My sweet Serafina is now eighteen and a half months old!

She is such a busy child, always into everything, looking for trouble and on some kind of adventure. Climbing, messing, clinging, whining. I barely ever get a moment to relax when she is awake. She is definitely my most difficult child and the most attached baby that I ever had. Right now her favorite thing to play with is the toothbrushes. She is always sneaking into the bathroom and taking them.

There is also not too much (aside from being attached to me) that makes her happy, except for kitty, puppy and big bear. Thank god for big bear! 🙂

But oh those eyes! Who can ever get annoyed or upset at someone with such gorgeous, innocent eyes! Those eyes always get her off the hook.

Today I am just feeling thankful for being able to be home with my girls and to watch them learn and grow. I am happy to be there for them whenever they need me and to be taking good care of our home.

So often I almost want to start feeling sorry for myself, for how slow life seems to be moving and how big a job I have taken on. I am completely outnumbered! I catch myself wondering if life would be better for them or for me if they were in school and I went to work, but in my heart I know my place is here  in our home and that there is no other way I could ever have it.

Even on a not-so-busy day (like today) when we are just lazing about and not much seems to be happening, I know that my presence in the home with them is a very important thing. My everyday actions are teaching them. What they hear me say and see me do is molding them into the women that they will one day become. A scary, yet hopeful thing, constantly motivating me to be the best that I can be.

Sometimes the best days are days like today where nothing seems to be going on. No striving, worrying, or planning. A “lazy” day. It is so cold out today in Manitoba (nearing -40 with the windchill) that we are staying in. Though the winter seems to be feeling too long, the bright shining sun reminds me that spring is on the way. I actually think that this winter hasn’t been too bad at all. I have managed to keep busy and to keep positive and not let the winter blahs get a hold of me as they have in the past. Keeping active and getting outside even just a little helps a lot.

In the dark evenings we have been watching movies to help the time pass, though it is hard to find good movies these days. The other night we watched The Lorax. They seemed to really enjoy it, as we have read the book quite often. Evenings are also when I will  put on some upbeat music and we will have a dance party. 30 minutes of moving around and feeling good. They love it!

Serafina also loves to eat and is very vocal about it. I finally got a video of her expressing her love for food. Fruit is something that she especially loves. Sweet, juicy strawberries!

And now a little voice came and asked me if we can make cookies. Even though some days are slow moving, there is never a dull moment.