For President’s Week 2023, we did not have any travel plan, so we had thought about a few things we would be doing locally plus Logan was given a few school projects to do as well.  But the week did not start well, Connor came home with a sore throat after school on Friday and proceeded with a low grade fever and a runny nose later.  With that, we had to cancel his invitation to a sleepover for Sunday night.  Connor’s symptoms stayed mild and fever resolved in a day, so somehow we did not check a COVID test like we normally would. The weekend proceeded well doing things at home to let Connor recover.

     On Monday, I started feeling like I had a seasonal allergy attack coming on, sneezing and itchy eyes and nose. I still proceeded to cut the boys’ hair as we agreed.  That late afternoon I started feeling cold, and tiredness by the evening, so I went to bed early and suggested Stuart staying in the guest room just in case.  I woke up Tuesday morning still feeling under the weather, so I decided to take a COVID test, and lo and behold, it was positive.  Stuart had left to the office just an hour ago then; after the news, he returned home. He performed tests on all three of them, and they were all negative.  Since then on, I isolated myself n my room, and Stuart took care of all of us. Connor also helped me by asking often what I needed, and brought things or food to me to the door.  Once he even wrote me a sweet Get Well Soon note along with it.

     This was definitely one of the few very bad colds that I ever had.  On the first day or two, I had chill and fever, and very bad muscle aches that hurt most at my tennis elbow, that I had to take “around the clock” meds in order to stay decent comfort. Another day came brought sore throat, congestion, headache, short of breath, and later coughing.  The nights were hard as I could not stay asleep.  Later Stuart got me a humidifier that I could stay away from any more decongestants as it was making me jittery at night. My appetite was poor and the thoughts of food was making me nausea. I was lucky to have a big room, I could look out the window, but I missed seeing the kids and I could only text to check on them.  We also heard that dogs can get Covid too, so I could not have Buddy visit or lay with me.

   Because of my COVID, we decided to cancelled the planned volunteering Logan had with Maxim at Second Harvest on Tuesday and the farm one with Mckayla on Thursday.  Since Michelle learned about my illness, she made us a huge portion of chicken noodle soup and a loaf of bread, and drove all the way to drop off for us. We all really appreciated her kind gesture and enjoyed it for dinner.

    Sad news came on Thursday when Logan asked Stuart to test him as he had a sore throat.  Unfortunately Logan’s test turned positive, so he stayed in his room.  He later had some running nose and a low grade fever.  Logan stayed strong, often told us that he was not feeling too bad.  Both Connor and Stuart remained negative.  By Friday, Stuart felt tired and it was his turn to get a positive test.  Connor’s test remained negative. Stuart just needed some rest, so he spent some time in bed to recuperate.

    We truly do have a suspicion that Connor might have been Patient Zero.  We don’t want to be completely careless though, so we decided that we could come out of our rooms if needed and just wear masks in the common areas.  By Friday I felt just slightly better; it was good to be able to walk out to the rest of the house occasionally and helped out by making simple meals to relief Stuart to let him rest. I finally had a better sleep Friday night and was able to get three small meals in on Saturday.

    Today on Sunday will be the day where we will start testing the boys.  We hope Logan will not miss too much school.  I also know that I have a packed busy work week ahead of me after one week of vacation; I am not looking forward to how I will attack it.  This is a definitely a week that we will not forget.

    Connor had his appointment on 2/16/23 to finally start his Invisalign treatment.  It was a very busy work day for me, so Stuart took Connor to the appointment after school.  The appointment was supposed to be 45 mins, but Stuart got called back much sooner.  They gave Connor and Stuart the instruction how to successfully wear it.  Connor took everything to heart; since then, he has been very responsible wearing it all day, taking it off before eating and putting it back shortly after brushing.  Stuart installed the app to Connor’s phone, so it will help remind him to switch to the next set every two weeks.  Even though it has only been one week, it looks like Connor is doing well with Invisalign, so likely he will not require switching to traditional braces.  Great job Connor!

    With the major rain we had these days, our backyard patch of grass (or lack of grass) had become a big messy puddle.  So we have decided to change it to an artificial grass.  I asked for a couple of quotes last week; very quickly the project has begun.  It took them a whole day yesterday to remove the dirt, place a cover and add gravel.  Today they leveled the gravel some more, then placed and nailed down the turf.  They will finish the final touches tomorrow.  Can’t wait to teach Buddy how to use that area again very soon.

Buddy turned 4 on 1/25/23.  I took him for a longer walk in the morning and came home for a PB snack afterward.  He received a big bone that he liked.  I also made some cupcakes for us and for Buddy too; we all enjoyed one in the evening to celebrate our baby boy turning 4. 

   It was nice to have CNY on a Sunday this year, so we could do a nice clean up of the house on the eve and went out for a dinner that night.  We ordered quite a big meal; somehow we all had a great appetite and enjoyed every bit of the yummy dinner.  The day was a good way to get ready for Lunar New Year.

    The day before my birthday, we all went out to shop me a present; I always love walking around the mall with the family.  I was lucky to share the date with Martin Luther King this year, so all of us had a day off to hang with me.  I initially wanted to eat at Fogo, but I made a mistake not making a reservation, so we had to move to plan B, Korean food, instead.  Since the rain actually stopped on that day, we could take a short walk around Santana Row first.  We had not had Korean food for awhile, we all enjoyed the meal, stuffed ourselves with the yummy meats and side dishes.  In the evening, we had a chocolate cake to wrap up a nice long weekend for me.