The girls this week

I tried hard to get one of all three together, they refused to sit by each other, so this is the best I could get! Little stinkers.

Amanda is walking to mommy. She is taking 10 or more steps at a time now. I think I was right, she will be walking by her birthday! The OT said today "I have a feeling she won't just walk, but will run". I agree, Amanda is FAST, and I will also be running to get her, maybe I will lose some weight chasing her too.

Today I set out to get some good pictures of Kara, I can get plenty of Meghan and Amanda, but Kara moves, ducks, turns her head and does not cooperate. So most of these were taken today, some of Meghan and Amanda were taken in the last week or so. I adore Kara's brown eyes, I will forever remember looking into them the first time we saw one another in Vorzel. For me it was love at first sight! Finding her was a miracle for me, for us, we went through hell to adopt in Ukraine, bringing her home was a gift from God.

Put that thing down mommy, I do not like pictures!

Meghan loves her Barbies, she said, "No not my picture, take Barbies!" They both had bad hair days.

Happy Amanda, she has begun to smile for the camera, she adores getting her picture taken most of the time now. She is so dirty here, from playing outside and eating dirt! Ah to be a little kid again. :o)

Had to do my color correction again, even though Amanda's skin looks almost normal again from her carotenemia, when I take her picture with flash, she turns a nice golden yellow. Her skin has trapped the pigment, it will take a while to resolve...especially when she loves carrots, squash and sweet potatoes so much.

Amanda's face looks so round in her pictures, though she is still very tiny and very skinny, despite the pudgy face. We were wondering today if she stopped growing completely, but she has outgrown some clothes and gained 6 pounds, so we know she is growing, she just may stay skinny, wish I were her.

Kara the couch potato, what do do with this little munchkin?

Beautiful Kara! When we adopted Kara I was amazed how tiny she was for a 3 year old, and now, I am amazed at how big she is for a 5 year old, she is growing like a weed! Her bone structure is very large and she is very heavy. She is also chubby, she is so happy to lie down and pretend to read a book. (Time to get get blood work for anemia and hypothyroidism, don't you think?) She is lazier than my sons were in in adolescence.

Kara is a funny little girl, always laughing and happy, but she sees my camera, and her face goes blank, wish I knew why, it is so hard to get a smile from her for a picture.

Cover model! This picture turned out so good, Amanda looks like an angel!

My pretty little Meghan in her leotard, she found this in my old Ebay bins from a couple of years ago when I used to sell new and used children's clothing. She put it on and then grabbed my camera, and told me to take her picture, she posed for a bunch of them, this was my favorite!

Meghan's alopecia is on the rampage again, alopecia is like that, it progresses and regresses with no rhyme or reason. We though we had helped with a gluten free, casein free diet, which has improved her behavior and overall health, but the hair loss, well, it gets depressing for me, but as long as it does not bother her, then I will not let it get me down. What is more upsetting is the way people stare at her, OK, she already has Down syndrome, so people do stare (wish they would try harder to be subtle about it, she is beginning to notice) but to have this hair loss too, well, people are NOT nice sometimes. Her left side has 40% hair loss, and the other day I saw a dime-sized spot on the right which filled in completely, but was totally bald two years ago, so I am not certain what to think, will the right go now and the left grow back like before, or will she finally lose all of her hair?

She has very little body hair, her arms and legs are smooth, she still has most of her eyebrows and eyelashes. Having been hairless myself during cancer treatment, not having lashes means every little thing gets in your eyes, I hope she at least keeps her lashes. She has lost both brows and lashes before.

Just too tuckered out to stay up, these little girls can fall asleep faster than you can blink sometimes. LOL Amanda on the left, Kara on the right. They cannot sit near each other without hair pulling when they are awake, but seek each other out when they are tired, go figure!

Amanda is slowly blooming like a beautiful and rare flower. All of us are amazed at the changes in her personality, every week she opens her heart a little more to love, and she is learning to express her affection without the fear she used to show. today she kissed her OT on the cheek! She still has many repetitive behaviors, grinds her teeth, breathes heavily when she is stressed, she still has autism BUT....she is doing so much better.

Kara and Amanda are too fond of rocking and bouncing. I wonder if they will ever stop? Whenever they hear music the start bouncing off the sofa cushions, they usually do it on beat, completely synchronized! :o)