LOVE...it's a sweet thing!

I am in LOVE!

Little sleep but lots of LOVE happening.

I am still hanging out in Fort McMurray with my parents and brother. Graham has come up each weekend. I could NOT have survived the last few weeks with out them all. A kidney infection and new baby wowha, family support is wonderful!

I've been thinking a lot about LOVE and how with each new person that joins our family our heart just expands. I've also been thinking how because we LOVE our family so much we selflessly serve them. I have experienced these two kinds of LOVE recently.

My other recent LOVES include:

...staring at my sleeping baby curled up so sweet

...watching my big girl laugh and have fun with her awesome uncle Mikey
...towel dresses after bath...nobody does this better then Grandma
...sweet cuddles after a bath, smelling sooooo good

...Mr.P and his ladies!!!! I REALLY LOVE this!!!!

I am in LOVE!

Little Stella is almost 4 weeks old, wow the time is flying. I am trying to savour her sweet newborn sweetness; her curled up body, how small she is and her tiny thighs....all of these things are changing fast. Although I've had a few fuzzy/challenging days I am thankful for the LOVE I'm shown daily and those in my life that I can LOVE!!

~Mrs.P

Miss Amelia turns 2!!!!!

Isn't this chick so awesome?!

We simply adore her. She is hilarious, kind, gentle, beautiful, smart and frankly just wonderful! We don't know how we got so lucky to have her be part of our family.

Miss Amelia's birthday fell on a Friday this year and we celebrated quietly as own little crew. The big bash will follow in a few weeks with our extended family. When she woke up we had everything set out on the kitchen table for her, a Uniqua balloon (The Backyardigan's character she likes), some new colouring books and Finding Nemo (a movie she pulls out whenever we visit her cousins and inspired by our Disney world trip earlier this year). Daddy made blueberry pancakes that are always a fan favourite! Of course blowing out a candles was important and the hat - oh we mustn't forget the party hat!

She enjoyed the attention and excitement!!

We enjoy her!!

* Amelia loves to 'get the mail' this is a request uttered daily. It is nice having Daddy home these past few weeks because she can put on her purse, hat and go out the front or back door to make sure our box at the end of the street is empty.

* Amelia still loves reading!!! This brings my teacher heart such joy. The power of good literature as a teaching tool, immeasurable! The fun of discovery through reading, exciting! It is interesting already to hear her talk about things that we read once in a book, not something that we specifically taught her just something we read. We will never have TOO MANY books and our library pass is worth every penny. I love this pic of her and Grandpa Hinko reading on the floor. He read to us at night growing up, such good memories I hope for my children to have.

* Amelia is a fan of creating/crafting/colouring! She has gentle hands which she uses to create things. Literally hours will be spent at the kitchen table colouring, painting, 'stumping' as she calls it (stamps) or creating with stickers. She is also a huge fan of being outside and enjoys
painting with water or drawing with chalk. Any spare minute we have we'll sneak out onto the front porch to draw with chalk. This is a happy place for both her and I. I recently spilled a drink out there and she reminds me often....have I mentioned she's got a great memory!!! :P

* Amelia is currently a fan of her babies! These babies range from her baby doll that Grandma Hinko got her for Christmas, to her Elmo, to her Minnie Mouse or as the above picture illustrates even Winnie the Pooh. Lucky for her Mommy and Daddy recently brought home a real baby for her. "Baby Stella" gets a ton of love also!!! This was perhaps the best gift we gave you this year. As a girl with sisters I know that they rock!

* Amelia has the best facial expressions!! Awesome expressive eyes are truly the window to her sweet soul. Showing her emotions and making us want to snuggle her sweetly. The picture with her and the smoking ice cream just makes me smile. Graham and I were laughing so hard enjoying her experience this, so fun. How rad is this chick, with little peepers huge, full of surprise and anticipation. Oh how we love her!

Two years ago our hearts grew beyond what we knew possible, Amelia Ann joined our family! We knew that being parents and making a family would be great but we had no idea just how wonderful it would actually be. Amelia has blessed our lives!! There is so much more I could write about her; a kickin vocabulary, sweet folded arms for prayers, singing songs, requesting songs, furrowed eyebrows in classic 2 year old style and her lovely hugs! I wrote a ton in the journal we keep for her but wanted to capture a few of her 2 year highlights here on the blog.

Two years in - WE LOVE HER!!!

~Love Mom aka Mrs. P

Stella Charlene Arrives!!

Stella Charlene Polischuk

Monday May 30th 2011 @ 11:13am

Royal Alexandra Hospital Edmonton, AB

Our sweet lady is actually a week old today! She is changing already, her cheeks are filling out and little legs are still skinny but have gotten a little thicker. They say of deliveries to expect the unexpected, or that is what we were told in our prenatal class with Amelia. The words rang true with Stella's birth. We had a planned c-section but the spinal did not take so I was put under a general anesthetic, this was unexpected. Stella arrived safe though and that is the important thing! Oh how we adore her!!! Our family was gathered in the room and they were able to see her after the nurse bathed her. Graham stayed with her the whole time and Grandma Hinko was with us the entire morning too...pretty special! Stella's middle name is after my mom Charlene and she was able to hold our wee woman before me even, I was in recovery for longer then expected. Due to the anesthetic Monday is a bit hazy but I do remember them bringing me Stella in the recovery room and just feeling such immense joy as the nurse helped me hold her.

The only description is heavenly!!! New, precious people straight from our Father in Heaven provide a glimpse of the joy I know we will have if we do our best, endure this life and return to Him.

I love this first picture of 'the sisters'!!!! It was during this pic that Amelia asked if Stella wanted pizza for supper ( her favourite ). Mia gives Stella approximately 30 kisses a day which leads us to believe that there is a ton of love there.

This is the ONLY family pic we got in the hospital. What a moment captured hey? Hilarious actually. Mia's face is awesome, I am still totally out of it but Graham looks so happy and Stella is well a few hours old so pretty sleepy. Fabulous!!

I love this one of sweet Stella is my arms. She is absolutely precious! We adore her and are so thankful that she is part of our forever family. It is such a privilege to be parents. As we waited/tried for years to have children we knew that it would be great but now that we are actually parents it is more wonderful then we could have imagined, there aren't words. We are thrilled that these two precious little women chose us and look forward to our future with them.

Written with much love and a full heart. ~Mrs. P