I broke my blog.

Okay, so I didn't break my blog exactly, but I did break Picasa somehow. That's why I haven't been posting. I just can't bring myself to post without pictures, and I can't bring myself to post pictures without using Picasa. Quite a predicament. Anyway, for all two of you who read my blog, I just wanted to let you know that I'm still here! :)

From Pumpkin to Parana

Isn't she cute? She's my little pumpkin.

...At least she was until a couple weeks ago when she decided to start biting. Ally gets in this mood where she dives at anything she can get her teeth on and just BITES the living daylights out of it. She got a chunk of my arm last night and has ruined several of my shirts by creating small horizontal teepees all over them from her trademark Bite & Pull. If that's what she has done to my t-shirts, just imagine what she has done to...uh...you know. In a word: OW!!! Which brings me to the point of this post. (Yes, there is one!) How do you force a child to stop nursing when they don't want to? I couldn't nurse Ryen since she was adopted and Madelyn blatantly refused to even pretend to nurse. I am in uncharted territory here. Sometimes Ally will eat and do it happily, but she is extremely moody and unpredictable when it comes to food. When she isn't in the mood to eat, she will clamp her little mouth shut and bat me away like some sort of super-ninja-baby-prodigy. Mr. Miyagi would be proud. I, however, am discouraged. Seriously, someone advise me!

I've done it again.

I have utterly overwhelmed myself with the amount of pictures I have taken. I haven't posted anything lately because I have too many photos! (Isn't that silly?) I find myself in this position faaaar too often. I'm just going to have to stick them all, unedited, in an album and share the link. Sigh. Why must I be a pathological picture-taker?

Ryen OLIVIA

Miss Ryen Olivia reminds me so much of THE Olivia. I think she even reminds herself of Olivia. It's one of Ryen's favorite books- partly because I'm pretty sure she recognizes the similarities between herself and the loveable pig. So, when it was storybook character day at her elementary school, of course our Ryen Olivia went as... Olivia.

{Sweetness}

I am so in love with this child.

Ally has been growing so fast! She is crawling and tumbling across the globe these days! (In the photo above, she fell asleep on the floor in our family room after wearing herself out.) She is pure delight- sweetness to the core. She said "mom" for the first time on March 20th while I was on the phone with my sister, Caitlyn. Since she hasn't really said it again since, I'm glad Cait heard it so I know I didn't just dream that it happened. Ally recently started waving- which melts me in a way words cannot express. I cherish every single second with this beautiful, amazing child.

Getting Done & Coming Back

So much has been neglected lately as I have put all of my time and energy into the creation of my website. I need to learn to juggle. :) We're nearing the finish line now and I am really looking forward to getting back to normal. Well, our normal, anyway. I'm really glad I did this though. It's nice to have an idea and see it through. It feels good to have something that is my own...if that makes sense. As silly as it sounds, starting this little business has been a truly amazing and positive experience for me.

Now to read my girls a bedtime story...