December to remember and happy 2022!

Happy new year folks! I hope y'all had a happy and healthy holiday season.

In my last post, I mentioned that I had a stomach bug in the beginning of December.  We went to Oregon to visit my sister's family and upon returning back to Texas, I tested positive for COVID.  Mind you, no one else in the entire household, including Bryan, tested positive.  And having COVID was not fun.  For those of you who experienced only mild symptoms and were able to get on with your regular lives, I did not have the same experience.  It felt like a bad flu - I ran a high fever for three days, had shortness of breath, head cold, and still don't have my sense of smell back.  This was right before Christmas so we spent the majority of the holidays quarantined, doing lots of puzzles and Facetiming family and friends.  To add insult to injury, in Texas we had cedar fever during the same time frame, so my nose was continuously running because of COVID and allergies.

But very quickly about the (still) new nephew!  He is very cute and very happy and how come no one told me that babies are that heavy.  My forearms were sore by the second day of the visit from picking him up, rocking him, patting his back.  He just started smiling when we got there, which was adorable, but was still not as hilarious as the pouty face he'd make right before he started crying.  It was really nice to see the family and give my sister and her husband a bit of a break.  I think they were feeling a bit of cabin fever having been cooped up in their house prior to the baby's first set of boosters.  I have been buying him all the cute clothes and will take any baby gift recommendations that you all have.

Going back to Christmas break, our neighbors were super helpful and dropped off food and treats during my two week quarantine.  The only place I went during that time was the barn since it's outside and was basically empty, as everyone else was on vacation.  I think Mae enjoyed the time off a little too much, as she's been acting up the last few weeks (spooking, running).  With my trainer, I've been thinking about my current riding "situation" a bit more and whether or not we need to change things up in a big way.  More on this later, but I'd love to hear if this has happened to any of my horsey friends out there.

And now we're in 2022!  Break out your brand new planners and journals - let's make it a good one!