What Does The Piggy Say?

Oink...Oink!!

All Good Things...

...must come to an end.

It was a bitter sweet moment when I realized our sweet baby girl,
while still sweet, is no longer a baby.

She is a walking, talking, climbing little girl...with full blown toddler attitude and a penchant for tantrums! Also, a new found curiosity and exploitative nature has emerged from my once cuddly sweet babe. No longer will she sit still to be snuggled, she must go...go...GO!

Here are a few pictures of our little Morgan the Explorer.


Purely Sweet


So Lady-Like!

**Dress courtesy of Morgan's Meme.**

Learning Photo Shop...slowly!

For those of you who don't know yet, I started back to school on 6 April. I am working towards my BS in Photography through The Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online, thanks in part to Uncle Sam. I only have 5 more years to utilize my MGIB benefits and now seems as good a time as ever to use them...it may take me those 5 years to actually finish my degree since I lost all but 8 of my credits from previous schooling. Something about there being a statute of limitations. Apparently, you cannot transfer credits older than 10 years. Yikes! Have I really been out of school that long?
Anyway, I am desperately trying to learn Ad@be Photo Shop CS4 and Ad@be Lightroom 2, as well as becoming better at composition and lighting. I haven't actually taken any photography classes yet, as they require an online learning class and basic English and Math courses first.

Here are a few of the most recent photos of The Doodle Bug.

The last one is not a favorite because of the chair leg, but I just LOVED that adorable little face! She had had enough of me taking her photo and just asked me, "Uhp peas!" (Translation: Up Please) and gave me that goofy grin. How could I not put the camera down and snuggle my little girl after that?!

Doodlebug Dress

Morgan's Meme made this dress for her last summer.
It was a little big last year, but fits perfectly now.
The little dots on the dress are little ladybugs...

So Sweet!!

So Sad...Mommy won't let me play in the pool outside with my pretty dress on.

Crackers make everything better!!
Look at those huge tears on her cheeks.

So Happy!!

Spring Fun...

Here are a few pics from the past few weeks.

Mmmm....chocolate!
Morgan's first taste of chocolate.

Clapping for chocolate...she must like it!

Yep, she likes it!!

Sooo sad because Mommy stopped pushing and she wasn't done yet.
Mean Mommy!

Somebody likes to run and march!

Future gymnast??

First Illini T-shirt...
...and boo-boo's on the knees.

Yes Daddy, that is a WHOLE sausage link in my mouth!

Mommy's Doodle Bug

Stacked these blocks all on her OWN!!!

With Sadness...

I HATE to share news like this, especially in this way,
but for the moment this will make it easier for me.

This past weekend, Michael and I found out we were pregnant.
We also found out the pregnancy would not last and I would miscarry.

This was not a planned pregnancy,
though we would have embraced this miracle with open arms!

Many of you know the pain, heart-break, medical intervention and time it took to be blessed with our Sweet Morgan. Throughout that process, and prior to, I had been told we would NOT become pregnant with out medical intervention.

Well...SURPRISE!
Apparently, we CAN get pregnant...without assistance from a doctor.

The tricky part now is STAYING pregnant,
should be be blessed again.

We have no answers as to why,
we speculate is may have been due to my Protein-S Deficiency,
but we won't know for sure.

Da E-sta Bunny, Da E-sta Bunny!

The Easter Bunny made an early pit stop at the Simpson Residence last week.
He must have known Michael was going away and wouldn't be home for all the excitement.
The Easter Bunny sure does pack a mean basket, too!

Morgan's Wagon "Basket"

Nesting Blocks
Morgan's Favorite!

Pulling the wagon

Easter Egg Hunt

Morgan had a great time "finding" all the Easter eggs "hidden" around our family room.
We have since been to two more egg hunts and have accumulated quite the collection of eggs. She has a blast dumping them from a bucket onto the floor then picking them back up again. We must do this a dozen or more times a day. She also loves for me to hide some eggs while she is napping and find them when she wakes up and comes down stairs.

HAPPY 15 MONTH BIRTHDAY MORGAN!

These were taken on the day Morgan turned 15 months old.

Yes, our baby girl is 15 months old!!

She is totally a toddler now and enjoys, in no particular order, climbing
(everything including the stove and other furniture), dancing, singing, running, coloring, bubbles, talking and The Wiggles. Actually, her like for The Wiggles goes a little deeper and could be considered an obsession!

In the pictures below she is dressed for a party that we went to for a friend's birthday. The Wiggles were on TV which made it impossible to get her to look at the camera...at least she wasn't climbing on the stove or the table though!

Singing

Dancing to The Wiggles

Please Take A Moment

When you have a moment please take the time to read this...

Evan's Story

This is a very sad story (have tissues nearby), but one that needs to be heard.

I pray not one more child is affected or family devastated by this.

Please read it...it may save your child's life.

FRG Pot Luck

Morgan and I met a group of women (from our squadron) and their children at the base Community Center yesterday for a pot luck. There was a ton of very yummy food and we had a good time visiting and listening to a Fleet and Family Support speaker.

Since it was so close to St. Patrick's Day Morgan and I dressed up in green to celebrate.

Dancing Queen

Morgan and her buddy Joshua
(She absolutely LOVES Joshua! He is so sweet and plays so nicely with her.)

Morgan's laugh is infectious. She is giggling at Joshua in this pic.
He would run, hide and jump out saying, "Boo!". She thought this was the best thing ever.

Cutie-Tootie Samuel

California Goodies

A friend from one of Morgan's play groups told me about a website called Family Farm Fresh.
It is a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) group of local farm families.

Every other week we will receive a basket full of local fresh fruits and vegetables and organic grape juice delivered right to our door. Each delivery the contents will differ which will make it exciting to see what's next. They even include storage directions and recipes. We also have the opportunity to add things like local nuts, raw cheeses, honey and baked goods.

We received our first basket this afternoon. Morgan was so excited to see what was in the basket and so was I. I have never seen produce this fresh. The smell of the citrus and onions was intoxicating. Of course we had to try something right away, so an orange it was.

This was the first orange Morgan had ever had and she couldn't get enough of it! She kept repeating, "Mmmm...Mmmm....Mmmm!" over and over again. It was too cute!

Here's our first basket.

All the yummy goodies inside.
We got lettuce, snow peas, asparagus, potatoes, pomelos, navel oranges, avocados, onions and cucumbers in this weeks' basket.

Organic grape juice too!
Yum!

Just A Little Readin'

One of Morgan's favorite things to do is read books. There have been many times when I will be busy and realize the house is too quiet. After going to find Morgan to see what she's up to I have found her either in her "Morgan" chair or on the couch quietly reading a book.
Yesterday, I found her on the couch with her new favorite book,
"The Adventures of Morgan, Meme and Pops - Part 1".

A little kiss for baby Morgan on the cover.

My Daddy is My Favorite Guy!!

Need I Say More??

Boo-boo

Not the first and certainly not the last, but a particularly big and painful boo-boo.
She was playing near the coffee table and tripped bumping her head on the edge.
She screamed and cried hysterically while burying her head in my shoulder.
It took me a few minutes to see what was wrong because she wouldn't lift her head from chest.

If you look closely you can see a tear on her nose in this picture.
So sad!!

Ouchie!!

Who Said You Need A Spoon...

...to eat applesauce?

Mommy says I am still a lady even though I use my hands...and face!

There's still more in there!

Fingers are much better than a spoon.

Mmmm....

Yummy!

All gone.