We Have Coronavirus

Go figure ... the kids went back to school 4 days a week and we contracted coronavirus. Layla and I both tested positive, Mitch and Marcus are negative. I want to write down what happened so we have a record.

On October 7 and 8, 2020 the air quality in our area was terrible due to smoke from the California wildfires. We couldn't see the mountains at all and everything was hazy. Last time the air was bad it made me feel sick: coughing, lightheaded, headache. So when I didn't feel good on the 7th and 8th, I knew it was the bad air. I googled "symptoms of bad air" and had many of the symptoms. I also googled "coronavirus symptoms" and while some symptoms overlapped, I did not have the tell-tale signs of a fever or loss of taste or smell. I truly felt it was the bad air making me sick. For those two days I went about my normal business. While I didn't feel good, I felt well enough to keep up the regular routine. 

Friday the 9th I felt quite a bit better. I figured it was because the air quality was better. I managed to clean the entire house, catch up on school work, and hang out with the family. 

Saturday the 10th was when I work up and felt awful. My throat was very sore and red and I had body aches and my cough had returned, only worse. That morning I had a covid test and a strep test. The strep test was negative and I was told to wait 24 hours for my covid results. Saturday evening I lost my sense of taste, but didn't realize it. I just thought the dinner was bland and gross, haha. Sunday morning I woke up and realized I couldn't smell the lotion I put on after I showered. I frantically sniffed everything in the bathroom--perfume, toothpaste, mouthwash, lotion--I couldn't smell any of it! 

Two hours later my positive test result came in. I have coronavirus. 

Once I got tested on Saturday, we decided I should isolate in our bedroom. Mitch has been sleeping on the couch since then. 

Mitch and the kids were tested on Monday. Their results came back on Tuesday. Layla joined me in our bedroom and we have been isolated in here together ever since.

Thankfully, Layla has no symptoms. She had a runny/stuffy nose for a few days but it was long enough ago that Davis County Health Department does not consider it part of her current diagnosis. 

I have been quite sick. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were miserable. Body aches, nausea, exhaustian, and not being able to taste or smell anything. Since then I have started feeling a bit better each day. I still take naps and sit around most of the day. Moving around too much tires me out quickly. I also ran a humidifier for the first 4 days, 24/7 and took Tylenol and Robitussin or Mucinex regularly. 

Today is Thursday. I still have some congestion in my chest, a stuffy nose, and I cannot taste or smell anything Not even in the slightest. It is so bizarre! If food is particulary salty, I can taste a slight salty taste, but beyond that ... nothing. 

We have since learned that Layla's school has 5 positive cases, including Layla. One of Layla's friends who is also in her class at school has also tested positive and is asymptomatic. Her family was tested becuase like us, their mom was sick. We are assuming that Layla contracted it from this friend. 

The kids are home from school for two weeks. Mitch is working from home for two weeks. I am not able to go to work or school for two weeks. Thank heavens for technology that allows us to continue working and learning from home!

The ripple effect of this is crazy. My friends are quarantined for two weeks because I went to lunch with them on Thursday (though I'm not sure if my symptoms started on Wednesday or Saturday...). The school counselor I work with is quarantined for two weeks. My uncle and his family drove from their home in California to St. George and were intending to drive the rest of the way to my parents' house when my positive results came in, so they turned around and drove home. 

Normally I would feel awful about this, but I genuinely had no idea I was possibly spreading coronavirus. Thankfully so far everyone I was around has tested negative. Still waiting on one or two more, but I'm hopeful they're negative too. 

Now we're trying to keep busy without completely rotting our brains out with tv and video games. On the other hand, I am grateful we have tv and video games because we are literally stuck inside the house with nowhere to go and even separated from each other. But each day that passes it gets better and we get closer to normal life again. 

When all is said and done, I am just grateful to have a mild case of this. I was worried at first. My lungs are not in optimal health and never have been, I think as a result of being born 12 weeks premature. So I am relieved and so happy that I was not more sick than I am. Mitch gave me a blessing on Saturday night. The only thing I remember him saying was to be patient as I heal. I am trying to do that with every tasteless bite I take of food. :)

Quick Update

I don't even know where to begin. 2020, man, 2020. Being a wife, mom, grad student, employee, church member, and many other things makes time fly by so fast. Rarely do I feel that I have the time to sit down and update my blog the way I want to, with pictures and written details from our lives. But 2020 has reminded me to do what I can when I can because tomorrow is not promised. And I am happiest when I am busy. Not too busy, but busy enough with things that bring meaning to me. Someday I will love sitting down to read this blog and I will be grateful that I took the time to write a few things down, even if I didn't include pictures or every little detail.

It is now October. Our school district started out the school year on a hybrid model where each half of the student population attended school on opposite days and everyone learned remotely on Fridays. My kids went on Mondays and Wednesdays. Marcus loved the hybrid model and was sad when we switched to everyone in class together 4 days a week and remote learning on Fridays. Layla much prefers to be in class 4 days a week and was happy when the change came. It's a long story about the school district's changes and my feelings about it, but suffice it to say that I have come to realize that there is no right answer about COVID and education. Initially I did not want my kids at school with full classrooms, 4-5 days a week. It terrified me. Now I feel differently and I am grateful that they are at school full-time (besides Fridays) because we are all happier and have significantly less stress in our daily lives. 

COVID is still a dangerous illness that we are trying our best to avoid: we wear our masks everywhere, wash our hands incessantly, go through hand sanitizer like it's going out of style, and avoid the general public as much as possible. There will most likely not be normal trick-or-treating this year or classroom parties. Things will still look different for a while. My heart goes out to everyone suffering from this disease in any way. We have been beyond blessed and protected throughout this whole thing, physically, financially, spiritually, emotionally, in all the ways. I cannot imagine losing a loved one to COVID and the heartbreak that would come with that. 

On a happier note, we have re-evaluated our lives and have talked more and more about what is important to us, what we need to change/improve, and what we want to accomplish. Our kids have learned much about resiliency and being flexible. It's been great! We have fallen in love with the outdoors all over again. We got a basketball hoop and love playing horse or making up other fun challenges to learn new basketball skills. 

Yesterday we headed over to the church where the primary children wrote their names and any other special message or picture they wanted on a rock. The rocks will be placed in the foundation of the Layton, Utah temple that is currently under construction. Wow, what a neat thing for these kids to watch this temple being built and know that their rock is under it, safe in the foundation like we can be when we build our foundation on Christ. I am beyond excited to have that temple completed, less than 10 minutes away from our home. 

Marcus is most of the way through his season of flag football. Beckham Taylor is on his team. Those two boys have so much fun together and are SO LOUD and giggly. They make me laugh when the noise isn't driving me crazy, haha. Marcus learned a lot about football and seemed to really enjoy learning the different positions. He starts Jr. Jazz basketball in a few weeks. There are 8 boys from our neighborhood who all signed up for Jr. Jazz, so hopefully they can all be on the same team. That would be awesome!

Layla played volleyball this summer and part of fall. She loved it! We had her take a break because the gym we were taking her to doubled their prices! She will start with the city rec team in a few weeks for a much, much, much lower price, yay! I am happy that she enjoys volleyball so much. Layla has many talents but she is not excited about some of them, at least not enough to want to do lessons. She is gifted musically and has excellent pitch and a great ear for pitch. She can sit down at the piano and figure out how to play a song she heard on the radio within minutes. Her singing voice is very good and she stays on pitch and remembers melodies so easily. Layla is great at accents and imitations and keeps us laughing with those. I would love to see her do piano lessons again or go into musical theater where she can act and sing.  She is also a decent dancer. She has asked about dance lessons, but decided she likes volleyball more. Layla is a good at volleyball too, it is just interesting to me that the talents she seems to have naturally are not the ones that interest her. 

Mitch's work is insane. They officially won the contract to update the intercontinental ballistic missiles. This project will carry Mitch through to retirement! It's pretty amazing given that most of his career has been spent on projects that only last 3-5 years. We are grateful for the opportunity this provides us, even though I have to remind myself to be grateful when it feels like he's always at work. But if I'm being honest, he's definitely home more this year than last year!

I am still working at Whitesides Elementary. The school counselor there is so kind and teaches me so much. This will be my last school year there as I will need to complete an internship next school year. Last week I applied for a part-time school counseling position with Ogden School District. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that I will get that job, but I have not heard anything yet. For the mean time I will stay where I'm at. 

There is so much I could write about: our girls' trip to St. George with Nicole and Oakley, camping trips, boating at the lake, hiking, general conference, watching church over Zoom, learning to make sourdough baked goods and keeping my sourdough alive, having friends and family over to roast smores on our firepit that Mitch and I built, meeting new neighbors, adjusting to new schedules with school, enjoying the extended summer weather and lack of mosquitoes at this house, loving our backyard and the sunsets from our front porch, my grandma Miles going into hospice at my aunt's house, the kids growing up more and more every day, and all the things that come along with parenting kids as they get older and more independent. 

To sum up, we are happy and healthy and blessed. Life is hard, but we still have peace in our home. I am grateful for our Savior, who gives our family hope and peace and strength each day. Our lives are not perfect, we have tantrums and fights and all the normal things families work through. But every night when we read our scriptures together, pray together, and do our "family hug" and try to squeeze each other as tight as possible, we are reminded that it's all going to be okay. Our Heavenly Father has provided a way for us to be happy now and forever, and that includes being happy during the craziness that is 2020.