Brrrr!!

We have snow!  Lots of it!  Stella and I made a snowman after the first round of snow.  He is very small, getting the snow to stick together was harder than I thought! :)  

It snowed again Saturday & Sunday, and church was even cancelled yesterday.  It's kind of fun being snowed in, I've been super lazy and don't really feel guilty about it. :)  I didn't get any photos after the weekend's storm, but there is a lot more snow on the ground right now.  The garbage has been sitting outside waiting to be picked up since Thursday, at this point I'm pretty sure it will be at least a week late getting picked up.  This morning I saw somebody skiing up the street!  One unexpected benefit of the weather is that the streets are much quieter.  We live on a really busy corner, and usually have all manner of noisy vehicles rumbling past at all hours.  But especially in the mornings it has been so lovely and silent.  It's great.  There is supposed to be another storm starting tomorrow night.  Stella is ready:

On Saturday Stella did something she had never done before - she drew a recognizable picture!   

The above photo is after she added a few embellishments, when I first saw the picture it was just the center bit.  I got super excited - I asked what she drew and she said "a man".  She pointed out his eyes and head.  I couldn't believe it.  The girl went from drawing random scribbles to this amazingly genius picture in a day!  I knew she was brilliant!  I probably made waaay too huge of a deal about it, but whatever.  I was excited. :)

Here is another random photo of her, "vacuuming" up some baking soda on her floor.

I realise this blog has been seriously lacking baby pictures, so here are some from the past few weeks for you to enjoy.  (Sorry about the sideways pictures, I can't seem to get them to load the right way.)

3 weeks old:

4 weeks old:  

Stella continues to be a model big sister.  She loves her baby and if anything is overly exuberant in her interactions with Margaret.  Two frequently heard exclamations around here are "Watch out for Maggie!" and "Be gentle!" :)  A little while ago Stella came over to me as I was nursing the baby.  She didn't say anything, she just leaned over and kissed Maggie's head and then kissed my arm.  That kind of thing just melts a mama's heart...and she does stuff like that every day.  Stella has definitely given up napping apart from the rare occasion when circumstances are just right.  I don't mind it since she goes to bed super easily at night and sleeps like a log.  She has been watching far too much TV lately, but I'm trying not to feel too bad about it.  The more she watches, the whinier she gets, which I guess serves me right for letting her watch so much. :)  

I am enjoying my little Margaret Anna so much.  She is 5 weeks old today.  I can't help but compare my first weeks and months with Stella...I feel like they all passed in a blur of no sleep and packing up our lives and moving to another country.  Things are so much more settled and comfortable this time around, plus I think I just know to savour everything now.  Don't get me wrong, fussy evenings and late-night wakings (and leaky poop and endless spit-up) are not always savoured.  But I'm trying.  I am certainly soaking in all of the snuggles and cuddles.  Is there anything more precious than a teeny baby falling asleep in your arms?  Sure, those arms eventually get tired and often think they should be doing other more "productive" things, but I'm just trying to be easy on myself.  The house is a total disaster, but I've managed to keep us all in clean underwear.  And Jonathan has been taking care of the dishes, and I thankfully have a freezer full of food.  So the basics are covered! :)  (Just don't look in my bathroom.)  

We also took family pictures a week ago.  They are super cute!  They will be going into our Christmas cards if I ever manage to get them sent out.  I don't have them on my computer at the moment, but I'll try to post some of the best ones soon.  

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas!  Especially my dear friends across the sea celebrating with their new little girls, Elissa Joy Watson and Isla June McFarlane. :)