Last Updated on 25 January 2021 by Colette
Week 3 saw us getting into our groove a bit more with Lockdown – we’ve got a bit more of a routine and we know who is supposed to be where and when! The first couple of weeks felt really stressful while we got to grips with me being in work three days a week, when the kids should go to school and how Dave would manage home learning on the days I wasn’t there. But I think we’re sorted now and we’re feeling a bit more settled. That’s not to say we like being locked down or are enjoying it, just that we’ve reached a place of acceptance I suppose.
Mondays are Dave’s day in the office – which in all honesty is quite nice. I love the man to pieces but we have never spent so much time in each other’s company so having a day where there’s just one less person in the house is quite nice! Ben has PE on a Monday morning so we’ve taken to sacking off his PE lesson in favour of taking Poppy for a walk (sorry to Ben’s PE teacher but I’m hoping he’d agree that an hour or so’s walk in the fresh air is far better for him than an online workout!) We had such a lovely walk – Amy taught Ben and Chloe how to wave to lorry drivers and signal to them to sound their horn which they all thought was hilarious. Funny how such a little thing can bring so much joy – they loved that it was making the drivers smile too so we talked about how the lorry drivers were smiling because they had made the kids smile, but that the kids were also smiling because they had made the lorry drivers smile – and what a lovely circle that was. Our walk was especially exciting as we discovered two new highland cows in our local country park so you can imagine just how happy Amy was with that!
Tuesday was a struggle. An all out flat and miserable day. I don’t know why. I just couldn’t get to grips with anything, my mood was low, my concentration not much better and my motivation non-existent so I just sat and did my cross stitch whilst the kids worked. I even took myself off to bed for a nap in the afternoon which really helped.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday passed in a blur of work for me. The kids were in school on Wednesday and Thursday, Ben had his first in-school Covid test (negative thankfully) and a wellbeing meeting with his form tutor which he seemed to enjoy – he said it was nice to be able to see him face to face. I had a phone call from Ben’s English teacher on Wednesday about the fact that Ben doesn’t seem to be doing as well as he’d like – which I think is part laziness, part him struggling to get to grips with exactly what’s expected of him now he’s started secondary school and part him really finding it hard to engage properly with his online learning. It’s super frustrating but I’m really glad that school have picked up on it as I spent a good chunk of Tuesday night worrying about Ben not doing as well at school as he should be – so I’m glad that they are aware of it too and are working on it! He, like most children, just needs to be back in school. Knowing that we’ve likely got another half term of this to go is heart breaking.
Typically we get ourselves up and out for a walk on a Saturday morning however I’d foolishly arranged for the shopping delivery to come early doors (I thought I’d booked it for Sunday!) so we had to wait to get that in and sorted before we could go out. It snowed heavily while we were out walking which was beautiful and made the walk more interesting, unfortunately it didn’t settle so we’ve still not really had any snow to play in! I did enjoy taking photos though.
Ben and Dave did some baking on Saturday afternoon – he’s got into the routine of the kids taking it in turns to choose a recipe and baking it with them each weekend. Ben had actually found his recipe on TikTok of all places but it was an out and out win so we definitely recommend this Biscoff Cookie Pie recipe – it’s just as delicious hot as it is cold and the boys will absolutely be making it again. We had a good old natter with Mum, Dad and Nic in the afternoon too – Nic is bubbled up with them so they were all together which meant it was nice to be able to chat to them all at once but I really really really wanted to just be sat there with them too!
Sunday morning saw both boys do an hour’s spinning class on the turbo trainer while I took the girls to church. Amy was super excited to see Erin at church – it breaks my heart that the highlight of her week is sitting two pews apart from her best friend for 45 minutes.
We had planned to go for a bit of a walk after lunch but thanks to heavy period pain I just couldn’t be bothered. Amy and I ended up completely emptying the cupboard under the stairs and making everyone try on various pairs of shoes and coats before putting it all back neatly – I can guarantee this will last about 24 hours before someone chucks their shoes back on the floor.
Dave launched a house shaped curve ball at me on Saturday afternoon which I then spent 24 hours trying to decide whether to dodge it or catch it! We did a bit of research, went for a reccy on Sunday and have since dropped it after we chucked it to my Dad for his thoughts. As someone who likes to plan, isn’t particularly patient and likes instant action on decisions, it stressed me out a bit but it added a little interest to the weekend.
