Chronicles of a Quarantined Mom

“Mom, I’m Hungry”

“Mom, I’m bored”

“MOOOOOOOOOOOM”

If you have children, these are probably some of the “quarantine cries” you have heard as of late.

If anyone ever told me that I would live to see a global pandemic, I would tell them they were out of their minds. It would never happen. The “zombie apocalypse” would never be a part of my life.. and yet, here we are. Schools are closed, workplaces are closed, you’re limited on how many people you can be around and where you can go and when. The government is now controlling every aspect of our lives “for our own safety”.

Do not get me wrong, I believe in social distancing, I believe in the principles set out by the WHO, I believe in guidelines and the “new normal”. But guys, I’m crying here. I miss, life. I’m sure many of us do and many of us are getting antsy, anxiety, and depressed as a result of this “new norm”.

I have no advice, I only have my outlet to talk about days passed and forever FOMO over events passed. I miss seeing family, I miss seeing friends, I miss going to my favourite shopping outlets at random times, and packing all of my kids into the car to venture out into the world and experience the small things that life has to offer.

My Sunday Fundays at The Forks have long since passed, my weekend trips to “walk through IKEA and dream” are long gone (although they did open the local IKEA here recently), and my trips to spin/gym have come to a screeching halt. I wonder where all the “little things” in life I once loved to do are now. I always wanted to show my kids experiences. I thought experiences > objects so they could appreciate time together. Now we have all the time together in the world and what we would all really love to do, is spend a little time apart.

It’s funny though, in February I went back to work and I longed for the days that I was at home with Jasper and wishing that I could spend a little more time with him. My wish came true. I was able to spend a bit more time with him and now have a stage-5 clinger that won’t even let me leave a room. I want to say I hate it, but I do love it. I love being “Mom, the fixer of all things” for this little guy. Every cry can be consoled by me. I really wouldn’t have that any other way.

Kato cried the other day, not just cried, he bawled. He was unconsolable and broke down in some of the heaviest tears I’ve seen. He missed his friends. He missed the playground at school. My boy, who hates going to daycare and to school, was crying because he missed school that much. I see the mental and emotional toll this pandemic has on my children and my heart aches for them. I hate that they have to live through this because I just don’t think it’s fair. The world took something away from them that they will never get back, he will never get Grade 1 back. I know it’s only grade 1 but some of my fondest memories in life happened in grade 1. He repeatedly tells me “I hate the coronavirus”. Me too bud, me too.

Aiden is my beacon of hope. He is such a survivor during this time. He can’t wait to see a better future and be prepared for it. “Mom, can we go for a run” <– That is his line to me almost every day. He wants to stay active and healthy. “I don’t want to be chubby going back to school”. I love it. He’s going into his teens and he has so much poise. He accepts the things he cannot change today, and looks forward to tomorrow. He is what I want to be. It’s crazy, to be so inspired by a child. I love being so inspired by my own children.

This quarantine challenges my relationship, daily. TJ is still working, days and nights. He is doing everything he can to provide and I am a bit of a brat. LOL. I have my own internal struggle, I haven’t found a fix for all the stress and anxiety I have over being so cooped up. He’s my emotional punching bag. Kudos to him. He takes it in stride. I even have my own new nickname “Miss Grumpy Pants”. I’m not even mad about it. It’s still cute.

So here’s what I’m doing to try to manage through this “new norm”:

1.) Exercise – I’m going for daily runs with Aiden. When I get a bit more of my energy back, I’m going to start more at home work-outs. I need all the endorphins I can get at this point. On days that we don’t do runs, we do home workouts. It’s cute to workout with the boys.

2.) Plants – I don’t know what it is about all the plant I have, but they bring me so much joy. There is so much life in a home with plants. My plants are my other babies. They make my space cozier every day. Consider me the crazy plant lady.

3.) People – I have a small group of ladies I speak to daily. They are like a lifeline out of this house. If you don’t have “people”, I hope you have a person that does this for you. I have my small crowd and it’s like hearing about another’s person’s life helps to bring you out of your four walls.

4.) Find one thing that brings you joy and do it every day. One thing, just do one thing! I have kids and everyday we do one thing. I don’t even care if the kids get a little bit of screen time every day, it’s their one thing that they can just do and forget that the rest of this BS is going on in the world.

I would love to hear how you are managing through this difficult time. Comment below and let me know what helps you, or shoot me a DM on something you think might help me, I’d love to hear it!