How Are You Doing? Me, I’m a Hot Mess.

I didn’t get to post as much as I would’ve liked to for the month of March in honor of CP Awareness and I feel pretty bummed about that. However, I am sure things will come up through out the rest of the year that I can still share awareness about CP and living with disabilities in general. So I won’t beat myself up too much about it. Instead today I figured I would catch y’all up on what the Garcia Family has been up to while under quarantine. Going on day 21 today!

First before I get into my update I would like to start by saying that today I got some very sad news, one of my mentors and bosses while growing up passed away from Covid19. He was the head veterinarian and owner of an animal hospital, back in a Chicagoland suburb, that I worked at all through high school and college. He is the first person I knew personally to have passed from this awful virus and I am heartbroken for his family and the Niles Animal Hospital community. From what I understand is that he got ill and passed all within one week, that is terrifying to me. I truly do hope that more people start taking this more seriously and just stay home, peoples lives depend on it.

Actually that brings up something that I witnessed today. As I mentioned earlier today marks day 21 of being quarantined and in that time neither the kids or myself have been in a car ride out of the neighborhood. Rick has been out to pick up groceries but that’s about it. This afternoon we had an curbside grocery order to pick up in a neighboring town so we decided to pack the kids up and take them for a ride to get out of the house and hood, if even for about 30 min and only to stay in the car. I envisioned that since Austin is under strict lockdown orders that the roads would basically be clear. Nope! They were just as busy as any other day, where were all these people going? I don’t understand, not all these people were going to an ‘essential store’ or going to work. Maybe they too were just getting out for a ride, I hope that was the case.

Moving on! Let’s see what else have we been up to. Oh yah, homeschooling and working from home (both Rick and I). It’s been so much fun and I love every second of it… just kidding! I think the hardest part is seeing how kids are handling everything, because Ricky Bear has been much more emotional and whiny than usual. It took Rick and I a while to realize that this is how he is handling the stress and all the changes in our lives at the moment. It’s not easy, but I have been overly understanding of the kids behavior lately and am trying to be here to comfort them rather than reprimand them. I do loose my cool every so often as I am not perfect, but then once I regain my cool I try and explain to the kids that mommy is stressed and sad and that I am sorry for yelling. I hope they understand one day and at least they know mommy isn’t perfect.

With that said, I was also planning on being very strict about school time and having a particular schedule to follow from 8-3 each day. Well that plan is out the window and I am ok with it! I am not a teacher, and there is a reason I never became a teacher. Instead what is working better for everyone in our house is that I typically set the kids up with a few things to work on throughout the day. If they start to fight it or argue or cry, we move on to something else. There is no need for them to be stressed and upset, because then that just adds more friction to the house that we don’t need. Rick and I have also added new items to their curriculum like Spanish lessons with dad and Sign Language classes with mom. Other ways the kids are staying busy and still learning (without knowing it) is that I have Ricky Bear read to Grace. This week he has been reading Matilda and White Fang to Grace, this has been keeping the two of them busy for a couple hours a day. HUGE win for mom {high five}! It’s certainly not easy, but we are starting to find a new groove that is working ok for our family. I hope everyone else has fallen into their new groove too, if not yet then soon.

Oh and can we just touch base on the fact of how much food these kids have been eating the past 21 days! Seriously it’s like snacks on snacks on snacks. Don’t get me wrong, I am also doing my part of gaining the (Covid)19lbs for sure, but shoot these kids and their food. However, the kids just found the stash of Halloween candy I had hidden yesterday and today I didn’t get as many snack requests 🤔I’m actually just gonna pretend like I don’t know, the lack of requests today was pretty nice.

Olivia update: She has been enjoying getting to sleep in, playing more with brother and sister, and absolutely loving the swing time she is getting in our backyard. I believe that Olivia has been signing Mommy and Good Night to me each night, I will need to get this on video to prove it! Knowing how much she loves car rides, we may need to take more family car rides just to get out for a bit.

Gracie update: She thinks school (aka homeschool) is boring! She can now sing her ABCs but is still learning letter recognition at her own pace. She loves when Ricky Bear reads to her and she is now sleeping in her own bed (for the most part). Gracie is also super creative. For example yesterday she told me I was a french fry, daddy was a hamburger 😂, she was a chicken nugget, Olivia was sweet n sour sauce and Ricky Bear was the toy. I think she is missing McDonalds, a lot!

Ricky Bear update: He has been uber emotional and I feel so bad for him as I know his little heart just doesn’t understand what is going on. I am very proud of him for his reading skills and writing skills he has been working on. He is also practicing one of one with dad each day and it is great quality time for the both of them.

My update: I am trying to focus my energy on work as I feel like I am pretty good under pressure and with coming up with good ideas. I also think it has been a good outlet for me to be able to focus my time on and escape the reality of my ‘new’ life, which more resembles Groundhog Day. I may look like I have my sh*t together, but on the inside I am hot a mess. I know I am on the brink of breaking though because the other day I watched that video from John Krasinski and his new series ‘Some Good News’ (if you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend it) and I started to get teary eyed. I knew then that I am an emotional ticking time bomb and it will be coming soon. Sorry Rick! On a positive note, I think Rick finally understands why I always have a glass a wine in my hand when he gets home from work! For now though I will continue to be strong for my family, keep them healthy and safe, keep the house clean and continue to focus on work as it helps keep me grounded.

Hope everyone stays safe, healthy and distant! Also, please keep the Sakas Family in your thoughts and prayers.