It was Spring here....and other news!

We had spring weather...until today!!

Dum dum dum alas winter has returned. I think the picture below looks more like mid-January not mid-April but hey we live in Canada why should I expect any different. On a positive note Tula's spring puppy presents are all covered again with beautiful white snow and really when I look out my kitchen window the field does look rather beautiful. This is the view from our front door. After having a fevering little lady the past four days I really, really needed an escape snow or not. We both got dressed, I actually showered and we dug out our winter wear. This was no day for Mia to wear her rubber boots or me to venture out in my ballet flats. I had to get out of the house.

A friend made this adorable hat for Miss Amelia and with the snow it was rather appropriate that she wear it today. Amelia is no longer running a fever but has a sore throat and a cough that may linger, luckily she finally had a good night sleep and is having her second nap of the day as I write this. She has mostly been a one nap a day kinda girl since about 18months but she is fighting this bug with rest, hey work it little lady. Today is also the first day this week that she has allowed me to do things other then hold her, it really has been kinda sweet but a challenge at the same time if that makes sense. She will ask for 'hugs' and will reach up to me saying 'hand come'...how can my heart not melt. I really do miss Mr. P though, goodness having a sick person and being alone is no fun, I have such respect for single parents, military families or families where a parent has to work away....not fun. In other exciting news (excuse the gross picture) this picture captures the third day that this has occured before Miss Mia hops into the 'bafff'. How awesome is that?! She received this potty for Christmas and has a little sit down before her bath each night. Until this week we have NOT had any pee actually occur in the potty, twice on the floor and once in the hall. Monumental, I think so!!!! I of course made a big deal, clapped, let her choose a sticker and she was so happy that she kept wanting to hug me. Maybe it clicked. I was proud. Really though I am sooooo not pushing or stressing this, just celebrating pee! Having listened to many a friend and their potty training war stories I am determined to fight my Type A personality and follow her lead.

I should start some supper. It is so hard to be super motivated when there is no Mr. P around, I think we'll clean out the fridge and nibble on leftovers. I'll do something domestic when Graham is home from Cold Lake tomorrow. ~Jenny

Weekend in the Mountains...just Jenny and Graham!!

Cute, cute young white tail deer! I am not normally a person who takes pictures without people but seriously how adorable was this little guy?!

Mr.P is a man who loves a beautiful view and refers to the mountains as one of his happy places. He took the picture below, what a gorgeous view. A quick self take as we walked around Pyramid Lake located just outside of Jasper.

The best husband and daddy I know!!! What a handsome dude!

Mr.P has been my rock these past 7 months. Pregnancy although a precious experience can be tough. The guy is seriously awesome, he will read this and be embarrassed but for real he has been the best sidekick a girl could have. Thus a surprise weekend in the mountains was in order. Kindly, Alyson and Jon offered to keep Amelia and we headed out Friday night...after Graham got home from Cold Lake.

There is something wonderful about just being together with your best friend! I truly learn so much from him and admire so many of his qualities. Crazy to think that we started dating almost 10 years ago!!! What a ride we've had together over those years. This weekend though we slept, slept in, toured around Jasper, checked out some gorgeous views and just enjoyed being with one another. Dinner, oh the dinner we had yummy!!!!!

Fabulous weekend! We were soooo excited to come home to our little woman though. ~Jenny

Family Outing to the Mutart!

Lately Mr. P has been in Cold Lake a lot so a few weeks ago we decided to take one of our rare free Saturday afternoons to venture out together...just the three of us!! We drove into Edmonton and checked out the Mutart Conservatory. It was awesome! They have four different pyramids with four very different ecosystems, our favourite was definitely the one with the beautiful spring flowers (I can't recall the correct name). It was soooo fun to watch Amelia enjoy the flowers, the fish and the whole new experience each pyramid had. She was so good at staying close and her dad was fabulous holding her hand as she ran along the various paths. We took a break mid-way to have lunch at the cafe. It was seriously yummy, we decided it was worth visiting for the food alone...serious goodness.

It was just a wonderful day of being together.

Visiting Grandpa, Uncle Mikel and "Magaa"

It is always a pleasure to get to head up and visit the Fort Mac family! There is just something about getting to be around your mom, even when you are a mom yourself.

Something interesting is that Amelia has taken to calling Grandma "Magaa", say what...we have no idea where this came from. She also adores her Grandpa and Uncle Mikel, uncle can even put her down to bed. Uncle Mikel is also great at helping with style, the pic below is Mia's double hat look. Cool!!!

Both Mia and Jacey love checking out the books and toys at Grandma's.

Oh we are all sad when it is time to go.
It was a great week!!! ~Jenny

Life in 2011

So it has been over a year since my last post....oh and a wee bit has happened in the Polischuk's life! Another woman will be joining our family in May or June 2011. In October 2010 we were totally shocked to learn that we were expecting. It has been a whirlwind as I chase Amelia around and try to keep food in my tummy (I've had a similar pregnancy to Amelia and few other things that have been interesting). It is such a blessing and gift to have children and we are beyond thrilled to welcome this new little person. The picture below is of Miss TBA II at 26 weeks. The 3D shots are amazing, her little hand was by her face in the pictures and as the ultrasound tech pointed out baby's eyes and nose and mouth Mia kept looking at the screen then my tummy saying "baby". It was a pretty special day! We are looking forward to becoming a family of FOUR!!

For 2011 I am trying to do something called Project 52. This means a picture taken each week with at least one or preferably both parents in the photo, usually the camera is full of Amelia and we are always behind the camera. The picture below is from week 9: Post Church Self Take...I am having alot of fun trying to be creative in capturing our every day life as a family. I am putting together a photo album on line that will have the year in weekly highlights. I am also trying to finish up my 2010 Family Photo Album. Amelia loves pulling our photo albums off the shelf and looking through them. Right now she's obsessed with my pregnancy pictures of her and I, it is kinda sweet telling her that the baby in my tummy was her or "MeMo" as she calls herself.

Our little Mia is soooooo awesome!

She is such a fun chick. I have been diligent in recording things in her journal but really want to be better at blogging again-this blog is suppose to be my virtual journal of sorts. The pic below captures her personality right now, the elmo resting in the back (her fav toy), her trying to the song 'Tommy Thumbkin' (singing songs still a fav pass time), and wearing my necklace (it makes me smile that she is into necklaces n bracelets n skirts)!!!
Life in 2011 is good! I am 27 weeks with TBA II and finally feeling better. Graham and I still have fabulous moments with Amelia that can only be described as 'heavenly'.... as dorky as that sounds. Right now my fav family moments are usually bedtime snack/scriptures/prayer on the couch together. We are super busy with our callings, Graham as Scout Assistant and me as Young Woman President. Graham has been working away alot in Cold Lake, Alberta and has a shutdown mid-April to the end of May so that is not so fun but is work so necessary. He is also a workhorse at home helping me out, as in I haven't gotten big groceries since finding out I was pregnant and trying to finish the garage. Oh and Amelia and I have done swimming lessons again this fall and are in the midst of Rhymes and Storytimes with cousin Jacey and second cousin Kouper. Ya life is busy but good!!!!

~Jenny

Come and gone...

Our sweet Amelia's First Christmas!!!!

Here is our wee lady Christmas morning. So sweet!

Sporting her hoodie that states; "Amelia's Very First Christmas"

Look at those eyes, the joy of cashing in on such toys!!!

A little photo shoot with a Christmas ball - it wasn't glass!

One of the pictures from our attempt to capture all of our babies for the Christmas letter. Good luck!

A few pictorial highlights of our Cruise...

It seems sometimes that good things come and go so quickly. Such is the case with December 2009, it flew by feeling now like a distant dream. I had to write a bit about it though - Amelia's first Christmas!! But before the season got into full swing we took off to the Caribbean to have a little down time as a family, oh plus Great Grandma Hinko. We like Cruisin!!!! Alot actually, this was our 6th cruise in 7 years of marriage. We say it is the ultimate vacation because you sleep in the same bed, but visit different places and you are guaranteed great food 24/7. Contemplating what kind of vacation to do with our wee lady it was a good choice. My Grandma Hinko also loves to travel so we invited her to join us and all had a blast together. Also kind of neat is that Ed and Janis were in Mexico during the same time so we were able to meet up when our ship ported in Cozumel, Mexico.

Having Amelia for Christmas is perhaps the best present EVER!!! Over the past few years Graham and I would share whispers in bed wondering what the season would be like with children, wee folk to enjoy. Then last year when we were expecting it was sharing whispers with the reality that next year we would know, it would no longer just be us dreaming. Celebrating the birth of Jesus with our daughter was wonderful! What a precious little miracle, such a gift she is. When I stop to think about how blessed I am tears always come, life is good - hard at times but good - I think those are the words I used in our Christmas letter and they are so true.

The week between Christmas and New Year's contained a total of 5 meals for us!!!! Yummy but seriously alot of busy travel to and from family. Graham and I are excited for the day when we can hunker down and just stay at home, don't get me wrong I absolutely love spending time with family but the day we are able to stay at home in our pj's for multiple days...well it will be welcomed. For now though we will enjoy sharing our little girl with family!!

A belated Happy Holidays ~Jenny

Fall EQUALS Fun Times

So one of the things that I have learned since becoming a mom is that to keep my sanity I must adjust the expectations I have of myself and really try not to feel too bad. Thus only minimal regret at my lack of blogging. I started this blog sorta for my family to follow but mostly because you can get blogs printed and I thought it was a fabulous way to journal with pictures thrown in. So as is the way of life that which we do for ourselves usually comes last...thus no entries for a long time.

This fall has been fun! Amelia has grown immensely and has been a joy!!!!! She is such a darling little girl and I feel blessed each day that she is part of our forever family. So fun to watch her grow and change. So the highlights....

Oilers Hockey

We still have season's tickets but the attendance has gone way down. Amelia has had her first game though as documented below. Such fun! We have ear protection for the little woman, which she doesn't mind and is mighty adorable I think. We also sit pretty close to a family room so her and I can sneak off to eat, this is nice.

Visiting Medicine Hat & Lethbridge
So Alyson and I have BFF's in the Hat and Lethbridge so took a little road trip this fall with our wee ladies. The little woman on the left is Ember, Amy's lady. We had a blast, visiting and enjoying time together. Travel is certainly different with kids but still worth it. Ember and our ladies got along really good which was adorable to see. Also on this trip Jacey fell in love with Manda's dog Cody, like reached out and wanted to pet the little guy. It was wonderful, a big deal for the bird girl.

Halloween

So the Bumble Bee costume was cute but Amelia really just loved trying catch those balls dangling infront of her, it was super cute. We all got dressed up - even Graham and attended cousin Kingston's first Birthday! Good times!!! Leslie did a great job decorating, carving a huge pumpkin, a Halloween gift bag and making his cake. A lucky little boy!!!! My sister's have set a high bar as wonderful mothers, I have alot to live up to.

Big Girl Food aka Cereal

So our baby is growing, she's eating cereal and we've began adding various fruit and veggies. Ohhh how quickly the time has flown. The pic below captures a classic 'Amelia face' were it leaves us wondering what she thinks of her parents. Adorable but pretty serious!!! She is doing fabulous with eating now. We are very lucky.

Sunday photo shoots have almost become a tradition. How can I not take pics of this sweet lady!!! She looks fabulous and she's ours, seriously I still have to pinch myself sometimes.

Smiles

Our serious Amelia has began giving smiles!!! Yahhhh Graham and I can get a little grin almost always. It warms our heart and we adore her toothless grin, we just have to kiss her.

New Moms Group

Joining this group is totally on the list for a new mom 'must do'!!! Although I have great sisters and fabulous friends being part of this group has been a wonderful resource. There are 12 women with 12 babies born within 8 weeks of each other. The little people are so cute and it's been fun to watch them change and grow. The moms are mature and conscientious, researchers and readers, totally the type of women you love to know. The picture below was taken at the Health Unit, where we had six classes. We decided to continue to meet each week and it has been great! Amelia and I have had a busy December and we haven't gotten to hang out with them much and I truly miss them. I think it's going to kinda suck when the babies turn a year and most go back to work, I enjoy them tons!!!

So a busy fall and holiday season.

Trip pics and Christmas pics to come!!!!

Life is good! ~Jenny