Weekly Review 71

Hello readers! Welcome to my weekly review, where I share my previous week with you. 

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I want to start by saying I am not upset the Bears lost to the Rams last week. I mean, I am…but I’m not. It was a fantastic season full of so many special moments. The playoffs do not feel as magical with the Bears knocked out of it, but I am proud of my team! Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams are a special combination and the future is so bright for the Bears. I can’t wait until next season.

Monday was a holiday here in the U.S. and I had the day off from work. I’m glad I did because Mr. O was up very early, so I brought him into our room and we slept in as Lea was getting ready for work. He woke up before me and I tried my best to continue my sleep, but he was jumping on me saying “Dada! Dada! The suns up!”, meaning, “It’s time to get up!”, Lol. Of course, I had to wake up. We stayed in bed, though, and I put on this Iron Man kids show on Disney+ that he loves. Eventually, when Lea went downstairs to gather her things before she left, Mr. O and I followed and played while Pardon My Take played in the background on Netflix. We played with all kinds of toys on Monday morning: Superman, trucks, Buzz Lightyear, trains, etc. Then Mr. O wanted to play with his Playdough. This time he wanted to chop up the green one with his little plastic scissors and fake knife. It was fun, as usual, but it always gets in our carpet and his little monster feet smudge it in, lol. It drives me nuts but in the end, it’s okay. Who cares, right? We can always have the carpets cleaned in the future.

He eventually became bored of the play dough, and came to lay by me on the floor as I tried out this new strecthing video. I have never been flexible and my hamstrings are super tight. I’ve never been able to touch my toes and my back is stiff. How I was ever an athlete I’ll never know. I’ve always been like this! But Mr. O and I tried out this new stretching video, and I think I”m going to try to make it a daily thing. It hurst right now when I do it, but it’s cute watching him do the stretches with me, and in the long run it will help me, hopefully. After we stretched it was time for the little guy to take a nap. I put him to bed and then continued my Madden career as head coach of the Chicago Bears. We lost, so I turned the game off for the day, Lol. Then, Lea came home from work with lunch from Culvers. When we finished eating, we cleaned out one of our closets. It’s the one across from my home office downstairs, right around the corner from our kitchen. Lea has bigger plans for it eventually, but on Monday we just cleaned it up, moved our bench in there and all of our shoes and jackets. It looks nice. In the evening, My cousin came over to hang out before she flew back home to London.

On Tuesday Mr. O was up at 5 AM. I got up with him and we hung out for a while before Lea took him to daycare. Work was busy in the first half of the day, but as it went on after lunch, it slowed down a lot. In the evening, Lea and Mr. O came home and she made dinner for us (which was delicious). We played with Mr. O for a little bit, but then it was time for bed. I was exhausted. So much so, that I was falling asleep while rocking Mr. O (again, lol). Once he fell asleep I put him in his crib and then I went to lay down. I had a long Wednesday ahead of me. On Wednesday I was up between 4 and 4:30 in the morning. It was one of my in-office days, so I was heading up into Chicago for the day. Thankfully, it wasn’t too cold out on this day. It was maybe between 10 and 30 degrees. I don’t remember exactly, but I do remember the wind being calm in the city, which was a big deal because the Chicago wind makes the cold so much worse. When I walked into my building I saw two of my co-worker/friends waiting for the elevator. They held it open for me as I scanned my badge and up we went. It was nice being in the office. Lots of people were excited to see me, and I was excited to see them as well. It’s nice catching up in person instead of online.

The main reason I went in on Wednesday was for a team meeting. My boss was happy to see me as well, since she is the one who suggested I try to come in once or twice a month for our team meetings and to have “face-time” with management. The work-load was normal, thankfully. We had maybe three meetings on this day so I’m glad I was able to get all my work done. After lunch I went down to the cafe in our buildings lobby to get a hot chocolate. I was torn, though, because they added a few smoothie options to their menu. So I wasn’t sure if I wanted a strawberry, banana, peanut butter smoothie, or a hot chocolate. Since it was so cold out I ordered the hot chocolate because my throat was scratchy. It did NOT help! Lol. But it tasted good and it was nice to feel warm internally. When the end of the day approached, I packed up my things, said my goodbyes, planned to plan to go out with my co-workers next time I come in, and rushed to my train. As I waited in the train station I did some writing in my journal. I also wrote on the train on the way home. It was a nice way to wind down after such a busy day. When I came home I was greeted by Mr. O, who was so excited to see me. He was upset I was gone all day apparently, but he didn’t show it when I came home. I love when he’s so excited to see me.

On Thursday morning I took Mr. O to daycare. He was excited and barely said bye again, lol. When we walked in I took off his shoes and jacket, and one of the little boys there tried to come and hug him. Mr. O just stood there, not even paying attention to him. He was staring straight ahead at all of the toys. That’s when he shot me his montone “Bye” and walked right past the little boy so he could start playing. Work was slow again and there isn’t much to talk about. I was just happy to be back home in my cozy little office. In the evening, Lea picked up Mr. O from daycare and I made dinner. I made chicken and rice. When they came home I was playing Elvis, Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra on the speaker. I had my red apron on that Lea bought me a couple years ago and the onion-chopping-glasses, for when I was chopping the onion. The glasses never make a difference though. I still cry every time. Then I go to wipe my eyes and forget I have onion all over my hands, so that’s always fun to deal with! After we ate we played with Mr. O a little bit, but mostly watched him play. Then, I gave him a bath, came back downstairs, walked and read my new book:

One of my favorite artists wrote a memoir, of course I’m going to get it! It’s pretty interesting so far. I really enjoy reading about his early days trying to make it in the country music industry. It’s so fascinating to me, especially as I am wrapping up the show Nashville as well, lol. I was up early once again on Friday. You know what, from now on let’s just assume I am always up early. I feel like I am constantly saying, week after week, “I was up early” on this day or that day. If I talk about being up in the morning, it will just be known now that it is early, lol. Unless it is unusually early, then I will let you know. Okay, let’s get back on track now. It was insanely cold this weekend in the region and Midwest in general. We’ve had a huge winter storm across the country, but thankfully all we got around here was really cold weather and a few inches of snow. I had some time in the morning so I did the dishes and picked up a bit around the kitchen. When Mr. O got up we did our normal routine and hung out before work started. In the evening, we played hide-and-seek. I love playing that game with him, he is so cute and funny! I love that I can see his little toes poking out beneath the curtain when he is trying to hide, lol. I also love when he copies me and pretends to look everywhere before he eventually finds me in the spot he told me to hide. After playing for a bit, dinner was done, so we sat down to eat. Then we played.

On Saturday I actually slept in a little bit (6:45ish). Mr. O was up a few minutes before me, but he doesn’t cry or scream when he gets up, so sometimes it’s hard to hear him, especially if I am sleeping on my good ear. When we came downstairs I made us breakfast. I made myself a bowl of cereal and I made Mr. O some waffles, yogurt bites, and raisins. We did my stretching video together once again, except this time he kept letting out little toots and we had to keep stopping because we were laughing (and I had to move locations). We also watched some cartoons, did some “reading time” (which is a new thing I am trying out with him), and played. Mr. O is in his superhero phase. He wore his Superman cape all day Saturday (and Sunday). I chased him around the house as he “flew” away from me giggling. After a couple of hours, he was finally tired enough to take a nap. When he did I was able to complete a quick workout in the basement. Then, I cleaned myself up, made lunch and played Madden. We finally won a game after a horrendous losing streak! In the evening, Lea made dinner and then I gave Mr. O a bath before bedtime.

On Sunday we were all up and getting ready for church. Except we weren’t going to our regular church, we were going to our goddaughters church for godparents Sunday. It was great spending some time with her, and Mr. O loves her and her siblings. They played for a while after church chasing each other around. When we came home I shoveled the driveway. We received probably around 3-6 inches, and it’s been snowing more since I shoveled so I will have to take care of it again soon. When I finished outside, I went into the basement to change our air filter. Before I could sit down and relax for at least a half hour, Mr. O was awake from his nap. We continued to play while we all watched playoff football. Then, Mr. O and I fought for Lea. Whenever I call her “my wife” he says “No! She’s my wife!” so we fight for her occassionally. He typically wins.

It’s been a great, but cold, week! I hope everyone is staying warm!

Peter