Daddy's Little Girl...

From the moment this little girl came into the world, she had her Daddy wrapped around her little finger. He cried the second he laid eyes on her, and melted the instant he felt her little body in his arms. Sophia has, and always will be her Daddy's little girl. Her first word was 'da-da', and she is a spitting image of her Daddy! She can push your buttons, and then turn around and melt your heart with her tender touch. She is an amazing little girl that continues to surprise me on a daily basis.

For a while there, she had become quite the Mommy's girl and it was a fight every night to just get her to say good night to Jeff. She would scream 'no' when he would walk in the door, home from work, and if he would try to pick her up to give her a hug, she would cry out for me and refuse to give him any affection. For a Daddy who adored his little girl to no end, it was heart breaking for Jeff. I don't think she intentionally meant to hurt his feelings, she had just been with me all day and I was the parent she was used to being around 24-7.

I am thrilled to say she has moved on past this phase and now can't get enough of her Daddy! And Jeff completely eats it up! She gets so excited now when he gets home from work and asks constantly through out the day where her Daddy is. She told me the other day, that she didn't like 'work' because it takes her Daddy away. Jeff and Sophia also play barbies together, take bubble baths together, and work out together, lol. Their favorite thing to do together these days is bond while using 'The Total Gym' workout machine. I just love how in this video Sophia is dressed up in one of her fancy dresses complete with a princess crown and fairy wings, and is sitting on Jeff's lap just chatting away like this is the 'norm' as he does calve raises on the Total Gym. Below is a video of my multi-tasking hubby(please excuse the low quality of this video, it was taken on my iphone). Watching them together just makes my heart smile:)

First Post...

After I finished reading a book my friend had given me for Christmas called, "God Loves Ugly", my thoughts have changed and I am viewing my reflection differently. I hope you enjoy my very first post on my art blog and it encourages you to truly love yourself for who God created you to be!

http://pursuitofprojects.blogspot.com/

Structure...

Since being a stay at home Mom, I have found I am able to accomplish so much more around the house, in addition, spend more quality time with my girls. Well, up until now our days consisted of wake up, breakfast, play, read a few books, nap time, wake up, play, dinner, baths, play, read a few more books, prayers, and bed time.

As much as I absolutely love twirling Sophia around, as her pink, fluffy princess dress floats right along with her, and of course I could never get enough of playing chase with Peyton and watching her crawl as fast as she can, while she also giggles adorably; I feel as if I could do so much for my girls, mentally. I want to nurture their brains as much as I nurture their hearts. So I have decided that before and after nap times, I will sit down and work with the girls separately in different areas for their age level. I will go over letters, numbers, word identification, Spanish, art, and the Bible with Sophia, and parts of the body, hand eye coordination, speech, and action-reaction with Peyton. I know this will take more work on my part, as I will have to plan small, informal activity schedules and be more organized about our day, but I know it will definitely be worth it for my girls.

I have seen so much growth in Sophia's understanding and imagination lately and would love to nurture it even more! She loves the story of 'Goldie Locks and the Three Bears' and always requests it before nap time. We have also begun reading kid's Bible stories to her, and her favorites are 'Jonah and the Whale', 'Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand', and 'David and Goliath'. Dora remains one of her favorite cartoon characters which I love, because she learns Spanish too. She now knows what mi primo (my cousin), mi casa (my house), hola (hello), la fiesta (the party), and lo hicimos (we did it). We are currently working on las flores (the flowers), las mariposas (the butterflies), and un perrito (a puppy). Though I want her to be a 'kid' and enjoy fun time at home, I also want her to grow and blossom into the bright little girl I know she is!

Endless Possibilities...

I sometimes wonder what God created me for or why I am on this beautiful earth? Not because I doubt His purpose, but rather because I wonder how I can have such a passion for so many different areas of life? I love to draw, paint, photograph, decorate, bake, sculpt, write poems, write essays, make jewelry, research, type, etc., etc. So as you can see I am a bit confused as to what direction I am supposed to go.

I know God created me to be a nurturer and a mother to my two beautiful and precious little girls. I know this because ever since I was young I had dolls that I took with me EVERYWHERE! My mother can attest to this. I loved playing house and changing my baby dolls, feeding them, and putting them to sleep. And though there are some sleepless nights and tiring days, I know this is what God created me for.

I also know He built in me a passion and desire to create and make things beautiful. I tend to be a bit of a dabbler and can never focus on just one project. Instead, I usually have about 4 things going at the same time. I think other artists understand this frenzy and can relate to this. But I guess my main question being, "how do I use my love for all of these things to bring joy to others, help others, and make the world a better place? Hmmm, I have been thinking and came up with the idea of an Art Blog. A blog in which I can post my creative ideas and art projects in hopes of inspiring others creativity or sparking a new idea! The blog would have no limits. I could post a poem, photographs, art projects, a recipe, decorating ideas, etc. It would in essence be an eclectic assortment of anything to do with Art! What'd ya think?

Well, I decided to go for it and titled it (with the help of my hubby)'Pursuit of Projects: Painting the Soul'. I have no posts yet, as it is VERY new! But I will be sure to let you know when the posting and craft ideas begin. I hope you will visit it often and offer any ideas you might have as well:)

Family Dinner and Talk Time...

When I was growing up I had always thought to myself, "now when I have a family of my own, we will all sit down to a nice meal, chat about our day and catch up. Well, after 8 1/2 years of marriage and two kiddos later, we are finally sitting down together as a family and enjoying dinner together and it's wonderful! Jeff and I eat and Sophia entertains us with her little stories and long jumbled sentences about her day and what Hurley or Peyton did. She usually fits something in along the way that has me and Jeff cracking up and asking each other where she got that from. Peyton also joins us at the table in her high chair and seems to be quite entertained by her big sis just as much as we are. I have a feeling Sophia will be the comic relief of our family. Our house feels full and our family complete, and I couldn't be happier!

Binky Baby...

This weening of the binky, will be a whole new experience for us, since Sophia wanted nothing to do with any shape or brand of pacifier. Sophia was an easy baby to nurse, thus cutting out the binky. To soothe her, nursing was the only way. However, with Peyton, it was the exact opposite! Peyton was quite the challenge to nurse and I think I stressed us both out by trying so hard to make it happen. At two months I finally accepted she was not going to nurse. However, Peyton loved her binky and still has to have it at nap time and bed time to fall asleep. She also likes to have it with her pretty much at all times even when she is eating, lol. She will take it out of her mouth, set it on her highchair tray, eat her food, and when she is finished, pop it right back into her mouth, lol. Sometimes she will even try to eat with it still in her mouth! I would like to start only giving it to her during her naps and bed time so that eventually she will be free of it all together. Sophia has always been a blanky girl and has to have her brown blanky with her at naps and bedtime. And Peyton has just begun needing this particular white satin blanky to go to sleep. I'm hoping since she has her blanky to soother her, it might be easier to ween her of her binky,? I guess only time will tell:)