My meeting started at 5, so that gave me plenty of time to do a little Stateside shopping first.  When I was given my boarding passes, I noticed that my second flight was a 17:55 departure.  I brought it to the gate agent’s attention, she said the 9:30 flight had been taken off the schedule & that was the only one from Toronto to Grand Rapids.  I’d have to check in Toronto for an earlier flight through another hub.

Toronto’s security took my knife away.  I asked about the new regulations, but they said that only applied to flights within the US, not international flights.  When I told them that it hadn’t been a problem in Charlottetown, they couldn’t verify other airports’ policies, but for Toronto, knives are not ok…  Good to know.

In Toronto I was given a flight to Chicago, & was told there were 2 flights to Grand Rapids.  One at 11:30, & one at 14:00.  The 11:30 flight was full, but they told me to try for standby.  I would land around 10:45, so it would be cutting it close.  We started the flight by sitting on the runway for 30 minutes for our turn to take-off.

During this flight I was told that since I was flying so many miles in one day I qualified for a free snack item!  I had never had that before, so I was quite pleased to get my free bag of trail mix.  I ended up not eating it since I was full, but PChad & the kids seem to really enjoy it!

Of course when I landed in Chicago, it was in a different terminal & I had to wait for a shuttle to take me b/w terminals.  Once I arrived in the right terminal, & found the gate for the 11:30 flight, the plane was just backing away from the gate.  I just missed it by minutes!

I walked around choosing the best lunch option…  An Auntie Anne’s pretzel & Dr Pepper.  It helped soothe my wounded spirit.

I arrived in Grand Rapids around 5 & met another member of the team at the airport who had been on the same flight.  At least I wasn’t the only one arriving late!  We made it to the hotel only about 25 minutes late, & it wasn’t a problem, but I sure missed all the shopping time I had planned on!  After the meeting wrapped up that night I did have a chance to nip out to the grocery store next door & grab a few essentials like Pay Days & Milky Way Midnights!


Day 2 was full meeting day…  and I got the stomach flu.  It was joyous.  One of the perks of the trip was a Chinese meal at one of the best restaurants in Grand Rapids, but instead of going, I went to bed as soon as the meeting was over & slept 14 hours straight.  I awoke in the morning feeling a bit better & wondering what my travelling day home would end up entailing.

In Grand Rapids I was treated to a full body scan & they found the penny I had neglected to remove from my pocket.  The flight was on time with no problems to Cleveland.

I got a message from PChad’s cousin, who was also at the meeting, that her flight from Grand Rapids had been cancelled & she had 3 hours to kill.  I guess I must have passed on my bad luck to her!

Cleveland to Montreal, no problems!  But surely I’d be held up in the long lines at customs & miss my next flight…  Boy, was I surprised to find that our flight was the only flight in customs, & my little detour to the washroom meant that everyone ahead of me had already cleared out & I had a choice of which lane I could go through!

The Montreal to Charlottetown flight was super exciting, as we got to fly on a propeller plane, which is something I do not enjoy in the least.  It’s bumpy & noisy, but it was on time.  I also sat next to a fairly famous DJ, & despite having a conversation with her, in which she told me her name was DJ Kiss, & that she was coming to Charlottetown to spin at one of our top clubs, I had no idea just how famous she was until I saw in the newspaper that she’s quite the celebrity!  Well, I hope she enjoyed the anonymity I afforded her as I treated her as just another gal!

Big Ears

Last night Chancery woke up with a sore ear.  We decided to take her temperature & give her some tylenol.  While she was sitting with the thermometer in her mouth PChad was trying to figure out the right dose of medicine to give her.  He had picked up the bottle & was reading the chart on the side.  As he did so, he kind of muttered, “How old is she?  Four?”

 

Chancery’s little voice rang out, “And a half!”

 

She listens to every little conversation going on around her & has a very good memory too.  We always have to watch what we talk about with her big ears around!

Contagious

Apparently when we were sick last month, we were more contagious than we thought…

Chancery’s buddy, Ginger was so tired I caught her napping on PChad’s chair!

 

And Asher’s buddy, Russell, obviously caught a bit of the stomach bug that was going around!

 

But we are all feeling better now, & I think we have had enough of the flu, colds & sinus infections to last the rest of the year!

Sleepy Talk

Asher has been sick the last few days, & apparently last night was having some weird feverish dreams.

 

I heard him calling for me, so I went upstairs to see what he needed.

 

Asher: “My little nightlight was on, it was on by my alarm…”

and he seemed to have gone back to sleep.

 

Me: “Asher, are you awake?”

 

Asher: “Yes, I’m ok.”

 

 

Later he was doing a very sad cry.  PChad went up this time…

Asher: “I lost my map!  I know I don’t really have a map, but I lost it.”

 

PChad said he seemed to know these were dreams & they didn’t make sense, but it was very frustrating to him all the same.

 

Asher: “My mind is just not letting me get to sleep!”

Quick, Mummy!

Chancery just came up behind me as I was vacuuming.

 

“Help me , Mummy!  I need a kleenex right now!  My nose is drooling!”

When You Are Sick on Your Birthday…

Sunday was my birthday, & a snow day, & I was sick.  It was a perfect trifecta.  So, while I lay in bed, the kids made me birthday cards!

Chancery made me this birthday card:

The front “Birthday”

The inside “Mummy, Happy, (& 1 heart for each of us)”

The letters are all there, if not in the right order.

 

 

Asher made this one.  I had just been to a ladies’ tea & brought a word scramble home, so he decided to utilize that in my card.

Front

Inside

 

 

Then, since I wasn’t feeling well, they made me get well cards!

This is from Asher:

Front – Since he made bubble letters, & the ‘t’ looked like a cross, he decided to draw Jesus on it.

 

Inside – We have another word scramble!  Asher saw that I had written some letters on the right side of the page & asked me about them.  “I used Grandma Toots’ trick to figure one of the scrambled words out,” I told him.  Asher then informed me, “You are not allowed to write on the card like that.”  I guess I should have used scrap paper!

 

Back – isn’t it nice?

 

Chancery also made me a get well card!

Front “Card card caar”

 

Inside – “Chancery Mummy”, another heart & a design

 

I also got a picture of the world from Chancery for my birthday!

 

I am glad to say that I feel much better today, but I seemed to have passed it on to the kids.  Hopefully it steers clear of PChad!

Out Sick

Asher’s teacher was out sick last week, & he told us Monday morning, “I hope my teacher is feeling better today.  She was sick on Friday.  I think she got a sore throat from yelling at us too much.”

 

We told him that if she was back at school, he should make sure that he’s obeying the class rules so she doesn’t get sick again.

 

Asher: “Yes, because the substitute didn’t know that I get pizza on Fridays.”

 

Apparently that is what can make you a good sub or a bad sub…

Feeling Alright

I think we’re at the point where just about all is right with the world again.  After a week of us all being sick, in the week that was PChad’s week off, we’re ready to go back to normal.  Saturday we finally all felt really good, but I must have eaten something bad Saturday night b/c I was sick all day yesterday again.  Spending Mother’s Day on the couch & in bed is not the ideal way to spend the day, but hopefully we’re over it & ready for Summer to commence!

 

The weather is vacillating between sunny & warm, & chilly rain.  Thankfully the weekend was nice so the kids could go out & play.  Chancery & Asher both had really bad coughs last week & kept asking if they could go play outside, I felt bad about saying ‘no’ with the weather looking so nice, but I wanted to make sure they weren’t going to get worse.  We’re definitely ready to hit the parks again, & hopefully in the not too distant future we’ll be able to start making our daily treks to the beach!!!

A Weekend Off

This weekend, PChad had the weekend off, so we decided to go to the city for a few nights to do some shopping, swimming, & go to an amusement park with the kids.  Here are some photos from our trip…

 

Right.  I realized when we were about an hour away from home that I had forgotten to pack the camera.  But it wouldn’t have mattered much anyway, since we all got sick our first night there.  If I HAD taken pictures, all I would have gotten pictures of would be all four of us in bed watching TV.

 

So, we came back home the next day, but the kids kept asking, “When can we go to the amusement park?”  This tends to happen anytime we have time booked off, someone gets sick.  The upside is that PChad’s not missing any work, but we were all pretty disappointed about missing out on our weekend away.  So, if the blog seems a bit sparse this week, blame it on the illness that has overtaken us!

Recovery Time

Asher was feeling under the weather yesterday, so he & I stayed home from church.  Chancery also seemed to be on the verge of getting a cold, so as we were praying for our lunch, prayers for feeling better also went up.

 

Asher prayed, “God please help me to get better in 5 days.”

 

And it seems there is always a spirit of competition in our house, when it came time for Chancery to pray, she submitted, “God, please help me to feel better in…  2 days!”

Cough, Cough, Hack, Wheeze

When it comes to bedtime around here, the noise really seems to start. Asher has had a cough off & on for the past month or so, but lately it has gotten worse.

The other night as PChad was putting Asher to bed, Asher just couldn't quit coughing. PChad advised him to try to stop talking b/c that was just making it worse.

Asher replied, "But I LOVE to talk!"

The interesting part is that he didn't say he LIKED talking, or enjoyed it somewhat. No, the kid LOVES talking!

Now, if only we could just get him to open up about what he does at playschool, because according to him, he does "lots of things" but won't actually tell us what any of those things are.

Medical Care

The other night, as I was drifting off to sleep, I kept hearing Asher cough.  I’d almost be asleep & he’d cough again, so I decided to get him some medicine.

I crept into his room & he sat bolt upright & demanded, “What are you doing in here?”

I told him I was there to give him some medicine for his cough, and he noisily slurped it up.

After I left his room & was rinsing off the spoon, I heard a little voice say, “Thanks for the medicine!”

It sure is nice to be appreciated every now & then.

An Epidemic

We've been having a bit of sickness going around our household. It all started with Chancery puking in her bed unbeknownst to us, one night last week, followed by a rash & issues at the bottom end.

Then, Saturday morning at 1:30AM, I heard Asher yelling, "Daddy, Daddy, I spit up!"

Indeed, he had, so PChad got him in the shower & I changed all the bedding. We took away Asher's buddies so he wouldn't get them dirty if he did it again, & we gave him a bucket to cuddle with instead.

We got everyone back in bed, & at 2:00AM I heard, "Sorry everyone! I'm very sorry!"

So I went to see what Asher was so sorry about & he had forgotten about the bucket & puked all over his bed again. So we repeated the procedures & hoped it wouldn't happen again, as we were now out of clean sheets for his bed.

Luckily that was it for puking, but he got the runs too.

Then PChad got sick on Sunday morning. It made for an interesting church service, but everyone did a good job of covering where needed.

Now my stomach is feeling a bit dodgy, but I figure that if I just convince myself I'm not sick, I can stay well. That works, right?

A Balanced Diet

Chancery wasn't feeling to well the other day & PChad was trying to figure out if she had the flu, or just a 24 hour bug. He offered that she could have the same thing that Asher had a few days ago, "...or, it could be something she ate. There were lots of snails where we were playing the other night. She might have eaten one of those."

A Decorating Tip

One thing I have learned over this past week of being under the weather.

If you are thinking about decorating your washroom with red polka-dots, there is a quick, non-permanent way, to find out if it is the decorating scheme for you.

Just pour your feverish, under-the-weather self a shot of NyQuil, hold it aloft & sneeze violently. If there is still some medicine in the cup, sneeze again until all the liquid has been distributed across your washroom.

It might not have come out evenly, but it will give you a pretty good idea of what the finished project would look like.

And as you're cleaning it up, you'll be amazed at all the little places that you'll find it.

On A Last Name Basis

Today I had to take the kids in to the doctor to get them re-checked to make sure the medicine they are on for their infections is working. Asher is 100% better, & Chancery still has a bit of "crackle" in her lungs, so we're supposed to keep an eye on her for awhile.

We try to teach Asher to refer to adults as "Mr. Jim" or "Miss Julie" for friends of ours, but if they are people we don't know as well, then we prefer him to use their last name instead of their first. He is catching on that PChad & I don't say "Mr." or "Miss" & sometimes he'll try to be sneaky & just say their first name. We usually remind him that he's supposed to say "Mr." or "Miss"

Anyways, we were waiting in the exam room for the doctor to come & Asher kept asking, "Where's Dr. Billirubin*?" I told him that the doctor would be in soon, but we just had to wait a bit. After a few minutes, the doctor came & first listened to Asher's lungs, then Chancery's. Asher began asking, "What are you doing Billirubin?..... Billirubin, what are you doing?"

Apparently Asher feels quite chummy w/ the doctor b/c on our way out he asked, "Where's Billirubin's truck? Can I go ride in Billirubin's truck?"

*Name changed (obviously)

**Extra points if you can tell me what movie I got the post's title from! "Are you on a last name basis with all your girlfriends?"

Sunday Pictures: week 29

We're all sick here today, so in lieu of the regular Sunday Pics, I'll show you what we've been up to today.

Reading books

Playing with Animals

Lazing around & climbing on Daddy

The animals are "Going around the Mulberry bush!"

Wiping noses & playing with cars

Tired, Sore & Sick

Who are Tired, Sick & Sore? Let me introduce you.

First, there's tired. Tired is a little girl who has decided that there are more exciting things to do than sleep. Among these things are, trying to get up on knees to practice for when she learns to crawl; attempting to play w/ all her brother's toys b/c they just look so fun, then getting frustrated when she can't do all the things her brother can do; watching the cat; trying to hold herself up at the coffee table to prove she's a big girl. All these activities are extremely exhausting, yet Tired doesn't seem to know that sleeping will make these activities seem easier b/c she'll be well rested. Tired has taken to sleeping for 1/2 hour periods during naptime & waking quite cheerful w/ no intention of going back to sleep, this however, leads Tired to become fatigued quite quickly shortly thereafter, much to our chagrin.

Then there's Sore. Sore somehow hurt her neck & shoulder a week ago doing who-knows-what. Despite visiting the chiropractor several times, Sore's shoulder is still... well, sore. This might be due to the fact that Tired has to be carried everywhere, & Sick also wants to be carried. Sore can also attest to the fact that when you're not feeling 100%, you just don't care about some things like looking nice, cooking dinner, & cleaning up.

Lastly, meet Sick. Sick has been sick off & on for almost a full month. He's had a cough for the duration, sometimes better, sometimes worse. Between colds & flus he has not been 100% for weeks. This has caused Sick to take wonderfully longs naps in the afternoons, perhaps making up for Tired's lack of sleep (if only it transferred like that). Sick's poor little nose has become quite raw from all the nose wiping & blowing so we've taken to putting diaper rash cream on it which seems to have helped. Sick constatly reminds us, "I'm not feeling very well," & requests to sit & read books in his bed which he was doing moments ago until he fell asleep.