THE GOODS BLOG: Erika's Precious Little Life - June Edition

I cannot believe what a difference a month has made. This time last month everything seemed to be filled with quite a lot of despair. I wrote "hopefully this time next month I'll be talking about how I've gotten vaccinated and that the world around us is starting to return to normal." And this is exactly what has happened! I almost can't believe it! On top of that, it has become hot, glorious summer! (28° today.)

COVID CHAT! Things are so, so different and incredibly improved. Everything was terrible a month ago and it blows my mind how quickly the situation has changed for the better! As things currently stand, in Edmonton there is 0.1% of the population with known active cases. The active cases in Edmonton have gone down to 1,799 which is like a quarter of what it was this time last month. I absolutely loved watching the numbers tank all month long. What an insane rollercoaster! When vaccine booking opened up for my age group, I booked us in immediately and Tim and I got our first doses of Pfizer on May 13th. What an incredible relief!!!

The Premier of Alberta said "a while back I said that Gen X had stepped up to the plate and booked appointments as quick as they could. Well, there's no doubt that Millennials and Generation Z have also risen to the challenge in the last week or so." I was proud to be a part of that. Out of you guys (the readers of this blog) there are 24 of us in total and 22 of you have now been vaccinated (that I'm aware of) with your first doses. Some of you have already gotten your second doses! I am so glad that we're almost all protected and moving on from this thing. I'm also super thrilled that everyone in our immediate families (Domanskis and Golems) are also all vaccinated now (except for the kids, of course). It seemed like we might never get here, and here we are.

On top of this, I was able to book me and Tim's second doses of the vaccine and we go on July 3rd! This will have been seven weeks after our first dose. The end of the tunnel is truly in sight! Thankfully, even through the peak of the 3rd wave, yet another month has gone by and the elementary school that Archie’s preschool is in has still not recorded any cases at all. They've never had a single case. It's now the last month of school and Archie will be able to finish a wonderful first year of preschool. I am so grateful that he got to have such an amazing and safe experience. Finally, Alberta announced our "Open for Summer Plan" and we are currently in Stage 1. This means that patio dining is back again, which is the main thing that I care about! We are supposed to be moving onto Stage 2 on June 10th, which is difficult to grasp because it will be SUCH a huge leap. I'm cautiously excited. I want this to be the end and I want to return to a normal life so badly! But at the same time, it'll be difficult to let go of the rules and precautions that have been instilled in me for the past 15 months.

On the night of the full moon I always draw cards to inspire me for the month to come. The full moon happened to land on the same day as the big reopening announcement. The card I pulled read: "When fear, anxiety, and paranoia paralyze you, it's normal to want to hide away from others and the world. Come out of your cave and soften your heart anyway." Message received, universe. I'm ready. May felt like a really long month (probably because the pandemic was at its absolute worst and everything was dragging). Mother's Day was really perfect and lovely. For a lockdown Mother's Day, I couldn't have wanted anything more. Enjoying a beautiful High Tea on my porch with my family was very special.

Plus I got myself all done up, which felt really nice.

We didn't do anything special for the Victoria Day long weekend but we did spend as much time as possible outdoors this month, soaking up the great weather. I really love our squad.

Amy also had me eat 50 year old "salad jelly" so THAT was an adventure! HA HA HA!

The best thing of all is that the Core Four has made its glorious return! We normally get together every few weeks but the pandemic (not being allowed to eat at restaurants with anyone from outside your own household), plus the fact that it was winter for a long time (no indoor gatherings) meant that getting together was very difficult. But now we can hang out outside again and soon restaurants will be back on the table as well! I cannot wait for a summer of seeing my friends again!! I can't wait to finally celebrate Christmas, my birthday, Amy's birthday, and Nicole's birthday! It has been extremely sad knowing that I moved all the way back to Edmonton and couldn't even see them.

My project of SELLING ALL OF THE BABY STUFF is pretty much complete! I have now made $1,230 from my sales! All items have been posted for sale and a large majority of it has been sold. I love that I'm done with it all. The doctor performing Tim's vasectomy (Tim calls him the "Dick Doctor") wanted to book him in for June but we're actually a bit too busy and Tim has a lot going on at work. So he's going to have it done in July instead - but it's happening soon! You may also recall that I stopped using birth control forever in March. My prescription ran out and I have decided that I will not be using it anymore. Well, it seems that I have now stopped getting my period altogether. I am currently on day 37 of my cycle... And still no period. I am NOT pregnant because Tim and I actually didn't have sex at all in the last month. Plus I took a pregnancy test anyway, which was negative. So maybe my body has just shut the whole thing down? This is fine with me. Life with Archie: Archie has had a great month for discovering creatures!! His preschool class got caterpillars and he watched them go into their chrysalises and emerge as butterflies. Then they released the butterflies outside. He was very interested in this!

He also met some other creatures!

I can't believe that this is his LAST month of preschool! His last day is June 24th. For living through a year of pandemic preschool, I can't be happier with how it all turned out. It was an incredible experience for Archie, he made new friends, NO ONE caught Covid, and I was so impressed at how well it all managed to work. They never even had to shut down at all, except for one extra week of Christmas holidays. The whole thing was a miracle. We did end up buying Archie a new bike with pedals and training wheels and he has been LOVING cruising around. We also solved the bedwetting issue! It hasn't happened again since I mentioned it last month. If Archie wakes up at night and wants to come to our bed, we have him go pee first. SOLVED! It was as easy as that. It's summer and he's always dirty and covered in scrapes. I wouldn't have it any other way. <3 I'm so happy that it's June! It really finally feels like a new and exciting, better time. I can't wait to get my life back on track. Patios are open again (after being closed for nearly a month) and girls nights are going to be happening again. Pieces of my life are falling back into place. Father's Day is this month and I have a few ideas for how to celebrate. Then at the end of the month we're going on a bit of a summer vacation! First we're driving down to Lake Louise and camping at the campground (in a tent!) for two nights. We normally like to camp for at least two nights each year, so I'm glad that it's happening. Then we're driving up the Icefield Parkway, and spending three nights in Jasper. We're staying at Pine Bungalows, which is where we stayed for our wedding. AND my parents are meeting us in Jasper!! They'll both be fully vaccinated (my dad already is) by then and we can't wait to do normal family things again! We'll be in Jasper for our anniversary and for Canada Day. As long as we're in Edmonton (forever) we'll be celebrating our anniversary in Jasper. Obviously. Then my parents will return with us to Edmonton and stay with us for a while. This will be their first visit to our Edmonton home. I'm looking forward to all of this very much! Here's to the "end" of the pandemic and to some wonderful summer days ahead!! THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!:

June 14th is Amy Bull's 13th wedding anniversary!

I hope that you and Ray can ditch the kids and do something special! June 20th is Laura Young's 6th wedding anniversary!

I hope that you and Matt can ditch the kids and do something special! June 24th is Sarah Turnbull’s 39th birthday!

IT. IS. SARAH. TIME. You have had one heck of a year but everything is different now. You are a warrior and you always have been. I cannot wait to see everything that your new and wonderful life has in store. You deserve every inch of the good things that are on the horizon and I am so proud of everything that you have conquered. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH and wish you the most special birthday - one that truly celebrates YOU. <3 June 30th is my 8th wedding anniversary!

We can now say that we survived 15 months of a pandemic! I wouldn't have wanted to do this with anyone else. I am still so glad that I am on this journey with you. I can't wait to get back to our life adventures! <3