May 2020 Catch Up

Hello!

Checking back in with another catch up, 60 (!) days into our quarantine. How are you doing?

Holy smokes. If anyone had told me on day 5 that we would make it (with our sanity somewhat intact) to day 60, I might not have believed them.

April (and early May) were fairly uneventful, yet unrelentingly busy at the same time (people with young kids, you feel me!).

What we're eating

With the kids home 24/7, I gave up pretty quickly on the idea of creating any new content or doing any videos; luckily we got ahead for when we were supposed to be moving, so I had a lot of content saved up.

Instead of worrying about blog content, instead I've been working hard on a meal prep plan. Actually I've been working on it since October 2019, but it's sooooo involved with testing it all out.

The premise: spend 1-2 hours on the weekend prepping 4 dinners ahead for the week. I have loved testing the meal plan out, and it has really reduced our meal time stress. I can't wait to share the meal plan with you later this year.

Other than that, I've kept up meal prepping our breakfasts and a few small snacks for the kids.

We've also started a 4pm veggie tray tradition: I am always so hungry at 4 pm and often reach for tortilla chips. This way I figure if I am spoiling my dinner, at least it's with veggies.

Kids

The kids are such troopers. They've had their moments (haven't we all?), but for the most part, they've done incredibly well adapting to all of this.

I love spending extra time with them and cherish those small moments. I spend my mornings playing with Zephie in the basement building LEGO towers while Kai does homeschooling with Ben.

Kai and I have been reading through the Roald Dahl box set and I'm so glad I bought it! I haven't read many of them and it's one of my favorite things we've done all of quarantine. We are on The Witches right now and he begs me to read 'just one more chapter'.

I would be lying if I said it was all sunshine and rainbows. Since my kids are still young (2 and 6), it's hard for an introvert to get much needed time alone. My kids are still in the follow-mom-everywhere-she-goes phase and it can even be hard to have a bathroom break without someone pounding on the door asking where I am!

I feel my introvert battery maxed out right now, and the prospect of childcare next week is making me very very happy. I will sit in silence and relish it.

Birthday + Mother's Day

Sunday was Mother's Day and Monday was my birthday! It's hard on Ben to plan a double-whammy of celebrations, especially during a pandemic, but he did great!

The boys brought me breakfast in bed on Mother's Day, and we had sushi + a birthday scavenger hunt on my birthday. It was fun, and Kai was so thoughtful...he made birthday signs and put them all over the house (including in the fridge!)

Mother's Day I sat in bed all afternoon recharging my battery and it was pure bliss. Absolutely what my soul needed.

New habits

I've been going through some rough stuff through this quarantine, working through some issues my site was having with Google. I watched my search traffic drop lower day after day, and felt helpless and very worried.

My blog earns income from ad revenue, which is dependent on page views, (ad revenue also is way down because advertisers are being very cautious through the pandemic). Watching my business and my family's livelihood spiral like this was actually more stressful than the pandemic itself.

I knew I had to do something to change my thoughts because I was unable to focus on anything through the day except this problem that I was already doing my best at fixing. My business coach suggested two books that helped me so much:

• The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks
• The Surrender Experiment by Michael A Singer

Both of these books were exactly what I needed to read during this extremely stressful time, and helped me so much on refocussing my thoughts.

In addition to this, I took up meditation, which is never something I thought I'd be into. I use the Headspace app and do 10 minutes in the morning or right before bed. I've also started doing 1-2 minutes before writing and have never felt so focussed in my life!

I also started back up with my Five Minute Journal (a gratitude journal). I write in it first thing when I get up and right before bed. It really does help you reflect on your day and remember those small moments of happiness.

Putting all of this together helped my mindset SO MUCH. I felt calmer, at peace, and...happy! I know it sounds crazy, but altogether I have felt so happy since I started working on my mindset.

I will absolutely continue to focus on identifying damaging thought patterns, my inner peace, and my happiness even after the pandemic is over.

And guess what? Two weeks after I started working on my mindset, my Google troubles seem to have been resolved. Traffic is climbing back up. Halleluja!

What else?

What else. Hmm. All I can think of right now is that we have day care for one child starting next week. I am dying to get back to a tiny bit of 'normal'. I know it won't be 'normal' normal for a long time, but just to have a break, that is what Ben and I both need desperately right now.

We have been thinking about our plans to move to Victoria but it's impossible to plan because we don't know when travel restrictions will be lifted. We had hoped to move in the summer so Kai wouldn't have to transfer in mid-semester. Now we have no idea when we might be able to buy/sell/move.

I'm trying to think of it like this: the universe has plans for us, and we will find our perfect house in Victoria and move there when it is the right time for us.

I truly feel that we will all look back on this time in our lives and think 'wow, that was HARD'. But guess what? WE DID IT.

I hope you are well, that you are safe, and that you are happy.

Take care, friend!