January....bah humbug

I really don't like January.  And maybe it's the almost constant daily snow we've had this month....maybe it's the post holiday slump after such an exciting Christmas this year....maybe it's my pregnancy aches and pains, but this year it's an especially hard January for me.  Ugh.  Spring cannot come soon enough, this year in particular.

But, we've been trying to make the best of it.  Rachel continues to delight and cheer us, of course.  The baby's ever increasing kicks help, too, as it's constant feedback and reassurance that I need that everything is okay in there (except in the middle of the night when I can't get back to sleep because she's kicking!).  And yesterday I finally installed the webcam I got for Christmas and figured out how to "Skype" with my mom.  Rachel was on my lap and we had fun "seeing Grandma" on the computer.  Later last night we talked again, this time with Grandpa and Great Grandpa looking on as well!  She thought it was great.  Hopefully this will add some new fun into our winter days.

I also finally loaded the software for the new camera I got for Christmas, so I was able to download pictures from the new camera.  

This one I took yesterday, at her request, while she was eating a snack.

This one is from a week or so ago when Rachel and Daddy were coloring.  She said, "Mommy, will you take a picture of Daddy and Rachel coloring?"  She never asks that, so I had to comply, though she's been asking that more and more lately, for some reason.  That's her new 150 crayon carousel and her giant Mater coloring poster she got for Christmas.

And this one is from a couple of weeks ago.  She has a furry white scarf which is hollow in the middle, for lack of a better phrase.  I can't really describe it, but you can open it up and she likes to put it on like a dress.  Once she decided that she was white and furry like a polar bear, so every once in awhile she'll say, "I want to be a polar bear," and go get her scarf from her dress up box and put it on.  This time she went to get her polar bear toy as well and posed.  So here are our two polar bears.

(I can't figure out why that's not centered.  It's bugging me.)

Is it February yet?  (February isn't usually a whole lot better, but I am looking forward to the Olympics!)