Outbreak

 So August started off with the family reunion. I'm going to be honest, I had a bit of a bad feeling about it from the beginning. It wasn't like a spiritual, hey-something-bad-is-going-to-happen feeling, more like me just not wanting to go! And I was a bit trepidatious of us being in such a crowded location. But I wasn't really worried about COVID. I thought, Eric and I are vaccinated and the kids will probably be fine, so I didn't give COVID too much thought. But when we walked in and saw the massive hoards of people and none of them wearing masks and completely ignoring the signs that asked non-vaccinated people to wear masks, it did make me a bit uneasy. A bit, but not enough for us to peace out and skip the reunion or anything! So we stayed. And as far as actually spending time with Eric's family went it actually was a little better than I expected. As expected, we didn't see much of Mike and Kristie's or Joseph and Erin's families except during our scheduled family times on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. But we did see a bit more of Carma and Travis and Blake and Shannon and their kids than I expected. And we got to spend a fair amount of time with Greta and Matt and their kids and Matthew and Valerie and Silva. And Emma floated around and made sure she spent some time with everyone. Overall, it was actually alright. I didn't as hot or stressed as I was worried that I would. And the kids had a BLAST. Emery LOVED the water park and would have kept going down those little slides with Maren and Silva forever I think. And Levi had a great time doing magic quest with his cousins. And the family nights were nice. The first night, we did a little family history activity where Papi had spray-painted PVC pipes brown and gave each of us "branches" to write our names on and together we literally built our family tree. That was pretty cool. And the next night Joseph and Erin were awesome and put together Seran Wrap balls for us again and, like last time, it was absolutely hilarious and a really good time. That was probably my favorite night of the reunion. We also spent some time Thursday morning doing a service project together as a family picking up trash at a park in Grapevine near the water park. That was a nice addition to the reunion I think, although it was awfully hot out there and honestly we didn't last super long. But we did get a lot of trash picked up with all 30+ of us working on it. 

I love that Emery and Silva are holding hands in this picture! 

I love that we were able to get a pretty good shot of Papi and Nona with all of their beautiful grandchildren! 

Emery and Jonathan

Levi was so excited about winning lots of tickets at the arcade. 

Emma was definitely a favorite with the littles. It was so cute to watch them all swarm and tackle her! 

Emery doing morning yoga in the lobby

Emery and Maren probably went down this yellow slide together at least 20 times. 

So no real smiles but these girls are still such cute cousins! Rachel, Maren, Emery and Silva

Levi had fun doing the ropes course with his dad and older cousins. 

Seran Wrap ball fun! 

Emery was all about being passed around and sitting on everyone's laps! Here she's with her cousin Katie and Silva.

Anyway, so the family reunion was good. The kids had a great time and got to be with their cousins and that was what was most important to me. But then, Monday morning, we got a text from Joseph that both he and Erin tested positive for COVID. And from then on, we all started dropping like flies. Carma and Travis' family came down with it, Blake and Shannon's family tested positive, Emma got it, Nona felt symptoms, Matt and Greta's whole family got it and we got it. Eric and I tested ourselves and the kids on Monday night with OTC antigen tests and all came back negative so we went to meet the teacher night that night at Levi's school and met his new kindergarten teacher. But the next morning Eric started having a cough and feeling really tired. He started wearing a mask at home and we had him sleep upstairs to try to keep the rest of us from getting sick. The kids and I were good that week. I worked like normal and we sent Levi and Emery to school with masks on. But then by Friday, Eric's PCR test came back positive for COVID. On Saturday, my throat started feeling a little sore and on Sunday I woke up with a fever and also tested positive for COVID. The kids had no symptoms but we kept them home on Monday to be safe and retested Levi and he also tested positive for COVID. So we've all been in quarantine since then. Thankfully, our symptoms have all been pretty mild. The kids have been almost completely asymptomatic the whole time. Levi maybe had a tiny bit of congestion for a day or two but that's it. Emery hasn't had symptoms at all. We weren't able to test her again because all of the OTC antigen tests in the area have been sold out, but we just assume she also got it. Eric was worst that first week with fatigue, a mild fever and a cough and he's better now except for a lingering cough. I was worst on Sunday just super fatigued with a low grade fever. Since then I've just been a little tired and have had some mild congestion which hasn't gotten worse but also hasn't gotten better and is just kind of hanging out. We were lucky and I credit that to me and Eric being fully vaccinated. Most of our family members thankfully only had mild symptoms as well except for poor little Maren who was really sick with a 102-104 degree fever for several days and scared all of us although thankfully she never had to be hospitalized and she is doing better now. I still can't believe how many of us who were fully vaccinated tested positive! It really changed my mindset about COVID. I mean, I think I took for granted the fact I was vaccinated would mean I was protected but now I understand that the vaccine's job is to prevent SEVERE illness, death, and hospitalization- which it has done. But it is not to keep us from getting it at all or spreading it. And this Delta variant is no joke! Erin and Carma right away were like "the family reunion was 100% worth it! Wouldn't change a thing!" But Greta and I were talking and we don't feel the same. They were like, "my kids just get 10 more days of summer! and made great memories with cousins. yay!" But I'm like, this is not a good thing that we had an outbreak in our family. Who knows how many others we may have infected? And I'm glad that for their families it was only mildly inconvenient but I'm sure Shannon felt differently with her very sick little girl. And it is not easy for me and Eric to quarantine at home with the kids and have to juggle working remotely and childcare. Levi went to his first three days of kindergarten but now is home until next Friday! I'm worried that by the time he gets back, all of his classmates will have made friends with each other and he will be an outsider who doesn't know the rules. And Greta and Matt were both pretty sick and miserable and trying to trade off taking care of three energetic children while being very fatigued while Anson missed his first 10 days of school also. It's not all hanging out and playing videogames. Anyway, so I've had a lot of feelings about all this. Greta and I have talked on the phone several times which is helpful. 

All things considered, this past week of quarantine actually went pretty well. Somehow, miraculously, Eric and I were able to trade off working and work at night and I ended up only having to take 1.5 hours of PTO! Which was exhausting but nice to save some of that PTO for my maternity leave. And the kids have been getting a little extra screen time and been a little bored but altogether not too bad. We've found some things to keep us busy. The kids and I have cleaned a fair amount, I've gone through all our newborn clothes and baby boy clothes and sorted them out into things to keep, recycle, sell and give away. I was able to get most of the stains out of some of Emery's old white clothes successfully which was nice. I built the shelves to go on the sides of the Murphy bed and Eric and I installed those. And I started building some under-the-bed storage drawers for Emery since we will need more clothes storage space once we get baby girl's clothes into her room. And the kids and I have played together a fair amount playing Mancala, Legos, Emery's princess game, Sushi Go, etc. Only a few more days and then Emery can go back to school and I can return to work in person- as long as my symptoms improve! 

Levi's first day of kindergarten! 

On Emery and my first (and so far only) day home together just the two of us we did nails. Of course, my little princess wanted a picture of her light pink sparkly nails :) 

Still a work in progress, but it's coming along! I've got one more shelf to make and then the nightstands to do on either side. I am planning on getting the plain wood ones from Ikea and then veneering the drawers to match the bed and then staining the whole thing to match. The blue painter's tape marks where the tops of the nightstands will be. 

Over the course of quarantine, Emery has insisted on wearing either her ladybug costume or a swimsuit all day every day! 

This sums up her typical quarantine attire. 

Levi: "take a picture of me doing this!" He has gone shirtless most days at home as well! 

With all this going on, we've missed some of the things we were looking forward to, like the start of the soccer season! Emery and Levi both have teams and Levi gets to be with Willy from the ward which he is pretty excited about. I am excited for both of them to get to start playing! I love soccer. 

On top of all of this, I can't believe how soon baby girl will be joining our family! It's less than 6 weeks away now and it's getting real. Eric and I finally went looking for our infant car seat and realized we no longer have one so ordered a new one haha. I've finished our baby registry and Lindsay Merkley and I have made some plans for a shower. I'm getting bigger and more awkward every day and my pubic symphysis and L hip are killing me at night (mostly when I roll over or stand up and take the first few steps to go to the bathroom or in the morning) so I'm seeing a pelvic floor PT on Thursday to try to get some help for that. And this week at work I start training my replacement on our team at work! She's an experienced therapist with her PCS so I'm a little bit intimidated but she's new to ECI so she'll still have some things to learn. Hopefully, we can both learn from each other! 

Anyway, so that's what's been going on. Here's hoping me and Eric's residual COVID symptoms clear up quickly and we can get back to more normal life! 

Before the family reunion, Eric and his dad (with help from Matthew and a couple guys from the ward) started building our pergola! It's now on hold until our quarantine is over but I already really love how it's looking! 

Can't wait to get this pergola finished and enjoy some nice evenings sitting on chairs out here while the kids play on the trampoline! 

C A L I F O R N I A

 We just got back from our trip to CA on Monday. It was such a great trip! The kids did better on the plane and sharing a room/bed than I expected and they time shifted quickly so they weren't even waking up early! #winning. 

We started off the trip flying into Sacramento where my mom picked us up and we drove up to Nevada City where we were joined by my dad and Katie and Kendall. After the kids were in bed that first night, Eric and I got to go for a little walk around the neighborhood. It was so nice to get some one-on-one time together- our only chance to do that for the whole rest of the trip! We even found a little pop up farmstand selling fresh flowers and got a bouquet for Oma. It was very nostalgic for me to be back in Nevada City in the summertime. It just made me think of being there during the summer as a kid: going boating with cousins, swimming in the river, running around on their land playing tag and building rockets and shooting them off. It was very hot but thankfully our AirBNB hosts brought us a little AC unit for our room that worked fine. 

The next day was probably my favorite day of the whole trip! We got to go out to breakfast with Oma and my parents and Katie and Kendall which was delicious. Then, we went to the farmers market and got to look at some cool gemstones and bought some tasty pluots. Then we went back to the AirBNB and Emery actually lay down and took a nap with me which was very sweet. Then in the evening we went over to Lyne and Jon's new house and had a BBQ and got to go swimming with them and Oma and Michelle and Jamie and their boys and Joey and Emily and their girls! It was so fun and relaxing and everyone had a great time. The kids loved swimming and playing with Michelle and Jamie's boys and I had a good time catching up with my family. The yard was all shady and the food was delicious and it was pretty much just perfect.

Emery is such a snuggle bug! Just hanging out with Auntie Lynne :)

Oma with the kids! 

Sunday, we went to church in Nevada City and then headed to Sacramento and hung out with Katie and Kendall for a while and got to see their cute little apartment before heading on to Mom and Dad's house. It was funny at church I could just glance at a kiddo and tell they were DeMartinis. They've just got a very distinct look: white blond hair, super tan, energetic, and rough and tumble haha. 

The next day, Mom and I took the kids to Howarth park and we rode the train and the carousel and played on the playground. I don't remember ever going on the train or the carousel as a kid although they've been around for a long time. Levi really loved it, Emery was a little nervous about the carousel and wanted to just sit on a bench with me rather than on one of the horses that went up and down. I was fine with the extra snuggles haha. I love Howarth park and the natural beauty of Northern CA. It's so different from where we live now! It's drier than I remember (#climatechange) but I had kind of forgotten the slightly magical feel of the big oak trees dripping lichen and the huge boulders everywhere and the golden grasses. And it's kind of nice that the land actually has some texture to it. I don't mind the flatness of Texas while I am here but it definitely makes driving around NorCal more interesting than driving here! Haha. 

Monday night we went to get frozen yogurt and I think Levi's had something bad in it because that night he came down with a horrible stomach bug! Right before Eric and I were heading to bed around 11pm, we heard Levi crying and throwing up. Poor kid threw up all over his bed, down the stairs of the bunk bed, and on the carpet in his room before Eric got him to the bathroom. Then, as Eric and I were cleaning him and everything else up while trying not to wake up Emery (who miraculously was sleeping through all of this), he threw up on the carpet again! Thankfully after that, he got a hang of using a bowl because he ended up throwing up 10 times between then and 9:30 am. Poor kid! I was super paranoid that we were all going to get it and it would ruin our trip so I made him stay in his room all day Tuesday and till mid-day on Wednesday (because the last time he threw up was 1 pm on Tuesday) and kept Emery away from him and fanatically sanitized EVERYTHING. My hands even started to crack from being washed so many times. And anytime anyone went in the room with Levi I made them wash their hands afterwards. It may have been a bit extreme but it worked! He got better quickly and thanks I think to my efforts and many prayers everyone else in the family was spared and no one else got sick! By Wednesday morning Levi's fever was gone (it had gotten up to 101.2 poor kid!) and he really wanted to go to the beach. So after he had gone 24 hours without throwing up, I let him out of his quarantine and Mom and I took the kids to the beach. It was cloudy/foggy but thankfully not too windy or too cold! I was fine in just a light sweatshirt. And Emery especially LOVED the beach. She was all about the sand and the waves even though the water was FREEZING she kept wanting to go deeper into it! It so cute. And it just made me remember all the times of going there as a kid and running through the freezing waves and imagining what it would be like if I were a mermaid. And on the way back we even picked up some pints of delicious Screamin' Mimis to complete the beach experience of my childhood haha. 

This girl loved getting as sandy as possible! 

Poor kiddo was completely worn out after the trip to the beach and feeling nauseous again. So I got him his bowl and he just collapsed on the stairs! But thankfully he didn't throw up again and by the next day he was feeling all better. 

The next day, Thursday, Mom and I took the kids to the children's museum in Santa Rosa, which they enjoyed and then later in the afternoon, our family left Mom and Dad's house and drove down to San Francisco and met up with my friend Caitlin Nichols from college in a park and had sandwiches. It was soooo cold I was shivering in my shorts and light sweatshirt but it was still so nice to get to catch up with her a little bit. Hopefully, I can see her again the next time I am out that way. 

Friday, we got to spend pretty much the whole day with Matt and Greta and their kiddos. They are renting this super funky house in Palo Alto which was only an 8-minute drive from the hotel we were staying at. The kids had fun playing together and it was so great to get to catch up with Matt and Greta. Rachel has gotten so big! In the evening, the kids watched a movie while Matt and Greta and Eric and I got to play a game together. That was really nice. I'm really glad we get to see them again soon for the Martino family reunion in August because one day together was definitely not enough!

Cute cute cousins! I love how much our kids look alike! 

Saturday, Eric braved the cold and took the kids swimming at the hotel pool because they were begging to even though it was only like 67 degrees outside! They didn't last long haha. Then we went and hung out at a park with my parents and Katie and Kendall and Eric and Natachia and we got to meet baby Patrick for the first time. He is soooo cute! And doing so great! You would never guess he was a preemie. He's adorable. Emery was fascinated by him and even finally got to hold him, although he wasn't too keen on that idea. 

Sunday was Patrick's baby blessing and then we spent most of the rest of the day hanging out together as a family at Mom and Dad's AirBNB. We got to play some jackbox games and then later took the kids to a park to run around for a while before driving back up to Santa Rosa. It was just so great to get to just relax and spend time together as a family. Makes me wish that we lived closer to each other, although we have no interest in moving to CA.

Poor Patrick is like "please rescue me!" Hahaha

Then on Monday, we flew home! Thankfully the kids were great on the plane again (thank you tablets with headphones haha) and the trip went smoothly. We had to get an Uber to take us from DFW to Lovefield because we accidentally booked our flight out and our flight back in different airports. Ooops. But it was fine. We got home Monday night pretty exhausted and excited to sleep in our own beds. 

Since our trip it's been jump back into the deep end of stressful, busy life! I had to play catch up on laundry and at work and I had activity days on Wednesday and two OB appointments last week (I had to do an ultrasound because I was measuring big and they were worried I may have too much amniotic fluid but I don't and baby girl is measuring right on track and looks good thank goodness). Thankfully, on Friday the kids and I had a chance to relax again a little bit and went to Little Elm beach with Karem and her kids. The water there is so gross to me but the kids loved and it and I loved getting to just sit in the shade and chat for a few hours! Haha.

Willy, Emery, Levi, Lauren and Danny had so much fun playing in the water and the sand! 

Friday night, we had Eric's old mission companion Christian Carter, and his kids over for dinner and watched some of the opening ceremony of the Olympics. I am so glad the Olympics are happening this year even though there are no spectators and a lot of COVID precautions. The Olympics are just so amazing to watch! Last night we got to see beach volleyball, men's gymnastics and skateboarding and it really is just so incredible what top athletes are capable of. Very impressive.

Then yesterday, Eric and I were just very busy getting the rest of the materials to build our pergola and rabbit-proofing our yard! It was much more of a task than I anticipated but it actually went really smoothly and has been successful so far! I took chicken wire and cut it and staple gunned it to our fence and buried the ends of it and then sprayed it with liquid fence to discourage the rabbits from digging under. It was very hot and I sweated sooooo much but it did feel good to be taking a stand and kind of creating a little fortress oasis of our backyard that hopefully once the rabbits are kept out will be able to finally be freed from chiggers! Haha. I did feel bad though that the whole thing took sooo long and I didn't spend much time with the kids. They were both very emotional and had had way too much screentime by the end of the day. And I definitely was more short-tempered with them than I ought to have been. Definitely had to do some repenting last night. But thankfully, today is Sunday and we get to spend some good quality time together as a family and not have to do any house/yard work! 

So yeah, that's a very long recap of our trip and life lately. I do feel more ready now to face everything we have coming up soon and to dive back into productivity after taking 10 days to not worry about the house or work or any of my many projects haha. I've scheduled our newborn photographer and ordered all our outfits for our family/newborn pictures we will take after the baby is born. She's coming so soon now! Just two months away! And Levi starts kindergarten in just 2 weeks! I can barely believe it. I took the kids on Friday afternoon and we picked out all his school supplies and he's got meet the teacher night coming up. I feel like he is definitely ready for kindergarten but I am going to miss him on Mondays and Fridays and I know it's going to be a BIG adjustment for Emery! She isn't going to have anyone to play with on those days anymore! I was talking to Karem about it and realizing I will just have to do a lot of playdates because otherwise, I don't think she will know what to do with herself! 

My silly boy! 

Before our trip I FINALLY finished the murphy bed! I LOVE how it turned out. It's just like I imagined it and I am so happy about that. Now I just need to make the shelves on the sides :)

Emery, Levi and I went to a birthday party in June at a farm and my goodness it was SOOO hot but the kids had a great time. 

Early 4th of July celebration at Old Celina Park! There were food trucks, live music, water slides and a fireworks show! It was a perfect fun evening. 

Aren't these smiles the best?? Emery was just living her best life! Her best friend, pizza, music and dancing and fireworks! The girl was in heaven. 

These cute cousins had so much fun dancing to the music with their Auntie Emma! 

Eric and I danced too :)

Lazy Sunday afternoon with my sleepy girl and dashing little man

Before our trip we made cupcakes for one of our family home evenings. Levi was so pleased with his creations!