Christmas and a discombobulated start to 2020!

Yesterday marked 2 weeks since the first of our family fell ill! It was Christmas Eve and Alida woke up only to throw up minutes later. She was washed out most of the day, fevered and mostly laid around while the holiday hubbub happened around her. We all felt so bad that she was sick when the holiday fun was getting underway. Little did we know!

Christmas morning she was up and perky and seeming more or less back to normal - that gal is robust! We enjoyed a relaxed day just the five of us, opening stockings, putting a puzzle together, making a Christmas brunch, playing games, etc... It touched me once again how Alida had bought a chocolate bar for Nora's stocking and also put in an orange heart she had made. She is always sure to include her. I'm so grateful how having Nora's stocking up with all of ours brings her up in conversation many times around the holidays, especially with Terah. So it was a special day but at various points I just noted that I was feeling a tad off. The Christmas treats weren't tasting quite as good, and initially I just tacked it up to having too many of them. But by evening it was clear that I was not completely well. Everyone else seemed ok...so far!

Long story short, I spent the next two days doing more or less nothing - other than trying to stay comfortable. Then Terah got sick. Then Jason got sick. This happened right at the time that Jason's entire family was coming to Ktown for the Benner Christmas. There was no chance they wanted to be in our home! I felt so bad that we took at trip to MedExpress where they loaded me up on medications, but didn't even test for the flu. In the end, after a consult with a doctor friend, it seems very possible that we actually had the flu, despite all having gotten flu shots for the first time in years. In short, it was miserable!

Kali and Alida were well and would shower, put clean clothes on and go join the Benner family fun. Jason, Terah and I were at home hacking and fevered and almost feeling too bad to even feel sorry for ourselves for missing out on the fun. Then we had a 24 hour period with no fevers and, while still coughing, were feeling up for family time. So we joined for one evening and the following day. Many games of Dutch Blitz, a walk up the hill, reading stories, eating together, and no doubt sharing a concoction of germs from the various colds and illnesses that were present in the house.

By the time Benners left and we were ringing in the New Year, Terah was sick again - high fevers, washed out, complaining of her belly (and sometimes throwing up), coughing, snotting, etc... (you get the picture). And then Kali got sick. So 5 for 5! Kali mostly just laid around and read and didn't require much parental attention - Terah had most of my attention and worry! And so it was not until yesterday that we had a fever-free day and a day without complaints of her tummy hurting. We even took a snow walk to friends last evening but by 8 p.m. she was begging for home and bed. So she is still on the mend but much better!

So the long dreamed of and awaited holiday break for rejuvenation and rest included a lot of laying around but not exactly the kind that feels all that rejuvenating! It was really the most discombobulating illness I can remember having - I don't remember being so sick since I was a kid. The whole world felt like a different place and I wasn't sure how to make sense of it. I found myself thinking so much of friends who have dealt with/are dealing with chronic pain and illnesses. I clearly would need some new tools and resources for managing life with that over the long term - as the two weeks that just passed felt incredibly long!

We did insert a few bursts of productivity, trying to feel some semblance of normalcy and also trying to make little strides in our winter project list. That included going through all our shoes and developing some new patterns of shoe storage, as well as purging our collection. This may seem like a small task but it is one of those with profound impacts in the day to day!!! That got the "cleaning/organizing bug" in full swing and so we did tackle the attic deep clean. That probably added to my discombobulation as the attic is where so many sentimental items were tucked away and the hardest kind to go through and decide what to keep and what to part with. 

This past Sunday came after days of not doing all that much and it was a beautiful day out. Jason and I felt like the most Sabbath-like thing we could do was work together on something outside. We ended up stripping old bean vines off trellises, moving around trellises for the new growing season coming and worked on some winter cut back. Jason also got to weave Terah's turtle shell together and the top comes together now!! Oh, and Jason planted onion seeds so I guess that means the 2020 gardening season is officially underway!

And now here we are at January 8th! Yesterday it snowed and in addition to a beautiful coating on the world outside, we decided to work towards a fresh start inside our home too. While the girls played out in the snow, Jason and I cleaned our house together. It needed it! And it was an act of faith to roll up the sleeping bag Jason had been using for many nights in the living room and to attempt a germ-purge of our home. We said it was our day to get "re-combobulated." Time will tell if it worked but it felt very good to do and I felt more "normal" than I had for some time at the day's end! I'm sure hoping we all can fully mend and stay healthy for awhile! It's a gorgeous sunny day and I have a feeling there is some sledding with friends in our future!