the one with the paradigm shift

Y’all, if ‘unprecedented’ was the go-to (and most hated) word of 2020, ‘paradigm shift’ probably is that of 2021.
For us, anyway. We’ve probably talked about stressful paradigm shifts internally enough to the point where they no longer sound like words.

Anyway. Wanted to pop our heads in to assure our bated-breath readers (hi) that we’re alive! We’re mostly okay! Of course we’re not pregnant! And oh, boy, April was fun! 

Okay, the past six weeks. What's happened?

• I turned 29/old.
• We got vaccinated and started to feel like maybe there was a light at the end of the tunnel?
• And then, like, immediately, we started to freak out about our impending reintegration into normal society and had to sleep for about 72 hours just to deal with that stress.
• I continued growing out my hair. I have never regretted the timing of a choice more, but here we are. I've reached Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire levels of moptastic 'why yes, I've never seen a pair of scissors' misery, which is quite nice.
• We morphed through Spring in Cincinnati, with its confusing last-minute blizzards and subsequent week of rain. That was also lovely; I'd get up, fix coffee and breakfast, open the back door and let the rain blow in while cozied up under a blanket. (We have dogs, we're used to having the weather inside, it's k.)
• So, health stuff, let's chat. VERY HIGH LEVEL UPDATE: We're both doing fine, but we're both also working on ourselves. I've learned a lot (a LOT) about the nourishment needs for women with PCOS and GIRL how much, um, the typical PCOS-recommended-diet may or may not have any of those nutrients. Which is really frustrating for a girl who's been trying really, really hard to eat well ya know? Anyway, trying a new thing, will report MUCH more later. (Spoiler alert: Oysters.) Also, if you're getting whiplash from the differing attempts we're using to try and get my weird metabolism+hormonal situation to play nicely, um, join the club. We've got whiplash, too. For many reasons...this being one of them.
• We started tentatively hanging out with friends more again!!!! And, again, roller coaster, we'd have a lovely time and then come home and stare at each other and have to assume the fetal position and shake quietly for hours, unable to deal with unprecedented levels of stimuli. We're fun and spontaneous and having a hard time.
• Fun things happened, too! We're doing up the wall in our office to be cool and texture-y; I re-read the first half of Ready Player Two before remembering how much I hated Ernest Cline; we're watching a Westworld-y AI drama right now (Humans, Amazon Prime, it's brilliant) and I JUST FINALLY called a plot twist more than 45 seconds before it happens on-screen; I painted our windows; we got two sun-catchers; we're having family over next weekend (?!!?!?) and I got to make a gorgeous baby laugh hysterically for several minutes yesterday, using only the undiluted power of my goofy face. Snarky people on Youtube are keeping us sane. I haven't been sleeping particularly well (I'm re-hormone-ing my body, it's fine) but, you know, also fine. And business has actually been quite nice, although I very much need to find a way to balance client work and, oh, ever writing anything on here or for myself. (I used to write a chapter or two of my novels every week????? But perhaps that was before I started subsisting on kale and black beans and vinegar water....? What are the odds that things are starting to make sense?)

I've probably missed eleven vital things.

Anyway, that brain dump aside, let's see what Ted has to say:

We got our Pfizer shots in April, and they made us verrryyyy sleepy for a couple days each time.

Plus, I had surgery to remove a mysterious skin bump. Fortunately it was benign! But even though it was an outpatient procedure (so I went home the same day), recovering from the anesthetic and healing a stitched-up wound also knocked me out for a while.

In April I got transferred to a big new project at work, which is exciting and a huge learning curve. Don't worry - we're staying in Cincinnati.

Taxes felt like another bamboozle. My regular job + Rebecca's freelance work + other financial stuff = several false starts until we got TurboTax to do the whole thing.

Our dishwasher broke - and this time it's done. Cue special trash pickup and renovating the former dishwasher cubby to be usable.

We learned that a family friend is very sick in the ICU. All we can do is wait.
I got an estimate to fix our roof. It's definitely a house investment...and it will take care of a problem that's been hanging over our heads. (ha!)
Rebecca had a birthday!

And speaking of paradigm shifts (or new normals), we decided that we needed to actively recognize something that epidemiologists have been saying. The COVID-19 pandemic is not a waiting game anymore. It's going to be around for a long time. That means we need to adapt our emergency practices to more sustainable habits. So we're re-evaluating plans to have more and better experiences with church, grocery shopping policies, and time with people.

All that stuff basically means that we've been stretched thin. Reaallllyyy thin. Maxed out bandwidth.

Another paradigm shift, then. We're evaluating options for food, relaxation, and exercise to cool down a little. Gotta make things more sustainable, because we have to keep going.

This has been a TedTalk.

You know, there's something about hearing your spouse talk about a difficult period of time right after you've spent twenty minutes word-vomiting about your perspective on the same period of time that makes you go WAIT what HOW on EARTH did we even....what even was April??????

Anyway, I promised myself that this wouldn't take much time because yep, ya girl has a deadline tonight and it's Sunday and we'd also like to relax a little more (or maybe watch more Humans??????? [Rebecca deviously leaves note in prior to Ted's editing pass])

This week, assuming we have bandwidth, I'll check in re: PCOS and we'll check in re: PWB and how we might be reconsidering the second half of our 2021 infertility battle plan. (Same objective, maybe an update in strategy.) Stay tuned! Happy week ahead!