Zander's Inside Voice

Girl is sick. Boy #3 was sick two weeks ago. I was sick twice in the last 6 weeks, as was my wife. Boy #2 was sick in the same span of time, but not severe enough to need much of anything from me. He handled his own symptoms just fine. But man, these past 6 weeks have sucked. I am so tired of sickness.

She seems to have exactly what Boy #3 had and just wants to sleep nonstop. Boy #3 had a lot of ear pain that subsided on its own, but he felt like he couldn’t hear well for awhile. I also had that around the same time he did. It is definitely not fun and rather annoying. I hate when my ear repeatedly pops and never stays clear.

We did well in the bad covid times, never really getting until this past May. Everyone had the initial series of two shots and my wife and I have been boosted twice. It hit us in May, with very mild symptoms. Girl never had any symptoms, Boy #3 got better quickly, and Boy #2 had mild symptoms, but we never tested him because he gags very easily. Boy #1 in FL got sick with it at least twice, and only once was fairly bad. That was last December, when he had these three with him in FL. It messed up our holidays plans with my parents in GA. We were supposed to spend a couple nights there and we had to just get the kids from the ex, spend a couple hours together in a covidy-inspired garage Christmas gift-exchange. Then we drove to KY that first night, slept in a hotel, and finished the drive home. It was so much driving in a very short period of time. Multiple hotel nights on the way from NY to GA to KY to home.

This year there is NO TRAVEL, other than to get the kids to the ex for Christmas and then get them back. No extended family holidays, no days in the car, none of that ridiculous holiday stress. I am excited to wake up in my own home on Christmas day, which hasn’t happened since 2019, I think. Yeah, 2020 we traveled to Florida and had a weird, seven person family holiday with the ex and all the kids, then last year the kids were in FL and we went to NY.

We do not want to do that seven person family thing again nor did we want to make that the norm. Although we can function minimally like that, it’s a huge amount of stress on my wife and I. It might be stressful for the kids too, I don’t know. The ex hates routine and enjoys being disruptive, which is apparently confused with spontaneity. It’s just very erratic and unenjoyable. I know I am just this side of erratic and sometimes venture into erratic, but I can’t handle the amount created by the ex. So a quiet, no travel holiday season it is!

Hopefully Girl will be feeling better by the 21st. That’s her birthday and she will be 10. We have an awesome Stranger Things custom cake on order that she is very excited for and some amazing birthday gifts that she will love. We have a very unique decorating season here after Christmas called “Snowman Season” with lots of decorative snowmen and decor that runs until Easter. Girl was heartbroken when it was time for Christmas decor to come down, but LOVED Snowman Season. One gift idea we had was to start building her own snowman collection. We are also taking her to the theatre to see Aladdin, which she will love. And the most impressive thing is this incredible suitcase dollhouse that my wife’s friend made. It’s so impressive!! She’s so talented. Girl wanted something miniature from my wife’s friend, but she wasn’t expecting a whole dollhouse setup! It will be a great day for sure! Then the next day we take them to the ex.

So this is a bad time for any of us to be sick.