Smiley Girl

the evolution of a baby smile

June 27th ... sweet sleepy smiles!

 July 16th ... pre-bath cuddle smiles! (attempted picture)

July 21st ... morning hang out smiles! (attempted picture again)

July 28th ... two month smiles! (closest to capturing a smile pic to date)

Stella Charlene is actually a smiler or perhaps she just seems smiley because her big sister Amelia Ann was so serious.  We love seeing her smile!  It is fun kissing under her chubby cheeks or giving noisy kisses to her hands, both of which usually result in rewarding smiles. In the last few days just talking to her and being silly might get you a toothless grin.  

We are so glad she has come to our family.

Stella is such a sweetheart! 

~ Mrs. P

Glasses

Amelia says to Graham and I, "squirrel wearing glasses".  It makes me wonder if she thinks my eyes look like this when I wear my specs instead of contacts.  Kids are hilarious!!!  I love it that she is talking and can share her thoughts with us.  What a funny girl!  Man we adore her!

~ Mrs. P

Family Picnic...Living Room Style

We needed to do something to shake it up.  Why not a picnic in our living room?!

So we ordered take out, put out a blanket and had a picnic.  I usually only allow messy food at the table but memories are more important.  I think Amelia had fun, she didn't know what to think at first but said 'picnic, picnic' a few times in her sweet little voice.  I know Tula our puppy had fun, she made out with a whole chicken finger.  I just love our little family!

~ Mrs. P

Little Momma

Amelia Ann is a great momma! 

She ensures her Babies/Minnie Mouse/Winnie the Pooh are always taken care of. Pushing in the stroller, wrapping her babies tight, giving them Mia's milk and burping them, she practices these responsibilities.
  It is amazing how she is naturally a nurturer.
 In The Family: A Proclamation to the World it says, "By divine design...mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children".  Wow!  This little two year old is already for preparing for her divine role, it is lovely.  I've been able to snap pictures lately of Amelia being a little momma.  It is beautiful and makes me more conscious of how I am mothering, little eyes are watching.  I am helping her learn her divine role.
It is wonderful to be a woman.
~ Mrs. P

Hero Worship

There is a serious case of HERO WORSHIP going on at our house!

Amelia Ann is soooooo in love with her Daddy! Grandma Hudkins has said that when the new baby comes it is important that Dad naturally take a larger with role with the older child, well that is totally what has happened at our house. Amelia adores her Dad! We are talking Mom does not even exist when he comes home from work. I am mostly ok with it. He is such a good Daddy, playing out in the backyard, patiently showing her things and letting her take his hand off to whatever room in the house she would like to explore ( she often cons him into watching tv in our bedroom - cool for whatever reason). She wants Daddy to help her with dinner, Daddy to bath her and Daddy to put her to bed. Yup, the lady who gave her life takes the backseat. Honestly though I remember when we found out during our pregnancy that Amelia was a girl, one of my first thoughts was how cool it would be for Graham. I adore my Dad, there is just something special between Daddy's and their daughters.

I love the last picture in this post of Super Dad Graham, carrying both of his ladies. It just makes me smile thinking there is more hero worship in the making with our new little daughter. Graham jokes about being surrounded by girls but he loves it!!!

~ Mrs. P

The Legislature Pools

We had some rough moments at the Polischuk's. Fussy people, momma with a lack of patience and being couped up in the house resulted in a day that frankly kinda sucked....so we had to shake it up the next day and decided to cross something off of our summer 'to do' list. We literally did make up a list of things we wanted to do this summer and hung it in the kitchen.

The Leg is such fun! This is the coolest place for short folks to wade around and play. The pools are shallow and there are trees around so it is easy to find shade to lay your towel down. Last year Amelia wasn't yet walking but this year, wow look out she was on the move. We met up with friends and Auntie Jenn was even able to join us. Stella hung out in her sling. It was a fabulous afternoon had by all.

~ Mrs. P

The way things were...

Baby is sleeping and toddler is playing independently and I could be folding laundry or doing dishes but I woke up this morning missing being pregnant!!! I miss feeling the babe move, it is just so magical having this whole other person connected to you. Neat to think too that in giving life we are holding hands with God. The anticipation when pregnant is like nothing else, BUT we are so glad that Amelia joined us and now Stella. I also had a good friend ask recently what I miss about our pre-kid life. We had seven years alone together. It was fun and we were fortunate to be able to experience some amazing things together visit 30 or so countries, BUT again so glad that we have the little family we do now.

It is fun to think back and look at pictures of the way things were.

It is crazy how quickly time seems to go.

~ Mrs. P

"oh not bad"

Amelia is hilarious sometimes! As per a typical toddler she mimics us...alot and recently she received two cell phones as a big sister gift from a friend. There has been non stop phone talking around here. The funniest thing though is when she says "hewwow, oh not bad"!!! Apparently I must say that when people ask how I am. I plan to shake up my response and she if she follows. Such a cutie pie! She has been wanting us to use the other cell phone and have a convo with her, this is sweet but when it is the 20th time that day I have to remind myself playing with her is more important than the 'other' things I want to get done around the house.

PLAYING is PRODUCTIVE!!

~ Mrs. P

Stella Bella

So in the short amount of time Miss Stella has been a part of our family her name has evolved.

These are the names she has been known by chronologically:

TBA II

Miss TBA II

Baby Sister

Stella Charlene Polischuk

Baby Stewa

Stewa

Stewa Charlene

Stewa Bewa (Stella Bella)

Naming a person is serious business.

Such fun though when you also roll with a toddler!!

I just love when big sister talks to little sister and am excited to see what nic names they come up with for one another. ~ Mrs.P

Tribute to 2

I just had to post a tribute to my 2-year old's official p-a-r-t-y!!

So this chick is rather into dolls/babies/mickey mouse/pooh bear, frankly anything that she can mother, thus her party theme was born....

Auntie Alyson created this fabulous Ukrainian nesting doll cake and we decorated with a few paper doll chains. Voila, a party for our girl.

It was really fun watching her get excited as she opened presents this year. Amazing how much these wee folk change, it was only six months ago at Christmas where presents were still not so cool. BUT oh man does she understand now! She is one lucky little woman. It is so fun watching them enjoy things and kind of hard not to overindulge.

Oh how we love her!

~Mom

Cousins Rock

This week Grandma Hinko was still visiting so we covered ourselves with bug spray and all went to the park behind our house. Having more adults then children is always a plus when venturing out. Auntie Jenn was also here so we really out numbered the short people. It was such a beautiful day, even Baby Stella joined us. (see brown bump on my chest)

Cousins totally rock! We are fortunate enough to live near both of the cousins. Jacey lives in Fort Sask and Kingston is just a short drive away in Edmonton. With the birth of Stella, Mikel's Grad and my parents being here tons we've been able to have the cousins play together a lot. Amelia even asked about them this morning over our oatmeal, sadly I had to tell her it was just us today. I think the cousins will be good friends. I have fond memories of times with my cousins and am excited to watch this next generation grow together. Even as adults when we get together with our cousins it is so fun!

All but Stella swinging away the morning.

Tickling the ivories together. I seriously love this picture of them.
Everyone is crazy about baby Stella, you can see from her face she just LOVES the attention. hehehe

Oh these kids, note that Kingston is wearing Jacey's bib. Mia often requests to put one on too. They really adore each other.

The girls picking clover in Grandma & Grandpa's backyard. Such a sweet pic of the two ladies.

Family is awesome!

I am so glad that cousins were part of Heavenly Father's plan, such fun times.

~ Jenny

This Too Shall Pass...BE PRESENT!

The title of this post is not meant to be negative. I read it somewhere and have been thinking about it a lot lately. Stella is losing her 'newborness' and Amelia has totally morphed into a 2-year old - with all that entails :P The point is to enjoy it, all of it!

I found a quote awhile ago, printed it off and posted it up in my kitchen. It reads:

"Joy Comes in Moments... I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept...I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing, dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less."

Time goes quickly...I want to be present and enjoy my little women!

~Mrs. P

Stella's Blessing Day

Here I am in the wee hours of the morning taking the opportunity to blog about my precious little Stella's blessing. She is a joy! This week she started smiling at us, I LOVE IT. She nurses often and likes to be cuddled. My mom has said this is how she is ensures her one-on-one time with me so I have taken that attitude as I get up often with my sweet babe. Hence an early morning blog about her blessing.

It is crazy getting out of the house when the troops double in size but when we finally sat down in the chapel with a few minutes to spare surrounded by our family, I let out a sigh and felt contentment and joy. How blessed are we?! Graham did a beautiful job being a conduit for the spirit as her gave our daughter a name and a blessing. I felt the spirit. Stella Charlene Polischuk was wonderful the whole time and then proceeded to be cuddled to sleep by her dad throughout the remainder of the meeting. It was sweet to see her and Mr. P together , he in his suit and her in her beautiful white dress.

After Mr.P sat down he leaned over to whisper, "Can you believe I just blessed another little girl for us?". Writing it brings tears to my eyes. In our nearly nine years of marriage this privilege seemed to far away at times, but how grateful we are. The Lord has things planned out perfectly even if we do not understand it at the time. These little women are treasured. Stella is such a blessing to us. Her pretty face and sweet cuddles are soooooo enjoyed. It was a fabulous day!!

Wonderful day! ~ Mrs. P