Arriving at 14

And then he was 14 

 

2021 in a Letter

 

2021, what a year… we just rolled with it! 

2020 ended with Gloria getting Covid from her mom, Anita, on Christmas Eve taking Anita home from the hospital after her positive Covid test.  Thankfully they recovered without any major illness, but we had to have a socially distant Christmas here at the house and cancelled all our usual Christmas plans with the rest of the family.  We had a home plan in place in case anyone of us caught it and it worked. Neither Baylor nor I caught it from Gloria.  Her mom recovered at her home and had plenty of help there.  Both recovered by New Year though Gloria still issues with tastes and breathing difficulties. 

I am still working from home and Gloria is still working in person at the depot, so I guess this is our new normal.  Since I do not know when I will be going back to the office, I bought a desk and set it up in the dining room.  That just moved me off the dining table in the same room to the other side of the room.  But I have an office window and have it decorated with many plants, candles, a disco ball, and a rainbow prism.  It is quite nice. 

It finally happened; our son is a teenager as of November 16^th.  But backing up a few months, Baylor finished sixth grade going four days a week in person and one day working from home.   It worked out well enough though he said he preferred the two days in person, three days at home better.  Of course, he did.  The end of the school year came, and we all looked forward to the summer off.  

June was quiet, which lead into a tumultuous July and August.  The middle of July, Anita was taken to the hospital due to not feeling well and very high blood pressure.  She had several tests done to figure out what was causing it and experienced a mild stroke during one procedure. Her kidneys finally failed completely, and she was put on dialysis at the hospital.  After about two weeks in the hospital, she was moved to a rehab.  On August 14, she was released to our home which is where she will be staying for the foreseeable future.  She is not able to live alone in her condition and dialysis is only 6 miles from our house and would be 35 miles from her house.  It has been a shakeup in our lives but the right thing to do for family.  She has dialysis three days a week which is hard on her but has actually helped improve several of her other issues by taking the excess fluid off of her heart and lungs. 

With everything going on the end of July/early August, our planned camping vacation with my parents was cut a bit short for Baylor, his friend Kartikey, and myself.  But we made the best of the time we had playing in the lake and having as many fires as we could build.  We have plans for camping in June 2022 and I am looking forward to the new park we are heading to. 

Jake, Roxie and Grimm are all doing so well that we decided to add another cat to the mix to make it even boys and girls.  We brought Evelyn home the end of October and she is just a darling addition to the crew.  Not everyone is thrilled to have her, looking at you Grimm, but the rest of us are loving her up.

2020 in a Letter

 I said in March when I was picking up Baylor on his last day of in person school in fifth grade that it felt like we were in a movie. And nine months later, the cameras are still rolling! 

I was sent home to work from there the same day Baylor was released from school, March 13th. But before that, the year started out with Gloria’s mom living with us again, but this time because she broke bones in both feet the weekend before Christmas and could not be home alone to recover.  Gloria’s dad was moved to a rehab up closer to where they lived, but her mom was down here with us until March 11^th. Her dad came home March 17^th but sadly passed away May 1^st due to declining health issues. He was the local plumber and knew everyone, but due to the pandemic we were only allowed 10 people at the funeral.  Gloria’s mom has an amazing support network and is doing well staying at her home.  We see her as often as we can. 

We did go to the beach for a short vacation in June and ended up cancelling our usual camping trip with my parents because in February my dad started his 2020 journey of replacing both replacement knees twice!!!  He spent a lot of this year recovering from one surgery and preparing for the next one.  Thankfully, he was able to get them all done, the infections cleared up, and stayed away from catching covid-19 as he went in and out of hospitals and rehabs. 

I cannot believe I am going to say this, but I am thankful Baylor had his Xbox this year.  It was the main way he was able to talk to and interact with his friends since March.  The last months of school last year was a big change for everyone and understandably, schools were not prepared for teaching and learning from home.  This year, his first year of middle school, started out all virtually and in October, he moved to two days in person hybrid learning.  While it is still difficult to juggle everything, he is doing well.  We do not have an office in the house so we both share the dining table to work and learn from.  Gloria is looking at positions where she can also work from home so it will be a fun time at the table with all of us working together!!!  2020 was good for family time! The pets have really enjoyed us being home all the time and I wonder what they think on the rare occasion when they are left alone.

I am glad we will soon have 2020 behind us.  I don’t think any of us will forget it! Merry Everything, Happy Always and here’s to 2021!!

Baylor's 11th Birthdays

Baylor wanted a sleep over birthday this year so we planned it for November 2nd in hopes for good weather for the bounce house.  We decided to skip the Halloween party, which was a sad but good decision. But he still loves the bounce house so we had it for his birthday.  Which made him very happy.  

We invited Kartikey, Ryder, Landon and Zayden. Curtis and Carson were not able to join us so it was  a small group.  Halloween was postponed to the 2nd due to bad weather on the 31st. I thought going ToT would be a good way to break up the party. Unfortunately, it also broke up the friends because two of the did not come back afterwards.  But they had fun before we had to get ready. We had the Fortnight llama pinata, which I bought instead of stressing out making.  It did not last very long.  

We had a small cake, snacks and hot dogs for supper.  

But the best part was the bounce house.  They were on it the whole time.  

I was hanging out by the fire pit with other adults. It was our first fire and a rare time just sitting around talking to adults. With dogs wandering around and an adult beverage!! We burned the llama body

but the head was put on a pike to warn other llamas to stay away.  

Zayden left to get ready for Halloween and trick or treating with another friend.  Landon also left to get ready though we were going to his neighborhood to trick or treat. His mom was also going to be there and he wanted to spend some time with her before we went out.   The three remaining boys rakes leaves and had a good fall day in the leaves.  Tossing them 

And swinging into them. 

And hiding in them 

All dressed up and ready for candy.  Ryder was the T-Rex, cool but hard to walk in and see.  Landon was the Winter Soldier, Baylor was Agent 24 and Kartikey was a banana.  All good things. 

All the clothes were found at thrift stores, the gun was new and the briefcase was borrowed from Buddy.  A few older guys recognized who he was.  

After we were done trick or treating, I took the three boys back to our house.  They tried the bounce house but it was very cold so came inside and played Xbox and watched TV until they feel asleep.