Sarah Gets COVID-19 and the end of 2020

After Christmas I sorted all my seeds. Yeah, I have a problem. I'm well aware of it.

Since the kids have been out of school I make them drink a green smoothie every day. Amy is always the last one to do this.

 And we played "Hop on Mom" or "Everyone (including the dog) on the Couch: many times over.

One day we found Tyler asleep. We asked him about it and he said, "Well, everyone else was asleep, so I thought "I'll just do it too." haha.

Sweet boy reading his scriptures.

Marty always wanting to go out. (But when he's out, he always wants to come in.)

 

At this point the rest of 2020 takes a little turn for us. In the above pictures where everyone was piled on top of me? Well, I hadn't been feeling well. I sat on the couch all day and took naps and read 3 books in 2 days. But I drank my vitamin C and rested as much as I could. I felt a little better each day, I could tell I was sick, but it was more like a "I'm on the mend" type feeling. On the 28th, Lee took Amy to the movies and I took the boys to Nachos. It was at Nachos that I realized I couldn't taste the salsa. I kept taking chip after chip fulls of salsa and could not taste it. "Oh no!" I thought. Once we got home I looked for anything with a strong smell. Peppermint Oil- couldn't smell it. Bleach- couldn't smell it. It is such a wild feeling not being able to smell or taste. When Lee and Amy got home from the movies I said, "I think we have a problem...." 

I quarantined myself upstairs and things took a turn for the worst. I had a fever. I had a ton of congestion. My eyelids felt heavy. I was exhausted. It wasn't good. The next day Lee took me to get a COVID test (I actually refused convinced it wasn't really COVID.) My doctor said she had just recovered from it and had lost her taste on Day 8. So using that time-line I actually had it the entire week before. We got the results the next day and the doctor said it was definitely positive. He said to take 5000 IU's of Vitamin D. Mucinex to keep the mucus moving (so I wouldn't get pneumonia as well) and the usual rest, fluids and tylenol.  

Aside from congestion (In 4 days I went through a box of kleenex and 6 rolls of toilet paper) I had the most trouble with fever. It was consistently 102-103. I would take Tylenol and after an hour it wouldn't only be at 101. It took forever to get them down. And then they would spike again. It was really frustrating. But I stayed upstairs, slept and watched tv. Because my eyelids hurt, it was easiest to just leave the tv on and listen to it as opposed to actually watching anything. Lee would bring me food but I couldn't taste it so I didn't really care. 

We all know how much I love New Years, but obviously we couldn't celebrate in the way I would have liked. When I woke up on January 1st I was all sweaty and I consider it a New Years miracle because that meant my fever finally broke! Hallelujah!! See? New Years is a magical time :) From then on I got better. I still had congestion and a little dry cough, but for the most part life got back to normal. 

So that's my COVID-19 story. No one else got it, which was shocking given they were all hanging on top of me the entire week before I knew I had it. (Again, see photos above.) And I guess if you are going to get it, the week between Christmas and New Years was the time to do it. Everything is kind of shut down anyway, nothing had to be cancelled, no one was going anywhere. So timing wise- it was perfect. To be honest, I'm glad I've had it and can move on with life. It was bad but I don't know if its bad enough for all the fear everyone has put into it. For someone with preexisting conditions- yes it can be bad. But for those that are reasonably healthy, it was like a bad flu. Granted the lack of taste or smell was really weird- isn't that the weirdest side effect?? That took about a week to come back and it came back gradually. 

So Happy New year! Let's see what 2021 brings us! (I'm almost afraid to find out!)

Christmas Day 2020

The kids had a fun Christmas. It was pretty low-key but that's how we all like it. As they get older it's getting harder for Santa to come up with great gifts. Santa may have to start bringing us plane tickets for a fun trip instead!

 

Tyler is very into Beyblades right now and he got a few that he's been eyeing. He got a few action figures that he didn't have as well. Amy, as a true teenager is into clothes and makeup. She got a big makeup kit and the picture below cracks me up because she's rubbing the sponges on her face. She loves how squishy they are. She's so funny and this was one of those pictures that was taken at just the right time. 

We had a Christmas miracle when we woke up to snow! I know it isn't much, but it is to us!

Will was the hardest one for Santa this year. He finally decided on a BeBe Gun. Yes, you read that correctly. Will loved it, but when he tried to shoot, he was little scared. So he hasn't done it very much. Amy, on the other hand, loves shooting it. And with her archery training- she's able to aim and do really well.

Nagel family tradition!

Lee got a 3D lego set of London. He enlisted Amy to help him build it.

 Merry Christmas everyone!! 

Christmas Adam and Christmas Eve

Christmas Adam (Dec 23rd) brought the playing of a game called Sushi Go. It was sent to us by my friend Katherine and we have loved it. It's simple, fast and everyone loves it. This is also the night the boys get to sleep under the Christmas Tree. Well, Tyler was the only one who slept under it. Will slept on the couch and Amy preferred her bed.

Christmas Eve brought the most sought after day of the year for Tyler. The day he gets to play with the elves. I don't think any child has loved elves more than this child. From eyes opening in the morning, until eyes closed that night- he has the elves next to him. 

We did our annual hot chocolate tasting. We had 13 contenders this year.

The winner was actually this Irish Cream one I found in NY last year. But the usual Swiss Miss and Kroger version of it were as usual in the lineup.

We laughed that Santa (on the Norad tracker) was wearing a mask. How 2020.

We had our usual Christmas Eve dinner. Turkey and this year brussell sprouts because that's what our kids love.

We let them open one gift and they all chose the "big" one from Granny.

They were all a little shocked my the diaper boxes. Tyler's face cracks me up.

They all got hooded sherpa blankets. Which may just have been the best gift this year. They wear them all the time.

It looks like Santa came!

He even blocked them in to divert any early morning peekers......

Countdown to Christimas Fun

 I like to try and take the last few days before Christmas to just do fun things around here. It rarely works out that way, but I do try. 

We started by making some dinner to go bags. Everyone grabbed a bag and we drove around looking at Christmas lights. Everyone may be smiling in the photo but truth be told.... Will was mad we weren't 'eating out' (his favorite past time) and Amy being a semi-moody teenager, wasn't thrilled about it either. But Lee, Tyler and myself enjoyed the trip.

 

 

The next day we had a Soda taste test. They had to drink it and guess the flavor. Making them taste things I know are going to be gross is one of my favorite things to do. I'm evil like that. There were a few doozies.

The flavors I made them try were: Cream Soda, Bacon (which they all got right away even though it was disgusting), Birthday Cake, Dirt, Root Beer, Cotton Candy, Cinnamon Red Hots and Green Apple.) They were able to guess most of them. I think Lee had the most right.... his answers were hilarious though. Unfortunately I probably can't post them. 

At this point, the kids had half a week of school left. But then they shut it down and went to distance learning for the last 3 days. That worked for the most part, but was stressful in other ways. One child in particular wasn't really "on board" with this whole process. But that's ok, we got through it. The "use pots and pans to make your own music" assignment from the music teacher was a particular favorite. (insert eye roll.)

On the 2nd day of at-home school, Tyler got sick. A few days later it was Amy, and then myself. We are still struggling through that. It's not COVID, but just a really bad cold. We are ready for it to be over. 

In the meantime, a friend send the cutest package. She's so creative. I took pictures so I could remember. This one was Chinese themed.

The 'magic' fortune cookies had $2 bills in them. It was so cute! And we've been playing the Sushi Go game almost daily.

Our history loving boy, Will, loved seeing the back of the $2 bill which is a picture of the guys signing the Declaration of Independence.

 

 

Speaking of history.... I should also mention that before the kids school was cancelled, they had a spirit week set up. One of the dress-up days was "Decade Day." Tyler wanted to dress in 80's clothing- which was great. (This kid loves a vest!) And Will.... well, he wanted to dress-up like a Revolutionary War hero. Yep, you read that right. His "decade" was around 1770. I was scrambling on how in the world to come up with THAT costume in December. I have to say, when we got the call that school was cancelled the first thing I said was "Thank you COVID." It certainly made my life a lot easier! But I do love that he loves history. Maybe next October I should start stocking up on costumes???

I can't remember why Lee was being silly. But it makes us all laugh when he is.

We had a family Christmas zoom call. It was fun to see most all of the family.

 

 

We went outside to look at the Christmas Star (aka Jupiter and Saturn) it was pretty cool. 

Our sweet neighbor Bob made these cool kaleidoscopes for the kids. And out of the prettiest wood! It was really special.

And we'll leave this post with photos of everyone sitting on sick mom. Two days down is about all they can handle. The dog licking Amy's face grosses me out but cracks me up at the same time.