I can never have a bad day when I'm around you, Bella. You're so sweet and fun. I just want to squeeze you constantly.
We had a great time together this winter. Your mom and I would bundle you up in tons of layers and we'd hit the neighbourhood.
You were all about making snow angels. It was fun to watch you get into it. You'd plop yourself down at any given moment, throw your hands and legs up, and move them all around. It was quite the sight 😂
We did everything we could do this winter to make it fun. And it was!
We made tents.
We watched Disney's Frozen.
We made drawings. We coloured.
We made all kinds of arts and crafts.
We had picnics.
We pretended to be superheroes with capes and glasses.
We had tons of bubble baths. We basically did everything we could think of to pass the time during the cold winter days.
As the snow began to melt, we started to slowly put away the winter sleds and snow suits.
All winter long we were anxious about Bella catching a cold or the flu. We were careful about where we went out. We were beyond crazy, as usual. We even stayed away from our friends and family a lot of the time, in order to limit Arabella's exposure.
We sacrificed a lot this past winter, like we do every winter. And as the weather improved, we started coming out of our shells.
It felt so good to be out there again. Ladies and gentlemen, WE WERE BACK.
And err...we were back, for a little bit, at least.
At the same time a lot of people here (and around the world) started to get really sick. We couldn't do the things we'd normally do. Suddenly there was no more parks. No more seeing family. No more outings.
We had to retreat into our homes again.
We know what it's like to shut ourselves out from the world. We do it every winter. And I don't wish that kind of fear on anyone, but here we are. It is what it is.
I can tell you that it truly sucks to live with that type of anxiety (that your loved ones might get sick). But among all the uncertainty in the world right now, we can only control a few things: ourselves, our emotions, and our home.
So we'll keep doing what we're good at.
And that's getting lost in the fun.
Since we can't go to the zoo and see the giraffes...
We'll pretend we're at the zoo.
We'll create our own playgrounds.
We'll get into all our favourite toys.
We'll exercise at home to keep ourselves in shape.
We'll work from home.
We'll Skype and FaceTime with our family so we don't feel disconnected.
I don't know about you guys, but we were made for this. We've been living in similar circumstances every winter since Arabella was born. And I can tell you right now, you learn to make the best of it.
Take a page out of Arabella's book and relax. Stay home. Throw on your favourite TV show and put your feet up.
Get silly!
Get silly over and over again.
If you're reading this, I hope you and your loved ones stay safe and healthy. Don't get lost in the hysteria. Stay grounded and we'll get through this strange and difficult time.
All our love,
Daniel, Kiera and Arabella
💜💜💜
